Zippy Zooms X Trivia Quiz

Answer: Arabic

Hammam is a word of Arabic origin for the steam bath associated with Islamic culture, though developed from the Roman tradition of "thermae". In Arabic, "hammam" means simply bath or bathhouse; the word comes from the root "hamma", which means (among other things) to heat, or to have a fever. A related word, "al-hamma", means hot spring: the name of Lisbon's oldest neighbourhood, Alfama, comes from "al-hamma".

Though the first hammams date from the Arab expansion of the 7th and 8th centuries, these baths were introduced to most of Europe by the Ottomans in the 16th and 17th centuries - hence the common name of Turkish bath. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, hammam was first attested in English in the 1620s. In contemporary English, the word often appears in travel publications to describe the luxurious spa facilities of some 5-star hotel or resort.

Phoenix Rising's LadyNym was inspired to write this question by the hot and sweaty weather of a typical summer in the Washington DC area.

Answer: Tardigrades

There are over 1300 identified species of tardigrade, with the first one discovered in the year 1773 by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze. He named the new species 'little water bear,' but just three years later, more of the creatures were discovered by Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani, who dubbed them 'Tardigrada,' which means 'slow stepper.'

Tardigrades are near-microscopic aquatic animals with plump, segmented bodies and flattened heads. They have eight legs, each tipped with four to eight claws or digits. And they are nearly indestructible, having been found around the globe in the harshest of climates. Their survival mechanism is called cryptobiosis, in which they expel nearly all of the water from their bodies and retract their heads and legs and curl into a dehydrated tun.

Phoenix Rising's reedy first learned of tardigrades by watching "Star Trek: Below Decks" and has been near-microscopically fascinated ever since.

Answer: Code breaker

Herbert Yardley was a code breaker for the US government during World War I and into the early 1920s. His cryptographic organization, the Black Chamber, helped break Japanese diplomatic codes during the early 20s, a feat he detailed in 1931 in the book "The American Black Chamber". During World War II he helped the Chinese Nationalists break the Japanese codes and worked with the Canadian government to set up a code breaking section. In 1999, over 40 years after his death, he was given a place in the National Security Agency Hall of Honor.

"The Education of a Poker Player" gives insight into Yardley's approach to poker (a tight style), details the many characters he met while playing, and delves into the world of code breaking. It did not have the impact of Doyle Brunson's "Super System" written decades later, but it was the first book to discuss the strategy and statistics involved in poker.

This question was decrypted by Phoenix Rising's own poker enthusiast tazman6619.

Answer: Tetris

Cosmonaut Aleksandr Serebrov packed his Nintendo Gameboy along with his Tetris game cartridge to bring with him to the MIR Space Station. While Serebrov did not have much downtime, he did get to play Tetris occasionally. The Tetris game spent 196 days in space and orbited the Earth over 3000 times. In 2011, both the Gameboy and the Tetris game were sold at auction, bringing in $1,220. Since Serebrov's 1993 trip, several other astronauts have used video games as a way to relax during personal time in space.

This electronic question was launched by Phoenix Rising's BigTriviaDawg who believes Tetris is the perfect video game for a first in space!

Answer: Spud

Spud lives on Farmer Pickles farm. He is cheeky, impulsive and often childish. He does try to help out Bob the builder, but he is so clumsy that he winds up causing all sorts of trouble for Bob. He has a habit of stealing food, borrowing tools without asking and causing people and machines to fall down. He is certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed and his manners could do with some improvement.

What you may not know about Spud is that he is the only character in the series who has been in jail, though that was in Muck's dream ("Built to be Wild", 2006) and he does not like cheese or chutney. In the USA this was changed to peanut butter and jelly.

"Bob the Builder" is a British animated children's television series that first aired in 1999.

This question was constructed by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who claims that this question was like fastening two pieces of metal together... riveting.

Answer: From a poem

Conventionally, Chinese names are composed of a surname and a given name. The surname is most commonly a single Chinese character, although two-character surnames also exist. The given name can comprise one or two Chinese characters. In names that consist of two characters, one of the characters is often shared among members of the same generation and it is termed a generation name. Thus, a typical Chinese name is structured as such: (surname) + (generation name) + (given name). Optionally, the generation name may appear after the given name.

Traditionally, the generation name is predetermined by the ancestors of a clan in the form of a verse. The verse is recorded in the clan's genealogy records. Each character of the verse is used as the generation name for successive generations of the clan. Therefore, in a large, sprawling family with several branches, it is possible to identify members of the same generation simply by their generation names. When the end of the poem is reached, the poem can be reused or a new verse will be composed by the clan's elders.

