The word “gas” comes from the Greek word “chaos,” meaning disorder. Around 1630, Flemish scientist Jean Baptiste van Helmont first referred to gas in a scientific context to describe a vaporous state of matter that wasn’t solid and wasn’t liquid but existed nonetheless. The first “gas” he described was the smoke produced by burning wood. He called it “gas sylvestre,” meaning wild gas or wood gas. Today we call it carbon dioxide.
Nellie Bly is most famous for her 72-day solo trip around the world in 1889, recreating the journey and beating the pace described in Jules Verne’s novel “Around the World in 80 Days.” But she made a greater contribution to investigative journalism with her 1887 expose “Ten Days in a Mad-House.” Faking mental illness, she had herself committed to a women’s mental hospital “with a view to writing a plain and unvarnished narrative of the treatment of the patients,” as she later said. Her description of the deplorable conditions faced by patients led to significant reforms in mental health care.
Just about every square mile of land on Earth has been claimed by one nation or another, but not Marie Byrd Land. Its 620,000 square miles of Western Antarctica belong to no one and everyone — the largest unclaimed space on Earth. Although some parts of Antarctica have been claimed, in the interest of world peace and scientific progress, the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 decreed that Antarctica would remain a demilitarized space reserved for cooperative scientific research. Today there are more than 50 signatories to the treaty, which also bans dumping nuclear waste in Antarctica.
While Indonesian novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer was incarcerated as a political prisoner from 1965 to 1979, he wasn’t permitted writing implements. So, he composed the novels “This Earth of Mankind,” “Child of All Nations,” “Footsteps” and “House of Glass” in his mind and recited them to his fellow inmates to help him remember the stories. The four books, published after his release from prison, center on Indonesia’s uneasy political history. They’re known as the “Buru Quartet” because they were written while he was imprisoned on Buru Island.
The naturally blue blood of the horseshoe crab (genus Limulus) contains an extremely sensitive bacteria-detection compound. In the 1950s, hematologists Frederick Bang and Jack Levin realized it could be used to test for harmful bacteria in substances that enter the human body for medical treatment. That led to the development of the Limulus amoebocyte lysate test, still widely used to determine whether vaccines, intravenous treatments and implantable medical devices are free of harmful bacteria.
When you give a thumbs-up sign, does the tip of your thumb naturally bend backward? The fancy name for that type of double-jointedness is distal hyperextensibility of the thumb, but most people know it as hitchhiker’s thumb. It’s a recessive trait you inherit from your parents, and the amount of curvature can range from slightly tilted to a full 90-degree bend.
TRIVIA
1. John Sylvester White played high school principal Mr. Woodman on which TV series?
A) “Glee”
B) “Head of the Class”
C) “Saved by the Bell”
D) “Welcome Back, Kotter”
2. The word “hysteria” comes from the ancient Greek for what body part?
A) Arm
B) Brain
C) Mouth
D) Uterus
3. Which of these cities lies closest to Antarctica?
A) Cape Town, South Africa
B) Sydney, Australia
C) Nuuk, Greenland
D) Ushuaia, Argentina
4. Nelson Mandela spent 18 years incarcerated as a political prisoner at what location, now a UNESCO World Heritage site?
A) Alcatraz Island
B) Buru Island
C) Devil’s Island
D) Robben Island
5. Which chemical element contributes to making human blood red?
A) Aluminum
B) Copper
C) Iron
D) Selenium
6. Who wrote the tale “Thumbelina”?
A) Hans Christian Andersen
B) Carlo Collodi
C) Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
D) Beatrix Potter
ANSWERS
1) John Sylvester White played high school principal Mr. Woodman on “Welcome Back, Kotter.”
2) Hysteria comes from the ancient Greek word “hystera,” meaning uterus.
3) Ushuaia, the southernmost city in Argentina, is about 620 miles from the Antarctic Peninsula.
4) Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 prison years on Robben Island.
5) Iron contributes to the red color of human blood.
6) Hans Christian Andersen wrote the tale of “Thumbelina.”
WEEK OF JAN. 9
The image of Benjamin Franklin on the U.S. $100 bill from 1929 to 1996 was based on the so-called “fur-collar portrait” painted by French artist Joseph Duplessis in 1778. In it, Franklin is wearing a red coat with a fur collar. The 1996 redesign of the $100 bill features a different portrait of Franklin based on another painting by Duplessis. That one is known as the “gray coat portrait.” Guess why.
Can you achieve world peace with a bottle of wine? That’s been the symbolic intention of Vino Della Pace — Wine of Peace — since the 1980s. The members of Cantina Produttori Cormons, a wine-growing collective in Italy’s Friuli Venezia Giulia region, had the idea to blend hundreds of varieties of grapes representing every continent into a single wine that would symbolize international harmony. The first production was bottled in 1985 and commemorative bottles sent to heads of state around the world. The tradition has continued ever since.
