Grenades take their name from the French word for pomegranate, the fist-sized fruit that bursts forth with seeds when you open it. Pomegranates are a traditional symbol of fertility and vitality, which is why you’ll see them on the coats of arms of medical associations, such as the Royal College of Physicians in the United Kingdom.
The world’s longest and deepest train tunnel, the 35-mile Gotthard Base Tunnel, opened in Switzerland in June 2016. It runs directly through the Saint-Gotthard Massif in the Alps, with a flat track to accommodate high-speed trains. Drilling and blasting for the two-track tunnel started in 1999 and continued until the excavation crews at each end reached a “breakthrough” in October 2010.
St. Florian is the patron saint of firefighters. You’ll sometimes see his likeness at fire stations, depicted with the single bucket of water that legend says he used to save an entire city from burning. Today the four-sided symbol used to designate firefighting services is known as the Florian Cross.
New York has the dubious distinction of being the state where the most presidents have died. James Monroe, Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester Arthur, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon make a total of nine presidents who breathed their last in the Empire State.
Vangelis gave us the “Chariots of Fire” theme in 1981. (Think athletes running on the beach.) Since then, the theme has been used in “Mr. Mom,” “Good Burger,” the live-action version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Old School,” “Bruce Almighty,” “Kicking & Screaming,” “Madagascar” and both “National Lampoon’s Vacation” and its 2015 reboot. Talk about going the distance!
According to the American Kennel Club, the first Akita registered in the U.S. belonged to a military officer from Montana. But it was Helen Keller, a deaf and blind political and social activist, who brought Akitas to the attention of the American dog-loving public. She received one as a gift during a visit to Japan in 1937 and named her Kamikaze-Go. When “Kami” died, Keller acquired another Akita, whom she named Kenzan-Go, or “Go-Go.”
TRIVIA
1. What unfortunate Greek goddess was doomed to be queen of the underworld because she ate some pomegranate seeds?
A) Arachne
B) Penelope
C) Persephone
D) Rhea
2. Emmental, Gruyere and kirsch are principal ingredients in what traditional Swiss dish?
A) Fondue
B) Leckerli
C) Papet vaudois
D) Rosti
3. Who is the firefighter character in the “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” franchise?
A) Ash
B) Barbecue
C) Ember
D) Flamekiller
4. The largest mausoleum in North America houses the remains of which U.S. president and his wife?
A) Ulysses S. Grant
B) John F. Kennedy
C) Abraham Lincoln
D) Zachary Taylor
5. “Chariots of Fire” is about athletes competing in the 1924 Olympics, held in which city?
A) Amsterdam
B) Athens
C) London
D) Paris
6. The Alabama quarter in the U.S. Mint’s 50 State Quarters series incorporates what element into its design?
A) Braille writing
B) Confederate flag
C) Hologram
D) QR code
ANSWERS
1) Eating pomegranate seeds locked Persephone into marriage with Hades, Greek god of the underworld.
2) Emmental and Gruyere cheeses and a splash of kirsch, which is a cherry brandy, are principal ingredients of Swiss fondue.
3) “Barbecue” is the firefighter character in the “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” franchise.
4) General Grant National Memorial, better known as Grant’s Tomb, in New York City is the largest mausoleum in North America.
5) The 1924 Summer Olympics were held in Paris.
6) The Alabama state quarter in the U.S. Mint’s 50 State Quarters series features a portrait of Helen Keller with her name written in Braille.
WEEK OF MAY 9
“The History of Cardenio” is William Shakespeare’s “lost” play. We know its complicated love story borrows a lot from the epic “Don Quixote” by Miguel Cervantes. We also know “Cardenio” was performed in 1613 and that Shakespeare collaborated with a playwright named John Fletcher on the work, but the complete manuscript is lost to history.
Because they have small mouths and big appetites, some starfish have the ability to thrust their stomachs out through their mouths so they can swallow and digest food outside their bodies. This lets the carnivorous starfish eat prey that wouldn’t otherwise fit in their mouths.
Don’t drop the mic. Have a little respect for David Edward Hughes, the man who invented it. In a period of history crammed with inventors whose names you know — Edison, Morse, Bell — Hughes was every bit their peer. He devised the carbon microphone to amplify sound in telephone receivers and then realized pretty quickly that it had broader applications. He didn’t patent his design, deciding instead to make it a gift to the world.
