Today’s Entertainment question is about monomynous people: so cool that they only need one name. Some of them, however, we only know because of the groups to which they belong. So today, your challenge is to name the members of these groups: Santa’s eight (or nine) reindeer, Snow White’s seven dwarves, the five Spice Girls, and the three Powerpuff Girls. Bonus points if you can name them in alphabetical order.
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Yesterday’s question: Light, or visible light, is no different from radio waves, x-rays, or any other part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The only difference is that this portion of the spectrum can be perceived by the human eye. The spectrum ranges from gamma rays, with wavelengths of 10^-16 meters (that is, ten to the negative 16th power) or frequency of 10^24 Hertz (ten to the positive 24th power), out to long radio waves (wavelengths of 10^8 meters, frequency at 1 Hertz). The colors of visible light are determined by their wavelengths (or frequencies). Can you list them from shortest to longest wavelength? Even better, can you list their wavelengths?
The answers:
Violet: 380 to 450 nanometers
Blue: 450 to 495 nm
Green: 495 to 570 nm
Yellow: 570 to 590 nm
Orange: 590 to 620 nm
Red: 620 to 750 nm
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Ian’s Tough Trivia is a daily feature of this blog (Monday’s category is History; Tuesday is Arts; Wednesday is Science; Thursday is Entertainment; and Friday is Grab Bag). Each day, I post a tough question, as well as the answer to the previous day’s question. Simply comment on this post with your answer. I’ll approve the comments after the next question is posted. Sure, you can probably find the answers by searching the web, but what’s the fun in that?
And if you’ve got a favorite trivia question—or even just a topic for which you’d like to see a question—let me know! Reader participation is warmly encouraged.
Friday’s question was: Acronymia. Acronyms are useful things. They make it much easier to say, for instance, SHIELD, rather than Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division (though that’s a poor example, because I hate with a passion the contrived acronyms, most often used for government programs, that just happen to form words). At any rate, good acronyms are time-saving linguistic constructions, though often—through continual use—we come to forget what the letters in the acronym stand for (or that it was an acronym at all). Thus, your Tough Trivia question for today is to come up with the words from which these acronyms were formed.
Yesterday’s question was: The EGOT is an entertainment awards grand-slam. To date, only 16 people have achieved an EGOT, winning at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award in competitive categories (and only one has a double EGOT: at least two of each of the awards). How many of the EGOT winners can you name?
Rita Moreno (actor/singer), 45 years 9 months: Emmy 1977, Grammy 1972, Oscar 1961, and Tony 1975.
Marvin Hamlisch (composer), 51 years 3 months: Emmy 1995, Grammy 1974, Oscar 1973, and Tony 1976.
Scott Rudin (producer), 53 years 6 months: Emmy 1984, Grammy 2012, Oscar 2008, and Tony 1994.
Hugo: Originally and more formally known as the Science Fiction Achievement Awards (in the early 1990s, they dropped the longer title), they are awarded by vote of the members (attendees) of the World Science Fiction Convention. They were first handed out in 1953, and then every year since 1955. Their namesake, Hugo Gernsback (1884–1967), was born as Hugo Gernsbacher in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. He emigrated to the United States in 1904, and founded the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, in 1926.
Edgar: More formally known as the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, they were named after the American writer (1809–1849), and have been awarded by the members of the Mystery Writers of America since 1946.
Pulitzer: The Pulitzer Prize was established in 1917 under the provisions of Joseph Pulitzer’s will. Pulitzer (1847–1911) was born in Hungary, and immigrated to the US in 1864. He is best remembered as the publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World. He also served two brief terms in the House of Representatives. The Pulitzer Prizes (for journalism, literature, and musical composition) are administered by Columbia University.
Ian Randal Strock 