Totally Random Trivia: 2022

Questions for Monday, September 19, 2022

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

1. What fast food chain unsuccessfully attempted to trademark a unit of measurement twice, once in 2007 and again in 2009? Hint: Once you hear the answer the jingle will be in your head all day.

2. What Indian instrument generally has between 18 and 21 strings, and was popularized in the U.S. in the 1960s by musician Ravi Shankar?

3. When it was first invented in the mid-1800s, what mode of transportation was nicknamed the “boneshaker,” due to how uncomfortable it was to ride?

4. Flowing from its namesake Highlands to the Chesapeake Bay, what river forms the border between Washington, D.C. and Maryland?

5. Harry Truman kept a sign on his desk in the Oval Office. The back of the sign, which faced him, read, “I’m from Missouri.” The front of the sign bore a four-word slogan that he made fa

2 - Sitar

4 - Potomac

5. The buck stops here.

3 - Bicycle 

1.  Subway footlong?

Posted by: @steve-mn

3 - Bicycle 

Correct... though one could say the early stage coach was a "boneshaker" cause it was uncomfortable to ride as well.

Answers to Monday, September 19, 2022

1. What fast food chain unsuccessfully attempted to trademark a unit of measurement twice, once in 2007 and again in 2009? Hint: Once you hear the answer the jingle will be in your head all day.

Subway
(for “footlong”)

2. What Indian instrument generally has between 18 and 21 strings, and was popularized in the U.S. in the 1960s by musician Ravi Shankar?

Sitar

3. When it was first invented in the mid-1800s, what mode of transportation was nicknamed the “boneshaker,” due to how uncomfortable it was to ride?

Bicycle
(“Velocipede” is also acceptable)

4. Flowing from its namesake Highlands to the Chesapeake Bay, what river forms the border between Washington, D.C. and Maryland?

Potomac
(Correction Corner: The Potomac forms the border between Washington, D.C. and Virginia, not D.C. and Maryland! Trivia Mafia regrets the error.)

5. Harry Truman kept a sign on his desk in the Oval Office. The back of the sign, which faced him, read, “I’m from Missouri.” The front of the sign bore a four-word slogan that he made famous. What was that slogan?

“The buck stops here.”

Questions for
Tuesday, September 20, 2022

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

1. Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose both won their Oscars for portraying what “West Side Story” character, who shares her first name with a Brandeis law professor?

2. In 1998, Hyundai Motor Company absorbed the then-bankrupt Kia Motors. In which country are those car brands based?

3. Zingers, Sno Balls, and Suzy Q’s are all packaged desserts produced by what manufacturer?

4. Boxers fight in a square. Wrestlers wrestle in a circle. Inside what shape do UFC fighters fight?

5. What newspaper comic has been collected in such compendiums as “Weiner Dog Art,” “Night of the Crash-Test Dummies” and “The Chickens Are Restless”?

1. Anita

2. South Korea

3 Hostess

4 Octagon 

5 - The Far Side!!!

Best comic ever...

Posted by: @greyeagle

5 - The Far Side!!!

Best comic ever...

Up there with Family Circus.

Posted by: @gator

Posted by: @greyeagle

5 - The Far Side!!!

Best comic ever...

Up there with Family Circus.

@greyeagle 

I like Far Side.  Though some of his stuff I don't get and it takes awhile to get it.  Family Circus is from my childhood and the Sunday morning paper every week.  Both have their humor, thought Far Side might be a step better.

Posted by: @gator

Posted by: @greyeagle

5 - The Far Side!!!

Best comic ever...

Up there with Family Circus.

I get people have different opinions, but I'm speechless here.  Wow.

@hockeybum 

"When you are in your own lane, there is no traffic"

I've never been one to like something just because the rest of the herd likes it. I'll post things and say things that might get replies and eye rolls and I don't do it for shock value. I'm my own breed, I guess... LoL!!!

Answers to Tuesday, September 20, 2022

1. Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose both won their Oscars for portraying what “West Side Story” character, who shares her first name with a Brandeis law professor?

Anita (Anita Hill)

2. In 1998, Hyundai Motor Company absorbed the then-bankrupt Kia Motors. In what country are those car brands based?

South Korea

3. Zingers, Sno Balls, and Suzy Q’s are all packaged desserts produced by what manufacturer?

Hostess

4. Boxers fight in a square. Wrestlers wrestle in a circle. Inside what shape do UFC fighters fight?

Octagon

5. What newspaper comic has been collected in such compendiums as “Weiner Dog Art,” “Night of the Crash-Test Dummies” and “The Chickens Are Restless”?

