Ken Jennings Trivia Challenge

[Simply Madeline]

1. What current TV hit was created by Robert and Michelle King after they watched news footage of Silda Spitzer at a press conference in 2008?
The Good Wife

2. Because it's famously difficult to hunt, what close relative of the sandpiper and curlew lent its name to a word for "sharpshooter"?
Snipe

3. Who was the most recent U.S. president to make do without a Chief of Staff, only appointing Hamilton Jordan to the post for the last year of his presidency?
Carter

4. The score of what Broadway musical includes the songs "Something Bad," "For Good," and "The Wizard and I"?
Wicked

5. The dodecathlon is the most famous achievement of what mythological character?
Hercules

6. What American inventor also wrote the slogan--"You press the button, we do the rest"--that made his 1888 invention such a great success?
Eastman

[GenYus234]

Originally Posted by MacLloyd

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these TV series? Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Northern Exposure, Rescue Me, Six Feet Under, Thirtysomething. Each featured a "ghost" of sorts--that is, a dead character who continued to recur as a cast member. I thought there were more examples of this, but I was sort of struggling to think of more than six. What did I miss?

Don't know if flashbacks count, but Desperate Housewives continued to use Brenda Strong's character even though she had killed herself in the first five minutes of the show.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by MacLloyd

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

1. What current TV hit was created by Robert and Michelle King after they watched news footage of Silda Spitzer at a press conference in 2008?

Iron Chef

2. Because it's famously difficult to hunt, what close relative of the sandpiper and curlew lent its name to a word for "sharpshooter"?

Snipe

3. Who was the most recent U.S. president to make do without a Chief of Staff, only appointing Hamilton Jordan to the post for the last year of his presidency?

Carter

4. The score of what Broadway musical includes the songs "Something Bad," "For Good," and "The Wizard and I"?

Wicked

5. The dodecathlon is the most famous achievement of what mythological character?

Pogo

6. What American inventor also wrote the slogan--"You press the button, we do the rest"--that made his 1888 invention such a great success?

Edwin Land

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these athletes? George Gervin, Ahman Green, Dwight Howard, Claudio Reyna, Cal Ripken Jr., Camilo Villegas, Dwyane Wade.

Not a clue. And since I'm suffering from a cold today, I don't feel like trying to figure out a smart answer.

Seaboe

[Stan The Man]

George Gervin is the Ice Man.
Cal Ripken Jr. is the Iron Man.
Camilo Villegas is Spiderman.

Not sure about the others.

[GenYus234]

I know Ripken won the Ironman award with having the longest continuous games played streak so I'll guess never being on injured reserve or DL during their career.

[Spam & Cookies-mmm]

2. Snipe

4. Wicked

6. Edison?

[jwilson10]

Originally Posted by Stan The Man

George Gervin is the Ice Man.
Cal Ripken Jr. is the Iron Man.
Camilo Villegas is Spiderman.

Not sure about the others.

Dwyane Wade is known as 'Flash', and Claudio Reyna used to be captain of the US football (soccer) team - 'Captain America'?

[Stan The Man]

Ah, so I think that clinches it for #7. Comic book heroes.

[MacLloyd]

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS

1. What current TV hit was created by Robert and Michelle King after they watched news footage of Silda Spitzer at a press conference in 2008? Silda was the apparently supportive political spouse of embattled, escort-hiring New York governor Eliot Spitzer, and the TV show his troubles inspired was The Good Wife.

2. Because it's famously difficult to hunt, what close relative of the sandpiper and curlew lent its name to a word for "sharpshooter"? Originally, a "sniper" was very good at hunting snipe. Which is not an easy task, as you know if you've ever been on a snipe hunt.

3. Who was the most recent U.S. president to make do without a Chief of Staff, only appointing Hamilton Jordan to the post for the last year of his presidency? Jimmy Carter served as his own Chief of Staff for most of his term, like Truman and JFK before him.

4. The score of what Broadway musical includes the songs "Something Bad," "For Good," and "The Wizard and I"? Wicked. "The Wizard" is, obviously, the "of Oz" one. You know. James Franco.

5. The dodecathlon is the most famous achievement of what mythological character? A dodecathlon, as its name suggests, includes twelve events. In this case, they're the Twelve Labors of Heracles.

