Balderdash 4

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. Kitchen Utensils: They are multi-purpose. Which of these is a strange fact about them? Did you know that Howard Hughes, that eccentric billionaire, came up with the first food processor? He did. He liked how all the blades and choppers worked together. A woman in Utah used all she knew - a corkscrew and a steak knife - to free her son who was pinned under a car. She made a makeshift jack out of them and got him out. A ravenous fellow in Svensk got so hungry to get to his breakfast that he accidentally slipped a butter knife down his throat in his enthusiasm. It remained there until his death, some 32 years later. An unknown woman in Missouri had a headstone only marked with a cast iron kettle. Finding out who she was has been a problem. It would appear that frying up dinner was her signature, though.

2. Agility: Which of these is considered The World's Most Flexible Man? Moses Denton Jones limbered up to the point where he could squeeze his body through a pipe that had only a 13" circumference. While practicing this stunt he got stuck once for 4 days before anyone found him! The answer is Ivan Mostelvic. It may not sound completely odd to be able to stand on your feet and bend forward with your head touching the ground. This dude could do it backwards! It's that Canadian schoolteacher who earned the nickname Mr. Gumby. He even managed to fit himself into a box about the same size as a picnic basket. "Little Stevie Pretzel" is right. He learned how to turn his feet entirely around and would walk, run and even dance that way. P.T. Barnum made him a star.

3. Rock Bands: If I say Alan Wilson & Bob Hite, which band fact would come to mind? That's those two fellows who started out in the early 60s. They eventually hit the Woodstock stage in 1969. Rock stars live edgy lives often and don't live so long. Wilson and Hite were two members of Iron Maiden who died in 1991 - both drug related. Alan Wilson took on the name Ed, or Eddie. He was a fictional character, the Eddie in that movie "Eddie & The Cruisers" in 1983. Hite was the drummer's name. Two svengalis, they say. They are the managers, promoters, protectors and driving force behind The Indigo Girls.

4. Tragic Accidents: One happened in Cass County, Michigan in April 2002. Which of these? Very unlucky one, this. A woman there left her elderly mother asleep in her car (while it was running in the garage). She intended to dash into the house for her shopping list but fell down the steps and was unable to get to the phone. Her mother died. How awful! A baby was shot and killed when a gun went off that was being stored in the oven! His grandmother had hidden it there and when someone turned the oven on it discharged. An initiation into the Marching Band went sour there. They always threw new members into a nearby fountain. This time they threw one in who panicked and drowned. A gravedigger in Cass County slipped and fell into his latest hole and was rendered unconscious. Inexplicably no one checked and the coffin was placed on top of him and he was buried alive.

5. Slang: As the day progresses you decide to "chuck a sickie". What on Earth are you up to? In a hospital doctors use this slang phrase conversationally to announce a patient's time of death. It's usually said in Rhodesian medical circles. In much of Canada that means that you're going to skip the gardening chores for today. You figure you will catch up with the weeds and such tomorrow. In Australia you'd be taking a day off work. Calling in sick, even though you feel fine. Shame on you! This is actually an Indian tribe phrase, at least how it translates to English. The Iroquois, notably, would desert an ill or aged member so as not to slow up their travels.

6. Hungry?: Which of these DID NOT appear on the third class passenger menu for dinner [better known now as lunch] on April 14, 1912 aboard The Titanic? Plum Pudding (a staple among Europeans and not too expensive to prepare). Rice Soup (not remotely tasty but nutritional ). Boiled Potatoes (Likely the easiest thing to whip up for those who had worked very hard all morning). Hard Boiled Eggs (served with pepper and mustard. Very popular snack back then).

7. Snip, Snip: Which of these is widely known as the inventor of scissors? Leonardo Da Vinci is right. He even had a sketch or two involving robots! He had many a talent and a startling vision about things to come. The Marquis de Sade did it. He was looking for something new to inflict pain on people. And himself. Thomas Jefferson did that. He figured out a better way to use one hand to cut his daughter's hair. Two knives bolted together did the trick. It's Samuel Butler. He edited Homer's "The Iliad" and a lot of that needed a trim. It was another accidental idea, borne only of necessity.

8. Sports: One of these about sports, of any kind, is right. Which? Tiger Woods, everyone's favorite golfer these days, skipped both his wedding reception AND his honeymoon to get to The Masters Tournament in 1999. His new wife was certainly not pleased but she got happier once he won it and brought home the prize money Bobby Gordon, of The New York Rangers, has had the most broken bones as a pro Hockey Player. 319 at last count. Yugoslav Spink, from Czechoslovakia, tried to break the Olympic record in Weight Lifting in 1976. He broke a blood vessel in his head and died before he hit the mat after doing so. Luckily the cameras were blacked out as that happened. The longest baseball game lasted 8 hours and 6 minutes! It went 25 innings before somebody won it! The score only ending up 7 to 6.

9. Movies: One actress had the shortest screen time that got her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She didn't win. Who was this? Nope, nope, nope. All the other ones are hooey. It was Jodie Foster in "Taxi Driver". Katina Paxinou is correct. She played the role of frisky Pilar in "For Whom The Bell Tolls". They must have run out of other available nominees that year. But the answer is Sylvia Miles for her short work in "Midnight Cowboy". Beatrice Straight got her failed nod for playing a frustrated housewife in "Network". If you blinked you would have missed her.

10. TV Shows: Which classic (now) television comedy nearly got cancelled after its very first season? Almost not getting through at first "Seinfeld" almost got the axe initially. A show about nothing? That it got on in the first place is a miracle! "M*A*S*H* comes to mind first. The ratings were just horrible that first year. War, hospitals, and rowdy doctors. No one liked it at first. What am I supposed to answer? They all almost did! It's "Cheers". A has-been ex-baseballer, a recovering alcoholic, a way too stuffy barmaid? Everyone flipped the channel when the show came on.