Liffey River Dublin

Question 1

is that part of the Atlantic Ocean that lies off the southern coast of Ireland, the southwestern coast of Britain, and the northwestern coast of France. The boundary with the Atlantic Ocean proper is defined by the continental shelf, which drops off dramatically some 200-300 miles off the coast of Britain and Ireland.

Answer 1

The Celtic Sea

The seabed under the Celtic Sea is called the Celtic Shelf.

Question 2

is a flat-bottomed boat with squared-off ends that’s often used for transportation, usually pushed or pulled by a barge.
Often, it can be seen carrying junk or garbage.

Answer 2

A scow

Question 3

This verb has a Germanic origin, and comes from the Low German word “hoken” meaning “to peddle”.

Answer 3

“to hawk”

A hawker is actually slightly different from a peddler by definition, as a hawker is a peddler that uses a horse and cart, or a van nowadays perhaps, to sell his or her wares.

Question 4

In music a “this” is the rapid alternation of two tones that are very close to each other to make a vibrato sound.

Answer 4

trill
Found in operas

Question 5

is an American actress born in London, England. She is best known for portraying the character Diane Court in the 1989 high school romance movie “Say Anything…”, starring opposite him .

Answer 5

Ione Skye - Skye is the daughter of the Scottish folk singer Donovan.

John Cusack

Question 6

is a physician who has graduated from medical school, and who is receiving specialized graduate training in a hospital.

Answer 6

A resident

The concept of residency developed in the late 1800s. Back then, the doctors would often “reside” in hospital-provided housing while receiving the training, hence the term “resident”

Question 7

two most famous lakes in Scotland

Answer 7

Loch Ness is one of the two most famous lakes in Scotland. Loch Ness is famous for its “monster”, and Loch Lomond is famous for the lovely song “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond”. Oh, ye’ll tak’ the high road, and I’ll tak’ the low road …

Question 8

was a very successful country star along with his backing band, the Buckaroos. He had 21 number one hits in the country music charts, but never had a record that successfully crossed over to the popular charts. From 1968 to 1986, he was the co-host of the TV show “Hee Haw”.

Answer 8

Buck Owens

Question 9

are percussion instruments that are native to Latin America. They are constructed from dried shells, like those of a coconut, to which handles are attached. The shells are filled with dried seeds or beans, and played by shaking.

Answer 9

Maracas

Question 10

The Christmas Song” composer

Answer 10

Mel : TORME
The Christmas classic known as “The Christmas Song”, which starts out with the line “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”, was written in 1944 by Bob Wells and singer Mel Tormé. According to Tormé, the song was actually written on a very hot summer day, with Wells providing the lyrics. Apparently without the intention of writing a song, Wells jotted down four “Christmassy” phrases in an effort to “stay cool by thinking cool”. Those phrases were:

Chestnuts roasting
Jack Frost nipping
Yuletide carols
Folks dressed up like Eskimos
“The Christmas Song” is now the most-performed Christmas song in the world.

Question 11

If This Is a Man” author

Answer 11

Primo : LEVI
Primo Levi was an Italian chemist and writer. His best known written work is “If This Is a Man”, a 1947 biographical account of the year he spent in Auschwitz. He was one of 650 Jews transported to the camp in 1944, and one of only 20 who survived imprisonment.

Question 12

The word “” comes from the Greek word for “assembly, meeting”.
It is a church council, usually one in the Christian faith.

Answer 12

synod

Question 13

is Garfield’s best friend, and is a slobbery beagle. Both are characters in his’ comic strip named “Garfield”.

Answer 13

Odie

Jim Davis

Question 14

was a blues guitarist and singer who was born in 1913 and passed away in 2006. She was relatively unknown outside of her hometown in North Carolina for most of her life. However, in the 1990s, she gained national attention after recording her first album at the age of 78. The album, called “One-Dime Blues,” was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1991.

Answer 14

Etta Baker

Question 15

A CT (or “CAT”) scan produces (via computer manipulation) a three-dimensional image of the inside of an object, usually the human body.
Stands for ???

Answer 15

It does so by taking a series of two dimensional x-ray images while rotating the camera around the patient. The issue with CT scans is that they use x-rays. High doses of radiation can be harmful, causing damage that is cumulative over time. The initialism “CT” stands for “computed tomography”. The older initialism “CAT” stands for “computed axial tomography”.

Question 16

” is Italian for “good evening”

Answer 16

Buona sera

Question 17

was the first commercial computer made in the US.

Answer 17

UNIVAC I
It was designed by the inventors of ENIAC, the first electronic computer built for the US government. The first UNIVAC sold went to the US Census Bureau in 1951. UNIVAC was used in 1951 to predict the outcome of the US presidential election scheduled for the following year. The traditional pollsters were predicting a win for Adlai Stevenson, but UNIVAC forecast a landslide win for Eisenhower. UNIVAC proved to be correct.

Question 18

, the first electronic computer built for the US government.

Answer 18

ENIAC
Also UNIVAC I was the first commercial computer made in the US designed by same inventors

Question 19

is an author as well as the host of a cooking show on the Food Network called “Barefoot Contessa”. She is a mentee of Martha Stewart, and indeed was touted as a potential “successor” to the TV celebrity when Stewart was incarcerated in 2004 after an insider trading scandal. She has no formal training as a chef, and indeed used to work as a nuclear policy analyst at the White House!

