Luck of the Draw
Which planet has the shortest day, completing a rotation in about 10 hours?
A) Jupiter
B) Mars
C) Mercury
D) Neptune
A) Jupiter
Which company created the video game console Dreamcast?
Sega
On August 13, 1961, construction began on which infamous Cold War structure dividing a city in two?
The Berlin Wall
Which insect is the only one capable of moving its head from side to side like a human?
A) Mantis
B) Dragonfly
C) Beetle
D) Cockroach
A) Mantis
Which pop star famously interrupted Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV VMAs?
Kanye West
Which element is named after the creator of the periodic table?
A) Rutherfordium
B) Mendelevium
C) Curium
D) Einsteinium
B) Mendelevium
Mendelevium is named after Dmitri Mendeleev, the Russian chemist and creator of the periodic table, to honor his foundational work in organizing the elements. The element, which is a synthetic actinide, was first synthesized in 1955, and the discovery team chose the name to recognize Mendeleev's scientific contributions.
What was the name of the first web browser, developed in 1990?
A) Internet Explorer
B) Microsoft Edge
C) Firefox
D) WorldWideWeb
D) WorldWideWeb
The first web browser, developed in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, was named WorldWideWeb and was later renamed Nexus to avoid confusion with the World Wide Web itself. Created on a NeXT computer, WorldWideWeb was both a browser and a web page editor, allowing users to navigate, edit, and link documents on the nascent information network.
Which U.S. amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was ratified on August 18, 1920?
A) 13th Amendment
B) 15th Amendment
C) 19th Amendment
D) 21st Amendment
C) 19th Amendment
Which animal has the longest gestation period of any mammal?
A) Blue Whale
B) African Elephant
C) Giraffe
D) Rhinoceros
B) African Elephant - 22 months
Which artist released the album Blonde in 2016, widely regarded as a modern R&B classic?
A) Rihanna
B) Beyoncé
C) Frank Ocean
D) The Weeknd
C) Frank Ocean
What is the term for a word that is spelled the same forwards and backwards?
A) Anagram
B) Palindrome
C) Homonym
D) Oxymoron
B) Palindrome
Which company released the first smartphone with a fingerprint sensor?
A) Apple
B) Motorola
C) Samsung
D) HTC
B) Motorola (Atrix 4G, 2011)
Which U.S. state was admitted as the 50th state on August 21, 1959?
Hawaii
Which animal can survive being completely frozen and thawed multiple times?
A) Arctic Hare
B) Tardigrade
C) Wood Frog
D) Musk Ox
C) Wood Frog
Which film won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002?
A) Shrek
B) Monsters, Inc.
C) Finding Nemo
D) Ice Age
A) Shrek
What is the only bird known to fly backwards?
Hummingbirds
When was the very first text message (SMS) sent?
A) 2000
B) 1997
C) 1992
D) 2001
C) 1992
The first text message was sent on December 3, 1992, by British engineer Neil Papworth. The message, which read "Merry Christmas," was sent from a personal computer to the mobile phone of Vodafone director Richard Jarvis.
On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana died in a car crash. In which city did this occur?
Paris, France
Which animal produces cube-shaped feces, a unique adaptation for marking territory?
A) Koala
B) Wombat
C) Capybara
D) Tasmanian Devil
B) Wombat
Which animated adult series was originally pitched to Comedy Central in 1999 before premiering on Adult Swim?
A) Family Guy
B) South Park
C) Aqua Teen Hunger Force
D) Rick and Morty
C) Aqua Teen Hunger Force
What is the rarest naturally occurring blood type in humans?
AB-Negative
What does the acronym URL stand for?
A) Universal Registration Language
B) Unilateral Reform Lingo
C) Uniform Resource Locator
D) Universal Resource Language
C) Uniform Resource Locator
Which U.S. civil rights march took place on August 28, 1963, where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech?
A) March on Washington
B) Selma to Montgomery March
C) Freedom Ride
D) Million Man March
A) March on Washington
Which animal has been observed reproducing via parthenogenesis even in the presence of males?
A) Komodo Dragon
B) Seahorse
C) Octopus
D) Axolotl
A) Komodo Dragon
Which TV show aired the first episode on March 30, 2015, and became Netflix’s first true global hit?
House of Cards