Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Trivia Q&A: March 24

Trivia Night returned to Tuesday night and many of the regulars returned. We had 18 teams in and a good crowd at Thom's, some of whom were watching the Red Sox spring training game with the Yankees.

This was a night were I may have made a few of the rounds too difficult, as the scores were very low for both "Music Trivia By the Numbers" and "General Knowledge." I may have to ease up a little bit next week. I also made a miscue in GK, as the Sneak Peek question about the third longest river in the world turned out to be wrong, as it was the Yangtze and not the Mississippi. I'll have to go back to my source and give them a good piece of my mind, as I am certain I didn't misunderstand the question. (3 or 4 folks came running up to me with BlackBerrys in hand to point out my error when I read off the answers. Well, The Trivia Maven ain't perfect.)

It was close going into IQ Trivia, with five teams withing four points of each other. We had a special IQ Trivia, as it was possible to get an extra two points, for a total of 22. And two teams did just that. And one of those teams came from fourth place and wound up winning by a slim one point. Congratulations to Keith and this friends for returning to the winners circle again.

Current Events
1. The Post-Intelligencer, a newspaper in this city, printed its last edition last week and officially became an Internet-only news source.
2. This space shuttle was launched from Florida last week carrying solar rays to the International Space Station.
3. Andry Rajoelina was installed as the new president of this island nation in the Indian Ocean last week.
4. Police in London were summoned after a suspicious object in the street was found under a fire hydrant last Thursday, but it turned out to be a replica of "The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch," from this legendary comedy movie.
5. This Western state became the second state to ban executions in the U.S. since the death penalty was restored in 1976 when the state's governor signed the bill last Thursday.
6. A powerful 7.9 earthquake struck last Friday in the Pacific Ocean, and shook an erupting volcano off this small South Pacific island, raising fears of more lava and ash flows.
7. This Eastern US state reversed plans for a statewide ban on bikin waxing after salon owners from across the state spoke out against the proposal.

Answers: 1. Seattle; 2. Discovery; 3. Madagascar; 4. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail;" 5. New Mexico; 6. Tonga; 7. New Jersey.

Music Trivia By the Numbers
1. On April 4, 1964, how many songs did the Beatles have in the top five Billboard singles that day?
2. In AC/DC's song "Hells Bells," how many times does the bell toll from the beginning of the song?
3. This female artist has had more number one songs that any individual artist in history.
4. This is the number of full-time members the Rolling Stones have had since their first hit record in 1964.
5. How many units have to be sold for an album to reach "gold" status?
6. How many strings are on a banjo?
7. How many Grammy Awards has Diana Ross won in her career, both as a solo artist and with The Supremes?

Answers: 1. five; 2. thirteen; 3. Mariah Carey, eighteen; 4. seven; 5. 500,000; 6. four (I also accepted "five"); 7. none.

True or False Trivia ("The Q Train")
1. The hat worn by the guards at Buckingham Palace is called a bearskin.
2. The normal chromosome makeup for a female is two Xs and no Y.
3. A nemetode is a type of bird.
4. Australia won the first America's Cup yacht race in the 19th century.
5. The dish succotash includes as main vegetables both beans and corn.
6. On a suit of armor, a gauntlet is a breastplate.
7. The original McDonald's restaurant opened in the state of California.
8. "What does not kill me makes me stronger" was originally said by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
9. John D. Rockefeller co-founded U.S. Steel.
10. The Washington Monument was originally modeled after the obelisks built by the Egyptian empire.

Answers: 1. true; 2. true; 3. false, worm; 4. false, US won; 5. true; 6. false, it's a glove; 7. true; 8. true; 9. false, Standard Oil; 10. true.

General Knowledge
1. What comedian wrote the novella "Shopgirl?"
2. What language contains the most words?
3. What is the third longest river in the world, after the Nile and Amazon?
4. "Chasing Down the Dawn: Life Stories" is the 2000 memoir of what musical performer?
5. What infamous gangster was shot dead by FBI agent Melvin Purvis?
6. What is the oldest letter in the English language?
7. How many feet deep is a fathom?

Answers: 1. Steve Martin; 2. English (900,000 words); 3. Yangtze; 4. Jewel; 5. John Dillinger; 6. O; 7. six.

IQ Trivia
1. The longest interstate highway in the United States, 1-90, is located between Seattle and what other major US city? (4 points)
2. Who is the only pitcher to win both the Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award in the same season? ( 5 points)
3. Of the top ten web sites visited in the US, two have URLs ending in "dot org." Name one of the two. ( 3 points for one, 5 points for both)
4. What famous tune was written by a 16-year-old named Euphemia Allen in 1877? ( 4 points)
5. What did Valentina Tereshkova do in 1963 that made her world famous? ( 4 points)

Answers: 1. Boston; 2. Fernando Valenzuela (1981); 3. Wikipedia and Craigslist; 4. "Chopsticks;" 5. She was the first woman in space.

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