Unusual Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ohio

Ohio is the only American state to have a flag that is not rectangular or square in shape. Ohio's flag is considered to be a triangular swallowtail shape. It consists of a blue chevron on the hoist side of the flag containing 17 stars (representing its order of admission) and a red letter O with a white typeface.

The remainder of the flag consists of three red and two white stripes that stretch from the chevron towards the narrow end of the swallowtail. The flag was designed by architect John Eisenmann in 1901 and was adopted by Ohio the following year.

Answer: Echidna

Echidnas are small mammals that resemble porcupines and hedgehogs, but are genetically much different. For starters, echidnas are one of the few mammal species that are known to lay eggs. Echidnas can primarily be found in Australia, New Guinea and several smaller surrounding islands that sit between them.

The short-beaked echidna specifically lays eggs that are completely round and are the about the size of a malted milk ball. Like other mammals, once they have hatched, the baby echidnas are sustained via milk from their mothers.

Answer: Jim Abbott

Jim Abbott was a journeyman in Major League Baseball, having played for six different teams in his career from 1989-1999. Jim Abbott was unique in that he was born without a right hand. Despite his handicap, Jim Abbott was able to become a fairly successful pitcher and even recorded a no-hitter as a member of the New York Yankees.

When he played, Jim Abbott would rest his glove on his right arm and after he delivered a pitch, he would quickly put the glove on his left hand in order to field the ball. Although he played most of his career in the American League, where pitchers did not hit for themselves, he did spend a year with the Milwaukee Brewers of the National League and was able to bat when the situation arose.

Answer: It has traffic lights.

Normally the interstate highways in the United States are high speed continuous freeways with very few stopping points, unless there is a traffic jam. However, Interstate 78 in New Jersey is unusual in that it has a few traffic lights along its official route.

These traffic lights are encountered at the far eastern end of the highway as it approaches the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City, New Jersey. The official terminus of Interstate 78 is at the exit of the Holland Tunnel in Manhattan, New York City. Interstate 70 is another interstate highway with traffic lights, which are encountered as the highway passes through the town of Breezewood, Pennsylvania.

Answer: Triton (Neptune)

Triton was discovered by English astronomer William Lassell on October 10, 1846, only a few weeks after the planet Neptune itself was discovered by French astronomer Johann Galle. Triton is an unusual moon for its size in that it orbits its parent planet retrograde (clockwise). It is believed that Triton may not be Neptune's natural satellite and that it is actually an icy body from the Kuiper Belt (similar in composition to the dwarf planet Pluto) that ended up getting captured by Neptune's gravity.

Triton ranks as the seventh largest moon in the Solar System with a diameter of 1,680 mi (2,700 km). When the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Neptune in 1989, it discovered nitrogen-based geysers on the surface of Triton.

Answer: It lasted less than an hour.

The Anglo-Zanzibar War was a conflict between the United Kingdom and the Zanzibar Sultanate. The island of Zanzibar, which sits off the coast of Tanzania had become a British protectorate in 1890 after previously being under German control. On August 25, 1896, Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini, who had been loyal to the British, was found dead and was suspected to have been murdered by his nephew Sultan Khalid bin Barghash.

The British soon issued an ultimatum to the new Sultan to relinquish power or there would be violent consequences. On August 27, 1896 at about 9:00 in the morning, the British attacked Zanzibar after Sultan Khalid failed to heed to British warnings. Less than 45 minutes later, after having lost nearly 500 troops, the war came to an end and Khalid went to seek refuge at a German consulate. Sultan Hamoud bin Mohammed, who was also loyal to the British, would assume power in Zanzibar after the battle.

Answer: Carlini Base, Antarctica

On December 8, 2013, Metallica became the first band of any genre to have played a concert on all seven continents. The concert, which was named "Freeze 'Em All", was performed at Carlini Base, which is a research station in Antarctica that is owned by Argentina.

A protective geodesic dome was constructed to provide shelter to the performers and their audience of roughly 120 people. As of November 2023, "Freeze 'Em All" can still be viewed in its entirety on Metallica's YouTube channel.

Answer: Sky Lynx

"The Transformers" toy and cartoon franchise first debuted in 1984. Most of the action figures were humanoid robots that converted into various vehicles. Several of them also converted into various animals such as the Dinobots and Predacons, though these figures still had a humanoid robot mode. Some of the small cassette Transfomers like Ravage and Laserbeak had beast forms, but they mostly acted like animals in media.

Sky Lynx, who was first released in 1986, was unusual in that he was a large space shuttle with a cargo unit who could transform into either two separate beast forms (bird and lynx) or a single beast form that resembled a quadrupedal dragon. In "Transformers" media, despite not having a humanoid form, he was portrayed as being highly intelligent and very much unanimalistic.

Answer: Bromine

Bromine (Br), atomic number 35, is one of two known elements that is a liquid at room temperature, the other being the metallic element Mercury (Hg). Bromine is one of the Halogens in group 17 of the periodic table. Bromine's name comes from the Greek word "bromos", which means stench, most likely due to the element's pungent odor. The liquid is a reddish brown in color.

As with the other Halogens, bromine is most often found within compounds in nature, usually as salts. Pure elemental bromine is toxic and should be handled with extreme care as the liquid can burn unprotected skin and cause respiratory issues if fumes of bromine gas are inhaled. Iodine, which can be sold as a liquid for medicinal purposes, is a solid at room temperature in its pure elemental form.

Answer: Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory that is located at the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula. Gibraltar is a vital strategic location as it sits at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is only about seventeen miles across from the Spanish exclave Ceuta in northern Africa.

Gibraltar's airport was one of the most unusual in the world. The main road which connects Gibraltar to southern Spain cut directly across the airport's main runway. Whenever aircraft were using the runway, barriers would come down to block the flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic. A new tunnel was completed in 2023 which now allows traffic to go under the runway.