# Trivia Dominoes: Play Off the Last Bit of Trivia **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [February 4, 2010, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657 "2010-02-04T08:12:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 135
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2681 "2010-04-08T11:15:13Z")
Because of the Teapot Dome scandal and other scandals in Warren G Harding’s administration, polls of historians and scholars consistently rank Harding as one of the worst Presidents. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2682 "2010-04-08T12:42:10Z")
Harding’s most lasting achievements was in popularizing the phrase “return to normalcy.” He was castigated for supposedly coining the term “normacy,” but the OED indicates the word had been used at least 70 years before in the same meaning. Harding also said, "“We must have a citizenship less concerned about what the government can do for it… and more concerned about what it can do for the nation” which parallels John F. Kennedy’s "Ask not what your country can do for you . . . " ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2683 "2010-04-08T12:48:29Z")
John F Kennedy, due to his assassination happening just before a Superman comic book in which he appeared hit the stands, has been counted among the casualties of the so-called Superman Curse. (Unfortunately for DC, the books had shipped before the assassination, they just hadn’t come out, yet.) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2684 "2010-04-08T14:00:41Z")
Depending on who’s using the term and in what context, “The Irish Curse” can have two different meanings. If the speaker is somber and serious, he’s referring to the all-too-real phenomenon of Irish alcoholism. If he’s laughing and joking, he’s referring to the widespread belief that all Irish men have tiny schlongs. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2685 "2010-04-08T15:27:44Z")
“Schlong” is thought to be derived from the German word _schlange_, meaning “serpent.” ---
**Author:** ![bearman217](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@bearman217](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bearman217)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2686 "2010-04-08T16:30:40Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > “Schlong” is thought to be derived from the German word _schlange_, meaning “serpent.” In the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, the rings of the Aes Sedai are designed as a great serpent biting its own tail. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2687 "2010-04-08T16:46:01Z")
No one has been named Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” more often than Joseph Stalin. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2688 "2010-04-08T17:24:18Z")
_Morris Day and the Time_ experienced a resurgence in popularity as a band after appearing in Kevin Smith’s _Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back_ in 1995. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2689 "2010-04-08T17:26:16Z")
The personal computer was _Time_ magazine’s first “Machine of the Year.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2690 "2010-04-08T18:15:44Z")
H.G. Wells’s **The Time Machine** popularized the concept of traveling through time by a mechanical device and is cited as being the first use of the term in that context. It was designed as a criticism of British society, which Wells saw as dividing into the rich and lazy (eloi) vs. poor and doing manual labor (morlocks). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2691 "2010-04-08T18:51:17Z")
The rock band Tin Machine consisted of David Bowie and two sons of comedian Soupy Sales. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2692 "2010-04-08T20:02:39Z")
The _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ episode “Tin Man” was about a race between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire to make first contact with a very sophisticated alien artificial intelligence probe, which had been given a _Wizard of Oz_-inspired codename. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2693 "2010-04-08T20:02:57Z")
_Tinpot_ is a condescending British adjective for something inferior or dismissable. Tim Rice used it in the lyrics for _Evita_ (“Who the hell does the king of England think he is?/Tea at some tinpot castle of his…”) and _Chess_ (“you’d rather perhaps/see her world collapse/for a tinpot competition!?”). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2694 "2010-04-08T20:11:39Z")
“Travis Tea” was the pen name of a group of science fiction writers who wanted to write the worst possible novel in order to prove that vanity press publisher PublishAmerica would take anything sent to them. Their result, **Atlanta Nights** was indeed accepted, despite being deliberately wretched. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2695 "2010-04-08T20:27:15Z")
There is always a color in the title of every mystery novel featuring Travis McGee. It was long speculated that, when author John D. MacDonald finally got around to killing off McGee, “Black” would be the color in the title. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2696 "2010-04-08T21:22:47Z")
At the age of 26, William B. Travis was a lieutenant colonel in army of the breakaway Republic of Texas and commander of the regular troops at the Battle of the Alamo. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2697 "2010-04-08T21:40:59Z")
Travis “Machine Gun” Grant scored 4045 points for Kentucky State and became the all-time leading scorer in United States college basketball history. His mark, set in 1972, has yet to be topped. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2698 "2010-04-08T23:17:30Z")
Kentucky State University was chartered in 1886 and opened in 1887 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons. In 1890, the U.S. Government made the school a land grant institution. ---
**Author:** ![bearman217](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@bearman217](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bearman217)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2699 "2010-04-08T23:41:47Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > Kentucky State University was chartered in 1886 and opened in 1887 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons. In 1890, the U.S. Government made the school a land grant institution. The NAACP started as a protest group led by W.E.B. Du Bois on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls called “the Niagara Movement.” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2700 "2010-04-08T23:46:17Z")
The Niagara Conference was an attempt to resolve the Civil War peacefully in 1864 sponsored on the Canadian side of the Falls by Horace Greeley in the North and Clement Clay from the Confederacy. Two of the many reasons it was damned from the start were that Jefferson Davis refused to entertain any notion that would end slavery (including gradual emancipation or even purchase) and Abraham Lincoln refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Confederate government by considering diplomatic negotiations with their representatives. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=134) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=136)