Born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary, this stunt performer was President of the Society of American Magicians
Who is Harry Houdini?
100
According to "Fast Food Nation," nearly one in eight workers in the U.S. have at some point been employed by this chain
What is McDonald's?
100
According to the most recent measurements, it happened 13.75 billion years ago, so the universe is said to be 13.75 billion years old
What is the big bang?
100
The Comet, the Lionhead, and the Shubunkin are among the 300 breeds of this domesticated fish recognized in China
What are goldfish?
100
John Donne called this largest land animal "Nature's greatest masterpiece... The only harmless great thing"
What is the elephant?
200
Among this English explorer's north Atlantic namesakes are a strait, a river, a bridge, a city in New York, and, of course, a bay
Who is Henry Hudson?
200
This chain is named for the antagonist of "Treasure Island"
What is Long John Silver's?
200
The echidna and the platypus are monotremes, meaning that even though they are mammals, they do this
What is lay eggs?
200
In the movie "Finding Nemo," Nemo and his father are this type of fish, though his father only knows one joke
What is clownfish?
200
Film in which Dr. Ray Stantz says, "I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never possibly destroy us. Mr. Stay Puft!"
What is "Ghostbusters"?
300
This "first lady of the American theatre" is one of only eleven people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony.
Who is Helen Hayes?
300
This chain, whose employees are called "artists," is the #2 top-selling restaurant in the U.S.
What is Subway?
300
An unsolved problem in physics, a "theory of everything" would have to connect the four fundamental forces of nature: weak nuclear, strong nuclear, electromagnetism, and this
What is gravitation?
300
You might be shocked to learn that "unagi" on a sushi restaurant refers to this fish
What is eel?
300
This word meaning mostly harmless or curable sounds like a bingo call
What is benign?
400
This philanthropist was also an influential aviator-- his Hercules H-4 not only had the largest wingspan of any aircraft, it was made entirely of wood
Who is Howard Hughes?
400
Apart from Kentucky and Tennessee, the locations of these two slider restaurant chains do not share states
What are White Castle and Krystal?
400
This is our nearest sister galaxy, named for a constellation, which itself was named for a mythological princess
What is Andromeda Galaxy?
400
This largest species of fish has another large sea creature in its name
What is the whale shark?
400
In "The Resistance of Man," Paul de Man said, "If a cat is called a tiger, it can easily be dismissed as a" this, meaning it seems threatening but is mostly harmless
What is a paper tiger?
500
Abraham Lincoln's running mate and the first Republican to serve as Vice President
Who is Hannibal Hamlin?
500
This chain is named for the first mate in "Moby Dick"
What is Starbucks?
500
From the Greek for "before" and "kernel," the current model of evolution has these as the first living organisms
What are prokaryotes?
500
Thought to have gone extinct in the late Cretaceous, this "living fossil" was rediscovered off the coast of South Africa in 1938
What is the coelacanth?
500
This south-Asian primate produces insider their elbows an allergenic toxin mostly harmless to humans to deter predators