Ken Jennings Trivia Challenge

[DadOf3]

Hi all,

It looks like the old thread got full, so I'll start a new one. For those new to this, we post the weekly questions from Mr. Jennings but as per his request we delay the question 7 for one week.

This week Ken Jennings writes:
"People are curious," Alice Munro wrote in a 1990 short story. "A few people are. They will be driven to find things out, even trivial things." You, my friends, are certainly among those people. Good luck finding out the seven trivial things on this week's Tuesday quiz.

Now, on to:

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What TV series's February 1999 episode "College" was named by TV Guide as the best hourlong TV episode of all time?
It's the one where Tony takes Meadow around to tour colleges. I think he kills a guy or something too. This is The Sopranos.

2. In the most famous episode of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, Prince Gvidon attacks his grandmother's nose after being magically turned into what kind of animal?
It's possibly the most famous piece of music Rimsky-Korsakov ever wrote: "The Flight of the Bumblebee."

3. What cowboy term for cattle originally referred specifically to a stray or motherless calf?
That's what a "dogey" technically is, of "Get along, little" fame.

4. Michelle Timms and Lauren Jackson are two of Australia's greatest athletes of all time in what sport?
Both had success at all levels of women's basketball, up to and including the WNBA.

5. What university, founded in 1865 by the first president of Western Union, is the only Ivy League school not to date from the colonial period?
Ezra Cornell's namesake university was the last to join the Ivy League.

6. In 1955, American scientist Glenn Seaborg was criticized for naming what new chemical element, number 101 on the periodic table, after a Russian?
Since it was the first element of the second 100 on the periodic table, the American discoverers of mendelevium decided to name it for the father of the periodic table, Dmitri Mendeleev.

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these hit songs? "Be-Bop-a-Lula," "Gloria," "Ice Ice Baby," "How Soon Is Now?", "Incense and Peppermints," "I Will Survive," "Maggie May," "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," "Push It," "Rock Around the Clock," "Signs," "Unchained Melody."
All these hits, amazingly enough, started out as the B-side of another single.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

1. What iconic animal product was first manufactured by the German company Haribo in 1922?

2. Charles Lyell wrote the 1830 text called "Principles of" what science, a book that was a major influence on scientists like Charles Darwin?

3. Under what name--with the spelling modified to avoid confusion with another Ontario artist--does Abel Tesfaye, a Canadian of Ethiopian descent, record his #1 R&B hits?

4. What world city surrounds the historically famous waters of Botany Bay?

5. What woman's death separates the "in vita" and "in morte" sequences of Petrarch's poetry collection Il Canzoniere?

6. What is a "puka" necklace made out of?

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these inventions? Ether anesthesia, Facebook, intermittent windshield wipers, the rabies vaccine, radar, the self-cleaning mop, the telephone, the vibrator.

Enjoy!

[Stan The Man]

Guess on #7 based on what little I know about FB and the telephone... The invention was 'stolen' from someone else.

[Lainie]

#1 is Gummi bear
#2 is Natural Science, I think
#6 is shells

[GenYus234]

2) I want to say (micro)biology?.
4) I'm pretty sure our Outer Zone snopesters will know this one better, but I'm going to guess Sydney?
6) Sea shells.

[Steve]

1.crackers
2.Geology
4.Sydney
5.Laura

[Dr. Winston O'Boogie]

6 has to be invisible rabbits

[chillas]

1. What iconic animal product was first manufactured by the German company Haribo in 1922?

Gummy Bears.

2. Charles Lyell wrote the 1830 text called "Principles of" what science, a book that was a major influence on scientists like Charles Darwin?

Geology.

3. Under what name--with the spelling modified to avoid confusion with another Ontario artist--does Abel Tesfaye, a Canadian of Ethiopian descent, record his #1 R&B hits?

No idea.

4. What world city surrounds the historically famous waters of Botany Bay?

Sydney.

5. What woman's death separates the "in vita" and "in morte" sequences of Petrarch's poetry collection Il Canzoniere?

I feel like I know this, totally blanking.

6. What is a "puka" necklace made out of?

Cone snail shells.

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these inventions? Ether anesthesia, Facebook, intermittent windshield wipers, the rabies vaccine, radar, the self-cleaning mop, the telephone, the vibrator.

Each was originally invented for a different purpose.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by DadOf3

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

1. What iconic animal product was first manufactured by the German company Haribo in 1922?

Gummi (goo-me) bears. The good, edible ones.