Greve in Chianti, Italy, was the first place in the world to be designated a slow city (“Cittaslow” in Italian). The idea came from the town’s mayor, who wanted a way to celebrate small municipalities that maintain high quality of life for residents by being eco-friendly, preserving local history and traditions, and supporting a safe, comfortable life for residents and visitors. The Cittaslow International network started in 1999 and now includes 282 cities in 32 countries around the world, including Sebastopol and Sonoma, California.
One of the longest trade disputes in the history of the World Trade Organization was a battle over the price of bananas. It began in the early 1990s when the European Union raised tariffs on banana imports from Latin America. After nearly 20 years of disagreement, the dispute was settled with the signing of the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas in 2010.
The gladiolus flower, sometimes called the sword lily because of its sharp pointed leaves, takes its name from gladius, the Latin word for “sword.” Gladiator, a fighter who uses a sword, comes from the same Latin root word. In human anatomy, the main part of the sternum or breastbone is also called the gladiolus because it’s sword-shaped.
TRIVIA
1. Which show-stopping song is performed at the end of Act I of the Broadway musical “Man of La Mancha”?
A) “I Could Have Danced All Night”
B) “If Ever I Would Leave You”
C) “If I Were a Rich Man”
D) “The Impossible Dream”
2. A huge, circular rotating banquet hall was built for what Roman emperor famous for his extravagance?
A) Claudius
B) Nero
C) Tiberius
D) Trajan
3. What word stands for the letter M in the NATO phonetic alphabet?
A) Maximum
B) Mellow
C) Mike
D) Moxie
4. The sloe used to make sloe gin is most closely related to what other fruit?
A) Apple
B) Blueberry
C) Orange
D) Plum
5. In 1986, which university adopted the banana slug as its official mascot?
A) University of California, Santa Cruz
B) University of Central Florida
C) Kenyon College
D) Western Connecticut State University
6. The plea for peace, “And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,” comes from which book of the Old Testament?
A) Genesis
B) Isaiah
C) Jeremiah
D) Ruth
ANSWERS
1) “The Impossible Dream” ends Act I of “Man of La Mancha.”
2) The ancient Roman emperor Nero had a huge, circular banquet hall that rotated to mimic the movement of the Earth.
3) “Mike” stands for the letter M in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
4) Prunus spinosa, also called sloe, is related to plums.
5) In 1986, the University of California, Santa Cruz, adopted the banana slug as its official mascot.
6) “And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares” comes from the Old Testament book of Isaiah.
WEEK OF MAY 16
Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin is the oldest continuously operating auto racing track in the United States. Built in the 1800s for horse racing, in 1903, it hosted its first auto race: a five-mile dirt track event in which the winning car hit an astonishing 50 miles per hour (astonishing for 1903). For years, it was a regular stop on the IndyCar circuit. Though activity at the track slowed in recent years, grassroots groups continue driving hard to bring it back up to speed.
May 17 is Galician Literature Day, or Dia das Letras Galegas, in the Galicia region of northwestern Spain. Similar to Portuguese, Galician dates back to at least the 13th century, when troubadours serenaded young women with Galician songs of love. (It’s a romance language, after all.) Sixteenth-century Spanish rulers discouraged its use, figuring everyone ought to speak Spanish, but the poet Rosalia de Castro helped spearhead a Galician renaissance — or “rexurdimento” — in the 19th century.
Marie Antoinette’s signature flower was Rosa centifolia, what we’d call a cabbage rose, and what she might have called a Provence rose or “rosier a cent feuilles” — “rose of a hundred leaves.” The name cabbage rose comes from the flower’s size and shape, not from its fragrance. In fact, cabbage roses have a sweet, pleasing scent, which is why perfumers love them and possibly why Marie Antoinette surrounded herself with them (18th-century hygiene being somewhat dubious).
In 1796, English physician Edward Jenner conducted his first clinical trials in vaccination against smallpox, deriving his vaccine from the milder cowpox virus. Once the vaccine had been tested, Jenner vaccinated his patients, set up a free clinic to vaccinate poor people and provided other doctors with the vaccine so they could do the same. (An anti-vaccine movement came about soon after.) He even coined the word “vaccination” from “vacca,” the Latin word for cow.
Among the scenes cut from the final version of Woody Allen’s 1977 film “Annie Hall” is one in which Allen joins a team of philosophers (Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard and their cronies) to play basketball against the New York Knicks, including Bill Bradley, Walt “Clyde” Frazier and Earl “The Pearl” Monroe.
