January 29, 2008 question

Charles and Steve T (the T stands for Take That, NYSE) knew that GOOG is the NASDAQ symbol for Google. Goog job, guys.

And now for the announcement you've all been waiting for:

Trivia officially endorses Barack Obama. For those who vote Barack, we salute you.

Oh, wait, this just in. Trivia doesn't officially endorse anyone or anything. I just needed a reason to make an Obama, AC/DC reference. Here's today's trivia question:

What trait of the naked mole rat is unique among mammals? (Not sure if I worded that correctly . . . the naked mole rat possesses this particular trait that is fundamentally different in all other mammals.)

January 28, 2008 question

Just when you thought it was safe to head into Monday, here's Trivia. You'll be happy to know that you were right: the answer to Thursday's question was H, None of the Above. Whether you trust your knowledge of the English language or you simply trust me not to pose too many trick questions (bad idea, in general), you were right in doing so this time. Only had one wrong answer, and something tells me, that person just punched the wrong letter on the keyboard. And an update: thrice is not the plural of throuse, nor is entice the plural of entouse.

Anyway, congrats to everyone who answered way back when. Here's Monday's question:

What is the NASDAQ symbol for Google?

January 24, 2008 question

In Vermont, a syrup must be A) entirely syrup and B) be flavored exclusively by maple, i.e. 100% maple syrup to be called maple syrup. No one guessed that, but Heather M (the M stands for Maple To The Core) hoped that were true, so today that will do just fine. Congrats on your sappy victory.

Now today we're gonna play with words, because a friend of mine asserted, although mice is the plural of mouse and lice is the plural of louse, that spice is not the plural of spouse. So here's today's grammar question:

Which of the following is true, according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary?

A. Blice is an accepted plural of blouse.
B. Dice is an accepted plural of douse.
C. Hice is an accepted plural of house.
D. Rice is an accepted plural of rouse.
E. Spice is an accepted plural of spouse.
F. Vice is an accepted plural of vouse.
G. All of the above
H. None of the above

January 23, 2007 question

All this science, I don't understand, it's just my job five days a week. Here are the rocket scientists who knew that Eltonian fact:

Karen H (the H stands for Holy Moses, I Have Been Removed)
Meg
Steve T (the T stands for That's Why They Call It The Blues)
Andy

Now on to sadder news. Heath Ledger died yesterday, and that shocks me. I don't know precisely why it shocks me. Maybe it's the fact that I felt like I knew him. And maybe that's the sign of a great actor. Create the illusion of a relationship with the viewer, and they're yours. In fact, I think that's true with just about anything. A bank, a restaurant, a car dealer, a lawyer . . . make someone believe in the relationship, and success awaits. I'm sure there's more to say about that, but this is trivia, and we should move on to something less sappy. Here's today's question:

What is the percentage of maple syrup content per volume required for a product to be named and advertised as maple syrup, according to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture?

January 22, 2008 question

Long lost credit to all the people who knew the search for Bobby Fischer ends in Iceland:

Paul K (the K stands for King Me)
Karen M (the M stands for Might Be Thinking Of Checkers)
Heidi
Micaela
Elena
Heather M (the M stands for Multiple Jump Maneuver)
Daniel
Mike K (the K stands for Kinda Think You're Still Thinking About The Wrong Game)
Jocelyn
Lee
Colleen
Jacqueline

Now, as is the trivia custom every year after MLK day, it's time for song lyric trivia. Here's today's question:

How many days a week does Elton John work as a Rocket Man? (According to the lyrics of the song with the same name . . . not in real life, where the answer is obviously two.)

January 18, 2007 question

That cheese-making enzyme comes from the fourth stomach chamber of a young calf, and although several people got cow stomach, only Konrad knew of the blatant ageism of the cheese industry. Congrats to you, and to the rest, good luck eating cheese today.

Speaking of cheese, the Packers are playing this weekend, and I hope they lose. Actually, I hope everyone loses this weekend. Not a lot of trivia love for any of the remaining teams. To those of you who hate football in general . . . I guess I'm with you. Huh. Never thought I'd say that. Here's today's question:

In what country did chess great Bobby Fischer live out his final days?

