Monthly Trivia Archives: November 2011

Week of November 27 – Pony Express trivia

The Pony Express riders traveled between Missouri and California to deliver mail.

The Pony Express ran for 18 months from April 1860 to October 1861.

The Pony Express trail was 1900 miles.

The Pony Express riders were paid $100 a month.

86 men are known to have ridden for the Pony Express during its operation of just over 18 months.

A new rider took over every 75 to 100 miles and horses were replaced approximately every 15 miles.

Approximately 400 horses (thoroughbreds, mustangs, pintos, and Morgan) were purchased for the Pony Express.

The fastest delivery of mail by the Pony Express took 7 days and 17 hours.  The message was Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address.  The speech was telegraphed to Fort Kearny, Nebraska, taken by Pony Express to Folsom, California, and telegraphed to Sacramento.

In the first weeks of service, each rider carried a sheath knife, a horn, a cavalry rifle and colt revolvers and a Bible.  They carried these items for only a week but every pound slowed them down so their equipment was reduced to a single revolver.

Week of November 20 – Thanksgiving Trivia

The first Thanksgiving in 1621 lasted for 3 days and there were many more Indians than Pilgrims at the feast.  (So many pilgrims died on the journey to the United States).

Deer, codfish and pumpkins were served at the first Thanksgiving.  The pilgrims thought that potatoes were poisonous so they didn’t use/serve them at the Thanksgiving feast.

Five pilgrim woman survived to celebrate the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

By the 19th century, celebrating Thanksgiving is said to have been the origin having the kiddies table for children to eat.

Felix the cate was the first balloon of the 1927 Macy’s Thanksgiving parade.

Only male turkeys gobble.  Female turkeys “click.”

Baby turkey are called poults.

The dangling skin under a turkey’s neck is called a Wattle.

Week of November 13 – Looney Tunes character trivia

Bugs Bunny was born in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York – Bugs was a known traveler, always taking the wrong turn, he has been in Alburquerque, the Himalyayas and Antarctica.

Pepe Lew Pew, the most romantic skunk in cartoon history, first appeared in January 6, 1945, titled Odor-able-Kitty”  What was Pepe’s name in the series premiere? – Stinky

Twitty and Slyvester joined forces in 1947.

Twitty was originally named Orson and was pink.

Bugs Bunny was born in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York – Bugs was a known traveler, always taking the wrong turn, he has been in Alburquerque, the Himalyayas and Antarctica.

Gossamer, an animated cartoon  character in the Looney Tunes cartoons.  The character is a hairy, red monster.  His rectangular body is perched on two giant tennis shoes, and his heart-shaped face is composed of only two oval eyes and a wide mouth, with two hulking arms ending in dirty, clawed fingers. The monster’s main trait, however, is bright uncombed red hair.

Daphne is the name of Daffy’s wife in some of his cartoons?

One of Elmer Fudd’s famous quotes – West and wewaxation at wast!”

Week of November 6 – Units of measurement

Furlong – 660 feet

Fortnight – 14 days

Pinch – To add a pinch of something as a cooking ingredient. Use your thumb, index finger and middle finger to grab the spice.

The length of an American football field  is 100 yd (91 m). If the end zones are included, it is 120 yd (110 m), but 100 yards is used informally as a unit, to allow easier conversion from formal measurement in feet or yards. It describes the size of a large building or a park, a distance which is not too short, but which one can walk over.

A city block (in most US cities) is between 1/16 and 1/8 mi (100 and 200 m).

The stere is equal to a cubic metre or kilolitre. It is used for firewood, the measure being for the normal stack (including holes).

The weight of an elephant, sometimes more specifically “the weight of an African bull elephant” (about 6 tons), is sometimes used by paleontologists as a unit of weight when describing the weight of large dinosaurs  or other extinct creatures.

Jiffy:  In computing the jiffy is the duration of one tick of the system timer interrupt.  Typically, this time is 0.01 seconds.

Dog Year:  A unit of measurement equal to one seventh of a year, or approximately 52 days, is primarily used to approximate the equivalent age of dogs and other animals with similar life spans.