Tuesday Trivia: Feb 26, 2013

Tuesday Trivia has a better ring to it, so I am going to post these on Tuesdays going forward. Same rule as usual: no googling!

1. This politician was originally a Democrat, but shifted to the right under the influence of his Republican wife. When he eventually switched to the Republican Party at the age of 51, he said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.” After he moved to the right, he opposed civil rights legislation, saying, "if an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, it is his right to do so.” He served two terms as President. Who is he?

2. The 50 State Quarters program was the most successful numismatic program in history. The US Mint produced quarters honoring each of the 50 states over a ten year period beginning 1999, and over half of Americans are estimated to have collected at least one full set of 50 coins. In all those fifty coins, just three motorized vehicles are featured. What are those iconic vehicles, and on which state quarters are they featured?

3. In what order (from earliest to latest) did the following states accede to the United States of America? Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming.

4. He represented Aurangabad, Maharashtra in Parliament and his highest political position was as the deputy to Indira Gandhi leading the Congress in the Lok Sabha. He wrote several well-regarded books about topics including Nehru, Islam, Jinnah, Razia Sultana, and the Partition. He won the Gold Medal in the MA examination of the University of Bombay, and went on to a PhD at the University of London, and was called to the bar from Lincoln’s Inn. His second wife was at one time the editor of The Sunday Times of India, and their son is a well-known American journalist. Name the father and the son.

5. All American states have official mottos. Most of these mottos are in English or Latin. There is just one state with a motto in Greek. Which state is it? What is its motto and what does it mean?

6. Just one state in the US has a motto in French. The motto is: “l’ étoile du Nord.” What is the state, and what does the motto mean?

7. This Latin word meaning “ever upward” is the catchphrase of the male protagonist in the Academy Award-winning movie Silver Linings Playbook. The word is also the official motto of the state of New York. The word is the title of several poems, including one each by H.W. Longfellow and Walt Whitman, and it is the title of a short story by P.G. Wodehouse. The word is also the name of a class of starships in Star Trek, and the name of a font well-suited to newsprint. What is the word?

8. He was the Poet-Laureate of the United Kingdom, and wrote detective novels under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake. He wrote, “as a writer I do not use the hyphen in my surname – a piece of inverted snobbery which has produced rather mixed results.” He was a great admirer of Thomas Hardy and arranged to be buried as close as possible to Hardy’s grave. One of his four children holds the record for the largest number of Academy Awards in an important category. Name the child.

9. The picture below shows the Grands établissements balnéaires d'Auteuil-l'étoile du Nord (large bathing establishments of Auteuil-North Star), an abandoned swimming pool complex in the 16th arrondissement (district) of Paris. It was built in 1929 and abandoned in 1989. In 1946, it was the site where the bikini was introduced to the public. The complex was designated a historic monument in 1990, and it received a lot of publicity in an unusual manner in the last few months. What is the other name of this swimming pool complex, and how did it get its recent spurt of publicity?

10. This word first occurred in James Joyce’s novel Finnegan’s Wake. Here is the relevant verse from the novel, with a blank replacing the word itself: “Three ____ for Muster Mark! / Sure he has not got much of a bark / And sure any he has it's all beside the mark.” Murray Gell-Mann of Caltech, who read the novel several times, used this word to name elementary particles in his proposed model that eventually won him the Nobel Prize for Physics. What is the word?

panini press wrote:Tuesday Trivia has a better ring to it, so I am going to post these on Tuesdays going forward. Same rule as usual: no googling!
2. The 50 State Quarters program was the most successful numismatic program in history. The US Mint produced quarters honoring each of the 50 states over a ten year period beginning 1999, and over half of Americans are estimated to have collected at least one full set of 50 coins. In all those fifty coins, just three motorized vehicles are featured. What are those iconic vehicles, and on which state quarters are they featured?

I am one of those collectors. North Carolina/Airplane; Ohio/Airplane; Rhode Island/Yacht; Florida/Space Shuttle.

7. Excelsior

5. Eureka (Greek) is for California.

6. North Star (French) is for Minnesota.

8. Daniel Day Lewis for Abe Lincoln, My Left Foot and There will be blood.

1. Is one of my fav. Presidents as a person- Ronald Reagan (obviously dislike a lot of his policies/stands like this one).

5 and 7: I think GC got Eureka (California) and Excelsior (NY) right.

