Cool Zooms, Part XLII Trivia Quiz

Answer: Leafy seadragon

The leafy seadragon is related to the seahorse, and lives in the cooler waters of the southern coast of the Australian mainland. They have leaf-like projections all over their body, which provide camouflage. They can also change colour enabling them to blend in with their habitat. They are a protected species and mainly feed on tiny crustaceans and plankton.

The Christmas tree worm is a maritime annelid and the nudibranchs are molluscs, usually brightly-coloured. A sea-pen is a polyp, usually attaching itself to the ocean floor, feeding on drifting plankton.

This piscatorial piece was reeled in by ozzz2002.

Answer: Arthur

Solution:
The answer to the cryptic is a "president" and, hopefully, you didn't make the same mistake as me and try looking for a "woman president".
A painting = Art and "hur" is like "her", a woman. Put the two together and you have Arthur.

Chester A. Arthur was the 21st President of the United States, presiding over the country from 1881 to 1885. During his tenure he was known for pushing forward the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act and overseeing the rebirth of the US Navy.

Ironically, this cryptic clue was presented by one who didn't have a clue... Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: Martin Freeman

Martin Freeman is Morgan Freeman's brother from another mother. Okay not really. In 2001-2003, he played Tim Canterbury opposite Ricky Gervais' David Brent in 14 episodes of 'The Office' (UK version). He has said this role "cast a very long shadow" (Wikipedia) over his acting career.

Clearly he overcame the handicap of playing Tim Canterbury. He is most recognizable to international audiences for his portrayal of Bilbo Baggins in the three-part Peter Jackson film series 'The Hobbit'. He won much acclaim for this portrayal.

This information was brought to you by Phoenix Rising's resident wiseacre tazman6619, who thinks Mr. Gervais would approve.

Answer: Mouse

All three are indeed mice.

The arcade game 'Mappy' was released in 1983 and featured a mouse called Mappy. The aim of the game is to guide Mappy through a mansion of cats called Meowkies to retrieve stolen goods.

Reepicheep is the leader of the talking mice of Narnia, the fictional world created by author C.S. Lewis. He features in the books 'Prince Caspian', 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' and 'The Last Battle' - the second, third and seventh books (in publication order) of 'The Chronicles of Narnia' series. Reepicheep's major role is in 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'. He is described in the books as a "gay and martial mouse", about two-feet high when standing on his hind legs, with ears "nearly as long as (though broader than) a rabbit's", who speaks with a shrill, piping voice and whose fur is very dark, almost black. He wears a thin circlet of gold on his head, with a crimson feather and his weapon is a rapier.

Mr. Jingles is the mouse in 'The Green Mile', written by Stephen King. The story is set in the Cold Mountain Penitentiary in 1932. Mr. Jingles is befriended by both the inmates and the guards. After Mr. Jingles is killed by the sadistic guard Percy Wetmore, John Coffey, an innocent inmate placed on death row, brings him back to life. Paul Edgecomb, the commanding officer at the time, recounts, 63 years later, that Mr. Jingles was still alive. 'The Green Mile' was Stephen King's 30th novel, the 25th under his own name, and was originally released in six parts by Signet books in 1996. It was made into a film released in 1999.

This cheesy question squeaked into the quiz with the help of Phoenix Rising member lg549.

Answer: Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl, or should I say Artemis Fowl II, is the protagonist in a series of eight books written by Eoin Colfer between 2001 and 2012. The books have been described as 'Die Hard' with fairies. In the initial story, 'Artemis Fowl' (2001), Artemis is described as a villain. And he certainly is one. He kidnaps the elf Holly Short, who is a captain of the Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance, and demands a ransom of one ton of gold for her release, his ultimate aim being to restore his family's battered evil empire. However, as the stories progress we see subtle changes in Artemis until he becomes a form of anti-hero.

The author, Eoin Colfer, is a celebrated Irish writer of young adult fiction who has also contributed to the Marvel Comic Universe by writing the young adult novel 'Iron Man: The Gauntlet' (2016) and being commissioned in 2008 to write the sixth instalment in the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' series. This novel, 'And Another Thing...', was released in 2009.

