U.S. National Parks - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) Yellowstone. The 3,470-square mile park covers parts of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is almost evenly split between Tennessee and North Carolina, while Death Valley is mostly in California but also covers a part of Nevada.
• A2) Acadia. Located by the southeast coast of Maine, this is the only park close to us. It rained the only time we visited, so a return trip is in order.
• A3) Utah (5). Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion cut a diagonal line across the southeastern corner of the southwestern state. Colorado is next with four, while Arizona, Florida, and Washington each have three.
• A4) Sequoia and Kings Canyon. The two California national parks are adjacent in the Sierra Nevada.
• A5) Kansas. The 15th-largest state at 82,277 square miles, edges out Nebraska at 77,354 square miles. All totaled, 27 states have national parks and 23 do not.
• A6) Hot Springs. The Arkansas park measures only 9 square miles, less than a third as big as South Carolina's Congaree, the second smallest.
• A7) Death Valley. Covering 5,219 square miles in California and Nevada, the desert region includes the lowest elevation in the U.S. at Badwater, 282 feet below sea level. Five Alaska national parks are larger, and Glacier Bay is just slightly smaller.
• A8) Great Sand Dunes. The Colorado attraction was granted its national status on September 13, 2004. The dunes, which can reach 750 feet high, are held together like most sand castles, with a lot of water.
• A9) Hawaii Volcanoes. The volcanoes form over 4.6% of the island state. Hawaii also has Haleakala National Park, making it not only the smallest state with a national park but the smallest with two.
• A10) Alaska. Although Alaska is the largest state by far, it also has the largest national parks, which total over 9.6% of its area (bigger than West Virginia, the 41st largest state). California is a distant second at under 6%, while Hawaii is third at just over 5%.
• A11) Denali. Denali is another name for Mt. McKinley, which is the highest point in the U.S. at 20,320 feet.
• A12) 6. Texas's Big Bend National Park straddles the Rio Grande across from the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila. Montana's Glacier National Park touches both Alberta and British Columbia. Both Michigan's Isle Royale National Park and Minnesota's Voyageurs National Park connect to Ontario. Washington's North Cascades National Park borders British Columbia. And Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park adjoins the Yukon Territory.

U.S. National Parks - Random Trivia Questions

The United States has 56 national parks, but only nine are east of the Mississippi River, so it's only a little sad that I've visited just three of them. Hopefully, once the kids get older, we can start working on the list and explore some of the most amazing places in our country.

U.S. National Parks Questions

• Q1) What national park is spread across the most states?
• Q2) What is the only national park in New England?
• Q3) After Alaska and Hawaii, with eight each, what state has the third most national parks?
• Q4) What two national parks are closest to each other?
• Q5) What is the largest (area) U.S. state that does not have a national park?
• Q6) What is the smallest national park?
• Q7) What is the largest national park outside of Alaska?
• Q8) What is the newest national park?
• Q9) What national park takes up the largest percentage of its state's area?
• Q10) What state's national parks make up the highest percentage of its area?
• Q11) What national park reaches the highest elevation?
• Q12) How many national parks border a foreign country?

[P.S. - I wrote this quiz not knowing that Ken Burns's The National Parks: America's Best Idea six-episode series runs on PBS from Sunday through Friday (two hours per day; check your local listings). How's that for timing?]

Finicky Feline -- Quiz Quilt 141 Solution

Category Answers:

Entertainment & Food	HAMILTON	Thrice-divorced bipolar disorder sufferer Linda Hamilton played Catherine Chandler from 1987 to 1989, Amy Franklin in 1986, and Sarah Connor in 1984.
History & Government	MAO	Mao Zedong's new government took over on October 1, 1949 following a Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War.
Sports & Games	MARCIANO	Brockton, Massachusetts native Rocky Marciano won all 49 of his bouts, 43 by knockout.
Literature & Arts	BURROUGHS	Edgar Rice Burroughs's story takes place on and near the lost South Pacific island of Caspak, where dinosaurs still roam.
Geography & Nature	ASIA	It covers about 17 million square miles, roughly 30% of all the land on the Earth.
Math & Science	LISA	The 1983 home computer cost $9,995, had 1 megabyte of RAM and a 5-megabyte hard drive, ran at 5 megahertz, and featured a mouse and a graphical user interface.

