Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - November 12
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. What became the world's third country to build an orbiting satellite when Alouette I was launched in 1962? thanks to a missed Q20 on a Dream Builders quiz, I know this. Canada
2. What 1925 novel, not a big seller in its day, returned to the charts to become one of the top ten best-selling books of 2013? The Great Gatsby?
3. What U.S. state capital's downtown lies along the shore of Town Lake, recently renamed Lady Bird Lake? Austin, TX
4. In the Deaf community, they are called "finger fumblers." What is the hearing equivalent? mumblers?
5. Albert Brooks and Susan Dey turned down the two title roles in what 1989 romantic comedy? When Harry Met Sally
6. The anther, where pollen is produced, sits at the tip of what reproductive organ of a flower? stamen?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these famous people? John Adams, James Buchanan, Millard Fillmore, Tom Landry, William McKinley, Booker T. Washington, Walt Whitman, James Woods. Isn't there a James Woods High School on Family Guy? Schools on tv shows are named for these folks.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. The Everything Store is a new book profiling what American businessman? The store that sells everything in Brad Stone's controversial new book is Amazon, and the subject is CEO Jeff Bezos. correct
2. In the song "The House of the Rising Sun," what is the occupation of the singer's mother? "My mother was a tailor. She sewed my new bluejeans." Your mom sewed denim? Wow, that's pretty hardcore. meh
3. What is the better-known nickname for the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944? The act, which provided educational and professional benefits for returning World War II veterans, is usually called the G.I. Bill. correct
4. In 2011, what soda passed Pepsi for the first time to become the country's second-most popular soft drink? Coca-Cola now produces America's top two sodas: #1 Coke and #2 Diet Coke. correct
5. Which major league baseball team moved to the American League in 2013 after 51 seasons in the National League? The owner of the Houston Astros received $70 million to help realign Major League Baseball. correct
6. What lepton was renamed by scientist Enrico Fermi in 1932 to avoid confusion with a much larger atomic particle, whose name it previously shared? In the early days of atomic physics, there were two particles called the neutron. To avoid understandable confusion, the smaller one was renamed "neutrino." good question
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these countries, and no others that I can be sure of? Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, India, Jordan, Moldova, Niger, Nigeria, Paraguay, Republic of Congo, Senegal, Uruguay, Zambia. These countries are all named for a river--a river that still goes by the name the country is derived from. (I intentionally left out a few countries whose names come from no-longer-current names for one of their rivers, like Cameroon and Gabon.) There are also some ambiguous cases like Brunei, where the territory and the river seem to have been named at the same time. Did I miss any others? correct!
1. What became the world's third country to build an orbiting satellite when Alouette I was launched in 1962? thanks to a missed Q20 on a Dream Builders quiz, I know this. Canada
2. What 1925 novel, not a big seller in its day, returned to the charts to become one of the top ten best-selling books of 2013? The Great Gatsby?
3. What U.S. state capital's downtown lies along the shore of Town Lake, recently renamed Lady Bird Lake? Austin, TX
4. In the Deaf community, they are called "finger fumblers." What is the hearing equivalent? mumblers?
5. Albert Brooks and Susan Dey turned down the two title roles in what 1989 romantic comedy? When Harry Met Sally
6. The anther, where pollen is produced, sits at the tip of what reproductive organ of a flower? stamen?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these famous people? John Adams, James Buchanan, Millard Fillmore, Tom Landry, William McKinley, Booker T. Washington, Walt Whitman, James Woods. Isn't there a James Woods High School on Family Guy? Schools on tv shows are named for these folks.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. The Everything Store is a new book profiling what American businessman? The store that sells everything in Brad Stone's controversial new book is Amazon, and the subject is CEO Jeff Bezos. correct
2. In the song "The House of the Rising Sun," what is the occupation of the singer's mother? "My mother was a tailor. She sewed my new bluejeans." Your mom sewed denim? Wow, that's pretty hardcore. meh
3. What is the better-known nickname for the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944? The act, which provided educational and professional benefits for returning World War II veterans, is usually called the G.I. Bill. correct
4. In 2011, what soda passed Pepsi for the first time to become the country's second-most popular soft drink? Coca-Cola now produces America's top two sodas: #1 Coke and #2 Diet Coke. correct
5. Which major league baseball team moved to the American League in 2013 after 51 seasons in the National League? The owner of the Houston Astros received $70 million to help realign Major League Baseball. correct
6. What lepton was renamed by scientist Enrico Fermi in 1932 to avoid confusion with a much larger atomic particle, whose name it previously shared? In the early days of atomic physics, there were two particles called the neutron. To avoid understandable confusion, the smaller one was renamed "neutrino." good question
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these countries, and no others that I can be sure of? Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, India, Jordan, Moldova, Niger, Nigeria, Paraguay, Republic of Congo, Senegal, Uruguay, Zambia. These countries are all named for a river--a river that still goes by the name the country is derived from. (I intentionally left out a few countries whose names come from no-longer-current names for one of their rivers, like Cameroon and Gabon.) There are also some ambiguous cases like Brunei, where the territory and the river seem to have been named at the same time. Did I miss any others? correct!
