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Trivia Bits by Stan Newman

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  • Trivia Bits, September 6
    STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 101 Who was the first American whose last name begins with "O" to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp? HOW TO WIN: Send your answer, with your full name and address, either by e-mail to TriviaBits@…

  • 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, May 23

Our trivia pal Adam Cohen of Brooklyn, N.Y., has assembled a short list of well-known names and phrases that have exactly one of each of the five vowels: QUESTION MARK, UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, TRUMAN DOCTRINE and PHIL DONAHUE. If you can think of any others (one-word answers don't count), please let us know.

Rick Connett of Walnut Creek, Calif., asks about the origin of the traditional church wedding vows. Our research indicates the "dearly beloved" service can be traced to the 1662 edition of Anglican Book of Common Prayer. But much of it, including "to have and to hold" and "for better or for worse," can be found in the English medieval variant of the Roman rite known as the Use of York.

In the 1990 film "Die Hard 2," New York City police detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) is not at all enamored of the latest electronic devices.
As he remarks to his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), in the film, "As far as I'm concerned, progress peaked with…"
A) Bicycles
B) Pet rocks
C) Frozen pizza
D) Parachutes

Previous answer: Sutter's Mill, of 19th-century Gold Rush fame, was a sawmill. A replica of the mill can be seen today at the site of the original, in Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.

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 May 23, 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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