posted
So what's wrong with once in a while having a fairly "easy" set of questions? I know that in my Invasion game- we've gotten rounds that we literally zipped through and thought were easy (some where the creaters thought they were HARD!) and other rounds were major stumpers that nailed us for days.
I don't see anything wrong with sharing the answers even if they are the same as others. What does sort of bother me is someone to come along and question the creater of the trivia of his intents/motive/whatever then brag that you knew all the answers. For what its worth.. I didn't. I knew only one offhand. Does that make me uber dumb despite the fact that you think the trivia for this week was actually "dumbed down"?
quote:Originally posted by Bad Ronald: I didn't see much point in answering questions that had already been answered (5 of the 7 had been answered in the original post).
It just seems that in previous weeks, one poster would get one or two, another would take a stab at another, and then we'd collectively brainstorm for the last one. Now, it's just, "Here are the questions - and most of the answers" and the others are figured out within 2 or 3 more posts.
Maybe it's just the luck of the draw, put I feel like the questions are being dumbed down. Anyone else?
I'm sorry that I put my guesses in my posting of this weeks questions. I did label them as guesses and was only really sure about numbers 1 and 6. I really should have known number 2, it seems so easy now, and I still hand out kudos to those who came up with the ever-fun number 7.
Mac"The definition of an easy question is one you know the answer to"Lloyd
-------------------- "May you make the Yuletide pay!" Posts: 811 | From: Arcadia, CA | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I actually have been trying to make the quiz a little easier for the last few weeks, though I actually thought last week's questions were quite a bit easier than this week's.
Remember, this is a weekly email quiz for thousands of subscribers. (Who tend to quit in disgust if they go 0-for for weeks at a time.) If it doesn't play as well as a collaborative effort on somebody else's message board...well, it was never designed for that anyway.
Posts: 2 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Oct 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Sometimes a random grouping of questions happens to cover several things one person knows. Another person may know none of the answers to those particular questions, but all of the answers to another random grouping. I've had several right answers in the past (not first answers, but I knew before I scrolled down). This week I had one (the Mohs scale one, but only becasue I know what the Mohs scale is). On seeing the answer to number two, I realized I should have known that but didn't. Sometimes the questions just mirror your areas of expertise. Sometimes they don't.
And Ken: Just out of curiousity, do you visit any of the other sections? Any opinions on movies or articles about cats having puppies?
edited because while I know what the Mohs scale is, I don't know how to spell it
-------------------- "My sandwich choice is uncertain, until I actually order. It's like Schrodinger's Sandwich." "Is plutonium involved in this sandwich in any way?" "Maybe." Posts: 496 | From: Whitby, ON, Canada | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I want to thank Ken for not scolding us about posting his trivia questions on the message board. These are a lot of fun, but I'd never get through one all by myself. Piecing the answers together with my fellow snopesters is the next best thing.
I usually edit out Ken's commentary in the interest of brevity, but since he's watching, I'll post the whole email this time.
quote:Tuesday Trivia XXII comes to you from a snowy Seattle. In fact, it's a snowy Seattle where the Seahawks, as I type this, just took the lead from the Packers on Monday Night Football. So I'll be brief, and possibly a little distracted.
Last week began our third ten-week contest, and the running scoreboard will soon be posted to http://www.ken-jennings.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?f=3 . If you choose to compete with your fellow trivia ner--er, trivia-heads, check your scores there. Or just play along at home and feel smart. Even if you have to look the answers up, feel smart. If nothing else, you're smarter than you were before you looked them up!
Andy, our grader, says there were no less than 61 perfect scores last week, well in line with my aim for a more accessible quiz this time around. Andy also asks that I remind players who happen to be high school or college quiz bowl players not to mention material from NAQT tournaments in their Tuesday Trivia email, since Andy also sometimes plays NAQT, and fourth and inches--you gotta give to Alexander here...hey, first down! Uh, sorry about that...let's just get to the questions.
THIS WEEK'S QUIZ
1. The title character of what 2000 film is a Norwich terrier named Winky?
2. What building was a dilapidated ruin in 1831 when a bestselling novel that year prompted architect Eugene Emmanuel Violet-le-Duc to lead a restoration effort?
3. What can be captured "en passant"?
4. Three of four assassinated U.S. presidents--Lincoln, McKinley, and Kennedy--were fatally shot on what day of the week?
5. Complete this numerical analogy. Two : Bactrian :: one : __________.
6. Until it was discontinued last year, what was the only U.S. car model to share its name with an element of the periodic table?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these five U.S. states, and no others? California, Georgia, Missouri, New York, and Utah?
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What hit album of 2006 shares its name with the airport that was one of the world's busiest from 1948 to 1963? Idlewild, by OutKast, has the same name as New York City's Idlewild Airport (now called JFK). Several floated the theory, which hadn't occurred to me, that the new Beatles mash-up Love should qualify here, thinking (I assume) of Dallas's Love Field, but sadly the dates don't work out.
