The answers
1. Whose voice says “You’ve got mail” on AOL?
A: Elwood Edwards.
The obligatory question having an answer provided by our friends at the Straight Dope.
2. What motto (a “three K” motto) was used to represent the duties of a german hausfrau?
A: Kinder, Kirche, Küche.
German words for children, church, kitchen.
3. If I’m blowing “Peg o’ My Heart” on my Hohner, what instrument am I playing? (no X-rated answers please.)
A: A harmonica.
The Hohner company is well-known for its harmonicas.
The Harmonicats’ big hit was “Peg o’ My Heart.”
4. At happy hour, we started discussing the DOS attacks that have plagued major internet sites (like Yahoo! and Ebay in the second week of February 1999). I said “It’s the companies’ fault! Instead of running MS-DOS, they should upgrade to Windows already.” Nerdy Jane started laughing at me, but after I got her in a headlock she explained to me what a DOS attack was. (explain what a DOS attack is)
A: A DOS attack is a “denial of service” attack. A denial-of-service attack doesn’t involve breaking into the target Web site server but simply overloading it – or the router connecting it to the rest of the Internet – with so much fake traffic that it becomes unable to cope. Once this is achieved and the site is overloaded, genuine users find themselves unable to get connections.
A DOS attack has nothing to do with Microsoft’s DOS (disk operating system.)
5. In what city is the world’s tallest building?
A: Kuala Lumpur.
The twin Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, are 88 stories and 452m tall.
Information Please Almanac, World’s Tallest Buildings
6. I am still pelted with fan mail for having written theme music named for the L & L siblings, and many of those fans write to me how that tune reminds them of their favourite childhood television special programs. (name the composer and the tune)
A: Vince Guaraldi, Linus and Lucy.
Linus and Lucy van Pelt are two of the recurring characters of the comic strip Peanuts, and Vince Guaraldi’s jazzy music was the score to the Peanuts television specials.
7. When in my belgian home I first drew these small blue characters (for another comic strip), I little knew they would spawn their own comic strip, then television shows and a dutch hit song in 1977. (name the characters and their creator)
A: Les schtroumpfs, created by comic book author Peyo.
“Les schtroumpfs” (english name: the smurfs) were originally characters in Peyo’s series “Johann et Pirlouit”, but then got their own comic book series. Dutch singer Vader Abraham had a big hit in Europe in the 1970s with his Smurf song. (ask Coldfire about it!)
8. Which cape is the southernmost point of Africa? If you think you know the answer, don’t get your hopes up! You might be wrong.
A: Cape Agulhas.
Cape Agulhas, 100 miles southeast of Cape of Good Hope, is the southernmost point of Africa. Agulhas is portuguese for needles: the cape has many saw-edged reefs and sunken rocks.
9. Speaking of south, what’s the southernmost national capital in the world? (name city and nation)
A: Wellington, New Zealand.
10. I was imprisoned in my youth for my political beliefs, but later I made it all the way to president of the country. Unfortunately for me, my presidency was cut short (I barely missed making it to the 1990’s) and after I was tried on Christmas day, you saw the bullet-ridden bodies of my spouse and me in your newspaper. (name the politican and the spouse)
A: Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu.
Nicolae Ceausescu, a prominent member of the Romanian Communist youth movement during the early 1930s, was imprisoned in 1936 and again in 1940 for his Communist Party activities. He became first secretary of Romania’s Communist Party in 1965 and president in 1967. He appointed his wife, Elena, and many members of his extended family to high posts in the goverment and party. Following anti-governmental demonstrations and the defection of the army in 1989, Ceausescu and his wife fled the capital in a helicopter but were captured and taken into custody by the armed forces. On December 25 the couple were hurriedly tried and convicted by a special military tribunal on charges of mass murder and other crimes. Ceausescu and his wife were then shot by a firing squad.
11. This hero of mine is most remembered, not for serving his country as a paratrooper, but for another accomplishment. I live in his hometown, and don’t begrudge the crosstown traffic drive to go see his memorial rock in the zoo. (name the famous person.)
A: Jimi Hendrix.
Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle on 27 november 1942, and the memorial dedicated to him at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle is an artifical rock in the African Savannah exhibit, surrounded by purple-hued shrubbery for that “purple haze” effect. At the time of the “unveiling”, there were many protests from fans who thought that the guitar hero deserved a more impressive tribute. N.B. His surviving family is planning on building a large statue in his honour in a Seattle park.
12. I vividly remember last New Year, when I got to play on an animal’s body part in my place of worship. Everyone complimented me on my prowess. (name the body part, and explain why I was expected to do what I did)
A: shofar, a traditional part of Rosh Hashana services.
Blowing of the ram’s horn, aka shofar, is part of the ritual on Rosh Hashana, also called Day of Judgment of Day of Remembrance. Rosh Hashana inaugurates the religious New Year on Tishri 1 (September or October). A distinctive feature of the liturgy is the blowing of the ram’s horn (shofar) as prescribed in Numbers 29:1; the notes of the shofar call the Jewish people to a spiritual awakening associated with the revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai. During the Additional Service in the synagogue, the shofar is sounded after the recital of each of three groups of prayers.
13. Hi, I’m Libby, and the riddle I’m asking you to solve is to tell me why my 1985 victory made me so dog-tired. (give Libby’s full name, and explain what she won)
A: Libby Riddles, winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
In 1985, Libby Riddles became the first woman to win the Iditarod.
14. In the nazi death camps, Jews were made to wear yellow stars, and communists red triangles. What were Gypsies made to wear?
A: brown or black triangles.
The “Asocial” category was, perhaps, the most diverse, including prostitutes, vagrants, murderers, thieves, lesbians, and those who violated laws prohibiting sexual intercourse between Aryans and Jews. In addition, while the brown triangle was used for Gypsies under certain circumstances, they were more often forced to wear the black triangle categorizing them as “asocials.”
Badges of the Holocaust.
15. What is the only Central American nation that does not border the Caribbean Sea?
A: El Salvador.
16. In this movie, a tramp is driven crazy by his factory job, goes to prison, works as a singing waiter, and finally finds love. I am the the director, writer, star, producer, and I wrote the music score. Who am I, and what’s the title of the movie?
A: Sir Charles Chaplin, Modern Times.
17. I have a brown skin, green flesh and black seeds, grow on a vine, and am sometimes called a gooseberry, but I’m more commonly known under this name in the USA.
**A: kiwi fruit.
also called chinese gooseberry, edible fruit of the vine Actinidia chinensis (family Actinidiaceae).
*18. London - Throgmorton
Have you seen that play, btw? It was without a doubt one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Tonya Pinkins, who played the female lead at the time, was formerly on one of the soap operas I watch, so I knew her work from that. She won a Tony, a Drama Desk award and something else I can’t remember for her performance in “Jelly’s.” If you haven’t seen it and it ever comes out this way, it’s a “must” to put on your list.