Post typos, corrections here!

[WhoisMark]

This is a sad day for me since I received my copy on January 15, 2008. I am now finished reading the Almanac after going through it a page a day. It was a daily pleasure to go through the quizzes and learn so many fun facts.

I'll go out here the way I started:

January 14: All Starstruck

1. Who's the all-time leading scorer in NHL All-Star Game history, with 17 points in just eleven games?

The answer given is Gordie Howe

My research shows this:

Career
Most games played — 23, Gordie Howe; 16, Wayne Gretzky; 15, Frank Mahovlich.
Most goals — 13, Wayne Gretzky, 18 games; 13, Mario Lemieux, 10 games.
Most assists — 16, Joe Sakic, 12 games.
Most points — 25, Wayne Gretzky (13 goals, 12 assists), 18 games; 23, Mario Lemieux (13 goals, 10 assists), 10 games.
Most penalty minutes — 25, Gordie Howe, 23 games.
Most power-play goals — 6, Gordie Howe, 23 games.

Am I somehow misinterpreting what the question asked?

2. What team had seven of the eight starters on the 1957 National League All-Star team, thanks to ballot stuffing?

The answer given is the Cincinnati Reds. I see the wording as the 7 took the field to start the game. They were elected, yes. But, the commish stepped in before the game and took out a couple of Reds and inserted more deserving players to play.

Okay, I'm done. It's been a joy.

[econgator]

It's been a joy.

For who?

[Edsmat]

Mother Teresa was born in Macedonia. I asked my English teacher what "hail from" means. She told me that it refers to the birthplace of someone--where they were born. She said that's what "hail from" means, especially when those (these?) two words are together. So I was actually right. However, what does she know? She's just an English teacher, who majored in English. Also, I checked with an English specialist on-line, and he told me the same thing. Whatever, though, it's your call. I would change it because it causes a great deal of confusion to some people. In addition, why is that section of April 5 titled "Mr. Natural(ized)"? There are some women in there, but you probably have a good literary reason for doing that.

[Ken Jennings]

Mother Teresa was born in Macedonia. I asked my English teacher what "hail from" means. She told me that it refers to the birthplace of someone--where they were born.

Do you have access to a dictionary or the Internet? Merriam-Webster: "to be or have been a native OR A RESIDENT of."

So I was actually right.

No. Not really.

She's just an English teacher, who majored in English.

I majored in English.

Also, I checked with an English specialist on-line, and he told me the same thing.

I thought you were "too indolent to Google" in that other thread. You seem to spend a lot of energy on things that are more complicated (and less reliable) than a single Google search.

Whatever, though, it's your call.

You mean because the book's already been on shelves for a year? That's very practical of you. Thanks.

I would change it because it causes a great deal of confusion to some people.

As far as I can tell, everyone else is pretty much okay with it.

In addition, why is that section of April 5 titled "Mr. Natural(ized)"? There are some women in there, but you probably have a good literary reason for doing that.

It's an R. Crumb reference.

[Edsmat]

Sorry, Ken, I should know better than to quarrel with an erudite person. I apologize.

[Edsmat]

The Ostrogoths was not a nation. Ostrogoths were an eastern branch of the Goths, if I remember my world history. The actual area that they ruled was actually called Ostrogothic Kingdom. It was most of Italy and parts of present-day Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and whatnot. You talk about it when you mention rulers (Theodoric the Great).

[Ken Jennings]

I know fact-checking isn't your thing, but any dictionary would have told you that a nation is just "a people having a common origin, tradition, and language." And with the miracle of Google, you could have found a dozen books calling the Goths and Ostrogoths "a nation" in the time it took you to post here. Maybe you're thinking of a nation-state (which the Goths also had, for a time).

Ed, this thread is only useful to readers if it documents actual errors. You're 0-for-2. Please post judiciously.

[jacqueline]

from the category "that's the spirit" on january 4, you are supposed to guess in what film the given actor is a ghost. alec baldwin is one of the actors given. the answer given is "beetlejuice", which is correct. but alec baldwin also plays a ghost in the woody allen film "alice."

[Ken Jennings]

Wow, that's a good catch. I totally forgot about Alice.

