# 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:** 2083
**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 26, 2018, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41649 "2018-12-26T16:38:51Z")
HMS _Thunder Child_ was a fictitious Royal Navy warship which took on a Martian tripod, and lost, in H.G. Wells’s _The War of the Worlds_. Many years later, _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ featured a ship of the same name (although spelled _Thunderchild_) which was destroyed while fighting a Borg sphere. ---
**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 26, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41650 "2018-12-26T17:06:43Z")
The names of Santa’s original eight reindeer (sorry, Rudolph) were first published in the 1823 poem ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ by Clement Clarke Moore. Two of the original names, Dunder and Blixem, are derived from the Dutch words meaning thunder and lightning. These two names have been ‘Germanized’ to Donner and Blitzen, which are the German words for the same weather phenomena. ---
**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 26, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41651 "2018-12-26T17:20:42Z")
Pope Clement VII was a well-respected member of the Catholic hierarchy when he was elected Pope, but he lacked the political skills to deal with the complex European situation: Luther and the Reformation; disputes between the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of France, which led to the sack of Rome by the French and the Emperor imprisoning Clement for ransom; and Henry VIII of England’s demand for an annulment of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, the aunt of the Emperor. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41652 "2018-12-26T21:52:02Z")
The first Holy Roman Emperor was Charlemagne, and the last was Napoleon Bonaparte. ---
**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 26, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41653 "2018-12-26T22:21:32Z")
Francis II, Emperor of Austria until 1835, is usually considered to have been the last Holy Roman Emperor until he dissolved the Empire in 1806. It does not appear that Napoleon Bonaparte, for all his imperial ambitions, ever claimed the title. > **[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor)** > > Francis II or I (German: Franz II.; 12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor as Francis II (from 1792 to 1806), and the founder and Emperor of the Austrian Empire as Francis I (from 1804 to 1835). He assumed the title of Emperor of Austria in response to the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the French. Soon after Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine, Francis abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor. He was King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. He also served as the... > **[Emperor of the French](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titles_and_styles_of_Napoleon)** > > Emperor of the French (French: Empereur des Français) was the title of the monarch and supreme ruler of the First and the Second French Empires. > A title and office used by the House of Bonaparte starting when Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor on 18 May 1804 by the Senate and was crowned Emperor of the French on 2 December 1804 at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, in Paris, with the Crown of Napoleon. > The title emphasized that the emperor ruled over "the French people" (the nation) and not o... ---
**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 27, 2018, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41654 "2018-12-27T00:57:17Z")
While he was emperor, Napoleon emancipated the Jews in areas of Europe under his control, insisting that they be free to own property and worship freely. For this, the Russian Orthodox Church condemned him as the “Antichrist and the Enemy of God.” Napoleon did not out do this of pure benevolence; rather, he did this because he believed religious freedom would attract Jewish populations to the French-controlled territories. ---
**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 27, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41655 "2018-12-27T02:28:11Z")
Metropolitan Kirill was elected leader of the Russian Orthodox Church in January 2009. His appointment raised hopes that he can lead the Church towards reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church, nearly a millennium after Christianity’s east-west schism. The split dates from 1054 when the Patriarch of Constantinople was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. The breach finally divided the Christian churches of East and West, which had long had political and theological differences. ---
**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 27, 2018, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41656 "2018-12-27T07:01:14Z")
Rudyard Kipling’s “The Ballad of East and West” is sometimes taken for a statement of imperialism and racism, especially the lines _Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment seat;_ However, the lines immediately following affirm that character is more important than racial or ethnic origins:\* But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth! \* ---
**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 27, 2018, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41657 "2018-12-27T07:14:52Z")
Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), in 1907 at the age of 42, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize and its youngest recipient to date. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41658 "2018-12-27T13:07:03Z")
The first royal Christmas message, ghostwritten by Rudyard Kipling, was transmitted in 1932 by King George V over the new invention of radio, using the BBC’s Empire Service. Every Christmas since, the reigning monarch has repeated the tradition, except for 1969 when a documentary broadcast of the investiture of her son Charles as Prince of Wales made the message superfluous in QEII’s judgment. ---
