Friday, August 30, 2013
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - July 9
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. What world leader used to take an immense Bedouin tent wherever he went, which Central Park refused to let him erect there in 2009? Ahmadinajad from Iran? Was it 2009 when he spoke at the UN and Columbia?
2. "Forkies" are fans of what TV series that ran on CBS from 1978 to 1991, and was revived in 2012? South Fork ---> Dallas
3. In his first draft of a 1913 story for All-Story magazine, what author created a new character then called "Zantar"? I don't know his name, but is this the author who created Zorro? Or perhaps L Frank Baum and Zantar was an Oz character?
4. According to Newton's second law of motion, the net force on an object is equal to the product of what two other quantities? F = ma ---> mass and acceleration
5. Johnny Sylvester, a Long Island executive who died in 1990, was best known for having briefly met, while ailing from a childhood disease in October 1926, what famous man? Babe Ruth! Sylvester must have been the kid for whom Ruth promised to hit a HR
6. What title ship of an 1878 operetta is skippered by Captain Corcoran, whose daughter Josephine wants to marry able seaman Ralph Rackstraw? operetta --> Gilbert and Sullivan ---> HMS Pinafore
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these movies? After Earth, Armageddon, Bride Wars, Bully, Frances Ha, Igby Goes Down, Mirror Mirror, The Roommate. No idea.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What figure of speech is a word derived from the Greek words for "sharp" and "dull"? Even the word "oxymoron" is oxymoronic! I might have had a chance if KJ has said "derived from the Greek words for sharp or keen and foolish." Still, a fun question. I got it wrong but enjoyed it.
2. Name one of the three countries that's never had a woman on its Olympic team. Saudi Arabia was the easy one, but I'm even more impressed if you guessed Qatar or Brunei. This is not correct. In fact, under pressure from the IOC, all three brought female athletes to London last year.
3. Because they're all owned by the same outfit, American Media, Inc., the leading U.S. supermarket tabloids are all published in what state? Boca Raton, Florida has long been the center of the U.S. checkout-lane gossip industry. correct
4. What's the lightest of the noble gases on the periodic table? The noble gases are stable, inert ones like neon, argon, and the like. The lightest one is helium--which Earth is apparently running out of, by the way. Have you heard about this? No more party balloons, kids. correct
5. What kind of animal lent its name to Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's "virtual band" and appears on the cover of Bruno Mars' album Unorthodox Jukebox? The band is the Gorillaz, and it's a gorilla trying to operate the titular Bruno Mars jukebox. I had no chance at this one.
6. Three American presidents with the same first name were born in the exact same county. What is the shared name? Tiny Norfolk County, Massachusetts has, remarkably, been the birthplace of FOUR presidents: three of which were named John (Adams, Adams, and Kennedy). George H. W. Bush was the fourth. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these nations and no others? Australia, Austria, Brazil, Burma, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Micronesia, Nigeria, Palau, South Sudan, Sudan, the U.S., Venezuela. These are all the world's countries that are subdivided into states. So quit saying you're from "the States," Americans overseas. Micronesians and Burmese could say that too. correct!
1. What world leader used to take an immense Bedouin tent wherever he went, which Central Park refused to let him erect there in 2009? Ahmadinajad from Iran? Was it 2009 when he spoke at the UN and Columbia?
2. "Forkies" are fans of what TV series that ran on CBS from 1978 to 1991, and was revived in 2012? South Fork ---> Dallas
3. In his first draft of a 1913 story for All-Story magazine, what author created a new character then called "Zantar"? I don't know his name, but is this the author who created Zorro? Or perhaps L Frank Baum and Zantar was an Oz character?
4. According to Newton's second law of motion, the net force on an object is equal to the product of what two other quantities? F = ma ---> mass and acceleration
5. Johnny Sylvester, a Long Island executive who died in 1990, was best known for having briefly met, while ailing from a childhood disease in October 1926, what famous man? Babe Ruth! Sylvester must have been the kid for whom Ruth promised to hit a HR
6. What title ship of an 1878 operetta is skippered by Captain Corcoran, whose daughter Josephine wants to marry able seaman Ralph Rackstraw? operetta --> Gilbert and Sullivan ---> HMS Pinafore
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these movies? After Earth, Armageddon, Bride Wars, Bully, Frances Ha, Igby Goes Down, Mirror Mirror, The Roommate. No idea.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What figure of speech is a word derived from the Greek words for "sharp" and "dull"? Even the word "oxymoron" is oxymoronic! I might have had a chance if KJ has said "derived from the Greek words for sharp or keen and foolish." Still, a fun question. I got it wrong but enjoyed it.
2. Name one of the three countries that's never had a woman on its Olympic team. Saudi Arabia was the easy one, but I'm even more impressed if you guessed Qatar or Brunei. This is not correct. In fact, under pressure from the IOC, all three brought female athletes to London last year.
3. Because they're all owned by the same outfit, American Media, Inc., the leading U.S. supermarket tabloids are all published in what state? Boca Raton, Florida has long been the center of the U.S. checkout-lane gossip industry. correct
4. What's the lightest of the noble gases on the periodic table? The noble gases are stable, inert ones like neon, argon, and the like. The lightest one is helium--which Earth is apparently running out of, by the way. Have you heard about this? No more party balloons, kids. correct
5. What kind of animal lent its name to Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's "virtual band" and appears on the cover of Bruno Mars' album Unorthodox Jukebox? The band is the Gorillaz, and it's a gorilla trying to operate the titular Bruno Mars jukebox. I had no chance at this one.
6. Three American presidents with the same first name were born in the exact same county. What is the shared name? Tiny Norfolk County, Massachusetts has, remarkably, been the birthplace of FOUR presidents: three of which were named John (Adams, Adams, and Kennedy). George H. W. Bush was the fourth. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these nations and no others? Australia, Austria, Brazil, Burma, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Micronesia, Nigeria, Palau, South Sudan, Sudan, the U.S., Venezuela. These are all the world's countries that are subdivided into states. So quit saying you're from "the States," Americans overseas. Micronesians and Burmese could say that too. correct!
