Totally Random Trivia - 2026

Questions for
Monday, March 30, 2026

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

1 “The Uncanny Cases of FBI” is the German name for what ’90s television drama, created by Chris Carter?

2. Complete the analogy: As a dollar is to a penny, the Philippine peso, the Brazilian real, and the Mozambican metical are to what coin?

3. The Welsh word for “rooster” sounds a lot like the name of a Battle Creek, Michigan company, which is why what brand of cereal uses a rooster mascot?

4. Although Penn State’s football team is the Nittany Lions, it plays home games in a stadium that shares its name with what other animal — after a former governor of Pennsylvania, not an actual rodent?

5. After Google first went public in 2004, the company chose to sell 14,159,265 shares in 2005. Why did they choose that number?

4.  Beaver

3) Kellogg’s

1. The X-Files

2. The centavo

5. They’re the decimal places of Pi

Answers to Monday,
March 30, 2026

1. “The Uncanny Cases of FBI” is the German name for what ’90s television drama, created by Chris Carter?

“The X-Files”    
 
2. Complete the analogy: As a dollar is to a penny, the Philippine peso, the Brazilian real, and the Mozambican metical are to what coin?

Centavo

3. The Welsh word for “rooster” sounds a lot like the name of a Battle Creek, Michigan company, which is why what brand of cereal uses a rooster mascot?

(Kellogg’s) Corn Flakes
(“rooster” is “ceiliog”)

4. Although Penn State’s football team is the Nittany Lions, it plays home games in a stadium that shares its name with what other animal — after a former governor of Pennsylvania, not an actual rodent?

Beaver Stadium

5. After Google first went public in 2004, the company chose to sell 14,159,265 shares in 2005. Why did they choose that number?

It’s the first 8 digits of pi (after the decimal)

Questions for
Tuesday, March 31, 2026

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

1. Connie Britton was nominated for a 2013 Emmy for, among other things, doing her own singing as country star Rayna Jaymes on what CMT TV show?

2. While the 1986 movie musical “Under the Cherry Moon” was panned by critics, its soundtrack album “Parade” is certified platinum. This was the second starring role and directorial debut for what musician?

3. If you know the first line of the Gettysburg Address, you can probably figure out what year that speech was delivered. What year was it?

4. You’ve heard of a canary in a coal mine, but what about a BLANK in a vineyard? That flower allows vintners to observe pests and diseases before they impact the grapes. Fill in its name.

5. The first MD degree awarded by a medical school in the United States was granted in 1770 by a school then known as King's College. What is that Ivy League university called today?

1. "Nashville"

3. 1863

2. Prince

4. Rose

2. Prince

5. Columbia

Answers to Tuesday,
March 31, 2026

1. Connie Britton was nominated for a 2013 Emmy for, among other things, doing her own singing as country star Rayna Jaymes on what CMT TV show?

“Nashville”

2. While the 1986 movie musical “Under the Cherry Moon” was panned by critics, its soundtrack album “Parade” is certified platinum. This was the second starring role and directorial debut for what musician?

Prince

3. If you know the first line of the Gettysburg Address, you can probably figure out what year that speech was delivered. What year was it?

1863
(“Four score and seven years” is 87 years, 87 years after 1776 is 1863)

4. You’ve heard of a canary in a coal mine, but what about a BLANK in a vineyard? That flower allows vintners to observe pests and diseases before they impact the grapes. Fill in its name.

Rose

5. The first MD degree awarded by a medical school in the United States was granted in 1770 by a school then known as King's College. What is that Ivy League university called today?

Columbia

Questions for
Wednesday, April 1, 2026

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

1. “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” is the first line of what farm-based 1952 children’s novel, which got an animated adaptation in 1973 and a live-action one in 2006? 

2. Deuterium, with a mass number of 2, is a stable isotope of what element?

3. What onomatopoeically named bird is mentioned by Hank Williams in his song “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” for sounding “too blue to fly”?

4. If you remove two letters from a European capital city, you get the name of the de facto capital of a neighboring country. Name both of those capital cities.

5. There are traditionally three types of spin positions in figure skating: upright, sitting, and what third type? It’s named after something you’d be pretty surprised to see spinning around on the ice.

2. Hydrogen

3. Whippoorwill

1. Charlotte's Web

4.  Berlin >> Bern

Here's one I had never heard before. 

What US President was born Leslie Lynch King Jr?

Posted by: @norm

↑

Here's one I had never heard before. 

What US President was born Leslie Lynch King Jr?

Gerald Ford. 
He was adopted by his stepdad and his name was changed when he was young IIRC. 

Posted by: @greyeagle

↑

Posted by: @norm

↑

Here's one I had never heard before. 

What US President was born Leslie Lynch King Jr?

Gerald Ford. 
He was adopted by his stepdad and his name was changed when he was young IIRC. 