Quiz Quilt Answer: MORRIS (Third letters)

The tabby Morris the Cat has eaten only 9-Lives cat food in the company's commercials since 1968.

Finicky Feline -- Quiz Quilt 141 Puzzle

Category Questions:

Entertainment & Food	What actress played beauty to the Beast, King Kong, and the Terminator?
History & Government	Who founded the People's Republic of China?
Sports & Games	What boxer won the heavyweight crown by knocking out Jersey Joe Walcott and retired from his professional career undefeated?
Literature & Arts	What author's 1918 novel The Land That Time Forgot was turned into a movie in 1975?
Geography & Nature	Which continent contains the most land?
Math & Science	What Apple computer model immediately preceded the Macintosh and was used to develop most of its software?

Funny Pages Families - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) Newman. Adam tries to work from home while his wife Laura works at a bookstore, and their children Clayton, Katy, and Nick do their best to make sure he doesn't get anything done.
• A2) Day. Jimmy Johnson hadn't given the strip a name yet when his syndicate suggested "Day by Day". He kept the last name even after the title was changed to avoid a conflict with a newspaper column.
• A3) MacPherson. Mom Wanda goes by the hyphenated last name Wizowski-MacPherson, but dad Darryl and the kids Zoe, Hamish, and Wren are all MacPhersons.
• A4) Wilkins. Curtis and his younger brother Barry are the focus of the comic strip, but their parents Greg and Diane also play major roles.
• A5) Patterson. Lynn Johnston is now retelling the story of Elly, John, Michael, Elizabeth, and April Pattersons' lives, having completed one life-cycle from 1979 to 2008.
• A6) Lamarr. Heart lives with her single mom Addy and spends most of her free time playing with her friend Dean.
• A7) Flagston. Hiram and Lois have lived in suburbia with their oldest son Chip, twins Dot and Ditto, and baby Trixie since 1954.
• A8) Yokum. 19-year-old Li'l Abner married his long-time fiancee Daisy Mae Scragg almost midway through the strip's 43-year run.
• A9) Burber. Brooke McEldowney has followed Juliette Burber, her daughter Edda, and her mother Gran (Edna O'Malley) since 1993.
• A10) Kaplan. Mom Jill is the star, but husband Rob and daughters Amy and Jess also share the frames in Ohio.
• A11) Gumbo. Mom Rose, dad Jimbo, and son Pasquale share their home with their pet cat Peekaboo.
• A12) Duncan. Teenager Jeremy is the star of the show, but his mom Connie and dad Walt also play large roles when he isn't hanging out with his friends.

Funny Pages Families - Random Trivia Questions

Even my younger son is now old enough to read the newspaper, and he's starting where most of us did, the funny pages. As my whole family competes to grab the comics, can you furnish the last names of the foremost families featured in the following funnies?

Funny Pages Families Questions

• Q1) Adam@home
• Q2) Arlo and Janis
• Q3) Baby Blues
• Q4) Curtis
• Q5) For Better or For Worse
• Q6) Heart of the City
• Q7) Hi and Lois
• Q8) Li'l Abner
• Q9) 9 Chickweed Lane
• Q10) The Pajama Diaries
• Q11) Rose Is Rose
• Q12) Zits

Venn Pen -- Quiz Quilt 140 Solution

Category Answers:

Math & Science	TESLA	Nikola Tesla was a Croatian-born American physicist.
History & Government	JEROBOAM	Solomon's successor led the nation for 22 years during the 10th century B.C.
Sports & Games	BOSSY	Right winger Mike Bossy reached the mark a record nine straight years, from 1977-78 to 1985-86.
Literature & Arts	HEPBURN	Katharine Hepburn's book The Making of the African Queen was published four years earlier.
Geography & Nature	CHIHUAHUA	Adults weigh between two and ten pounds. Ren and Stimpy's Ren, Taco Bell's dog mascot, and Paris Hilton's Tinkerbell are all chihuahuas.
Entertainment & Food	SIRENS	Supermodel Elle Macpherson portrayed one of the artist's three models.

