# 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:** 1754
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35067 "2017-05-31T15:49:57Z")
Homer Simpson was recently “inducted” into the Baseball Hall of Fame. [Cite](http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/homer-simpson-inducted-into-baseball-hall-of-fame-w484629) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35068 "2017-05-31T15:53:57Z")
The AAA (Pacific Coast League) Albuquerque Isotopes got their name from a Simpsons episode, in which the Springfield team is in danger of moving to Albuquerque. The name Isotopes can refer either to the Springfield nuclear plant or to Albuquerque’s Sandia National Laboratories. ---
**Author:** ![ozziemaland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@ozziemaland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozziemaland)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35069 "2017-05-31T16:42:17Z")
In a trial conducted on March 1, 1950, which lasted less than 90 minutes, German–British physicist Klaus Fuchs was convicted of violating the Official Secrets Act for supplying information from the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. While at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fuchs had been responsible for many significant theoretical calculations relating to the first **nuclear** weapons and later the early models of the hydrogen bomb. Fuchs confessed that he was a spy. He was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment and stripped of his British citizenship. He was released in 1959, after serving nine years, and emigrated to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). He died in Berlin at age 76. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35070 "2017-05-31T16:49:50Z")
To date, a known world total of [2120 nuclear weapons tests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_weapons_tests), in addition to the 2 military uses by the US in Japan, have been performed. The most-nuked country in the world is the US, with 904 detonations at the Nevada Test Site. ---
**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 31, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35071 "2017-05-31T18:33:04Z")
The Nevada Test Site is about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, and the mushroom clouds from above-ground tests could often be seen from the city in the 1950’s. However, the large majority of the tests were conducted underground. not in play: If you’re in Vegas and don’t want to gamble, see The Atomic Testing Museum ([National Atomic Testing Museum - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Atomic_Testing_Museum)). Neat place. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35072 "2017-05-31T19:29:35Z")
The Mushroom Men video games were developed for Nintendo on the Nintendo DS and Wii systems. The story begins when a comet crashes to the Earth, raining down a strange green dust in its wake. The space dust is harmless to humans and goes unnoticed, but they failed to notice that flora, fauna and fungi including mushrooms, cacti, and kudzu gained sentience. Also, this strange green dust mutated some of the animals too (such as rabbits, moles, spiders and opossums). In order to survive, the newly conscious mushroom people soon formed into tribes, and war inevitably followed. The story of The Spore Wars on Wii also chronicles the life of the main character Pax, a lone bolete mushroom who is trying to find his place in mushroom society. As Pax progresses he discovers a lepiota called Pester that plans to take over the world. Pax follows him to a trailer park where Pax battles him and causes him to fall to the floor below them, leaving Pester to be killed by a mutated fungi dog that devours him. Pax returns to the village and says good bye to the mushroom villagers, saying he’ll go where ever the wind takes him. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35073 "2017-06-01T04:57:04Z")
One early depiction of a mushroom cloud, for an explosion that is not a nuclear one, is [in a painting of the 1782 Franco-Spanish attack on Gibraltar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Siege_of_Gibraltar#/media/File:Vue_du_siege_de_Gibraltar_et_explosion_des_batteries_flottantes_1782.jpeg). ---
**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:** [June 1, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35074 "2017-06-01T16:08:36Z")
Amanita muscaria, a mushroom with hallucinogenic properties, was found growing on the Buckingham Palace grounds in December 2014. The discovery was made while gardening and ecological experts were touring the gardens in preparation for an ITV show called The Queen’s Garden. There are several hundred species of mushrooms growing in the palace gardens, including a number of the Amanita muscaria. It is understood that the mushrooms grew naturally in the palace grounds rather than having been planted there. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35075 "2017-06-01T16:20:49Z")
The Honey Mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae) is the world’s largest known organism. This massive organism covers 2,384 acres (nearly four square miles) of soil in Oregon’s Blue Mountains. The fungus is estimated to be 2,400 years old but could be as ancient as 8,650 years. ETA, article: [Oregon Humongous Fungus Sets Record As Largest Single Living Organism On Earth](http://www.opb.org/television/programs/ofg/segment/oregon-humongous-fungus/) ---
