Trivia Q&A: December 4

We had 17 teams in for Trivia Night, which surprised me a bit as it was a very cold night in New York last night. But our loyal Trivia players are very dedicated, so it was good to see another nice turnout.

There were two rounds that I figured the scores would be low in, and I was right: New Jersey Trivia and General Knowledge. The General Knowledge questions were rather tough, and it's also pretty clear that many of the players last night weren't up on their NJ knowledge! To be fair, many of them weren't that easy, so it made for an interesting night.

Going into the final round, the top four teams were separated by five points. Most teams in IQ Trivia got three of the five questions, or 14 points. But Let's Do It!, who was tied for third place, ran the table and got all 25 points and won the night's Trivia by six points. I guess they should have won, as they finished third two weeks ago, and second last week. Congratulations on the win.

During the holidays, Trivia Night will be moved. Since both major holidays fall on a Tuesday, we will be having Trivia Night on Wednesday, December 26, and Wednesday, January 2, both at 9 PM. Other than that, they will continue on Tuesday nights. Trivia will NOT be moving back to Mondays, as Jim and I mutually agreed that we have such a loyal following on Tuesdays that even when the baseball season returns in April, we will remain on Tuesday nights.

Current Events
1. A British teacher who was jailed in this African country over her students naming a teddy bear after the prophet Mohammed was freed on Monday.
2. It was reported on Monday that the national debt is now rising by this amount of money every minute.
3. An Amtrak train and a freight train collided outside this US city last Friday, injuring over 100 people.
4. This film, which took in over $17 million last week, was number one at the box office for the second straight week.
5. These two teams were selected Sunday to play in the college football BCS title this January 7.
6. Eight men now claim to have had sex with, or were targets of sexual advances by this controversial Washington lawmaker.
7. Which legendary American band was selected to play at halftime of the Super Bowl this upcoming February?
8. This Southern City was selected the Most Obese City in America for 2006 by the Center For Disease Control recently.
9. This NFL player was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year for 2007 on Tuesday.
10. AT&T, the nation's largest phone carrier, said Monday that it was phasing this out, which was a staple of their service for over 129 years.

Answers: 1. Sudan; 2. $1 million; 3. Chicago; 4. "Enchanted;" 5. LSU and Ohio State; 6. Larry Craig; 7. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; 8. Memphis; 9. Brett Favre; 10. pay phones.

New Jersey Trivia
1. What city in New Jersey was Frank Sinatra born in?
2. True or false: New Jersey is the only state in the US without a state song.
3. Name one of the two current senators who represent New Jersey.
4. Within five, how many counties does New Jersey have?
5. True or false: The first officially recorded baseball game in history was played in New Jersey.
6. Which NJ town is mentioned in the title of Bruce Springsteen's first album?
7. Within 200,000, what is the current population of New Jersey?
8. Of the 13 original states, which number state was NJ in ratifying the Constitution?
9. Which New Jersey institute of higher learning was originally chartered as "Queen's College?"
10. After Newark, which city is the second largest city in NJ by population?

Answers: 1. Hoboken; 2. true; 3. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez; 4. twenty-one; 5. true; 6. Asbury Park; 7. 8.7 million; 8. three; 9. Rutgers University; 10. Jersey City.

True or False Trivia ("The Q Train")
1. The original name of the Sony Walkman in 1979 when it was first marketed was "Soundabout."
2. In the 1844 novel by Dumas, Athos is NOT one of The Three Musketeers.
3. Albion is an ancient name for the nation of Switzerland.
4. Norman Mailer is the only author to win the Pulitzer Prize in both the fiction and nonfiction categories.
5. Tartan is a type of plaid fabric pattern.
6. A lobster has three pairs of antennae.
7. Joan Benoit won the first women's Olympic Marathon in 1984.
8. Diane Keaton was in the original cast of the 1968 Broadway musical, "Hair."
9. In his 1963 speech "I Have a Dream," Martin Luther King recites the first verse of "God Bless America."
10. No New York Mets pitcher has ever thrown a no-hit game for the team in its history.

Answers: 1. true; 2. false, he is; 3. false, it's England; 4. true; 5. true; 6. false, two; 7. true; 8. true; 9. false, he read "America;" 10. true.

General Knowledge
1. What athlete created a maneuver called the "rope-a-dope?"
2. What mountain range runs along the borders of Tennessee and North Carolina?
3. What is the name of the device used to separate components of a mixture by spinning them rapidly?
4. James Herriot, author of the book, "All Creatures Great and Small," was a professional what?
5. What singer appeared in the 1999 film, "The Cider House Rules?"
6. What word taken from a famous painter's name is often used to describe a full-figured woman?
7. In the card game, "Old Maid," which card is removed from the deck before play starts?
8. In geometry, what term describes two figures that are the same size and shape?
9. The Twister Brown Tucker Band plays backup for what pop music star?
10. An otoscope is a device doctors use to examine what part of the human body?

Answers: 1. Muhammad Ali; 2. Great Smoky Mountains; 3. centrifuge; 4. veterinarian; 5. Erykah Badu; 6. Rubenesque; 7. a queen; 8. congruent; 9. Kid Rock; 10. eardrum.

IQ Trivia
1. What country encompasses all of Asia Minor? (5 points)
2. What Russian prime minister was deposed by the Bolsheviks in October 1917? (6 points)
3. If a wine label reads "12 proof," what percentage of the wine is alcohol? (4 points)
4. What is the southernmost state capital in the contiguous United States? (5 points)
5. What color best describes the sand of the Kalahari Desert? (5 points)

Answers: 1. Turkey; 2. Alexander Kerensky; 3. six percent; 4. Austin, Texas; 5. red.