2. The climax of what classic novel is a murder attempt made against the narrator, who is dressed as a ham? To Kill a Mockingbird. I swear I didn't realize that this is the second week in a row that Question #2 was a Harper Lee question.
3. According to the historian Suetonius, who, in 33 AD, began living with his own teenage sister Drusilla "as his lawful wife"? Caligula is the sicko in question, though there's little historical evidence for most of these assertions of his famous depravity.
4. What shoe salesman with a famous name is the only person in both the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Sporting Goods Hall of Fame? Basketball forward Charles Taylor isn't in the Basketball Hall for his on-court prowess--after he retired he became a salesman and spokes-jock for Converse shoes, and 750 million pairs of his namesake "Chuck Taylor All-Star" sneakers have sold since.
5. What was located directly below an upscale seafood restaurant called Melville's? The title bar in TV's Cheers. One guess for "a septic tank." Mmm, no.
6. On geology's Mohs scale, talc is 1. What's 10? The Mohs scale measures hardness. Talc, a 1, is as soft as rocks get. So 10, of course, is diamond.
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these famous people? Art Buchwald, Ella Fitzgerald, Frida Kahlo, Curtis Mayfield, George Mikan, Cole Porter, Santa Anna, Jack Tatum, and Marshall Tito? (No prompting for not-specific-enough answers here.) All had a leg (or two) amputated. But only Santa Anna buried his missing limb with full military honors.
-------------------------------------------
As with all good trivia, it would take you about 30 seconds to Google the answers to the first six questions above. So you're on the honor system here: no peeking, and only send in the answers you knew off the top of your head. Answers will appear in next week's mailing.
The seventh and final question every week is a "What do they have in common?" question, designed to be harder to Google. If and when I arrange to send out goodies to high scorers, it will be on the basis of these seventh questions only.
Send responses to tuesdaytrivia@ken-jennings.com by noon Pacific each following Monday. You have received this e-mail because your address was submitted to the mailing list at www.ken-jennings.com. If you were subscribed in error, or wish to unsubscribe at any time, send that request to webmaster@ken-jennings.com.
Dara bhur gCara
As Shepherds Watched Their Flocks Buy Now Pay Later
posted
1. Best in Show. 2. Notre Dame de Paris, most likely. 3. A chess piece. 6. Mercury?
-------------------- This wrinkle in time, I can't give it no credit, I thought about my space and it really got me down. Got me so down, I got me a headache, My heart is crammed in my cranium and it still knows how to pound Posts: 2794 | From: London, UK | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
3. Dara's right that it's a chess piece, but I believe it is specifically a pawn. "En passant", meaning "in passing" is a move allowing one pawn to capture another if the captured pawn (P1) has just made its first move and has moved two spaces. The capturing pawn (P2) can take P1 if P2 would have been able to capture P1 had P1 moved only one space. (I really hope that makes sense.)
Posts: 539 | From: Nova Scotia | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Re #4, Lincoln was shot on a Friday (Good Friday, in fact).
-------------------- How homophobic do you have to be to have penguin gaydar? - Lewis Black Posts: 8322 | From: Columbus, OH | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
Lake Placid, Atlanta, LA, Salt Lake City, and um, OK, Missouri hasn't hosted the Olympics.
Posts: 763 | From: Chicago | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
ETA: In which case it looks like you've got it, Simply Madeline.
-------------------- "You learn something new every day if you're not careful" - Wilf Lunn Posts: 893 | From: Durham City, England | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
While checking up to see if my thought was even close, I found that 19 states have square dancing as the official state dance, far ahead of #2 (tie between clogging and polka at 2 states each).
-------------------- IIRC, it wasn't the shoe bomber's loud prayers that sparked the takedown by the other passengers; it was that he was trying to light his shoe on fire. Very, very different. Canuckistan Posts: 3694 | From: Arizona | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I figured it was safe to use Wikkipedia for a non-hot topic. Oh well.
-------------------- IIRC, it wasn't the shoe bomber's loud prayers that sparked the takedown by the other passengers; it was that he was trying to light his shoe on fire. Very, very different. Canuckistan Posts: 3694 | From: Arizona | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Wiki says that Pennsylvania's dance is the Polka. I figured the folks in Chicago would polka too, but Illinois is yet another square dance community.
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
The legislature of Pennslyvania says that Pennsylvania doesn't have a state dance. That site lists things like the State Steam Locomitive and State Electric Locomotives, so I doubt the State Dance would have been left off for being to minor or frivolous.
