Just another Friday night virtual trivia game with a couple of Flint, MI area expats and an army brat who met one of these expats and married her! Having a player whom is also residing in “Vegas, baby” always adds to the coolness level of our team, too (believe me – we need ALL of the help we can get in the coolness department)! Special shout out to the Cleveland-based host Jill (who was zooming from elsewhere) for helping get us back on track after we “virtually” lost contact with the game’s mothership! It was not nearly as exciting as one of those action movies involving aliens invading Earth (more annoying, really)! We’ll take the small victory of having moved from 11th place going into the final to eighth! The final question discussion boiled down to, “Now is (blank) a good name for (animal type)?” For those details, you’ll need to read on!

1) Racing – First held in 1953, the pinewood derby is a racing event for unpowered miniature cars that is owned and operated by what organization? Good thing my older brother was involved with this organization for a minute or two!

2) Weapons – What modern weapon dates at least to the eighth century, when it was discovered that the incendiary weapon Greek fire could be manually propelled in ceramic or stone jars? This was one of those “take it away, Mike” questions!

3) Murmansk, Russia, is the most populous city located north of which major line of latitude? We didn’t even consider this line of latitude – send us back to geography class – we fail! 🙂

4) What is the last name of the actor who plays the title character on the sitcom According to Jim, which aired from 2001-2009? Yay Michelle!

5) Rivers – What river forms portions of Maryland’s borders with both West Virginia and Virginia?

6) The scientific study of clouds and the scientific study of the kidneys are known by two very similar terms. Name either of those terms. We knew the kidney one, not the other one.

7) Song Titles – In 2005, what singer released her debut single “Pon de Replay,” which means “play it again” in Bajan Creole, one of the two main languages of Barbados? I think I know…maybe two things about this singer, thankfully “She’s from the Caribbean” was one of them!

8)Olympics – For the 2022 Winter Olympics, freestyle skiing will include six events, including Big Air and Slopestyle. Name two of the other four events. (Note: Freestyle skiing is different than alpine skiing)

NERD POINT: Name three of four.

I sent this question to my brother after the fact – because his daughter is a junior Olympian level cross country skier (she’s among the tops in her age group nationally). And he and she didn’t even know this answer (very, very tough)!

9) Actresses – What actress’ three highest-grossing films at the domestic box office are the 1990s films The Silence of the Lambs, Maverick, and Contact? Loved her character in Maverick (you don’t see her in too many comedies)!

10) Gaming – In total, how many pips (dots) are found on a standard pair of dice? Amateur hour – we put the number for ONE die, not a pair of dice (all Mike’s fault – he felt super bad about it, but Michelle and I didn’t care)!

Answer the questions about events that took place on this day in history (7/16).

M1 On this day in 1945, the first atomic bomb was successfully tested in which U.S. state?

M2 On this day in 1935, what type of device was installed for the first time, on a corner of First Street and Robinson Avenue in Oklahoma City?

M2 On this day in 1951, what book by J.D. Salinger was first published?

M3 On this day in 1931, what emperor signed the first constitution of Ethiopia?

Apparently we’re not that great at naming modern day emperors…we put Hirohito out of desperation even though we knew he wasn’t right. When the answer was revealed, we were like, “Oh, THAT guy.” Obviously his name didn’t reside in any of our long term memories!

Also missed #2.

Scientists

Final: Flo, Faben, and Frodo were the names of some of the research subjects of what notable scientist during the 20th century?

Mike came up with the right person right away, but he started doing the ‘Pods thing of trying to talk himself out of the answer. “What if that’s the other woman who studied similar animals?” The other woman studied larger versions of those animals, so that’s when I convinced him that his first guess was correct (who would name an adult animal “Frodo” if the animal is larger than them)? This was enough to convince the Lord of the Rings expert! We were too far behind to land in the top three for getting this right, but still – we got a final question right – our bar is low these days.

The top two teams had this tiebreaker:

Tiebreaker: What is the value of 10! (Ten factorial)?

We “might” do another “real life” trivia game sometime next week! If we do, be sure to check in for the recap here! Going out in public is always more exciting than hanging out in the basement!!! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Haile Selassie!