2. Charles Lyell wrote the 1830 text called "Principles of" what science, a book that was a major influence on scientists like Charles Darwin?

Geology, I think.

3. Under what name--with the spelling modified to avoid confusion with another Ontario artist--does Abel Tesfaye, a Canadian of Ethiopian descent, record his #1 R&B hits?

Sayleen, although I doubt that's the right spelling. I assume he's trying to avoid confusion with Celine Dion.

4. What world city surrounds the historically famous waters of Botany Bay?

Sydney, Australia.

5. What woman's death separates the "in vita" and "in morte" sequences of Petrarch's poetry collection Il Canzoniere?

Beatrice, I assume. No, wait, that's Dante. Well, I can't think of anyone else (except possibly Heloise, and that's the wrong part of Europe), so I'll stick with my first answer.

6. What is a "puka" necklace made out of?

Shells. Raise your hand if you had one of these in the 70s, when they were the epitome of cool.

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these inventions? Ether anesthesia, Facebook, intermittent windshield wipers, the rabies vaccine, radar, the self-cleaning mop, the telephone, the vibrator.

They were all invented by someone trying to do something else. And I'm going to stop here, before I think of all the reasons that answer isn't right.

Seaboe

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by DadOf3

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

1. What iconic animal product was first manufactured by the German company Haribo in 1922?
gummy bears
2. Charles Lyell wrote the 1830 text called "Principles of" what science, a book that was a major influence on scientists like Charles Darwin?
classification
3. Under what name--with the spelling modified to avoid confusion with another Ontario artist--does Abel Tesfaye, a Canadian of Ethiopian descent, record his #1 R&B hits?
Celine Dyon
4. What world city surrounds the historically famous waters of Botany Bay?
Sidney
5. What woman's death separates the "in vita" and "in morte" sequences of Petrarch's poetry collection Il Canzoniere?
Let's try: Mary
6. What is a "puka" necklace made out of?
seashells (particularly puka shells)
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these inventions? Ether anesthesia, Facebook, intermittent windshield wipers, the rabies vaccine, radar, the self-cleaning mop, the telephone, the vibrator.

Enjoy!

They were all intended for a different population than wound up using them - Chillas and Seaboe, I would agree with the way you have worded the response, except that as I recall, vibrators were invented for the purpose intended - female orgasms - but they were intended to be used by doctors, who relieved women's "hysteria" by masturbating them, and some of the doctors applying this therapy were getting an early version of carpal tunnel syndrome from the popularity of the treatments.

[Don Enrico]

No. 1 is the gummy bear.

[DadOf3]

Hello all. To all my American Snopester friends, a happy Thanksgiving later this week. Here we go with ...

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS

1. What iconic animal product was first manufactured by the German company Haribo in 1922?
In 1922, the first Gummibär (gummybear) rolled out of Hans Riegel's Bonn candy kitchen. Unlike today, those first gummybears were made from 100% horse hooves, cough syrup, and mercury.

2. Charles Lyell wrote the 1830 text called "Principles of" what science, a book that was a major influence on scientists like Charles Darwin?
By demonstrating that the earth was much, much more than 6,000 years old, Lyell's Principles of Geology changed the life of a young Charles Darwin.

3. Under what name--with the spelling modified to avoid confusion with another Ontario artist--does Abel Tesfaye, a Canadian of Ethiopian descent, record his #1 R&B hits?
He's The Weeknd, because "The Weekend" was already takn.

4. What world city surrounds the historically famous waters of Botany Bay?
Botany Bay. Botany Bay? Oh, no! * The locale of the historic Australian penal colony is now just an outlying neighborhood of Sydney.

5. What woman's death separates the "in vita" and "in morte" sequences of Petrarch's poetry collection Il Canzoniere?
Like George W. Bush, Petrarch was hopelessly in love with a mysterious unattainable beauty named "Laura."

6. What is a "puka" necklace made out of?
Seashells. Puka shells, in fact. Maybe that part went without saying.

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these inventions? Ether anesthesia, Facebook, intermittent windshield wipers, the rabies vaccine, radar, the self-cleaning mop, the telephone, the vibrator.
There's a movie telling the story of the invention of each one. Well, the self-cleaning mop one doesn't come out until next month.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

1. According to the message that appears at the end of the first seven worlds in the original Super Mario Bros. video game, where is "our princess"?

2. The Kikuyu, Luhya, and Luo peoples are the largest ethnic groups in what country?

3. An elongated version of what letter of the alphabet is used as the integral symbol in mathematics?

4. What cult silent movie star did Kenneth Tynan celebrate in his 1979 New Yorker profile "The Girl in the Black Helmet"?

