Ken Jennings Trivia

[Steve]

Huh, then maybe it's not heavy metal and it's something like British musicians sang songs named for these books?

[UEL]

1. Easy one. Dorsal.

2. I'm thinking lamp.

3. I loves me some Enya.

4. The coins have 2 headed eagles. I have a bunch.

5. I know this one. Henry. (Thanks to having too much time and too little money during that era.)

6. Picasso

7. I've read three of them, and can't figure out what the connection is.

[damian]

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these literary works? Blood and Guts in High School, Forge, The Hairy Ape, In Cold Blood, The Lilies of the Field, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Nineteen Eighty-Four, A Singular Man, Stranger in a Strange Land.

I only know 3 of these, but there is a common link:

Main Characters
1984 - Winston Smith
Stranger in a strange land -Mike Smith
Loneliness of the long distance runner - Colin Smith

[musicgeek]

Based on a couple I know, I think Damian's got #7!

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by damian

I only know 3 of these, but there is a common link:

Ooh, that's better than Steve's guess (sorry Steve!):

Blood and Guts in High School: Janey Smith.

If I'd read more than two of them I might have spotted that myself, but with only two it just seemed a coincidence (which I'll pretend I noticed).

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Richard W

Ooh, that's better than Steve's guess (sorry Steve!):

No! I'm right! The main character of In Cold Blood is Richard Hickock! Oh, and Perry Smith.

Yeah, Damian's got this one. Well done.

[UEL]

Originally Posted by musicgeek

Based on a couple I know, I think Damian's got #7!

I never would have put that together. Very cool!

[damian]

Originally Posted by UEL

I never would have put that together. Very cool!

Whenever there is a question about movies or books, the first thing I do is try to link main characters in some way.

[DadOf3]

Hello, all. Tuesday trivia time again.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS

1. Fish fins can be pectoral, pelvic, or caudal, but what adjective is used for the fin on a fish's back?
As Shark Week fans might know, this is the dorsal fin.

2. The balanced-arm Anglepoise, which debuted in 1932, is an iconic design still used today for what desktop item?
The Anglepoise is probably the most famous desk lamp ever manufactured.

3. Since rising to mega-stardom with albums like Watermark and Shepherd Moons, who has sold 75 million records worldwide without ever once going out on tour?
Enya never tours. Enya has never even done a live solo concert. This is because Enya doesn't exist in corporeal human form; she is an artificial intelligence created when lightning struck a "Learn Irish Gaelic" Rosetta Stone CD-ROM in 1997.

4. What was anatomically unusual about the eagle used as an imperial symbol by the medieval Byzantines, and then by the Holy Roman Empire and Tsarist Russia?
Unlike most eagles you are likely to see in the wild, this heraldic eagle, still seen on the flags of Albania and Montenegro, has two heads.

5. In movies between 1986 and 1991, Michael Rooker, Fred Ward, Kenneth Branagh, and Harrison Ford all played title characters who shared what first name?
The movies are Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Henry and June, Henry V, and Regarding Henry.

6. Who grappled with the horrors of the Spanish Civil War in his 1937 painting The Burning Giraffe?
The Burning Giraffe is a rare political work by surrealist Salvador Dali.

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these literary works? Blood and Guts in High School, Forge, The Hairy Ape, In Cold Blood, The Lilies of the Field, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Nineteen Eighty-Four, A Singular Man, Stranger in a Strange Land.
These are all novels (or plays or short stories) where the main character is named Smith. Or claims to be, anyway. A likely story!

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

1. Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe were the three directors of what influential institution?

2. The first NASA communications satellite, launched in 1960, shared its name with what nymph from Greek myth?

3. What TV series was inspired by Carl Reiner's stint as a writer-performer on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shoes?

4. What color does sodium hydroxide turn litmus paper?

5. In 1974, what sport reinstated its ban on left-handed players, to avoid dangerous head-on collisions?

6. What Spanish fashion retailer was originally named for an iconic Anthony Quinn film before a 1975 name tweak?

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these world rivers, and no others? Congo, Danube, Mekong, Niger, Nile, Rio de la Plata.

Enjoy!

[Floater]

1. Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe were the three directors of what influential institution?

Bauhaus

4. What color does sodium hydroxide turn litmus paper?*

Blue

[kitap]

#3 must be The Dick van Dyke Show.

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by DadOf3

5. In movies between 1986 and 1991, Michael Rooker, Fred Ward, Kenneth Branagh, and Harrison Ford all played title characters who shared what first name?
The movies are Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Henry and June, Henry V, and Regarding Henry.

But what's the name?!