“The Far Side”

Questions for
Wednesday, September 21, 2022

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

1. What kind of human-made tunnel can you find in Paris, beyond the Barrière d'Enfer, or in Rome, along the Appian Way?

2. “Jeff the Killer” and “Ted the Caver” are examples of what tasty-sounding genre of internet horror stories?

3. Excluding Antarctica, which is not a country, the largest country by area that the Prime Meridian passes through is in North Africa. What is it?

4. “Timberwolf” was the Secret Service code name for which U.S. president, who died of complications from Parkinson’s in 2018?

5. The new “Avatar” movie is coming out this winter. The first movie used what word for a floating, difficult-to-acquire element, actually used by real-world engineers who plan impossible structures?

4. George Herbert Walker bush

5. Unobtainium?

3: Algeria

4: George HW Bush

2 - Urban Legend ?? 

1. Catacombs?

(Zwak editorial note:  I was today years old when I first heard the term ‘creepypasta’.)

Answers to Wednesday, September 21, 2022

1. What kind of human-made tunnel can you find in Paris, beyond the Barrière d'Enfer, or in Rome, along the Appian Way?

Catacombs

2. “Jeff the Killer” and “Ted the Caver” are examples of what tasty-sounding genre of internet horror stories?

Creepypasta

3. Excluding Antarctica, which is not a country, the largest country by area that the Prime Meridian passes through is in North Africa. What is it?

Algeria

4. “Timberwolf” was the Secret Service code name for which U.S. president, who died of complications from Parkinson’s in 2018?

George H.W. Bush

5. The new “Avatar” movie is coming out this winter. The first movie used what word for a floating, difficult-to-acquire element, actually used by real-world engineers who plan impossible structures?

Unobtanium

Questions for Theme Thursday, September 22, 2022

Mystery Round: Four questions whose answers have a hidden connection.

Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. An acronym you may see if you get a raise unrelated to your performance, written lowercase, means “tail” or “queue” in Spanish. What is that word?

2. What letter serves as the official nickname of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority?

3. Nicki Minaj is generally considered to have the best guest verse, and Jay-Z the worst, on what 2010 song, which also features Bon Iver?

4. “Strange to Meet You,” “Somewhere in California,” and “Those Things'll Kill Ya” are a few of the shorts that make up what 2003 Jim Jarmusch anthology film?

5. What’s the hidden connection between all the answers?

2 - T

1. COLA?

5. Is a stab in the dark but is the connection that the answers are all types of drinks?

I have no clue what the answers to 3 or 4 ar

3. Monster

4. Coffee and Cigarettes

5. What davescharf said. Maybe caffeine to be even more specific?

Answers to Thursday, September 22, 2022
1. An acronym you may see if you get a raise unrelated to your performance, written lowercase, means “tail” or “queue” in Spanish. What is that word?

COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment)

2. What letter serves as the official nickname of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority?

T

3. Nicki Minaj is generally considered to have the best guest verse, and Jay-Z the worst, on what 2010 song, which also features Bon Iver?

“Monster”

4. “Strange to Meet You,” “Somewhere in California,” and “Those Things'll Kill Ya” are a few of the shorts that make up what 2003 Jim Jarmusch anthology film?

“Coffee and Cigarettes”

5. What’s the hidden connection between all the answers?

(Caffeinated) Beverages

Questions for
Friday, September 23, 2022

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

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: If you list the team nicknames in the Big 10 Conference alphabetically, the Golden Gophers are sixth. Name as many of the five teams ahead of the Gophers as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any wrong.

2. What plant in the genus Sagittaria is not, despite what Suzanne Collins would have you believe, related to a primrose?

3. What is the largest of Neptune’s moons, named after the fish-tailed son of Poseidon and Amphitrite?

4. When Arcade Fire’s 2010 record won the Grammy for “Album of the Year,” some people thought the band who played “Love is the Law” had won instead. That’s because the album and band share what name?

5. Today is September 23. On this day in 1889, craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi founded a business to sell his handmade playing cards. You’d be forgiven for thinking his company was started in the 1980s. Name that entertainment company, which brought in over $13 billion in revenue in 2021.

1. Buckeyes, Cornhuskers, Badgers, Boilermakers

4.  The Suburbs

1. Fighting Illini. Finally came to me

Posted by: @norm

1. Buckeyes, Cornhuskers, Badgers, Boilermakers

 

Fighting Illini?

3: Triton

2. Katniss

5. Nintendo

Random trivia fact, that I'm sure everyone here knows (or SHOULD know):
Today is the 30th anniversary of Manon Rheaume playing an NHL preseason game for TB Lightning. Only woman to play in the NHL. 

