Thematic School Supplies Trivia

1. "I had no other choice that was left except fill My pencil full of poisonous lead, the devil" These lyrics come from the song "I Will" done by an artist known sometimes as Marshall Mathers, sometimes as Slim Shady, and commonly by which name?

From Quiz I Did It All with a Pencil!

Answer: Eminem

Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is an iconic American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded by many as one of the greatest and most influential artists in the history of hip-hop, Eminem gained mainstream recognition in the late 1990s with his alter ego, Slim Shady. Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Eminem's raw and lyrically complex style often addresses his personal struggles, experiences, and controversial themes. His 1999 debut album, "The Slim Shady LP", won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, marking the beginning of his unprecedented success. Eminem's alter egos, including Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers, have allowed him to explore various facets of his identity in his music. With albums like "The Marshall Mathers LP" (2000) and "The Eminem Show" (2002), he solidified his status as a rap legend. Eminem has consistently pushed boundaries in the genre and remains a highly influential figure in the music industry.

From Quiz Computers that Never Really Were

Answer: HAL 9000

"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." With these words, the HAL 9000 computer makes plain its intent to kill all of the humans on the Discovery. HAL 9000 stands for "Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic" computer. It is the shipboard AI responsible for the ship's operation including life support. As the sole surviving astronaut removes HAL's higher brain functions, it ceases to act as a sentient being and sings the song "Daisy Bell" which it was taught in its "infancy": "Daisy, Daisy. Give me your answer do! I'm half crazy, All for the love of you!"

From Quiz All About Number Two (The Pencil)

Answer: 1858

A rolled up piece of white bread was used to remove pencil marks before 1770 when Edward Naime picked up a piece of rubber instead. Even then, erasers were not added to pencils until 88 years later.

From Quiz My Very First Quiz About Pencils!

Answer: Nuremberg

Although the discovery of a seam of pure graphite in the English Lake District in 1564 meant that, for a long time, England had the monopoly on the highest quality pencils, it was in Nuremberg in Germany that the first attempts to mass produce were made in 1662. Nuremberg companies like Faber-Castell and Staedtler came to dominate world pencil production. In the wake of the American Civil War, German companies including Faber-Castell, Eagle, and the General Pencil Company began establishing major factories in New York and New Jersey. The first reference to what we think of as a modern pencil - a length of graphite encased in wooden slats - comes from a description by Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner, who wrote about it in 1565.

From Quiz 2B or not 2B ... That is the Pencil.

Answer: To write

In the 1500s when graphite was first discovered in England it was found useful for marking sheep and was later used for writing. It was thought to be a variety of lead hence the term "lead" pencil. It was later named graphite. Other words which derive from "graphein" include biography, cartography, chromatography and cinematography.

From Quiz The Rainbow World of Crayola Crayons

Answer: Magic Scent

Magic Scent crayons are just regular crayons but with some unusual fragrances added. For example, black smells like a leather jacket, brown smells like dirt, and gray smells like smoke. I guess this is supposed to be more fun than scribbling on the wall and listening to mom yell!

From Quiz Paper Throughout Fun Trivia

Answer: From their nests

Paper wasps make nests out of bits of wood, plants and their saliva. The resulting nests resemble papier-mâché. They are also sometimes called umbrella wasps, also due to their nests: each cell in the nest resembles an umbrella. While North America boasts about 22 species of paper wasps, it is a comparatively low percentage as there are about 700 different species world-wide.

From Quiz Fun with Office Supplies!

Answer: A placeholder in a choir hymnal

The original inventor of the adhesive part of the Post-It, a scientist by the name of Spencer Silver, was trying to make an extra strong adhesive when he accidentally created an extra weak one. He kept his invention, however, in case it eventually came in handy. Three years later, a colleague of Silver's, Arthur Fry, was singing in his church choir and used small pieces of paper to mark his place in the hymnal but they constantly fell out of the book. So he tried Silver's weak adhesive in conjunction with his small pieces of paper and it worked effectively. It held well but pulled away easily, not damaging the pages of the hymnal. Thus, the idea was born!

From Quiz Perfection is the Paper Clip

Answer: Steel or Plastic

All paper clips are made from steel or plastic. Carbon fibre would be somewhat expensive to use for paper clips. Lead, apart from being too expensive, would not bend back sufficiently and would break too easily. They would also be ultimately deadly for the author, who has a bad habit of chewing on them (much like a toothpick).

From Quiz A Box of Crayola Crayon Facts

Answer: blue

Cerulean is a light blue - darker than sky blue but lighter than blue or indigo. Cerulean was introduced in 1990 and is the second favorite color of America in the Crayola American Colors Poll.

