Cool Zooms, Part XXIII Trivia Quiz

Answer: Snake

The Eastern Racers are a species of snakes found in North and Central America. The Northern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor constrictor) is one of the eleven sub-species and this non-venomous snake has been Ohio's State Reptile since 1995. Twenty-eight US states have an official State Reptile.

Black Racers can range in length from 50-152cm (20 to 60 inches). They are diurnal and highly active, with a diet of rodents, frogs, toads, lizards and other snakes. Their "racer" name is appropriate for these speedy snakes.

The snake is prevalent in Ohio, something which prompted the State Legislature to name it their reptile. Along with Blue Racers, the snakes help control animals which might damage farmers' crops.

Phoenix Rising's psnz quickly slid this question into the quiz: strangely curious for someone who lives in the "All Black" rugby country where there are no snakes.

Answer: Garfield

James Abram Garfield (1831-1881) was the 20th president of the United States.

James Garfield was from Moreland Hills, Ohio, and is one of eight presidents produced by the State. It is of little wonder then that Ohio has been dubbed the "Mother of Presidents". Seven U.S. presidents were born in Ohio. Apart from Garfield, these include Ulysses Grant, Rutherford Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding. The eighth president from the State was William Henry Harrison, who was born in Virginia, but lived much of his adult life in Ohio.

"Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties" is a 2006 live action, computer-animated comedy film. It stars Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield and Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle, Garfield's owner. Sadly, we couldn't find a link between "Garfield" and Ohio. The best that we can come up with in Garfield's origin story is that he lives with Jon and Odie (the dog) in Muncie, Indiana. Jim Davis, Garfield's creator, is also from Indiana.

This cat was let out of the bag by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: 3

Steven Spielberg won Academy Awards for "Schindler's List" (Best Picture and Best Director) in 1994 and "Saving Private Ryan" (Best Director) in 1999. "Saving Private Ryan" was also nominated for Best Picture but the category was won by "Shakespeare in Love" that year. His other nominations in the twentieth century were for "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (Best Director) in 1978, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (Best Director) in 1982, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (Best Director and Best Picture) in 1983 and "The Color Purple" (Best Picture) in 1986.

Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

And the Oscar goes to... lg549 for directing this question into the Phoenix Rising team quiz.

Answer: Ladybug

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a protagonist in the animated television series "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir" created by Thomas Astruc. She is portrayed as a French-Chinese teenager and aspiring fashion designer.

Marinette transforms into Ladybug when she utters the phrase "Spots On" while wearing a pair of earrings known as the Ladybug Miraculous. These earrings grant their wearer powers of Creation and a suite of special abilities, but her powers drain after five minutes of use and must be recharged.

The ladybug was selected as Ohio's official state insect in 1975.

Phoenix Rising's JCSon was delighted when he spotted this question.

Answer: 17

The land now known as the State of Ohio was once part of the Northwest Territory. Ohio was the first state described out of the Northwest Ordinance laid out in 1787. Other states that were subsequently admitted from the same land area were Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.

In November 1802, the Ohio State Convention sought admittance to the United States by asking for approval for the Ohio Constitution: in person to the Capitol in Washington, D.C. and presented to Congress in December. The Congress proceeded to approve the action but forgot to ratify the Ohio Constitution.

In 1953, Ohio was preparing to celebrate the state's 150th birthday. Some Ohio schoolteachers travelled to Washington, D.C. to obtain copies of documents from the Library of Congress that ratified Ohio's admittance to the union.

The Library of Congress did not have the legislation that granted statehood. Ohio hadn't been formally admitted into the United States in 1803.

George H. Bender an Ohio Congressman, Representative of the 83rd Congress in 1953 introduced legislation to rectify the matter. On May 19, the state legislature voted to grant statehood to Ohio, retroactive to March 1, 1803.

This question was delivered on time and duly ratified by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

Answer: #WinkAtTheMoon

Upon Armstrong's death on August 25, 2012 his family released a poignant statement that concluded with the following:

"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

Neil Armstrong was born August 5, 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio. As the home of John Glenn and the Wright brothers too, Ohio has legitimate claim to use the motto, "Birthplace of aviation pioneers" as seen on its automotive license plates and state quarters.

