Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (160 page)

SEPTEMBER 26

1914
T
HE
F
EDERAL
T
RADE
C
OMMISSION
is created as part of Woodrow Wilson’s war against trusts.

TRADE COMMISSION

1.
Who was traded for spy Rudolf Abel on February 10, 1962?

2.
What was unusual about the 1960 trade of the Tigers’ Jimmy Dykes for the Indians’ Joe Gordon?

3.
Martha Stewart was jailed for insider trading of what pharmaceutical stock?

4.
Whom did Sixers owner F. Eugene Dixon call “the Babe Ruth of basketball” after the cash-strapped Nets sold him for $3 million?

5.
What Fox reality show is a clone of ABC’s
Wife Swap
?

1985
S
HAMU, THE FIRST KILLER WHALE
calf ever to thrive in captivity, is born at Sea World. Actually, “Shamu” is like “Lassie”—just a stage name shared by a lot of animals. This first Baby Shamu’s real name is Kalina.

WHALE KNOWN FACTS

1.
What rock band took its name from the answer to the goofy 1960s riddle “What’s purple and lives at the bottom of the sea?”

2.
What tiny crustaceans are the main food source for all baleen whales?

3.
Other than a small population of blue whales off the coast of Sri Lanka, what’s the only species known to communicate with “whale song”?

4.
The film
Whale Rider
is about the traditions of what Pacific people?

5.
What mammals are the whales’ closest living relatives on land?

2004
T
HE CITY OF
D
ENVER
renames West Mile High Stadium Circle “John Elway Drive,” to honor the Hall of Fame quarterback. I’m guessing Denver residents will always just call it “The Drive.”

STREET BALL

What cities renamed a street near a sporting venue…

Easy

1.
Hank Aaron Drive

2.
Dan Marino Boulevard

3.
John Stockton Drive

4.
Jesse-Owens-Allee

Harder

1.
Brett Hull Way

2.
Peyton Manning Pass

3.
Mazeroski Way

4.
Nolan Ryan Expressway

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Cyclone Taylor Boulevard

2.
Richard Petty Boulevard

3.
Tony Canadeo Run

4.
Edwin Flack Drive

SEPTEMBER 27

1892
P
HILADELPHIA LAWYER
J
OSEPH
P
USEY
patents the book of matches. But you couldn’t “Close Cover Before Striking” on Pusey’s flawed design—he’d put the friction strip on the
inside.

MATCH BOOKS

Can you match these well-known novels to their lesser-known sequels?

1964
T
HE
W
ARREN
C
OMMISSION REPORT
finds that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

ACTING ALONE

Who made up the entire cast of these one-person shows?

Easy

1.
Mark Twain Tonight!

2.
Jesus Is Magic

3.
Swimming to Cambodia

4.
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe

Harder

1.
700 Sundays

2.
I’m the One That I Want

3.
God Said “Ha!”

4.
A Knight Out

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll

2.
Tru

3.
Comedy in Music

4.
Give ’em Hell, Harry!

1990
T
HE
MPAA
RETIRES
the X rating for movies, replacing it with the hopefully less stigmatized NC-17. The first NC-17 film,
Henry & June,
is released just a week later…but many theaters still refuse to exhibit films using the new rating.

X TERMINATIONS

1.
What currently run on OS X?

2.
Whose two brothers are Spritle and Racer X?

3.
Who became the first wide receiver ever named the game’s MVP, after Super Bowl X?

4.
In Marvel Comics, who was the only female mutant in the original X-Men assembled by Professor X?

5.
What American painter caused a scandal in Paris in 1884 with his sexually suggestive
Portrait of Madame X
?

6.
Who discovered Pluto in 1930 while searching for Percival Lowell’s hypothetical “Planet X”?

7.
What was the birth surname of Malcolm X?

8.
Who gave a name to a generation of slackers with his 1991 debut novel
Generation X
?

9.
Félix Dupanloup, bishop of Orléans, led the long campaign that finally saw what person beatified in 1909 by Pope Pius X?

10.
Clashes with what star led director Tony Kaye to try to remove his name from the film
American History X
?