P.S. Bobby Fischer died.

January 17, 2008 question

Number of American Idol winners from the northern states: zero. Number of people I fooled with that question: zero point zero zero. The list of correct answers is ridiculously long, so I hope you don't mind when I simply congratulate you and your genius via second-person pronoun.

Let's move on to some more cultured trivia. Here's today's question:

From what source do cheese makers extract rennet, the enzyme used to coagulate cheese cultures made from cow's milk?

The more specific you can be, the more credit you shall receive.

January 16, 2008 question

The seven noble gases are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, radon, and ununoctium. Only Reg knew the whole lot of them, but I'll also give bolded credit to Paul K (the K stands for Kinda Fudged On Ununoctium, But What Are You Gonna Do, It's Ununoctium . . . Which Is Kind Of Redundant. Shouldn't It Just Be Octium?). Very nice work, both of you. On to today's question:

How many American Idol champions have hailed from states north of the Mason-Dixon line?

January 15, 2008 question

I didn't think email was supposed to get harder as technology progressed. I've never had problems emailing people, as long as there has been email. Sure, messages get blocked, I've gotten addresses wrong, I include typos, I forget to press send, or I send messages intended for one person to my entire address book. Okay, maybe I have always had problems sending email. But Outlook has taken the problem to a grander scale, and Google hasn't alleviated the headache. To those of you who didn't get yesterday's question, I'm sorry. To those of you who won't get this . . . HA! Loser! No, really, my apology falls unheard in the forest like a tree that hopefully will not land on you.

But I'm not going to let that get me down. This is trivia, and if there's one thing trivia does, it rises above. Trivia floats, like hope and Dove soap. And any of the various things people call floaties. Try not to think about that too long. Spend your time instead with this question:

What are the seven noble gases?

January 14, 2007 question

The writer strike in Hollywood yielded its first benefit last night: shorter award shows. NBC crammed the Golden Globes into an hour-long vaganza, and the results were less than spectacular. And I hear they also announced the winners via simulcast on CNN, the TV Guide Channel, and E! in some sort of strange marriage of hosts from the various entertainment magazine shows. But, minus the spectacle, we all had a lot more time to do other things . . . like watch Con Air on TNT.

There's something kind of hilarious about a financial dispute leading two parties to mutually agree to stop making money altogether. Or maybe the TV hiatus has me desperately searching for hilarity anywhere I can find it. Regardless, here's today's question, inspired by . . . me:

Is vaganza, a less than extra extravaganza, a real word?

And here are Friday's winners, who knew that all newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts:

Robbie
Sarah
Nancy K (the K stands for Knute Is Knot)
Elena
Charles
Steve T (the T stands for Total Vaganza)
Congrats. Don't spend your winnings all in one place.

January 11, 2007 question

Yesterday's answer: The Battle of Little Big Horn

Yesterday's winners: Steve J (the J stands for Joke's On You. That Is NOT Low Fat Grass)
Nancy K (the K stands for Knew It Wasn't Big Little Horn)
Norris
Karen H (the H stands for Have A Bad Idea? Send It To General.Custer@GreasyGrass.com)
Karen M (the M stands for My Last Stand Sold Frozen Custard)
Neil

Today's rant: I got nothing. I am at peace with the world. I respect everyone's intelligence. There is nothing to be upset about. It is Friday. I'm not even bothered by the fact that people are actually talking about Roger Clemens like they believe his shifty-eyed, B-12-to-the-buttocks baloney. They forget the time that Clemens threw a broken bat at Mike Piazza and defended his actions by saying, "I thought it was the ball." He's a big, fat, artificially enhanced liar. This, I assure you, doesn't bother me in the slightest. Here's today's question:

Which of these statements is true? (just choose one)
A. No newts are salamanders.
B. All newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts.
C. All salamanders are newts, but not all newts are salamanders.
D. All newts are salamanders, and all salamanders are newts.

