Ken Jennings Trivia

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by Richard W

That's not a bad idea either - all the ones I know of are right next to rivers (Notre Dame and the Deutsche museum are both on islands), and Runnymede is a flood plain.

The problem is that the question doesn't include any of the Florentine museums, all of which were subjected to devastating floods in 1966.

Seaboe

[Don Enrico]

Steve is right about who I thought the VP was. I knew there was some Republican who came up in the Obama birthplace discussion, but obviously he wasn't a VP.

[TallGeekyGirl]

1. The Indian city of Meerut is famous for producing what piece of sporting equipment, out of local Kashmir willow? Cricket bats

2. What would you find on the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus that gives it the highest albedo in the Solar System? Ice

3. What 1944 thriller, in which Ingrid Bergman plays a woman menaced by her scheming husband, gave us a modern term for a type of psychological abuse? Gaslight

4. What dog breed provides at least 70 percent of all guide dogs for the blind? Golden Retriever

[chillas]

1. WAG- cricket bats?

2. Don't know.

3. Gaslight.

4. Labrador retrievers.

5. The Hours.

6. Don't know.

7. Nothing comes to mind.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by Richard W

all the ones I know of are right next to rivers (Notre Dame and the Deutsche museum are both on islands), and Runnymede is a flood plain.

I wonder whether there is an island at Runnymede when it floods. I wonder whether the answer is something to do with islands, not just flooding. Because I think both the Jefferson monument and Jamestown have islands involved (current or former).

Seaboe

[Hans Off]

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

I wonder whether there is an island at Runnymede when it floods. I wonder whether the answer is something to do with islands, not just flooding. Because I think both the Jefferson monument and Jamestown have islands involved (current or former).

Seaboe

Good point, Notre Dame is on an island in the Sene

[gopher]

I seem to remember a bit on QI, where I get most of my knowledge from, that said part of Runymede is owned by the US.

[Richard W]

That would probably be the Kennedy memorial part*, which was related to my other guess... There's also a little memorial put up by a team of constitutional lawyers from the USA as well (I forget the details)**.

There is indeed an island at Runnymede, even without flooding, called Magna Carta island. There are conflicting theories about where exactly the Magna Carta was signed - most scholars think that the encampments were set up on the main meadow where the sculpture is, but some think it was actually signed on the island, which is effectively the other side of the river, as the channels that aren't the main Thames are narrow. (You can't get to the island from the south side of the river where the Thames Path is, so I'm not sure what's on it. Looks like the ruins of a priory, perhaps).

*(eta) Yes, it is - I remembered taking photos of some of the signs there when I walked to it in 2015, and apparently the acre of land that the Kennedy memorial sits on was "given to the United States of America by the people of Great Britain in memory of...". Whatever that means... In fact the slab with that inscription on it, and the steps leading up to it, and the land, is the memorial.

** From another of my photos, this one was put up by the American Bar Association.

[DadOf3]

Hi all,

GenYus234 has pointed out that we're well over 1,000 posts in this thread so it's probably worth starting a new one. I'll put the new questions in a new thread.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS

1. The Indian city of Meerut is famous for producing what piece of sporting equipment, out of local Kashmir willow?
Baseball bats are made of ash, but cricket bats are made of willow.

2. What would you find on the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus that gives it the highest albedo in the Solar System?
Albedo is a measurement of the brightness and reflectivity of a celestial body. Enceladus is super-bright, because it's covered with clean, white ice.

3. What 1944 thriller, in which Ingrid Bergman plays a woman menaced by her scheming husband, gave us a modern term for a type of psychological abuse?
The movie, adapted from a play of the same name, is called Gaslight. To cover up his shenanigans in the attic, the villain convinces his wife that she is just *imagining* the flickering gaslights in their home.

4. What dog breed provides at least 70 percent of all guide dogs for the blind?
Some are German shepherds and golden retrievers, but the vast majority are Labradors.

5. With its lighting and costume changes that advance from dawn to night, Ponchielli's most famous ballet is called the "Dance of" what?
It's called the "Dance of the Hours," aka "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah."

6. Because of his father's job, who was the only U.S. vice president not born in one of the 13 colonies or 50 states?
Al Gore, Sr. served in Congress for 32 years, and as a result his son Al Gore, Jr. was born in the District of Columbia.

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these landmarks? The Aswan Museum, Historic Jamestown, the Jefferson Memorial, Montreal Olympic Stadium, Munich's Deutsches Museum, the National Assembly of South Korea, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Runnymede site of the Magna Carta signing.
All of these notable spots are located on an island in the middle of a river. To be fair, there's actually some controversy over what particular part of Runnymede is where the sh** actually went down in 1215, but I feel the historical case for the island in the Thames is very strong. Please note, however, that I am no expert in Magna Carta-graphy.

See you in the next thread.