Totally Random Trivia: 2022

Answers to Tuesday, March 22, 2022

1. There are two landlocked countries in South America. Name either one.

Bolivia, Paraguay

2. What urban legend was first mentioned in print in a 1995 Fort Wayne Journal Gazette article about “synchronicity,” and has since been dismissed by British audio engineer Alan Parsons as, quote, “a complete load of eyewash”?

“The Dark Side of the Rainbow”

(i.e., playing ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ as a soundtrack to ‘The Wizard of Oz’)

3. The 1956 movie “High Society” was set in Newport, Rhode Island. It was a musical remake of what 1940 Katharine Hepburn movie—set 275 miles to the southwest?

“Philadelphia Story”

4. What confectionery product is manufactured by a company called Just Born, and adopted the marketing slogan “Always in season” when it expanded its previously annual offerings?

Peeps

5. Two countries claim to have invented the French fry. One is France. What is the other?

Belgium

Questions for

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. In March of 1989, the Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef, a well-known navigation hazard in which Alaskan inlet?

2. Voiced by a famous radio DJ from 1969 to 1997, the cartoon character Norville Rogers is better known by what name?

3. Prior to the end of the Korean War, what was Veterans Day known as?

4. What Cleveland, Ohio, company uses the advertising slogan “Cover the Earth,” as well as a logo that shows their product doing just that?

5. What is the only country that has coastline on both the Indian Ocean and the Caspian Sea?

3. Armistice Day

4. Sherwin Williams

1) Cook Inlet

Edit: When the term " inlet" was used in the question I replied with the 1st Alaskan inlet I could think of. There is a fairly substantial peninsula with mountains between the 2 bodies in question.

As an side a cousin was at one time the VP in charge of the paint store division of SW. A kid from Isle made good.

5) Iran

1. Prince William Sound

2. Shaggy

Zoinks!

I love that this is on Wikipedia:

Local tidbit fact: the Exxon Valdez environmental lawsuit was headlined by my husbands law firm Faegre Benson here in Minneapolis. They represented the local town and the fishermen.

Answers to Wednesday, March 23, 2022

1. In March of 1989, the Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef, a well-known navigation hazard in which Alaskan inlet?

Prince William Sound

2. Voiced by a famous radio DJ from 1969 to 1997, the cartoon character Norville Rogers is better known by what name?

Shaggy

(from “Scooby-Doo”)

3. Prior to the end of the Korean War, what was Veterans Day known as?

Armistice Day

4. What Cleveland, Ohio, company uses the advertising slogan “Cover the Earth,” as well as a logo that shows their product doing just that?

Sherwin-Williams

(logo is a paint can pouring paint on a globe)

5. What is the only country that has coastline on both the Indian Ocean and the Caspian Sea?

Iran

Questions for

Theme Thursday, March 24, 2022

One Letter Different: I'll define two words that are just one letter off from each other. You write down both words. Example: If I said, “One is the opposite of ‘Villains.’ The other is an illness,” your answers would be “Heroes” and “Herpes.”

Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. One is a whirlpool. The other is a geometry term for a meeting point.

2. One is a juicy drupe in the cashew family. The other is a type of comics.

3. One is the first fallen angel. The other is a place you could settle.

4. One could be James or Jennifer. The other is a semi-precious red stone.

5. One is what you swear to a monarch. The other is what the characters in “Glengarry Glen Ross” sell.

1: Vortex - Vertex

5: Fealty - Realty

4. Garnet - Garner

3. Satan - Catan?

2. Mango-Manga

I would like to submit that #4 could be Rube-Ruby, as the question is asked...

--Cliff Claven

Answers to Thursday, March 24, 2022

1. One is a whirlpool. The other is a geometry term for a meeting point.

Vortex, vertex

2. One is a juicy drupe in the cashew family. The other is a type of comics.

Mango, manga

3. One is the first fallen angel. The other is a place you could settle.

Satan, Catan

4. One could be James or Jennifer. The other is a semi-precious red stone.

Garner, garnet

5. One is what you swear to a monarch. The other is what the characters in “Glengarry Glen Ross” sell.

Fealty, realty

Questions for

Friday, March 25, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in Monday’s email.