This question was served up by Phoenix Rising's "cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck" fowl language expert, pollucci19.

Answer: Universe

Solution:
Erbium = Er
Nickel = Ni
Selenium = Se
Uranium = U
Vanadium = V

Rearrange the letters ERNISEUV and you get universe.

That great author Douglas Adams, in his 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (1978), warned us not to panic when we are confronted with the sheer size of the universe. The universe covers everything that is in space and time... the planets, the galaxies, the black holes and all forms of matter and energy. We cannot tell you what the spatial size of the universe is (I doubt that anyone can) but scientists are able to measure the observable universe and it has been estimated to be 93 billion light-years in diameter. Oh, and don't panic, the universe is still expanding.

This question was presented by Phoenix Rising's chemically imbalanced pollucci19.

Answer: The Walkie Talkie

At 160 metres tall, 20 Fenchurch Street is not the tallest London skyscraper but it does have a distinctive shape which appears to be a feature of that city's skyscrapers. The design, which really does look like a walkie-talkie, has polarised critics with some praising the building and others panning it. The building features a three-storey "sky garden" on the top floor, which can be accessed for a fee by the public and affords beautiful views of the River Thames. Its shape did cause a design fault though - the exterior glass acts as a concave mirror concentrating the normally weak British sunshine into beams that damaged the paintwork of parked vehicles beneath. The media had a field day, one journalist managing to fry an egg under the intense reflected light and the terms "Walkie-Scorchie" and "Fryscraper" were gleefully reported.

This question was reported by 1nn1 who was hopefully wishing for a few seconds of intense Australian-level heat from the sun as he passed beneath this building on what passed for a summer's day in England. Sadly he was disappointed.

Answer: Old Douglas

Old Douglas was originally part of a U.S. War Department trial called 'the Texas Camel Experiment'. This program aimed to investigate the use of camels as a possible alternative to horses and mules. Horses and mules were dying in large numbers due to dehydration and it was hoped that the capacity of camels to retain water would be an effective alternative in dry conditions.

Besides being used as a mascot for the Mississippi-based regiment, Colonel W. H. Moore, his owner, assigned Old Douglas to the regimental band, carrying instruments and knapsacks. Old Douglas didn't get on well with his horsey counterparts, once causing a stampede after he spooked the horses. There is a marker for 'Douglas The Camel' at Cedar Hill Cemetery, Vicksburg, Mississippi. A group called the Texas Camel Corps recount stories of camels like Old Douglas, that were used during the Civil War.

This question was ridden into the quiz by Phoenix Rising's resident cameleer, VegemiteKid.

Answer: Deep Thought

The history of human-computer chess matches stretches all the way back to 1956. At Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, a MANIAC I computer playing a simplified version of chess defeated a novice in 23 moves.

Deep Thought was a computer designed to play chess. In 1988 Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen was defeated by Deep Thought during a chess tournament, with the computer sharing first place in the Software Toolworks Championship. Reigning world chess champion Gary Kasparov of Russia was subsequently able to deliver two convincing wins against Deep Thought in 1989.

In 1996, Kasparov played a six-game match against Deep Blue which won the first game. Kasparov won three and drew two of the remaining five games to finish 4-2 in the contest.

Phoenix Rising's psnz analysed this question and had sufficient material to promote it into the quiz.

Answer: Time

Cliff Richard played The Rock Star, Chris Wilder, when the West End production premiered. The show ran for two years. Richard was replaced by David Cassidy during the show's run. Laurence Olivier's role was pre-filmed and played during the show.

A concept album was released featuring Richard and Olivier, along with Freddie Mercury, Julian Lennon, and Dionne Warwick, among others. The title track 'Time' was released as a single by Mercury with limited success.

Time waits for no man but apparently it paused as Phoenix Rising member tazman6619 compiled this information.

Answer: Robert Ludlum

American author Robert Ludlum wrote 27 thriller novels during his lifetime, including arguably his most popular: 'The Bourne Trilogy'. Also writing under the pseudonyms of Jonathon Ryder and Michael Shepard, many of his books have been adapted to movies.