1. Ronald Reagan
4. Rafiq & Farid Zakaria
5. California, Eureka.
6. Louisiana, Something North (Nord)
7. Excelsior

goodcitizn wrote:

panini press wrote:Tuesday Trivia has a better ring to it, so I am going to post these on Tuesdays going forward. Same rule as usual: no googling!
2. The 50 State Quarters program was the most successful numismatic program in history. The US Mint produced quarters honoring each of the 50 states over a ten year period beginning 1999, and over half of Americans are estimated to have collected at least one full set of 50 coins. In all those fifty coins, just three motorized vehicles are featured. What are those iconic vehicles, and on which state quarters are they featured?

I am one of those collectors. North Carolina/Airplane; Ohio/Airplane; Rhode Island/Yacht; Florida/Space Shuttle.

Great answer! I didn't consider the yacht on the RI quarter a motorized vehicle, because it is from the turn of the 20th century. Airplane and space shuttle are both correct. There is a third motorized vehicle that is depicted on another state quarter. You should be able to guess...

goodcitizn wrote:7. Excelsior

Correct.

goodcitizn wrote:5. Eureka (Greek) is for California.

Correct.

goodcitizn wrote:6. North Star (French) is for Minnesota.

Correct -- I thought this one was tough, but you nailed it.

goodcitizn wrote:8. Daniel Day Lewis for Abe Lincoln, My Left Foot and There will be blood.

Correct. The father, Cecil Day Lewis was a poet laureate of Britain.

Maria S wrote:1. Is one of my fav. Presidents as a person- Ronald Reagan (obviously dislike a lot of his policies/stands like this one).

Correct. I was surprised to read recently that he was a (nominal) Democrat until he turned 51!

Maria S wrote:5 and 7: I think GC got Eureka (California) and Excelsior (NY) right.

Yes, both are right.

indophile wrote:1. Ronald Reagan

Correct.

indophile wrote:4. Rafiq & Farid Zakaria

Correct.

indophile wrote:5. California, Eureka.

Correct.

indophile wrote:6. Louisiana, Something North (Nord)

No, it is Minnesota. It literally means "star of the north" and the correct meaning is "the North Star."

indophile wrote:7. Excelsior

Correct.

Here is an update... four questions remain.

2. The 50 State Quarters program was the most successful numismatic program in history. The US Mint produced quarters honoring each of the 50 states over a ten year period beginning 1999, and over half of Americans are estimated to have collected at least one full set of 50 coins. In all those fifty coins, just three motorized vehicles are featured. What are those iconic vehicles, and on which state quarters are they featured?

3. In what order (from earliest to latest) did the following states accede to the United States of America? Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming.

9. The picture below shows the Grands établissements balnéaires d'Auteuil-l'étoile du Nord (large bathing establishments of Auteuil-North Star), an abandoned swimming pool complex in the 16th arrondissement (district) of Paris. It was built in 1929 and abandoned in 1989. In 1946, it was the site where the bikini was introduced to the public. The complex was designated a historic monument in 1990, and it received a lot of publicity in an unusual manner in the last few months. What is the other name of this swimming pool complex, and how did it get its recent spurt of publicity?

10. This word first occurred in James Joyce’s novel Finnegan’s Wake. Here is the relevant verse from the novel, with a blank replacing the word itself: “Three ____ for Muster Mark! / Sure he has not got much of a bark / And sure any he has it's all beside the mark.” Murray Gell-Mann of Caltech, who read the novel several times, used this word to name elementary particles in his proposed model that eventually won him the Nobel Prize for Physics. What is the word?

9. Piscine Molotor from the Yann Martel book and Ang Lee movie?

Hellsangel wrote:9. Piscine Molotor from the Yann Martel book and Ang Lee movie?

Correct.

10. quarks?

bw wrote:10. quarks?

Correct.

Here is an update with hints.

2. The 50 State Quarters program was the most successful numismatic program in history. The US Mint produced quarters honoring each of the 50 states over a ten year period beginning 1999, and over half of Americans are estimated to have collected at least one full set of 50 coins. In all those fifty coins, just three motorized vehicles are featured. What are those iconic vehicles, and on which state quarters are they featured?

Hint: The North Carolina and Ohio quarters feature the Wright Flyer airplane. The Florida quarter features the Space Shuttle. The quarter of another state features a motorized surface vehicle. Which state, what vehicle?

3. In what order (from earliest to latest) did the following states accede to the United States of America? Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming.

Hint: It was not all east-to-west over time.

2. Indiana - Race car?

Yes.

