One of the "coolest" places to visit year-round in New York City must be the Ed Sullivan Theater, home of "Late Show With David Letterman." By the host's directive, the temperature in the studio is kept somewhere around 58 degrees, presumably to keep the audience awake and involved. At 65 degrees, the nearby Central Park Zoo's penguin house seems downright toasty by comparison.

Having written much in recent years on acronym redundancies (like ATM machine and IRA account), we were surprised to discover that there's a name for phrases like these. Coined in 2001 by New Scientist magazine, it's RAS syndrome. And, as you might hope, the term is itself a "victim" of the syndrome, since RAS stands for "redundant acronym syndrome."

The 1939 Frank Capra film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" stars James Stewart in the title role as an idealistic freshman senator. We figure it was no coincidence that Senator Smith's first name in the film is the last name of a U.S. president. What is it?
A) Washington
B) Jefferson
C) Jackson
D) Lincoln

Previous answer: A coulee is a deep ravine that has been formed by running water.

TRIVIA FANS: Send the trivia questions you've always wanted answered, or original TriviaBits ideas of your own, with your full name and hometown, to Stan Newman at StanTrivia@aol.com or on a postcard to P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762.

Stanley Newman is the editor of the Newsday Crossword and author/editor of more than 125 books on crosswords, word games and trivia, including "15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia" (Random House). To find out more about Stanley Newman visit StanXwords.com, or e-mail him at StanTrivia@aol.com.
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