December 23, 2008 question

Most of your guesses reflect Al Gore's global warming projections (except for one guess that was somewhere around absolute zero). But Trevor definitely was very warm with his uber-frigid guess of -121 degrees, which is not a lot toastier than the correct answer of -128.6.

I will make no attempt at a segue between that and the next topic: fat free half & half. I have no idea what possessed me to do so, but I accidentally grabbed a quart of fat free half & half out of the refrigerator of my local grocer. My wife took great pleasure in pointing out that I had made a fat-free selection, something I never consciously do. Seriously. I don't even like fat free vegetables. But the idea of freeing the fat from something that is half milk (the lower fat half) and half cream (the luscious, flavorful, tubby half) just made no sense. Then I looked at the label, which leads me to today's question:

Fat free half & half is half skim milk and half what*?

(Contains less than 2% of a bunch of negligible ingredients)

December 22, 2008 question

Remember me? The last time we met I was asking you about shoes, and the answer was Asics. Only Steve J (the J stands for JELENK, GTO, And Onitsuka Were Just Meant To Be Together) knew that. Congratulations on making the most advanced trivia seem asic.

Okay, that wasn't even funny. You know what else isn't funny? This cold. It's been below zero (yes, Fahrenheit, Elena) for the last 36 hours or so. But it's not Antarctica cold. The question for you all is . . . what is Antarctica cold. Here's the question:

What is the lowest (natural) temperature recorded on this planet (at Vostok Station in 1983)?

December 15, 2008 question

It took me awhile, but the count is in . . . four of the last eight Illinois governors have faced federal charges for their misconduct, although some of them didn't face the music until after they were done governing. Here's who knew that Illinois is literally half bad:

Heather M (the M stands for Murder Is Justifiable)
Cindy
Heidi
Nancy K (the K stands for Kidnapping My Children At Your Own Peril)
Steve J (the J stands for Jaywalking Should Be Punishable By Taser)

Now on to today's news. An Iraqi journalist threw both his shoes at George W. Bush, and it wasn't in the generous spirit of Ghandi or anything. He was throwing shoes at the president of the United States. W handled it by joking . . . he should have flown off the handle. What happened to Don't Mess with Texas?

Yikes. Here's today's question:

What shoe company was formed when Onitsuka, GTO, and JELENK merged in 1977?

December 10, 2008 question

Rod Blagojevich was apparently doing everything wrong. The allegations of corruption run the gamut from auctioning the congressional seat vacated by the president elect to manipulating the sale of the Cubbies. Some FBI charges still sealed by federal order are rumored to accuse the Illinois governor of making the weather really suck lately. Tom Skilling was seen being questioned by federal investigators.

Bring on those Olympics. If the IOC thought their corruption wouldn't be welcome in Chicago, they were so wrong. Here's today's question:

Of the last 8 governors of Illinois, how many have NOT faced criminal federal charges?

And here's who knew that McCain was born in Panama:

Steven F (the F stands for Fanny Flip)
Larry
Charles
Karen H (the H stands for How 'Bout That Canal?)
Heather M (the M stands for Made In The USA)
Karen M (the M stands for Maybe Governors Aren't Always The Best Presidential Candidates)
Steve J (the J stands for Jumping Jehoshaphat)
Frislem
Rick
Van H (the H stands for Halen)

Congrats. For reals.

December 9, 2008 question

"Guantanamera" is the song in question about a girl from Guantanamo. Perhaps you remember it better from the SNL episode hosted by Patrick Swayze, who sung it as, "One Ton of Fan Mail." As it is, only H. E. (the H E stands for Hilarity Ensues) knew the answer. He knew the answer, I tell you know, I say, He knew the answer. And nobody else did . . . say Guantanamera.

And now we move on to the Supreme Court's dismissal of the case calling into question the natural-born citizenship of Barack Obama. Before we get to the trivial twist, I just have to say . . . the natural-born citizen qualification to be President of the United States is quite possibly the stupidest law this country has ever passed. Who the franny flip cares where you came out? If you are a citizen of the United States, you are a citizen of the United States. The Constitution is a fine document, but the founding fathers were temporarily on crack when they introduced that pearl of presidential putrescence. It is quintessential idiocy to isolate geographical location at the time of extraction from the birth canal as a stipulation of presidential eligibility. Neo-Nazis from New Zealand can have quintuplets while summering in Maine, all of whom can conceivably become president of the United States while an American military family who give birth to a daughter at a base in Hong Kong need a congressional injunction to grant their child citizenship of the natural-born kind? Pre. Pos. Ter. Ous.

And here's the twist: that case against Obama's citizenship also called into question the legality of John McCain's candidacy on the same grounds. Here's today's question:

In what country was former presidential hopeful John McCain born?

December 8, 2008 question

I love that the liberals are agitated about Obama's cabinet selections. I would say his biggest critics are the bloggers who secretly expected him to pick them to run America. Hellooooo . . . that's Dunkin's job. Here's today's question:

What popular song, penned in 1929, is all about a girl from Gitmo?

Oh, and here's who knew "Sleigh Ride," the answer to the last question I asked  . . . three weeks or so ago, it seems:

Frislem
Paul K (the K stands for Kilroy, No Wait, Leroy Was Here)
Nancy K (the K stands for King Wenceslas)
Robbie
H. E. (the H E stands for Happy Eating)
Jacqueline
Steve J (the J stands for Jingling, Ring Ting Tingling, Too)
Karen H (the H stands for Heck Yeah, I'll Be There On The Thirteenth)
Nancy K (the K stands for Knows All)
Norris

Belated congrats to the lot of you!

December 3, 2008 question

The Dems don't have a supermajority. Now we can filibuster . . . yay!

I won't, though. Promise. Here's who knew that A&W stands for Allen and Wright:

Kyle and Steven F (the F stands for Frothy Brew)

Way to know your roots, your beers, your initials, and all things brown and orange! Now here's today's question:

What Christmas song did Leroy Anderson make famous (although we'll judge by your responses whether it made him famous)?

December 1, 2008 question

No way is it December. No way. Seriously. I'm tempted to make this today's trivia question: "Is it December?" I would give credit to all who answered, "No way."

Last week, before the stuffing and the eating and the shopping and the terrible football, I asked how many spin-offs were born from All in the Family, and Mike and Nancy K (the K stands for Kids All Named Meathead) came the closest with their guess of five, all of which they named. There were actually seven:

Maude (featuring Maude), The Jeffersons (featuring George and Weezie), Archie Bunker's Place (featuring Archie), Gloria (featuring Gloria), 704 Hauser (featuring the Bunkers' house with new residents), Good Times (featuring Florida), and Checking In (featuring Florence).

I have to give special credit to Frislem, who said that Fresh Prince of Bel Air was a spin-off, since the Jeffersons wound up buying the Banks' house on the last episode. Excellent creativity.

Now, here's today's question, brought to you by my son, who asks:

What does A&W stand for?