The generation name is typically assigned to male members of the family. Females may have the same generation name as the males or they may have a generation name that is shared among the female siblings. In some families, the females do not have generation names.

Since the Cultural Revolution in China, the use of generation names has gradually declined although the custom is still practised by many overseas Chinese, particularly in Southeast Asia. In this region, the generation name may be restricted to the nuclear family and may not follow a predetermined sequence of characters.

Phoenix Rising team member purelyqing attempted to name this question but was unable to acquire a character reference for it.

Answer: 10

Neon, represented by its chemical symbol Ne, has an atomic number of 10. It is a colorless and odourless noble gas. Its name is derived from the Greek word "neos", meaning 'new'.

Capricorn, which means "horned goats" in Latin, is the tenth astrological sign in the zodiac. This sign is associated with people who are born between 22 December and 19 January. Notable people who were born under this sign include American singer John Legend (born 28 December 1978), Oscar-winning American actor Denzel Washington (born 28 December 1954), former US First Lady Michelle Obama (born 17 January 1964), and British royalty Kate Middleton (born 9 January 1982).

The famous address 10 Downing Street is synonymous with the British Prime Minister's official residence and office. The building is located in the City of Westminster, London. Built by Anglo-Irish diplomat Sir George Downing in the 1680s, it was one of the first buildings in the world to be assigned a house number.

Matthew_07 from Phoenix Rising crafted this question featuring the number 10 to commemorate the tenth installment of the Zippy Zoom team quiz.

Answer: Sir Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard was born on 14 October 1940 making him the oldest. Sir Paul McCartney was born on 18 June 1942, Sir Mick Jagger on 26 July 1943 and Sir Rod Stewart on 10 January 1945. However (so we are told), the group never got off the ground as Sir Cliff wanted to make the name Sir Cliff Richard and the Shadowy Knights.

Tom Jones was recruited and with a date of birth of 7 June 1940 would have been the leader, but he demanded the group be called Sir Tom Jones and the New Pussycats, so he was fired before he started. It is unsure if John Lennon wanted to lead the band, but his tragic premature death denied him a knighthood (and the British monarchs, NEVER give out knighthoods posthumously) so he was ineligible. We are still trying to confirm the rumour that all remaining members of the group lobbied King Charles III to give Robert Plant a knighthood (in 2023 he 'only' had a CBE), as this would give a group name of Robert Plant and the Ded Zeppelins (Apparently, they were willing to overlook that he would be the youngest as he was born on 20 August 1948).

This question was a figment of Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1's screwball imagination, who in the unlikely circumstance that he be knighted, gives an ongoing commitment to form a rock band called Flash and the Lightning Strikes.

Answer: Mrs Dalloway

"Mrs. Dalloway," written by Virginia Woolf and published in 1925, delves into the inner lives and thoughts of its characters over the course of a single day in post-World War I London. The novel primarily follows the titular character, Clarissa Dalloway, as she prepares for a high-society party she is hosting in the evening. Through Woolf's narrative technique, readers gain access to Clarissa's stream of consciousness, allowing them to explore her memories, emotions, and the complexities of her inner world.

Virginia Woolf was a prominent British writer and a key figure in the modernist literary movement of the early 20th century. Her innovative narrative techniques and exploration of the inner lives of her characters have had a lasting influence on literature. While "Mrs. Dalloway" itself did not win any major literary awards, it is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential novels of the 20th century.

Phoenix Rising's leith90, who likes to pretend she's a budding author, tried writing a stream of consciousness once, but it was just a jumble of disjointed thoughts. So she wrote this question instead.

Answer: 100

The '100' refers to the number of deliveries given to each side when batting - it is composed of 20 sets of 5 deliveries. Each bowler can deliver a maximum of 20 deliveries and unlike other cricket competitions, one bowler can deliver two consecutive sets of 5. The team with the highest number of runs, wins. The '100' is slightly shorter than the usual short form '20-20' game, where in the latter, each team gets 20 overs of 6 deliveries. There are both men's and women's '100' competitions, each of which feature the same 8 franchise teams in England and Wales. '100', also known as a century, is a major achievement for any batter in any form of cricket.

This question was faced then driven though the covers by Phoenix Rising's resident cricket tragic, MikeMaster 99. The answer here is also appropriate as this is the 100th question in the Zippy Zoom series!