5. The "Bonus Army," made up of some 43,000 people, carried out their famous 1932 campaign at what city?

6. What legendary sports figure ended his 23-year career last weekend, retiring after a sixth-place finish in Homestead, Florida?

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these U.S. presidents and no others? Madison, Jackson, Pierce, Grant, Cleveland, McKinley, Taft, and Nixon.


* Yay, a Star Trek reference! (Wrath of Khan, to be exact) DadOf3

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by DadOf3

In 1922, the first Gummibär (gummybear) rolled out of Hans Riegel's Bonn candy kitchen. Unlike today, those first gummybears were made from 100% horse hooves, cough syrup, and mercury.

So good that they no longer use cough syrup.


1. "just ahead?
2. Hmm, definitely Bantu names, I think, but that's most of subSaharan Africa, so I'll say Angola, or whatever its current name is
3. s
4. Ach, I can picture her - page boy haircut, but swept forward at the end - Myrna Loy comes to mind, but I think I have the wrong name
5. D.C.
6. I dunno - Affirmed?
7. no idea yet.

[kitap]

#2 is Kenya.
#4-is ir Theda Bara?

[GenYus234]

1) But our princess is in another castle. When you find her, there will be a party with cake.

ETA: For 7, did they have different Vice Presidents?

[Steve]

GenYus234 so did Lincoln

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by DadOf3

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

1. According to the message that appears at the end of the first seven worlds in the original Super Mario Bros. video game, where is "our princess"?

in the next world, I assume. While I was once fairly good at Pong, and played Frogger a few times, the rest of the video games I play aren't really video games (they're electronic versions of board or word games). Which makes me unlikely to know much about video games.

2. The Kikuyu, Luhya, and Luo peoples are the largest ethnic groups in what country?

Cambodia.This is going to be a bad week for me, I can tell already.

3. An elongated version of what letter of the alphabet is used as the integral symbol in mathematics?

F, no wait, S (no crossbar). Unless you're into typography and remember that in the old old days, Fs in the centers of words didn't have crossbars, in which case, F is right. Maybe.

4. What cult silent movie star did Kenneth Tynan celebrate in his 1979 New Yorker profile "The Girl in the Black Helmet"?

Theda Bara? Her hair did look somewhat helmet like. Did you know her stage name was an anagram of Arab Death?

5. The "Bonus Army," made up of some 43,000 people, carried out their famous 1932 campaign at what city?

Washington DC, I think. Weren't they protesting that they never got their WWI bonuses?

6. What legendary sports figure ended his 23-year career last weekend, retiring after a sixth-place finish in Homestead, Florida?

So legendary I have no clue who it is, but he started in 1992. Tiger Woods?

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these U.S. presidents and no others? Madison, Jackson, Pierce, Grant, Cleveland, McKinley, Taft, and Nixon.

They ran twice, non-consecutively and lost. Oops, that leaves out Teddy. They all won both the popular and the electoral vote? I'm not sure that's true of Cleveland. I think I'll leave this one for the rest of you. Don't want to accidentally get it right and spoil my record this week.

Seaboe

[Lainie]

Seaboe, I think your recollection about the Bonus Army is correct.

Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms, but he was the only president to do so.

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

Unless you're into typography and remember that in the old old days, Fs in the centers of words didn't have crossbars, in which case, F is right.

Those were s's (esses?) not f's.

[TallGeekyGirl]

#6 is Jeff Gordon.

[Hapax Legomena]

1. According to the message that appears at the end of the first seven worlds in the original Super Mario Bros. video game, where is "our princess"?
In another castle.
2. The Kikuyu, Luhya, and Luo peoples are the largest ethnic groups in what country?
No idea.
3. An elongated version of what letter of the alphabet is used as the integral symbol in mathematics?
The long 's', which is often mistaken for an 'f' today.
4. What cult silent movie star did Kenneth Tynan celebrate in his 1979 New Yorker profile "The Girl in the Black Helmet"?
Louise Brooks.
5. The "Bonus Army," made up of some 43,000 people, carried out their famous 1932 campaign at what city?
No idea.
6. What legendary sports figure ended his 23-year career last weekend, retiring after a sixth-place finish in Homestead, Florida?
No idea.
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these U.S. presidents and no others? Madison, Jackson, Pierce, Grant, Cleveland, McKinley, Taft, and Nixon.
I want to say that they all had a daughter married at the White House, but there are others who did as well so that's probably not correct.