6. What American inventor also wrote the slogan--"You press the button, we do the rest"--that made his 1888 invention such a great success? This slogan was a huge part of the early success of Kodak, and its founder-inventor George Eastman.

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these athletes? George Gervin, Ahman Green, Dwight Howard, Claudio Reyna, Cal Ripken Jr., Camilo Villegas, Dwyane Wade. All were given (or game themselves!) nicknames that are also comic book super-heroes: respectively, the Iceman, Batman, Superman, Captain America, the Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Flash.

[MacLloyd]

Per Ken Jennings' request, the trivia challenge discussed on this message board has the number seven question delayed by one week. This is to avoid easy googling of the question which is designed to foil those who would "cheat". If you know the current number seven question, please do not discuss it here.

The Rules of the Thread
1. If you use the thread to help you get answers, do not submit those answers to the official game.
2. No googling until Sunday. No looking anything up anywhere (and posting it) before Sunday. No checking an article in a magazine you read last week. No checking some old notebook from college. No wikipedia. Not even snopes.com. No checking anything, anywhere - until Sunday. Only information that is stored in your brain, or in the brains of your non-snopester friends and family. But you can't use your family members as a work-around to looking up the information yourself.
3. If you google, don't post that information to the thread until Sunday. Not even as confirmation of the guesses of other posters. Someone else might still know the information on their own.
4. No guess is stupid, throw it out there.
5. No Hinting. If you have a guess or a reasonable belief that you have the right answer, post it. If you are attempting to use hinting as a work-around to the no posting googled answers rule, don't.

And remember, this is an exhibition, not a competition, so please... no wagering.

I just noticed that I got the date wrong on last week's quiz, sigh. Ken-Jennings.com regrets the error. Everybody gets a retroactive 7/7 last week. Hell, make it 8/7.

These honorary scores, however, will NOT be honored on our leaderboard at http://ken-jennings.com/messageboard...php?f=3&t=9525 . Here are the new questions, hopefully embarrassing-error-free.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

1. What color are the helmets typically worn by U.N. peackeeping forces?

2. Solo Star and Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams are the first two albums from a singer still perhaps best known as the little sister of whom?

3. What mammals have the only horns in nature made not from bone but entirely of keratin, the protein that hair and nails are made from?

4. "Traceurs" are participants in what urban sport founded by David Belle and the Yamakasi group in Lisses, France in the 1980s?

5. Protagoras, Gorgias, and Hippias were members of what school of Greek philosophy renowned for their rhetorical skill?

6. A capital-C Corvette is a car, but a small-c corvette is what mode of transportation?

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these nations, listed in this order? Peru, the United States, (the Philippines), Nepal, (Pakistan, Iraq), Egypt, Greece, China, India, (Canada, Portugal), Italy, Austria, Germany, Turkey, (Cuba, Mexico), Brazil.

[MacLloyd]

1. What color are the helmets typically worn by U.N. peackeeping forces?

Blue???

2. Solo Star and Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams are the first two albums from a singer still perhaps best known as the little sister of whom?

I have never heard of either album, so, no idea.

3. What mammals have the only horns in nature made not from bone but entirely of keratin, the protein that hair and nails are made from?

Rhinoceri, rhinoceroses, rhinos, whatever the plural is.

4. "Traceurs" are participants in what urban sport founded by David Belle and the Yamakasi group in Lisses, France in the 1980s?

Parkour! He yells as he falls down on the floor...

5. Protagoras, Gorgias, and Hippias were members of what school of Greek philosophy renowned for their rhetorical skill?

Should know, but can't think of it.

6. A capital-C Corvette is a car, but a small-c corvette is what mode of transportation?

A warship

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these nations, listed in this order? Peru, the United States, (the Philippines), Nepal, (Pakistan, Iraq), Egypt, Greece, China, India, (Canada, Portugal), Italy, Austria, Germany, Turkey, (Cuba, Mexico), Brazil.

Hmmm, why the parentheses? I don't know.

MacLloyd

[erwins]

1. What color are the helmets typically worn by U.N. peackeeping forces?

light blue

2. Solo Star and Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams are the first two albums from a singer still perhaps best known as the little sister of whom?
WAG:
Michael Jackson?

