# 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:** 1481
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29607 "2016-05-20T14:57:51Z")
Away out here they’ve got a name For rain and wind and fire The rain is Tess, The fire’s Joe And they call the wind Maria ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29608 "2016-05-20T15:06:01Z")
Taoism has five elements, each one superior to the next in turn: wood, earth, water, fire, and metal. Metal conquers wood, wood conquers earth, et cetera. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29609 "2016-05-20T15:39:58Z")
In addition to the cycle of conquest, the five elements form a cycle of generation: Wood fuels fire; Fire forms earth; Earth contains metal; Metal carries water; Water feeds wood. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29610 "2016-05-20T15:48:56Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > The theorem cited in #29467 is usually attributed to Apollonius but appears in Aristotle’s _Meteorologica_. 😕 Aristotle was born more than a century before Apollonius. Here is #29,467: > [@septimus](#): > > Given a plane, points A and B in the plane, and positive r≠1, the locus of points P in the plane, with AP/BP = r forms a circle. Cool. Still in play: > [@septimus](#): > > In addition to the cycle of conquest, the five elements form a cycle of generation: Wood fuels fire; Fire forms earth; Earth contains metal; Metal carries water; Water feeds wood. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29611 "2016-05-20T15:54:49Z")
For the automobile the Mitsubishi Starion, its name is a contraction of ‘Star of Orion’. The sportier, wide-bodied version with prominent fender flares as a Plymouth Conquest TSi and was sold in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29612 "2016-05-20T16:37:36Z")
Three of Samuel Clemens’s siblings died in childhood. Of the other three, his brother Orion (pronounced to rhyme with Dorian) was a printer and sometimes lawyer who held a number of government posts in Iowa and Nevada but through bad business decisions and depression he could never make much of a living and wound up dependent on his brother Samuel. Sister Pamela was a gifted musician whose husband loaned Twain the money to become a pilot and who moved from Missouri to New York when she was widowed young. Henry Clemens, Twain’s kid brother, was the inspiration for Sid in Tom Sawyer in his goody-goodiness, but Twain stated he was much sweeter than Sid. Twain claimed to have had a vivid dream about his brother lying in a metal coffin with roses on his chest and dressed in one of Twain’s own suits shortly before Henry was killed at the age of 20 in a boiler explosion and was laid to rest in a rose topped metal coffin (metal coffins being rare at the time) wearing a suit of Twain’s he had borrowed without Twain’s knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29613 "2016-05-20T17:40:05Z")
Sidney K. “ **Sid** ” Meier is a Canadian programmer, designer, and producer of several popular strategy video games and simulation video games, most notably the Civilization series. In 2009, he was ranked second in IGN’s list of “Top Game Creators of All Time”, and was called "the ideal role model for any aspiring game designer. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29614 "2016-05-20T18:15:30Z")
Meijer (pronounced like Meier and Meyer) is a big box chain with over 100 stores in Michigan, where their name is as ubiquitous as WalMart and gross sales probably at least equal. So far, Meijer has expanded to only four neighboring states, where they have 100 more stores… The supermarket chain was founded in 1934, and the company is still owned and controlled by the Meijer family. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29615 "2016-05-20T19:24:08Z")
The film character Hyman Roth in _The Godfather Part II_ was based on Meyer Lansky, a mob figure with gambling ties to casinos in Las Vegas, Cuba, The Bahamas and London. Lansky was a member of the Jewish Mob. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29616 "2016-05-20T20:29:56Z")
The Duke of Windsor was the Governor of the Bahamas from 1940 to 1945, an effective exile for the duration of the WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29617 "2016-05-20T20:56:46Z")
The Windsor and the Half Windsor are the most common necktie knots used in the United States, with the Pratt being third. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29618 "2016-05-20T21:06:22Z")
Hartford CT’s international airport code is BDL for Bradley International Airport. BDL is New England’s second largest airport behind Boston’s Logan. BDL was named after 24-year-old Lt. Eugene M. Bradley of Antlers, Oklahoma, assigned to the 64th Pursuit Squadron, who died when his P-40 crashed during a dogfight training drill on August 21, 1941. BDL is located in Windsor Locks CT. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29619 "2016-05-20T22:31:52Z")
Michael Vick is the only human being in the history of the United States to spend more than 24 hours incarcerated for a crime associated with dogfighting. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29620 "2016-05-20T22:50:47Z")
Lunsford Richardson developed the formula for Vick’s Vaporub in 1894 when he created a salve for his children, after traveling to France. It is still sold today under the name Vick’s. aside: I suspect like most people my age (I’m 64), you can remember having your chest slathered by your parent(s) with Vicks to help you sleep at night when you were sick. Still remember that. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29621 "2016-05-20T23:51:23Z")
I’m 55 and I remember that too. When Vicks first introduced its cough drops on the German market, they were chagrined to learn that the German pronunciation of “v” is “f,” which in German is the guttural equivalent of “sexual penetration.” In other words, Vick you and the horse you rode in on. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29622 "2016-05-20T23:55:18Z")
Powered vessels that ferry people around in Venice are called Vaporettos. It comes from the Italian/Latinate word for “steam”, the original motive force for gondolas that were no longer rowed. Similar etymology to Vaporub, which gives off “steam”. Aside: For me, it was Vicks nose drops. I really hated those. Bullitt, I think you meant “gutter” pronunciation. The English equivalent is even more “guttural” than the German one, if that is possible. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29623 "2016-05-21T00:27:26Z")
Yes, gutter not guttural. Thanks **jtur88**. America’s first steam-powered railroad—the Baltimore & Ohio—opened in 1830, and within decades hundreds of thousands of railway miles crisscrossed the US. James Watt didn’t invent the steam engine, but he developed the means of measuring its power. Watt knew he needed a way to market his new product. He calculated how much power a single horse working in a mill could produce over a period of time (though many scientists now believe his estimates were far too high), a figure that he dubbed “horsepower.” Using this unit of measurement, he then came up with a figure that indicated how many horses just one of his engines could replace. The sales ploy worked and his engines soon became the industry standard, leading directly to invention of the first steam locomotive in 1804. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29624 "2016-05-21T00:45:44Z")
In one Miss Marple short story, the phrase “hundreds and thousands” is a key to Miss Marple reasoning how a man killed his wife by poison, without poisoning anyone else at the table. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29625 "2016-05-21T00:54:13Z")
In _Thelma and Louise_ (1991), Thelma, played by Geena Davis is the wife of Darryl, played by Chris McDonald. IRL, Geena Davis and Chris McDonald were engaged to be married, but they eventually did not get married. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/29626 "2016-05-21T00:57:22Z")
The tiny multicolored sugar sprinkles used to decorate children’s birthday cakes or cupcakes or as an ice cream topping have several other names. When chocolates sprinkles are mixed in they may be called “jimmies”; usage varies according to region. In British English, they are “sugar strands” or “hundreds-and-thousands” (the term refers to their supposed uncountability) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=1480) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=1482)