The 2,264th Mixed General Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mr. T

It all started in 1980 during the "America's Toughest Bouncer" competition on an NBC show called "Games People Play". A young man named Laurence Tureaud was interviewed before facing Tutefano Tufi in the final match. Speaking to Bryant Gumbel, Tureaud said he "felt sorry for the man" he had to fight.

Sylvester Stallone later saw this appearance and loved everything about the guy. He cast him in "Rocky III", where Tureaud, now known as Mr. T, delivered the immortal line "I pity the fool!" The rest is history.

(And yes, Mr. T won the match against Tufi.)

Answer: Plants, berries, and nuts

Black bear encounters are frightful. However, despite the massive size and the sharp teeth and the beady little eyes and the murderous reputation and the lumbering serial-killer stride, the American black bear is mostly a big shaggy forager with a sweet tooth.

Most of its diet comes from vegetation like grasses, roots, berries, acorns, and nuts. They will absolutely eat fish, insects, carrion, and the occasional unlucky small animal if the opportunity presents itself. But plant matter makes up most of their regular menu.

And yes, if you live around them and have a bird feeder, you can expect to make lots of new friends.

Answer: Hale-Bopp

Comet Hale-Bopp made its modern-day overhead debut in the late 1990s. It was independently discovered in 1995 by amateur astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, which sounds a little like a comedy duo but isn't.

The comet became very bright and stayed visible to the naked eye for a record-breaking 18 months, giving millions of people a chance to stare upward and suddenly remember they lived on a tiny blue ball hurtling through space.

Answer: A Clockwork Orange

In 1971, "A Clockwork Orange" entered theaters like a brick through a picture window. Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess's novel follows the adventures of the sneering, milk-drinking, dangerous, and frighteningly charismatic Alex DeLarge, played beautifully by Malcolm McDowell.

The movie was full of disturbing violence, lots of Beethoven, surreal scenery, heavy satire, and uncomfortable humor. Its infamous Ludovico rehabilitation treatment scenes became part of film lore almost immediately. ("No. No! NO! Stop it! Stop it, please! I beg you! This is sin!")

Answer: T-Bone Walker

T-Bone Walker was one of those who helped drag the blues into the electric age, swaggering onstage with a guitar slung over his shoulder and a smooth bluesy voice to go along with it. Before the first rock stars appeared, Walker was already playing guitar behind his head, doing the splits, and turning the instrument into a centerpiece instead of background music.

Meanwhile, those who would popularize rock and roll were paying attention.

Answer: December 26

Boxing Day comes on December 26, right after Christmas Day. The holiday traces back centuries and is traditionally linked to the practice of giving "Christmas boxes" filled with money, gifts, or food to servants, tradespeople, and those in need.

Eventually, people decided all that stuff was a bit silly. In modern times, it's apparently more of a strange collage of football matches, shopping frenzies, turkey sandwiches, day-old wrapping paper crumbled up on the floor, and people wondering how many cookies are too many cookies... or is it biscuits?

Answer: Greater Caucasus

The Greater Caucasus forms a massive wall along northern Georgia, complete with jagged and pointy peaks that would make fine medieval torture devices if scaled down a bit. The range stretches between the Black and Caspian Seas and includes some of Europe's highest mountains, depending on where you draw the Europe-Asia boundary line.

Yeah, people are still arguing about that.

Ancient Greeks connected the Caucasus to the story of Prometheus being chained to a mountain after giving fire to humanity.

Answer: Old person smell

That distinctive 'old person smell' is real, although not as big a deal as pop culture makes it out to be. Scientists have actually studied it, because of course they have. The advertisement for volunteers must have been awkward.

The major culprit here is a compound called 2-nonenal. Yeah, we're going there. It's produced when certain fatty acids in the skin break down through oxidation. The compound does not have a pleasant smell.

So basically, as people age, changes in skin chemistry make this stinky compound more likely to form, and unlike ordinary body stink, it tends to linger even with regular bathing. It's nobody's fault. Just chemistry... doing chemistry stuff. I can only hope I live long enough to acquire it.

Answer: Māori

The Māori reached New Zealand in ocean-going canoes sometime around the 1200s. Canoes. They navigated thousands of miles across the Pacific using stars, currents, winds, and a fantastic grasp of the sea. (I could totally do that if I wanted to.)

When they arrived, they transformed the islands completely, developing a rich and distinct culture filled with intricate carving traditions, oral histories, tattoos known as 'moko,' and organized tribal communities.

By the time Europeans arrived centuries later, Māori society was already deeply rooted across the islands. Polynesian navigation itself is still one of humanity's great achievements. Thousands of miles through open ocean in canoes. And YOU'RE upset because your phone lost its internet connection for a few minutes.

But seriously, I could totally do that.

Answer: Matryoshka

The Matryoshka doll is a wonderfully quirky little cultural invention that somehow became beloved all around the world. It's a painted wooden doll that opens up to reveal another doll inside, and another inside that, and another after that until you start to finally understand the plot of "Inception".

The first Russian nesting dolls appeared in the late 19th century, inspired partly by Japanese nesting figures. However, it was transformed into a distinctly Russian folk art tradition. The name 'Matryoshka' comes from an old Russian female name associated with motherhood and large families. Makes sense.