Johann Sebastian Bach was a prolific composer, writing more than a thousand known works starting when he was a teenager and continuing until his death in 1750 at age 65. They’re all cataloged in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, or the Bach Works Catalog, commonly known as the BWV. Bach was prolific in another way as well: He fathered 20 children in his lifetime — seven with his first wife, Maria Barbara, and 13 with his second wife, Anna Magdalena. Ten of them survived to adulthood, and four became composers.
Virginia opossums are the only marsupials native to North America, but that wasn’t always the case. Paleontologists know that a larger, more aggressive marsupial they call didelphodon vorax lived in North America during the Cretaceous Period, more than 65 million years ago. It had bone-grinding teeth and powerful jaws, and would have put up a good fight against any threat — even a dinosaur!
Rooibos tea (from the Afrikaans for “red bush”) comes from the plant Aspalathus linearis, whose needle-like leaves redden during processing to give the tea its natural amber color. The plant only grows in the Cape Floral Region of southwestern South Africa. Because its plant life is so diverse and unique, the Cape Floral Region is environmentally protected. Nevertheless, more than 1,700 of its indigenous species are considered threatened by climate change, human intervention and invasive plant and animal species.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is an accomplished artist who paints realistic landscapes and abstract artworks, and has designed stage sets and costumes for the ballet. Though she usually signs her work with her own name, the illustrations she did for the 1977 Danish language edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” were published under the name Ingahild Grathmer.
TRIVIA
1. Benjamin Franklin held which of the following federal offices?
A) Postmaster general
B) Secretary of state
C) Secretary of the treasury
D) Surgeon general
2. What type of wood is most commonly used to make wine barrels?
A) Ash
B) Birch
C) Oak
D) Pine
3. J.S. Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” were written to be performed on what musical instrument?
A) Cello
B) Harp
C) Harpsichord
D) Violin
4. In the video game universe, which character battles the evil Dr. Neo Cortex?
A) Conker the Squirrel
B) Crash Bandicoot
C) Donkey Kong
D) Sonic the Hedgehog
5. What do Japanese matcha and Chinese Longjing teas have in common?
A) They’re both green teas.
B) They’re naturally caffeine-free.
C) They’re only served cold.
D) They’re toxic to humans.
6. Which current U.S. territory did the United States purchase from Denmark in 1917?
A) American Samoa
B) Northern Mariana Islands
C) Puerto Rico
D) U.S. Virgin Islands
ANSWERS
1) Benjamin Franklin was the first U.S. postmaster general.
2) Most wine barrels are made from oak.
3) Named for harpsichordist Johann Goldberg, the “Goldberg Variations” were written for the harpsichord.
4) Evil Dr. Neo Cortex is a foe of Crash Bandicoot.
5) Japanese matcha and Chinese Longjing are both green teas.
6) The United States purchased the territory now called the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917.
WEEK OF JAN. 16
Although it originated earlier, the term “goody two-shoes” was popularized by a 1765 children’s book called “The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes.” It was the tale of an orphan girl — real name Margery Meanwell — so poor she had only one shoe but so pure of heart she won the admiration of everyone around her. Published by John Newbery, “The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes” was an instant hit. To this day, no one is certain who wrote it.
Wombats are the only mammals known to produce cube-shaped poop. While this particular attribute might seem like a novelty, it actually provides a benefit to the wombats as they mark their territory. The cubes form piles that are easy to see, even for wombats whose eyesight is known to be poor.
Ida Lewis made her first rescue of imperiled boaters in Rhode Island as a teenager in the 1850s, rowing into Newport Harbor to pick up four stranded young men. She eventually became a lighthouse keeper and single-handedly rescued more than a dozen stranded sailors through her career — the last when she was in her 60s. A U.S. Coast Guard cutter bears her name, and in 2018, she became the first woman to have a drive named for her at Arlington National Cemetery.
Norwegian artist Edvard Munch made four painted versions of “The Scream,” in which a distressed figure is surrounded by a blood-red sky. That sky was probably something the artist actually saw. In August 1883, the Krakatoa volcano erupted in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), spewing dust and volcanic matter into the atmosphere. The volcanic cloud drifted north, and by November 1883, Norway was experiencing eerie blood-red sunsets caused by the ash in the atmosphere.
The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, was founded in 1842, making it the oldest continuously operating public museum in the United States. In 1931, it became the first American museum to stage an exhibition of surrealist art and the first museum anywhere to purchase a painting by Salvador Dali — “La Solitude,” which it acquired for $120.
