Trivia Quiz?

[phkrause]

4 hours ago, phkrause said:

The father of actor Paul Giamatti is the former commissioner of which sport?

Baseball Football Basketball Hockey

 That would be Baseball

Answer: Paul Giamatti is an actor best known for his roles in the films Private Parts, Sideways, and American Splendor. He currently stars in the Showtime TV series Billions. Paul Giamatti is the son of A. Bartlett Giamatti, the youngest president of Yale University and later, the 7th Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Giamatti served as Commissioner for only five months before dying suddenly of a heart attack. He is the shortest-tenured baseball commissioner in the sport's history. Giamatti is best remembered today for negotiating the agreement resolving the Pete Rose betting scandal by permitting Rose to voluntarily withdraw from the sport to avoid further punishment.

[phkrause]

3 hours ago, phkrause said:

Who Was the Pope's Assailant?

Pope John Paul II's would-be assassin was arrested only minutes after the shooting as he attempted to flee the scene. He was identified by police as 23-year-old Mehmet Ali Agca, a convicted murderer who had escaped from a Turkish military prison in the latter half of 1979. Agca was serving a life sentence in Turkey for the February 1979 assassination of Abdi Ipekci, the prominent editor-in-chief of the center-left Turkish newspaper "Milliyet." Agca was born in Hekimhan, Turkey, on January 9, 1958, and was reportedly a member of the Grey Wolves, a far-right Turkish organization that targeted Ipekci for assassination.

 

3 hours ago, phkrause said:

How Badly Was the Pope Injured?

Agca fired four bullets at the pope. However, reports vary as to how many actually struck John Paul II. The pope was wounded in the abdomen, as well as his right arm and left hand. Also injured in the shooting were two bystanders, part of a crowd of about 10,000 that had gathered in the square to see the pope pass. The others injured in the shooting were 60-year-old Ann Odre, an American tourist from Buffalo, New York, and Rose Hill, a 21-year-old visitor from Jamaica. The wounded pope was rushed from St. Peter's Square in the heart of Vatican City to Rome's Gemelli Hospital, which lies roughly two miles north of the shooting site. Initial reports from the hospital indicated that the pope was in "guarded" condition, although the hospital's director of surgery expressed confidence that John Paul II would recover soon.

 

3 hours ago, phkrause said:

What Became of Agca?

In the aftermath of the assassination attempt, Agca was tried and sentenced in July 1981 to life imprisonment in Italy. In January 1983, Pope John Paul II visited Agca in prison where the two talked privately. Earlier, the pontiff had urged Catholics everywhere to "pray for my brother [Agca] . . . whom I have sincerely forgiven." A warm relationship developed between the pope and his would-be killer. They stayed in touch, and when the pope fell gravely ill in early 2005, Agca sent the pontiff a letter wishing him well. Agca remained in prison in Italy until June 2000 when Italian President Carlo Ciampi pardoned him at the pope's request. He was then extradited back to Turkey and imprisoned there to serve out the remainder of his term for the murder of Ipekci. He was released on parole in January 2006 but only days later was sent back to prison where he stayed until January 2010. In December 2014, Agca traveled to the Vatican to lay roses on the tomb of Pope John Paul II.

 

3 hours ago, phkrause said:

What Happened to John Paul II's Predecessor?

Pope John Paul I was selected by the College of Cardinals to succeed Pope Paul VI who died on August 6, 1978. John Paul I took over as pontiff on August 26, 1978, but died 33 days later. His reign as pope was among the shortest in history, and his sudden death gave rise to a number of conspiracy theories speculating that the pontiff had been the victim of foul play. Although a Vatican doctor attributed John Paul I's death to a heart attack, such theories continue to circulate.

[phkrause]

3 hours ago, phkrause said:

What disco act scored hits with "Staying Alive" and "Night Fever"?

Kool & the Gang KC and the Sunshine Band Village People Bee Gees

Answer: The Bee Gees have sold more than 220 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists of all time. The group consisted of brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The Bee Gees' music will live forever on dance floors with unforgettable hits such as "Jive Talkin,'" "How Deep Is Your Love," and "Stayin' Alive." Following Maurice's death in 2003, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity. Robin died in 2012, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the group.