Geological features on the planet Venus are named for notable women, real and mythological. Women of science are well-represented — American geologist Florence Bascom and geographer Alison Aitchison among them. Women in other fields with namesake sites on Venus include Judy Garland, Josephine Baker, photographer Margaret Bourke-White, educator Mary McLeod Bethune and Astrid Lindgren, author of the Pippi Longstocking books.
TRIVIA
1. Which company’s products include vehicles known as Fat Boy and Electra Glide?
A) Chevrolet
B) Harley-Davidson
C) Lockheed Martin
D) Triumph
2. Which music superstar played “Take Me to the Pilot” in his U.S. debut at Los Angeles’ Troubadour nightclub in August 1970?
A) Bob Dylan
B) Elton John
C) Van Morrison
D) Bruce Springsteen
3. The Treaty of Versailles helped to end which conflict?
A) American Revolutionary War
B) French and Indian War
C) War of 1812
D) World War I
4. Lactose, which is found in milk, would be best classified as what?
A) Acid
B) Metalloid
C) Salt
D) Sugar
5. In which season did the National Basketball Association officially adopt the 3-point line?
A) 1959-60
B) 1969-70
C) 1979-80
D) 1989-90
6. “Venus” was a hit in 1970 for Shocking Blue and in 1986 for what band?
A) Bananarama
B) The Bangles
C) The Go-Go’s
D) Shonen Knife
ANSWERS
1. Harley-Davidson makes Fat Boy and Electra Glide motorcycles.
2. Elton John made his U.S. debut playing six sold-out shows at the Troubadour in August 1970.
3. Signed on June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles led to the end of World War I.
4. Lactose is a natural sugar found in milk.
5. The NBA officially adopted the 3-point line in the 1979-80 season.
6. Bananarama had a hit with a cover of “Venus” in 1986.
WEEK OF MAY 23
Among the abolitionist newspapers published in the United States in the decades leading to the American Civil War, The Liberator, based in Boston, might have been the most influential. The North Star, founded by Frederick Douglass in Rochester, New York, is probably the best known today. A Philadelphia-based abolitionist newspaper was edited for a time by the poet John Greenleaf Whittier. For most of its existence, that paper was called the Pennsylvania Freeman, but its original name was the National Enquirer.
Tyrannosaurus rex was what paleobiologists call the “apex predator” of the latest Cretaceous period, a gigantic creature that stalked the Earth between 80 and 66 million years ago, eating what it pleased. But the T. rex didn’t start out as the 42-foot-tall, 7-ton giant we know today. Its earliest relatives were human-sized, and archaeological digs in Uzbekistan unearthed a horse-sized T. rex cousin.
Why is Pepto-Bismol pink? The company website says that no one is sure why the doctor who developed it chose to make it pink. Its active ingredient, bismuth subsalicylate, is naturally white. The pink comes from added colorants, so anyone who tells you Pepto-Bismol is naturally pink is perpetuating a myth.
You saw the 1984 movie “Amadeus,” so you know that Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were archrivals. Right? Not exactly. They weren’t best buddies, but they occasionally collaborated on works. The score for one of those works, “Per la Ricuperata Salute di Ofelia” or “For the Recovered Health of Ophelia,” turned up a few years ago in the archives of the Czech Museum of Music in Prague. It was written in 1785 in honor of a singer who’d lost her voice.
The circumstellar habitable zone is the region around a star where a planet orbiting the star could potentially have water in liquid form on its surface — and potentially support extraterrestrial life. Too close to the heat of the star, water will evaporate. Too far away from the star, the planet would be extremely cold, and the water would freeze. Conditions have to be just right, which is why it’s sometimes called the “Goldilocks zone.”
Assateague Island National Seashore is famous for the herds of wild horses that roam its land in Maryland and nearby Chincoteague Island in Virginia. A diet of salty marsh grasses and hay keeps the horses thirsty but doesn’t provide them much nutrition. Even when they’re full-grown, the wild horses are small and appear bloated. Visit the park to see them frolicking on the shoreline, but keep a polite distance. They’re wild horses; they’ll kick and bite if you get too close.
