# 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:** 1655
**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:** [November 27, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33087 "2016-11-27T04:42:38Z")
Solomon Popoli Ntsele Linda never benefited from the success of his song “Mbube”, which was adapted as “Wimoweh” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. He was well known for the song in South Africa but even after Pete Seeger, The Weavers and The Tokens covered it, he died in poverty in 1962. It was not until February 2006 that Linda’s heirs were able to share in the song’s profits when they attained a legal settlement with Abilene Music company, which had the worldwide rights and had licensed the song to Disney for the film _The Lion King_. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33088 "2016-11-27T05:29:57Z")
Pete Seeger’s version of _Mbube_, or _The Lion Sleeps Tonight_, from 1952, was titled _Wimoweh_. In Zulu, “Mbube” means “lion”. When Solomon Linda and his group, the Original Evening Birds, cut a 78-rpm recording of the song in 1939, it became the first African record to sell over 100,000 copies. The best known version of the song in the USA is from 1961 by The Tokens. It was a #1 hit single that year. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33089 "2016-11-27T06:26:27Z")
The next big African hit was “Skokiaan”, bu the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm Band, in what was then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). It ws quickly covered in the US by Ralph Marterie’s Band. A set of lyrics were written for it, recorded by the Four Ladss, in 1954. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2016, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33090 "2016-11-27T06:42:04Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > The next big African hit was “Skokiaan”, bu the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm Band, in what was then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). It ws quickly covered in the US by Ralph Marterie’s Band. A set of lyrics were written for it, recorded by the Four Ladss, in 1954. Intersting. Never heard it before. YouTube: - [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oxnXcBBdUBU](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oxnXcBBdUBU) (Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm Band, 1947) - [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zpndaJnGzz0](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zpndaJnGzz0) (Four Lads, 1954) Cecil John Rhodes was the only Brit ever to have a country named after him. He went on to become Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and to found the Rhodes Scholarships. Money donated by him was also used to establish Rhodes House, Oxford, and its library. The former territory named Rhodesia is now Zambia and Zimbabwe. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2016, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33091 "2016-11-27T07:42:58Z")
The Colossus of Rhodes is estimated to have been about the same height as the Statue of Liberty. It is mentioned in Shakespeare’s _Julius Caesar_, where Cassius in tempting Brutus refers to Caesar as a colossus best riding the world. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33092 "2016-11-27T10:57:09Z")
Local culinary specialities of Rhodes include: avranies, koulouria, pitaroudia, pouggia, tsirigia, fanouropita, katimeria, melekouni, pouggakia, takakia, or mantinades, and muchalebi. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33093 "2016-11-27T16:06:05Z")
In economics, a _monopoly_ is where _one **seller** _ interacts with many buyers, and a _monopsony_ is where _one **buyer** _ interacts with many sellers. The De Beers diamond company, throughout most of the 20th century, had almost total control of the diamond market as both a monopoly and a monopsony. De Beers used its dominant position to manipulate and control the international diamond market. De Beers’ market share of rough diamonds was as high as 90% in the 1980s. De Beers was founded in 1888 by Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes lived from 1853 to 1902. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33094 "2016-11-27T16:26:00Z")
In Monopoly, the least probable square you can land on is Park Place. Because seven is the most frequent roll and it is impossible to land on Park Place with a roll of seven. It is also not one of the 14 squares you can be sent to by order of a Chance or Community Chest card. ---
**Author:** ![ozziemaland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@ozziemaland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozziemaland)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33095 "2016-11-27T17:57:24Z")
On April 5, 1847, Britain’s first civic public\*\* park\*\* opened in in Birkenhead, Merseyside. It included the Swiss Bridge, a wood 23-foot covered bridge for pedestrians made of stringer construction. It was, and is still today, unique as being the only covered bridge of traditional wooden construction in the UK, being similar to North American and European covered bridges. In addition to the bridge— and paths, lawns, woods, and gardens later greatly admired by Frederick Law Olmsted—motorists today can drive around the outer circular road and park along it anywhere. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33096 "2016-11-27T22:07:09Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The Colossus of Rhodes is estimated to have been about the same height as the Statue of Liberty. It is mentioned in Shakespeare’s _Julius Caesar_, where Cassius in tempting Brutus refers to Caesar as a colossus **best riding** the world. Not quite: “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world. Like a Colossus, and we petty men…” _Julius Caesar_, Act 1, Scene 2 In play: Adolf Hitler had a portrait of Frederick the Great of Prussia, whom he greatly admired, hanging in his private quarters in the _Fuhrerbunker_ in Berlin. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33097 "2016-11-27T23:18:24Z")