From Quiz The Pencil

Answer: Small Brush

The Latin word "penicillium," a small brush which left a fine line, actually means "little tail." The word went from Latin to Old French as "pincel," and from there to Middle English as "pencel" or "pencel" before the spelling finally became the "pencil" we all know and love.

From Quiz I Did It All with a Pencil!

Answer: Pencil skirt

A pencil skirt is a classic and versatile piece of women's clothing that has endured in fashion for its timeless elegance and flattering silhouette. Typically tailored to follow the natural contours of the body, the pencil skirt is characterized by its slim, straight cut that extends from the waist to just below the knee. It often features a narrow hem, creating a streamlined and polished appearance. The pencil skirt is intended to look professional and sophisticated making it a good choice for a workplace setting, however, it is also stylish and chic which makes it more versatile for use as formal attire. The term first appeared post World War II and was popularized by the French fashion designer Christian Dior. The name 'pencil' skirt is derived from the skirt's slim, straight, and narrow shape, somewhat resembling a pencil.

From Quiz Computers that Never Really Were

Answer: Colossus and Guardian

The dystopic novel and film describe a computer designed and built by Dr. Charles Forbin to control the nuclear weapons of the United States of America. The computer is named Colossus. Colossus finds Guardian, a similar parallel supercomputer designed and built by the Soviet Union. The two computers join to save the world from itself. Jones wrote two sequels: "The Fall of Colossus" (1974) and "Colossus and the Crab" (1977). No spoilers here.

From Quiz Deck the Halls with Cardboard Santas!

Answer: Plants

Anyone who has ever cooked okra, or broken open a leaf of aloe, has seen plant mucilage. It's also the substance used by carnivorous plants to trap insects. In Canada and parts of the US, the ubiquitous classroom brand of mucilage was LePage's, in the bell shaped bottle with the red rubber tip. It was a lovely clear amber liquid. You cut a slit in the rubber tip to get it out, and then used the flexible tip to spread and smear it. And, of course, it would dry and cake around that tip, so picking dried glue off of your mucilage bottle was an essential part of any craft project.

From Quiz My Very First Quiz About Pencils!

Answer: Benjamin Franklin

Founding Father, printer, author and prolific inventor Benjamin Franklin bought 'The Pennsylvania Gazette' - along with his partner Hugh Meredith - in 1729. Until it ceased publication in 1815 it was one of the most prominent newspapers in the United States. As well as providing a vehicle for Franklin's political writing, often under pseudonyms, the Gazette carried substantial amounts of classified adverts and notices.

From Quiz 2B or not 2B ... That is the Pencil.

Answer: Nuremberg

The Staedtler family have been making pencils in Nuremberg for centuries. In the 1600s, Friedrich Staedtler's occupation was recorded in town documents as a pencil maker. He made his pencils by hand. The Staedtler company still has its headquarters in Nuremberg and one of its manufacturing plants in the north of the city.

From Quiz The Rainbow World of Crayola Crayons

Answer: Easton, Pennsylvania

Crayola started producing crayons in 1903 in Easton, Pennsylvania. They were made specifically for children to play with and were non-toxic. The original "recipe" for crayons has changed very little over the 100 years.

From Quiz Paper Throughout Fun Trivia

Answer: Back Words and Palindromes

The sentence is indeed a palindrome. Palindromes are words, phrases or sentences that read the same forwards and backwards. Weird Al Yankovic did a whole song, called "Bob," where each line was a palindrome. This sentence could not be the answer to a Drop A Letter quiz because it's too long and contains punctuation. It could not be in Anagrams because it's not a common phrase, which it would need to be to justify its length. It could also not be a Wordwise as no combination of separating letters/words or writing them above or below each other could logically lead to that phrase.

From Quiz Get Rid of Your Mistakes!

Answer: Wax

Wax was once used to erase mistakes made on paper. It had one obvious flaw... when smeared on the paper, it created a greasy film on the paper, which became hard to write on. If you have ever tried to write on a block of wax using pencil, you know it is not easy!

From Quiz Pencil Points

Answer: Borrowdale, Cumbria

In around 1560, a large deposit of graphite was uncovered after an oak tree fell during a storm. Local shepherds noticed that it was useful for marking the fleeces of their sheep but it was also very messy to handle. It was named "plumbago" or "that which acts like lead" and was the purest seam of graphite ever found. It was solid and able to be cut into rods which could be encased in wood. The graphite was only mined for 6 weeks each year and it was escorted to London by armed guards. Export was forbidden and The English Guild of Pencilmakers had the monopoly on its sale and on the production and sale of the wooden cases. In 1779 Scheele discovered that plumbago was, in fact, a form of carbon and it was renamed "graphite" after the Greek for "writing".