**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:** [June 1, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35076 "2017-06-01T16:32:36Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > The Honey Mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae) is the world’s largest known organism. This massive organism covers 2,384 acres (nearly four square miles) of soil in Oregon’s Blue Mountains. The fungus is estimated to be 2,400 years old but could be as ancient as 8,650 years. > > ETA, article: [Oregon Humongous Fungus Sets Record As Largest Single Living Organism On Earth](http://www.opb.org/television/programs/ofg/segment/oregon-humongous-fungus/) There is an interesting video (7-mins) in that article, about the honey mushroom, a.k.a. the “humongous fungus.” That post is still in play. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35077 "2017-06-01T18:11:16Z")
The blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived on earth. The maximum recorded weight was 190 metric tonnes for a specimen measuring 30 metres (98 ft), whereas longer ones, up to 33.4 metres (110 ft), have been recorded but not weighed. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35078 "2017-06-01T18:27:06Z")
“Back Door Man,” a song considered a classic of the Chicago blues genre, was written by Willie Dixon and recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1960 as the Bs9de side to “Wang Dang Doodle.” It would also be released in a rock version by the Doors on their first album. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35079 "2017-06-01T18:31:55Z")
Chuck Berry’s only Number 1 song was “My Ding-a-Ling”. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35080 "2017-06-01T18:37:35Z")
The controversy over the lyrics to My Ding-A-Ling was lampooned in The Simpsons episode “Lisa’s Pony” when which a Springfield Elementary School student attempts to sing the song during the school’s talent show. He barely finishes the first line of the refrain before an irate Principal Skinner pushes him off the stage, angrily proclaiming “This act is over.” ---
**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:** [June 1, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35081 "2017-06-01T20:11:10Z")
Mr. Ding-A-Ling Ice Cream operates over 60 seasonal trucks selling ice cream products in New York, Massachusetts and Vermont. …and no, I didn’t make it up: [http://www.mrdingaling.net/](http://www.mrdingaling.net/) ETA: Annie, in post #35067, you wrote: > [@](#): > > …the Bs9de side to "Wang Dang Doodle. Did you catch a case of the covfefes? ---
**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:** [June 2, 2017, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35082 "2017-06-02T03:33:56Z")
_My Ding-a-Ling_ songwriter Dave Bartholomew is in the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35083 "2017-06-02T15:04:27Z")
Ling-Ling (1969–92) and Hsing-Hsing (1970–99) were two giant pandas given to the United States as gifts by the government of China following President Richard Nixon’s visit in 1972. In return, the U.S. government sent China a pair of musk oxen. The pandas had been captured in the wild in June and December 1971. They arrived at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., on April 16, 1972, and were formally received several days later, on April 20, at a ceremony attended by First Lady Pat Nixon. While at the zoo, they attracted millions of visitors each year. Ling-Ling died of heart failure in 1992 and Hsing-Hsing was euthanized after suffering painful kidney failure in 1999. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2017, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35084 "2017-06-02T17:50:59Z")
Richard Nixon created the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency. ---
**Author:** ![ozziemaland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@ozziemaland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozziemaland)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35085 "2017-06-02T20:00:56Z")
One of Richard Nixon’s first moves, after being elected President in November 1968, was to appoint Miles Ambrose as the Nixon family attorney, according to an article that appeared in _The Wall Street Jounal_ about the time of his resignation from that office. According to the article, Ambrose had held high office in the Treasury Department in charge of Customs, and after his appointment made regular weekly trips to Switzerland. Nixon denied being a crook. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/35086 "2017-06-02T20:24:23Z")
Spiro Agnew was the second Vice-President of the United States to resign. The first was John C. Calhoun, who resigned to take a seat in the Senate. Following Agnew’s resignation, due to accusations of accepting bribes as Governor of Maryland, Agnew paid the state $10,000 for failing to pay taxes on the unannounced accepted bribes. A group of law students then successfully sued, demanding that he repay the bribes of $268,482. The Maryland Bar disbarred him for his no contest plea, calling him “Morally obtuse.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=1753) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=1755)