Having never been to the moon, Phoenix Rising's mike32768 was humbled to have been allowed to write this question. He has been to Ohio several times, however, and didn't need a Saturn V and can confirm it's a much shorter trip.

Answer: Unsorted glacial sediment

As glaciers move downhill under the force of gravity, they erode the surrounding rock material through abrasion. This rock is a mix of sizes and composition reflecting the geological composition at that site. This heterogeneous material is carried along with the glacier and is eventually deposited in moraines (lateral, medial, terminal).

Many areas of northern Ohio, especially near Lake Erie, are undulating till arising from glacial retreat over the period 11,000 to 75,000 years ago.

This question was sifted, sorted and eventually deposited into this quiz by Phoenix Rising member MikeMaster99.

Answer: Trilobite

Dudley is in the West Midlands, not far from Birmingham, and was known for the mining of limestone. Fossilised trilobites were regularly found in the mines, so much so that they became known as "Dudley bugs" or "Dudley locusts". Trilobites (Latin "three lobes"), were similar to our modern crustaceans. Fossil evidence suggests that they averaged about 5cm (2 inches) in length, and survived for many millions of years, before dying off with the dinosaurs.

In June 1985, Ohio adopted the Isotelus trilobite as their state fossil.

This question was dug up by Phoenix Rising member, ozzz2002.

Answer: Tomato juice

The Bloody Mary is a cocktail with a controversial history, alternatively created in 1921 by a bartender in a Parisian, Ernest Hemingway-frequented bar; by French bartender Fernand Petiot; or in 1930 by either Henry Zbikiewicz or George Jessel in New York's 21 Club.

In 1934 Fernand Petiot re-emerged with a more refined recipe in the bar of the St Regis Hotel in New York.

Even the name has a few possible origins: Queen Mary I was known as Bloody Mary due to the number of Catholics she beheaded, but Mary Pickford is also cited as a source. A waitress in a bar called the "Bucket of Blood" may also have been the inspiration.

The original Bloody Mary consisted of tomato juice and vodka and other flavourings such as celery salt and/or Worcestershire sauce.

The cocktails listed in the question are all variants of the Bloody Mary:
* The Red Snapper replaces the vodka with gin.
* The Cubanita replaces the vodka with rum.
* The Vampiro utilises tequila and mescal.

Tomato juice is the official state beverage of Ohio: a good place for a cocktail or three. Curiously, the aforementioned Fernand Petiot died in 1975 in Canton, Ohio.

smpdit may have sat in the Phoenix Rising Naughty Corner slurping down the various cocktails citing research purposes. She also found it is best not to spill them down a white t-shirt.

Answer: Maya Lin

Maya Lin won a national competition to design the US memorial for veterans of the Vietnam War in 1981, when she was still a student at Yale University. The choice of a non-traditional design by a young woman of Chinese ethnicity proved highly controversial at the time, but the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial has since become one of Washington D.C.'s most visited sites and an important place of remembrance for the families of those soldiers whose names have been inscribed upon it.

Her "Bodies of Water" series consists of wooden three-dimensional sculptures of the underwater topography of the Red Sea, Black Sea and Caspian Sea. The pieces don't just show the shape of the surface area of these bodies of water, but also the volume of water they contain and the startling variations in their depth and breadth. They were also intended to highlight environmental concerns, particularly those relating to pollution and damage to underwater ecosystems.

Maya Lin was born in the city of Athens, Ohio.

Phoenix Rising's Fifiona81 "seas"ed the opportunity to memorialise this bit of Maya Lin's work for FT quiz takers.

Answer: East of Eden

"East of Eden" is a 1952 novel authored by another well-known laureate, John Steinbeck.

