WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 1, 2008
Word of the week: "virga." Derived from the Latin for "rod," it's a meteorological term for a streak of precipitation that falls from a cloud, but evaporates before it reaches the ground. Virga is fairly common in desert climates. On the planet Venus it's the rule because of the immense heat near the surface.
Trivia Detective Alert: We don't know how, but Dennis Glauber of Seattle discovered that composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Noel Coward were both born on Dec. 16 and died on March 26. This is the first time we've ever seen a celebrity double-match like this, and we'd like to see more. So, if you can find any other reasonably famous pairs with matching birth and death days, please let us know.
Common Claws: According to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, lobsters were once so plentiful in New England that Native Americans used them as fertilizer for their crops and as bait in their fishing. In early colonial days, lobsters were a staple food of the lower class, often served to prisoners and indentured servants.
Many of Hanna-Barbera's popular cartoon characters, such as Fred Flintstone, Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear, wear a necktie and/or collar. This allows the characters' bodies to remain static when they're speaking -- reducing the number of separate drawings required for a seven-minute cartoon by over 80 percent, from about 14,000 to only 2,000. The very tight TV budgets made this necessary.
Where's the world's most tilted tower? Hint: It's not in Italy. The Leaning Tower of Pisa currently tilts a mere 3.97 degrees from perpendicular. Last November, Guinness World Records certified the 15th-century church tower in the northwest German town of Suurhusen as the champ, with a 5.17-degree tilt. The Suurhusen tower is less than half as tall as the Pisa tower.
One Hundred Years Ago This Month: Henry Ford manufactured his first Model T automobile in September 1908. The last one came off Ford's assembly line in 1927. The Model T was so successful that Ford spent $0 on advertising from 1917 and 1923. Why was it called the Model T? Because it succeeded Ford's Model S.
Eponym of the week: William Mathias Scholl, the Dr. Scholl behind the foot-products company. Working in a Chicago shoe store as a teen around 1900, he started taking night classes in podiatry, eventually getting a medical degree but never practicing. He got the first of his many patents at age 22, for a mechanical arch support, and later endowed a college of podiatric medicine in Chicago.
Joss Whedon, creator and head writer of the TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," is believed to be the first third-generation TV writer. His father, Tom, was head writer for the kids' TV series "The Electric Company" and wrote scripts for "Alice" and "The Golden Girls." Tom's father, John, wrote for "The Donna Reed Show" and "Leave It to Beaver."
Have you ever noticed that, of the four seasons, only "winter" and "summer" can be used as verbs? A search of our unabridged dictionaries could find no "seasonal" verb for "spring," "fall," or "autumn." Aren't there practical circumstances that would cause people to spend a spring or autumn somewhere? (Baseball's spring training doesn't count, since it starts in the winter.) If you can think of any, please let us know.
Darda Swanson of Berkeley, Calif., wants to know how many U.S. baby boomers (born 1946 to 1964) there are. According to Census Bureau estimates, there were 78.2 million as of 2005, 50.8 percent women. The state with the highest concentration of baby boomers is Alaska (32 percent); the lowest is Utah (23 percent). Not coincidentally, Utah has the lowest median age of any U.S. state.
TRIVIA
1) According to Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, what did Sir Winston Churchill describe as "an admirable work, and I studied it intently"?
A) The "Mona Lisa"
B) The film "It's a Wonderful Life"
C) His own autobiography
D) Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
2) Deejay Casey Kasem first went on the air with his American Top 40 broadcasts in 1970. He got started in radio as a result of his massive collection of eight-track tapes. What was Kasem's day job before American Top 40?
A) Dog catcher
B) Commercial artist
C) Lab technician
D) Barber
3) TNT, aka trinitrotoluene, was discovered by German chemist Joseph Wilbrand in 1863. Its first practical use was not as an explosive, but as:
A) An insecticide
B) Synthetic rubber
C) A dye
D) Cattle feed
4) Three of the four major North American professional sports currently have the same number of teams. Which of the four has more teams than the others?
A) The NFL
B) The NBA
C) The NHL
D) Major League Baseball
5) The highest-value coin produced by the Royal Canadian Mint has a face value of:
A) $5
B) $1,000
C) $10,000
D) $1,000,000
ANSWERS
1) Bartlett's Familiar Quotations contains the Churchill quote "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations is an admirable work, and I studied it intently." Churchill believed that reading good quotes gets people to read more about their authors.
2) Before his American Top 40 radio shows, deejay Casey Kasem was a dogcatcher in Rochester, N.Y.
3) TNT was used as a dye before its explosive properties were fully appreciated.
4) Currently, the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball each have 30 teams. The NFL has 32.
5) Containing 200 kilograms of gold, the highest-value coin produced by the Royal Canadian Mint has a face value of $1 million. While conceived as a promotional device, it is legal tender in Canada, produced only upon special order.
STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 101
Who was the first American whose last name begins with "O" to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp?
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. 101, P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762. Only one submission per person, please. Answers must be received within seven days of publication. One winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries, who will receive a copy of Stan's new book "15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia," courtesy of Random House. Answer and winner will be announced in a future issue.
ANSWER TO TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 94
From Abraham Lincoln through the present, the only U.S. president elected with a running mate from a different party than his own was Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Andrew Johnson, his running mate, was a Democrat. Winner: Scott Carpenter of Vashon, Wash.
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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