3. What mammals have the only horns in nature made not from bone but entirely of keratin, the protein that hair and nails are made from?

Rhinoceroses

4. "Traceurs" are participants in what urban sport founded by David Belle and the Yamakasi group in Lisses, France in the 1980s?

Parkour? That seems like it was invented later though.

5. Protagoras, Gorgias, and Hippias were members of what school of Greek philosophy renowned for their rhetorical skill?

don't know

6. A capital-C Corvette is a car, but a small-c corvette is what mode of transportation?

A ship

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these nations, listed in this order? Peru, the United States, (the Philippines), Nepal, (Pakistan, Iraq), Egypt, Greece, China, India, (Canada, Portugal), Italy, Austria, Germany, Turkey, (Cuba, Mexico), Brazil.

no clue

[Floater]

1. What color are the helmets typically worn by U.N. peackeeping forces?

White

3. What mammals have the only horns in nature made not from bone but entirely of keratin, the protein that hair and nails are made from?

Rhinos

4. "Traceurs" are participants in what urban sport founded by David Belle and the Yamakasi group in Lisses, France in the 1980s?

Parkour

6. A capital-C Corvette is a car, but a small-c corvette is what mode of transportation?

A boat

[Simply Madeline]

1. What color are the helmets typically worn by U.N. peackeeping forces?
Blue

2. Solo Star and Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams are the first two albums from a singer still perhaps best known as the little sister of whom?
I'm going to guess Beyonce (Solange Knowles)

3. What mammals have the only horns in nature made not from bone but entirely of keratin, the protein that hair and nails are made from?
(don't stand closer to the) Rhino

4. "Traceurs" are participants in what urban sport founded by David Belle and the Yamakasi group in Lisses, France in the 1980s?
Parkour

5. Protagoras, Gorgias, and Hippias were members of what school of Greek philosophy renowned for their rhetorical skill?
Sophists?

6. A capital-C Corvette is a car, but a small-c corvette is what mode of transportation?
Boat

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by MacLloyd

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

1. What color are the helmets typically worn by U.N. peackeeping forces?

White

2. Solo Star and Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams are the first two albums from a singer still perhaps best known as the little sister of whom?

Brittney Spears

3. What mammals have the only horns in nature made not from bone but entirely of keratin, the protein that hair and nails are made from?

Rhinos

4. "Traceurs" are participants in what urban sport founded by David Belle and the Yamakasi group in Lisses, France in the 1980s?

Oh, that chase around the city and bounce off things group.

5. Protagoras, Gorgias, and Hippias were members of what school of Greek philosophy renowned for their rhetorical skill?

The school named after the guy who when around with pebbles in his mouth.

6. A capital-C Corvette is a car, but a small-c corvette is what mode of transportation?

airplane

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these nations, listed in this order? Peru, the United States, (the Philippines), Nepal, (Pakistan, Iraq), Egypt, Greece, China, India, (Canada, Portugal), Italy, Austria, Germany, Turkey, (Cuba, Mexico), Brazil.

Why are some of them in parentheses? It's a list of volcanic eruptions.

Seaboe

[GenYus234]

Wouldn't Iceland be in there somewhere if it were volcanic eruptions?

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

GenYus, you're taking my answer as a real answer again. In reality, I haven't a clue what the answer is. I just put something down for every question.

Seaboe

[GenYus234]

I figured that's what the color coding was for, to differentiate the real guesses from the wild guesses.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Sorry, no. The color coding arises from the fact that the bb software has been giving me fits when I try to post the way I like to, so I've stopped trying to change the font color.

Seaboe

[Mateus]

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these nations, listed in this order? Peru, the United States, (the Philippines), Nepal, (Pakistan, Iraq), Egypt, Greece, China, India, (Canada, Portugal), Italy, Austria, Germany, Turkey, (Cuba, Mexico), Brazil.

If you drop the parenthesized countries, it becomes a bit more obvious:

Raiders of the Lost Ark: Peru, US, Nepal, Egypt, Greece
Temple of Doom: China, India
Last Crusade: Italy, Austria, Germany, Turkey
Crystal Skull: Brazil

The parenthesized countries must be ones in which Indiana Jones had a layover.