Quiz Quilt Answer: SUBSET (Diagonally from the bottom to the top left)

A Venn diagram illustrates sets of objects with their unions, intersections, and subsets.

Venn Pen -- Quiz Quilt 140 Puzzle

Category Questions:

Math & Science	What is the unit of magnetic flux density equal to one weber per square meter?
History & Government	Who was the king of Israel and son of Nebat whose name now means a large container holding about four-fifths of a gallon of wine?
Sports & Games	Who was the only NHL player besides Wayne Gretzky to score 50 goals in a season eight straight times?
Literature & Arts	What actress's Me: Stories of My Life was the best selling nonfiction book of 1991?
Geography & Nature	What dog breed has the smallest dogs on average?
Entertainment & Food	What 1994 Hugh Grant movie was about an English clergyman, his wife, and an artist with a house of nudes in 1930s Australia?

U.S. Constitution - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) The Articles of Confederation. The Second Continental Congress created the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union on November 15, 1777, but unanimous consent was needed, and Maryland held out until New York and Virginia agreed to give up their stakes in the Ohio River valley.
• A2) Rhode Island. The state was happy with the weaker powers of the Articles of Confederation and did not want to create a stronger central government.
• A3) 2. George Washington and James Madison both represented Virginia. Thomas Jefferson was then the Minister to France, while John Adams was the Minister to Great Britain.
• A4) James Madison. His diaries give a detailed account of the proceedings that led to the final Constitution.
• A5) Alexander Hamilton. The future Secretary of the Treasury suggested a strong government not unlike the one the colonies had just broken away from, which was enough to doom its chances of acceptance.
• A6) William Paterson. Paterson's New Jersey Plan, favoring the less populous states, was eventually merged with Madison's Virginia Plan, favoring the more populous states. Roger Sherman's Connecticut Compromise created a Senate with equal representation and a House of Representatives with proportional representation.
• A7) The Three-Fifths Compromise. The southern states, whose population was forty percent slaves, wanted each slave to count fully toward their proportional representation but not toward their taxation. Wilson proposed that each slave count as three-fifths of a person for both purposes, and the compromise was agreed to.
• A8) 39. Although 55 people attended the Philadelphia Convention, some either disagreed with the final form or refused to sign without a Bill of Rights appended.
• A9) Rhode Island. By a slim majority of 34 to 32, the Ocean State agreed to the document on May 29, 1790, only after the Bill of Rights had been introduced (the state ratified the latter a mere nine days later). The state did not want the U.S. government to control currency and wanted slavery to be abolished.
• A10) 27. Before the Constitution was even finished, the framers knew that the Bill of Rights would be added. Congress proposed those first ten amendments on September 25, 1789, and they were ratified on December 15, 1791. The most recent amendment, the 27th, was ratified on May 5, 1992, when Alabama became the 38th state to approve it.
• A11) 20th century. The last twelve amendments were ratified between February 3, 1913 and May 7, 1992, while only one other amendment besides the Bill of Rights was ratified in the 18th century. The remaining four amendments were ratified in the 19th century.
• A12) The Enterprise. Following a successful write-in campaign, the test shuttle was dedicated in honor of the Star Trek starship on Constitution Day in 1976.

U.S. Constitution - Random Trivia Questions

September 17, this Thursday, is celebrated as Constitution Day in the U.S., with this year marking the 322nd anniversary of the completion of the document that created the current government as we know it. The day has officially been called Constitution Day and Citizenship Day since 2004 but is not an off-day for government workers despite floating to the nearest Friday or Monday when it falls on a weekend.

