# 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:** 2075
**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:** [December 16, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41489 "2018-12-16T02:13:19Z")
Grease is a semisolid lubricant. It generally consists of a soap emulsified with mineral or vegetable oil. Greases are applied to mechanisms that can only be lubricated infrequently and where a lubricating oil would not stay in position. They also act as sealants to prevent ingress of water and incompressible materials. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2018, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41490 "2018-12-16T03:12:06Z")
“Soapy Sam” was a nickname for Bishop Samuel Wilberforce of the Church of England, third son of William Wilberforce, the anti-slavery crusader He was a notable public speaker, but not all appreciated his speaking style. Disraeli commented that his manner was “unctuous, oleaginous, and saponaceous” - in short, soap. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41491 "2018-12-16T03:47:15Z")
At the beginning of a game of chess, bishops are approximately equal in strength to knights, but that may change, depending on the game situation. Bishops usually gain in relative strength towards the endgame. As the board opens up as other pieces are captured, a pair of bishops is decidedly superior to either a bishop and a knight, or two knights. Two bishops and king can force checkmate against a lone king, whereas two knights cannot. A bishop and knight can force mate, but with far greater difficulty than two bishops. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41492 "2018-12-16T04:32:07Z")
The terminology of modern chess has Persian etymological roots: the Persian word rukh (“rook”) means chariot; the term shah mat (“checkmate”) means, literally, “the king is frozen”. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2018, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41493 "2018-12-16T04:54:56Z")
American director Stanley Kubrick was a big chess fan and often played it on his film sets. He included a chess game between astronaut Frank Poole and the supercomputer HAL in _2001: A Space Odyssey_. Some chess experts think the game revealed that HAL was either cheating or overstating the likelihood that he would force a checkmate. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41494 "2018-12-16T06:05:18Z")
Canadian actor Douglas Rain provided the voice of the HAL 9000 computer in both _2001: A Space Odyssey_ and _2010: The Year We Make Contact_. Rain, who passed away last month, was primarily a stage actor, and was one of the founding members of the Stratford Festival, an annual repertory festival in Stratford, Ontario, which primarily focuses on productions of Shakespeare’s plays. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2018, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41495 "2018-12-16T07:31:36Z")
Canadian-born actor Dan Aykroyd was born and raised in Ottawa. Up until he was 17 years old, he wanted to be a priest. But as a priest he probably could not call out, “Jane, you ignorant slut!” ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41496 "2018-12-16T16:03:53Z")
Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin and Michelle Burke starred in _Coneheads_, a 1993 movie based on the Saturday Night Live comedy sketches. Although the movie did well at the box office, grossing over 21 million dollars, it received generally unfavorable reviews. Other notable names who appeared in the movie include David Spade, Chris Farley, Sinbad, Adam Sandler, Drew Carey, and Ellen DeGeneres. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41497 "2018-12-16T16:13:35Z")
Adam Sandler’s _The Chanukah Song_ was written by him, and originally performed by him on Saturday Night Live’s _Weekend Update_ on December 3, 1994. Persons referenced in the song include: “You” (The hypothetical Jewish listener) “Me” (Sandler himself) David Lee Roth James Caan Kirk Douglas Dinah Shore (replaced in some performances with Pauly Shore) Jon Bauman (Bowzer from Sha Na Na) Arthur Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) Paul Newman (half-Jewish) Goldie Hawn (half-Jewish) - and their hypothetical child — “What a fine-looking Jew! Captain Kirk (William Shatner) Spock (Leonard Nimoy) “The owner of the Seattle Super-Sonic-ah’s” (founding partners Sam Schulman and Gene Klein, both Jews, had sold it to the non-Jewish Barry Ackerley in 1985, nine years before the song was written. The situation would correct itself when Ackerley sold the team to another Jew, Howard Schultz, in 2001.) O. J. Simpson was declared as “not a Jew!” to great applause from the audience. Rod Carew (Sandler erroneously claims “he converted;” Carew’s wife and children are Jewish but he is not. Carew later contacted Sandler and said he found the song rather funny.) Ann Landers (Eppie Lederer) “Dear Abby” (Pauline Phillips at the time) Harrison Ford (Sandler understated Ford’s Jewish ancestry by saying he is only a quarter-Jewish; Ford’s mother was Jewish). Ebenezer Scrooge, described as not Jewish. All of The Three Stooges (brothers Moe, Shemp and Curly Howard; Larry Fine; and Joe Besser) Tom Cruise, a Scientologist, is mentioned in the song as not Jewish (Sandler jokes during the song that he “hear(s) his agent is” Jewish). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41498 "2018-12-16T18:24:49Z")