The 'Bourne' movies, released from 2002 to 2016, starred Matt Damon as Jason Bourne - with the exception of the fourth film 'The Bourne Legacy'. This film shared its title with the first of more than ten novels by Eric Van Lustbader that continued Ludlum's original trilogy.

This question was identified, rated supreme and ultimately borne out by Phoenix Rising's member leith90, who loves a good thriller.

Answer: Aaron Eckhart

In 'The Dark Knight', Eckhart played Gotham City's District Attorney, Harvey Dent, who got severely burned - losing half his face - by an explosion set by The Joker, turning the once idealistic fighter of crime into a revenge-seeking murderer. Eckhart played George, the pony-tailed biker neighbor in 'Erin Brockovich' and President Asher in both 'Olympus Has Fallen' and 'London Has Fallen'.

Introduced in the Batman comic books in 1942, Dent, rather than being burned, was instead disfigured by acid thrown at him in court. Two-Face eventually became one of Batman's most important adversaries.

No "two" ways about it (although his enthusiasm waxed and "Wayned"), Phoenix Rising's mike32768 saved "face" by "batting" a homerun with this question.

Answer: Heart of Gold

'Heart of Gold' was Neil Young's first US Billboard Hot 100 number one (and other than in Mr Young's native Canada, did not go number one anywhere else in the world). The corresponding album 'Harvest' was simultaneously at the top of the US Album chart. Most of this album was written with an acoustic guitar - as a back injury at the time prevented Mr Young standing for any length of time, he abandoned his electric guitar and sat down with his acoustic. This song and album put Neil Young firmly in the middle of the road - a place he did not like: "Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there." Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor sang back-up. Its quality as a song can perhaps be measured by its number of remakes. At least a dozen have been recorded by artists such as Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Boney M and Roxette.

This question was progressed into the quiz, one chord at a time by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

Answer: Tricia Nixon

Patricia Nixon Cox (b. 1946) is the elder daughter of Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1994) and Thelma Catherine "Pat" Nixon (1912-1993). Code-named "Sugarfoot" by the US Secret Service, Tricia married Edward Ridley Finch Cox (b. 1946) in a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden on June 12, 1971. The couple have a son (b. 1979) and Tricia was a stay-at-home mom.

Richard Nixon represented the Republican Party and was the 36th Vice President from 1953 to 1961 during Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency. In 1969 Nixon became the 37th US President and was re-elected in 1972. He was forced to resign from office in 1974 following the Watergate scandal.

Having elected to research this question, Phoenix Rising's psnz sweetly slipped it into the quiz without any further hint of scandal.

Answer: Adam's skull

The name 'Calvary' derives from the Latin for 'cranium' (the part of the skull containing the brain). Similarly, 'Golgotha' derives from the Aramaic word for 'skull'. There are several different interpretations for the names. Some scholars believe that the hill itself was so formed as to resemble a skull. Others postulate that it was named for the skulls of the condemned who were executed there.

Origen (185-253 AD) recorded that Adam was buried at the site and his skull had been found there. It is an idea entrenched in Jewish and early Christian tradition and has persisted in orthodoxy to this day. If you have ever noticed a skull at the base of the Cross in works of art or religious iconography, that is a depiction of Adam's skull. It's also highly symbolic that Christ, known as the "Second Adam", would atone for the sins of the world on the very spot that the first Adam (the original sinner) was buried.

Phoenix Rising's JCSon took the helm for this question.

Answer: Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse is a bright star in the constellation of Orion with a distinctly reddish hue. It is classified as a red supergiant, meaning it is a large star with a cool temperature. This is because it has used up its core fuel of hydrogen. A supergiant is nearly at the end of its life cycle as a star and may be followed by a supernova, which is the explosion of a star.

