Sludge Around Quizzyland

Answer: Walking catfish

The walking catfish are indigenous to Southeast Asia, though they have become an invasive species in other parts of the world, including Florida. In effect, they are an ecological problem all to themselves. Likewise, aftereffects of the Valdez spill were detectable for years afterwards. Though ExxonMobil's official statements have stressed the apparent recovery of the region to the casual observer, a less partisan University of North Carolina study indicates that the impact on species diversity and population remained profound into the 21st century.

Answer: chemical waste

After it has settled into sludge, there are many strategies for dealing with chemical waste. Chlorinated solvents can be burned at high temperatures to prevent the formation of dioxins, whereas wastes with high concentrations of toxic chemicals too dangerous for burning must be recycled or contained securely.

As the residents of Love Canal found out, "contained securely" can be a problem.

Answer: Crossroads

In this road movie about three angst-ridden recent high school graduates, Spears plays a girl trekking to Los Angeles for a record contract audition. A highlight of the film is Spears' character reading the lyrics of "I'm Not a Girl (Not Yet A Woman)" as poetry.

If you are still questioning the sludge content of this question, there's not much I can do for you.

Spears' first film appearance was in 2000's "Longshot", which was also the silver screen debut for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Answer: The Joker

Though the Joker's story has been re-imagined several times over the decades, his relationship with sludge has gone relatively unchanged since its telling in "Detective Comics" in 1951. The clown prince of crime began as a costumed criminal called "The Red Hood", so named for the mirrored helmet he wore.

As the story goes, Batman finally caught up with the Red Hood during a heist at a chemical plant. Terrified, the villain jumped into a vat of chemical waste, swimming out of the exhaust to freedom in the reservoir outside.

When he emerged from this bath of sludge, he found his skin and hair permanently dyed clownish colors. This sent him tumbling into insanity, giving rise to his maniacal Joker persona.

Answer: silly putty

Originally conceived as a replacement for rubber following Japanese invasion of latex-producing countries in World War II, Silly Putty would fail in its intended purpose but catch on as a toy in the 1950s. It went on a moon-orbiting mission with Apollo 8 in 1968, both as a quick adhesive and a tool to quell boredom. Remarkable for its unique physical properties - it will mold and flex easily under soft pressure, but hitting it with a hammer won't flatten it - versions of Silly Putty have been considered for use in body armor.

Answer: Ectoplasm

Ectoplasm became best known in the quite impressive photos taken of mediums during the Spiritualist craze in the opening decades of the twentieth century. The consensus among more critical thinkers is that this "ectoplasm" was usually luminous cheesecloth, occasionally hidden in creative places on the medium's person.

In the hard sciences, "ectoplasm" also refers to the outer layer of fluid in a biological cell.

Answer: Martin County, Kentucky

This disaster released 30 times the sludge of the Exxon Valdez. Unfortunately, the circumstances that precipitated this event are far from unique, and filmmaker Robert Salyer, whose project "Sludge" documents the Martin County episode and its aftereffects, fully expects to see it happen again.

Answer: Love Canal

In the 1950s, Hooker sold the site to the local school board for $1, with the stipulation that the school board would take responsibility for the toxic waste, including a good portion of dioxin. In 1978, local mother Lois Gibbs formed a community organization in reaction to the finding that her entire neighborhood had been built on a toxic waste dump. Homeowners were eventually evacuated, but not before the pooling of the lethal sludge in the 1970s had taken an enormous toll; by one estimate, 56% of babies born in the Love Canal area between 1974 and 1978 had birth defects.

Answer: Muk

Apparently, Muk Pokémon evolve from the smaller "Grimer" species; this is much more evident in the video game version of the creature, which features Pokémon evolving when certain conditions are met. Muk's Japanese name is roughly transliterated as "Betobeton", derived from the Japanese term for "sticky".

All references Wikipedia. Special thanks to vaunted Funtrivia figure Kyleisalive for suggesting Muk for this question.

Answer: Sigmund Freud

When Dundes began his work in the 1950s, most folklorists were taking an "antiquarian" approach, concentrating on collecting stories and categorizing them without applying theory to elucidate further meaning. Dundes, along with Bruno Bettellheim, took up the Freudian paradigm with its fetishization of bodily functions and drives to shape their interpretations of folklore. Though the discipline did not, for the most part, become Freudian, Dundes' work did help propel folkloristics into dialogue with other areas of the humanities and social sciences. He remained a major force in the discipline until his death in 2005.

Dundes' last lecture, ironically, was on Marxist and feminist theory in folklore, two perspectives he really did not care for. His last words were: "But there are really only two uses for Marxist theory in folkloristics..." This was followed by a collapse from which he never regained consciousness.

Answer: Les Miserables

Startlingly to the modern reader, "Les Misérables" was panned by many critics. Some of these poor notices were predictable; reactionary critics, for example, deplored author Victor Hugo's sympathetic view of the revolutionaries of 1848 (which should not have been surprising, given Hugo's liberal political activities, such as declaring Louis Napoleon a "traitor to France").

Others, however, took issue with its sentimental style; this included Gustave Flaubert. The three-volume work would prove to be a great commercial success, however, and has taken its place in the empire of French letters.