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: The top navigation bar at the website Gap.com contains links to three other clothing brands associated with the Gap. Name as many of them as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any wrong. Note: We are looking for non-Gap brands, so don’t write down “Baby Gap” or “Gap Kids.”

2. The 1889 World’s Fair was memorable in that it served as the unveiling of what monument?

3. Which organ in your body creates insulin?

4. True or false: George Washington was alive when the U.S. capital was named Washington, D.C.

5. Today is March 25. Born on this day in 1925, what Southern Gothic writer wrote “Wise Blood,” “The Violent Bear It Away,” and won the 1972 National Book Award for her posthumously compiled collection “Complete Stories”?

3) Pancreas

2 Eiffel Tower

2. Eiffel Tower

3. Pancreas

1. Banana Republic, Old Navy, and ???

4. True

Athleta. Ugh. My wife probably spends more money there than she does at the grocery store.

5. Flannery O'Connor?

Actually, it's a little known fact that rubies are precious, not semiprecious.

-Cliff Clavin

Guy de Maupassant famously ate lunch at the Eiffel Tower every day because it was the one place in the city that he wouldn't have to look at it.

I LOVE Athleta! How much money do you spend at Home Depot? :poke:

Answers to Friday, March 25, 2022

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: The top navigation bar at the website Gap.com contains links to three other clothing brands associated with the Gap. Name as many of them as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any wrong. Note: We are looking for non-Gap brands, so don’t write down “Baby Gap” or “Gap Kids.”

Old Navy, Banana Republic, Athleta

2. The 1889 World’s Fair was memorable in that it served as the unveiling of what monument?

The Eiffel Tower

3. Which organ in your body creates insulin?

Pancreas

4. True or false: George Washington was alive when the U.S. capital was named Washington, D.C.

True

5. Today is March 25. Born on this day in 1925, what Southern Gothic writer wrote “Wise Blood,” “The Violent Bear It Away,” and won the 1972 National Book Award for her posthumously compiled collection “Complete Stories”?

Flannery O’Connor

Questions for

Monday, March 28, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. Bought by Verizon in 2015, what web service was called the GeoSystems Global Corporation when it first went online in 1996?

2. The most recent major caliphate in the Muslim world lasted from 1517 until its defeat in World War I. What is the name of that caliphate?

3. Yes or no: Is there an apostrophe in Walgreen(')s?

4. “Essentially the War of the Roses with magic.” That’s how the New York Times described the novels of what writer in a 2011 review?

5. There have been two Nobel Peace Prize winners from the state of Georgia. Name both of them.

2) The Ottoman Empire

5) Jimmy Carter & Martin Luther King, Jr. (??)

4. Game of Thrones?

5. Jimmy Carter and ??

3. No

1. MapQuest

Answers to Monday, March 28, 2022

1. Bought by Verizon in 2015, what web service was called the GeoSystems Global Corporation when it first went online in 1996?

MapQuest

2. The most recent major caliphate in the Muslim world lasted from 1517 until its defeat in World War I. What is the name of that caliphate?

Ottoman Empire (or Ottoman Caliphate)

3. Yes or no: Is there an apostrophe in Walgreen(')s?

No

4. “Essentially the War of the Roses with magic.” That’s how the New York Times described the novels of what writer in a 2011 review?

George R.R. Martin

5. There have been two Nobel Peace Prize winners from the state of Georgia. Name both of them.

Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King Jr.

Questions for

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email.

.

1. It’s well known among Hall and Oates fans that one of them had a mustache, and one didn’t. Who had the mustache: Hall or Oates?

2. What company's three-word slogan was inspired by the last words of murderer Gary Gilmore before he was executed by firing squad in 1977?

