Trivia Dominoes II — Play Off the Last Bit of Trivia — continued! (Part 1)

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3207

In Marvel comics, the metallic material known as “vibranium” has the ability to absorb sonic vibrations and kinetic energy, as well as being a potent mutagen. Vibranium arrived on Earth roughly 10,000 years ago, when a meteorite struck the planet’s surface, at what is now the location of the fictional African nation of Wakanda; the remnants of that meteorite are the sole source of vibranium on Earth.

In the comic books, vibranium is one of the elements of Captain America’s shield, and is used in the construction of Black Panther’s high-tech suit.

3208

In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acceleration, the body maintains this kinetic energy unless its speed changes. The same amount of work is done by the body when decelerating from its current speed to a state of rest. The standard unit of kinetic energy is the joule, while the English unit of kinetic energy is the foot-pound.

3209

James Joule was the inheritor of his father’s brewery in England, and aside from a hobby, his first exposure to science was to replace the brewery’s steam engine with the newly-invented electric motor. Joule went on to develop the theory of kinetic energy.

3210

The King James Version of the Bible was first published in 1611. There were two editions published that year, known as the “He” and “She” versions, due to a mistaken pronoun which should have referred to Ruth, but was printed as “he” in the first edition.

A version printed in 1631 is known as the “Wicked Bible” because of a missing “not”. In that edition, the Seventh Commandment was printed as “Thou shalt commit adultery.” The printers were fined 300 pounds.

3211

On May 20, 1631, after a two-month siege, an Imperial army under the command of Count Tilly storms the German city of Magdeburg, and brutally sacks it, massacring over 20,000 inhabitants. Shocked by the massacre, many Protestant states in the Holy Roman Empire decide to ally with Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, and support his ongoing invasion.

3212

Volvo is the largest company in Sweden, based on its annual revenue of $45 billion. While Volvo cars are well-known, especially the iconic station wagon, the company’s current focus is heavy-duty trucks.

(I drove Volvo station wagons for decades and miss their simplicity)

3213

Crazy People is a 1990 comedy, starring Dudley Moore, as an advertising executive who begins writing brutally honest ads, for which one of his colleagues has him committed to a psychiatric hospital. While at the hospital, he and the other residents work together to develop painfully honest (but highly successful) advertising.

Among the honest ads which are created is one for Volvo, with the headline, “Buy Volvos. They’re boxy, but they’re good.”

3214

Volvo means “I roll” in Latin, and is one of three world auto brands that is a sentence in Latin. The others are Audi (“He heard”) and Fiat (“So be it”).

3215

Fiat money is a currency established as money, often by government regulation. Fiat money does not have intrinsic value and does not have use value (inherent utility, such as a cow or beaver pelt might have). It has value only because a government maintains its value, or because parties engaging in exchange agree on its value. Government-issued fiat money banknotes were used first during the 11th century in China. Since President Nixon’s decision to decouple the U.S. dollar from gold in 1971, a system of national fiat currencies has been used globally.

3216

Richard Nixon was elected president in the 1968 election, with a slim margin of victory in the popular vote. He defeated Hubert Humphrey by about 500,000 votes, or 7/10 of a percentage point. The electoral college totals were not as close, as Nixon received 301 electoral college votes to 190 for Humphrey and 46 for George Wallace.

In the 1972 election, Nixon soundly defeated George McGovern, receiving over 60% of the popular vote. In the electoral college, McGovern won only the state of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

3217

Keokuk, a small town in Iowa, had a major league baseball team in 1875, the first year of professional baseball. They folded after a 1-13 start, but the Westerns weren’t that bad, losing the last two games by the close scores of 6-4 and 1-0.

3218

Perhaps, but a monarch can choose a regnal name, so it’s not a sure thing. Prince Charles has indicated he’d rule as George VII.

In play:

In 1920, three American League baseball teams (Yankees, Red Sox, and White Sox) agreed to switch to the National League, which would play as a 12-team league. The twelfth team would either be the next AL club to join or, if no one did, an expansion team in Detroit (the largest city with only one team). Detroit owner Frank Navin convinced the three “Insurrectos” to stay by setting up the commissioner system.

3219

In 1953, Detroit almost got into the NL again. The St. Louis Cardinals had no stadium if their own, and club owner Fred Saigh was being sent to prison for tax evasion. The best fire-sale offer came from Detroit buyers. Instead , they were on the brink of moving to Houston, when the Busch family finally moved in and saved the Cardinals.

3220

From 2001 through 2020, three Major League Baseball teams played in stadiums named for beer companies (or the owners thereof):

  • The St. Louis Cardinals played in two different Busch Stadiums during those years
  • The Colorado Rockies played in Coors Field
  • The Milwaukee Brewers played in Miller Park

Although the Brewers are not changing stadiums for the upcoming 2021 season, Miller’s naming rights for the stadium ended after the 2020 season; the stadium is now known as American Family Field, as American Family Insurance is now the title sponsor.

