Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (121 page)

JULY 25

1831
C
YRUS
M
C
C
ORMICK DOESN’T
fear the reaper, demonstrating his revolutionary new invention on a field of oats near Steele’s Tavern, Virginia.

AGRICULTURE CLUB

1.
What literary locale is called “Manor Farm” at the start of the novel?

2.
Crop rotation farmers often alternate their grains with soybeans to help “fix” what element in the soil?

3.
What U.S. city is named for a Roman general famed for leaving his troops and retiring to his farm?

4.
What general signed Special Field Orders, No. 15, the so-called 40 acres and a mule grant to freed slaves?

5.
What signature color of paint are John Deere tractors?

6.
What CCR front man made his solo concert debut at the first Farm Aid, in 1985?

7.
What kind of farm is a formi-carium?

8.
What TV show’s cops operate out of a converted church they call “the Barn”?

9.
Of the four “H” words in the pledge of the 4-H club, what’s the only one that’s not part of the body?

10.
According to a 2006 study by Jon Gettman, what’s the U.S.’s biggest cash crop?

1946
J
ERRY
L
EWIS AND
D
EAN
M
ARTIN
take the stage together for the first time at Atlantic City’s Club 500.

SCHTICKING UP FOR EACH OTHER

Give the other member of these comedy pairings.

Easy

1.
Dan Rowan and…

2.
Penn Jillette and…

3.
George Burns and…

4.
Mike Nichols and…

5.
Stan Laurel and…

Harder

1.
Johnny Wayne and…

2.
Jerry Stiller and…

3.
Bob Elliott and…

4.
Bob Odenkirk and…

5.
Jack Burns and…

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Ole Olsen and…

2.
Ronnie Barker and…

3.
Bert Wheeler and…

4.
Marty Allen and…

5.
Bob Hudson and…

1986
A
T
C
HICAGO’S
G
REEN
M
ILL
tavern, construction worker Marc Smith adds a new competitive wrinkle to the weekly Chicago Poetry Ensemble show, and the “poetry slam” is born. Harold Bloom will later call this moment “the death of art.”

SLAMMIN’

1.
Who’s the only woman ever to slam-dunk the ball in a WNBA game?

2.
What rock epic begins “The screen door slams, Mary’s dress sways”?

3.
Though Manny Ramirez is closing in, who still holds the major-league career record with twenty-three grand slams?

4.
What do the Plastics call their “slam book” in the 2004 comedy
Mean Girls
?

5.
Who resigned in 2004, eighteen months after telling President Bush that the evidence for Iraqi WMDs was “a slam-dunk case”?

JULY 26

1775
T
HE
U
NITED
S
TATES
P
OSTAL
S
ERVICE
is founded. Until 1971, the postmaster general will be a cabinet-level position, dead last in the presidential line of succession.

ADD AGENCY

Which cabinet-level department administers each of these?

Easy

1.
The FDA

2.
The FAA

3.
The National Park Service

4.
The FBI

5.
The U.S. Mint

Harder

1.
The Coast Guard

2.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs

3.
OSHA

4.
The CDC

5.
Fannie Mae

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
The National Weather Service

2.
The Forest Service

3.
The NNSA

4.
The Bureau of the Census

5.
The Office for Civil Rights

1990
T
HE
A
MERICANS WITH
D
ISABILITIES
A
CT BECOMES
L
AW.

MISS CONGENITALITY

Match each physical oddity to the celebrity who can boast it.

69,163
I
T’S ONLY SIXTY-SEVEN THOUSAND
years away: the next time a transit of Mercury and a transit of Venus will occur simultaneously. In other words, from Earth, both planets will be seen crossing the sun at the same time! Plan to take the day off work.

SOL MUSIC

Here comes the sun trivia.

1.
What’s the highest-circulation U.S. newspaper that calls itself the
Sun
?

2.
What’s the name for the sun’s outer “atmosphere,” visible only during a total solar eclipse?

3.
What thirty-five-year-old sports event did Arizona’s Sun Devil Stadium lose in 2006?

4.
Before the dialogue was cut down, what album originally ended with Abbey Road Studios doorman Gerry Driscoll saying “The only thing that makes it look light is the sun”?

5.
In myth, who defeated the serpent Apep every night in his solar barge?

6.
What was the better-known
nom de crime
of Harry Longabaugh?

7.
What “Sun King” ’s seventy-two-year reign makes him the longest-ruling European monarch of all time?

8.
What team did NBA star Steve Nash play for between his two stints with the Phoenix Suns?

9.
What is the infirmity of Jake Barnes, the protagonist of
The Sun Also Rises
?

10.
What future comedy megastar had a small role in
Empire of the Sun
as the POW called “Dainty”?