In an earlier season of SNL, Jon Lovitz introduced [Hanukkah Harry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah_Harry) into the canon. > [@](#): > > Hanukkah Harry’s first appearance on SNL was on Season 15: Episode 9, a show first broadcast on December 16, 1989, with guest host Andie MacDowell, in a sketch titled “The Night Hanukkah Harry Saved Christmas”, that viewers are told is sponsored by Hallmark Cards in association with the Jewish Anti-Defamation League. Unable to deliver toys to children due to a stomach virus, Santa calls Hanukkah Harry (Jon Lovitz) at his workshop on Mount Sinai, asking if he could fill in. Hanukkah Harry agrees and flies through the air on a cart pulled by three donkeys, Moische, Herschel and Schlomo. Hanukkah Harry lands on a roof and climbs down the chimney of the home of Scott (Mike Myers) and Christine (Victoria Jackson), offering gifts of slacks and socks respectively, as well as chocolate coins and a dreidel. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41499 "2018-12-16T20:25:03Z")
The English version of the classic children’s Hanukkah song, “I have a little dreidel”, refers to a spinning-top dreidel made of clay, which does not spin particularly well. The Yiddish version of the song states that the dreidel is made of ‘blay’ (Yiddish: בלײַ‎), which is lead, a common material for toys in the past. Online instructions for making a dreidel out of clay feature polymer clay, other store-bought quick-dry modeling clays, or homemade modeling clay (using flour, salt and water) which dries after baking. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41500 "2018-12-16T21:28:50Z")
A dreidel is a spinning top, with four sides, each marked with a different Hebrew letter – nun, gimel, hay and shin. The custom of playing dreidel on Hanukkah is based on a legend that, during the time of the Maccabees, when Jewish children were forbidden from studying Torah, they would defy the decree and study anyway. When a Greek official would come close they would put away their books and take out spinning tops, claiming they were just playing games. The letters on the dreidel are the first letters in a Hebrew phrase that means “A Great Miracle Happened There” (“There” being the land of Israel). In Israel, the letter peh (for the Hebrew word “po,” meaning “here”) replaces the letter shin to spell out “A Great Miracle Happened Here.” [myJewishLearning.com – What Is A Dreidel?](https://goo.gl/hgfVJe) ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41501 "2018-12-16T22:38:40Z")
The British Mandate for Palestine was amended in 1939 to specify that the Hebrew, Arabic, and English languages were to be used for all official publications. This law was adopted by the new State of Israel in 1948, but it was amended to exclude English from the list. Then, in July of 2018, a law was passed by the Knesset that defined Hebrew as “the State’s language” and Arabic as a language with “a special status in the State.” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41502 "2018-12-16T23:54:42Z")
Hebrew was dead as a spoken language for two thousand years, only quite recently brought back into common, everyday first usage by a substantial number of people. It is the only known example of this happening. ---
**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:** [December 17, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41503 "2018-12-17T01:07:33Z")
Hebrew National is a brand of kosher hot dogs and sausages made by ConAgra Foods. The site of Hebrew National’s manufacturing plant was New York City for many years; it moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1989. The Indianapolis plant was closed down in 2004 as operations were consolidated with the ConAgra Foods/Armour hot dog plant in Quincy, Michigan. ---
**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:** [December 17, 2018, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41504 "2018-12-17T05:37:24Z")
John Quincy Adams pronounced his middle name as “Quinsey”. ---
**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:** [December 17, 2018, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41505 "2018-12-17T12:38:05Z")
Quincy, Massachusetts is the birthplace of Howard Johnson’s and Dunkin Donuts. Or I guess it’s now called just Dunkin’, not Dunkin’ Donuts ([CNBC.com](http://CNBC.com) story, [https://goo.gl/5QQ7z1](https://goo.gl/5QQ7z1)) ---
**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:** [December 17, 2018, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41506 "2018-12-17T14:23:08Z")
The first Howard Johnson’s restaurant and Howard Johnson’s company received an incredible break in 1929, owing to an unusual set of circumstances: The mayor of nearby Boston, Malcolm Nichols, banned the planned production of Eugene O’Neill’s play, Strange Interlude, in the city of Boston. Rather than fight the mayor, the Theatre Guild moved the production to Quincy. The five-hour play was presented in two parts with a dinner break. The first Howard Johnson’s restaurant was near the theater; hundreds of influential Bostonians flocked to the restaurant. Through word of mouth, more Americans became familiar with the Howard Johnson’s company. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41507 "2018-12-17T14:32:33Z")
John Hillerman, best known as Robin Masters’ major-domo and Magnum’s co-worker Jonathan Quayle Higgins III, was actually a Texan who was previously best known as Rock Ridge townsman Howard Johnson in _Blazing Saddles_. ---
**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:** [December 17, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41508 "2018-12-17T14:35:46Z")
Howard Johnson’s, “which redefined how a broad swath of middle-class families dined on the road,” is one of the featured eateries in Yale historian Paul Freedman’s 2016 book, _Ten Restaurants That Changed America_. > **[Food For Thought: 10 Restaurants That Shaped America](https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/09/21/494262209/food-for-thought-ten-restaurants-that-shaped-america)** > > A Yale historian's new book explores America's changing tastes, and what they say about our culture — from class mobility to civil rights to women's changing status. ETA: Higgins would never have been caught dead in a HoJo’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=2074) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=2076)