Answer: The Shawshank Redemption

"Shawshank" has had an interesting road since its initial release. It was only a modest success in theaters, but has become a great favorite on home video, and has perennially been ranked in the upper echelons of the IMDB Top 250. Largely due to a "sweetheart" deal inked by media magnate Ted Turner, "Shawshank" is shown very frequently on the TNT network, keeping its image in the public eye.

Answer: Air Supply

Sludge metal tends to be eclectic in nature; bands that incorporate sludge elements are often also categorized as "death metal", "doom metal", "stoner metal", "industrial punk", or other subgenres of contemporary hard rock. Tracing its genesis is difficult, as bands back to Black Sabbath have incorporated some elements that would today be considered sludge. Most would trace its beginnings to the Melvins' recordings, with the greatest exponents of the sound being New Orleans scene groups like Crowbar. I have to say that in doing this quiz I've become quite the fan.

Answer: Wilfred Owen

Owen began writing during his treatment for shell-shock in hospital at Edinburgh following three days straight in a foxhole during a 1917 seige. After his recovery, he was posted to non-combat duty in Ripon, England, where he continued to write. He was eventually returned to the front, where he died at Joncourt in the closing week of the war.

Answer: Deuteronomy 23:12-13

The passage continues: "For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee" (KJV). The Hebrew word for the Almighty in this passage is the "tetragrammaton", a four-character name considered by some to be too sacred to pronounce, usually transliterated as "Yahweh" or "Jehovah".

When this term is used, the deity takes on a rather anthropomorphic character, e.g., walking through the Israelite camp and being repulsed by sludge.

Answer: Arcella vulgaris

Penicillium notatum is the type of penicillin mold that Sir Alexander Fleming initially observed killing disease-causing microbes, leading to his epoch-making discovery. One of these was Treponema pallidum, the organism that causes syphilis. Sola scriptura is a theological doctrine holding that the Bible is the singular authority in matters of religion. As far as I know, it has nothing to do with sludge.

More to the point, activated sludge typically includes several microorganisms like Arcella vulgaris breaking down organic wastes in an oxygen-rich environment. Those little critters just love that stuff.

Thanks to Rowena8482 for suggesting this question.

Answer: Mud Fighting

The Mud Fight was part of a parallel Olympic festival called "Anthropology Days", which pitted the "savage" peoples of the world against one another. Ostensibly intended to gauge the athletic fitness of colonial subjects, these events were an unmitigated white supremicist sham construed to show that nonwhite peoples were not capable of competing with their colonial overlords.

Not that the "official" Olympics fared much better; only 14 of the 32 Marathon competitors finished the race, and the winner was helped along by that era's version of doping - strychnine mixed with brandy. One of the other finishers, Len Tau, was one of the first Black competitors in the Olympics. Tau was only in town as a "Zulu tribesman" for the "Anthropology Days", but given his track record as a student at Orange Free State University he was entered in the 26+ mile event on short notice.

His ninth-place finish was largely due to his being chased off-course for over a mile by dogs. A runner who DID come to compete, Fred Lotz, dropped out early with cramps, hitched a ride back to the stadium, then proceeded to fake a "winning" performance. Thankfully, Lotz quickly came clean, which is probably more than can be said for the Africans, American Indians, and others who had to compete in the Mud Fight.

Answer: Ed Norton

Ed Norton and Ralph Kramden (played by Jackie Gleason) were the lynchpins of a running series of sketches titled "The Honeymooners" on Gleason's eponymous show. In 1955, these sketches spun off into their own program. This lasted one season, after which the ensemble (which included Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph as the lead characters' wives) reprised their roles on "The Jackie Gleason Show" in the late 1960s. Throughout, Norton's daily association with sludge was used to great effect.

Answer: Sling

"Sling" was designed by Jamie and Simon Edis, two Australian brothers (Jamie is more the artist, Simon more the engineer) who have collaborated on more than 200 games for ezone.com. Sequels to the game include "Sling Fire" (featuring incendiary objects for the player to grab), "Slingoween", and "Sling Junior", all available on ezone.

Thanks to salami_swami for help with this question.

Answer: Avoid synthetic motor oils

Oil sludge has been an increasing problem in recent years, largely because of higher combustion temperatures in new, less emission-producing engines, increasing design trends for lower viscosity oil, and at times outright stupidity by auto manufacturers. Case in point: Toyota launched a marketing campaign in the 1980s claiming that their cars only needed oil changes every 10,000 miles. As you might expect, their warranty claims due to sludgy engines went through the roof.

Synthetic oils do last longer than conventional oils and tolerate both higher and lower temperatures, so you should NOT avoid them to reduce oil sludge--quite the contrary. However, some early synthetic brands (such as Mobil) once claimed that their oil only needed to be changed every 20,000 miles. This has proven to be drastically inaccurate, and frequent oil changes remain one of the best commonsense ways to ensure long life and great performance for your vehicle. Using a good filter and choosing a car with a larger oil sump (to disperse heat) help also.

Somehow, automotive issues have been relegated to the world subcategory. Not sure how, but that's just as well.

Thanks to Funtrivia players and contributors Taesma, Delboy22, jonnowales, Jar, agony, and Rowena8482 for inspiring this quiz.