Friday, September 20, 2013
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - September 10
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. "Ikebana" is a Japanese art whose name literally means "giving life to" what objects? is this the art of folding paper cranes?
2. In 27 of the 50 U.S. states, the highest-paid state employee does what specific job? college football coach
3. Two of the greatest challenges to Bill Clinton's presidency happened on the same date: April 19, in 1993 and 1995. In what two U.S. cities did these events take place? Waco, Oklahoma City
4. What Roman god appropriately lent his name to the planet that was, until 1915, believed to orbit between the Sun and Mercury? Vulcan?
5. What titular advice does Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg give the women reading her 2013 bestseller? Lean In
6. What 1974 film--the only outright comedy to top the yearly box-office gross between the 1940s and the 1980s--was set a century earlier, in 1874? Blazing Saddles!
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these world leaders? Silvio Berlusconi, Anthony Eden, Bob Hawke, Nelson Mandela, Angela Merkel, Andreas Papandreou, Vladimir Putin, Ronald Reagan, Nicolas Sarkozy, Pierre Trudeau. All divorced or are separated and presumed to be headed for divorce (Putin)
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. The 1598 Edict of Nantes, while reiterating that Catholicism was the state religion of France, granted more freedoms to what Calvinist Protestant minority? They were Huguenots. Huguenot? Hugue-Yes!
2. Doctor Who actor David Tennant, born David McDonald, took his stage name in honor of the lead singer of what 1980s duo? It was a nod to Neil Tennant, of the Pet Shop Boys. was David McDonald an East End Boy with West End Girls?
3. Robert Rayford, who died in St. Louis in 1969, is now believed to be the first American to have died from what cause? Recent testing has revealed that the teenaged Rayford died of AIDS, more than a decade before the North American AIDS epidemic proper began, and fifteen years before the discovery of HIV. No one knows how this is possible. correct4. In the original Space Invaders game, players faced how many rows of eleven aliens each? Five rows of eleven--though some of the early ports, like the one I played on my Atari 2600 back in 1980, were 6x6 instead due to resolution issues. I thought that it would probably be an odd number
5. Before he began collaborating with Oscar Hammerstein in 1942, Richard Rodgers did most of his work with what lyricist? Before there was Rodgers & Hammerstein, there was Rodgers & Hart. correct
6. Of the African countries that border the Mediterranean, which is by far the smallest in area? Tunisia is MUCH smaller than Morocco, Algeria, Libya, or Egypt. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these movies? The Bling Ring, Dog Day Afternoon, The Fast and the Furious, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Insider, I Want To Live!, Live Free or Die Hard, On the Waterfront, Top Gun, Zulu. All these movies were based on magazine articles. I was inspired by a New York Times article about a couple of writers working to fund longform journalism in a post-print media era by working with reporters to pre-sell the movie rights to their stories! What a world. correct!
1. "Ikebana" is a Japanese art whose name literally means "giving life to" what objects? is this the art of folding paper cranes?
2. In 27 of the 50 U.S. states, the highest-paid state employee does what specific job? college football coach
3. Two of the greatest challenges to Bill Clinton's presidency happened on the same date: April 19, in 1993 and 1995. In what two U.S. cities did these events take place? Waco, Oklahoma City
4. What Roman god appropriately lent his name to the planet that was, until 1915, believed to orbit between the Sun and Mercury? Vulcan?
5. What titular advice does Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg give the women reading her 2013 bestseller? Lean In
6. What 1974 film--the only outright comedy to top the yearly box-office gross between the 1940s and the 1980s--was set a century earlier, in 1874? Blazing Saddles!
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these world leaders? Silvio Berlusconi, Anthony Eden, Bob Hawke, Nelson Mandela, Angela Merkel, Andreas Papandreou, Vladimir Putin, Ronald Reagan, Nicolas Sarkozy, Pierre Trudeau. All divorced or are separated and presumed to be headed for divorce (Putin)
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. The 1598 Edict of Nantes, while reiterating that Catholicism was the state religion of France, granted more freedoms to what Calvinist Protestant minority? They were Huguenots. Huguenot? Hugue-Yes!
2. Doctor Who actor David Tennant, born David McDonald, took his stage name in honor of the lead singer of what 1980s duo? It was a nod to Neil Tennant, of the Pet Shop Boys. was David McDonald an East End Boy with West End Girls?
3. Robert Rayford, who died in St. Louis in 1969, is now believed to be the first American to have died from what cause? Recent testing has revealed that the teenaged Rayford died of AIDS, more than a decade before the North American AIDS epidemic proper began, and fifteen years before the discovery of HIV. No one knows how this is possible. correct4. In the original Space Invaders game, players faced how many rows of eleven aliens each? Five rows of eleven--though some of the early ports, like the one I played on my Atari 2600 back in 1980, were 6x6 instead due to resolution issues. I thought that it would probably be an odd number
5. Before he began collaborating with Oscar Hammerstein in 1942, Richard Rodgers did most of his work with what lyricist? Before there was Rodgers & Hammerstein, there was Rodgers & Hart. correct
6. Of the African countries that border the Mediterranean, which is by far the smallest in area? Tunisia is MUCH smaller than Morocco, Algeria, Libya, or Egypt. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these movies? The Bling Ring, Dog Day Afternoon, The Fast and the Furious, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Insider, I Want To Live!, Live Free or Die Hard, On the Waterfront, Top Gun, Zulu. All these movies were based on magazine articles. I was inspired by a New York Times article about a couple of writers working to fund longform journalism in a post-print media era by working with reporters to pre-sell the movie rights to their stories! What a world. correct!
