Potluck Dinner Trivia Quiz

Answer: Olympia

The first recorded Olympic games were held in Olympia in 776 B.C. to honor Zeus. The games occurred every four years for twelve centuries until A.D. 393, when Theodosius decreed that the cultish and pagan games should cease.

Answer: The Blue Danube

The full name of "The Blue Danube" is "An Der Schonen Blauen Donau" or "By the Beautiful Blue Danube". The song originally was accompanied by lyrics composed by the German poet Joseph Wyll; however, Strauss's instrumental performance at the Paris World's Fair quickly became the more popular version.

Answer: 2,000

Not only can the human heart pump 2,000 gallons of blood in one day or up to 7 gallons of blood per minute, but it exerts enough pressure that it could propel blood across thirty feet of open space. Amazingly, the human heart beats around 100,000 times a day and more than a million times a week, yet it never experiences fatigue.

Answer: nudity

The word "gymnophobia" is a combination of the Greek "gumnos" ("naked") and "phobos" ("fear"). People suffering from this extreme anxiety are afraid to see others naked, afraid of being seen naked by other, or afraid of both. The fear of seeds or clusters of small objects of similar shapes is trypophobia. The fear of tornados is lilapsophobia. The fear of chins is geniophobia.

Answer: melon

Most botanical experts agree that melons began their existence in northern Africa and the Middle East. The peach is originally from northwest China, and the orange, from southern China. The kiwi is from northern China and was at one point known as the Chinese gooseberry.

Answer: Benjamin Franklin

These words of Benjamin Franklin were published in the 1746 edition of "Poor Richard's Almanack" under his pseudonym Poor Richard or Richard Saunders. His yearly pamphlet-sized publication contained information typically found in an almanac, such as a calendar, weather forecasts, advice for housekeeping and gardening, astrological information, puzzles, poems, and other forms of entertainment.

However, today it is celebrated for the witty aphorisms that he created for its pages, such as the one in the question or others like "A penny saved is a penny earned", "A friend in need is a friend indeed", and "Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead". Most of these have become so much a part of American culture that people readily speak them as common sayings.

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, James Earl Carter, and Barack Obama

Theodore Roosevelt won the prize in 1906, primarily for his mediation to end the Russo-Japanese War. Woodrow Wilson won the prize in 1919 for his development of the League of Nations. James Earl "Jimmy" Carter won the prize in 2002 for his decades of attempts to find peaceful solutions to a number of international conflicts and to promote social and economic development within the United States and abroad. Barack Obama won the prize in 2009 for his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation following a war on terrorism that created division among various nations.

Interestingly, all of these winners, aside from Jimmy Carter, won their prizes despite being wartime presidents or being involved in war as a soldier prior to becoming president.

Answer: empty orchestra

Karaoke is, of course, a form of interactive entertainment that involves a person or people who sing into a microphone to provide lead vocals to the music of a popular song that is being played without any lead vocals. The idea behind the origin of the name is that there is a live singer but not a live orchestra or band. "Karaoke" is actually a word created by the joining of two other words; "kara" comes from "karappo", which means "empty", and "oke" is an abbreviation of "okesutura" or "orchestra". Legend has it that karaoke was invented in a bar in Kobe, Japan, when the owner of a bar recorded instrumental accompaniment to play on nights he could find no performers to entertain the bar's patrons.

Answer: Kashmir

Officially part of India, Kashmir has been a source of heated conflict between India and Pakistan ever since these countries achieved their independence in 1947. However, ever since the early 1980s, it has been associated with violence and bloodshed due to the guerrilla campaign operating there. "Kashmir" is also the name of a song from Led Zeppelin's sixth album "Physical Graffiti".

It is one of the band's most popular and critically acclaimed songs and became a staple in the band's concerts for quite a long while.

Answer: Ivan the Terrible

Ivan IV or Ivan the Terrible ruled Russia from 1547 to 1584. While "terrible" has quite a pejorative connotation in English, the word should be associated more with the idea of "terrifying". How one should respond to Ivan's rule is complex. He was an intelligent and devout man who greatly increased the size of Russia, became the first Tsar, supported the arts and trade, and was immensely popular among the common population.

However, he was plagued by mental illness and prone to paranoia and violent outbursts of rage.

At one point, he accused the entire city of Novgorod of treason, and he and his private army sacked and looted it, publicly humiliated the local archbishop, flogged several priests and monks, drowned women and children, and sent many of the poor out into the cold to freeze to death or starve.