Totally Random Trivia: 2022

Answers to Friday, June 23, 2023

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: The Beatles released four musical films between 1964 and 1968. Name them for one point each. Zero total if you get any wrong. 
“A Hard Day’s Night,” “Help!,” “Magical Mystery Tour,” “Yellow Submarine”

2. Said once, it’s a song from “West Side Story.” Repeated, it’s a song by Smashing Pumpkins. And said thrice, it’s a song by Genesis. What word is it? 
“Tonight”

3. Six of the 10 most populous cities in the U.S. are located in which two states? 
California, Texas

4. A style of boots, a steak preparation, and the world's southernmost national capital are all named after Arthur Wellesley, the first duke of what English village?
Wellington

5. Today is June 23. Born on this day in 1912, Alan Turing was a hugely influential computer scientist and cryptographer. Among many other accomplishments, he cracked the code on what German cypher system during World War II?
Enigma

Questions for
Monday, June 26, 2023

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

1. What 10-letter word for a type of political action derives from the Latin for “breathe together,” because it used to require close physical proximity? 

2. What cable network is sometimes referred to simply as “Bristol,” due to its headquarters being located in Bristol, Connecticut? 

3. The nose, the ear, the aorta, and the vulva all contain a component that is also a term in architecture. It is a nine-letter word that derives from the Latin for “front entrance.” What is it? 

4. What Japanese expression—which translates literally to English as “10,000 years”—was traditionally used to wish someone a long life? 

5. The “Wicked Bible” is an edition of the Bible printed in 1631 that accidentally left the word “not” out of the Seventh Commandment. What sin did this Bible command its readers to commit?

2:  ESPN

5: Adultery

3. Vestibule?

4. Banzai

1.  Conspiracy 

Answers to Monday, June 26, 2023

1. What 10-letter word for a type of political action derives from the Latin for “breathe together,” because it used to require close physical proximity? 
Conspiracy

2. What cable network is sometimes referred to simply as “Bristol,” due to its headquarters being located in Bristol, Connecticut? 
ESPN

3. The nose, the ear, the aorta, and the vulva all contain a component that is also a term in architecture. It is a nine-letter word that derives from the Latin for “front entrance.” What is it? 
Vestibule 

4. What Japanese expression—which translates literally to English as “10,000 years”—was traditionally used to wish someone a long life? 
“Banzai”

5. The “Wicked Bible” is an edition of the Bible printed in 1631 that accidentally left the word “not” out of the Seventh Commandment. What sin did this Bible command its readers to commit? 
Adultery

Questions for
Tuesday, June 27, 2023

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

1. “They’re as fresh as the breeze / Serve ‘em any way you please / Nature made them nice and neat / All you do is heat and eat.” Those are the lyrics to the original jingle composed for what advertising campaign, which launched in 1976? 

2. Lee Meriwether won the Miss America title in 1955. She’s known for playing Catwoman in the ’60s, and for playing a vampire named Lily in the ’80s. What was Lily’s last name? 

3. Early in World War I, the Allies and the Central Powers both tried to outflank each other to the north, resulting in a so-called “Race to the Sea.” To what sea did they race? 

4. The first U.S. president to have a middle name is almost always referred to by his first, middle, and last names. Who was he? 

5. By what stage name is Curtis James Jackson III better known?

4. John Quincy Adams

5.  50 Cent

3. North Sea

2) Lily Munster!

Posted by: @kelly-red

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2) Lily Munster!

I should have know that one!

Answers to Tuesday, June 27, 2023

1. “They’re as fresh as the breeze / Serve ‘em any way you please / Nature made them nice and neat / All you do is heat and eat.” Those are the lyrics to the original jingle composed for what advertising campaign, which launched in 1976? 
“The Incredible, Edible Egg” 

2. Lee Meriwether won the Miss America title in 1955. She’s known for playing Catwoman in the ’60s, and for playing a vampire named Lily in the ’80s. What was Lily’s last name? 
Munster

3. Early in World War I, the Allies and the Central Powers both tried to outflank each other to the north, resulting in a so-called “Race to the Sea.” To what sea did they race? 
North Sea 

4. The first U.S. president to have a middle name is almost always referred to by his first, middle, and last names. Who was he? 
John Quincy Adams 

5. By what stage name is Curtis James Jackson III better known? 
50 Cent

Questions for
Wednesday, June 28, 2023

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

1. “Sancta Sedes” is the Latin term for the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Pope. What is the English-language name for it? 

2. In which U.S. state can you find the country’s lowest point of elevation? 

3. What 2000 Japanese film—which predated “The Hunger Games” and featured a strikingly similar plot—begins with a group of high school students on a field trip who are abducted by the government and forced to fight to the death?

