Brevity Trivia Quiz

Answer: Little Rock

RKNSS = Arkansas. Little Rock is the capital.

Some interesting facts about Arkansas:
1. Arkansas, the Natural State, was the 25th state accepted into the union in 1836.
2. Arkansas withdrew from the union to become a Confederate State.
3. After the Civil War, Arkansas rejoined the union but because of its previous reliance on a plantation-type economy and slavery, it suffered economically.
4. After WWII, Arkansas diversified its economy to include, other than rice and cotton, soy beans, aquaculture, poultry, eggs and milk. Arkansas is still a leading producer of rice and cotton in the US.
5. As it has 52 state parks, tourism has become an increasingly important part of its economy.

...And a couple on Little Rock:
1. Little Rock has always been the state capital.
2. Arkansas had its own automobile manufacturer - Climber (1919-24) - which produced automobiles in its Little Rock factory specifically for the rugged conditions of Arkansas.

Answer: Springfield

LLNS = Illinois, Springfield is the capital

Some facts about Illinois:
1. Illinois was the first state to sign the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution. This amendment abolished slavery.
2. Over 80% of Illinois land is farm land.
3. The name Illinois is an Algonquin Indian word which translates as "warriors".
4. Abraham Lincoln's first public office was postmaster at New Salem, IL.
5. There is a town called Metropolis in Illinois (but does Superman actually live there?)

And a couple about Chicago:
1. On March 17 every year, St Patrick's Day, the Chicago River is dyed green.
2. The Chicago Bears, a National Football League team, were first known as the Staley Bears.

Answer: honolulu

HW = Hawaii; Honolulu is the capital (Hnll if you remove the vowels).

Quirky facts about Hawaii include:
1. Because the state is made up of islands, Hawaii is actually the widest state in the US.
2. It does snow in Hawaii, but only on top of the three highest volcanoes.
3. Hawaii is the only state in the US that can grow coffee, cacoa and vanilla beans.
4. The only snake found on Hawaiian Islands is the Brahminy blind snake, which is harmless, is the size of an earthworm and an introduced species (from the Philippines).
5. In 1927 Hawaii was the first state to ban billboards.

And Honolulu....
1. There are more than 100 beaches surrounding Honolulu. This is the most of any city in the world.
2. Honolulu is the only American city that houses a royal palace.

Answer: salem

RGN = Oregon, Salem is the capital.

Are you ready for some obscure facts about Oregon?
1. Portland and Bend OR, are the only two cities in the contiguous US built on top of extinct volcanoes.
2. Upon a very small island, Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, built in 1880, has over 467,000 cremated individuals interred in their final resting place.
3. In 2012, creator of "The Simpsons" Matt Groening confirmed that it is Springfield, Oregon, that is the setting for the long running TV show.
4. Matt Groening was born and raised in Portland, Oregon.
5. Over one-quarter of the USA's total llama population lives in Oregon.

And what about the capital?
1. There are more food trucks per capita in Portland than any other US major city.
2. Portland hosts the annual World Naked Bike Ride. It attracts over 10,000 naked cyclists every year.

Answer: Des Moines

W= Iowa; DS MNS = Des Moines.

Unusual facts about Iowa include:
1. Pigs outnumber humans four to one. There are three million people.
2. Iowa claims the best literacy rate in the nation at 99%.
3. Iowa is the only state and state abbreviation that starts with two vowels.
4. Iowa has more golf courses per capita than any other US state.
4. For a landlocked state, it has an island in the middle of the Mississippi River, Sabula, which is a popular vacation spot for Chicagoans.

Two quirky facts about Des Moines:
1. One of Ronald Reagan's first jobs was to call Chicago Cubs games for WHO radio in Des Moines.
2. The original name of Des Moines was Fort Raccoon.