**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 27, 2018, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41659 "2018-12-27T14:36:37Z")
Rudyard Kipling wrote _Captains Courageous, Kim, The Just So Stories_ and _The Jungle Book_ while living in his Dummerston, Vermont country home, Naulakha, which you can visit and stay in today. Kipling lived there for just three years, 1893-1896; among his many visitors during that time was his friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. > **[Naulakha (Rudyard Kipling House)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naulakha_(Rudyard_Kipling_House))** > > Naulakha, also known as the Rudyard Kipling House, is a historic Shingle Style house on Kipling Road in Dummerston, Vermont, a few miles outside Brattleboro. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993 for its association with the author Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), who had it built in 1893 and made it his home until 1896. It is in this house that Kipling wrote Captains Courageous, The Jungle Book, The Day's Work, and The Seven Seas, and did work on Kim and The Just So Stories... ---
**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 27, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41660 "2018-12-27T15:04:40Z")
The HMS _King George V_ (41) was a WWII British battleship commissioned in 1941. In May 1941 she hunted, pursued, and damaged the German battleship _Bismarck_, and contributed to its sinking on 27 May. During the war she operated in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific, and she was present in Tokyo Harbor on 02 September 1945 for Japan’s surrender. She was mothballed in 1950, and as such she was the first large warship to be preserved in this fashion. Finally, in 1957, she was scrapped. During her WWII career HMS _King George V_ was supported by **Captain** Francis Cyril Flynn of HMS _Emerald_. ---
**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 27, 2018, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41661 "2018-12-27T15:14:53Z")
Eugene, Oregon is also noted for its natural environment, recreational opportunities), and focus on the arts. Eugene’s official slogan is “A Great City for the Arts and Outdoors”. It is also referred to as the “Emerald City” and as “Track Town, USA”. The Nike corporation had its beginnings in Eugene, and in 2021, the city will host the 18th Track and Field World Championships. ---
**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 27, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41662 "2018-12-27T15:57:13Z")
The Emerald City, the capital city of the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, was first described in _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_, which was published in 1900. In the book, the walls are green, but the city itself is not. However, everyone in the Emerald City is made to wear green-tinted eyeglasses. This supposedly is an effort to protect their eyes from the “brightness and glory” of the city, but in effect makes everything appear green when it is, in fact, no more green than any other city. This is yet another “humbug” created by the Wizard. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41663 "2018-12-27T16:02:18Z")
The Munchkins and the Emerald City people were not the only people in the Land of Oz in Baum’s first book. The Winkies in the West were enslaved by the Wicked Witch, as were the flying monkeys. Dorothy and friends passed through the lands of the Quadlings and the Hammerheads on their way to the South to get help from the Good Witch there (Glinda, whose name was applied to her sister from the North in the film). The southern trip was omitted from the film entirely, as was the Golden Cap used to summon the monkeys, and the Silver Shoes were changed to Ruby Slippers to better show off the new color film technology. ---
**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 27, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41664 "2018-12-27T16:05:53Z")
Eugene OR USA is named for Eugene Franklin Skinner, an early American settler in Oregon and founder of the city. Eugene Skinner was born in Essex NY USA and as an adult in the mid-1840s traveled overland to California, and then north into Oregon into the Willamette River Valley. He built his first cabin high up on the hill known as Skinner Butte (gMap, [Google Maps](https://goo.gl/37MbmQ)) along the Willamette River. Skinner operated a ferry service across the Willamette River, and after Oregon was organized as a US territory in 1849, Skinner became the local postmaster. Skinner died in 1864. He is buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Eugene, the “Emerald City”. ---
**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 27, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41665 "2018-12-27T16:54:51Z")
The current U.S. Postmaster General is Megan Brennan, appointed in February 2015. She is the first woman to hold the post and is, after the President, the highest-paid Federal employee. ---
**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 27, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41666 "2018-12-27T17:16:02Z")
Megan Brennan‘s salary as Postmaster General is $82,000, per a Google search, [salary Megan Brennan - Google Search](https://goo.gl/sX3EBv). Donald Trump’s salary as President is $400,000, per a Google search, [salary Donald Trump - Google Search](https://goo.gl/EqgUju). ---
**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 27, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41667 "2018-12-27T17:25:00Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The current U.S. Postmaster General is Megan Brennan, appointed in February 2015. She is the first woman to hold the post and is, after the President, the highest-paid Federal employee. > [@Bullitt](#): > > Megan Brennan‘s salary as Postmaster General is $82,000, per a Google search, [salary Megan Brennan - Google Search](https://goo.gl/sX3EBv). I would debate that…[https://www.federalpay.org/gs/2018](https://www.federalpay.org/gs/2018) and [https://www.federalpay.org/ses/2018](https://www.federalpay.org/ses/2018) In play: Brennan Brown is an American film, television, and stage actor. He currently plays Robert Childan on Amazon’s _Man in the High Castle,_ and also plays Dr. Samuel Abrams on NBC’s \*Chicago Med. \* ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/41668 "2018-12-27T17:34:26Z")
Walter Brennan is probably best known to most as “grandpa” on the TV show “The Real McCoys”. But he was also one of only three male actors to win three Oscars (all for best supporting actor). He won in 1936, 1938 and 1940 (Come and Get It, Kentucky, and The Westerner). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=2082) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=2084)