It’s time for another test of the “useless information” section of your brain’s hard-drive. All this assorted trivia is probably lying in there, anyway. You may as well get an ego boost by demonstrating how you can bring the information forward and thus win the lovely parting gift we offer. A gift which, due to budget restraints, is merely the satisfaction of knowing that you knew.
So, good luck and away we go (answers follow):
1. On the old TV series Kung Fu, Caine’s master, Master Po, had a nickname for him. What was it?
2. Who was originally scheduled to play paraplegic Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic in the anti-war film, Born on the Fourth of July?
3. What country has Managua as its capital?
4. What Roman poet wrote the Aeneid?
5. What three European cities have each hosted the Summer Olympics twice, and what European city has hosted it three times?
6. Originally it was called Lower Canada, but now it’s what province?
7. What popular drink was first marketed as Diastoid when it was introduced way back in 1882?
8. What do the letters stand for in the stock market acronym, NASDAQ?
9. Why was Sam Colt, the inventor of the six-gun, expelled from school at the age of 16?
10. How many sides are there on a snowflake?
11. How old was Huckleberry Finn?
12. What city was the setting for the movie, Shaft?
13. How many pentagonal patches are there on a soccer ball?
14. Remember actor Mike Connors from the old TV series, Mannix? No? Oh. So that means you certainly won’t remember his other series, Today’s FBI? Long before those shows, he was in another crime drama. Do you recall the name of that one?
15. What's the name of the major river that crosses Saskatchewan and Manitoba and empties into Hudson Bay?
16. What was the name of the first major deodorant company in the U.S.?
17. In what movie did Sidney Portier portray a teacher?
18. What 1950s group popularized the song, Rockin’ Chair on the Moon?
Answers
1. The nickname was “Grasshopper.”
2. Al Pacino was first slated for the role in 1978, but financing for the movie failed to materialize. The movie was finally made in 1989 and the starring role went to Tom Cruise.
3. Managua is the capital of the Central American country of Nicaragua.
4. Virgil wrote the Aeneid.
5. Athens, Paris, and Berlin hosted the Summer Olympics Games twice. London hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1908, 1948 and 2012. The 2012 Summer Olympics made London the first city to have hosted the modern Games of three Olympiads.
6. Lower Canada became the province of Quebec.
7. Malted Milk. It was first sold as a special food supplement for babies and sick people.
8. NASDAQ stands for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations.
9. Sam was caught experimenting with explosives. School officials didn't realize he was on his way to being famous some day. They were not impressed. They expelled him.
10. Usually six sides, but there are no “official snowflake rules,” so there are slight variations on this theme.
11. Huck Finn was 13 years old.
12. John Shaft was a private eye in New York City.
13. There are 12 pentagonal patches on a soccer ball. They’re usually black. The white patches are hexagons. Isn’t this good to know?
14. Mike Connors was also the star of Tightrope! back in the depths of TV time.
15. The Churchill River.
16. The first major deodorant company was Odorono. Its 1919 magazine ad mentioning “underarm odour” led to hundreds of offended women to cancel their subscriptions to Ladies’ Home Journal.
17. Sidney Portier was a teacher in To Sir With Love.
18. In view of the success of Shake, Rattle and Roll, Rock Around the Clock, and See You Later Alligator, you’re forgiven if you've forgotten Rockin’ Chair on the Moon by Bill Haley and the Comets.