When animals eat hair and other things they can’t digest, those undigestibles can clump together in the stomach to form a mass known as a bezoar. (This happens often in goats, deer, sheep and llamas — less frequently in humans.) Back in the 16th and 17th centuries, people harvested bezoars as a protection against poisoning. In fact, the word “bezoar” comes from Arabic and Persian words meaning antidote. It all sounds quaint until you learn that scientific tests of bezoars immersed in arsenic show they really do have some ability to neutralize the poison.
TRIVIA
1. “Goody Two-Shoes” was the first solo hit from which lead singer of a 1980s band?
A) Adam Ant
B) Boy George
C) Chrissie Hynde
D) Andy Partridge
2. Anosmia is a medical condition that limits which sense?
A) Hearing
B) Sight
C) Smell
D) Touch
3. Which water bird figures prominently in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”?
A) Albatross
B) Auk
C) Cormorant
D) Seagull
4. “Under a Blood Red Sky” is a 1983 live album from which band?
A) Guns N’ Roses
B) The Police
C) Scorpions
D) U2
5. Stone Library in Massachusetts houses the books and archives of which two American presidents?
A) John Adams and John Quincy Adams
B) George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush
C) Benjamin Harrison and William Henry Harrison
D) Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Baines Johnson
6. What does the Latin phrase “caveat emptor” mean?
A) All is well.
B) Beware of the dog.
C) Buyer beware.
D) Hello, friend.
ANSWERS
1) “Goody Two-Shoes” was a 1982 hit for Adam Ant.
2) Sometimes called “smell blindness,” anosmia is the lack or loss of the sense of smell.
3) The albatross figures prominently in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
4) “Under a Blood Red Sky” was a 1983 live album from U2.
5) Stone Library at Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, Massachusetts, houses the books and archives of John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
6) The Latin phrase “caveat emptor” means “buyer beware.”
WEEK OF JAN. 23
Classic Hollywood films such as “Born Yesterday” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” were shot on location at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., with characters touring the rotunda and other public areas. The legislative chambers were off-limits, however. So, Mr. Smith’s famous filibuster scene was filmed on a meticulously recreated soundstage set.
When you’re posing for a photo, you say, “Cheese!” Unless you happen to be in Demark or Norway, where people say, “Appelsin!” which means orange. In Korean, it’s “Kimchi!” the spicy, fermented vegetable dish that’s a staple of Korean cuisine. In Chinese, it’s often “Qie zi!” which means eggplant. The important thing is the “ee” sound at the end of the word because it makes you grin. That explains why, in French, people say “Ouistiti!” which means marmoset.
In the Eastern Orthodox church, Jan. 25 is Saint Tatiana’s Day, in honor of the ancient Christian martyr. Jan. 25, 1755, also happens to be the date that Russia’s Moscow State University was founded. That led to Saint Tatiana being named the patron saint of students. Now Saint Tatiana’s Day is known as Students’ Day in Russia. Since the date is traditionally the last day of the university academic semester, there’s plenty of reason for celebration.
The trademarked bucking horse and rider image on the Wyoming license plate is probably based on a rodeo horse called Steamboat from back in the early 1900s. (The rider’s identity is undetermined.) The first bucking horse and rider license plates were issued in 1936, but the insignia is older than that. Wyoming National Guard troops in World War I wore it on their uniforms, as did Wyoming units in Korea and Vietnam, and it’s been a symbol of University of Wyoming athletic teams since 1921.
The first state-supported public university in the United States was the University of Georgia, chartered on Jan. 27, 1785. However, it took another 16 years for the school to establish facilities and open to students. In the interim, another state beat Georgia to the opening punch: The University of North Carolina was chartered in 1789 and opened in 1795, making it the oldest continuously operating state-supported university in the United States.
The idea of putting an inanimate object on trial for murder might seem absurd, but apparently, that’s not what the people of Hawarden, Wales, believed in the 10th century. During a severe drought, a noblewoman called Lady Trawst went to church to pray for relief. Above her head was a statue of the Virgin Mary, which somehow fell on the lady at prayer, killing her. The locals put the statue on trial for murder, found it guilty, “drowned” it in a river and then buried it.
TRIVIA
1. Which of these buildings resembles an Egyptian obelisk?
A) Lincoln Memorial
B) National Museum of African American History and Culture
C) U.S. Capitol
D) Washington Monument
2. By metric tons, which country is the world’s biggest producer of oranges?
A) Brazil
B) China
C) Turkey
D) United States
3. Tatiana Maslany won an Emmy in 2016 for her starring role in which dramatic series?
A) “The Americans”
B) “How to Get Away With Murder”
C) “Orphan Black”
D) “Scandal”
4. Which dinosaur gets its name from the unusual protuberances on its face?
A) Allosaurus
B) Caudipteryx
C) Diplodocus
D) Triceratops
5. The Peabody Awards, presented annually by the University of Georgia since 1940, honor excellence in what field?
A) Agricultural research
B) Broadcast media
C) Children’s literature
D) Civil engineering
6. In the National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol, California is represented by statues of Father Junipero Serra and whom?