Blame fat fingers and auto-correct! _In-play_ one of the ironies of Hitler’s search for “racial purity” is that it is believed that the name “Berlin” is derived from a West Slavic language, Old Polabian, rather than being etymologically German. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33098 "2016-11-28T00:17:37Z")
About 2800 Polabian words are known (but of prosaic writings, only a few prayers, one wedding song and a few folktales). Immediately before the language became extinct several people started to collect phrases, compile wordlists and were engaged with folklore of the Polabian Slavs, but only one of them appears to have been a native speaker of Polabian (himself leaving only 13 pages of linguistically relevant material from a 310-page manuscript). The last native speaker of Polabian, a woman, died in 1756, and the last person who spoke limited Polabian died in 1825. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33099 "2016-11-28T00:44:40Z")
Today, Slavs range from the west at central Europe and the eastern Adriatic coast, and east into Asia. Slavs are comprised of Poles, Czechs and Slovaks at the west; Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians at the east; and Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, ethnic Macedonians, Slovenes, Montenegrins, and Bulgarians at the south. The first written use of the name “Slavs” dates to the sixth century, when the Slavic tribes inhabited a large portion of Central and Eastern Europe. By that century, native Iranian ethnic groups (the Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans) had been absorbed by the region’s Slavic population. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2016, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33100 "2016-11-28T01:59:47Z")
In June 1876, Serbia and the Ottoman Empire were engaged in the Serbo-Turkish War (1876–78). Russia openly supported Serbia. The Russian Musical Society commissioned an orchestral piece from the composer Tchaikovsky for a concert for the Red Cross Society, and the benefit of wounded Serbian veterans. Many Russians sympathized with their fellow Slavs and Orthodox Christians and sent volunteer soldiers and aid to assist Serbia. Tchaikovsky referred to the piece as his “Serbo-Russian March” while writing it. It was premiered in Moscow in November 1876, and is widely known today by its French name, _Marche Slave_. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2016, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33101 "2016-11-28T02:14:04Z")
My maternal grandfather, Alexander Artymiak, a Russian with family in St. Petersburg and Moscow, played violin and studied under Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. My sister and I both grew up playing violin, at one point I was my school’s concertmaster, and we sought and bought my grandfather’s old violin. It remains in the family. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2016, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33102 "2016-11-28T02:25:25Z")
If you are ever in Yellowknife, be sure to have Arctic Char at Bullocks Bistro on the shores of Great Slave Lake. ---
**Author:** ![ozziemaland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@ozziemaland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozziemaland)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33103 "2016-11-28T03:09:22Z")
On August 21, 1791, slaves of Saint Domingue (present-day Haiti) rose in revolt, starting the Haitian Revolution. The result was the elimination of slavery and the founding of the Republic of Haiti. The Haitian Revolution is the only slave revolt that led to the founding of a state. It is generally considered the most successful slave rebellion ever. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33104 "2016-11-28T04:26:37Z")
Toussaint Louverture, leader of the Haitian Revolution, has been called “Napoleon Noir” (french for Black Napoleon) and “Black Spartacus.” ---
**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:** [November 28, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33105 "2016-11-28T04:43:16Z")
> [@gkster](#): > > Toussaint Louverture, leader of the Haitian Revolution, has been called “Napoleon Noir” (french for Black Napoleon) and “Black Spartacus.” In Latin, the English word _trivium_ (plural _trivia_) means “triple-way” - three roads, _tri_ and _viae_. This word was used referring to areas where “three ways meet” (e.g. roads and rivers). During medieval times, a basic liberal arts education from a university consisted primarily of **grammar** , **logic** , and **rhetoric** , called a “\*trivium/I]” - the liberal arts, the _arte trivialle_. After the _trivium_ was completed, students would then be commonly taught the more complex _quadrivium_ of geometry, astronomy, music, and arithmetic. In this context, “trivial” meant of interest only to the undergraduate. In the 1500s William Shakespeare used the word trivia to mean trite, commonplace, unimportant, and slight. The game Trivial Pursuit was created in December 1979 in Montreal, Quebec (where they speak **French** ), by Canadian Chris Haney, a photo editor for Montreal’s The Gazette, and Scott Abbott, a sports editor for The Canadian Press. In North America, the game’s popularity peaked in 1984 when over 20 million games were sold. Well, that makes 5,000 and 20,000 for me here - see ya, it’s been fun but I’m taking a break. Thank you, fellow trivia gamers. I have enjoyed this game and the banter. Take care, y’all, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a Happy and Healthy New Year in 2017 to you and yours. Sincerely, **Bullitt** ---
**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:** [November 28, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/33106 "2016-11-28T15:14:56Z")
The abacus, also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool that was in use in Europe, China and Russia and is still used by merchants, traders and clerks in some parts of Eastern Europe, Russia, China and Africa. It can be used to do various types of **arithmetic**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=1654) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=1656)