Totally Random Trivia - 2025

5. Echidna

1. Bill?

4. True

2. Phineas and Ferb

Posted by: @mnnavy

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4. True

Answers to Thursday, March 6, 2025

Consider the Platypus: We celebrated National Platypus Day on Saturday! Five questions about this noble beast.

1. Platypuses find their prey by detecting electrical fields using sensors in which part of their body?

Their bills

2. Perry the Platypus is a beloved character from what animated series, which premiered on the Disney Channel in 2007 and was created by two animators who’d previously worked together on "The Simpsons"?

“Phineas and Ferb”

3. True or false: Platypuses have nipples.

False

4. True or false: Platypuses produce milk.

True

(they secrete it through their skin)

5. The platypus is an egg-laying mammal, or a monotreme. There is just one other monotreme in the world. What is it?

Echidna (or spiny anteater)

Questions for
Friday, March 7, 2025

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

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: There are four main strokes in competitive swimming. Name as many of those swimming strokes as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect.

2. A famous 1940s mural by Herschel Levit features a dockworker widely regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre and thus the first American killed in the American Revolution. Name that person!

3. If you’re taking the St. Lawrence Seaway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, which Great Lake will you encounter first?

4. Walt Disney and Edward Scissorhands both enjoyed the art of shaping shrubs into fanciful figures. What is this art form called?

5. Today is March 7. Happy 69th birthday to what actor, who described his four-time Emmy-winning portrayal of a famous TV character as a man that walked “like the weight of the world was on his shoulders”?

3. Lake Ontario 

1) back stroke, butterfly, freestyle.  I know it’s not dog paddle, my best one😉
4) topiary

1. Breast stroke (ETA: the "freestyle" is actually the Australian Crawl)

2. Crispus Attucks

5. Bryan Cranston

Answers to Friday, March 7, 2025

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: There are four main strokes in competitive swimming. Name as many of those swimming strokes as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect.

Front crawl (or freestyle), butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke

2. A famous 1940s mural by Herschel Levit features a dockworker widely regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre and thus the first American killed in the American Revolution. Name that person!

Crispus Attucks

3. If you’re taking the St. Lawrence Seaway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, which Great Lake will you encounter first?

Lake Ontario

4. Walt Disney and Edward Scissorhands both enjoyed the art of shaping shrubs into fanciful figures. What is this art form called?

Topiary

5. Today is March 7. Happy 69th birthday to what actor, who described his four-time Emmy-winning portrayal of a famous TV character as a man that walked “like the weight of the world was on his shoulders”?

Bryan Cranston

Questions for
Monday, March 10, 2025

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

1. The state songs of Kentucky and Kansas both contain what comforting noun in their titles?

2. The first lawmaker in ancient Athenian tradition is remembered for being extremely harsh and unforgiving. What was his name?

3. At the 1975 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal, reporters Robin Herman and Marcel St. Cyr became the first two women in a major North American sports league to conduct an interview from what location?

4. Mesopotamia is called “The Land Between Two Rivers,” because it lies between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Which U.S. state, which lies between the Mississippi and the Missouri, is also nicknamed “The Land Between Two Rivers”?

5. What series of romance novels by E.L. James was originally developed from “Twilight” fanfiction published online as an episodic series called “Master of the Universe” under the pen name Snowqueens Icedragon?

4. Iowa

1. Home

3.  Locker Room

2: Draco

2. Draco (Sorry. Slow internet today)

5) Fifty Shades of Gray.  Yes, yes I’ve read them 🥱

Answers to Monday, March 10, 2025

1. The state songs of Kentucky and Kansas both contain what comforting noun in their titles?

“Home”
(“My Old Kentucky Home,” “Home on the Range”)

2. The first lawmaker in ancient Athenian tradition is remembered for being extremely harsh and unforgiving. What was his name?

Draco
(he’s the origin of the term “draconian”)

3. At the 1975 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal, reporters Robin Herman and Marcel St. Cyr became the first two women in a major North American sports league to conduct an interview from what location?

