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Obscure Trivia #1

Select the correct answer from the choices provided … if you dare.

This is a challenging quiz, but I can almost guarantee you will learn something from it.

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Quiz by arjaygee
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Last updated: May 18, 2024
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First submittedAugust 27, 2023
Times taken53
Average score40.0%
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1. The inspiration for having celebrities leave handprints and footprints in the sidewalk outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood was an accident that befell this celebrity.
Gloria Swanson
Norma Talmadge
Buster Keaton
Douglas Fairbanks
When getting out of her car for a tour of the theatre, Ms. Talmadge placed her foot in wet cement. Her “official” prints were immortalized some time later, on 18 May 1927.
2. In this country, women give chocolate to men on Valentine’s Day, but men do not typically give gifts.
Taiwan
Indonesia
South Korea
Sweden
But men give non-chocolate candy to women on White Day (14 March).
3. In the U.S., it is nearly always a federal crime to …
Share your Netflix password
Lie about the results of an election
Try to log in to an online banking site during scheduled downtime
Rob a convenience store
4. How many time zones does China have?
5
1
7
3
5. The U.S. government gave the University of Indiana $1 million to study …
Internet addiction
Internet memes
Internet trolls
Internet disinformation
Specifically, the genesis, spread, and decline of memes.
6. The first known evidence of human dentistry dates from around what year?
425 BCE
7000 BCE
650 BCE
1110 AD
Indus Valley Civilization.
7. In Switzerland, it is illegal to …
Make chocolate in a home kitchen
Own just one guinea pig
Possess marijuana
Own a nuclear shelter
Guinea pigs (and certain other pets) are social creatures. It is considered cruel to deprive them of interaction with their own species.
8. Certain of these creatures can hibernate for up to three years.
Hummingbirds
Alaskan brown bears
Snails
Honeybees
9. The witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth add “eye of newt” to their cauldron. What are they referring to?
Mustard seed
A newt’s eye, silly
Peppercorns
Heather
10. Which is the only planet in our solar system that spins clockwise?
Uranus
Mercury
Venus
Earth
11. The mercury-in-glass thermometer was invented in 1714. What was used to fill thermometers before that?
A nice, chewy Chianti
Goat’s milk
Isopropyl alcohol
Brandy
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the mercury thermometer in Amsterdam.
12. Which is NOT actually a berry, based on botanical classification?
Grape
Redcurrant
Strawberry
Blueberry
But bananas ARE berries, botanically speaking. Who knew?
13. The Statue of Liberty once functioned as a …
World War II decryption center
Convenience store
Lighthouse
Processing center for immigrants
The statue was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901.
14. What was this symbol (#) called at Bell Labs in the late 1960s and early 1970s?
Hash sign
Number sign
Octothorpe
Pound sign
“Octo” refers to the eight points created by the ends of the four lines. Nobody seems to have a clue where “thorpe” comes from, at least in the context of this word.
15. This crime family boss, nicknamed “The Oddfather” by the press, feigned insanity by walking around in public in his bathrobe and muttering to himself.
John Gotti
Vincent Gigante
Al Capone
Charles “Lucky” Luciano
He might very well have convinced me. Gigante was the head of New York City’s Genovese crime family between 1981 and 2005.
16. Which creature has three hearts?
Octopus
Goldfinch
Cow
Whale
One heart pumps blood around the body. The other two pump it past the gills.
17. The Anglo-Zanzibar War (1896) is the shortest in history. How long did it last?
38 minutes
nearly 2 hours
14 minutes
5 1/2 hours
All because Sultan Khalid bin Barghash took over without British permission after the previous sultan died. The British won, after bombarding the sultan’s palace.
18. For a brief period in 1934 and 1935, the U.S. printed $100,000 bills. Whose portrait appeared on the front of the bills?
William Henry Harrison
Betsy Ross
Woodrow Wilson
James Madison
The bills were issued solely to Federal Reserve Banks. Many Americans at the time were lucky to have two dimes to rub together.
19. Cows belonging to the late Queen Elizabeth II …
Ate imported grasses
Were named after former Prime Ministers
Had weekends off
Slept on waterbeds
It is believed that waterbeds ease pressure points and improve milk quality.
20. How many U.S. states have one-syllable names?
3
2
0
1
Only Maine.
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