General Knowledge Thematic Fun Trivia

1. In the "Austin Powers" films, main villain Dr. Evil had a clone made of himself. However there was no possibility of mistaking the clone for the original. Why?

From Quiz Double Trouble

Answer: The clone was 1/8 natural size

Dr. Evil's diminutive clone was aptly named Mini-Me. He first appeared in "The Spy Who Shagged Me" and then again in "Goldmember". He is merely one eighth of Dr. Evil's size, although the sometimes very crude humor of the films contains several allusions that this size difference does not apply to a certain part of his anatomy. Interestingly, Mini-Me is not played by Mike Myers, who plays both Austin Powers and Dr. Evil, but rather by Verne Troyer and Danny DeVito. (Thanks to WesleyCrusher for this question!)

From Quiz Pass, Word, Door, Code

Answer: Code

The words are toad, anode, lode, and exode. A toad is the common name for Bufo bufo; an anode is a charged electrode in a battery; a lode is a vein of ore and exode is the final part of a Greek play.

From Quiz Famous Eyesores

Answer: Gaston Leroux

Gaston Leroux wrote "The Phantom of the Opera" in 1909. It was first published in French, and was published in English in 1911. The novel is about Erik, a man who was so hideous that not even his mother would look at him. His face was concealed with a mask, so as to hide the ugly. He falls in love with an opera singer, Christine. He does not want her to see his face, because once she does, she would become afraid.

From Quiz My Hamsters Ate My Grandfather

Answer: Coelacanth

Sometimes known as the Living Fossil, the coelacanth is a fish that has a number of unusual structural features which provide evidence to support theories about some interesting evolutionary relationships. Coelacanths were well known to scientists in fossil form, but were thought extinct until 1938 when one was caught in a shark gill net by fishermen near the mouth of the Chalumna River on the east coast of South Africa. The fishermen notified a local museum of their find and the 'lost' became 'found'.

From Quiz Rapping Christmas Gifts

Answer: Blender

Typically, the blender is an appliance with many features. The one my Dad just opened is able to liquefy all the foods he needs and puree as well (pureeing occurs when vegetables or fruits are blended into a thick liquid). A spinning, high-powered blade inside the machine can dice anything placed inside to a perfect consistency, and with newer blenders, this can be made even more precise. One popular idea is to put ice inside, crush it down to a consistency, add fruit and milk, and make a cold smoothie. Food processors typically do the same thing with larger vegetables and the like, but they're normally used for more menial tasks such as chopping or slicing.

From Quiz What Moves the World

Answer: Hunger and Love

"Hunger and love are what move the world", wrote Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) in his poem "The Philosophers", and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) quoted him to postulate his theory of two major drives in human sexuality. The Austrian psychiatrist first mentioned the concept of hunger and love in "The Interpretation of Dreams", the ground-breaking work he published in 1899. Hunger - the drive for self-preservation - he claimed to be synonymous with the libido or sexual need of the individual, whereas love represented the impulse of conservation of species, with the focus on the search for satisfaction and pleasure rather than on an act of reproduction.

From Quiz Flagging Down

Answer: Semaphore

In use for over two centuries, the Semaphore system is a method with which flags can be used to send messages between ships at sea and land. In order to do this, two sets of two flags are used, placed into different distinct positions to denote certain letters and numbers to form messages. The method is one of many which can be used to achieve the same purpose. Heliography, for example, is a method of using light to produce morse code messages across a distance without being connected via cables.

From Quiz A Bunch of Banana Sticker Questions

Answer: One at a time, by people

Although capuchin monkeys are native to Central and South America, where many bananas are grown, they don't get to do this task. The Chiquita website states, "...we still carefully place each sticker on by hand. Machines are just too rough and can bruise the delicate fruit."

From Quiz Pirate Treasure Hunt

Answer: Black and white (1 pace)

The Jolly Roger is the name generally given to the white on black skull and crossbones design flag. It is thought the name is a corruption of the French "joli rouge" referring to earlier red pirate flags.

From Quiz For Couch Potatoes

Answer: French Fries

Each citizen of the U.S. eats more than 16 pounds of fries every year. That works out to about 2 million tons of taters!

From Quiz This Quiz Stinks!

Answer: Corpse flower

The corpse flower, also known by its scientific name 'Amorphophallus titanium' (a very suggestive Latin name, I must say!), is found on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Aside from being the world's stinkiest flower, it is also in competition as the world's largest flower species, sometimes growing up to 7 feet high. The suffocating smell it produces is meant to attract flies and beetles, which will then carry its pollen to distant areas, spreading the species.

From Quiz Rocks in your Head

Answer: steep mass of pebble and debris

A Scandinavian word from 'skritha'.