3221

American Family Insurance’s history began on October 3, 1927 when insurance salesman Herman Wittwer opened the doors of Farmers Mutual Insurance Company in Madison, Wisconsin. At the time, the company’s only product was auto insurance and its target market was farmers. Wittwer believed farmers presented lower risks than city drivers because they drove less often and not at all in the winter. In 1963, Farmers Mutual changed its name to American Family Mutual Insurance Company to reflect its broader customer base.

3222

Foraminifera are animals of one of the lower orders, having a single cell but multiple nuclei. Ten thousand living species are know, mostly about a millimeter in diameter, but as largest is a foot across. Most are marine but some live in the soil. Their feeding habits, like huge amoebas, have been described as the most terrifying predator on earth.

3223

Marineland of the Pacific was a public oceanarium located located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula coast in Los Angeles County. It opened in 1954, one year before Disneyland. It was best known for its performing orcas or “killer whales”. It operated until 1987, when it was purchased by the owners of SeaWorld San Diego, who moved the animals to their facility and abruptly closed Marineland.

3224

MH and MHL are the ISO-3166 country codes for the Marshall Islands, a republic island country and associated state (as opposed to protectorate) of the USA in the Pacific. MH is east of the Philippines, north of New Zealand, and northeast of New Guinea and Australia.

Maps:

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[Album] MHL, MH Marshall Islands

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[Album] MHL Ratak, Ralik Chains

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MHL comprises 29 atolls and 5 islands in two groups named the Ratak Chain to the east, and the Ralik Chain to the west. Ratak means sunrise and Ralik means sunset in the Marshallese language.

The Ratak Chain comprises these atolls and islands:
Ailuk Atoll
Arno Atoll
Aur Atoll
Bikar Atoll
Bokak Atoll
Erikub Atoll
Jemo Island
Knox Atoll
Likiep Atoll
Majuro Atoll
Maloelap Atoll
Mejit Island
Mili Atoll
Taka Atoll
Utirik Atoll
Wotje Atoll

The Ralik Chain comprises these:
Ailinginae Atoll
Ailinglaplap Atoll
Bikini Atoll
Ebon Atoll
Enewetak Atoll
Jabat Island
Jaluit Atoll
Kili Island
Kwajalein Atoll
Lae Atoll
Lib Island
Namdrik Atoll
Namu Atoll
Rongdrik Atoll
Rongelap Atoll
Ujae Atoll
Ujelang Atoll
Wotho Atoll

Of these, perhaps the most familiar are the Bikini Atoll, Enewetak Atoll, and Kwajalein Atoll.

Bikini Atoll was a nuclear test site in the 1940s and 1950s. The US detonated 23 nuclear devices between 1946 and 1958 at seven test sites on the reef, inside the atoll, in the air, and underwater. They had a combined fission yield of 42.2 Mt. The testing began with the Operation Crossroads series in July 1946. The residents initially accepted resettlement voluntarily to Rongerik Atoll, believing that they would be able to return home within a short time. However, Rongerik could not produce enough food, and the islanders starved. They could not return home, so they were relocated to Kwajalein Atoll for six months before choosing to live on Kili Island, a small island one-sixth the size of their home island. Some were able to return to Bikini Island in 1970; however, further testing revealed dangerous levels of strontium-90. The United States government established several trust funds which as of 2013 covered medical treatment and other costs and paid about $550 annually to each individual.

Yes you read that right, $550 annually per person.

Enewatak Atoll, a large coral atoll of 40 islands known to the Japanese as Brown Island or Brown Atoll, was also a nuclear test site during those same decades. 43 tests were conducted. Additionally, test missile nose cones were tested to splash down in the vicinity. The short story The Terminal Beach by J. G. Ballard is set on an island of Eniwetok in the aftermath of the nuclear tests.

Kwajalein Atoll is one of the world’s largest atolls as measured by the area of enclosed water. It comprises 97 islands and islets. The WWII Battle of Kwajalein, 31 January - 03 February 1944, was part of the island hopping campaign in the US’s advance on Japan. On 01 February 1944, Kwajalein was the target of the most concentrated bombardment of the Pacific War. Thirty-six thousand shells from naval ships and ground artillery on a nearby islet struck Kwajalein, in addition to B-24 Liberator bombers’ bombardments.

The word atoll comes from a word meaning the palm of the hand in the Dhivehi language spoken on the Maldives.

3225

There are more than 400 atolls in the world, all of which are “artificial” islands. They were created by living organisms, without whom the atolls could not exist.

3226

The Great Chagos Bank in the Indian Ocean, between Sri Lanka and Madagascar and about 500 miles south of Maldives (map, Google Maps), is the largest atoll structure in the world.

[Album] imgur.com

It is mostly underwater, except for tiny Nelsons Island which is 1 mile long and 0.1 mile wide.

[Album] imgur.com