Monday, January 07, 2013
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - January 1
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. In the flagship version of the Angry Birds video game, players launch their birds at what type of animal? no idea. I should ask my 6 year old nephew who is more likely to know the answer than I am.
2. What two U.S. states each have 41.2% of their area covered by water, more by far than any other state of the union? Assuming that snow covered mountains do not count as "covered by water." Louisiana seems like it would be one based on swamps and Mississippi River delta. Minnesota with its 10,000 lakes?
3. Robotics professor Masahiro Mori coined what name for the unexpected dip in a graph of comfort level caused by simulated humans beginning to look more and more like real humans? what is KJ talking about? Not sure I am familiar with the context of the question.
4. What current TV show about the Braverman family is loosely based on a 1989 movie about the Buckman family? Parenthood
5. The Brazilian company Embraer is one of the world's largest manufacturers of what? airplanes
6. Anzac Day every April commemorates the over 10,000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers who lost their lives in what 1915 military campaign against the Ottoman Empire? Gallipoli?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these movies, listed in this order? Rocky, Scary Movie 3, Coraline, They Won't Forget, Jaws, Stand By Me, Frequency, Where the Truth Lies, The Ice Storm, A Christmas Story. There are 10 items which might mean that the order goes from 1 to 10, but I cannot figure out what the common bond might be.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What holiday symbol is easily recognized by its colorful bracts? Bracts are the not-really-petal leaf-like things that give poinsettias their characteristic red color. correct
2. The historical Saint Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra, a city located in what is today the Antalya Province of what nation? Jolly old St. Nick was from Turkey, which is why many people still celebrate Christmas with a turkey dinner today. That is not true at all, by the way. correct
3. The hybrid holiday Chrismukkah was popularized on a December 3, 2003 episode of what TV drama? "Chrismukkah" was one of many ahead-of-their-time innovations dreamed up by Fox's The O.C. gaah. An obscure episode of an obscure show does not make for a good trivia question.
4. What Christmas character is accused of being "an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato"? That's how Ebenezer Scrooge tries to rationalize away the ghost of his late partner Jacob Marley. SPOILERS it doesn't work. gee, NOT the Grinch even though this certainly sounds like a description Dr Seuss might have used.
5. Of the four major North American sports organizations, what's the only one that schedules an annual slate of a few games on Christmas Day? The NBA always schedules five games or so on Christmas Day, the only pro sports league to do so. correct
6. Who resigned from his presidency on Christmas Day 1991, leading to the dissolution of his nation the following day? Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the last president of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these animals? Beetles, cats, moths, prawns, rat snakes, salamanders, sharks, swallowtail butterflies. All these animals come in "tiger" varieties. Tigers don't belong on the list, for example. No such thing as a tiger tiger. I know tiger shark and tiger prawn but the others are unknown to me.
1. In the flagship version of the Angry Birds video game, players launch their birds at what type of animal? no idea. I should ask my 6 year old nephew who is more likely to know the answer than I am.
2. What two U.S. states each have 41.2% of their area covered by water, more by far than any other state of the union? Assuming that snow covered mountains do not count as "covered by water." Louisiana seems like it would be one based on swamps and Mississippi River delta. Minnesota with its 10,000 lakes?
3. Robotics professor Masahiro Mori coined what name for the unexpected dip in a graph of comfort level caused by simulated humans beginning to look more and more like real humans? what is KJ talking about? Not sure I am familiar with the context of the question.
4. What current TV show about the Braverman family is loosely based on a 1989 movie about the Buckman family? Parenthood
5. The Brazilian company Embraer is one of the world's largest manufacturers of what? airplanes
6. Anzac Day every April commemorates the over 10,000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers who lost their lives in what 1915 military campaign against the Ottoman Empire? Gallipoli?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these movies, listed in this order? Rocky, Scary Movie 3, Coraline, They Won't Forget, Jaws, Stand By Me, Frequency, Where the Truth Lies, The Ice Storm, A Christmas Story. There are 10 items which might mean that the order goes from 1 to 10, but I cannot figure out what the common bond might be.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What holiday symbol is easily recognized by its colorful bracts? Bracts are the not-really-petal leaf-like things that give poinsettias their characteristic red color. correct
2. The historical Saint Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra, a city located in what is today the Antalya Province of what nation? Jolly old St. Nick was from Turkey, which is why many people still celebrate Christmas with a turkey dinner today. That is not true at all, by the way. correct
3. The hybrid holiday Chrismukkah was popularized on a December 3, 2003 episode of what TV drama? "Chrismukkah" was one of many ahead-of-their-time innovations dreamed up by Fox's The O.C. gaah. An obscure episode of an obscure show does not make for a good trivia question.
4. What Christmas character is accused of being "an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato"? That's how Ebenezer Scrooge tries to rationalize away the ghost of his late partner Jacob Marley. SPOILERS it doesn't work. gee, NOT the Grinch even though this certainly sounds like a description Dr Seuss might have used.
5. Of the four major North American sports organizations, what's the only one that schedules an annual slate of a few games on Christmas Day? The NBA always schedules five games or so on Christmas Day, the only pro sports league to do so. correct
6. Who resigned from his presidency on Christmas Day 1991, leading to the dissolution of his nation the following day? Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the last president of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these animals? Beetles, cats, moths, prawns, rat snakes, salamanders, sharks, swallowtail butterflies. All these animals come in "tiger" varieties. Tigers don't belong on the list, for example. No such thing as a tiger tiger. I know tiger shark and tiger prawn but the others are unknown to me.