3. In 1971, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar held a benefit concert for a region then known as East Pakistan. What is that region called today?

4. If you’re a ruminant, you regurgitate food from your stomach into your mouth for a second round of digestion. What is that half-digested food called?

5. After a blow to the head, a man wakes up in medieval England, where he convinces everyone he is a wizard in what 1889 Mark Twain novel?

1 John Oates

3 Bangladesh

3) Bangladesh

4) Cud ??

2. Nike (Just do it.)

5. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Answers to Tuesday, March 29, 2022

1. It’s well known among Hall and Oates fans that one of them had a mustache, and one didn’t. Who had the mustache: Hall or Oates?

Oates

2. What company's three-word slogan was inspired by the last words of murderer Gary Gilmore before he was executed by firing squad in 1977?

Nike

("Just do it" is inspired by Gilmore's final words, "Let's do it")

3. In 1971, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar held a benefit concert for a region then known as East Pakistan. What is that region called today?

Bangladesh

(it was “The Concert for Bangladesh”)

4. If you’re a ruminant, you regurgitate food from your stomach into your mouth for a second round of digestion. What is that half-digested food called?

Cud

5. After a blow to the head, a man wakes up in medieval England, where he convinces everyone he is a wizard in what 1889 Mark Twain novel?

“A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”

Questions for

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. Clocking in as the third-smallest country in Europe at just over 24 square miles, what country is located entirely within the boundaries of Italy and is sometimes called “The Most Serene Republic”?

2. What jazz saxophonist, influential in the creation of bebop, was nicknamed “Yardbird,” later shortened to “Bird”?

3. After “Forrest Gump,” Gary Sinise and Tom Hanks appeared in two more full length feature films together. Name one of them.

4. What is the northernmost state capital in the lower 48 United States?

5. What style of earthenware is closely associated with the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China?

1) San Marino

2) Charlie Parker

3. Apollo 13, The Green Mile

4. Olympia, WA?

5. I’m guessing Terra Cotta

I feel like we had this question not that long ago, and yes.

Answers to Wednesday, March 30, 2022

1. Clocking in as the third-smallest country in Europe at just over 24 square miles, what country is located entirely within the boundaries of Italy and is sometimes called “The Most Serene Republic”?

San Marino

2. What jazz saxophonist, influential in the creation of bebop, was nicknamed “Yardbird,” later shortened to “Bird”?

Charlie Parker

3. After “Forrest Gump,” Gary Sinise and Tom Hanks appeared in two more full length feature films together. Name one of them.

“Apollo 13,” “Green Mile”

4. What is the northernmost state capital in the lower 48 United States?

Olympia, Washington

5. What style of earthenware is closely associated with the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China?

Terracotta

Questions for

Theme Thursday, March 31, 2022

Real People, Real Restaurants: Five questions about restaurants named after real people.

Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. Burton’s Ice Cream Shop and Snowbird Ice Cream were competing Glendale, California businesses owned by rival brothers-in-law who eventually merged their shops in 1953. What did they name their newly merged business?

2. In the ‘40s, a guy named Glen ran a hot dog stand near a much more successful Mexican restaurant. He got the owners to show him how to make their signature dish, and opened his first brick-and-mortar in Downey, California, with a name combining his top dish and his own last name. What did he call it?

3. In 1993, a restaurateur named Paul Fleming joined forces with the family often credited with introducing Mandarin food to America. Together they created what chain, which now operates more than 300 locations worldwide?

4. Jay-Z owns a New York sports bar called the 40/40 Club, after an elite group of four baseball players who stole 40 bases and hit 40 home runs in a single season. Name one of those four players.

5. In 1965, a divorced single mother bought a popular New Orleans steakhouse, and staffed it almost entirely with other single moms. When she opened a second location, her original purchase agreement forced her to add her name to the business. Her last name was Fertel—what was her first name?

5) Ruth

2) Taco John's?

5 Ruth

Edit: a tad late there reading through all that