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WEEK OF NOVEMBER 9
Monday, November 9
The Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago today, and soon, the rest of European communism crumbled along with it. And it likely all happened because a bureaucrat misread a poorly worded memo. Hearing that the border was open, East Germans …Read more.
Monday, November 9
Monday, November 9
The Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago today, and soon, the rest of European communism crumbled along with it. And it likely all happened because a bureaucrat misread a poorly worded memo. Hearing that the border was open, East Germans …Read more.
Saturday, November 7
William Lear had quite a career, despite having dropped out after eighth grade. He sold the patent for the car radio to Galvin, which is now Motorola. He invented the 8-track tape cassette that became a '70s fad. And he founded a company that …Read more.
Friday, November 6
Built out of solid rock in the 1960s, Temppeliaukio Church is found largely underground in Helsinki. Architects Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen designed the church to burrow into solid rock, using designs that predated World War II. The back wall of the …Read more.
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Trivia Bits, October 30Eponym of the week: Oregonian Henry F. Phillips, for whom the Phillips-head screw and screwdriver were named. The self-centering design became especially useful on automated assembly lines that used electric-powered screwdrivers. Though Phillips received three U.S. patents for his design in 1936, it was so widely copied that by 1946 he had lost his patent protection.
Of Coarse: The next time you're in northeastern Minnesota, visit the Sandpaper Museum in Two Harbors, on the shores of Lake Superior. It's located in the building where 3M was founded in 1902. You knew that 3M's first product was sandpaper, right? Well, the "Mining" M in 3M's name represents the mining of corundum, which is used to make sandpaper. You may be familiar with the sign "The buck stops here" that sat on the White House desk of Harry Truman. But there was a different message on the sign's other side, which was: A) "Call me Harry" B) "I'm from Missouri" C) "What'll it cost?" D) "This meeting is over" Previous answer: A resident of Cape Cod, Mass., is called a Cape Codder. 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. Stanley Newman is the editor of the Newsday Crossword and author/editor of more than 125 books on crosswords, word games and trivia, including "15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia" (Random House). To find out more about Stanley Newman visit StanXwords.com, or e-mail him at StanTrivia@aol.com. COPYRIGHT 2008 STANLEY NEWMAN DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE
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