 

Posted by: @hey_sioux_suck

↑

Posted by: @greyeagle

↑

Posted by: @norm

↑

Here's one I had never heard before. 

What US President was born Leslie Lynch King Jr?

Gerald Ford. 
He was adopted by his stepdad and his name was changed when he was young IIRC. 

 

No Big Ten alum has ever been elected President

 

Ford was not elected as VP or POTUS

Posted by: @zwak

↑

Posted by: @hey_sioux_suck

↑

Posted by: @greyeagle

↑

Posted by: @norm

↑

Here's one I had never heard before. 

What US President was born Leslie Lynch King Jr?

Gerald Ford. 
He was adopted by his stepdad and his name was changed when he was young IIRC. 

 

No Big Ten alum has ever been elected President

 

 

Ford was not elected as VP or POTUS

 

5. Camel

Answers to Wednesday,
April 1, 2026

1. “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” is the first line of what farm-based 1952 children’s novel, which got an animated adaptation in 1973 and a live-action one in 2006? 

“Charlotte’s Web” 
 
2. Deuterium, with a mass number of 2, is a stable isotope of what element?

Hydrogen
(Hydrogen’s mass number and atomic number is 1, deuterium has an extra neutron that gives it a mass of 2)

3. What onomatopoeically named bird is mentioned by Hank Williams in his song “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” for sounding “too blue to fly”?

Whip-poor-will  

4. If you remove two letters from a European capital city, you get the name of the de facto capital of a neighboring country. Name both of those capital cities.

Berlin, Bern
(Germany and Switzerland, respectively)

5. There are traditionally three types of spin positions in figure skating: upright, sitting, and what third type? It’s named after something you’d be pretty surprised to see spinning around on the ice.

Camel

Questions for
Theme Thursday, April 2, 2026

Drawn From Real Life: Five questions about animated characters who were based on, or modeled after, real people.

Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. In the 1980s, Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh wore square-ish glasses and had an unruly mop of red hair. What ’90s-era Nicktoon — whose theme song he wrote — used him as the inspiration for one of its main characters?

2. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ted Kennedy, John D. Rockefeller, and a local Portland-area clown known as Rusty Nails all inspired recurring characters on what animated series?

3. What cartoon character has been assumed to be modeled after such Jazz Age performers as Clara Bow, Helen Kane, and Baby Esther Jones?

4. The character design of Ursula from Disney’s animated “The Little Mermaid” was inspired by a drag queen and frequent John Waters collaborator who was best known by what heavenly stage name?

5. What animated character's mannerisms — including his Brooklyn accent and his vegetarian diet — were lifted from Clark Gable's Oscar-winning performance in the 1934 film “It Happened One Night”?

5.  Bugs Bunny

3. Betty Boop?

2. Must be The Simpsons

4. Divine

1. Rugrats

Answers to Thursday,
April 2, 2026

Drawn From Real Life: Five questions about animated characters who were based on, or modeled after, real people. 

1. In the 1980s, Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh wore square-ish glasses and had an unruly mop of red hair. What ’90s-era Nicktoon — whose theme song he wrote — used him as the inspiration for one of its main characters?

“Rugrats”
(Chuckie Finster)

2. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ted Kennedy, John D. Rockefeller, and a local Portland-area clown known as Rusty Nails all inspired recurring characters on what animated series?

“The Simpsons”
(Rainier Wolfcastle, Mayor Quimby, Mr. Burns, and Krusty the Clown, respectively)

3. What cartoon character has been assumed to be modeled after such Jazz Age performers as Clara Bow, Helen Kane, and Baby Esther Jones?

Betty Boop  

4. The character design of Ursula from Disney’s animated “The Little Mermaid” was inspired by a drag queen and frequent John Waters collaborator who was best known by what heavenly stage name?

Divine

5. What animated character's mannerisms — including his Brooklyn accent and his vegetarian diet — were lifted from Clark Gable's Oscar-winning performance in the 1934 film “It Happened One Night”?

Bugs Bunny

Questions for
Friday, April 3, 2026

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

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: There are four current MLB teams who last won a World Series in the 1980s. Name as many of those teams as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect. 

2. Which “Looney Tunes” character starred in such cartoon shorts as “Sock-a-Doodle-Doo,” “Crowing Pains,” and “Of Rice and Hen”?

3. A device called the “microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation” was invented in 1953. It was a forerunner of what more famous device, which amplifies light instead?  

4. In 1987, Jane Krakowski originated the role of Dinah the Dining Car in the Broadway production of what roller skating Andrew Lloyd Webber musical?

5. Today is April 3. On this day in 1964, Malcolm X gave a speech in Cleveland in which he said, “Let the world know how bloody his hands are. Let the world know the hypocrisy that's practiced over here. Let it be the BLANK or the BLANK.” Fill in the blanks with the two “B” words.

2.  Foghorn Leghorn

1.  New York Mets, Baltimore, Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Detroit!  

EDIT - Detroit is the last one.  Can't believe I could not come up with the Tigers right away, the '84 team was a wagon.

