When I got to Professor Thom's early Tuesday night, I discovered that the Celtics were playing the Heat on TNT at 8 PM, and I knew that could be the cause of potential trouble on a Trivia Night.
Fortunately, the rain and the fact the game was broadcast locally on cable kept the Celtics fans to a lower number, and we were able to get Trivia Night going, at halftime around 9:30 PM.
The scores for the first three rounds were rather low, and I feared I might have made this week's Trivia a bit too hard. But the scores rebounded nicely in the General Knowledge round.
The team of Old Lang Sign! did well all night, and had the highest score in the IQ Trivia round, and wound up winning with 41 points and by seven points. Another nice job by my favorite group of teachers!
Second place went to Sandusky: Great Babysitter or Greatest Babysitter? who had 34 points (and also won Best Team Name), and third place was a tie between Chocolate Breast Milk and Adrian Peterson Didn't Tear His ACL, It Just Went Ghost Protocol, both with 33 points.
An important message about next week: Because of Michigan's bowl game next week, tons of Wolverine fans will be in Thom's, so we have to move Trivia Night next week to Monday, January 2nd, at 9 PM. We will return to Tuesdays on January 10th at 9 PM.
Current Events
1. Travel and Leisure magazine named what New York place "the best new landmark in America" for 2011?
2. The Associated Press selected what NFL player as their "Male Athlete of the Year" for 2011?
3. What rock band announced last week they will have a tour and new album in 2012 with their original lead singer, who left the group over a quarter-century ago?
4. The Green Bay Packers were recently picked in a recent poll by Public Policy Polling as "America's Favorite NFL Team." What NFL team was selected as the least favorite team?
5. Former President George H.W. Bush unofficially endorsed which of the Republican presidential candidates last week?
6. Jordan Romero, 15, last weekend became the youngest person to climb the highest mountains on all 7 continents when he climbed Mount Vinson on what continent?
7. What new movie release topped the Christmas weekend box office with over $26 million to become the number one film in America?
2011 Trivia
1. What deceased rock legend, a three-time Grammy winner, received a Grammy nomination for a box set released in 2011?
2. What European country banned the words "Facebook" and "Twitter" from being spoken on TV and radio unless they are part of a news story?
3. The world's largest bridge over water, nearly 26 miles long, opened last June in what Asian country?
4. Apple opened their largest store last month at what famous New York City location?
5. What rock band concluded their latest world tour in Canada last July, grossing over $736 million, the highest grossing tour of all-time?
6. According to Forbes magazine, there are now 3 countries in the world that have more than 100 billionaires. The US and China are two. Which one is the third?
7. According to the Wall Street Journal, which company passed McDonald's in 2011 as the world's largest restaurant chain?
Name The Month Trivia ("The Q Train")
1. Seal Team Six kills Bin Laden in Pakistan.
2. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns.
3. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies.
4. The Occupy Wall Street movement begins in Lower Manhattan.
5. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is shot and seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in Arizona.
6. Christian Lopez returns Derek Jeter's 3000th hit ball, a home run, to him.
7. Japan is struck by a powerful earthquake and tsunami off the Tohoku coast, killing nearly 20,000.
8. Bruce Springsteen's sax player, Clarence Clemons, dies after suffering a stroke, at the age of 69.
9. American Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
10. The sexual assault case against former IMF head Dominique Strauss Kahn is officially dismissed.
General Knowledge
1. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" comes from what 1979 film? ( 1 pt)
2. Who was the first US president born in the 20th century? ( 1 pt)
3. As of 2011, what is the world's largest online marketplace? ( 1 pt)
4. What country does the legend of William Tell come from? ( 2 pt)
5. Stars die when they run out of what element? ( 2 pt)
6. What future US president watched Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession in 1865 from the second-floor window of his home in Manhattan? ( 2 pt)
7. Currently what is the color of British passports? ( 3 pt)
IQ Trivia
1. What 19th century novel was the first American novel to sell one million copies? ( 4 points)
2. Clinophobia is the fear of doing what, something a person normally does every day? ( 5 points)
3. What Oscar-winning director is the godfather of actress Drew Barrymore? ( 4 points)
4. The Transamerica Pyramid is located in what city? ( 3 points)
5. Mount Godwin-Austen or "K2" as it sometimes called, is the world's second-largest mountain and located principally in what Asian nation? ( 4 points)
Answers
Current Events
1. 9/11 Memorial; 2. Aaron Rodgers; 3. Van Halen; 4. Dallas Cowboys; 5. Mitt Romney; 6. Antarctica; 7. Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol.
2011 Trivia
1. Elvis Presley; 2. France; 3. China; 4. Grand Central Station; 5. U2; 6. Russia; 7. Subway.
Name The Month Trivia ("The Q Train")
1. May; 2. February; 3. October; 4. September; 5. January; 6. July; 7. March; 8. June; 9. November; 10. August.
General Knowledge
1. "Apocalypse Now;" 2. John F. Kennedy; 3. eBay; 4. Switzerland; 5. hydrogen; 6. Theodore Roosevelt; 7. red (burgundy).
IQ Trivia
1. "Uncle Tom's Cabin;" 2. Going to bed; 3. Steven Spielberg; 4. San Francisco; 5. Pakistan.