U.S. Constitution Questions

• Q1) What document served as the charter for the United States of America for over seven years after its ratification on March 1, 1781?
• Q2) What state did not send a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention that created the Constitution?
• Q3) How many future U.S. Presidents attended the Philadelphia Convention?
• Q4) Who is known as the Father of the Constitution?
• Q5) Who proposed the British Plan?
• Q6) Who proposed the New Jersey Plan?
• Q7) What compromise did James Wilson suggest regarding slaves?
• Q8) How many people signed the Constitution (within ten)?
• Q9) What was the last of the original thirteen colonies to ratify the Constitution?
• Q10) How many amendments have been made to the Constitution?
• Q11) In what century were the most amendments ratified?
• Q12) What space shuttle was originally going to named the Constitution?

Standup Song -- Quiz Quilt 139 Solution

Category Answers:

Sports & Games	RODMAN	Despite his increasingly strange behavior at times, forward Dennis Rodman was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year for both 1989-90 and 1990-91.
Geography & Nature	QUEEN	The male counterpart is a stud.
Entertainment & Food	KOCH	New York University Law School graduate Ed Koch had been one of the state's U.S. Congressmen from 1969 to 1977.
Literature & Arts	MARTIN	Etiquette authority Judith Martin, born as Judith Sylvia Perlman in 1938, began writing "Miss Manners" for her hometown Washington Post in 1978.
Math & Science	CERN	The acronym originally stood for Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire in 1954 but was changed to Centre Europeen de Recherche Nucleaire after the council was dissolved.
History & Government	MAYA	They understood the concept of zero, employed a base 20 number system, and used a calendar that was more accurate than either the Julian or Gregorian calendar.

Quiz Quilt Answer: ANTHEM (Fourth letters going up)

It is customary to stand, face the flag, and put your hand over your heart when the "Star-Spangled Banner", the U.S. national anthem, is played.

Standup Song -- Quiz Quilt 139 Puzzle

Category Questions:

Sports & Games	What NBA player was known as the Worm?
Geography & Nature	What term refers to a female cat used for breeding purposes?
Entertainment & Food	Who was the mayor of New York City from 1977 to 1989 who presided over The People's Court from 1997 to 1999?
Literature & Arts	What is the real name of advice columnist Miss Manners?
Math & Science	By what acronym is the European Laboratory for Particle Physics best known?
History & Government	What ancient, Central American tribes were known for their hieroglyphic writing, advanced mathematics, and accurate calendar?

Number Nine - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) World Series of Poker (Main Event). Last year, the annual No Limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament began delaying its final table by four months to allow publicity to build for the event and its last nine contenders.
• A2) Tennis. The concept was introduced under the awkward title, "Championship Series, Single Week" in 1990, became the Tennis Masters Series in 2000, and has been called the ATP Masters Series since 2004.
• A3) Turnberry. The course on the Firth of Clyde features Turnberry Lighthouse, which was built over the ruins of Turnberry Castle, where Robert the Bruce, the Scottish King from 1306 to 1329, was born.
• A4) 17. 35,396 different puzzles are known that start with only 17 squares filled in. A minimum of 18 are needed for a symmetrical puzzle.
• A5) 501. The total can be achieved with three identical sets of three darts: a triple 20, a triple 19 (these first two darts can be swapped), and a bullseye (worth 50; the very last dart must be a double-score or a bullseye).
• A6) 3. The 1-5, 2-8, and 3-9 are the double woods that make it hard to see how many pins you have standing.
• A7) North America. Australia and South America each consist of four territories, Africa six, Europe seven, and Asia twelve.
• A8) 55. A Double 6 set has 28, a Double 12 set has 91, and so on, easily calculated using the formula for triangular numbers, (n*(n+1))/2, where n is one higher than the number of the set because of the blanks (e.g., Double 6 -> (7*8)/2 = 28).
• A9) NHL. Glenn Anderson, Andy Bathgate, Johnny Bucyk, Clark Gillies, Adam Graves, Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull (two teams), Lanny McDonald, and Maurice Richard all wore #9. Six Major League Baseball players and two NBA players have had their number 9 retired, but no NFL team has ever retired the number (Drew Brees could eventually be the first if last year wasn't an anomaly).
• A10) Yellow. It matches the 1-ball, as the solid and striped balls that are eight apart share the same color.
• A11) 9 of Diamonds. Among other stories, Sir John Dalrymple supposedly authorized the Glencoe Massacre on February 13, 1692 using the nine of diamonds playing card. His family's coat of arms bears sports nine diamonds, almost in the same pattern as on the card.
• A12) Lefty Grove. By turning the trick on August 23 and September 27, 1928, the Philadelphia Athletics hurler became the first pitcher to ever accomplish the feat twice in an entire career. Only Sandy Koufax, in 1962 and 1964, and Nolan Ryan, in 1968 and 1972 have since tied the latter record.

