Tag: history

Trivia quiz: American History May

19-May-09 / James Callan

Round 1 at the Old Pequliar on May 2, 2009

Stuff that happened in May in American history.

1) On May 1, 1992, who appeared on TV and asked “Can we stop … making it horrible for the older people and the kids”?

2) What annual sporting event was nationally televised for the first time on May 3, 1952?

3) The 1886 rally at Chicago’s Haymarket Square that turned into a riot was one incident in labor unions’ long struggle to achieve what goal?

4) The headline on the May 8, 1915, New York Times said what vessel was “twice torpedoed off Irish coast”?

5) What building was the tallest in the world from late May 1930 to early May 1931?

6) In May 1932, who entered the US Penitentiary in Atlanta to serve an 11-year sentence for tax evasion?

7) In May 1953, Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for what novel, the last published in his lifetime?

8) On May 11, 1996, everyone aboard flight 592 of what low-cost airline was killed when it crashed into the Everglades?

9) The White Night riots broke out in 1979 when what killer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter?

10) What popular combination of ditali, ditalini, tubetti, and tubetini made its debut on May 16, 1965?

ANSWERS:

Quiz: The Pike Place Market

29-October-08 / James Callan

Round 2 at Post on October 20, 2008

The second round of the Seattle Prop. 1 fundraiser went hyperlocal — a Market round for the Support Our Market initiative.

Turns out the two teams comprising people who workat the Market almost tied for victory — saved by the tiebreaker! (Which they were also quite close on.)

No questions were adapted from any used before. Non-hyperlocals beware.

1) In 1971, the Market became Seattle’s second designated historic district. What was the first?
2) In 1985, what park was renamed Victor Steinbrueck Park?
3) In 1971, coffee beans sold at the original Starbucks originally came from what future competitor?
4) The finale of last year’s Centennial Days concert featured a supergroup of local musicians, including Mike McCready, playing what song famously re-interpreted by Jimi Hendrix?
5) Spike Lee filmed a commercial at the Pike Place Fish Market promoting what brand?
6) What retail company, founded at the Market by Shirley Collins in 1972, operates over locations throughout the nation?
7) In Sleepless in Seattle, Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner discuss tiramisu while sitting in what restaurant?
8) In 1950, Harlan Edwards suggested tearing down the Market and replacing it with what?
9) The idea for a public farmers market was proposed in 1907 because middlemen had driven the cost of what produce item from 10 cents to 1 dollar per pound?
10) At the Old Seattle Paperworks, it costs just a few quarters to get a peep at what collection?

Tiebreaker: In 1971, how many votes were cast in favor of Initiative No. 1, establishing the market as a historic district?

Quiz: Five-by-Five Time Travel

4-April-07 / James Callan

1) On March 21, 2002, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was charged with the kidnapping and murder of who?
2) On March 22, 1997, what 14-year-old became the youngest women’s world figure skating champion?
3) On March 18, 2002, who announced on Larry King Live that he would run for president as an independent?
4) On March 19, 1987, “cancer and a scab on the face of Christianity” Jim Bakker resigned from what religious group?
5) What country occupied South Georgia island on March 19, 1982?
6) A&M Records signed what band on March 10, 1977, but dropped their contract six days later after a band member vomited on a bigwig’s desk?
7) In 1972, the short British novels If Only They Could Talk and It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet were published in the US as one book. What was it called?
8) Alice B. Toklas died on March 7, 1967. Who wrote her 1933 autobiography?
9) What country artist, sometimes known as Chris Gaines, was born on February 7, 1962?
10) The European Economic Community was founded on March 25, 1957, with the signing of the Treaty of what city?

Quiz: Elizabethtown

1-March-07 / James Callan

Every question or answer features a name short for, derived from, or a variation on Elizabeth.

1) Elizabeth I of England was the last monarch in which dynasty?
2) Who played Lizzie McGuire on the 2001-2004 Disney Channel series?
3) In the book Little Women, what illness does Beth die from?
4) Nina Simone had her only top 40 US hit with a song from what George Gershwin opera?
5) Dave Stevens, who created the graphic novel The Rocketeer, modeled the hero’s girlfriend after what 1950s pin-up queen?
6) What computer program, written in 1966, is a chatterbot that mimics the behavior of a Rogerian psychotherapist?
7) What company’s stock ticker symbol is LIZ?
8) Which Apple computer was supposedly named after Steve Jobs’ daughter?
9) Isabel Archer is the main character in what Henry James novel?
10) What role do Giselle Loren, Kristy Swanson, and Sarah Michelle Gellar have in common?

Average score, among 13 teams: 7.00.