Betelgeuse is also considered a semiregular variable star, meaning it undergoes fluctuations in brightness caused by changes in temperature or size. In October 2019, the star started dimming and by December it was no longer in the top 20 brightest stars when it was once amongst the top 10. In fact, the dimming of Betelgeuse changed the outline of the constellation Orion. While shifts in its brightness are not unusual, the suddenness and noticeability prompted speculation that Betelgeuse was headed towards a supernova event. However, near the end of February 2020, after almost two weeks at the faintest it had ever been since astronomers started keeping records, the star showed signs of rebrightening, indicating a supernova was not imminent after all.

Astronomers have since determined the reason for this dimming - it was a gaseous outflow that may have created a cloud of dust, thereby temporarily obscuring Betelgeuse's light from our eyes.

This initially dim question was lit up to stellar brightness by Phoenix Rising team members Fifiona81 and purelyqing.

Answer: Lord's Cricket Ground

They play cricket at Lord's Cricket Ground. That's the sum total of my sporting knowledge in this regard. However, I quite like weathervanes. These can often be quite imaginative additions to buildings and useful in pointing out the wind direction. At Lord's, Father Time can be seen removing the bails from a wicket. It is a large vane, standing 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) tall. It was gifted to the cricket ground by the architect Sir Herbert Baker, who designed one of its grandstands, and is a representation of part of the cricket rules which state "After the call of Time, the bails shall be removed from both wickets."

smpdit was bowled over by this question and would probably have a pestle and mortar on her weathervane.

Answer: Data

'Star Trek: Picard' was first released in 2020 on the streaming service CBS All Access. The show starred Patrick Stewart reprising his role as the incomparable Jean-Luc Picard from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' (TNG). The first season also featured guest appearances from several other beloved 'TNG' and 'Star Trek: Voyager' characters (including Data, William Riker, Deanna Troi, and Seven of Nine).

American actress and singer Isa Briones played the roles of Dahj and Soji Asha, "daughters" created via fractal neuronic cloning of a positronic neuron from Data. Their creation realized Data's dream of procreating. In 'TNG', Data had created a daughter named Lal, but she succumbed to cascade failure in her neural net, an outcome that he was unable to prevent despite his best efforts.

Captain's Log, Stardate 98794.08. Phoenix Rising's JCSon has been given the singular honor of presenting this question to the mysterious people of FunTrivia.

Answer: Ecco the Dolphin

In the game 'Ecco the Dolphin' players control the titular bottlenose dolphin through both water and time to battle extraterrestrial enemies that are wreaking havoc on Earth's oceans. Ecco's main attack function is to swim fast and ram into enemies but he is also able to use echolocations and sing to interact with objects and get help from other animals. An important gameplay feature involves an air meter that depletes health if players stay under water too long since Ecco must surface to breathe.

'Ecco the Dolphin' was a commercial success and its popularity prompted Sega to release more games in the series. These included 'Ecco: The Tides of Time' (1994), 'Ecco Jr.' (1995), 'Ecco Jr. and the Great Ocean Treasure Hunt' (1995) and 'Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future' (2000). Although many players and the series creator Ed Annunziata desired to have a continuation or reboot of the series, no further games were released during the 2000s or 2010s.

This question was bottlenosed into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member Triviaballer who believes that games with animal protagonists have an extra layer of fun.

Answer: Prefect

The first Ford Prefect was built by Ford UK in 1938 and was an updated version of the previous 7W and Model C Ten cars. Ford ceased production of Prefects in the UK in 1941 due to the Second World War, but they were also manufactured in Australia and reappeared on the European market after the war. The design remained largely similar until 1953 when a new Prefect was introduced alongside a new version of the Ford Anglia. The Prefect was sold as the slightly more "upmarket" version and had 4 doors rather than the Anglia's two. This car survived on the market - with relatively minor changes to its design and specification - until production stopped in 1961.

The name Ford Prefect is better known than many other cars of the mid-20th century because the author Douglas Adams used it for one of the characters in his acclaimed series 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. Ford Prefect was one of the guide's alien writers and rescued the hero, Arthur Dent, in the nick of time before the Earth was demolished to make way for a new "hyperspace expressway".

This question featuring a very slow car and a very fast road was finally driven into the quiz by Phoenix Rising's Fifiona81.