[Edsmat]

Sorry, Ken. I'm not too bright.

[biskutt]

On July 13, in the category A Little More Conversation, the answer to #4 says "Bitchin' Camaro" by the Dead Kennedys. "Bitchin' Camaro" is by The Dead Milkmen, not the Dead Kennedys.

I absolutely love this book!

[Ken Jennings]

Aargh, somehow I missed that one when I compiled the Errata page. Thanks.

Most of the errors in the book are just stupid slap-your-forehead things, but that Dead Milkmen/Dead Kennedys mistake is one I regularly make in real life as well.

[davidbod]

Hi,

Just to say this Brit enjoyed your book immensely, even if my eyes glazed over the Roger Maris questions. It's ok to be on here, right? We're so over that tea party thing.

A few comments and possible corrections:

p53: Athough the statue in Piccadilly Circus is generally called "Eros" by tourists, it's actually a statue of his twin brother Anteros. As an aside, Piccadilly Circus is no longer a roundabout, but a controlled traffic junction that would test the patience of Sisyphus.
p54: Might be a UK/US thing, but "billiards" is a different game here using three balls (a white, a spotted white and a red ball). The yellow 1 ball is used in what we'd call (and you'd call) pool.
p74: Cucumber's a fruit, not a vegetable. It's the seeds, you see.
p96: It wasn't "odd" to leave the second best bed to the wife. This was common practice, as it was usual for the next generation to be given the best goods as they'd have the most use out of it.
p109: The square root of minus 1 is also written as j, especially if you're an engineer (they just have to be different, don't they?)
p155: Although Q doesn't appear in the Periodic Table of elements, isn't the same true of J also?
p183: Didn't Ugly Betty have its roots in Colombia, not Venezuela?
p204: My Filipino wife doubts that the Philippines has two capital cities. Quezon City used to be a capital but no more (since the 1970s or so). I may have misunderstood the answer, but I presume you're driving at places that have an official and administrative capital, right? As far as we can tell, Manila is the sole capital.
p286: Double typo in the name of Liz I's sneaky spymaster: he's actually Sir Francis Walsingham.
p290: Hitler did not really "write" Mein Kampf. He dictated it while in jail.
p295: The "was" in Qu6 is misleading as both the Athenaeum and Reform Club are alive and kicking, and still in Pall Mall.
p328: In the cricket diagram, I don't understand what the two small circles are around the batsmen unless they are some kind of safety feature (e.g. to stop fielders standing too close to the batsmen) that isn't used in UK and international cricket. Usually there is just the large oval for the fielders (e.g. during Powerplays) and the outside boundary.
p320: As far as I can tell, the Dvorak keyboard appears to be spelt without the accents that the composer has.
p331: As I live in his home town, I believe it's EADWEARD Muybridge who changed his name to that because one of the English kings who was crowned here had his name spelt like that on the Coronation Stone.
p452: For info, there is a long-running UK chat show called Room 101, which may have aired in the US on some godforsaken arm of the BBC. But probably not.
p472: To say that "IIII" on clocks is "non-standard" is a little unfair as that's how the Romans would have written it. "IV" is the non-standard way, really, as it was a later medieval invention.

Finally, p60's 2nd quiz instructions should read "...from the Queen's English into our mangled Hickspeak." I mean, "I'll write you Wednesday" - what's that all about?

Best wishes,

David

[Radish]

Hi,

On 18 May (pg 196) the following question appears:

In the northern hemisphere, the day with the earliest sunrise falls in what month?

The answer is "July (not June, surprisingly)"

Of course, my initial thought was June. That's still my thought, unless I don't understand the question. To check, I went here:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php

and plugged in various coordinates from near the equator to about as north as one could go and still have a sunrise and sunset. The earliest sunrise for all locations is in June.

Did you mean something other than what I took the question to mean?

By the way, great book! I'm deployed to the Middle East with the Air Force and I ordered the book because we play a little trivia from time to time on the night shift. I love the variety of difficulty and topics.

Thanks,

Paul

[Le Master]

In the "A Little More Conversation" category on July 13 (p279), I think there should be a comma between "hey" and the name being addressed in questions four and six.