A) Cesar Chavez
B) Walt Disney
C) John Muir
D) Ronald Reagan
ANSWERS
1) The Washington Monument resembles an Egyptian obelisk.
2) Brazil leads the world in orange production.
3) Tatiana Maslany won a 2016 Emmy for her multiple roles in “Orphan Black.”
4) Triceratops comes from the Greek for “three-horned face.”
5) The Peabody Awards honor excellence in broadcast media.
6) A statue of Ronald Reagan was donated to the National Statuary Hall by the state of California in 2009.
WEEK OF JAN. 30
Captain James Cook delivered the first sheep to New Zealand in 1773, and they just kept coming. Thousands of sheep were imported to New Zealand in the 1800s. Add that total to the natural population growth from adult sheep making baby sheep and it wasn’t long before sheep outnumbered people in New Zealand. The country’s sheep-to-human ratio hit an all-time high in 1982 with 22 sheep for every person. As of the most recent count, New Zealand’s sheep population outnumbers its human population by slightly less than 6 to 1.
It snows a lot in Quebec, and back in the 1930s, roads weren’t always plowed. So, Canadian mechanical engineer Joseph-Armand Bombardier devised a vehicle with caterpillar tracks for use on snowy terrain. He called it the B7 — B for Bombardier and 7 for the number of passengers it could carry — and in 1937, he patented his design. By 1939, Bombardier’s “snowmobiles” were being used for ambulance service and rural mail delivery, and in 1942, the company started making snowmobiles for military use.
On Feb. 1, 1946, Norwegian diplomat Trygve Lie was elected the first secretary-general of the United Nations. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of his tenure was establishing the site for the United Nations headquarters in New York City. He laid the cornerstone of the building’s foundation in 1949, and there’s a plaza dedicated to him located directly opposite the U.N. building today.
James Joyce’s “Ulysses” was officially published in its entirety on Feb. 2, 1922, Joyce’s 40th birthday. Sylvia Beach, owner of the Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris, had a mere 1,000 copies printed for the book’s first edition. A second edition followed later that year. By that time, “Ulysses” had already been banned in the United States on charges that it was pornographic. U.S. courts didn’t agree to lift the ban until Dec. 6, 1933. The first American printing of “Ulysses” was released Jan. 25, 1934.
The Eminence Symphony Orchestra specializes in live performances of works by Hitoshi Sakimoto, Yasunori Mitsuda, Yoko Shimomura, Harry Gregson-Williams and other renowned composers of music for video games and Japanese anime. Hearing orchestral performances of works from “Final Fantasy XII,” “Chrono Trigger,” “Kingdom Hearts” and “Metal Gear Solid 2” captivates audiences, sometimes even more powerfully than the games themselves.
The archive of the Institute of American Deltiology is part of the special collections at the University of Maryland libraries. It contains more than 1 million picture postcards as well as reference materials related to postcard collecting. Deltiology, which comes from the Greek for “little writing tablet,” is the collection and study of postcards.
TRIVIA
1. Which sea separates Australia and New Zealand?
A) Andaman Sea
B) Coral Sea
C) Scotia Sea
D) Tasman Sea
2. What fictional town is home to the cartoon characters Rocky and Bullwinkle?
A) Chilly Cheeks, Saskatchewan
B) Frostbite Falls, Minnesota
C) Shivers, Alaska
D) Snowball Gardens, North Dakota
3. Architect Oscar Niemeyer designed the U.N. building in New York and government buildings in which world capital?
A) Abuja, Nigeria
B) Brasilia, Brazil
C) Canberra, Australia
D) Gaborone, Botswana
4. In Greek mythology, Daedalus devised what complex puzzle?
A) Gordian knot
B) Labyrinth
C) Riddle of the Sphinx
D) Sword of Damocles
5. Which contemporary composer is most closely associated with the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra?
A) John Adams
B) John Cage
C) Philip Glass
D) John Williams
6. The Grateful Dead album “Postcards of the Hanging” contains 11 covers of whose songs?
A) The Beatles
B) Bob Dylan
C) Woody Guthrie
D) Billie Holiday
ANSWERS
1) The Tasman Sea separates Australia and New Zealand.
2) Rocky and Bullwinkle live in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota.
3) Oscar Niemeyer designed government buildings in the planned capital city, Brasilia, Brazil.
4) Daedalus devised the labyrinth used to imprison the dangerous Minotaur.
5) John Williams, who composed the music for “Star Wars,” has conducted the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra.
6) The Grateful Dead album “Postcards of the Hanging” contains 11 covers of Bob Dylan songs.
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]
