Best trivia facts EVER!!! (8/2)

[Ken Jennings]

From today's blog post. Suggest away.

[svrfsvp]

There is a little known fact that Trebek's mustashe was actually a paste-on, formerly used by silent film star Hank Mann, late of the Keystone Cops.

Ok, I made that one up, but it sure is trivial.

[craig2231]

"You've lost that lovin feeling" is the most played song in radio history.

[LizLackey]

"You've lost that lovin feeling" is the most played song in radio history.

Although I saw on CNN yesterday that some people are trying to claim that Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" holds that title. Um...no.

[rosebud]

The middle six letters of Abraham Lincoln's name spell the last name of his first VP.

[DougSundseth]

In 1757 (early in the Seven-Years War) an Austrian cavalry raid reached an undefended Prussian Berlin. In addition to a substantial cash payment, the raiders also required two dozen pairs of ladies' gloves stamped with the city's coat of arms (intended as a present for Empress Maria Theresa) from the city, which were duly provided. Upon later inspection, it was determined that the city fathers had provided 48 left-handed gloves and no right-handed gloves.

[bangalore19]

One of my fav trivia facts is about the man on the $20 bill. My favorite is this one:

Andrew Jackson's 1829 inauguration was the occasion for the wildest party ever thrown in White House history.

The party was open to the public. Jackson was immensely popular, and 20,000 of his backwoods supporters crammed onto the White House grounds for the party. No, I don't know how that's possible.

There was plenty of whiskey, served out of large tubs, but the centerpiece of the party was an 1,400 pound wheel of cheese the guys in coonskin caps rolled into the East Room. The cheese, it must be said, lasted only two hours.

The whiskey lasted a bit longer, and after the party was over, there was almost as much destruction as when the British had burned the place 14 years previously, during the War of 1812.

And the White House smelled like cheese for weeks.

<<<courtesy of http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Andrew%20Jackson >>>>>

also these little tidbits:

During Jackson's Administration, the U.S Government was, for the first time, debt free.

During the 1828 election, his opponents referred to him as a "Jackass". Jackson liked the name and used the jackass as a symbol for a while, but it died out. However, it later became the symbol for the Democratic Party. [4]

Andrew Jackson has been said (probably without foundation) to be the creator of the term "OK", which came into currency towards the end of his life. It is supposedly his abbreviation for "Oll Korrect" (a humorous or illiterate spelling of "all correct"); he may also have known the similar Choctaw word. See Okay.

Andrew Jackson was the first president to be born in a log cabin. He also was the first president to ride a railroad train while in office.


Andrew Jackson had a parrot named Poll, who was taught to speak both English and Spanish. Poll reportedly had to be removed from Jackson's funeral because the bird was cursing in both languages.


<<Thank you to Wikipedia for the above>>>

Here's a picture:

http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/viewe ... luxfiat300

[JennyS1138]

How about this one. In the 90's/90's version of the Mickey Mouse Club (the one where Britney, Christina, Justin and others got their big breaks) they once had a sketch where a kid spent an entire day with a life-sized Alex Trebek cardboard cut out. This is NOT a joke. Alex later appeared on the show to "complain" about it.

[NeilFraudstrong]

I believe Franklin Pierce was the first President to eat potato chips in the White House.

And this is one you're sure not to use, but John Young snuck a corned beef sandwich onto the flight of Gemini III with Gus Grissom. He was severely reprimanded for it and were it not for the untimely deaths of C.C. Williams and Ted Freeman then he would have (more than likely) never walked on the Moon due to getting phased out of the crew rotation.


...geez... can I go just ONE thread without a NASA reference?

I need help.

But seriously, don't use the John Young factoid. I think that's even on Wikipedia which is not so secret.

I am sorry, Ken, this post is of no help.

[sumithar]

The guy for whom Yale (the university, not the lock) is named was the governor of Madras. (interesting to me, anyway since I went to college in Madras). I actually know a guy who did his undergrad in Madras and his PhD in Yale.

[Vorotyntsev]

There are no bathrooms on the starship Enterprise.

[JenLee]

The original Enterprise or the ST:NG one? Because I definitely remember in... what was it? First Contact? I think it was FC in which Picard wakes up from a nightmare and splashes his face in the sink.

And oh god, it just occurred to me: why are we discussing "facts" about a fictional ship in a trivia thread?

[cinemaniax7]

The original Enterprise or the ST:NG one? Because I definitely remember in... what was it? First Contact? I think it was FC in which Picard wakes up from a nightmare and splashes his face in the sink.

I remember attending a function about halfway through the run of ST:TNG where Wil Wheaton commented that you never see any bathrooms aboard the Enterprise. He said, "That's why everyone is walking down the corridors so quickly."

[rigsby]

There are no bathrooms on the starship Enterprise.

Ah, but there are...a never-used (on the show) door on the Enterprise-D bridge was clearly labeled "head".

[jzerocsk]

There are no bathrooms on the starship Enterprise.

Ah, but there are...a never-used (on the show) door on the Enterprise-D bridge was clearly labeled "head".

The door was not real; it existed solely for the senior officers' amusement watching greenhorns dancing around in front of the door trying to get it to open.

[gameshowcongress]

Continuing on the fictional characters trivia theme:

Q. What was the mask of the Lone Ranger made from?

A. Material from his dead brother's old Texas Ranger vest. (or contractions of the same info)

This has been used as a generic q/a for personnel from CU Trivia Bowl (which started in 1968) as a response to a reporter asking for a sample question during a newspaper, magazine, radio, or television interview.

There are a number of generic questions asked during the final hour of the 90fm Trivia Contest in Stevens Point WI (some of which are not entirely accurate).

Lone Ranger Background:

(full details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lone_Ranger)

The first of 2,956 episodes of The Lone Ranger aired on radio on January 30, 1933 on WXYZ-AM radio in Detroit, Michigan and later on the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network. The Lone Ranger became one of the most successful properties on radio.

The hero is a Texas Ranger named Reid, who, as the series begins, was pursuing the criminal Butch Cavendish and his gang with a group of other rangers. (Some later radio reference books erroneously claimed Reid's first name was John; however, in fact, the question of the Ranger's first name never came up during the scripting of either radio or TV adventures. Thus, no such name was ever adopted or used on either the radio or television program. The leader of the group of rangers was stated to be Captain Dan Reid, his brother. The name of "John" Reid's nephew, a later character, who became a sort of juvenile sidekick of the Ranger's, was also Dan Reid.) The party finds itself in a murderous ambush arranged by Cavendish and a traitor, Collins, that seemingly leaves every ranger dead. Then Cavendish shoots Collins in the back, reasoning that someone who could betray the rangers could also betray his gang.

Reid's childhood friend, a Native American known as Tonto (his tribe was seldom specified, but some books say he was probably supposed to be an Apache, while the radio programs identified him as a Potawatami), finds the party and finds Reid alive. Tonto takes him to safety and nurses him back to health. Tonto reminds Reid of when they were young, and Reid had rescued Tonto after renegade Indians had murdered his mother and sister and left him for dead. Reid gave him a horse, and Tonto insisted that Reid accept a ring. It is by this ring that Tonto recognizes Reid.

[rkd]

I can't think of any uber-cool factoids at the moment ... but can we replace the giant URL above with http://www.whitehousehistory.org/03/sub ... a/e_05.jpg ? Same image, minus the caption.

[Ken Jennings]

There are a number of generic questions asked during the final hour of the 90fm Trivia Contest in Stevens Point WI (some of which are not entirely accurate).

Which question(s) are you thinking of? I was wondering if the Carl Yastrzemski thing was true...

[ajsnavely]

There are a number of generic questions asked during the final hour of the 90fm Trivia Contest in Stevens Point WI (some of which are not entirely accurate).

Which question(s) are you thinking of? I was wondering if the Carl Yastrzemski thing was true...

'
It has been over 10 years since I did trivia at Stevens Point, but they always asked the Carl Yastrzemski question then. And the answer to the first question was always Robert Redford.

They always had an uber-hard question in the last hour. We think out team got it right one year on chance, because we finished way better than we thought we would (42nd). It was some Swedish sports question, and "What is the only piece of equipment needed for Schvinging (sp)?" We guessed Schving, and it was something similar, but not exactly that. Good thing we did not go with Body Condom as my cousin suggested. Good times.

[JD]

U.S. Highway 66 ("Route 66") was originally numbered to be U.S. Highway 60, and the governor of Kentucky (who wanted 60 to go through his state) is responsible for the Chicago-to-LA route becoming 66.

[TomK]

Following up on Game Show Congress' point:

Another radio hero of the day was stated to b e adescendant of the Ranger. Britt Reid, publisher of a large metropolitan newspaper, was introduced as the great-nephew of the Ranger in the first episode of his serial. This was supposedly the inspiration for Britt adopting the identity of the Green Hornet.

[Scarequotes]

United Arab Emirates is the longest country name that alternates vowels and consonants every letter.

[Ken Jennings]

United Arab Emirates is the longest country name that alternates vowels and consonants every letter.

Wow. I'd actually never noticed that before. Good for constructors of 19x19 crosswords then.

[JenLee]

This is my favorite little bit of trivia I've come across recently -- it's from today's page in my daily Fact or Crap calendar:

The first recorded [human] Wave was on October 15, 1981, in Oakland, California, at the third game of the American League Championship Series between the Oakland A's and the New York Yankees. Professional cheerleader "Krazy" George Henderson takes credit for starting the Wave that day. In 2002, Tamas Viscek of Eotvos University, Hungary, analyzed videos of Mexican soccer stadiums and discovered that it only took a dozen or so fans to initiate a Wave. Once started, it usually moves clockwise at 40 feet per second in a path 15 seats wide. These characteristics apply to almost any stadium in any culture and sport.

[svrfsvp]

Excellent fact on the human wave. I met Krazy George, I worked with Krazy George, and Ken,
you are no Krazy George.

It's good to know that ol' Kraze contributed something this awe inspiring to human history.