Men's locker room

4. Mesopotamia is called “The Land Between Two Rivers,” because it lies between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Which U.S. state, which lies between the Mississippi and the Missouri, is also nicknamed “The Land Between Two Rivers”?

Iowa

5. What series of romance novels by E.L. James was originally developed from “Twilight” fanfiction published online as an episodic series called “Master of the Universe” under the pen name Snowqueens Icedragon?

“Fifty Shades of Grey”

Questions for
Tuesday, March 11, 2025

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

1. The world's longest insect is over two feet in length, and was discovered in a remote area of Guangxi, China in 2014. What kind of insect is it?

2. What historian and author of "A People's History of the United States" was fired from his post as the chair of the history department at Spelman College in 1963 for encouraging his students' civil rights activism?

3. The mathematical order of operations is remembered in the U.S. using the acronym “PEMDAS.” In Canada, they use the acronym “BEDMAS.” What does the “B” stand for in Canada?

4. What two-word term — well-known to CBS sitcom fans — was coined in 1949 by astronomer Fred Hoyle, who did not believe in the thing he named and may have been mocking it?

5. Porto-Novo is the capital city of which West African nation, located between Nigeria and Togo, and formerly known as Dahomey?

4 Big Bang

5.  Benin

3) Brackets… dang metric system 

2. Howard Zinn

1. Stick

Answers to Tuesday, March 11, 2025

1. The world's longest insect is over two feet in length, and was discovered in a remote area of Guangxi, China in 2014. What kind of insect is it?

Stick insect
(walking stick, stick bug)

2. What historian and author of "A People's History of the United States" was fired from his post as the chair of the history department at Spelman College in 1963 for encouraging his students' civil rights activism?

Howard Zinn  

3. The mathematical order of operations is remembered in the U.S. using the acronym “PEMDAS.” In Canada, they use the acronym “BEDMAS.” What does the “B” stand for in Canada?

Brackets
(the “P” in the U.S. is for “parentheses”)

4. What two-word term — well-known to CBS sitcom fans — was coined in 1949 by astronomer Fred Hoyle, who did not believe in the thing he named and may have been mocking it?

“Big Bang”

5. Porto-Novo is the capital city of which West African nation, located between Nigeria and Togo, and formerly known as Dahomey?

Benin

Questions for
Wednesday, March 12, 2025

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

1. Which westernmost country in mainland Europe banned bosses from text messaging and emailing staff outside of working hours as part of laws dubbed "right to rest" in 2021?

2. Biologist Mary Styles Harris helped increase awareness and lead the fight against what genetic disease, which causes changes in the structure of red blood cells?

3. What 1960 horror movie features a classic scene set in a bathroom, and was also the first post-Hays code Hollywood film to show a toilet flushing on screen?

4. What five-letter word means “of or pertaining to the kidneys”?

5. An innovator named Dan Robbins was inspired by a teaching method used by Leonardo Da Vinci to create one of the biggest arts and crafts crazes of the 1950s. What did he invent?

4) Renal

1.  Portugal

3.  Psycho

2 Sickle-cell Anemia 

5) Paint by Number!  I still love to do them.  

Answers to Wednesday, March 12, 2025

1. Which westernmost country in mainland Europe banned bosses from text messaging and emailing staff outside of working hours as part of laws dubbed "right to rest" in 2021?

Portugal

2. Biologist Mary Styles Harris helped increase awareness and lead the fight against what genetic disease, which causes changes in the structure of red blood cells?

Sickle cell anemia (or disease)

3. What 1960 horror movie features a classic scene set in a bathroom, and was also the first post-Hays code Hollywood film to show a toilet flushing on screen?

“Psycho”

4. What five-letter word means “of or pertaining to the kidneys”?

“Renal”

5. An innovator named Dan Robbins was inspired by a teaching method used by Leonardo Da Vinci to create one of the biggest arts and crafts crazes of the 1950s. What did he invent?

Paint by numbers

Questions for
Theme Thursday, March 13, 2025

Starch Madness: Five questions about bread.

Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. “Chametz” refers to leavened bread in Hebrew. During which Jewish holiday is it prohibited?