From Quiz Double Trouble

Answer: She had a split-personality

The movie starred Drew Barrymore as Holly Gooding. In the movie, Gooding was plagued by a series of misfortunes, apparently caused by her evil twin. By the end of the movie, viewers learned that Gooding had a split-personality and it was her secondary identity that did most of the things to her; other events were set up and caused by her therapist, who used prosthetics to look like her client at times. The therapist, played by Dennis Christopher, had convinced the second identity to kill Gooding's mother and then continued his gaslighting of her life. (Thanks to Shadowmyst2004 for this question!)

From Quiz The Truth is in Here

Answer: Stephen Colbert

"Truthiness" was created by Stephen Colbert on the pilot episode of his Comedy Central Show "The Colbert Report" (2005-2014). The word refers to the belief that a statement is true based on intuition or perception rather than any objective measure of reality. Colbert used the word to describe many of the actions and statements of the George W Bush administration. "Truthiness" was chosen as their "Word of the Year" by the American Dialect Society, a group of academic linguists based in New York City.

From Quiz Where I've Been

Answer: Carbon

Carbon is the basis for organic chemistry. In this instance carbon is the primary element found in coal. A now forgotten Carbon Coal Company gave the village of Carbon Indiana its name. In 1910 it had its highest population of nearly a thousand but since 1970 has remained under 400. My Aunt Lena lived there with my Uncle Roy. Uncle Roy was an entrepreneurs. He owned several farms and bought and sold cattle and hogs. He also invested in small businesses. One those was a tavern in Carbon. He had too many irons in the fire to personally run it. We were going through some tough economic times and Aunt Lena encouraged Roy to hire my dad as manager. The job also included living upstairs in their home. The upstairs consisted of three rooms. One Aunt Lena had set aside for personal storage and her canning projects. There was one larger room that doubled as a bedroom and front room and the other a kitchen. I slept on a cot at top of the stairs. There was also a hand-cranked Victrola with old records. My favorite was by the original Jimmie Rodgers called "Big Rock Candy Mountain". I attended school at a little two room facility a block away from where we lived. One room had grades one to four and the other had five through eight. I was in the second grade but when the teacher thought that I had better reading skills, she moved my desk over to the third grade row. My father and Uncle Roy were ill matched. Roy was a staunch Republican and my father an urban Democrat. After about a year we moved back to Terre Haute but I still spent much of the summer and weekends and holidays in Carbon. Years later my father confided with me "With what Roy was paying me, I had to hustle pool with the customers to put food on the table."

From Quiz Sharper Sticks Than Yours

Answer: Edward II

Or did he? The official chronicles describe his murder at Berkeley Castle in 1327. This was supposedly ordered by his wife, Isabella, and her lover, but there is plenty of room for doubt. Some accounts suggest that he escaped from his imprisonment and melted into obscurity. What is certain is that, prior to these events, he was forced to abdicate and his son, Edward III, assumed the throne. Glendathecat thinks it's a pretty extreme way to get a king to abdicate but they didn't have American divorcees in those days.

From Quiz It's in the Fine Print!

Answer: "This product not intended for use as a dental drill"

We all dislike visiting the dentist, but here is the proof that the dentist does indeed have the monopoly on all drilling of teeth. Sorry. For clarification, a 'Carpenter's' Drill is "An implement with cutting edges, or a pointed end, for boring holes in hard materials, usually by a rotating abrasion or repeated blow". I'll be honest, it DOES sound frighteningly similar to going to the dentist. Maybe they have a good point.

From Quiz Rapping Christmas Gifts

Answer: Square

Grandma seems to like the Nickelodeon TV show "Spongebob Squarepants". First airing in 1999, the show took off as a hit for all age groups, and soon the obnoxious sponge from under the sea (who lives in a pineapple, we know) became part of popular culture. Being the star of his own show, numerous video games, books, and more (I mean, he has his own CD release...listen to the "Best Day Ever"). "TIME Magazine" actually deemed it one of the greatest shows ever released, solidifying its legitimizing its place in TV history. Spongebob is voiced by Tom Kenny, also known for his roles in various Cartoon Network shows such as "Dexter's Laboratory" and "The Powerpuff Girls".

From Quiz Flagging Down

Answer: Checkered flag

The Checkered Flag is synonymous with completion of a race, regardless of type. In this case, the flag is an alternation of black and white squares in a checkerboard pattern. In the case of NASCAR, the Green Flag is primarily used to denote the start of a race or the fact that a pit is open. Adversely, Red Flags are used to denote a stop or a closing. Striped Flags, for example a Red and Yellow Striped Flag, is used to denote debris on the track and is mainly used in case of warning. The White Flag, in auto racing, is used to denote the final lap.

From Quiz Sludge Around Quizzyland

Answer: chemical waste

After it has settled into sludge, there are many strategies for dealing with chemical waste. Chlorinated solvents can be burned at high temperatures to prevent the formation of dioxins, whereas wastes with high concentrations of toxic chemicals too dangerous for burning must be recycled or contained securely. As the residents of Love Canal found out, "contained securely" can be a problem.

