In Japan there are two types of fireflies, the Genji and Heike, most likely named for two warring clans from the 12th century. While the fireflies don’t battle each other, they do fight to survive in polluted urban environments. So, humans help them along. There are Japanese research facilities that breed and study fireflies and many people in Japan raise fireflies at home.
Professional jealousy is nothing new in the world of stage and screen, but in 1727 a pair of operatic sopranos took their rivalry to new heights. Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni made no secret of the fact that they disliked each other, especially after they were cast in a production together. Audiences attended the performances less for the music and more to cheer for their favorite soprano. And the singers did not disappoint their fans: at one show they actually wound up in a physical fight onstage.
In musical circles, the unusual first chord of the prelude to Richard Wagner’s 1865 opera “Tristan and Isolde” is known as the Tristan chord. The way Wagner used the chord — F, B, D sharp and G sharp — has fascinated generations of musicologists. It creates an unexpected dissonance that leaves a listener wondering which direction the music will take. The surprises continue until the opera’s end, more than four hours later!
James Oglethorpe (1696-1785) was a strong advocate for prison reform in England. He also proposed forming the colony of Georgia, which he envisioned as a place where people jailed in English debtors’ prisons could be sent to start a new life with everyone on equal footing. (That included prohibiting slavery.) King George II chartered the colony in 1732 and Oglethorpe supervised its development. Ironically, not one of Georgia’s first colonists came from among the unfortunate folks in debtors’ prison.
Periodically, especially in late winter and early spring, massive dust clouds from the Sahara Desert blow into Europe, turn the sky an ominous shade and leave a coating of red dust on everything. When the air is laden with dust and there’s a rainfall, it produces “mud rain,” which is as unappealing as it sounds.
The Kentucky Derby calls itself the oldest continuously run sporting event in the United States — operative words being “continuously run.” In fact, the Belmont Stakes is the oldest of the three Triple Crown events in American thoroughbred horse racing. (At 1.5 miles, it’s also the longest of the three.) The Belmont was run for the first time in 1867, stopped for a few years when the Hart Agnew Law prohibited gambling at racetracks in New York State, and revived in 1913.
TRIVIA
1. In the sci-fi TV series “Firefly,” what is Firefly?
A) A class of spacecraft
B) The main character’s nickname
C) A planet
D) A hidden treasure
2. Both Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench received Oscar nominations for portraying what woman?
A) Queen Elizabeth I of England
B) Eleanor Roosevelt
C) Margaret Thatcher
D) Queen Victoria
3. Which best defines a “chord” in geometry?
A) Distance around a circle
B) Line that connects two points on the circumference of a circle
C) Longest leg of a triangle
D) Sum of the angles in a triangle
4. Marshalsea debtors’ prison is a setting in “Little Dorrit” by which English author?
A) Jane Austen
B) Emily Bronte
C) Charles Dickens
D) Thomas Hardy
5. “From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah” is a live album released two years after the death of which band’s lead singer?
A) Alice in Chains
B) The Doors
C) Nirvana
D) Queen
6. The winning horse at the Preakness Stakes is draped in a blanket made from what type of flowers?
A) Black-eyed Susans
B) Carnations
C) Marigolds
D) Roses
ANSWERS
1) In the sci-fi TV series, “Firefly” refers to a class of spacecraft.
2) Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench received Oscar nominations for portraying Queen Elizabeth I of England.
3) In geometry, a chord is a line that connects two points on a circle.
4) Charles Dickens wrote about Marshalsea debtors’ prison in “Little Dorrit.”
5) Nirvana released “From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah” in 1996, two years after Kurt Cobain’s death.
6) The winning horse at the Preakness is draped in a blanket of Black-eyed Susans.
WEEK OF JUNE 13
In the “there’s a museum for everything” category: the Spargelmuseums in Beelitz, Nienberg and Schrobenhausen, Germany, are museums devoted to asparagus. (“Spargel” is German for asparagus.) Germany is famous for thick-stalked white asparagus, which grows underground. No sunlight means no photosynthesis, thus no green color. White asparagus is harvested when its tips break the surface of the soil.
The Stars and Stripes was officially adopted for the American flag on June 14, 1777. That we now call June 14 Flag Day is largely down to Bernard J. Cigrand from Wisconsin. A dentist by trade and a historian at heart, Cigrand (1866-1932) wrote dozens of newspaper articles and sent dozens of letters to American presidents proposing a national holiday to honor the American flag. Flag Day became an official national holiday by a joint resolution of Congress in 1949.
Male cardinals have red feathers because they eat yellow foods. An enzyme converts the yellow pigments in the seeds, leaves and fruit the birds eat into a red pigment that colors their feathers. In rare instances, the enzyme doesn’t perform this function, and a male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) will have yellow feathers instead of red.