[phkrause]

What does R2D2 stand for?

A. Run two, dodge two
B. Reel two, dialogue two
C. Repair two, droid two
D. Robot two, droid two

I'm gonna go with D!

[phkrause]

Approximately how many mothers are there currently in the U.S.?

37.8 million 85.4 million 122.7 million 177.1 million

[phkrause]

Call Your Mother and Ask Her These Trivia Questions

May 14th is Mother's Day, and while you should probably celebrate by telling mom you love her, that doesn't mean you can't also stretch your brain with some trivia.  How much do you know about Mother's Day? Take this trivia quiz and find out! 

Who is Recognized as the Founder of Mother's Day?

Was She Happy With How It Turned Out?

What Strange Mother's Day Tradition Did Yugoslavia Once Observe?

What is the official Mother’s Day flower?

[phkrause]

When "Seinfeld" first premiered in 1989, the television show was actually called what?

"Jerry & Friends" "Everyone Loves Jerry" "Jerry & Elaine" "The Seinfeld Chronicles"

[phkrause]

23 hours ago, phkrause said:

What does R2D2 stand for?

A. Run two, dodge two
B. Reel two, dialogue two
C. Repair two, droid two
D. Robot two, droid two

I'm gonna go with D!

B. Reel two, dialogue two

In film cutter lingo, R2D2 stands for "reel two, dialogue two."

Source: various web sites.

[phkrause]

23 hours ago, phkrause said:

Approximately how many mothers are there currently in the U.S.?

37.8 million 85.4 million 122.7 million 177.1 million

Answer: There are approximately 85.4 million mothers in America, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau estimate. The average age of new moms in the U.S today is 25 years old versus 21 years old in 1970. Modern moms in the U.S. have an average of 2 kids. According to the Insure.com 2017 Mother's Day Index, the various tasks moms perform at home would be worth $67,619 (up from $65,523 in 2016) a year in the professional world. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers around the world!

[phkrause]

22 hours ago, phkrause said:

Who is Recognized as the Founder of Mother's Day?

What the United States considers to be Mother's Day was officially declared in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson. The woman who had championed the day, Anna Jarvis, has for years campaigned for a day for mothers on the grounds that existing holidays tended to favor men. She was also dedicated to creating an official day to honor the work mothers put in to raising their children, and she envisioned the day as one when everyone would return home and thank their mothers for raising them. 

Prior to the 1914 declaration, Jarvis had managed to have a couple of unofficial events, helped by sponsorship from a department store. There had also been earlier attempts by additional women to celebrate mothers or to at least use the day for mother- and women-related activities, such as teaching women childcare procedures.

 

22 hours ago, phkrause said:

Was She Happy With How It Turned Out?

Oh, goodness no. In fact, Jarvis was appalled and enraged by the fast commercialization of the holiday. No doubt she was pleased with the initial declaration, but soon she went from spending all her time and money on getting the holiday declared to spending all her time and money on getting the holiday undeclared. She beseeched people to not buy flowers or cards, and she was even offended by charity drives that took place on the day. You can guess how her efforts turned out. Sadly, Jarvis died nearly penniless and unsuccessful in her attempts to get rid of Mother's Day.

 

22 hours ago, phkrause said:

What Strange Mother's Day Tradition Did Yugoslavia Once Observe?

Despite Anna Jarvis's best wishes, Mother's Day has spread worldwide. Some places however, offer their own unique spin on the holiday. Perhaps the most bizarre tradition is in Yugoslavia. Two weeks before Christmas, children sneak up on their sleeping mother and stealthily tie her to her bed. When she wakes up and finds herself bound to the mattress, her lovely brood chants, "Mother's Day! Mother's Day! What will you pay to get away?" The mother than "pays" the children off with candy or toys, who untie her once satisfied with their bounty. 

So yes, in Yugoslavia, Mother's Day is more like "Kids Are Evil Day." And don't we already celebrate that 365 days a year?

 

22 hours ago, phkrause said:

What is the official Mother’s Day flower?

