Totally Random Trivia: 2022

3) P.F. Chang's

I know that Taco Johns started in WY.

I'd guess Taco Bell

Yep, I guessed poorly.

I have been guilty of that also.

Blade might correct... Though... Taco John's >>> Taco Bell ...

4. Jose Canseco

Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse is one of the most awkwardly named restaurants. Really good food though

We went to the MPLS location for dinner once. I learned that they they put the serving plate in the broiler to so that the steak stays hotter longer. As a result it shortens the life span of the plates such that they have have to replace plates after 5 servings or so.

1. Baskin-Robbins

I did some checking and JC is the 1st of 4. I was surprised not to see The Mick, Say Hey Kid, were not.

Byron Buxton they are calling you. I'll guess he'll be #5.

4. Alfonso Soriano?

4) A-Rod

I think skinny Barry Bonds also did it.

I believe Sammy Sosa's on that list.

Steroid Barry Bonds sure didn't, but you are correct.

My bad on Bonds. I forgot the Barry is not a Jr.

Thus I thought, mistakenly, you were referring to his father.

When Barry started juicing? Who knows.

Canseco, Alfonso Soriano, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez I believe are the 4.

Soriano was actually in the 40/40/40 club (40 HRs, 40 SBs, 40 doubles).

Soriano also had 40 strikeouts and 40 walks…(FWIW, which isn’t much!!!)

Answers to Thursday, March 13, 2022

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?

Baskin-Robbins

(their names were Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins)

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?

Taco Bell

(His name was Glen Bell)

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?

P.F. Chang’s

(“P.F.” is Paul Fleming; “Chang” is Philip Chiang, son of renowned chef Cecilia Chiang)

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.

Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano

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?

Ruth

(the original was called Chris Steak House; it became Ruth’s Chris)

Questions for

Friday, April 1, 2022

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

1. Ignoring subtitles and numbers, five films with two letter titles have been at the top of the domestic box office in this century. Name as many of them as you can for one point each. Zero total if you get any wrong.

2. What mosquito-borne virus, which became notorious following worldwide outbreaks in 2015, is named after a Ugandan forest where it was first identified in rhesus monkeys in 1947?

3. What does a philatelist collect?

4. Hard Tack was a thoroughbred racehorse from the 1930s. He was named after the flavorless crackers eaten by Navy sailors, and he’s much more famous for siring another racehorse. Name his son.

5. Happy April Fools’ Day! Let us honor this holiday with a reading from Proverbs 26:11: “As a dog returns to its BLANK, so a fool repeats his folly.” Fill in that blank!

3. stamps

edit:

1) could "IT" be one of them?

4) (Come on) Seabiscuit !

5) Vomit

2) Zika virus?

Up

1. ET

1) Up, It, Us, FX. Those are fairly recent.

To me, "in this century" means since Y2K, so in that sense, "ET" would not be correct.

Yeah, I didn't read the question close enough.

Was there a more recent movie called FX? The one I’m thinking of was F/X and it came out in the 80’s.

1) A.I. ??

Yeah, I misread the question too. F/X was too early.

Answers to Friday, April 1, 2022

1. Ignoring subtitles and numbers, five films with two letter titles have been at the top of the domestic box office in this century. Name as many of them as you can for one point each. Zero total if you get any wrong.

“A.I.,” “Up,” “It,” “Us,” “RV” (a Robin Williams film you almost definitely forgot)

2. What mosquito-borne virus, which became notorious following worldwide outbreaks in 2015, is named after a Ugandan forest where it was first identified in rhesus monkeys in 1947?

Zika

3. What does a philatelist collect?

Stamps

4. Hard Tack was a thoroughbred racehorse from the 1930s. He was named after the flavorless crackers eaten by Navy sailors, and he’s much more famous for siring another racehorse. Name his son.

Seabiscuit

5. Happy April Fools’ Day! Let us honor this holiday with a reading from Proverbs 26:11: “As a dog returns to its BLANK, so a fool repeats his folly.” Fill in that blank!

Vomit

Questions for

Monday, April 4, 2022

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

1. Which is older: The big island of Hawai'i, or the smaller islands of Hawai'i?

2. What confection, formerly known in English as “marchpane,” consists primarily of sugar or honey combined with almond meal?