-------------------- IIRC, it wasn't the shoe bomber's loud prayers that sparked the takedown by the other passengers; it was that he was trying to light his shoe on fire. Very, very different. Canuckistan Posts: 3694 | From: Arizona | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
Dara bhur gCara
As Shepherds Watched Their Flocks Buy Now Pay Later
posted
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. The title character of what 2000 film is a Norwich terrier named Winky? Winky wins "Best in Show" in the Christopher Guest mockumentary of the same name.
2. What building was a dilapidated ruin in 1831 when a bestselling novel that year prompted architect Eugene Emmanuel Violet-le-Duc to lead a restoration effort? Notre-Dame du Paris was, amazingly, a wreck before the Hunchback helped renovate it.
3. What can be captured "en passant"? Pawns, in chess. I have no memory of how this works exactly, but I do know this: pawns can take each other in some funky way in chess.
4. Three of four assassinated U.S. presidents--Lincoln, McKinley, and Kennedy--were fatally shot on what day of the week? All were shot on a Friday (Good Friday, in Lincoln's case). The fourth, Garfield, was shot on a Saturday. If I were president, I would dread weekends.
5. Complete this numerical analogy. Two : Bactrian :: one : __________. A dromedary, or Arabian camel. A "Bactrian" camel has two humps; the dromedary only one. One reader finished the analogy this way: "Zero: Humphrey."
6. Until it was discontinued last year, what was the only U.S. car model to share its name with an element of the periodic table? The intended answer here was the Dodge Neon, but Chevy apparently introduced the Cobalt during the last year of the Neon's model life. So we accepted both cars (but not the Mercury, which is a make, not a model).
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these five U.S. states, and no others? California, Georgia, Missouri, New York, and Utah? They're the only states to have hosted the Olympic Games.
THIS WEEK'S QUIZ
1. To receive a Pritzker Prize, you'd have to be at the top of what field?
2. What name was coined by Mussolini on November 1, 1936, when he claimed in a speech that all Europe would soon "revolve" around Italy and Germany?
3. In books, who is married to Miss Jane Porter of Baltimore?
4. In what hit musical is "Effie White" the name of the Florence Ballard character, and "Lorrell Robinson" the Mary Wilson analogue?
5. In 2004, for the Internet age, what new character was added to the Morse code alphabet, the first official addition since World War I?
6. At what nation does Panama "attach" to South America?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these novels? An American Tragedy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dracula, Flowers for Algernon, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Red Dragon, The Secret Agent, and Washington Square.
1. The Pritzker prize is for architecture. 2. The Axis, I reckon. 4. Dreamgirls is the musical based on the story of The Supremes, isn't it? 5. "@," which is again a guess.
1's the only one I'm sure of, though the others are guesses.
-------------------- This wrinkle in time, I can't give it no credit, I thought about my space and it really got me down. Got me so down, I got me a headache, My heart is crammed in my cranium and it still knows how to pound Posts: 2794 | From: London, UK | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- "I have never in my life been more disappointed by a politician I voted for than I have been with George Bush. He is a total liberal."- overheard by me on the shuttle to the U of A game on Nov. 11th. Posts: 3878 | From: Tucson, AZ | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
#2 i think was 'The Axis of Power' or 'The Axis Powers' or something with Power or Powers in there too (I've used the word Power too often and it's lost all meaning)
Dara bhur gCara
As Shepherds Watched Their Flocks Buy Now Pay Later
posted
I think I've got No 7: all of them have been originally adapted for film with the name changed, then subsequently remade with the original title: Flowers for Algernon was first filmed as Charly, before being remade last year, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory became Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, before being remade in 2004 Dracula was first filmed as Nosferatu, before being remade loads and loads of times and of course The Secret Agent was filmed by Hitchcock as Sabotage before being recently remade as well.
I think there was an Italian version of The Postman Always Rings Twice which pre-dates the 1946 US version, but I'm not sure.
-------------------- This wrinkle in time, I can't give it no credit, I thought about my space and it really got me down. Got me so down, I got me a headache, My heart is crammed in my cranium and it still knows how to pound Posts: 2794 | From: London, UK | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote: 3. In books, who is married to Miss Jane Porter of Baltimore?
Tarzan.
-------------------- Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on. Winston Churchill Posts: 821 | From: Delaware | Registered: Apr 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Dang, late again. oh well, can't let that stop me from giving my 20 cents worth (adjusted for inflation).
1) Didn't know, do now. 2) The Axis seems right. 3) Tarzan, or the Earl of Greystoke. 4) Dreamgirls, and I can't wait to see the movie. 5) definitely the @ symbol. 6) Colombia, home of my DW. 7) I think Dara has hit this one on the head. i don't know about an Italian version of The Postman Always Rings Twice, but there was a French version from the late 30s.
Mac"as always, just my guesses (except Colombia)"Lloyd
-------------------- "May you make the Yuletide pay!" Posts: 811 | From: Arcadia, CA | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Red Dragon came out as Manhunter, before being remade a few years back with the original title (and Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Fiennes and Edward Norton. Awesome).
