[QUOTE=5 time champ]
234. What is the exact title of the top official of the U.S. Supreme Court? Chief Justice of the United States
Who is the U.S. Government’s top lawyer before the Supreme Court? Solicitor General
Only one man has headed both the Federal executive and judicial branches (obviously not simultaneously). Who? William Howard Taft
There are how many Federal judicial districts (such as the Northern District of Ohio) in the country? 93?
Who is the top Federal prosecutor in each district? United States Attorney
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A slam dunk - entirely correct. Well done, 5 time champ! Many people get the CJ’s title wrong (including, several times that I’ve noticed, the senators who introduce him at presidential inaugurations). And yes, there are 93 Federal districts.
[QUOTE=Siam Sam]
Correct! Iolani Palace, in downtown Honolulu.
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True story: some years ago- early 80s probably- my brother’s mother-in-law, Helen, went to Hawaii and while there took a tour of the palace. It was sparsely furnished at the time and most of the furnishings were either generic donated antiques not original to the palace or reproductions of things vaguely like the original furnishings, but there were large poster-sized photographs of the interior from the time of Liliuokalani showing the original furnishings, and the tour guides asked the tourists to let them know if they had any similar items that they would be willing to donate or to let them know even if they knew where they could buy them at a reasonable price.
Helen had recently inherited a house full of antiques from a “confirmed bachelor” uncle in Nashville and thought that a long drop-leaf table in his collection was similar to one in a photograph, even to the hand carved scenes of a Hawaiian beach. She thought the piece was tacky, plus it was in major need of refinishing, so she offered to give it to them if they would
1- pay shipping costs (it was very heavy)
2- have it appraised
3- give her a statement for her taxes for the amount of the appraisal
Due to weight and size and condition it cost several hundred dollars to ship the table, and this was 25 years ago, more than she figured the table was worth- in fact she was embarrassed to tell them the estimate and assumed they’d decline, but, having received photographs of the table by then, the curator was enthusiastic and guaranteed payment. A few months later Helen received a tax credit stating that the table was appraised at around $20,000 (I can’t remember the exact amount but it was in the 5 figures, and that was the low-end of the appraisal) and an ebullient thank-you letter from the curator. Not only had the table been appraised, it had been examined by furniture historians and carving experts against the photos and inventory descriptions of the original and they unanimously determined that it was Liliuokalani’s table!
They asked her for the story of how her uncle acquired it, but she had no idea. The old bachelor, a songwriter and music manager and sometime antique dealer himself, had gone antiquing all over the country and in England and Mexico for 40 years or more and left little or no documentation of where anything came from. She was glad to have done a good deed but freely admitted that with kids in college and a husband who wanted to retire, had she known what she had she’d have sold it at auction.
She had the rest of the collection gone over- though this was before the Internet when she could probably have learned more- and while there were some good pieces and it was collectively worth a nice sum, it turned out the collection wasn’t nearly as valuable as the family thought. Her uncle’s two pride and joy pieces were his bed, an “identical twin” of the Lincoln bed from the White House made by the same carpenter as the original and “worth the price of a nice house” rather than the $1000 or so he said he paid for it many years before, with his next favorite being a banjo clock bought at the 1826 auction of Jefferson’s furnishings at Monticello and acquired by her uncle in the late 20th century. The bed turned out to be neither identical or by the same builder but one of a hundred or so replicas made around the turn of the century and fitted for the much different mattresses of the early 20th century (it still had monetary value but only a fraction of the fortune the family had thought it was worth for generations- my brother has it now). The banjo clock was indeed authentic to the time and maker of the one on the inventory of Monticello, but it was one of many made by the same clockworks during that time and no documentation existed to prove (or disprove) it was Jefferson’s, so it sold for around $2000 (it was not in great condition) rather than the tens of thousands it was assumed to be worth. By far the most valuable and unique piece in the collection was the Hawaiian Palace table she gave away for shipping and tax credit.
This ventriloquist was also an inventor who donated an artificial heart he invented to the University of Utah, for research, where the Jarvik-7 artificial heart was invented. Who was he?
This famous bandleader did not invent the blender but he was the money man behind it and it bears his name, who was he?
This Attorney General served the longest term of office?
They said it
249. What hath God wrought?
Give the lady what she wants?
251.Nuts
May be venturing into opinion here, but there are at least 3 pieces of landmark legislation passed by Congress during the Civil War. Generally speaking, these bills had held up by Southern interests for a number of years.
