BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE

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 The hero of  The Man in the Moon, a novel written in the late 1620s by the Anglican bishop Francis Godwin, is carried to the moon in a sky chariot pulled by a flock of wild swans. He spends the next few months among the peaceful ‘Lunars” and gains a measure of fluency in their language, ‘which consisteth not so much of words and letters’ as of melodies ‘that no letters can expresse’.
  
 Nick Richardson, “We’re Not Talking toYou, We’re Talking to Saturn” in London Review of’
 Books (18 June 2020)
  
  
 A provocative theory among physicists and philosophers suggests that humans aren’t experiencing and haven’t experienced reality.
   What we understand as reality, the theory proposes, may merely be one of an astronomical number of vivid computer simulations of an ancient past , designed by humanity’s distant descendants to study the evolution of their forbears. If so, the United States of America is about as real as, say the Mushroom Kingdom  in an unattended game of Super Mario Bros.
  
 Caity Weaver. “The Reality Behind ‘Below Deck” The New York Times (July 2, 2020).
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 T-SHIRT MESSAGES
  
 I want the job 
   where I push 
 scared sky-drivers
    out of planes.
  
 **
 Today I will 
 Be as useless
 As the “G” in
  LASAGNA
  
 **
  I survived
    The 60’s
    Twice!
  
 **
  
  
 I don’t snore
 I dream
 I am a
 Mototcycle
 **
  
 If I can’t fix it
 It must not be broken
 **
  
  
    
   If only
   Sarcasm
   Burned
   Calories
  
 **
   
  RETIRED
 I worked my whole
   life for this shirt.
  
 **
  
       LIKE  MOST WEBSITES
       I USE COOKIES
       TO IMPROVE MY
       PERFORMANCE
  
 **
  
       THE CHAINS ON
     MY MOOD SWING
        JUST SNAPPED
           RUN.
  
 **
   
 I LOVE COOKING
 WITH WINE 
 Sometimes I even put it in the food
 **
  
 MY BUCKET LIST
 1. Beer
 2.  Ice
 **
  
 THE EARTH’S 
    ROTATION
 HAS MADE
    MY DAY
 **
  
 
 
 NOTE TO THE READER
  
 All right, I know that more than a few of the questions in the various La Triviata quizzes  are unfair and often impossible for many readers, to answer. But the point of a quiz is not to test intelligence or even cultural and verbal awareness. Not by a long shot. The point is to have fun, to pass some time pleasantly while picking up tidbits of useful and useless information. I hope it’s a good party game or a good quiz to share with a friend or two. Actually I hope it is just a good quiz. And sometimes a useful one. If you get 6 correct you are doing very good. If you get 9 or more correct you are in the Genius
 Category.
  
 —LJP
 
 
  
  
 1l Bees can see all colors except one. What color
 cannot be seen by bees?
  
 2.What is the only seven letter word in the English
 language that contains all 5 vowels?
  
 3. It has been claimed that the logo depicting a large
 tongue protruding from a mouth is the most famous
 logo in Rock & Roll history. It is the logo of what group?
  
  
 4. What were the names of the famous NBC newscasters
 who signed off each broadcast with:
        “ Good night, David.”
        “ Good night, Chet.”
  
 5. What does a kinologist study?
  
 6 In the Olympics Discus throw competition how much
 does the discus weigh?
  
 7.Fur is one of the official languages of what African
   country?
  
  

  
 8. In 1984, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
    established the Television Hall of Fame and inducted
     seven people. Can you name any 3 persons of the
     first seven inductees?
  
 9. A bit of IdMb trivia for this film, directed by John
 Ford and starring John Wayne as Captain Brittles
 Reveals that the regiment's blacksmith, named "Wagner" (Mickey Simpson), is seen at work, we can hear the orchestra playing the "Nibelung"-motif from Richard Wagner's famous opera, "Siegfried". In the opera the motif is connected with the forging of Siegfried's sword. What is the film?
  
 10. Ithaca and Kerykara are Greek islands in what sea?
  
 11.On November 25, 1864 the Winter Garden Theater
 in NYC presented a production of Julius Caesar. Junius
 Brutus Booth played Cassius and his brother Edwin Booth played Brutus. What part did the third brother—John Wilkes Booth – play?
  
 12. In the U.S. Presidential election of 1920 one of
 the major candidates on the ballot was a prisoner
 in a Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia . Who
 was he?
 
 
 13. What country has the oldest flag in the world?
 
 14. How many eyes does a scallop have?
  
      A. none
      B. 30
      C. 50
      D. 100
  
 15. What do the following all have in common?
  
  Mr. R. Nixon,  Phunky, Ty Kong, Wopsle, Squod
 Nobs, and Hookem?
 
 16. What U.S. President is associated with this
 piece of advice: “Speak softly, but carry a big stick.”
  
  
  
 17. What U.S. President gave Maxwell House Coffee
 its famous advertising slogan “Good to the Last Drop”?
 
 18. Edson Arantes do Nascimento is better known to
    the world by what single name? 
  
 19. Richard Strauss was, of course, a famous German
 composer and conductor, but what does his last name
 mean?
  
 20. What is paronomasia?
  
 
 
 
 ANSWERS
  
 1. Red (Do not ask me how scientists know such things)
  
 2. Sequoia
  
 3. The Rolling Stones
  
 4. David Brinkley and Chet Huntley
  
 5. A kinologist studies physics laws of motion 
  
 6. 4 pounds
  
 7. Dafur
  
 8. Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Paddy Chayesky, Norman Lear, Edward R. Murrow,  William S. Paley, David Sarnoff
  
 9. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
  
 10. The Ionian Sea
  
 11. He played Marc Anthony
  
 12.  Eugene Debs. He ran as a socialist candidate and
   received nearly one million votes.
  
 13. Denmark
  
 14.( D) 100
  
 15. They are names of characters  in works by Charles
       Dickens
  
 16. Theodore Roosevelt
  
 17.  Theodore Roosevelt.  According to The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations, Roosevelt uttered
 that phrase to Joel Cheek in 1907.
  
 18. Pele’, the great Brazilian soccer player
  
 19. According to Wikipedia , Strauss is a German: nickname for an awkward or belligerent person, from Middle High German struz 'quarrel', 'complaint'. ... Dutch: from a Germanic personal name, Strusso.
  
 20. According to the online Merriam Webster Dictionary, paronomasia was first used in 1571. It is from Latin, from Greek, from paronomazein to call with a slight change of name, from para- + onoma name — more at NAME. It is simply a long word meaning a pun or play on words.
  
  **
 
 
 POEM INSPIRED BY THE CONCLUSION
 TO  JANE EYRE, DEDICATED TO SOMEONE
 WITH A BAD MEMORY
 
 Reader, I married you.
  
  
 Louis Phillips