January 10, 2007 question

Those ingredients belong to the beloved No More Tears formula Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo. Nobody guessed that. A lot of people guessed food. So as homework, I want everyone to go home and try a spoon of baby shampoo to see if those ingredients could really work as cuisine. No? Okay, no.

I'm inconsolable today as I face the reality that once again I have missed the People's Choice Awards, the annual reminder that people make terrible choices. Darn it all. Here's today's bad-choice trivia question:

What's the more commonly known name of the conflict referred to in Native American parlance as "The Battle of the Greasy Grass"?

January 9, 2008 question

The brothers who first patented peanut butter (actually nut meal, but they referred to the stuff it created as nut butter) were the Kellogg boys. No one, not even my family, knew that, so I'll instead give credit to the people whom I forgot to credit yesterday:

Karen M (the M stands for Mmmm Peanuty)
Melinda
Trevor
Heidi
Steve J (the J stands for Jelly)
Charles
Karen H (the H stands for Homogenized)
Jocelyn
Micaela
Heather M (the M stands for Made From Real Peanuts)
Steve T (the T stands for Tastes Great And Less Filling)

On to today's news . . . I told you Hillary's not-really-crying would be good for her. Here's today's question:

What product's ingredient list reads as follows?

Water, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, PEG-80 Sorbitan Laurate, Sodium Trideceth Sulfate, PEG-150 Distearate, Fragrance, Polyquaternium-10, Tetrasodium EDTA, Quaternium-15, Citric Acid, Yellow 10 and Orange 4. May also contain: Citric Acid, Sodium Hydroxide.

January 8, 2007 question

Boy, sorry I've been so late with trivia. Too much going on. But I'll get better, I promise. No thanks, however, to Nasacort AQ, the medicine for nasal congestion due to allergies that was given to me by my doctor. Among the side effects are sore throat, bloody nose, and coughing. Why, doc? Why? And why didn't I ask you what the heck you were giving me?

And, in more recent news, why are people calling Hillary Clinton's emotional statement so . . . emotional? I've always found Hill to be a bit too stoic to embrace, figuratively or literally. She's usually got the emotional range of Al Gore. Then I saw the clip of her supposed "teary-eyed" interview, and I found myself a) waiting disappointedly for the alleged break down, and b) impressed that for the first time ever, she sounded like a real person. But there she was, emoting, expressing, engaging . . . certainly not crying. And now I think she has a leg up on Al Gore, who didn't make his transformation into a real boy until after he lost the election. Hillary still has a shot. I think if she plays her cards right, this could help her. All I know for sure is that the media is nuts. Here's today's question:

In 1895, brothers with what last name received the first patent for peanut butter?

January 3, 2007 question

Spiderman 3 was last year's biggest blockbuster, and many of you knew that. I'm a bit surprised at the complete lack of wrong answers because it wasn't really a runaway winner. The other "3" sequels were close on Spidey's heels, but that didn't stop Heidi, Karen H (the H stands for Hollywood), Heather M (the M stands for Movie Goer), and Charles from displaying their amazing, radioactive genius.

Today, however, I'm feeling a little less than smart. I went to the doctor yesterday, and I have no idea what the medicine he gave me is supposed to do. I read the packaging, and it really doesn't say what it's for. There is a lot of information on there about other things, like what it might accidentally do or the fact that no one really knows why it does what it does (very encouraging). But its intended purpose? The bottle, the box it came in, and the ginormous document folded up and crammed inside the box are all hush hush on that one. Maybe y'all can help me out. Here's the question:

What ailment does Nasacort AQ supposedly treat?

January 2, 2008 question

Happy New Year, trivialand! It's my resolution this year to be more consistent with trivia. Unfortunately, I'm also sick, and (speaking of consistency) my snot is the consistency and color of those maple syrup bits they put in McGriddles. I know, what a wonderfully grotesque way to start the new year.

But I thought I should give a shout out to all those who knew that Rusty Harden was Roger Clemens's lawyer. And I would do just that if I remembered who you were. So please give a shout out to yourselves in my stead. Here's today's question:

What was the top-grossing movie of 2007?