In 1993, Toni Morrison became the first black woman to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. The announcement of the award lauded her as an author "who, in novels characterised by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality". She published her first novel, "The Bluest Eye", in 1970. Her third, "Song of Solomon" (1977), brought critical claim along with the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her fifth novel, "Beloved" (1987), earned Morrison the Pulitzer Prize.

Born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in 1931 to a working-class family in Lorain, Ohio, she apparently changed her name on publication of her first novel because 'Chloe' was difficult to pronounce. She continued to honor her given name and later expressed regret about having changed it.

This question was penned by Phoenix Rising member JCSon, who believes Toni Morrison left an indelible mark on the landscape of American literature.

Answer: "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984)

Considered to be one of the finest horror movies ever made, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" spawned at least six sequels and a television series. The film centers on a killer who is scarred by burns and wears a bladed leather glove, and who invades his victims' dreams. He kills them in their dreams which, in the same motion, kills that person in real life.

The fictional town of Springwood, the setting for this movie, is supposedly based in the state of Ohio. "Friday the 13th" is set in New Jersey, "The Evil Dead" in Tennessee and "Halloween" in Illinois.

This question was frightened out of its answer by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: Sloopy

I figured that this song has appeared so many times in FT quizzes that finding something original to write interesting information about it was going to be difficult... that is until I discovered that the song is Ohio's official state rock song.

It was adopted by the Ohio General Assembly as the State's rock song in 1985 and that came about as a response to an article in the Columbus Citizen-Journal that the State of Washington was considering adopting an official state rock song and so, Ohio moved quickly to ensure that they were the first. Part of the resolution (number 16) that was put forward to the 116th General Assembly was that "rock music has become an integral part of American culture" and (I love this bit) "if fans of jazz, country-and-western, classical, Hawaiian and polka music think those styles also should be recognized by the state, then by golly, they can push their own resolution just like we're doing." "Hang on Sloopy" was an often-played and wildly popular number performed by the Ohio State University Marching Band at Buckeyes' football games.

The McCoys, who'd had a hit with the song in 1965, were from Dayton, Ohio and the girl who was the subject of the song, Dorothy Sloop, was from Steubenville, Ohio.

This question was composed by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who'd often, incorrectly, called the band "The Real McCoys."

Answer: Orville

In 1908, Orville Wright was demonstrating the plane's capabilities to the US Army, who were interested in purchasing a plane. After two successful flights with passengers, a third flight began. This time the passenger was Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge who was on the board assessing the plane. He was also the heaviest passenger to be taken on the day. After three laps of the parade ground, the plane ran into difficulties and crashed from a height of 75 feet. Orville was conscious when pulled from the wreckage, although he suffered multiple fractures. Selfridge wasn't so lucky and died from head injuries. He became the first person in history to die in a plane crash.

Wilbur Wright, the co-inventor of the plane, was on the ground watching that day. He was the third son born to Milton and Susan Wright, who had seven children. Orville was the fifth son and sixth child in the family. As the father was a bishop, the family moved often, so Wilbur was born in Indiana in 1867 and Orville in Ohio in 1871. The family settled permanently in Dayton Ohio in 1884.

Reuchlin Wright was the oldest child but was estranged from the family. Otis Wright and his twin sister Ida died shortly after birth.

This question was flown into the quiz by leith90 who was fortunate enough to cross a business class international flight off her bucket list in 2019.

Answer: His disciples

Jesus had said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. Matthew 19:26 was His response to the disciples who, being astonished, had asked who then could be saved.

The other three groups also feature in this section of Matthew's Gospel. Earlier in chapter 19, Jesus discusses the issue of divorce with the Pharisees. In chapter 20, He tells His disciples that He will be delivered over to the chief priests and teachers of the law in Jerusalem to be condemned to death.

Ohio is the only US state with a Biblical motto: "With God, all things are possible". Adopted in 1959, it has been a source of controversy and constitutional challenge relating to the separation of church and state.

This question made possible by Phoenix Rising's JCSon.