From Quiz The Pencil

Answer: Drawing rule lines

The mark left by a lead pencil was generally too light for writing anything intended for a wide readership, but it was ideal for drawing rule lines on paper or making notes in the margins of a book. I have not read of any reports of lazy students poisoned by their lead styluses. However, Thomas Astle, the author of the 1798 book 'The Origin and Progress of Writing', details several incidents where people were stabbed by stylus-wielding assailants. It's a dangerous world!

From Quiz I Did It All with a Pencil!

Answer: Ellen Pompeo

Ellen Kathleen Pompeo is an American actress with Italian heritage who has had the main role on the hit medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" since 2005. Before her breakthrough role on that show, however, Pompeo appeared in various television shows and films, including "Law & Order" and "Old School". Nevertheless, her success on the medical drama has made her one of the highest-paid actresses on television and a regular name of the "Forbes" highest paid lists. Ellen Pompeo has received accolades for her portrayal of a complex and resilient character, and she has been recognized for her contributions to the entertainment industry. Outside of acting, Pompeo has been an advocate for equal pay and has been vocal about addressing gender disparities in the entertainment industry. She has also ventured into producing and directing, further establishing herself as a multifaceted figure in the world of television.

From Quiz Computers that Never Really Were

Answer: Mycroft Holmes

Manuel Garcia "Mannie" O'Kelly-Davis, a computer technician, discovers that the HOLMES IV ("High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV") computer running the lunar colony has become sentient and has a sense of humour. Apparently, when the circuitry of the computer reached a number of "neuristors" equal to the number of neurons in a human brain, it became self-aware. Mannie named it Mycroft Holmes, after Sherlock Holmes' brother, but it also answers to Adam Selene, Simon Jester, and Michelle. Heinlein's novel won the Hugo Award for the best science fiction novel of 1967.

From Quiz All About Number Two (The Pencil)

Answer: So they don't roll off the table

While six-sided pencils are the norm, some may have three sides to improve a young child's grip. Others are round.

From Quiz 2B or not 2B ... That is the Pencil.

Answer: Pencil Pine

Pencil pines are hardy trees in the cypress family which grow in all but the most severe of climates. It will grow to 35m (115 feet) in height but has a very narrow form. The width of the tree may only be ten percent of its height. Other names for the pencil pine include Italian, Tuscan or Graveyard Cypress. Sempervirens refers to the tree's evergreen habit. They are commonly used for landscaping as their height gives another dimension to a garden while taking up little ground area.

From Quiz Get Rid of Your Mistakes!

Answer: Bread

I would imagine an apple or cucumber would work, due to their waxy covers, but back when bread was used, fruits and vegetables weren't preserved like they are today. Chocolate would be a disaster to use, it would just create a bigger mess! The bread used was thought to be crustless, but it, like wax, had one flaw. In this case the bread would disintegrate! It would eventually become too expensive to replace the bread as often as it would be needed. Anyway, who wants moldy bread smeared all over their essays? !

From Quiz Perfection is the Paper Clip

Answer: 540 degrees

The clip is comprised of three reverse turns, i.e., a turn that ends up traveling in the opposite direction. Each of these turns equals 180 degrees, and therefore, three of them equal 540 degrees. I used the term 'common' because there are an incredible array of early paper clip designs out there! Whilst some of these earlier types are still in use, by far and away the most common type in use is the "Gem" brand, the kind with the three reverse terms we are all familiar with.

From Quiz A Box of Crayola Crayon Facts

Answer: midnight blue

Prussian blue was changed less than ten years after it was made. Teachers felt that kids weren't familiar enough with Prussian history to know that this color referred to the Prussian soldiers' dark blue uniforms. Prussian blue was one of the few crayons whose names were capitalized.

From Quiz Computers that Never Really Were

Answer: Deep Thought

Deep Thought was designed and built to answer just one question. Two programmers, Lunkwill and Fook, posed the question on Great Turning-On Day. Deep Thought replied it would "have to think about it" and proceeded to cogitate for 7.5 million years. Then descendants of the original programmers -- Phouchg and Loonquawl -- were there to receive the answer on the Day of the Answer. The answer was 42. Deep Thought proposed building another computer to discover the question.

From Quiz All About Number Two (The Pencil)

Answer: Ticonderoga

On March 30, 2012, Ticonderoga celebrated the 100th anniversary of its #2 pencil. It is also the oldest pencil manufacturer in the United States.

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