These are a Few of My Favorite Things Quiz

Answer: COVID-19 pandemic

Due to border-crossing and vaccination rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Blue Jays ran into issues. As the only Major League Baseball (MLB) team located outside the US, they were forced to find a home stadium in the US when borders were closed and unvaccinated individuals experienced difficulties travelling between Canada and the United States. During the 2020 season that was shortened by the pandemic, the Blue Jays played all of their home games at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, NY. Sahlen Field is home to their Triple A team the Buffalo Bisons, but the Bisons were able to find an alternative stadium to play in during the 2020 season.

In 2021, MLB announced that a full season would be played. However, there were still border restrictions in place when the season started. So, the Blue Jays started the season at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida. That park, where Spring Training takes place every year, was their home stadium during April and May, 2021. In June, they returned to Sahlen Field in Buffalo, NY for their home games where they hosted opponents until the end of July. They were finally able to return to the Rogers Centre, their home park in Toronto, after border restrictions had eased in July, 2021. They played their first game in a year-and-a-half there on July 30, 2021.

Answer: Newark, New Jersey

Paul Simon was born in Newark, NJ on October 13, 1941, but he grew up in New York City. His first musical success came when he paired with his school friend Art Garfunkel. They first called themselves Tom & Jerry in the mid-50s, but later changed their duo's name to Simon & Garfunkel. They remained together and had many musical successes through the 1960s, but split in 1970. They have reunited a couple of times since then, but not for any length of time.

Since his split with Garfunkel, Simon has continued to create music. In the 1970s, he released three albums. All reached the Top Five on the Billboard Top 200 Albums. In 1986, he released "Graceland", an album based on music that was popular in South African townships at the time. "Graceland" won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987.

Over the years, Simon has acted in a few movies, and continued his musical career well into the 21st century. He has earned many accolades, including over fifteen Grammy awards for his work both with Art Garfunkel and as a solo artist. Paul Simon has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, once as a solo artist, and once as a member of the Simon & Garfunkel duo. "Time" magazine chose Simon for their list of "100 People Who Shaped the World" in 2006. "Rolling Stone" magazine has also honoured Paul Simon by placing him on their list of 100 greatest guitarists in 2011, and ranking him at the eight spot on their list of "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time" in 2015. He was also the first artist to receive the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007.

Answer: Frank and Joe

"The Hardy Boys" series of books ran from 1927 through 2005. Each book involved the brothers Frank and Joe Hardy solving a mystery that the adults in the books couldn't solve. All of the books were written by ghostwriters using the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon, but many of them were written by Canadian author Leslie MacFarlane. MacFarlane wrote 19 of the first 25 books that were all published between 1927 and 1946. Overall, he wrote 21 of the books in "The Hardy Boys" series. There are a total of 190 volumes in the series, most written by other ghostwriters.

Between 1959 and 1973, most of the original books were re-written to remove the racial stereotypes that had appeared when they were first published. The language was also changed to make them simpler for younger readers. Revisions also included adding more action because of the need to compete with tv. In January, 2023, the original editions of the first three books in the series entered the public domain in the US. The revised editions of these volumes will not enter the public domain until 2054.

Answer: Horcruxes

Horcruxes in the "Harry Potter" series involve dark magic. They are a way for a dark wizard like Voldemort to have immortality. Using horcruxes, the dark wizard splits their soul into pieces and places each piece in a different object. As long as that object exists, a piece of their soul exists and they remain alive.

The horcruxes include Tom Riddle's (young Voldemort's) diary. It is the first one that is destroyed in "The Chamber of Secrets" by Harry. He didn't realize what he was doing, but recognized that it was very important to Voldemort, so he stabbed the book with a venomous fang from a basilisk, thus killing the horcrux.

The second horcrux that is destroyed is Marvolo Gaunt's ring. Dumbledore realized that the ring had been stolen by Tom Riddle years ago and turned into a horcrux. He destroyed it using the Sword of Gryffindor. Ron destroyed the third horcrux, Salazar Slytherin's locket, using the Sword of Gryffindor. Hermione destroyed the fourth horcrux, Helga Hufflepuff's Cup that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had stolen from a vault in Gringotts bank. The fifth horcrux was Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. It was destroyed in the Room of Hidden Things when Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle set a fire just as Harry, Ron, and Hermione found the diadem. This caused the fifth horcrux to be incinerated to the point that it was destroyed.

Unbeknownst to both Harry and Voldemort, when the Dark Lord had killed Harry's parents when he was a baby, Voldemort had placed a piece of his own soul in Harry. This turned him into a horcrux that Voldemort himself destroyed during a final showdown with Harry. It appeared as though Harry had been killed, but in actual fact, only the evil soul from Voldemort had really been destroyed. This allowed Harry to live on without the evil connection to the Dark Lord.