2. What palindromic flatbread is one of the most common types of yeast-leavened bread served in India and Pakistan?

3. What friendly nine-letter word — which, in the “Doctor Who” universe, refers to the secondary character who travels with the Doctor — comes from the Latin for “with bread”?

4. The Vietnamese term for “bread” has become synonymous with the famous baguette sandwich commonly served in Vietnamese restaurants. How do you say “bread” in Vietnamese?

5. Which NFL team uses a mascot named Sourdough Sam?

1. Passover

2. Naan

3: Companion

4. Banh mi

5. San Francisco 49ers

Posted by: @greyeagle

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4. Bon mie. ?

5. San Francisco 49ers

4) Banh mi

Posted by: @kelly-red

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Posted by: @greyeagle

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4. Bon mie. ?

5. San Francisco 49ers

4) Banh mi

😀

I knew I had butchered the spelling and went back to fix it after confirming.

Now I'm hungry for one. 

Love living up here (Chisago City) & being (almost) on the lake but dang it's a wasteland for Vietnamese food.

@greyeagle Any sandwich that traditionally adds pate is a winner for me. When we traveled to Vietnam they were continuously amazed we were very familiar with the food.

Answers to Thursday, March 13, 2025

Starch Madness: Five questions about bread.

1. “Chametz” refers to leavened bread in Hebrew. During which Jewish holiday is it prohibited?

Passover (Pesach)

2. What palindromic flatbread is one of the most common types of yeast-leavened bread served in India and Pakistan?

Naan

3. What friendly nine-letter word — which, in the “Doctor Who” universe, refers to the secondary character who travels with the Doctor — comes from the Latin for “with bread”?

“Companion”

4. The Vietnamese term for “bread” has become synonymous with the famous baguette sandwich commonly served in Vietnamese restaurants. How do you say “bread” in Vietnamese?

Bánh mì

5. Which NFL team uses a mascot named Sourdough Sam?

San Francisco 49ers
(San Francisco is famous for its sourdough bread)

Questions for
Friday, March 14, 2025

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

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: Four Ivy League schools are located in states that begin with the word “New.” Name as many of those universities as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect.

2. Helen of Troy was so beautiful that her face “launched a thousand ships.” According to some Greek myths, her mother was a princess named Leda, while her father was Zeus in the form of what bird?

3. In 1990, a British man wrote a Usenet post titled “Those Eyes,” which was just a list of women actors whose eyes he thought were beautiful. It eventually grew into a website with more and more lists, and in 1998, Amazon purchased that website. What website is it?

4. USA Today named a Raiders running back in the classic NES game “Tecmo Bowl” “the greatest video game athlete of all time. And it’s not even close.” Name that running back.

5. Today is March 14, which marks the celebration of Holi, an annual festival of colors. One of the world's biggest Holi celebrations takes place in Mathura, known as the birthplace of Lord Krishna, in what country?

2. A swan

4. Bo Jackson

3. I think it’s IMDB

1. Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell, Princeton

5. India

Posted by: @the-rube

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4. Bo Jackson

I play my son in Tecmo Bowl on the NES Mini. I play with just LA and run the ball all the time.

Answers to Friday, March 14, 2025

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: Four Ivy League schools are located in states that begin with the word “New.” Name as many of those universities as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect.

Columbia University (New York), Cornell University (New York), Dartmouth College (New Hampshire), Princeton University (New Jersey)

2. Helen of Troy was so beautiful that her face “launched a thousand ships.” According to some Greek myths, her mother was a princess named Leda, while her father was Zeus in the form of what bird?

Swan

3. In 1990, a British man wrote a Usenet post titled “Those Eyes,” which was just a list of women actors whose eyes he thought were beautiful. It eventually grew into a website with more and more lists, and in 1998, Amazon purchased that website. What website is it?

IMDb

4. USA Today named a Raiders running back in the classic NES game “Tecmo Bowl” “the greatest video game athlete of all time. And it’s not even close.” Name that running back.

Bo Jackson

5. Today is March 14, which marks the celebration of Holi, an annual festival of colors. One of the world's biggest Holi celebrations takes place in Mathura, known as the birthplace of Lord Krishna, in what country?

India