4. "Hey Jack"
6. "Hey bra'"

[Amber0609]

In the "Remember Venn" section on August 4, Bill Clinton is no longer the single overlapping person for #9. Barack Obama has two Grammys as well.

[Ken Jennings]

I wonder if Clinton is miffed now that he's not the first black Grammy-winning president anymore.

The answer is "July (not June, surprisingly)"

Of course, my initial thought was June. That's still my thought, unless I don't understand the question. To check, I went here:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php

Sorry for not responding to this earlier...just saw it. You know, I remember double-checking this, because I was surprised by the answer, so I don't really know how I got it wrong twice. But it looks like I did. I wonder if the question should read "latest sunrise"? Because that's apparently in January, not December.

Glad to get the Air Force stamp of approval for the book...stay safe wherever you're deployed.

[Blinky]

From what I read he was competing for the University of Illinois AGAINST the University of Chicago. On page 39 of the hardbound Brainiac, it says he went to U of Chicago. I think I took my IQ test for the gifted program at the same testing site as Ken Jennings. It was on the UW campus. I remember a sunken parking lot off NE 45th. We were living in Laurel Village on the edge of Laurelhurt. Thats where I lived when I first felt the joy of being probably the only person on earth to know something.

(Who is the only pitcher to give up first career hits to two players who would later go on to amass 3,000 career hits?)

If anyone else knows it I doubt they knew it before me because I was aware of it the moment it became fact. As a kid I immediately called it in and said it on the KJR airwaves but the hosts didn't seem to care.

[bherm]

Ken,

Regarding the Almanac, January 1, THE APPELLATION TRAIL, Question 6, my research shows that G.E. Smith became SNL bandleader in 1985. The question has him starting in this role in 1980.

Thanks

[Amber0609]

For the Favorite Sun section of August 7 (pg. 319), I think the correct answers should be:

1. H
2. A
3. F (the almanac gives C)
4. G (almanac, E)
5. C (almanac, F)
6. E (almanac, I)
7. D
8. I (almanac, G)
9. B

In the Star Search section of May 20 (pg. 198), a second answer for #1 is Jordan (although its star is, relatively, much smaller than Australia's).

My apologies if you've already caught these!

[pbskidsgo100]

In The Trivia Almanac on Page 28, January 26, PUTTING DOWN THE MAN, question 5 semaphore is spelled wrong, it is missing a final e.

[Mahatma]

Whoa. Good catsh?

[thomasm3]

On August 4 in the Venn Diagram section, #8 has "AFI's top 100 movies" on the left and "sequels" on the right. Your book lists "Godfather Part II" as the only correct answer. However, "Silence of the Lambs" is also a sequel to the much lesser known movie "Manhunter." "Manhunter" had the exact same characters (Clarice, Hannibal Lecter) but completely different actors, void of Anthony Hopkins or Jodie Foster. So, in effect, there are two possible answers, not one.

[Ken Jennings]

On August 4 in the Venn Diagram section, #8 has "AFI's top 100 movies" on the left and "sequels" on the right. Your book lists "Godfather Part II" as the only correct answer. However, "Silence of the Lambs" is also a sequel to the much lesser known movie "Manhunter." "Manhunter" had the exact same characters (Clarice, Hannibal Lecter) but completely different actors, void of Anthony Hopkins or Jodie Foster. So, in effect, there are two possible answers, not one.

I thought about that, but I'd argue that Silence of the Lambs isn't a sequel to Manhunter, anymore than the Peter Jackson-directed "The Two Towers" is a sequel to Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of The Fellowship of the Ring. The second novel is a sequel to the first, but that doesn't carry over to the films. Manhunter DOESN'T have Clarice, and technically it doesn't have Hannibal Lecter either. (It has Hannibal Lecktor!) More to the point, none of the same talent was involved...not even the same studio. Dino de Laurentiis produced all the Lecter movies...except Silence of the Lambs.

[mark42]

I've checked the errata for the Trivial Almanac, and I've searched this forum on a couple of different keywords, but as far as I can tell, this mistake has not been reported yet.

On page 27, which is for January 25, it says that Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV went to Canossa in 1848. That year, though, is centuries off. The actual year was 1077.