4. No Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens traded what Hall of Fame goalie to the Colorado Avalanche in 1995? 

5. New Jersey is named after Jersey, an island located in what 30,000-square-mile body of water?

1: Holy See

4: Patrick Roy

2.  California

From Dante's View in Death Valley NP, which overlooks Badwater Basin where the lowest point is located, you can almost see Mt. Whitney, which is the highest point in the 48 contiguous states.  Mt Whitney is just out of view due to other mountains and it's pretty cool to basically see both highest & lowest in same location.  It's a tremendous view.

5. The English Channel

3. Battle Royale

Posted by: @karlsson

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3. Battle Royale

A fabulous book!  Much better then the Hunger Games.

Posted by: @karlsson

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3. Battle Royale

Phenomenal movie and book (to echo @Kelly Red). The sequel to Battle Royale sucked, though. 🙁 

Answers to Wednesday, June 28, 2023

1. “Sancta Sedes” is the Latin term for the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Pope. What is the English-language name for it? 
The Holy See

2. In which U.S. state can you find the country’s lowest point of elevation? 
California
(Death Valley)

3. What 2000 Japanese film—which predated “The Hunger Games” and featured a strikingly similar plot—begins with a group of high school students on a field trip who are abducted by the government and forced to fight to the death?
“Battle Royale”

4. No Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens traded what Hall of Fame goalie to the Colorado Avalanche in 1995? 
Patrick Roy 

5. New Jersey is named after Jersey, an island located in what 30,000-square-mile body of water? 
The English Channel

Questions for
Theme Thursday, June 29, 2023

SHOUT! SHOUT! LET IT ALL OUT!: Five questions about shouting.

Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. Upon coming up with a new way to calculate an object’s density, the Greek mathematician Archimedes allegedly jumped out of his bathtub and ran naked through the streets shouting what three-syllable word?

2. What colloquialism, often used in the Appalachians and Ozarks, refers to a gulch or valley, and may derive from the way you’d need to communicate with someone standing on the other side of it?

3. 1983's “Shout at the Devil” was the breakthrough album for what hair metal band, the subject of a grimy 2019 biopic called “The Dirt”?

4. In 1919, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote a famous opinion declaring that the freedom of speech does not extend to someone causing panic by falsely shouting what word in a crowded theater?

5. The title of this round comes from the Tears for Fears song “Shout.” On their home turf U.K. Singles charts, “Shout” didn’t place as highly as what other single off the same album, “Songs from the Big Chair”?

1. Eureka  ?? 

5.  Everybody Wants To Rule the World

Posted by: @greyeagle

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Everybody Wants To Rule the World

The perfect 80's song?

2. Holler

3. Mötley Crüe

4. Fire

Posted by: @jupiter

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Posted by: @greyeagle

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Everybody Wants To Rule the World

The perfect 80's song?

I submit "Let's Hear It For The Boy" by Deniece Williams. Pop, synth, dance, all the 80s encapsuled in one shot. Plus, cheesy video.  

Posted by: @the-rube

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Posted by: @jupiter

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Posted by: @greyeagle

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Everybody Wants To Rule the World

The perfect 80's song?

 

I submit "Let's Hear It For The Boy" by Deniece Williams. Pop, synth, dance, all the 80s encapsuled in one shot. Plus, cheesy video.  

 

Also love the message. “Meh, my man’s okay I guess. Pretty mediocre honestly. THREE CHEERS!”

And that could have been a Whitney song, to be honest. 

Answers to Thursday, June 29, 2023

SHOUT! SHOUT! LET IT ALL OUT!: Five questions about shouting.  

1. Upon coming up with a new way to calculate an object’s density, the Greek mathematician Archimedes allegedly jumped out of his bathtub and ran naked through the streets shouting what three-syllable word?
“Eureka!”

2. What colloquialism, often used in the Appalachians and Ozarks, refers to a gulch or valley, and may derive from the way you’d need to communicate with someone standing on the other side of it?
Holler
(it more likely derives from the word “hollow”)

3. 1983's “Shout at the Devil” was the breakthrough album for what hair metal band, the subject of a grimy 2019 biopic called “The Dirt”?
Mötley Crüe

4. In 1919, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote a famous opinion declaring that the freedom of speech does not extend to someone causing panic by falsely shouting what word in a crowded theater?
“Fire”

5. The title of this round comes from the Tears for Fears song “Shout.” On their home turf U.K. Singles charts, “Shout” didn’t place as highly as what other single off the same album, “Songs from the Big Chair”?
“Everybody Wants to Rule the World”

Questions for
Friday, June 30, 2023

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

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: There are five Shakespeare comedies set in what is now Italy. Name as many of those comedies as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any wrong.

2. Who dropped out of Tennessee State University to take a job with a local radio station, before getting her own radio and later television show in Chicago?

