Stock Stumpers - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) Franklin Resources Inc.. Better known as Franklin Templeton Investments, the publicly owned investment firm was named in part for Ben Franklin, an idol of founder Rupert Johnson, Sr.
• A2) Sotheby's. The London-based auction house got the symbol before Christie's (private) or eBay (EBAY) could.
• A3) Avis Budget Group, Inc.. The operator of both the Avis and Budget car and truck rental agencies is still trying harder than Hertz (HTZ).
• A4) EchoStar Corporation. The owner of the Dish Network also owns Sling Media, producers of the Slingbox.
• A5) Genentech. The biotechnology corporation started with the symbol GENE in 1980 and shortened it to GNE in 1988 before getting fancy in 1999.
• A6) Brinker International, Inc.. The parent company of Chili's, On the Border Mexican Grill and Cantina, Maggiano's Little Italy, and Romano's Macaroni Grill went public in 1989, fourteen years after the first Chili's Grill & Bar opened in Dallas, Texas.
• A7) Gap Inc.. The specialty retailing company that also sells Old Navy, Banana Republic, Piperlime, and Athleta brand merchandise won't help you navigate your car.
• A8) Harley-Davidson. The motorcycle maker changed its symbol from the boring HDI in 2006. Harleys have been known as hogs since a successful 1920 racing team began using pigs as their mascot.
• A9) Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.. The White Plains, New York-based company owns the Sheraton, Westin, and several other hotel brands.
• A10) Southwest Airlines. The airline took its symbol not just as a marketing message, but also to honor their local Ernest A. Love Field in Phoenix (the airport's code isn't LUV, however; it's PRC for Prescott Municipal Airport).
• A11) Sealed Air Corporation. The New Jersey company manufactures packaging and performance-based materials and equipment systems including Bubble Wrap, Cryovac, Instapak, and Shanklin.
• A12) Westwood One, Inc.. The New York City-based, country-wide radio network was previously managed by CBS Radio.

Stock Stumpers - Random Trivia Questions

2009 was an excellent year for most stock investors with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 18.8%, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index 24.0%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index 43.9%. While the new year is unlikely to match those gains, hopefully the market will be a better place for your money than a piggy bank.

When trading stocks online, you have to be very careful that the stock symbol you enter matches the company you actually wanted to buy. Most symbols are acronyms or abbreviations or variations thereof, which can get confusing with so many companies and so few letters per symbol. Very few companies have unusual symbols that make them more memorable, like BUD for Anheuser-Busch and CAKE for the Cheesecake Factory. If you don't already know the dozen symbols in this week's quiz, you won't forget them after you've seen the answers...

Stock Stumpers Questions

• Q1) BEN
• Q2) BID
• Q3) CAR
• Q4) DISH
• Q5) DNA
• Q6) EAT
• Q7) GPS
• Q8) HOG
• Q9) HOT
• Q10) LUV
• Q11) SEE
• Q12) WON

Ar U SErIOUS? - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) Neon (NeON). The only element that can be spelled using only symbols on the same row on the periodic table (and very close to each other at atomic numbers 7, 8, and 10).
• A2) Tin (TiN). The only element whose name can be spelled using only two symbols, and not coincidentally the shortest name.
• A3) Phosphorus (PHOsPHoRuS, PHoSPHoRuS, PHOSPHoRus, PHOsPHORuS, PHoSPHORuS, or PHOSPHORuS). The element whose name can be spelled the most ways and using the most symbols, and not coincidentally the longest name.
• A4) Carbon (CaRbON or CArBON). The element of the twelve whose symbol appears in the most answers, four. Nitrogen (N) appears in nine of the twelve answers.
• A5) Arsenic (ArSeNiC or ArSeNIC). One of the four elements, along with carbon, neon, and phosphorus, whose symbol can be used to spell one of the other answers.
• A6) Copper (CoPPEr or COPPEr). One of the two elements, along with phosphorus, that requires a repeated symbol.
• A7) Iron (IrON). One of the three elements, along with copper and tin, that cannot use its own symbol in its spelling.
• A8) Bismuth (BiSmUTh or BISmUTh). The element that uses the highest numbered element, uranium (92), as well as the second highest, thorium (90). [Yes, that's what the "Bism-" in "Pepto-Bismol" stands for.]
• A9) Silicon (SiLiCoN, SILiCoN, SiLiCON, or SILiCON). One of the four elements, along with arsenic, bismuth, and carbon, that can be spelled either with or without its own symbol.
• A10) Astatine (AsTaTiNe). The only element whose name can be spelled using only two-letter symbols (but doesn't use its own symbol even though it's a substring).
• A11) Xenon (XeNoN or XeNON). The only element whose name can be spelled either with or without a repeated symbol.
• A12) Krypton (KrYPtON). One of the five elements, along with astatine, neon, phosphorus, and xenon that can't be spelled without using its own symbol.

Ar U SErIOUS? - Random Trivia Questions

This was going to be the hardest mystery quiz ever, but I'm in a giving mood today, so I'll tell you the theme to help you find the answers to the twelve questions below. Each of the chemical elements being asked about can be spelled with chemical element symbols (ignoring capitalization). As luck would have it, there are exactly twelve elements that qualify, so if you want to figure out what they are as a puzzle first, you can simplify the quiz even further.

Ar U SErIOUS? Questions

• Q1) Which of the noble gases has the shortest name?
• Q2) Which chemical element has the shortest name?
• Q3) Which element did Germany's Hennig Brand distill from urine while looking for the philosophers' stone to make gold in 1669?
• Q4) Which element's presence or absence mostly distinguishes organic chemistry from inorganic chemistry?
• Q5) Which element's presence is detected by the Marsh test?
• Q6) Which element was first refined from malachite and azurite?
• Q7) Which element is primarily obtained from hematite?
• Q8) Which metal, in a subsalicylate compound, is the primary ingredient of Kaopectate?
• Q9) Which element was named for the Latin for "flint"?
• Q10) Which is the highest-weight halogen that has been discovered?
• Q11) Which is the rarest of the rare gases?
• Q12) From 1960 to 1983, the official meter was defined in terms of an orange-red spectral line of an isotope of which element?