TRIVIA
1. In which constellation would you find Polaris, better known as the North Star?
A) Cygnus
B) Leo
C) Orion
D) Ursa Minor
2. Bukhara, Uzbekistan, was historically known as a center for trade in what handmade objects?
A) Candles
B) Pottery
C) Rugs
D) Swords
3. Pinking shears were designed to cut what?
A) Fabric
B) Plant stems and branches
C) Sheet metal
D) Vulcanized rubber
4. Ophelia is a tragic character in which of Shakespeare’s tragic plays?
A) “Hamlet”
B) “Macbeth”
C) “Othello”
D) “Titus Andronicus”
5. The annual Golden Globes movie awards are given by what organization?
A) Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
B) Broadcast Film Critics Association
C) Hollywood Foreign Press Association
D) Outer Critics Circle
6. Which horse is the most recent winner of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown?
A) Affirmed
B) American Pharoah
C) California Chrome
D) Justify
ANSWERS
1) Polaris, better known as the North Star, is in the constellation Ursa Minor.
2) Bukhara, Uzbekistan, has historically been a center for the rug trade.
3) Pinking shears cut fabric with a saw-toothed edge that limits fraying.
4) Ophelia is a tragic character in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”
5) The Golden Globes are voted on by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
6) Justify won thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown in 2018.
WEEK OF MAY 30
Researchers who study aging and longevity often experiment on subjects with short life spans so they don’t have to wait decades for results. Thus, they’re partial to roundworms, which only live for two weeks or so and, weirdly, share some genetic characteristics with people. Weirder still: Yeast, a short-lived, single-celled fungus, has enough cellular similarities to humans that it’s also used in laboratory studies on human aging.
GLK Foods of Appleton, Wisconsin, claims to be the world’s largest producer of sauerkraut. (The GLK stands for Great Lakes Kraut.) Founded in 1900, the family-run company processes about 140,000 tons of fresh cabbage into kraut each year. Demand peaks around Oktoberfest and New Year’s Day, when it’s traditional — especially in Pennsylvania — to eat pork and sauerkraut for good luck.
Art lovers aren’t the only people who admire the landscape paintings of John Constable. Meteorologists have been known to give them long, lingering looks as well. The artist was equally renowned for his depictions of the English countryside and of the sky above it. In fact, many of the “cloud studies” he painted in the 1820s — during what became known as his “skying period” — have Constable’s notes of date, time of day, and wind and weather conditions written on the back of the artwork.
Certain beetles have a taste for literature. They feed on paper and the glues used in the bindings of books, especially old books. To eliminate the pests without damaging fragile and valuable texts, rare book libraries will blast-freeze the books for a couple of days at minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University has a specially designed walk-in freezer just for this purpose.
Four U.S. states picked violets as their official state flower. The first was Illinois, which adopted the common blue violet (Viola sororia) in 1908. Wisconsin named the wood violet (Viola papilionacea) its state flower in 1909. Rhode Island and New Jersey also chose Viola sororia.
Sidney Poitier is a phenomenal actor, but he’s no singer. So while he appeared onscreen as Porgy in the 1959 film version of “Porgy and Bess,” his singing voice was dubbed by Robert McFerrin, an operatic baritone with New York’s Metropolitan Opera. McFerrin’s son Bobby is the composer and vocalist who won a Grammy for his infectious a cappella hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
TRIVIA
1. The Edict of Worms was a 1521 proclamation that condemned the teachings of what man?
A) Thomas Aquinas
B) Aristotle
C) Galileo
D) Martin Luther
2. Which of the five Great Lakes is the only one that lies entirely within the United States?
A) Lake Erie
B) Lake Huron
C) Lake Michigan
D) Lake Superior
3. Skye is the largest island in which archipelago?
A) Azores
B) Channel Islands
C) Inner Hebrides
D) Marshall Islands
4. At what frigid temperature do the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales correspond?
A) Minus 40 degrees
B) Minus 20 degrees
C) Zero degrees
D) 32 degrees
5. Violet Baudelaire is one of the three siblings in which collection of novels?
A) “The Chronicles of Narnia”
B) The “Harry Potter” series
C) The “Hunger Games” trilogy
D) “A Series of Unfortunate Events”
6. In nature, a porgy is what type of creature from the family Sparidae?
A) Bat
B) Bird
C) Fish
D) Frog
ANSWERS
1. The Edict of Worms, named for the city of Worms, Germany, condemned the teachings of Martin Luther.
2. All of the Great Lakes border Canada except Lake Michigan.
3. Skye is the largest island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.
4. Fahrenheit and Celsius temperatures are the same at minus 40 degrees.
5. Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire are the main characters in Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”
6. In nature, a porgy is a fish from the family Sparidae.
TRIVIA FANS: Leslie Elman is the author of “Weird But True: 200 Astounding, Outrageous and Totally Off the Wall Facts.” Contact her at [email protected]
