Zippy Zooms XIV Trivia Quiz

Answer: European Union

The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Malmö, Sweden, featured 37 participating countries. The ban on the European Union flag at the event led to a complaint from Margaritis Schinas, Vice President of the European Commission, to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which hosted the competition. In response, the EBU cited "heightened geopolitical tensions" as the reason for the ban.

This question was written by Phoenix Rising's Matthew_07, a fan of singing competitions.

Answer: The Equals [=] sign

Robert Recorde was an interesting man. Born in Pembrokeshire in Wales, he graduated from both Oxford and Cambridge Universities and worked as a mathematician and a physician. He invented the equals sign [=] (There was no prior symbol before this date). He also introduced the pre-existing plus [+] and minus [-] signs (origins in Ancient Egypt) to English speakers in 1557. Recorde worked as a physician, serving in that capacity to King Edward VI and Queen Mary. Subsequently, he became the controller of the Royal Mint and served as Comptroller of Mines and Monies in Ireland. Despite these well-regarded positions, he was arrested for debt and died penniless in the King's Bench Prison in London in 1558.

Question submitted by mathematical enthusiast Rizeeve of team Phoenix Rising.

Answer: Lisbon

Portugal's Lisbon is situated at 38.7 N. considerably further south than the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, at 46.0 N, both of which are much further south than Luxembourg City at 49.6 N and London at 51.5 N. Lisbon is actually further south than any other mainland European capital except Athens, though the capitals of Mediterranean island countries of Malta and Cyprus, Valetta and Nicosia, are Europe's most southern capitals. Lisbon is also mainland Europe's most westerly capital second only to Reykjavík in Iceland. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world. As a European capital, only Athens is older.

Lisbon is a beautiful city with a warm climate and friendly people.

This question was submitted by Phoenix Rising's resident Lusophile 1nn1.

Answer: Snoopy

Charles Schultz created the famous "Peanuts" comic strip which was first run on October 2nd, 1950. The following year the characters played their first baseball game. Snoopy joined the team in 1952 and the characters' positions changed over time. Snoopy became the team's shortstop, with Schroeder as the catcher, Charlie Brown as manager and pitcher, and Lucy in right field. It was a running gag that the team was so bad, they needed a dog to help them.

This question was pitched into the quiz by leith90, who is unarguably a worse pitcher than Charlie Brown.

Answer: Ireland

The national animal of Ireland is the Irish hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) which is the only species of lagomorph native to the island of Ireland.

The national animal of England is the lion. Now this author is going to go out on a limb by stating that it would be very unlikely that England had any native lions. England's national lion is actually French: The lion was derived from the coat of arms of the Duchy of Aquitaine - Queen Eleanor's family. However, the lion became a symbol of British "pride" when Eleanor's son, Richard I the Lionheart carried his family's arms on his battle shield.

At least a lion is a real animal: Scotland's national animal is a unicorn and Wales' is a dragon. Northern Ireland, perhaps quite sensibly given its near-neighbours' choices, does not have a national animal.

This question was written by Phoenix Rising's 1nn1 who lives in a country that has a both real and endemic national animal called the red kangaroo.

Answer: Quagga

The quokka is a macropod (the family that includes kangaroos and wallabies) that is found in the southwest regions of Australia. Its size, for comparison, is similar to that of a large domestic cat. The creature was responsible for the naming of Rottnest Island, just off the coast of Western Australia. When Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh sighted the island, he mistook the quokkas were giant rats, naming the island 't Eylandt 't Rottenest, meaning "Rats' Nest Island".

The quagga is a subspecies of the plains zebra and is endemic to South Africa. Its size was, roughly, about four feet in height and eight feet in length. If you wish to see one, you will have some difficulty, as the creature was hunted into extinction by European settlers toward the end of the 18th century. However, all may not be lost. When DNA testing identified that the quagga and the plains zebra had a very close relationship, a selective breeding programme was put into place to create a quagga-like zebra, with the idea of introducing it into the Western Cape region once they have sufficient numbers.

This question quoted quaggas, quokkas and no quackers... that questionable and queasy quagmire was cooked up by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: Olive brine

The martini was famous well before James Bond delivered the poorly thought-out line "shaken, not stirred". Why was it famous? Well, it is a stylish drink, it is totally refreshing, there's a timeless quality about it and there are so many different ways in which it can be served. This makes it the perfect drink for either an early-evening aperitif or a post-dinner digestive.

The standard martini is made up of three parts of gin to one part of vermouth. To make it dirty requires the addition of olive brine. (Tip) Most versions of bottled olive brine tend to have a bit of an artificial taste. The recommendation is to use brine from a jar of quality olives.