Answer 19

Ina Garten

Question 20

” is a song released by the Beach Boys in 1988. It describes a trip taken by a couple to a fictional island off the Florida Keys

Answer 20

Kokomo

fictional island off the Florida Keys called Kokomo
The success of the song led to at least one Florida resort adopting the name.

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego,
baby why don’t we go,
Jamaica

Question 21

The illusionist was born in Philadelphia, decided not to speak during his performances way back in his youth. He was doing magic at college fraternity parties and discovered that by remaining silent, the potentially rowdy audience focused on his act and refrained from throwing beer at him!

Answer 21

Teller, of Penn & Teller,

Raymond Teller

Question 22

are deciduous (i.e. not evergreen) trees with fruit called catkins. The tree carries both male and female catkins that look very similar to each other, but the male catkin is longer than the female. They are pollinated by wind usually, although bees can play a role.

Answer 22

Alders
In birch family

Question 23

is the largest city and the capital of the African nation of Chad. It was founded by the French in 1900 as Fort-Lamy, named for an army officer who had been killed that year in battle.

Answer 23

N’Djamena
The city was given its current name in 1973, using the African name for the nearby village of Nijamina (meaning “place of rest”).

Question 24

Poitiers is a city in west central this country .

Answer 24

France
Interestingly, the inhabitants of the city are called “Pictaviens”.

Question 25

is a group of three and, specifically in music, a chord made up of three notes.

Answer 25

A triad

Question 26

is also known as the white-tailed eagle or the sea eagle.

Answer 26

The ern (sometimes “erne”)

Question 27

Lexicographer credited with standardizing American English spelling :

Answer 27

WEBSTER
Not only is Noah Webster’s name inextricably linked with his series of dictionaries, but he is also renowned as an advocate for English spelling reform. He argued that “traditional” English is hard to learn, and that it should be simplified and standardized (instead of “standardised”). He published spelling books that were used in schools, and from edition to edition he changed the spelling of words in order to simplify the language. Examples are the use of “s” over “c” in words like “defense” (in Ireland we have “defence” and “defense” depending on usage), “-re” became “-er” as in “center” instead of “centre” (reversing the influence of French), and he dropped one of the Ls in words like “traveler” (I learned “traveller”). Mind you, he also spelled “tongue” as “tung”, but he didn’t get very far with that one.

Question 28

d espoused what she called “rational egoism”, her view that it is irrational and immoral to act against one’s self-interest. She laid out the concept in depth in her 1964 collection of essays and papers titled “The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism”.

Answer 28

Author Ayn Ran

Question 29

was an Austrian composer who was active in the late-Romantic period. During his own lifetime, he was most notable as a conductor, and his compositions gained in popularity only after his death in 1911. His music was banned as “degenerate” during the Nazi Era, as he was Jewish.

Answer 29

Gustav Mahler

Question 30

are characters in the “Star Wars” universe who use the “dark side” of “the Force”, and as such are the antithesis of the Jedi Knights. Members ouse the title “Darth” before their name, as in Darth Vader.

Answer 30

The Sith

The last made of the six “Star Wars” movies is called “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”.

Question 31

James Cameron employed the head of University of Southern California’s linguistics department to come up with the Na’vi language for which film?

Answer 31

Avatar

Question 32

Boldly going where few have gone before, who broke the record for oldest person to reach space as a passenger on a Blue Origin space shuttle?

Answer 32

William Shatner

Question 33

Who caused controversy by “going electric” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival?

Answer 33

Bob Dylan

Question 34

Similar to its Looney Tunes counterpart, the greater roadrunner thrives in what environment?

Answer 34

Deserts

Question 35

Famous for her controversial decision to raid the Branch Davidian compound in 1993, who was the first woman to serve as U.S. attorney general?

Answer 35

Janet Reno

Question 36

Who toured the U.S. and Europe in his teens as an acrobat before showing a gift for physical comedy in films such as Bringing Up Baby?

Answer 36

Cary Grant

Question 37

Home of the Winter Palace, what city has been called “the Venice of the North” because of its canals and bridges?

Answer 37

St. Petersburg

Question 38

In the dice game craps, if the shooter throws a midnight, what number was rolled?

Answer 38

12

Question 39

One of the few women ever featured on U.S. paper money, a portrait of which woman’s baptism appeared on $20 bank notes during the late 1800s?

Answer 39

Pocahontas

Question 40

Ballerinas were the subject of which artist so frequently that he was derided by critics as “the painter of dancers”?
+100

Answer 40

Edgar Degas

Question 41

When Muslims make their pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca, they are traveling to which country?

Answer 41

Saudi Arabia

Question 42

Active in scouting as a boy in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who is the only U.S. president to have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout?

Answer 42

Gerald ford

Question 43

In 2024 the Norman Rockwell Museum hosted an exhibit titled “What, Me Worry?,” a retrospective of which magazine?

Answer 43

Mad

Question 44

Someone who talks nonstop throughout a dinner date might be described as…

Answer 44

garrulous

Question 45

In 1821 Alexander Ypsilantis began a revolt against the Ottoman Empire that eventually led to the independence of which country?

Answer 45

Greece

Question 46

Which animal’s blood contains a chemical noxious to predatory coyotes and can be spurted through its eyes up to three feet away?

Answer 46

Horned toad

Question 47

In 2024 NASA’s Odyssey orbiter snapped a picture of Olympus Mons, a volcano three times the height of Mount Everest, on which planet?

Answer 47

Mars