A phenomenal base stealer, Sam “The Jet” Jethroe of the Boston Braves, was named National League Rookie of the Year in 1950. He was a Major League Baseball “rookie,” but Jethroe was no beginner. He’d been a Negro Leagues star and was one of three players (along with Jackie Robinson) invited to a sham tryout for the majors in 1947. Three years later, at age 32-plus, Sam Jethroe became the oldest-ever MLB Rookie of the Year.
Iceland’s total population is a little more than 345,000 people, and about two-thirds of them live in and around the capital city, Reykjavik. Only five towns in Iceland have populations of more than 10,000 people. Twelve towns have fewer than 2,000 residents.
Fans of the Caped Crusader might feel at home in Melbourne, Australia, which has a Batman electoral district, Batman’s Hill, and a Batman Highway that crosses Batman Bridge. They’re all named for John Batman, who founded the city of Melbourne. In Turkey there’s the city of Batman situated on the Batman River and home to Batman University.
TRIVIA
1. Which of Escoffier’s “mother sauces” is made from egg yolk and liquefied butter with a dash of lemon juice?
A) Bechamel
B) Espagnole
C) Hollandaise
D) Veloute
2. The official 50-star American flag was raised for the first time in what year?
A) 1940
B) 1950
C) 1960
D) 1970
3. Cardinal Richelieu was a real person as well as a character in which novel?
A) “Death Comes for the Archbishop”
B) “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”
C) “The Three Musketeers”
D) “War and Peace”
4. Who was the first catcher to be named Major League Baseball’s Rookie of the Year?
A) Johnny Bench
B) Carlton Fisk
C) Thurman Munson
D) Earl Williams
5. As of October 2020, the country of Iceland no longer does what?
A) Issues new postage stamps
B) Participates in the Olympics
C) Holds presidential elections
D) Permits the sale of sugared soft drinks
6. Which of these produces the natural allergen urushiol?
A) King cobra
B) Penguin
C) Poison ivy
D) Squid
ANSWERS
1) Hollandaise sauce is made from egg yolks, liquefied butter and lemon juice.
2) The U.S. flag with a 50th star, symbolizing Hawaii’s statehood, was officially raised for the first time on July 4, 1960.
3) Cardinal Richelieu was a character in “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas.
4) Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds was the first Major League Baseball catcher voted Rookie of the Year.
5) October 2020 marked the last time that Iceland issued new postage stamps.
6) Urushiol is the substance in poison ivy that makes your skin itch.
WEEK OF JUNE 20
Monday, June 20
The term “Iron Curtain” describing the growing influence of the Soviet Union in Europe was first used by Winston Churchill in a speech at Westminster College, in Fulton, Missouri, on March 5, 1946. The college is now home to the National Churchill Museum, housed in a 17th-century English church that was relocated stone by stone from London to Missouri in the 1960s.
The lactic acid bacterium that gives sourdough bread its distinctive taste is Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis. Microbiologists Frank Sugihara and Leo Kline isolated the bacteria in the 1970s and named it for the place they found it: San Francisco.
When someone is deep in meditation, or deep into thinking about herself, we might say she’s “contemplating her navel.” Or we could say she’s engaged in omphaloskepsis. That mouthful of a word was coined in the 1920s to describe the meditation practices of Indian mystics. It comes from the Greek for navel (“omphalos”) and thoughtful examination (“skepsis”). Ancient Greeks believed that the Earth had its own omphalos — the navel out of which humanity was born — and it was located in the sacred city of Delphi.
Rugby made its first appearance as an Olympic sport at the 1900 games in Paris, where only three nations fielded teams and France won the first-ever Olympic rugby gold medal. It was part of Olympic competition three more times, most recently in 1924. After a 92-year hiatus, rugby returned to the Olympics at the 2016 Rio Games — this time with both men’s and women’s events.
You know Hollywood, but do you know “Nollywood”? That’s the nickname for the film industry in Nigeria. Churning out more than 2,500 films a year, it’s the second most productive movie industry on Earth, after India’s massive “Bollywood” film industry.
Ancient Greeks and Romans loved working up a sweat in athletic competition or in a steamy hot bath. And after the sweat came the strigil, the curved, blunt-edged metal blade they’d use to scrape sweat and oil (and skin and other yuck) from their bodies. A whole genre of ancient sculptures depicts male athletes using strigils. They are known as Apoxyomenos, or “The Scraper,” from the Greek for “to clean oneself.”
TRIVIA
1. Where did Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt meet for a famous 1943 conference, codenamed “Symbol”?