Number Nine - Random Trivia Questions

Since Wednesday will be 9/9/09, this week's random quiz is all about the number 9 in the Sports and Games category.

Number Nine Questions

• Q1) What international event features the November Nine?
• Q2) What sport's second-most important events were known as the Mercedes-Benz Super 9 from 1996 to 1999?
• Q3) What golf course's 9th hole is known as Bruce's Castle?
• Q4) What is the fewest number of prefilled digits needed for a 9-by-9 Sudoku puzzle to have a unique answer?
• Q5) What version of darts allows for a variety of different perfect games known as nine dart finishes?
• Q6) In ten-pin bowling, what pin stands directly in front of the 9-pin?
• Q7) In the board game Risk, what continent contains exactly nine territories?
• Q8) How many tiles are in a complete Double 9 domino set?
• Q9) In which major North American sport (MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL) has the uniform number 9 been retired for exactly nine players?
• Q10) What color is the stripe on the 9-ball in pool?
• Q11) Which playing card is known as the Curse of Scotland?
• Q12) Who is the only Major League Baseball pitcher to strike out the side on nine pitches twice in a single season?

Humble, Radiant, & Terrific -- Quiz Quilt 138 Solution

Category Answers:

Literature & Arts	HEMINGWAY	Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel was critically acclaimed immediately in New York, however.
Sports & Games	DIMAGGIO	Center fielder Joe DiMaggio was married to Arnold, after meeting on a set, from 1939 to 1944 and to Monroe, after a tabloid romance, from 1954 to 1955.
Entertainment & Food	GODZILLA	The name means "king of the monsters".
Geography & Nature	CHERNOBYL	The power plant began having serious problems on April 25, 1986 and exploded the next day.
History & Government	LONGITUDE	In 1715, John Harrison qualified for a reward of 20,000 pounds for developing a clock that could determine longitude to within half a degree (thirty nautical miles).
Math & Science	AVOGADRO	Count Amedeo Avogadro's number is about 6.02 times 10^23.

Quiz Quilt Answer: WILBUR (Seventh letters)

In the book "Charlotte's Web", the spider stitched each of these messages, along with "Some Pig", into her web to save Wilbur from becoming breakfast.

Humble, Radiant, & Terrific -- Quiz Quilt 138 Puzzle

Category Questions:

Literature & Arts	What author's The Sun Also Rises did not sell well initially?
Sports & Games	What baseball player was married to actress Dorothy Arnold during his playing days and to actress Marilyn Monroe after?
Entertainment & Food	What 1954 movie is known in Japan as Gojira?
Geography & Nature	In what city in northern Ukraine did the worst nuclear reactor accident in history occur?
History & Government	Specifically, what was Harrison's chronometer used to measure in the 1700s?
Math & Science	For what Italian chemist and physicist is the number of molecules in a mole named?