The carnation is the official Mother’s Day flower. Ann Jarvis, the founder of the holiday, chose the carnation as the official Mother’s Day flower in 1907 sending 500 white carnations to a West Virginia church for mothers to wear. Carnation flowers were her mother’s favorite and she thought the white carnation signified the virtues of motherhood. After that first service, Ms. Jarvis continued to send white carnations to the same church each Mother’s Day. As the tradition of gifting carnations on Mother's Day grew, carnation colors took on new symbolism. White carnations are meant to honor the memory of deceased mothers while red and pink carnations honor those who are living.

[phkrause]

22 hours ago, phkrause said:

When "Seinfeld" first premiered in 1989, the television show was actually called what?

"Jerry & Friends" "Everyone Loves Jerry" "Jerry & Elaine" "The Seinfeld Chronicles"

Answer: The show premiered as The Seinfeld Chronicles and originally aired on July 5, 1989. The series was renamed Seinfeld after the failure of short-lived 1990 ABC series The Marshall Chronicles. After nine years on the air and 180 episodes filmed, the series finale of Seinfeld aired on this day in 1998. It was watched by an audience estimated at 76 million viewers. Jerry Seinfeld holds the record for the "most money refused" according to the Guinness Book of World Records by refusing an offer to continue the show for 5 million dollars per episode.

[phkrause]

What pet gift did French general Marquis de Lafayette give President John Quincy Adams?

A. A Papillon puppy
B. A ball python
C. An alligator
D. A Persian cat

[phkrause]

Which country has the longest life expectancy in the world?

Sweden Iceland Monaco United States

[phkrause]

4 Trivia Questions About the Establishment of the Nation's Capital

On May 15, 1800, President John Adams ordered the federal government to move from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. Answer these trivia questions about the establishment of the federal government’s permanent location and what it took to get there...

What Were The Former Capitals of the United States?

What Was the Residency Act?

What Was the Original Name of Washington, D.C.?

Who Designed the Layout for the New Capital?

[phkrause]

Which novel opens with "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."?

"1984" “Moby-Dick” “Pride and Prejudice” “To Kill a Mockingbird”

[phkrause]

18 hours ago, phkrause said:

What pet gift did French general Marquis de Lafayette give President John Quincy Adams?

A. A Papillon puppy
B. A ball python
C. An alligator
D. A Persian cat

C. An alligator

An unusually toothsome gift, the Marquis gave Adams an alligator after the Revolutionary War. It was kept in the unfinished East Room of the White House for the President to show off to visitors.

Source: various web sites.

[phkrause]

17 hours ago, phkrause said:

Which country has the longest life expectancy in the world?

Sweden Iceland Monaco United States

Answer: Monaco! The second smallest country in the world boasts the highest life expectancy, with citizens living an average of 89.5 years. That is four years longer than any other country and almost an entire decade longer than the average American. It doesn’t hurt that this Western European country, on the French Riviera, is home to the highest number of millionaires per capita in the world. The inhabitants of Monaco enjoy eating the very healthy Mediterranean diet and are said to live a less stressful lifestyle than most other countries. Source: CIA.GOV

[phkrause]

17 hours ago, phkrause said:

What Were The Former Capitals of the United States?

The country has had nine capitals throughout its history, if the number of moves back and forth to individual cities is not counted. The first was for a little over a month in 1774 when the First Continental Congress met at Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia. In total, Philadelphia was used as the capital of the newly forming government nine times. Baltimore served as the capital for about two months from the end of 1776 through February 1777. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, served as the capital for one day, September 17, 1777, because British troops were advancing toward Philadelphia.

York, Pennsylvania, served as the capital for about nine months from autumn 1777 to summer 1778. The Articles of Confederation were written during this period. In 1783, from June 30 to November 4, the capital was in Princeton, New Jersey. This move was to escape soldiers from the Continental Army who wanted payment for their military service. The next capital was in Annapolis, Maryland, where the Articles of Confederation were ratified. Trenton was the capital for about two months in late 1784. Finally, New York City was home to the government starting in January 1785.