A) Algiers
B) Casablanca
C) Tripoli
D) Tunis
2. Sometimes called St. John’s bread, what tree’s seedpods are ground as a substitute for cocoa powder?
A) Carob
B) Honey locust
C) Mimosa
D) Sweetgum
3. Seedless navel oranges are a mutation first discovered in what location?
A) A monastery in Brazil
B) A university in Japan
C) A farm in Mexico
D) A royal garden in the Netherlands
4. How many athletes represented the United States at the first modern Olympics in 1896?
A) 14
B) 25
C) 36
D) None. The U.S. didn’t participate.
5. Which is the longest river in Africa?
A) Congo
B) Niger
C) Nile
D) Zambezi
6. The word “sauna” comes from what language?
A) Finnish
B) Greek
C) Japanese
D) Turkish
ANSWERS
1) Churchill and FDR met in Casablanca in 1943.
2) Ground carob seedpods may be used as a substitute for cocoa powder.
3) Seedless navel oranges are a mutation first discovered at a monastery in Brazil.
4) There were 14 athletes representing the United States at the first modern Olympic games in 1896.
5) The Nile is the longest river in Africa.
6) Previous answer: “Sauna” is a Finnish word.
WEEK OF JUNE 27
The wind that blows through the subterranean caves at Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota changes direction depending on the atmospheric pressure in the area. A high-pressure system forces air into the cave. A low-pressure system forces it out, “force” being the operative word: Gusts have been known to reach 70 miles per hour.
Anyone can celebrate a Broadway hit, but Joe Allen restaurant in New York City has a special fondness for Broadway flops. Its walls are lined with their posters, starting with “Kelly,” a musical about a guy jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, which opened and closed on the very same night in February 1965. Figuring the show ought to be immortalized somehow, the cast gave a show poster to Joe Allen, and a tradition was born.
Two celebrities with the same name is a recipe for confusion, so the star of the “Creed” movie series calls himself Michael B. Jordan (his middle name is Bakari) to distinguish him from that fellow who was sort of a big deal in the NBA. The singer born Katheryn Hudson changed her name to Katy Perry so she wouldn’t be mistaken for the actress Kate Hudson. And because Michael Douglas is an established actor, another actor born Michael Douglas is known to us as Michael Keaton.
In 1457, King James II of Scotland issued a ban that prohibited men from playing golf and demanded that they practice their archery skills instead. He figured that good soldiers who could wield a bow were more valuable to Scotland than good golfers, since you can’t putt your enemies to kingdom come.
Washington Irving, the author who gave us “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” served as the U.S. minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846. Best known for his short stories and satire, Irving also wrote biographies of Christopher Columbus and George Washington and was as famous in Europe as he was in the United States, which is why President John Tyler chose him for the ambassadorial post.
The so-called Soybean Car was a short-lived experiment by the Ford Motor Company in the early 1940s, intended to create a synergy between manufacturing and agriculture. The car’s body was fashioned from a tubular steel frame covered with plastic panels that were, indeed, derived from soybeans. Weighing considerably less than a steel automobile, the Soybean Car was fuel efficient — and the fuel it used was made from hemp.
TRIVIA
1. Kenneth Grahame’s children’s book “The Wind in the Willows” inspired which Disney theme park ride?
A) It’s a Small World
B) Mad Tea Party
C) Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
D) Space Mountain
2. A Broadway musical adaptation of which Stephen King work ran for just five performances in 1988?
A) “Carrie”
B) “The Shawshank Redemption”
C) “The Shining”
D) “The Stand”
3. The fourth U.S. vice president and the funk musician who started Parliament and Funkadelic share what name?
A) Aaron Burr
B) George Clinton
C) Elbridge Gerry
D) Daniel Tompkins
4. Who is the hockey-mask-wearing villain in the Friday the 13th film franchise?
A) Freddie Krueger
B) Michael Myers
C) Pinhead
D) Jason Voorhees
5. Which New York sports team takes its name from the works of Washington Irving?
A) Giants
B) Knicks
C) Mets
D) Yankees
6. In 2005, the Seventh Street Bridge in Pittsburgh was renamed in honor of whom?
A) Franco Harris
B) David O. Selznick
C) Willie Stargell
D) Andy Warhol
ANSWERS
1) Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disney theme parks was inspired by “The Wind in the Willows.”
2) “Carrie: The Musical” ran for just five performances in 1988.
3) George Clinton is the name of the fourth vice president of the United States and the funk musician who founded Parliament and Funkadelic.
4) Jason Voorhees is the hockey-mask-wearing villain in the “Friday the 13th” movie franchise.
5) The New York Knicks — short for Knickerbockers — take their name from Diedrich Knickerbocker, the fictional author of Washington Irving’s “History of New York.”
6) In 2005, the Seventh Street Bridge in Pittsburgh was renamed the Andy Warhol Bridge.
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]
