Things That Fall - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) 7. The four-square-unit shapes are known by the capital letters they resemble -- I, J, L, O, S, T, and Z -- with the J and L blocks and the S and Z blocks being mirror images of each other.
• A2) Apple. Although stories that claim that the fruit actually landed on Newton's head are apocryphal, his assistant John Conduitt verified that the scientist was inspired by an apple falling in his own garden.
• A3) Venezuela. Angel Falls (Salto Angel) in Canaima National Park contains one drop of 2,647 feet and a total drop of 3,230 feet.
• A4) Rain. Quick atmospheric pressure rises are likely to bring good weather.
• A5) Bear market. A shorter-lasting decline is simply a correction, while a long bear market can be a recession or depression.
• A6) Hourglasses. Each house employs two four-minute sand timers and one two-minute timer.
• A7) Shel Silverstein. The children's book, containing 144 poems, won the 1996 Booklist Editors' Award.
• A8) Disneyland. The Matterhorn Bobsleds, built on a 1/100th scale replica of the Swiss mountain, was one of the three original rides in Tomorrowland in Anaheim, California.
• A9) Meteorite. The 60-ton mass of iron and nickel is the largest known meteorite. Although the nearly nine-foot-diameter disc fell about 80,000 years ago, it wasn't discovered until 1920, when a Namibian farmer struck it with his plow.
• A10) Netherlands. Domino-toppling records were set every year from 1998 to 2006. The 2007 attempt fell a few hundred thousand tiles short of the 4,079,381 knocked down the previous year.
• A11) 120. Each of the first nine frames require a single strike, while the tenth frame needs three strikes.
• A12) Terminal Velocity. Sheen's character is a skydiver who loses a first-time jumper when she falls out of the airplane. Brodie later saves a former K.G.B. agent played by Natassja Kinski.