I thought I was doing OK this week but a lot are guesses or half-answers...

1. Something to do with architecture?

2. Cassiopeia? Hmm, or Ariadne rings a bell - I think they've both been space programs? I don't know, anyway. (My first guess was Calypso but then I convinced myself I'd been thinking of the thing I wrote...)

3. No idea

4. It's alkaline so blue.

5. Sounds like it must be polo. Or possibly ice hockey?

6. I could probably work it out if I thought for long enough...

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these world rivers, and no others? Congo, Danube, Mekong, Niger, Nile, Rio de la Plata.

I always think I should be able to get geography questions, but I never can. "And no other" is interesting. Given the size of those rivers, it's interesting that the Amazon, Mississippi and Rhine (for example) aren't on the list, so what do the ones above have that those don't?

It isn't countries named after them (wouldn't be an exclusive list even if all of those did have that - The Gambia isn't on it for example), and I don't see how it can be to do with border crossings, since some of those cross lots of borders and others not so many if any.

[TallGeekyGirl]

Ken you done screwed up! You forgot that Harrison Ford also played Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. In the Last Crusade in 1989!

[kitap]

For #7 my first thought was they had no tributaries flowing into them, but that can't be true of the Danube for one, can it?

[chillas]

Lots of guesses this week...

1. Bauhaus.

2. Echo?

3. The Dick van Dyke Show?

4. I can never remember which does which color. Blue?

5. The only thing I can think of that might fit is polo.

6. Zara/Zorba.

7. Nothing comes to mind.

[ChasFink]

1. Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe were the three directors of what influential institution?
Bauhaus. Not the one that did "Bela Lugosi's Dead".

2. The first NASA communications satellite, launched in 1960, shared its name with what nymph from Greek myth?
Nike? (Not Telstar, right?)

3. What TV series was inspired by Carl Reiner's stint as a writer-performer on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shoes?
The Dick Van Dyke Show - once called "Head of the Family" when Reiner was to star.

4. What color does sodium hydroxide turn litmus paper?
It should be blue, but somehow I think this is a trick question.

5. In 1974, what sport reinstated its ban on left-handed players, to avoid dangerous head-on collisions?
Jousting?

6. What Spanish fashion retailer was originally named for an iconic Anthony Quinn film before a 1975 name tweak?
Can't be Zappos. Doubt if it's something like Ghosts Can't Wear It. Zorbo's? Sorba's?

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these world rivers, and no others? Congo, Danube, Mekong, Niger, Nile, Rio de la Plata.
They are all on this list!

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by DadOf3

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

1. Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe were the three directors of what influential institution?

Bauhaus school of architecture

2. The first NASA communications satellite, launched in 1960, shared its name with what nymph from Greek myth?

Echo? It would actually makes sense for a communications satellite.

3. What TV series was inspired by Carl Reiner's stint as a writer-performer on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shoes?

The Dick Van Dyke Show

4. What color does sodium hydroxide turn litmus paper?

pink or blue (yea, I know, I just don't remember whether NH2 is a base or acid. I think I'll go with pink, in the end.)

5. In 1974, what sport reinstated its ban on left-handed players, to avoid dangerous head-on collisions?

Polo

6. What Spanish fashion retailer was originally named for an iconic Anthony Quinn film before a 1975 name tweak?

My initial reaction was to say Zorba the Greek, but that's not very Spanish. So maybe El Greco? But that still doesn't tell me the name of the fashion retailer, so all of this is for naught. ETA: After looking at the other answers, it appears my initial reaction was correct. Fancy that.

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these world rivers, and no others? Congo, Danube, Mekong, Niger, Nile, Rio de la Plata.

They are all famous for mythical creatures who live in them. ETA: on a more serious level, they can't be the only rivers that flow north. Can they?

Seaboe

[GenYus234]

Originally Posted by TallGeekyGirl

Ken you done screwed up! You forgot that Harrison Ford also played Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. In the Last Crusade in 1989!

But for him to have been a title character, wouldn't it have to have been titled Henry Jones Jr and the Last Crusade?

[TallGeekyGirl]

Loopholes!

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

ETA: on a more serious level, they can't be the only rivers that flow north. Can they?

Seaboe

No, the Niger flows south and the Congo flows south-westish. Anyway, with the number of rivers in the world you couldn't possibly say that there were "no others" that flowed north. There are lots in Siberia, for example, and presumably the north of Canada. Unless "world river" has some specific meaning that isn't just "river".

Similarly I don't think there can be any rivers with no tributaries!

It has to be to do with rivers over a certain size or status to be able to say "and no other" like that...