Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - January 15
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. The American writers Thomas Bulfinch and Edith Hamilton are best known for their definitive works on what subject? mythology
2. "The Jean Genie" was, appropriately enough given its title, the first single off of what 1973 David Bowie album? can't be Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I cannot recall another Bowie album from that era
3. What western U.S. state can claim to border seven other U.S. states? Colorado touches 7 if one counts bordering Arizona at Four Corners - OK, KS, NM, AZ, UT, WY, NE
4. Which American sports team added the word "leg" to its official name during the McCarthy-era 1950s? Cincinnati Redlegs
5. About 97% of human rabies deaths worldwide were cases transmitted from what animal? bats
6. What modern country was, about 2200 years ago, the center of one of the world's largest powers, the Maurya Empire? never heard of the Maurya Empire. Spelling is close to Maya. Could be coincidence.
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these famous folks? Prince Albert, Tsar Alexander III, King Fahd, Flaubert, Vasco da Gama, Gandhi, Ed Koch, Huey Long, George Washington, Walt Whitman. hey I know this one! each has a bridge named after him. First Q7 in a while that I have been able to answer.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. Never Say Never Again, Sean Connery's 1983 return to James Bond, was a remake of what other 007 film? The complicated rights situation behind Thunderball is the reason an independent production company could remake it in 1983. (Also the reason the "real" 007 movies can't use SPECTRE anymore.) yay, correct
2. What's the only member of today's European Union ever to have a U.N. peacekeeping mission sent there, in 1964? The ongoing dispute over Cyprus means the United Nations has maintained a buffer zone there for almost fifty years. I was thinking in the right area when I considered Greece. Gosh the only reason Cyprus is in the news nowadays is for Baghdatis the tennis player
3. Gumbo, New Orleans' NFL football mascot, is a dog of what large breed? Because they're the Saints, they're represented by a Saint Bernard. correct
4. Economist Adam Smith's most influential work was 1776's "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of" what? That's the full name of Smith's influential treatise The Wealth of Nations. correct
5. What author created genetically altered species like tracker jackers and jabberjays? My ten-year-old tells me that these are among the sci-fi accoutrements of the Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins. correct
6. Ted Fujita and Allen Pearson are best known for studying what weather phenomenon? The Fujita-Pearson scale is used to measure the intensity of tornadoes. aargh
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these musical acts? Air Supply, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Goo Goo Dolls, Grand Funk Railroad, Hootie and the Blowfish, Ludacris, Madonna, New Kids on the Block, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Steely Dan, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Yo La Tengo. I'm not sure if this is very stupid or just slightly stupid. These bands all have the same number of members as they do words in their names. Air Supply's a duo, Grand Funk Railroad's a trio, there were five New Kids on the Block, and so on. clever but very hard
1. The American writers Thomas Bulfinch and Edith Hamilton are best known for their definitive works on what subject? mythology
2. "The Jean Genie" was, appropriately enough given its title, the first single off of what 1973 David Bowie album? can't be Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I cannot recall another Bowie album from that era
3. What western U.S. state can claim to border seven other U.S. states? Colorado touches 7 if one counts bordering Arizona at Four Corners - OK, KS, NM, AZ, UT, WY, NE
4. Which American sports team added the word "leg" to its official name during the McCarthy-era 1950s? Cincinnati Redlegs
5. About 97% of human rabies deaths worldwide were cases transmitted from what animal? bats
6. What modern country was, about 2200 years ago, the center of one of the world's largest powers, the Maurya Empire? never heard of the Maurya Empire. Spelling is close to Maya. Could be coincidence.
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these famous folks? Prince Albert, Tsar Alexander III, King Fahd, Flaubert, Vasco da Gama, Gandhi, Ed Koch, Huey Long, George Washington, Walt Whitman. hey I know this one! each has a bridge named after him. First Q7 in a while that I have been able to answer.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. Never Say Never Again, Sean Connery's 1983 return to James Bond, was a remake of what other 007 film? The complicated rights situation behind Thunderball is the reason an independent production company could remake it in 1983. (Also the reason the "real" 007 movies can't use SPECTRE anymore.) yay, correct
2. What's the only member of today's European Union ever to have a U.N. peacekeeping mission sent there, in 1964? The ongoing dispute over Cyprus means the United Nations has maintained a buffer zone there for almost fifty years. I was thinking in the right area when I considered Greece. Gosh the only reason Cyprus is in the news nowadays is for Baghdatis the tennis player
3. Gumbo, New Orleans' NFL football mascot, is a dog of what large breed? Because they're the Saints, they're represented by a Saint Bernard. correct
4. Economist Adam Smith's most influential work was 1776's "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of" what? That's the full name of Smith's influential treatise The Wealth of Nations. correct
5. What author created genetically altered species like tracker jackers and jabberjays? My ten-year-old tells me that these are among the sci-fi accoutrements of the Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins. correct
6. Ted Fujita and Allen Pearson are best known for studying what weather phenomenon? The Fujita-Pearson scale is used to measure the intensity of tornadoes. aargh
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these musical acts? Air Supply, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Goo Goo Dolls, Grand Funk Railroad, Hootie and the Blowfish, Ludacris, Madonna, New Kids on the Block, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Steely Dan, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Yo La Tengo. I'm not sure if this is very stupid or just slightly stupid. These bands all have the same number of members as they do words in their names. Air Supply's a duo, Grand Funk Railroad's a trio, there were five New Kids on the Block, and so on. clever but very hard