The final horcrux was in Nagini, Voldemort's snake. At the end of "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2", there is a battle at Hogwarts. A friend of Harry's, Neville Longbottom, finds the Sword of Gryffindor just as the snake corners Ron and Hermione, ready to strike and kill them. Neville swings the sword and beheads the snake, thus killing the final horcrux, and destroying Voldemort in the process.

Answer: A Peruvian root vegetable

Maca (Lepidium meyenii) grows on plateaus in the Andes mountains of South America. Some call it a "Peruvian superfood" or "Peruvian ginseng". Maca is related to the radish, and smells like butterscotch candy. It is a cruciferous vegetable that is most often found in powder form made from its dried root. Maca can also be cooked and eaten that way.

Maca can be roasted, or boiled/mashed and mixed with milk for a porridge-like meal. The ground root is also used for a type of flour for bread, cakes, or pancakes. Chicha de maca is a weak beer that is made by fermenting this vegetable. The maca leaves are edible and can be made into salads or fed to animals.

There are reports about maca as a traditional medicine, mostly used to treat issues with the human reproductive system. However, as of 2023, there have been very few rigorous studies of the effects of maca on reproductive hormones, so there is no scientific evidence to support this use.

Answer: True

Moroccan B'stilla (Pastilla) is also known as North African pie. It is a meat or seafood pie that is made with warqa dough. Warqa dough is a flaky pastry similar to filo dough. Historians have traced similar recipes to the 13th century that arrived in Morocco from Algeria early in the 1800s.

The surprising traditional ingredient in this slightly sweet pie is squab, or fledgling pigeons, but it is now mainly made with chicken, quail or Cornish game hen. It contains almonds, sugar, and cinnamon, which makes this dish sweet, salty, spicy and buttery all at the same time. Two b'stilla are usually served at the beginning of special meals in Morocco, one filled with poultry, and another filled with seafood.

Answer: No, the bi-coloured eyes occur often in huskies

Heterochromia is a condition found in humans, dogs, cats, and other animals where the two eyes are different colours. In dogs, this is most often a congenital defect, passed to puppies via the genetics of the parents. Congenital heterochromia usually results in normal vision in dogs, with no need to be concerned. However, dogs that acquire heterochromia later in life will need to be checked by a vet. Reasons for late-life onset include glaucoma, injury, or cancer, all conditions that need to be diagnosed and treated by a veterinarian.

Common breeds with congenital heterochromia include the Alaskan malamutes, American foxhounds, Australian cattle dogs, Australian shepherds, great Danes, dalmatians, and Siberian huskies, but it can be found in others.

Answer: Vivaldi

Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi wrote these four violin concertos around 1718−1720. Each concerto is designed to represent a different season of the year, with music that sounds like babbling brooks, different species of birds, hunting expeditions, warm hearths, flies buzzing, and many other sounds of the various seasons.

When the concertos were published, Vivaldi also published four sonnets, each describing what was in each season that the music was attempting to represent. Historians suggest that this is one of the earliest examples of a published narrative about the music, also known as program music. If all four concertos are performed at once, it usually takes between 41 and 43 minutes.

Answer: 7,476 km (4,645 mi)

The Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) is a highway that is one of the longest roads of its type in the world. We travelled the main route from the intersection of Douglas Street and Dallas Road (where the "Mile 0" plaque stands) in Victoria, BC. The TCH is well-marked with green and white signs, so we were able to find our way across the mainland of the country quite easily. The main route of the TCH does not travel through Prince Edward Island, so once we got as far as Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, we had to board a ferry in North Sydney to travel to Newfoundland. The TCH travels across Newfoundland to downtown St. John's where another "Mile Zero" plaque can be found. Both Victoria and St. John's claim "Mile Zero" despite Canada's use of the metric system. This reflects the fact that the TCH was completed in 1962 before Canada started using the metric system.

Alternate, or parallel, routes of the TCH include one section that has been built in Prince Edward Island, and parallel northern routes across many of the provinces including Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. The TCH does not reach into the northern territories, but it does connect with most highways that do travel to the territories.

Answer: Braids

Cables are added to knitted items to give the appearance of braids or twists. This decorative work is created by holding a few stitches on a special cable needle. This special needle is relatively short, has points at both ends, and usually has a v-shaped bend in the middle. Two points are needed because one end of the needle is used to slip stitches, while the other end is used to knit stitches. The bend is required so stitches don't fall off the needle while working the cable.

Once a few stitches are held on the cable needle, the next few stitches are knit, then the stitches from the cable needle are worked. This creates the twist that you see in cable-knit work. Cables are often seen in sweaters (sometimes known as fishermen-knit sweaters), hats, mitts, scarves, or just about anything you can knit.