3. The Kentucky Derby was founded by Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., grandson of the famous explorer William Clark. He got the land for his horse race from his mother’s family. What was her maiden name?

4. On what beach, formerly home to design icon Gianni Versace, can you find the world's largest collection of art deco architecture?

5. Today is June 30. On this day in 1966, Pauli Murray, Betty Friedan, Dorothy Haener, and 25 other people became founding members of what organization, which pushed for causes including the Equal Rights Amendment?

2. Must be Oprah

4.  Miami Beach / South Beach

3. Churchill

1. Taming of the Shrew

2. Two Gentlemen of Verona

3. Merchant of Venice

1.The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, ????

5. NOW?

1. "All's Well That Ends Well"?

Answers to Friday, June 30, 2023

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: There are five Shakespeare comedies set in what is now Italy. Name as many of those comedies as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any wrong.
“All's Well That Ends Well,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” 

2. Who dropped out of Tennessee State University to take a job with a local radio station, before getting her own radio and later television show in Chicago? 
Oprah Winfrey 

3. The Kentucky Derby was founded by Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., grandson of the famous explorer William Clark. He got the land for his horse race from his mother’s family. What was her maiden name? 
Churchill 
(the race is held at Churchill Downs)

4. On what beach, formerly home to design icon Gianni Versace, can you find the world's largest collection of art deco architecture? 
Miami Beach

5. Today is June 30. On this day in 1966, Pauli Murray, Betty Friedan, Dorothy Haener, and 25 other people became founding members of what organization, which pushed for causes including the Equal Rights Amendment?
The National Organization for Women (NOW)

Questions for
Monday, July 3, 2023

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

1. A nationwide rail strike started on May 11, 1894, in a company town in Illinois that shared a name with the luxury train cars its residents made. Name that town!

2. Most farts are composed of methane, which is, oddly, odorless. If your farts smell like rotten eggs, that means they also contain what other gas?

3. An unhappy housewife and a National Geographic photographer have an affair whilst admiring the transportation infrastructure of rural Iowa in what 1992 bestseller? 

4. What breed of dog, whose name means “brushland dog” in Japanese, shot to international fame in 2013 thanks to a viral meme called “Doge”?

5. Memory foam, scratch resistant glasses, and cordless vacuums are all inventions that were “spun off” from what federal agency?

1 Pullman 

3 The bridges of Madison County. (Yawn)

5. NASA

2. Sulfur

4. Shiba Inu

Answers to Monday, July 3, 2023

1. A nationwide rail strike started on May 11, 1894, in a company town in Illinois that shared a name with the luxury train cars its residents made. Name that town!
Pullman

2. Most farts are composed of methane, which is, oddly, odorless. If your farts smell like rotten eggs, that means they also contain what other gas?
Hydrogen sulfide (or just “sulfur”)

3. An unhappy housewife and a National Geographic photographer have an affair whilst admiring the transportation infrastructure of rural Iowa in what 1992 bestseller?
“The Bridges of Madison County”

4. What breed of dog, whose name means “brushland dog” in Japanese, shot to international fame in 2013 thanks to a viral meme called “Doge”?
Shiba Inu

5. Memory foam, scratch resistant glasses, and cordless vacuums are all inventions that were “spun off” from what federal agency?
NASA

Questions for
Tuesday, July 4, 2023

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

1. Which U.S. president began his first term in office in 1885, and his second term in office in 1893?

2. What perennial herb from the mint family was brought to America by soldiers stationed in Italy during World War II, and was originally known as “the pizza herb” here?

3. The metal whose chemical symbol on the Periodic Table is “Sn” has an atomic number of 50. Name that metal.

4. On most films, the director of photography does not directly supervise the best boy electric. Instead, that is handled by a technician known by what six-letter name?

5. According to Forbes, the second-most valuable NBA franchise is worth $6.1 billion, despite the fact that it hasn’t won a championship since 1973. Name that team.

2. Oregano 

5. NY Knicks

4. Gaffer

1. Grover Cleveland

3. Tin

Answers to Tuesday, July 4, 2023
1. Which U.S. president began his first term in office in 1885, and his second term in office in 1893?
Grover Cleveland

2. What perennial herb from the mint family was brought to America by soldiers stationed in Italy during World War II, and was originally known as “the pizza herb” here?
Oregano

3. The metal whose chemical symbol on the Periodic Table is “Sn” has an atomic number of 50. Name that metal.
Tin

4. On most films, the director of photography does not directly supervise the best boy electric. Instead, that is handled by a technician known by what six-letter name?
Gaffer

5. According to Forbes, the second-most valuable NBA franchise is worth $6.1 billion, despite the fact that it hasn’t won a championship since 1973. Name that team.
New York Knicks