From Quiz A Bunch of Banana Sticker Questions

Answer: Miss Chiquita

More nifty notes from www.chiquita.com: "It all started in 1944 when Miss Chiquita was created to put a face on one of the world's first brands of bananas. She was drawn by artist Dik Browne who also drew her cousins the Campbell Soup 'kids' and 'Hagar the Horrible.'" (Wow, would you have guessed that the alluring Miss Chiquita is related to Hagar's stout wife Helga?) There is no Chiquita Parrot logo.

From Quiz Pirate Treasure Hunt

Answer: South America (6 paces)

There are 17 different species of macaw native to South America, Central America and some Caribbean Islands.

From Quiz For Couch Potatoes

Answer: A cloture motion

According to U.S. law, if sixty senators sign the cloture motion, the debate must end. Cloture is a French word which means 'closing'. The record for the longest filibuster in U.S. history is held by Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who went on for over 24 hours.

From Quiz Awww, You Brought Me A Present!

Answer: Jingle All the Way

Released in theatres in 1996, this Arnold Schwarzenegger holiday movie showed up just in time for the Christmas season and featured the action lead making bold attempts to get a Turbo-Man action figure for his son, Jamie. What followed was a mad dash around the city of Minneapolis as he waited at malls, broke into radio stations, stormed Santa's workshop (or a counterfeit toy racket, really) and posed as Turbo-Man himself in an effort to do good by his boy. The movie made over $120,000,000 in the box office despite low review scores.

From Quiz Double Trouble

Answer: Thunder

Born in Rhode Island in 1919 Red had a number of jobs before beginning a correspondence with an anthropology professor at the University of Pennsylvania named Frank Speck. He convinced Speck that he was of the Catawba Indian tribe, which led to the start of projects that involved the collection of folklore and other cultural data of his purported group of people. That work extended into the study of other tribes, such as the Montauk, Shinnecock, and Mashpee. Beyond this there didn't appear to be any gain for Red Thunder Cloud and, as to why he ventured down this path, is not known. Upon his death his name was revealed to be Carlos Westez. This too was questionable, as by his sister, who administered his will, announced his name as Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West. (Thanks to pollucci19 for this question!)

From Quiz The Truth is in Here

Answer: Ron Killings

Ron Killings has competed in both WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. It was during his time with Nonstop that Killings began using the nickname "The Truth". Killings is also known as "R-Truth." Killings was the World Heavyweight Champion when he was with TNAW. Killings has generally played the bad guy during most of his wrestling career. Gerdelman competed as "Frankie Kazarian", "Kaz" and "Suicide." Steve Borden's ring name is "Sting". Brigham Doane performs as "Masada".

From Quiz Where I've Been

Answer: Indianapolis

Indianapolis occupies most of Marion County with an estimated 855,164 population. Indianapolis has finance, manufacturing, a business center, and has developed niche markets in amateur sports and auto racing. Every year the Indianapolis 500 takes place - arguably the most famous car race in the world. While we were there, John Gunther, a famed journalist of the time, published his 974 page book "Inside USA". In his research he visited over 300 communities in the United States. Even though he was given a warm welcome in Indianapolis, he later wrote that Indianapolis was the dirtiest city in the nation and that the city was the most racially segregated north of the Mason-Dickson line. Indiana was the northern center for the Ku Klux Klan with an estimated 40% adult males affiliated. This certainly true of our street--Elder. From Michigan Avenue for about two blocks it was all white family residences. But when you reached the machine shop and a vacant lot, all were black families. Once I was returning on the trolley after my swimming lesson at the YMCA, there were only about three adults seated. At a stop, five black kids got on. I was surprised that one of them sat next to me, two sat right behind me, and the other two stood and continued their conversations in a fun but not inappropriate manner but they did not speak to me nor did they even acknowledge my presence when I exited. It dawned on me later that I had perhaps been a part of a demonstration of what it was like to be alone and systematically isolated.

From Quiz Pass, Word, Door, Code

Answer: Door

Not surprisingly, a doornail is used to nail doors. Why a doornail, as opposed to any other type if nail, should be singled out for death comparisons is a mystery. Suffice to say that two literary giants named Shakespeare and Dickens have used the saying in their works, lending it with more than enough credence for this humble quiz author.

From Quiz Famous Eyesores

Answer: Joseph Merrick

Joseph Merrick was born in 1862, and due to his diseases, died in 1890 at the relatively young age of 27. He became famous due to his bizarre facial and body deformities, and a movie was made about him in 1980. He was given the nickname "The Elephant Man". The definitive cause for his deformities is unknown, however there is speculation that it could have been a combination of many diseases that cause deformity such as Proteus syndrome and neurofibromatosis type I.

From Quiz My Hamsters Ate My Grandfather

Answer: Zsa Zsa Gabor

Zsa Zsa Gabor rose to stardom in film and television during the 1950s and is also infamous for her many marriages (nine weddings, seven divorces and one annulment). Her only child is Francesca, born in 1947 during Zsa Zsa's marriage to Conrad Hilton.

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Last Updated Apr 13 2024 5:45 AM

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