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Trivia Bits by Stan Newman

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Stan Newman

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  • Trivia Bits, September 5
    Have you ever noticed that, of the four seasons, only "winter" and "summer" can be used as verbs? A search of our unabridged dictionaries could find no "seasonal" verb for "spring," "fall," or …

  • Trivia Bits, September 4
    Eponym of the week: William Mathias Scholl, the Dr. Scholl behind the foot-products company. Working in a Chicago shoe store as a teen around 1900, he started taking night classes in podiatry, eventually getting a medical degree but never practicing.…

  • Trivia Bits, September 3
    Where's the world's most tilted tower? Hint: It's not in Italy. The Leaning Tower of Pisa currently tilts a mere 3.97 degrees from perpendicular. Last November, Guinness World Records certified the 15th-century church tower in the northwest German …

  • Trivia Bits, September 2
    Common Claws: According to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, lobsters were once so plentiful in New England that Native Americans used them as fertilizer for their crops and as bait in their fishing. In early colonial days, lobsters were a …

Trivia Bits, June 6

The first known usage of the word "astronaut" in the sense of "space traveler" was in sci-fi writer Neil R. Jones' story "The Death's Head Meteor," which was published in Air Wonder Stories in 1930, nearly 30 years before the establishment of NASA. "Astronaut" first appeared in a sci-fi novel way back in 1880, in "Across the Zodiac" by Brit Percy Greg, but he used it as a term for a spacecraft.

A revival of the Clifford Odets play "The Country Girl" premiered on Broadway last month, directed by Mike Nichols. It stars Frances McDormand, Morgan Freeman and Peter Gallagher.
In a subtle nod to the past, Bing Crosby (who had Gallagher's role in the 1954 film version) can be heard singing during scene changes.

The cocktail known as the screwdriver contains vodka and orange juice. Use cranberry juice instead of orange juice, and you've made a:
A) Purple Passion
B) Turkey Trot
C) Cape Cod
D) Mistake

Previous answer: The word "orangutan" literally means "forest man" in the Malay language.

TRIVIA FANS: Send the trivia questions you've always wanted answered, or original TriviaBits ideas of your own, with your full name and hometown, to Stan Newman at StanTrivia@aol.com or on a postcard to P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762.



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Originally Published on Friday June 06, 2008

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Click on the title to read Stanley Newman's article from Newsday, "Exercise Your Puzzle Muscles", which explores the ways that puzzles can keep you mentally fit as you age.

Also, see the Editors's Note from this edition of Newsday recounting the history of the Newsday crossword puzzle and Stanley Newman's pivotal role in revolutionizing it.
 
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