Trivia Q&A: November 10

We had a nice crowd in for Trivia Night on Tuesday. 20 teams took part, and I was ably assisted by my friend John, who is about to launch his own trivia night in a bar in New York, and I showed him the way I do it, and I'm sure he will incorporate some of my techniques into his own version, which I'm sure will be very good.

It was a night when the scores were rather high in most rounds, as the questions were a little less hard outside of IQ Trivia. We debuted a new round called "All or Nothing Trivia," which was 10 basic questions the contestants had to answer, and all but four teams got them all correct. You got either five points (we felt ten was too much) or none if you got even one incorrect. The feedback afterwards was pretty good, so it will be back again as part of the Q Train at a future date.

The scores were incredibly close all night long, and we had a four-way tie for second place going into the last round. But the team of The Stepfathers (Because We Beat You and You Hate Us), who was seven points behind the leaders going into IQ Trivia, ran the table with a perfect score and wound up winning by just two points. Nice job guys!

We couldn't do the audio round this week, but we hope to have it back and ready to go as The Q Train next week.

Current Events
1. The Discovery Channel has lined up this TV megastar to narrate an 11-part series called "Life," the follow-up to "Planet Earth," beginning this March.
2. It was announced last week that these two Hollywood stars will co-host the 2010 Academy Awards ceremony, the first time since 1987 it has been hosted by multiple hosts.
3. Hines Ward, a wide receiver for this NFL team, was voted "The Dirtiest Player in the NFL" by a poll of 296 players in Sports Illustrated last week.
4. The unemployment rate topped this number for October, the first time it has reached that number since 1983.
5. This British rock star was released from a London hospital last Thursday after being treated for the flu and an E. coli bacterial infection.
6. This singer last week became the first artist to have four number one songs from a debut album on the Billboard Pop Songs chart since its inception in 1992.
7. Rep. Joseph Cao, a congressman from this southern state, was the lone Republican to vote for the healthcare overhaul bill put together by House Democrats last Saturday.

Answers: 1. Oprah Winfrey; 2. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin; 3. Pittsburgh Steelers; 4. 10%; 5. Elton John; 6. Lady GaGa; 7. Louisiana.

World Geography Trivia
1. Hudson Bay is located in what country?
2. In what body of water is Madagascar located?
3. Between which two countries is the Bering Strait located?
4. In which European city is the International Court located?
5. What country is Santo Domingo the capital of?
6. In which country is the Pampas region found?
7. Where in the world will you find the Great Barrier Reef?

Answers: 1. Canada; 2. Indian Ocean; 3. US and Russia; 4. The Hague; 5. Dominican Republic; 6. Argentina; 7. Australia.

All or Nothing Trivia ("The Q Train")
1. Who was the second President of the United States?
2. What US state has the largest population?
3. What group had a number one hit in the late 1970s with "Stayin' Alive?"
4. Which month has the fewest days?
5. What MLB player has the record for most home runs in a career?
6. Who was the last US president to be assassinated in office?
7. What state was President Bill Clinton born in?
8. What international film won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2009?
9. How many US senators are there currently respresenting the state of Texas?
10. What state's nickname is "The Garden State?"

Answers: 1. John Adams; 2. California; 3. The Bee Gees; 4. February; 5. Barry Bonds; 6. John F. Kennedy; 7. Arkansas; 8. "Slumdog Millionaire;" 9. two; 10. New Jersey.

General Knowledge
1. What kind of foodstuff is Monterey Jack? ( 1 point)
2. What is the capital of North Carolina? ( 1 point)
3. What famous comet made recent appearances in 1910 and 1986? ( 1 point)
4. When the Hindenburg crashed and burned in 1937, what type of gas was it filled with? (2 points)
5. What do you get when you ferment milk with bacteria? ( 2 points)
6. In what Asian country would you find the Kashmir region? ( 2 points)
7. A fungo is a type of what piece of sports equipment? ( 3 points)

Answers: 1. cheese; 2. Raleigh; 3. Halley's Comet; 4. hydrogen; 5. yogurt; 6. India; 7. baseball bat.

IQ Trivia
1. Who was the first actor to win Emmy Awards for acting, writing and directing for the same TV series? ( 4 points)
2. Who was the first Roman Catholic elected Vice-President of the United States? ( 3 points)
3. What isolated mountain range is found in western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming? ( 4 points)
4. In what Latin American country will you find The Gulf of Mosquitoes? ( 5 points)
5. What famous artist titled his autobiography "Diary of a Genius?" ( 4 points)

Answers: 1. Alan Alda ("M*A*S*H"); 2. Joe Biden; 3. The Black Hills; 4. Panama; 5. Salvador Dali.