3. Two of the “Three Amigos” were featured in “Father of the Bride” and currently costar on “Only Murders in the Building.” Name both!

4. In the game of craps, there are two numbers you can roll to win on your first roll. Name both.

5. The fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court was the first to move away from seriatim decisions and towards single majority decisions. His rule was so influential that his period of the Supreme Court is named after his last name. What is it?

3. Martin Short & Steve Martin

1. Smaller islands

5) Marshall

2) Marzipan

4) 7 or 11?

Fun fact I learned today. The largest contiguous college campus in the US is Berry College in GA. It is 27,000 acres. For comparison, Penn State is about 8500 acres,

Berry College enrollment is around 2300.

I love marzipan! Specifically German Stollen with marzipan filling. Or chocolate covered marzipan, or Swedish semlor buns. Our wedding cake had rolled marzipan frosting. Did I mention I love marzipan?

Take away all of Hank Aaron’s home runs and he still has more hits than Wade Boggs. Think about that for a minute. (seen on a legit twitter account: Super 70's Sports).

That stat is crazy.

There are some absolutely insane Tony Gwynn stats/trivia that never cease to amaze me.

Including postseason play, Gwynn faced 18 Hall of Fame pitchers for a total of 541 plate appearances. That’s essentially a full season’s worth of plate appearances exclusively against Hall of Famers. Gwynn batted .331/.371/.426.

Gwynn finished his career batting .302 with two strikes. That's easily the best mark for any player since numbers were first tracked by count in the mid-1970s. Wade Boggs comes in second at .262. In fact, in 1994, Gwynn batted an absurd .397 in two-strike counts.

On 45 separate occasions, Gwynn recorded four hits in a game -- 11 more times than he recorded a multi-strikeout game.

This is the ultimate Gwynn stat, IMO:

Against Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Smoltz, the three great Braves’ pitchers, Gwynn batted .393 with only three strikeouts in more than 260 plate appearances. Unbelievable.

Delving deeper, holy crap:

Frank DiPino faced Gwynn 23 times. He walked Gwynn once, and Tony got a sacrifice fly and a sacrifice bunt once. In the other 20 plate appearances, DiPino owned Gwynn to the tune of 1-for-20. That’s a .050 batting average, which is only one-fourth of the Mendoza Line. That’s 288 points below Gwynn’s career batting average. It’s the type of record that gets a hitter sent to Amarillo, which is where Gwynn started his pro career. Tony batted .462 in Amarillo, and let’s face it, Gwynn hit everywhere he played, and in almost every situation.

He flat out owned Maddux. Had like 110 at bats against him, hit .415 and never struck out. He was an incredible hitter.

Answers to Monday, April 4, 2022

1. Which is older: The big island of Hawai'i, or the smaller islands of Hawai'i?

The smaller islands

(they’re smaller due to erosion. The Big Island is 4.5 million years younger than Kauai, the oldest Hawaiian island)

2. What confection, formerly known in English as “marchpane,” consists primarily of sugar or honey combined with almond meal?

Marzipan

3. Two of the “Three Amigos” were featured in “Father of the Bride” and currently costar on “Only Murders in the Building.” Name both!

Steve Martin and Martin Short

4. In the game of craps, there are two numbers you can roll to win on your first roll. Name both.

7, 11

5. The fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court was the first to move away from seriatim decisions and towards single majority decisions. His rule was so influential that his period of the Supreme Court is named after his last name. What is it?

(John) Marshall

Questions for

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

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

1. Residents of Panama, Suez, and Madison, Wisconsin might know that what seven-letter geography term comes from the Greek for “neck”?

2. In September 2009, Ben and Jerry’s temporarily dropped the first letter from the name of one of its most popular ice cream flavors. They did this in response to something that had recently happened in their home state of Vermont. What new name was created after that letter was dropped?

3. What 1798 poem contains the famous line, “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink”?

4. Megalon, Hedorah, and King Ghidorah are among the many antagonists who have tangled with what character on the big screen since 1954?

5. Only one person has been elected U.S. vice president twice and U.S. president twice. Name him.

1. Isthmus?

5. Nixon

4. Godzilla?

3. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner