Trivia Bits from Creators Syndicate

Trivia Bits, October 31 for 10/31/2008

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The vitamin B complex was discovered before vitamin A, and was first called "water-soluble factor B." Vitamin A was discovered shortly thereafter, and was called "fat-soluble factor A," as near as we can tell, to "back-fill" the alphabet. We think vitamins C, D and E were named in that order. But we're sure Vitamin K got its name from the Danish/German "koagulati ...

Updated: Fri Oct 31, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 1 for 11/01/2008

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700

STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 109
Prime-time network television's first-ever cartoon series was hosted by what future TV superstar?

HOW TO WIN: Send your answer, with your full name and address, either by e-mail to TriviaBits@gmail.com, or on a postcard to Stan Newman's Trivia Challenge No. 109, P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762. Only one submission per person, ...

Updated: Sat Nov 01, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 3 for 11/03/2008

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Word of the week: "pleonasm," which is a grammatical term for the use of more words than necessary to express oneself. The previous sentence is an example of "syntactic pleonasm," since "which is" could be omitted without any loss of meaning. There is also "semantic pleonasm," more or less synonymous with "redundancy." Examples: "tuna fish&quo ...

Updated: Mon Nov 03, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 4 for 11/04/2008

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Coincidence? We would think so. According to a recent Reuters article, the American Medical Association recommends administering chest compressions at the rate of 100 per minute when performing CPR. That rate matches almost exactly an aptly named Bee Gees disco-era tune by the name of … "Stayin' Alive."

Eddie Chuculate of Amarillo, Texas asked us to report on the fate ...

Updated: Tue Nov 04, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 5 for 11/05/2008

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Ready for Prime Time: According to sciencenews.org, the largest known prime number, having nearly 13 million digits, was recently discovered by a team of UCLA mathematicians, using a network of 75 computers. This was not just some theoretical exercise, since that discovery won the team a $100,000 prize from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. $150,000 awaits the discoverer of the first 100 million ...

Updated: Wed Nov 05, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 6 for 11/06/2008

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Eponyms of the week: Milwaukeeans William S. Harley, Arthur Davidson, and Arthur's brother Walter. In 1902, 21-year-old Harley made his first blueprint of an engine designed to fit in a bicycle. W.S. and Arthur offered their first motorcycle for sale in 1903, and were later joined in the business by Walter, who set a fuel-economy record of 188.234 miles per gallon in 1908.

Weird Wide ...

Updated: Thu Nov 06, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 7 for 11/07/2008

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The term "sardines," as used on the cans seen at your local supermarket, is a generic term that doesn't refer to a particular type of fish. In fact, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization recognizes 21 species of fish that may be called sardines. The word itself is derived from the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, where such fish were once found in abundance.

Who was ...

Updated: Fri Nov 07, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 8 for 11/08/2008

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 110
An Academy Award statuette presented to what actress is on permanent display in an Amsterdam museum?

HOW TO WIN: Send your answer, with your full name and address, either by e-mail to TriviaBits@gmail.com, or on a postcard to Stan Newman's Trivia Challenge No. 110, P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762. Only one submission per pers ...

Updated: Sat Nov 08, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 10 for 11/10/2008

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Word of the week: "transliteracy," which is the ability to read, write and interact using multiple media, including the latest electronic media such as Facebook and MySpace. The term was coined just a few years ago by a team of researchers in the English department of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Ken Clark of Kent, Wash., asks us about words like "emcee, ...

Updated: Mon Nov 10, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 11 for 11/11/2008

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

A popular "trick" trivia question is, "What is the official language of Mozambique?" It's Portuguese, even though the country has a very French-sounding name. It turns out that the name isn't from the French at all. The country was named for a sultan of the region named Muça Alebique. Portuguese explorers first reached the area in 1498.

Although remembered t ...

Updated: Tue Nov 11, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 12 for 11/12/2008

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Trivia Time: Some recent Internet browsing of ours yielded these nuggets from a Time, Inc. page: The two oldest people to be on the cover of Time magazine were "Grand Old Man" college football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg in 1958 (at age 96) and folk artist Anna Mary "Grandma" Moses in 1953 (at age 94). The youngest? An infant, for the August 1983 cover story "What Do Babies Kn ...

Updated: Wed Nov 12, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 13 for 11/13/2008

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Eponym of the week: London-born clergyman John Harvard, who did not found the university named for him. He bequeathed some cash and his library to New College, which was renamed in his honor in 1639. The 1884 statue of Harvard in Harvard Yard does not depict him, since no likeness of him is known to exist. A Harvard student's face is said to be the model for the statue.

You're probabl ...

Updated: Thu Nov 13, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 14 for 11/14/2008

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The "animal babies," "portable bed" and "trash" meanings of the word "litter" are all derived from the same Latin word, meaning "bed." Not surprisingly, the "bed" meaning entered English first, then "straw used for bedding," then it came to mean "the offspring of an animal in one birth" (that is, in one bed). The " ...

Updated: Fri Nov 14, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 15 for 11/15/2008

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 111
What eight-letter word for an item found at home-furnishings stores has all five vowels?

HOW TO WIN: Send your answer, with your full name and address, either by e-mail to TriviaBits@gmail.com, or on a postcard to Stan Newman's Trivia Challenge No. 111, P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762. Only one submission per person, please. ...

Updated: Sat Nov 15, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 17 for 11/17/2008

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Word of the week: "factoid," which you may have noticed hasn't appeared before in this space. Although some take its meaning to be a tidbit of trivia, the word was coined by Norman Mailer for his 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe, to be a statement of dubious authenticity. (Thanks to Alex Vaughn of Old Lyme, Conn.)

Coincidence? We have no idea. The characters of the 1948 Cole ...

Updated: Mon Nov 17, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 18 for 11/18/2008

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

More on non-stop flight records: The world's longest-distance non-stop passenger flight was 13,422 miles, from Hong Kong to Heathrow (eastbound) by a Boeing 777 in 2005, taking 22 hours and 40 minutes. Surprisingly, the record for the longest-time non-stop passenger flight was set way back in 1957, when an old Lockheed Starliner propeller plane took 23 hours, 19 minutes to get from London to San F ...

Updated: Tue Nov 18, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 19 for 11/19/2008

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Trivia Bits, November 20 for 11/20/2008

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Eponym of the week: Ohio-born Charles F. Richter. Receiving his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Caltech in 1928, he immediately went to work at Pasadena's new Seismology Laboratory, where, with co-worker Beno Gutenberg, he developed the Richter scale for measuring earthquake intensity in 1935. Richter was a lifelong skeptic about scientists' ability to predict earthquakes.

The vener ...

Updated: Thu Nov 20, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 21 for 11/21/2008

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

You may be familiar with the term "runcible spoon" as a spoon-like utensil that has the tines of a fork (aka "spork"), or a spoon with a serrated edge for eating grapefruit or squash. But the term was coined by British poet Edward Lear for his "Owl and the Pussycat." The illustration Lear drew of it depicts a large ladle-like spoon with neither tines nor serration.
Updated: Fri Nov 21, 2008

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Trivia Bits, November 22 for 11/22/2008

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800
STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 112
The opening of the 1960s sci-fi TV series "Lost in Space" featured a countdown. The opening of what classic sitcom featured a "count-up" -- to the number 8?

HOW TO WIN: Send your answer, with your full name and address, either by e-mail to TriviaBits@gmail.com, or on a postcard to Stan Newman's Trivia Challenge N ...

Updated: Sat Nov 22, 2008

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