I Hate the Summer! Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Arctic

While the earliest sunrises of different locations do not always occur precisely at the summer solstice, they are always within the few weeks surrounding it. The summer solstice in the southern hemisphere is around the 20th or 21st of December, and during this time the Antarctic receives 24 hours of daylight. In the month of June the city of Missoula, Montana is on Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) and gets about 16 hours of daylight. The equatorial region has about 12 hours of daylight all year.

For those of us who work night shifts (or just like to sleep in on weekends!) the direction your bedroom window faces can make a huge difference. When I was apartment-hunting I had a choice between two seemingly identical apartments, but the rent on one was $15/month less because the windows faced north and west (rather than north and east) and didn't get the early morning sunshine. It was an excellent deal for me, working the midnight shift at the time and trying to go to sleep at 9:00am.

Answer: Venus (by Gillette)

The song ("Venus") was originally recorded by the Dutch band Shocking Blue in 1969. The Bananarama version appeared on their "True Confessions" album in 1986. Both versions of the song became #1 hits for their respective bands.

As a business student, I'm impressed with the pricing model employed by razor companies. Buying the razor itself (with one or two replacement heads) is fairly inexpensive and looks like a good deal. Then you empty your wallet buying replacement heads. Ever wonder why your average printer is so cheap compared to other hardware devices? Take a look at the price of replacement ink cartridges--they follow a similar model.

Answer: Cathy Hillman née Andrews (from "Cathy")

"Food" is one of the "four basic Guilt Groups" described by the strip's creator, Cathy Guisewite (the others are "Love", "Mom" and "Work"). Cathy was frequently depicted in department store change rooms suffering body image issues while she tried on swimsuits for the new season.

The phrase "swimsuit season meltdowns" was borrowed from an Associated Press article entitled "'Cathy' Comic Strip Ending After 34 Years" written by Maria Sudekum Fisher.

Answer: Dairy Queen

The Blizzard Treat (its official name) was introduced in 1985 and is made by blending soft-serve with different sundae toppings. My favourite is Mint Oreo, but I also like them made with pieces of Skor candy bars.

Frosties and McFlurries are the frozen dairy desserts available at Wendy's and McDonald's, respectively. Tim Horton's makes iced cappuccinos, which are also great treats for the summer months.

Answer: Winter

Another saying quite oppositely states that Canada has two seasons, summer and hockey, so I guess we have four seasons after all!

One of the things I always found very misleading about Canadian university brochures is that they all depict happy students sitting under leafy trees, working in groups and enjoying the sunshine. Unless you enroll for classes during the spring or summer intersessions, these are pictures of LIES! More accurate (though decidedly less appealing) pictures would show students with runny noses, dressed in parkas, scarves and toques, scraping ice off of cars in parking lots that are, at best, half-ploughed.

Answer: Poison ivy

My family's cottage is located in a wooded area that one must walk through in order to get to the beach. It's nice to have the shade nearby, but poison ivy is a problem. So many times my dad has pointed this plant out to me among the foliage, but I keep forgetting what it looks like. "Leaves of three, let it be" is easy enough to remember, however, so I just avoid any plant with three leaves sprouting from the stem. My dad seems to be immune to the plant's poisonous sap, but I have no desire whatsoever to test that particular gene's heritability. To the best of my recollection, alligators have not been a noticeable problem in southwestern Québec.

Bocce is an Italian ball sport, similar to lawn bowling, in which players attempt to throw their balls towards a smaller ball (called the pallino). Scores are determined based on each ball's proximity to the pallino.

Answer: Coppertone

In the ad, a playful cocker spaniel is pulling on the girl's suit bottom, exposing the tops of her buttocks and showing a distinct tan line. While one of the original ads is still displayed in Miami Beach, most ads that appear today have been re-drawn with less of the little girl's bottom exposed, or have the dog pulling on the girl's shirt instead (which she wasn't wearing in the original).

Answer: Murphy's

Murphy seems like a rather pessimistic fellow, doesn't he? Wikipedia cites several sources where the term "Murphy's Law" may have originated (the earliest was in the 1940s), but it seems as though its exact origins have been lost. The other answers are surnames of starship captains from the "Star Trek" franchise.

In my family, a perfect, evenly-toasted, non-burnt marshmallow was a thing of beauty, although we toasted them in the fireplace, not on the beach. It would be dangerous to have an open bonfire so near to the woods, and wooden cottages, so it is actually illegal in that area to have fires on the beach (though some people have them anyway).

Answer: Citronella candle

Citronella plants, oils and candles are often used to repel mosquitos and other pesky bugs. Tealights are small candles which, among other things, are used to heat scented oils or fondue pots. Rushlights were used for centuries in the British Isles as small, inexpensive sources of light.

A Roman candle, on the other hand, is a type of firework (also illegally used on the beach to celebrate Canada Day each July).

Answer: The Big Bang Theory

"The Big Bang Theory" first aired in 2007 and is one of my favourite shows. The main characters are roommates Leonard (an experimental physicist) and Sheldon (a theoretical physicist), their friends/coworkers Howard (an aerospace engineer) and Raj (an astrophysicist), and their across-the-hall neighbour Penny (an actress/waitress). "Gossip Girl", "Reaper" and "Mad Men" are other sit-coms which premiered in 2007.

Summer is not a great time of year for television-watching, as many series finish their seasons in the spring and re-run old episodes until the new season begins in the autumn.

I'd like to offer my most sincere apologies to summer--I do not hate you at all, and in fact, you are my favourite season. Let's always be good friends!