A Medley of Motley Miscellany [3] Quiz

Answer: Ryan Gosling

Somehow, Hollywood was banging down Andy Weir's door even before the publication of "Project Hail Mary" in 2021. Ryan Gosling was quick to sign up to star and produce early on in development, with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller sharing the driver's seat.

Gosling played the typical middle-school-teacher-turned-reluctant-savior-of-humanity character, who spends large chunks of screen time completely alone at least as far as other humans go. Technically, Ryland Grace does spend a great deal of time talking with Rocky, a five-limbed alien made of rock and metal with similar interests.

I highly recommend reading the book before seeing the movie, so you too can be one of the proud few disappointed by the latter.

Answer: Libya

Libya's minimalist national flag was adopted on November 19, 1977, during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi. It consisted of nothing more than a solid green field: no stripes, emblem, writing, star, crescent, Pokémon - just green. The design tied into Gaddafi's political philosophy and his "Green Book". Green also has associations with Islam and Libya's agricultural heritage, but whatever the reason, it was aggressively subdued for a national flag.

The green flag replaced the red, white, and black design Libya had used after Gaddafi's 1969 coup. After the fall of Gaddafi's government (and Gaddafi) during the 2011 Libyan civil war, the earlier red-black-green flag of the Kingdom of Libya was restored, complete with its white crescent and star.

Answer: True

That's true. Sea anemones are members of the phylum Cnidaria, that same group of oddball invertebrates that includes jellyfish and corals. Anemones are predatory animals that use stinging cells called nematocysts, found mostly in their tentacles, to capture prey such as small fish and crustaceans. They may look like plants, but they're definitely animals, despite their lack of a brain (we all know someone like that). Brain or no, they do have a simple nervous system that lets them respond to their surroundings. No central command center, just a mess of decentralized neurons trying to assure you that it's not as disorganized as it sounds.

They also poop out their mouths. It's not really relevant here, but it's important to me that you know that.

Answer: Apologizing to you

While all German can be mistaken for gargling, "Entschuldigung" is actually a common expression meaning "excuse me" or "I'm sorry." It comes from "entschuldigen", meaning "to excuse" or "to forgive," so you might say it when apologizing for something, but also simply when trying to get your friend's attention or politely interrupting.

The noun "Entschuldigung" refers to an apology, an excuse, or - to the untrained ear - the sound of a coughing fit.

Answer: Qubit

A qubit is short for "quantum bit", and it's the basic unit of quantum information. Like a classical bit, a qubit has two basic states that we think of conveniently as 0 and 1. The big difference here is that a qubit can also exist in a quantum superposition of those states. When measured, the qubit produces a definite result, based on probabilities determined by its quantum state. However, before it's measured, it can exist in a virtually infinite number of states. Quantum mechanics being quantum mechanics, nothing is easy.

Qubits can also exhibit quantum entanglement, in which the quantum states of multiple qubits become correlated in ways that require a master's degree in physics to fully comprehend.

What does a qubit look like physically? It might be implemented in any one of various ways, including trapped ions, superconducting circuits, or individual particles of light. The hardware is extremely complex, so don't expect to see a quantum computer at Best Buy anytime soon.

Answer: Harold Holt

The unfortunate Harold Holt is who we're looking for here. He disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach around Portsea, Victoria, on 17 December 1967. He was Australia's 17th Prime Minister and had been in office almost two years, when he presumably decided that maybe swimming hadn't been such a good idea.

His companions saw him disappear in turbulent water. Despite an extensive search, his body was never recovered. A joint Commonwealth and Victoria Police report later concluded that there was no reason to suspect his disappearance was anything other than accidental, regardless of what the inevitable conspiracy theorists had to say about it. And they had plenty to say about it.

Answer: London

Speaking for adult males everywhere, we all know Hello Kitty's full name is Kitty White. And yet the nagging question remains: where was she born? Luckily, Sanrio tells us. They give her birthplace as the suburbs of London, England. Her birthday is November 1, making the date part of her official character profile rather than just a convenient excuse for a mountain of themed merchandise. Really. Sanrio says she was designed in 1974 and describes her as a cheerful and kind girl who enjoys baking cookies and playing the piano. I read a bit more about her backstory and could go on, but I won't.

Answer: Craig Kilborn

Craig Kilborn was the first to host "The Daily Show" when it premiered on Comedy Central on 22 July 1996. He was a former ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor and was the first to bring that straight-faced news-anchor style to the show. At the time, the show had comedy monologues mixed in with fake news reports, interviews, and commentary on current events and pop culture. It was much less focused on politics than it would become later.

Kilborn stayed behind the desk until December 1998, when he left to host CBS's "The Late Late Show". Jon Stewart took over the following month and created a revolution in late-night television.

Answer: Theta

In the Greek alphabet, Theta comes immediately after Eta and immediately before Iota. It's the eighth letter of the alphabet and is commonly transliterated as "th" in English. If you've ever taken higher mathematics or physics, you're familiar with its look: Θ (uppercase) and θ (lowercase).

The Greek alphabet itself has 24 letters, Alpha to Omega.

Answer: New York

You can find Colgate University at 13 Oak Drive in Hamilton, New York. That's in central New York state for those of us who don't get out much. The village of Hamilton is a small community in Madison County, about an hour's drive southeast of Syracuse.

Colgate's history goes back to 1819, when its predecessor institution received its initial charter. You might be thinking Colgate sounds suspiciously like a toothpaste brand, and you're not wrong. The Colgate family was involved in both. Colgate now occupies a roughly 575-acre campus and is known for its liberal arts program and for leaving mouths minty fresh.