Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - May 28
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. Ellen Church and seven other San Francisco nurses became the pioneers of what profession when they were hired by BAT in 1930? does BAT mean Bay Area Transit? Could they have been bus drivers? School bus drivers?
2. In a remarkable streak, what actor has starred in a $500-million-grossing movie (internationally) in each of the last six years? someone in a super hero movie, right? Robert Downey Jr?
3. The only penguins native to the Northern Hemisphere live in what island group? I cannot come up with the name of an island group in Canada or Russia. Alaskan island group? Aleutians, but they are too far south for penguins, I would think. Baffin Island is a single island, not a group. Unless this is Greenland.
4. What type of portable hut used by Central Asian nomads takes its name from the Turkish for "home"? when I think of Central Asian hut, I think of "yurt"
5. TV star Clayton Moore is the only actor to have his character name listed on his Hollywood Walk of Fame star. Who did Moore play on TV for four seasons? the Lone Ranger!
6. As commonly stated, the principle known as Gresham's Law deals with the "good" and "bad" types of what? luck?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these performers? Paul McCartney, Rick Moranis, Dennis Quaid, Lily Tomlin, Raquel Welch, Mia Wasikowska a tough one. one might think that Mia Wasikowska would be a good place to start because she has had the shortest career and might yield a distinction that can be tested against the other performers. But I have nothing so far.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. In May 2010, what former US Postal Service cyclist admitted to long-term drug use, and accused his ex-teammate Lance Armstrong of doping as well? Floyd Landis actually wrote a book called Positively False before admitting that his doping denials were, well, positively false. correct
2. In what language does Medz Yeghern, or "Great Crime," refer to its speakers' unprecedented 1915-1923 genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire? Over a million Armenians are believed to have died in the first great genocide of the twentieth century. correct
3. What American author is less well-known for her three novels for adults, Wifey, Smart Women, and Summer Sisters? Not every Judy Blume book is about puberty. (Just all the others except these three.) correct
4. Two scientists who made groundbreaking medical discoveries--Thomas, who diagnosed a namesake lymphoma, and Dorothy, who discovered the structure of insulin and vitamin B-12--share what last name? Both are Hodgkins. The rest of us are non-Hodgkins. correct
5. Before a successful rock career and premature 1970 death, who was named "Ugliest Man on Campus" by a fraternity while attending the University of Texas in 1963? Janis Joplin, but she sure had the last laugh! Well, until her late 20s. correct
6. What is both the shallowest and the smallest of the world's five oceans? The Arctic is by far the smallest--about a fifth the size of the Indian Ocean, and about two-thirds the size of the Southern Ocean. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these U.S. presidents, and no others? John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Taft, Wilson, Eisenhower. These are all the presidents who actually died in the Washington, D.C. Not sure if this one is impossibly hard or not. Lincoln's death you probably heard about, but some of the others are pretty famous too. Adams collapsed on the floor of the House of Representatives, Harrison caught pneumonia at his own inauguration, Taft was still Chief Justice when his health started to go, etc. Woodrow Wilson, by the way, is the only president actually buried in the District. it was impossibly hard for me
1. Ellen Church and seven other San Francisco nurses became the pioneers of what profession when they were hired by BAT in 1930? does BAT mean Bay Area Transit? Could they have been bus drivers? School bus drivers?
2. In a remarkable streak, what actor has starred in a $500-million-grossing movie (internationally) in each of the last six years? someone in a super hero movie, right? Robert Downey Jr?
3. The only penguins native to the Northern Hemisphere live in what island group? I cannot come up with the name of an island group in Canada or Russia. Alaskan island group? Aleutians, but they are too far south for penguins, I would think. Baffin Island is a single island, not a group. Unless this is Greenland.
4. What type of portable hut used by Central Asian nomads takes its name from the Turkish for "home"? when I think of Central Asian hut, I think of "yurt"
5. TV star Clayton Moore is the only actor to have his character name listed on his Hollywood Walk of Fame star. Who did Moore play on TV for four seasons? the Lone Ranger!
6. As commonly stated, the principle known as Gresham's Law deals with the "good" and "bad" types of what? luck?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these performers? Paul McCartney, Rick Moranis, Dennis Quaid, Lily Tomlin, Raquel Welch, Mia Wasikowska a tough one. one might think that Mia Wasikowska would be a good place to start because she has had the shortest career and might yield a distinction that can be tested against the other performers. But I have nothing so far.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. In May 2010, what former US Postal Service cyclist admitted to long-term drug use, and accused his ex-teammate Lance Armstrong of doping as well? Floyd Landis actually wrote a book called Positively False before admitting that his doping denials were, well, positively false. correct
2. In what language does Medz Yeghern, or "Great Crime," refer to its speakers' unprecedented 1915-1923 genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire? Over a million Armenians are believed to have died in the first great genocide of the twentieth century. correct
3. What American author is less well-known for her three novels for adults, Wifey, Smart Women, and Summer Sisters? Not every Judy Blume book is about puberty. (Just all the others except these three.) correct
4. Two scientists who made groundbreaking medical discoveries--Thomas, who diagnosed a namesake lymphoma, and Dorothy, who discovered the structure of insulin and vitamin B-12--share what last name? Both are Hodgkins. The rest of us are non-Hodgkins. correct
5. Before a successful rock career and premature 1970 death, who was named "Ugliest Man on Campus" by a fraternity while attending the University of Texas in 1963? Janis Joplin, but she sure had the last laugh! Well, until her late 20s. correct
6. What is both the shallowest and the smallest of the world's five oceans? The Arctic is by far the smallest--about a fifth the size of the Indian Ocean, and about two-thirds the size of the Southern Ocean. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these U.S. presidents, and no others? John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Taft, Wilson, Eisenhower. These are all the presidents who actually died in the Washington, D.C. Not sure if this one is impossibly hard or not. Lincoln's death you probably heard about, but some of the others are pretty famous too. Adams collapsed on the floor of the House of Representatives, Harrison caught pneumonia at his own inauguration, Taft was still Chief Justice when his health started to go, etc. Woodrow Wilson, by the way, is the only president actually buried in the District. it was impossibly hard for me