It was mentioned above that the martini is versatile and all of the above answer options (among others) offer different variants to the standard martini. The shot of single malt added to the mix will create a "burnt" martini, the pickled onion (instead of an olive) makes it a "Gibson" martini and by using equal parts of vermouth and gin you're (supposedly) creating the "perfect" martini. The latter is a far cry from what Noel Coward would call a "perfect" martini, instructing that to make the same you should fill a glass up with gin and then wave it in the general direction of Italy.

Finally, I mentioned that the Bond line, "shaken, not stirred" was poorly thought out... by doing so you're agitating the drink a lot more. This will tend to break the ice into smaller shards which, in turn, will melt quicker and only serve to dilute your drink.

This question was stirred by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who makes his martini by adding gin to a glass and then waving the bottle of vermouth above it.

Answer: Honshu (Japan)

Honshu is the main island of Japan, and home to Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Osaka. More than 80% of the population of Japan lives on Honshu. At 230,000 sq kms, it is almost as large as the combined area of the three wrong answers. New Zealand's North Island contains the country's capital, Wellington, and the largest city, Auckland, but is only about 112,000 sq kms in area.

The island of Ireland, which encompasses the Republic of Ireland and the UK-aligned country of Northern Ireland, is about a third of the size of Honshu, at 84,000 sq kms.

Australia's smallest state, Tasmania, is only 68,000 sq kms, slightly larger than Florida.

Question written by ozzz2002, who has been to two of these islands, and the other two are on his bucket list.

Answer: Rivets on jeans

Of the above-named items, the rivets on jeans answer was the only one that was created in the nineteenth century. The zipper arrived in 1903, the "Little Black Dress" was introduced by Coco in 1927 and nylon stockings appeared on the scene in 1939.

The story behind the rivets on jeans is an interesting one and, contrary to popular belief, they were not the idea of Levi Strauss. Jacob W. Davis was a tailor who lived and worked in Reno, Nevada in 1871, and he began the practice of hammering copper rivets onto the jeans of his clients in the places where they would often tear. This corresponded to the pockets and the base of the fly. The protection that these rivets offered was a game changer and Davis' jeans soon became popular. Davis now had two problems (a) his competitors were starting to imitate his product and (b) he didn't have the $68 to pay for the patent to shut them out.

The solution was to join forces with one of his fabric suppliers. He contacted Levi Strauss who paid for the patent and Jacob moved to the San Francisco factory to look after the production of the jeans. The patent was granted to Strauss on May 20, 1873. US law, at the time, dictated that he could hold the patent for 17 years and, during that time, the Strauss company established a competitive advantage that put it at the forefront of jean sales. Today, copper rivets on jeans are a standard but they're more of a decorative feature.

This riveting question was brought to you by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: Brenda and Eddie

Billy Joel's "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" from "The Stranger" album (1977) was ranked by "Rolling Stone" magazine as the 324th greatest song of all time in 2021 despite it never being released as a single. The song tells the story of Brenda and Eddie, the prom queen and king who get married and "live for a while in a very nice style" until the realities of life cause a divorce. However, the two still care for each other as they "parted the closest of friends" as they meet up years later at an Italian restaurant to reminisce with a hint that they might get back together but the songwriter leaves us dangling "That's all I heard about Brenda and Eddie / Can't tell you more than I told you already" leaving it to our imaginations to provide an ending.

John Cougar Mellencamp's quintessential "little ditty" about two teenagers in love, "Jack & Diane" (1982) introduces us to a pair with all-American dreams: "he's gonna be a football star" as they "suck' on chili dogs outside the Tastee Freez" but the song portends a rocky future and recommends "holdin' on to sixteen as long as you can / Change is coming 'round real soon / Make us women and men". The couple are doomed despite us not being told explicitly that by the songwriter.

Tommy and Gina are an unemployed dockworker and diner waitress respectively in Bon Jovi's 1986 stadium anthem, "Livin' on a Prayer". However, unlike the previous two songs where the song follows the life of the pair until they break up, this song does not advance past the point of youth and the song is optimistic the couple will stay together despite hard times: "We've got each other and that's a lot for love / We'll give it a shot". Time will tell.

Billy Joe and Bobby Sue resemble Bonny and Clyde in the Steve Miller Band song "Take The Money and Run" (1976). "Billy Joe shot a man while robbing his castle / Bobbie Sue took the money and run" However, despite the poor prognosis of the pair, this is the only couple from these four songs who are still together:
"They got the money, hey, you know they got away / They headed down south and they're still running today".

This question was submitted by Phoenix Rising's 1nn1 who is still wondering if Brenda and Eddie got back together and whether Tommy and Gina made it.