Went to Back Channel Brewing's Oktoberfest today, and they had a pickle-kicking contest. Exactly what it sounds like. State Fair sized pickles, with a FG-tee thingy holding up the pickle, and you kicked it. The winner was 145 feet (125 feet in the air)  

Googled to see if there was an official record of such a feat, there is not. They plan to contact the Guinness Book for next year's event. There were a few kicks around the 100-110 foot range, but that one kick was insane. 

Posted by: @the-rube

Went to Back Channel Brewing's Oktoberfest today, and they had a pickle-kicking contest. Exactly what it sounds like. State Fair sized pickles, with a FG-tee thingy holding up the pickle, and you kicked it. The winner was 145 feet (125 feet in the air)  

Googled to see if there was an official record of such a feat, there is not. They plan to contact the Guinness Book for next year's event. There were a few kicks around the 100-110 foot range, but that one kick was insane. 

Answers to Friday, September 23, 2022

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: If you list the team nicknames in the Big 10 Conference alphabetically, the Golden Gophers are sixth. Name as many of the five teams ahead of the Gophers as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any wrong.

Badgers, Boilermakers, Buckeyes, Cornhuskers, Fighting Illini

2. What plant in the genus Sagittaria is not, despite what Suzanne Collins would have you believe, related to a primrose?

Katniss
(Katniss Everdeen’s sister in “The Hunger Games” is named Primrose)

3. What is the largest of Neptune’s moons, named after the fish-tailed son of Poseidon and Amphitrite?

Triton

4. When Arcade Fire’s 2010 record won the Grammy for “Album of the Year,” some people thought the band who played “Love is the Law” had won instead. That’s because the album and band share what name?

The Suburbs

5. Today is September 23. On this day in 1889, craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi founded a business to sell his handmade playing cards. You’d be forgiven for thinking his company was started in the 1980s. Name that entertainment company, which brought in over $13 billion in revenue in 2021.

Nintendo

Questions for
Monday, September 26, 2022

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

1. Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, “Fences” is a 2016 drama starring, produced, and directed by whom?

2. The tallest mountain in China is known in that country as Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng, or “Holy Mother Peak.” What is that mountain’s English-language name?

3. Andouille, longganisa, and botifarra are all examples of what foodstuff?

4. What two-word term refers to a 1980s soft power branding strategy aiming to disseminate the attractiveness of certain video games, manga, anime, and fashion to the rest of the world?

5. What species of flightless Southern Hemisphere bird, known for its conspicuous yellow crest, was named for its resemblance to a mid-18th century fashion movement, as close listeners to the song “Yankee Doodle” might know?

3. Sausage

1. Denzel Washington

2 - must be Mt. Everest. 

4. Cool Japan

5) Penguin?!?!?!

Answers to Monday, September 26, 2022

1. Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, “Fences” is a 2016 drama starring, produced, and directed by whom?

Denzel Washington

2. The tallest mountain in China is known in that country as Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng, or “Holy Mother Peak.” What is that mountain’s English-language name?

Mount Everest
(it’s also the tallest mountain in Nepal. And, y’know, the world.)

3. Andouille, longganisa, and botifarra are all examples of what foodstuff?

Sausage

4. What two-word term refers to a 1980s soft power branding strategy aiming to disseminate the attractiveness of certain video games, manga, anime, and fashion to the rest of the world?

“Cool Japan”

5. What species of flightless Southern Hemisphere bird, known for its conspicuous yellow crest, was named for its resemblance to a mid-18th century fashion movement, as close listeners to the song “Yankee Doodle” might know?

Macaroni Penguin
(“Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni”)

Questions for Tuesday, September 27, 2022

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

1. One of the only places where you can cross the U.S.-Canada border without documentation is within the bounds of the world’s first “international peace park.” This site connects the Waterton Lakes National Park of Alberta to which American national park?

2. True or false: Composer Philip Glass and radio personality Ira Glass are related.

3. Rheum is a thin, crusty layer of mucus that most commonly collects around what part of the human body?

4. Legend holds that notorious womanizer and chef Thornton Prince faced the ire of his girlfriend, who got revenge by making his chicken intolerably spicy. He liked it so much he started selling chicken that way. In what city will you find his restaurant today?

5. The chorus of “Stayin’ Alive” has a tempo of 100 beats per minute, which is why instructors in what skill use it to help students keep up an appropriate rhythm?

1 - Glacier NP

@greyeagle it’s not a national park (or the correct answer for the question) but I think there’s an international peace garden in ND that’s on the border and you can freely walk between the two countries. Cool spot. 

5. CPR