-------------------- "The fact that "uvula" and "vulva" look and sound similar was just a happy coincidence." - Lainie Posts: 548 | From: England | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Postman has been made at least twice in the U.S. under its actual title.
Could Double Indemnity be considered another version?
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
IMDB (not a perfect source) says that Double Indemnity is "based on the novel by James M. Cain which in turn was based on the true story of Ruth Snyder."
posted
An American Tragedy was adapted as "A Place in the Sun", but I'm not aware of a version under the original name.
Posts: 763 | From: Chicago | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Spam & Cookies-mmm: IMDB ...
Pssst! Spam--did you forget? We're not supposed to look things up.
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hey, no sweat. I almost did the same thing with An American Tragedy but luckily I caught myself before I hit "add reply"
My excuse is that I'd just come over from the History Game. Feeble, I know, but it's mine own.
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I was talking to my mother (a tremendous treasure trove of tinseltown trivia) and found out that Washington Square (a movie I had not previously heard of) was a remake of The Heiress an old movie starring Olivia De Haviland (and a favorite of my mother's) which was based on a novel by Henry James called Washington Square! Pretty much confirming Dara's brilliant "guess" for number 7.
ETA: more memorable alliteration for my mom
Mac"I think talking with family members is allowed"Lloyd
-------------------- "May you make the Yuletide pay!" Posts: 811 | From: Arcadia, CA | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
1. To receive a Pritzker Prize, you'd have to be at the top of what field? Architecture. Favorite guess: "Spelling, with a name like that!"
2. What name was coined by Mussolini on November 1, 1936, when he claimed in a speech that all Europe would soon "revolve" around Italy and Germany? Mussolini saw the new pact as Europe's axis of rotation. Hence, the "Axis" Powers of World War II.
3. In books, who is married to Miss Jane Porter of Baltimore? He Tarzan; she Jane. Did you know Jane was American, not English? I sure didn't. A few people tried "No one, if she's still 'Miss.'" Points for creativity, at least.
4. In what hit musical is "Effie White" the name of the Florence Ballard character, and "Lorrell Robinson" the Mary Wilson analogue? Ballard and Wilson were Supremes, and so the musical is Dreamgirls. Soon to be a major motion picture, as they say.
5. In 2004, for the Internet age, what new character was added to the Morse code alphabet, the first official addition since World War I? Morse Code finally has an "@", so you can give your friends your new email address via, um, Morse Code.
6. At what nation does Panama "attach" to South America? At Colombia. In fact, Panama was part of Colombia until 1903.
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these novels? An American Tragedy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dracula, Flowers for Algernon, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Red Dragon, The Secret Agent, and Washington Square. All these well-known novels were made into well-known movies...but under a different title. (Respectively: A Place in the Sun, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Nosferatu, Charly, Ossessione, Manhunter, Hitchcock's Sabotage, and The Heiress.) A fuller--and even more interesting--answer is that each was adapted for the screen at least once under its own name *and* at least once with a new title. (Admittedly, for this to work, you have to accept a crappy Flowers for Algernon TV movie starring Matthew Modine as a screen adaptation.) But we accepted the shorter answer as well, because brevity is the soul of wit.
Forty-six correct papers last week, and such a high average score that this was the easiest quiz overall since Week 11, says grader Andy. As always, look for the complete leaderboard at http://www.ken-jennings.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?t=903 --but note that new scores may take a few hours to post each Tuesday, so try a little patience before you panic.
And if seven questions a week just isn't enough trivia for you, please forgive me a moment of crass self-promotion and let me remind you that my book Brainiac, about the weird, wild world of trivia geeks, is on sale now, each chapter packed with trivia questions than the last. Makes a great Christmas present too--and, as of last week, the hardcover can be found online for under $15, which is a pretty amazing deal. Okay, end of commercial.
THIS WEEK'S QUIZ
1. Whom did wordplay-minded sports fans know by the nickname "Mario, Jr."?
2. What is more correctly called a Chanukiah when it has nine branches instead of seven?
3. Ironically, Richard Nixon himself appeared in court in 1980 to defend what man of ordering illegal break-ins?
4. Whose landmark 1865 paper recorded seven plant characteristics, including "color, form, and size of the pods"?
5. What TV personality pronounces his name the same as the Green Lantern on the animated Justice League series?
6. What U.S. state's license plates read "Native America"?
7. Given this list of TV shows--Charlie's Angels, Desperate Housewives, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Emerald Point N.A.S. twice, and Law & Order--what *other* show could be added to list twice? ------------------------------------------------
My answers: 2. Menorah 3. G. Gordon Liddy (This is probably a very bad guess.) 4. Mendel 6. is a Western state. I'm just not sure which one.
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[fish]](graemlins/fish.gif)