 

17 hours ago, phkrause said:

What Was the Residency Act?

The Residency Act was passed to settle an argument about where the permanent seat of government should be located. Logically enough, southerners wanted it to be located in the south, while northerners argued for the north.

On July 16, 1790, President George Washington signed the Residence Act, which called for the construction of a permanent capital city for the United States of America along the banks of the Potomac River. When the federal government and all 131 of its workers finally moved there in 1800, Washington, D.C., became the ninth American capital since the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence.

 

17 hours ago, phkrause said:

What Was the Original Name of Washington, D.C.?

The name originally chosen for the nation’s capital was Washington, Territory of Columbia. It was named after George Washington and Christopher Columbus. It retained this name until 1871 when it was renamed Washington, District of Columbia.

 

17 hours ago, phkrause said:

Who Designed the Layout for the New Capital?

Pierre Charles L’Enfant had come from France to fight in the American Revolutionary War and was chosen by George Washington to plan the layout of the new city. The centerpiece of the city designed by L’Enfant was the National Mall, which goes from the U.S. Capitol and congressional buildings to the Lincoln Memorial, located in front of the Potomac River.

In this two-mile long area are the Smithsonian Museums, the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, the Tidal Basin, the White House and memorials to the Vietnam and Korean War veterans. Capitol Hill is located at the city’s center. Although L’Enfant originally planned to construct an enormous waterfall that would cascade down on the Capitol’s west side, which is a fairly steep hill, it was never built.

[phkrause]

17 hours ago, phkrause said:

Which novel opens with "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."?

"1984" “Moby-Dick” “Pride and Prejudice” “To Kill a Mockingbird”

Answer: George Orwell’s classic book “1984,” begins with the line “"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen". The novel is about a dystopian future where critical thought is suppressed under a totalitarian regime. The book popularized the adjective Orwellian, which describes official deception, secret surveillance, and manipulation of recorded history by a totalitarian state. Many of the terms and concepts of the book, such as Big Brother, doublethink, and memory hole, have entered into common use since its publication in 1949.

[phkrause]

The tick-borne Lyme disease got its name from a town in which state?

A. New York
B. Connecticut
C. Florida
D. Texas

My guess! Florida!!

[phkrause]

Who was Johnny Carson's first guest on "The Tonight Show"?

Groucho Marx Sammy Davis Jr. Richard M. Nixon Charlie Chaplin

How about Richard Nixon??

[phkrause]

And the Winner Is.... Anyone Who Can Answer These Trivia Questions

On May 16, 1929, the very first Academy Awards were presented during a banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.  Try your luck with these trivia questions about one of the most spectacular awards ceremonies in existence...

What Was the First Ceremony Like?

How Did the Oscars Become Known as the Oscars?

What Happened to the First Best Actor and Actress Nominees?

Can You Top the Mistaken-Identity Best Picture Flub From 2017?

How Has the Oscar Statuette Changed Over the Years?

[phkrause]

The Broadway show "Movin' Out" was based on songs written by which songwriter?

Stevie Wonder Neil Diamond Liza Minnelli Billy Joel

I'm guessing that would be Billy Joel!!

[phkrause]

23 hours ago, phkrause said:

The tick-borne Lyme disease got its name from a town in which state?

A. New York
B. Connecticut
C. Florida
D. Texas

My guess! Florida!!

B. Connecticut

Lyme, Connecticut, is where the disease was first discovered in 1975.

Source: various web sites.

[phkrause]

23 hours ago, phkrause said:

Who was Johnny Carson's first guest on "The Tonight Show"?

Groucho Marx Sammy Davis Jr. Richard M. Nixon Charlie Chaplin

How about Richard Nixon??

Answer: Johnny Carson walked out from behind the curtain to host The Tonight Show for the first time on October 1, 1962, replacing Jack Paar, who had earlier replaced Steve Allen. In front of a television audience of eight million, Carson was introduced by legendary film comic Groucho Marx, who was also Carson’s first guest. Although no footage is known to remain of Carson's very first broadcast, photographs taken that night survive, as does an audio recording of Groucho Marx's introduction and Carson's first monologue.