Posted by: @greyeagle

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1.  New York Mets, Baltimore, Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Detroit!  

EDIT - Detroit is the last one.  Can't believe I could not come up with the Tigers right away, the '84 team was a wagon.

Didn't Cincy win in 1990? 

Posted by: @youngeagle

↑

Posted by: @greyeagle

↑

1.  New York Mets, Baltimore, Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Detroit!  

EDIT - Detroit is the last one.  Can't believe I could not come up with the Tigers right away, the '84 team was a wagon.

 

Didn't Cincy win in 1990? 

 

You're right, I forgot to cross off Cincy when I added the Tigers.

3. Laser

4. Starlight Express

5. Ballot and Bullet.

Answers to Friday, April 3, 2026

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: There are four current MLB teams who last won a World Series in the 1980s. Name as many of those teams as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect. 

Baltimore Orioles (1983), Detroit Tigers (1984), New York Mets (1986), Athletics (1989; they were the Oakland Athletics at the time)

2. Which “Looney Tunes” character starred in such cartoon shorts as “Sock-a-Doodle-Doo,” “Crowing Pains,” and “Of Rice and Hen”?

Foghorn Leghorn (also acceptable: Barnyard Dawg) 

3. A device called the “microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation” was invented in 1953. It was a forerunner of what more famous device, which amplifies light instead?
Laser
(the original is called a maser)

4. In 1987, Jane Krakowski originated the role of Dinah the Dining Car in the Broadway production of what roller skating Andrew Lloyd Webber musical?

“Starlight Express”       

5. Today is April 3. On this day in 1964, Malcolm X gave a speech in Cleveland in which he said, “Let the world know how bloody his hands are. Let the world know the hypocrisy that's practiced over here. Let it be the BLANK or the BLANK.” Fill in the blanks with the two “B” words.

“Ballot,” “bullet”

Questions for
Monday, April 6, 2026

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

1. Three vastus muscles and the rectus femoris form what group of muscles in your lower body?

2. Yaoundé is the capital of what west-central African nation, which is bordered to the north by Chad and Nigeria?

3. What nine-letter catchword was invented in the '50s by a character on “The Howdy Doody Show,” popularized in the '80s on “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and is closely associated with Bart Simpson despite the fact that he's said it fewer than 10 times in 36 years?

4. Norway’s Johannes Klæbo pulled off a clean sweep at the 2026 Olympics, winning gold in the 50km, team sprint, relay, and three other events in what sport?

5. A viral video clip of Damon Albarn of Gorillaz fame shows him demonstrating how a preset from a synthesizer became the basis for what 2001 song, named after a director whose most recent film was 2024’s “Juror #2”?

1. Quadriceps

3. Cowabunga

1. Quadriceps?

3. Cowabunga

4. Cross country skiing

5. Clint Eastwood

4. Cross country skiing 

4. Cross Country Skiing

Is 4 Cross Country Skiing? 😉 

I think #5 is Song #2 by Blur, based on the clue.  

Nevermind.  I did not read the entire question.  Me Dumb.  

Answers to Monday,
April 6, 2026

1. Three vastus muscles and the rectus femoris form what group of muscles in your lower body?

Quadriceps

2. Yaoundé is the capital of what west-central African nation, which is bordered to the north by Chad and Nigeria?

Cameroon

3. What nine-letter catchword was invented in the '50s by a character on “The Howdy Doody Show,” popularized in the '80s on “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and is closely associated with Bart Simpson despite the fact that he's said it fewer than 10 times in 36 years?

“Cowabunga”

4. Norway’s Johannes Klæbo pulled off a clean sweep at the 2026 Olympics, winning gold in the 50km, team sprint, relay, and three other events in what sport?

Cross-country skiing

5. A viral video clip of Damon Albarn of Gorillaz fame shows him demonstrating how a preset from a synthesizer became the basis for what 2001 song, named after a director whose most recent film was 2024’s “Juror #2”?

“Clint Eastwood”

Questions for
Tuesday, April 7, 2026

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

1. What sovereign Asian republic is the only place in the world where the country, its capital, and the island where it’s located all have the same name?

2. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire killed 146 garment workers in 1911. Twenty-two years later, eyewitness Frances Perkins became the first woman to be appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt to which Cabinet position?

3. What Pittsburgh playwright insisted that any adaptations of his work be done by Black filmmakers, making Denzel Washington a natural choice to direct “Fences” in 2016?

4. What landmark of Delhi, India was built by Shah Jahan in the mid-17th century and gets its name from the trademark color of the sandstone in its 75-foot-high walls?

5. Sylens in “Horizon Zero Dawn” and Commander Zavala in “Destiny” are just a few of the video game roles played by what “John Wick” franchise regular, who sadly passed away in 2023?

2. Secretary of Labor

4. Taj Mahal