3. Nevada, Montana, Arizona, Wyoming?

I take it back. The Continental Divide between Washington and Dakota was first annexed by Montana being split off from Washington. Wyoming must have been done soon after (Idaho before that?). I am guessing Arizona was much later.

Nevada, Montana, Wyoming and Arizona.

goodcitizn wrote:I take it back. The Continental Divide between Washington and Dakota was first annexed by Montana being split off from Washington. Wyoming must have been done soon after (Idaho before that?). I am guessing Arizona was much later.

Nevada, Montana, Wyoming and Arizona.

Correct! Yes, Idaho was right before Wyoming. Arizona was the last state in the lower 48.

All questions have been answered now.

Here are the answers.

1. This politician was originally a Democrat, but shifted to the right under the influence of his Republican wife. When he eventually switched to the Republican Party at the age of 51, he said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.” After he moved to the right, he opposed civil rights legislation, saying, "if an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, it is his right to do so.” He served two terms as President. Who is he?

Answer: Ronald Reagan

2. The 50 State Quarters program was the most successful numismatic program in history. The US Mint produced quarters honoring each of the 50 states over a ten year period beginning 1999, and over half of Americans are estimated to have collected at least one full set of 50 coins. In all those fifty coins, just three motorized vehicles are featured. What are those iconic vehicles, and on which state quarters are they featured?

Answer: The Wright Flyer was featured on the North Carolina and Ohio quarters. The Space Shuttle was featured on the Florida quarter. An IndyCar was featured on the Indiana quarter.

3. In what order (from earliest to latest) did the following states accede to the United States of America? Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming.

Answer: Nevada (1864), Montana (1889), Wyoming (1890), Arizona (1912)

4. He represented Aurangabad, Maharashtra in Parliament and his highest political position was as the deputy to Indira Gandhi leading the Congress in the Lok Sabha. He wrote several well-regarded books about topics including Nehru, Islam, Jinnah, Razia Sultana, and the Partition. He won the Gold Medal in the MA examination of the University of Bombay, and went on to a PhD at the University of London, and was called to the bar from Lincoln’s Inn. His second wife was at one time the editor of The Sunday Times of India, and their son is a well-known American journalist. Name the father and the son.

Answer: The father is Rafiq Zakaria. The son is Fareed Zakaria

5. All American states have official mottos. Most of these mottos are in English or Latin. There is just one state with a motto in Greek. Which state is it? What is its motto and what does it mean?

Answer: California, Eureka, "I found it!"

6. Just one state in the US has a motto in French. The motto is: “l’ étoile du Nord.” What is the state, and what does the motto mean?

Answer: Minnesota, The North Star

7. This Latin word meaning “ever upward” is the catchphrase of the male protagonist in the Academy Award-winning movie Silver Linings Playbook. The word is also the official motto of the state of New York. The word is the title of several poems, including one each by H.W. Longfellow and Walt Whitman, and it is the title of a short story by P.G. Wodehouse. The word is also the name of a class of starships in Star Trek, and the name of a font well-suited to newsprint. What is the word?

Answer: Excelsior

8. He was the Poet-Laureate of the United Kingdom, and wrote detective novels under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake. He wrote, “as a writer I do not use the hyphen in my surname – a piece of inverted snobbery which has produced rather mixed results.” He was a great admirer of Thomas Hardy and arranged to be buried as close as possible to Hardy’s grave. One of his four children holds the record for the largest number of Academy Awards in an important category. Name the child.

Answer: Daniel Day-Lewis, son of Cecil Day Lewis the British poet laureate.

9. The picture below shows the Grands établissements balnéaires d'Auteuil-l'étoile du Nord (large bathing establishments of Auteuil-North Star), an abandoned swimming pool complex in the 16th arrondissement (district) of Paris. It was built in 1929 and abandoned in 1989. In 1946, it was the site where the bikini was introduced to the public. The complex was designated a historic monument in 1990, and it received a lot of publicity in an unusual manner in the last few months. What is the other name of this swimming pool complex, and how did it get its recent spurt of publicity?

Answer: Piscine Molitor or Piscine Auteuil-Molitor. The lead character in Yann Martel's Life of Pi is named after this pool complex.

10. This word first occurred in James Joyce’s novel Finnegan’s Wake. Here is the relevant verse from the novel, with a blank replacing the word itself: “Three ____ for Muster Mark! / Sure he has not got much of a bark / And sure any he has it's all beside the mark.” Murray Gell-Mann of Caltech, who read the novel several times, used this word to name elementary particles in his proposed model that eventually won him the Nobel Prize for Physics. What is the word?

Answer: quarks