Answer: Traffic signals

British railway engineer John Peake Knight is said to have proposed the use of traffic signals to control congestion on city streets, similar to the semaphore arms used on the railways. These were further developed with the introduction of gas-powered lights, the first example of which was located outside of the Houses of Parliament in London and installed on December 10, 1868. While different technological innovations spread traffic signals over many geographical locations, it is generally accepted that the first electric traffic light was installed in Cleveland, Ohio.

These days, the thing most likely to appear on the top of a traffic light is a camera. However, early devices, specific to the cities in which they appeared, included some with a rotating drum (the Wiley Birdcages) or the two-colour red and green lights positioned in boxes with a statue of Mercury on top. There were various versions of the Acme light, and they were more intricate. Red and green lights would operate during the day but cease operation late at night. A small red light would switch on at night, and on some styles, the word STOP would flash, lit by small clear lights.

This stop-start question was driven into the loading bay by Phoenix Rising member VegemiteKid.

Answer: Pro Football Hall of Fame

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is one hour's drive down the I-77 to Canton Ohio, the state's eighth largest city. Canton was the birthplace of the National Football League in 1920 (formerly the American Professional Football Association) and the Canton Bulldogs were an inaugural member. In 1959, Canton citizens raised $378,026 to build a hall of fame on parkland donated by the city.

It is possible to see both halls of fame in one day if you are super-organised.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is in Springfield MA, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is in Cooperstown, Upstate New York and the Hockey Hall of Fame is in Toronto, Canada.

This question was written by Phoenix Team member 1nn1 who remembers stamping his feet outside the Cleveland Hall of Fame, not to the music but because it was a bitterly cold February morning adjacent to a frozen Lake Erie waiting for the place to open at 11am.

Answer: WKRP in Cincinnati

WKRP is a struggling radio station based in Cincinnati, Ohio, dishing out easy-listening music to its devotees. In a bid to improve the station's ratings and prospects, its programme director Andy Travis, played by Gary Sandy, decides to switch the operation's format from easy-listening to rock and roll. In the process he hires a new DJ from New Orleans who parades under the name of Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid) and allows existing DJ John Caravella to resume his former persona as Dr. Johnny Fever.

The show proved an unexpected hit and ran for four seasons, winning a Humanitas Prize and garnering ten Emmy Award nominations.

This question was announced by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who closes by saying "good day, and may the good news be yours."

Answer: Phobos

The 1986 Infocom video game was titled "Leather Goddesses of Phobos". Along with Deimos, Phobos makes up Mars' two moons. Phobos means "fear" (phobia) while Deimos is named after the Greek God of dread and terror; in Greek mythology Phobos and Deimos were the twin sons of Mars.

American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered the moons in 1877. They are small and fast-moving, with the larger Phobos taking less than eight hours to orbit Mars. Of the other answers, Ganymede and Callisto are the two largest moons of Jupiter.

"Leather Goddesses of Phobos" written by Steve Meretzky was interactive fiction, available on several computing platforms at the time. It was one of Infocom's top-selling titles and featured 75 different locations, including Mars, Venus, Cleveland and Upper Sandusky, Ohio which is the game's starting point (in 1936).

Phoenix Rising's psnz regards himself as an early adopter of computer games and remembers purchasing "Leather Goddesses of Phobos", complete with "Scratch and Sniff" cards: physical puzzles to ensure that the software had not been pirated.

Answer: T, Y

Three-way bridges can be Y or T-shaped. They are usually used at the confluence of two waterways. Amelia Earhart made small-town Zanesville famous with her comment "Zanesville, Ohio is the most recognizable city in the country because of its Y-shaped bridge." They are not that uncommon but vehicular bridges that also cross two waterways are indeed rare. The Y-shaped bridge is in its fifth version, crossing the Licking River to the West and the Muskingum River to the East. This makes the Y-bridge the only place in the US where you can cross a bridge but stay on the same side of the river.

Arguably the most famous T-shaped bridge is the Aioi Bridge in central Hiroshima which was destroyed by the atomic bomb in 1945 and re-constructed in 1983.

This question was traversed three ways by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1 who has crossed both bridges but had to drive a long distance out of his way to cross the one at Zanesville.