Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (124 page)

JULY 31

1853
P
OLISH PHARMACIST
I
GNACY
L
UKASIEWICZ
gives a new invention he’s been tinkering with—a kerosene lamp—to a local hospital for an emergency surgery. Thanks to kerosene, the whale oil industry will collapse within just a few years. Lukasiewicz has probably inadvertently saved every whale on Earth from extinction.

THE LIGHT STUFF

1.
What’s the shade of a Tiffany lamp made of?

2.
In
The Arabian Nights,
the tale of Aladdin and his lamp is actually set in what non-Arabian country?

3.
What type of lamp is named for the kind of gas—usually iodine or bromine—in which the filament is suspended?

4.
Whose most famous poem ends “I lift my lamp beside the golden door”?

5.
What musical instrument shares its name with the bracket on which a lampshade hangs?

6.
Where did two lanterns historically hang on the night of April 18, 1775?

7.
What “Lady of the Lamp” was named for the Italian city where she was born?

8.
Green Lantern’s ring is powerless against objects of what color?

9.
What film company’s logo uses a lamp called Luxo, Jr., as the letter
I
?

10.
What was the Greek philosopher Diogenes looking for when he wandered through Athens holding a lantern?

1931
A
USTIN
P
ATTERSON, THE CHEMISTRY
guy at Merriam-Webster, submits an index card to his dictionary editor stating that density can be abbreviated as “D or d.” Unfortunately, someone misreads Patterson’s note and, for the next decade, the word “dord” is defined as “density” in Webster’s, one of the most famous errors in lexicographical history.

“D” COMPOSITION

1.
Comedy band Tenacious D took its name from what sportscaster’s catchphrase for good defense?

2.
Where are U.S. coins with a “D” mark minted?

3.
What was the Allies’ code name for the “D-Day” invasion of Normandy?

4.
Whom did rapper Chuck D “fire” from Public Enemy in 1989 for making anti-Semitic comments?

5.
Deuterium is sometimes abbreviated “D” by chemists even though it’s not an element. It’s actually an isotope of what other element?

1987
T
HE VAMPIRE HIT
The Lost Boys
is released, featuring the first of seven collaborations between “the two Coreys”—
The Goonies
star Corey Feldman and
Lucas
star Corey Haim.

SAY MY NAME

1.
Which two Spice Girls shared the same first name?

2.
Sorry, Kerry-Edwards voters: what’s still the only U.S. president–vice president ticket ever to use the same first name in office?

3.
What company was founded in 1976 by “the two Steves”?

4.
What’s the only first name shared by two members of Monty Python?

5.
What U.S. state is currently represented by two senators who share exactly the same first name?

July Answers

JULY 1

PENINSULA CAMPAIGN

1.
The Malay Peninsula

2.
Nome, Alaska

3.
Qatar

4.
“The boot”

5.
The Olympic Peninsula

6.
The Sinai Peninsula

7.
Gallipoli

8.
Kowloon

9.
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

10.
The Philippines

“
TRANS-” FACTS

1.
Jordan

2.
Lost

3.
The Catholic Eucharist wafer and wine

4.
Vladivostok

5.
Howard Hughes

6.
Death Cab for Cutie

7.
Frank N. Furter (
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
)

8.
A face transplant

9.
Cybertron

10.
Louisa May Alcott’s

JULY 2

BIO-PICKS

Easy

1.
Queen Elizabeth I

2.
Jesus Christ

3.
Malcolm X

4.
Charlie Chaplin

5.
“Shoeless Joe” Jackson

Harder

1.
Vincent van Gogh

2.
Abraham Lincoln

3.
Harper Lee

4.
Julius Caesar

5.
Marie Antoinette

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Nelson Rockefeller

2.
Jesse James

3.
Douglas MacArthur

4.
Dorothy Parker

5.
The Big Bopper

AFFAIRS TO REMEMBER

1.
The Dreyfus Affair

2.
The Iran-Contra Affair

3.
The Profumo Affair

4.
The XYZ Affair

5.
Family Affair