Potpourri
What tuna company started using Charlie the Tuna as its mascot in 1961?
Answer: StarKist Company.
Do you remember why StarKist always turns Charlie down with the ad slogan “Sorry, Charlie”? Because he is always trying to prove that he has good taste but, as the commercial states, StarKist only cares that its tuna tastes good.
Penguins inhabit this pole.
Answer: What is south?
Penguins don’t live in the Arctic region. They are found outside Antarctica in Australia, New Zealand, along the South Atlantic Ocean coasts in South America, and in South Africa.
This U.S. city has some skyscrapers with their own zip codes.
Answer: What is New York City?
It has more than 40 buildings with their own zip codes, and Saks Fifth Avenue’s shoe department has its own zip code. It was created in partnership with the USPS in 2007 as part of a marketing strategy
These old pieces of paper, the size and shape of diplomas, represent shares owned in a company.
Answer: What are stock certificates?
Chances are the company has long gone out of business, but they are fun to look at and to use as a teaching tool with youngsters. If the company is still in existence, you could be sitting on a fortune.
This German city was once divided by a wall.
Answer: What is Berlin?
Construction on the Berlin Wall began in 1961, and it came down in 1989. The communist East German government says they built the wall to keep out Western “fascists,” but it is more likely they wished to halt defections to West Germany.
What is the title of Maya Angelou’s 1969 autobiography?
Answer: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
It is the first of seven works Angelou published about her life over the years.
This pole does not exist on a solid ice mass. It consists of water and is surrounded by land.
Answer: What is north?
The south pole is the exact opposite. It is a landmass surrounded by water.
This is the capital of Portugal.
Answer: What is Lisbon?
Each year, eight million tourists visit the site of the miracle of Fátima in Portugal, north of Lisbon.
You might find cardboard tubes around two feet tall with these in them.
Answer: What are posters (or art prints)?
Some artists’ prints can sell for a pretty penny. For example, a print of Edward Bawden’s 1961 “Liverpool Street Station” sold for £9,200 in 2019
This is the capital of China
Answer: What is Beijing?
Formerly known as Peking, it is the second-largest city, with a population of more than 21 million people. The largest city is Shanghai, with around 24 million people.
What are a human’s third molars usually called?
Answer: Wisdom teeth.
Typically, this third set of molars does not appear until age 17 to 21, and not everyone gets all four teeth, even later in life.
This pole has bears.
Answer: What is north?
Polar bears are found only in and around the Arctic Circle.
Before it was called Mumbai, this was the name of the Indian city
Answer: What is Bombay?
It was changed when the Shiv Sena party took control of the government.
If you peek into boxes, you might find amber, green, pink, yellow, red, or cobalt blue drinking glasses from the 1920s through the 1940s. They are made of this.
Answer: What is depression glass?
The colorful glass added some cheer during a difficult time.
This is the capital of Iraq
Answer: What is Baghdad?
Baghdad was founded in 762 AD.
What brand of toothpaste used the slogan “Look, Ma! No cavities!”?
Answer: Crest.
The first use of the slogan in a commercial came in 1958, three years after Crest released its first toothpaste containing fluoride.
This is the reason for the ongoing dance among nations to claim ownership of the north pole.
Answer: What are natural resources (or anything close)?
The region is home to the world’s largest supply of oil and gas resources.
It is one of the two countries Mount Everest spans.
Answer: What is Nepal or Tibet?
Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world, and it continues growing every year due to a phenomenon known as geological uplift.
If you look through old purses and stumble upon dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars, save them because they are probably made of this.
Answer: What is silver?
Their value is generally based on the amount of silver in the coins, but you might have accidentally stumbled upon some numismatic coins, which bring a hefty premium.
This is a major city in Alabama and in England
Answer: What is Birmingham?
At one time, both cities shared a large manufacturing and iron-producing base. Today’s English city is a research center and claims one of England’s largest malls—the Bullring.
How many oceans border Canada?
Answer: Three. Canada’s west coast borders the Pacific Ocean, while the Atlantic and Arctic oceans border Canada’s eastern and northern coastlines.
This admiral is famous for his expeditions to the north and south poles in the 1920s.
Answer: Who is Admiral (Richard) Byrd?
He flew over the north pole in 1926 and the south pole in 1929.
Piccadilly Circus is in this capital city.
Answer: What is London?
Circuses are areas in London where many roads intersect at various points in a circle, and it comes from the Latin circ, meaning “circle.”
Those dusty, old rugs leaning against the wall might be from the Far East, but they are generically referred to as this.
Answer: What are Oriental rugs?
The ones from Iran are Persian rugs.
This strait separates Alaska and Russia.
Answer: What is Bering?
The boundary between the United States and Russia lies in the middle of the strait. Only 55 miles separate the two countries at the narrowest point of the waterway.