Answer: phnx

RZN = Arizona; PHNX = Phoenix
Interesting facts about Arizona include:-
1. Tucson and Phoenix each have more sunshine per year than any city in Florida
2. There are no dinosaur fossils in the Grand Canyon as the exposed rock is older than the dinosaur era.
3. The oldest continuous NFL franchise is the Arizona Cardinals, which started in 1898.
4. Arizona is one of two states that does not observe daylight saving time (Hawaii is the other).
5. Frank Lloyd Wright built his acclaimed desert studio in 1937-8 at Taliesin West in Arizona. It became his winter home.

Interesting facts about Phoenix include:
1. Phoenix has the largest municipal park in the world. It is called South Mountain Park and is seven miles south of the city centre. It covers over 20,000 acres.
2. All four major sports have franchises in the greater Phoenix area: Coyotes; Suns; Diamondbacks; and Cardinals.

Answer: jn

LSK = Alaska, Juneau (Jn) is the captial.

Interesting facts about Alaska include:
1. Seventeen out of twenty of the USA's highest mountians are in Alaska, including Mt McKinley, the USA's highest.
2. When the sun sets on Barrow, Alaska, on November 18th, it does not rise again until January 24th, 67 days later.
3. The post office at North Pole, AK, receives hundreds of thousands of letters addressed to Santa Claus each Christmas.
4. Located in the Bering Strait, Little Diomede Island is only 2.4 miles from Russia.
5. Alaska is bigger than the combined area of the smallest 22 US states.

1. Juneau is the only US state capital named after a gold prospector. His name was Joe Juneau.
2. Juneau is the only state capital not connected by road to the rest of the state.

Answer: slt lk cty

TH = Utah; SLT LK CTY = Salt Lake City
Interesting facts about Utah include:
1. It is illegal to detonate a nuclear bomb in Utah.
2. Nearly one mile deep and two miles wide, the Kennecott Bingham Canyon Copper Mine is the deepest open-pit mine in the world. It takes trucks two hours to drive from the bottom to the top.
3. The Great Salt Lake is never more than 33 feet deep, partly because 2.6 billion gallons of water evaporate daily.
4. Fry sauce is a Utah speciality: Ketchup and mayonnaise mixed together.
5. Fifty years before the 19th Amendment, Utah women were allowed to vote.

A couple of facts about Salt Lake City:
1. The Mormon Temple took forty years to build.
2. Nolan Bushnell, from SLC, attended the University of Utah. He founded Atari and Chuck E. Cheese fast food restaurants.

Answer: No

H = Ohio; CLMBS = Columbus. Cincinnati is not the capital.

Some quirky fact about Ohio include:
1. Famous people born in Ohio include Steven Spielberg, Paul Newman, Annie Oakley, Neil Armstrong, Clark Gable and seven US presidents.
2. Clarence Crane of Garrettsville, Ohio, invented Lifesavers candy in 1912.
3. Ohio, rather than Pennsylvania, has the largest Amish population of any state in the US.
4. The first city in the US to use police cars was Akron, OH.
5. Ohio is the only state that has a river with the same name as the state as its southern boundary.

...and here are a couple about Columbus:
1. Over 50% of the people that live in the US are within a 500 mile radius of Columbus.
2. Columbus was not the first state capital. This honour belonged to Chillicothe which ironically is now part of the greater Columbus area.

Answer: True

DH = Idaho, Boise (= BS) is the capital. Incidently, this makes the vowelless state/capital combination of only four letters, the shortest in the nation. The next smallest are Maine/Augusta (MN/GST) and Alaska/Juneau (LSK/JN) with five characters.

Here are some interesting facts about Idaho:
1. Sarah Palin was actually born in Idaho not Alaska
2. Idaho's Hell Canyon has a depth of 7,990 feet. This makes it deeper than the Grand Canyon.
3. The Boise State University Broncos play their games on the only blue football pitch in the world. This is known as Smurf Turf.
4. Idaho's state seal is the only one in the US that was designed by a woman.
5. Shoshone Falls is actually 45 feet taller than the Niagara Falls.

...and a couple of facts about Boise:
1. The area between 6th Street and Capital Boulevard on Grove Street houses the second biggest Basque community in the US.
2. The city is pronounced "Boy-see" not "Boy-zee" which is how most Americans (with the exception of Idahoans) pronounce this city.