CLUED-IN STUMPER: 1) He was a graduate of West Point and published the first complete survey of the Great Lakes and designed and created light houses and hydraulic lamps, while serving in the U.S. Army; 2) At the end of the Civil War, he was the fourth highest ranking officer behind Grant, Halleck, and Sherman; 3) He is most remembered for being victorious over Robert E. Lee in what was arguably Lee's most significant loss.
Answer: George Meade
December 30
STUMPER: Where is the world's tallest leaning tower? (Hint: not in Pisa, Italy)
Answer: Olympic Stadium, Montreal.
December 29
STUMPER: Which state has been rated recently by a prominent thinktank, the Reason Foundation, as having the best overall performance in its state highway system? Variables include highway expenditures, pavement and bridge condition, urban congestion, fatality rates and narrow lanes.
Answer: North Dakota
December 28
STUMPER: On this date in 1895, a couple of brothers sold tickets to an audience to see their invention. They said it was "an invention without a future", but it's pretty clear they were wrong. What was the invention?
Answer: Cinema. (This date is known as the birth of cinema since it was the first time the cycle of production-distribution-exhibition happened.)
STUMPER: 51 years ago today, the "Greatest Football Game Ever" was played between the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts. Of the 17 participants who would go on to be enshrined in NFL Hall of Fame, who was the one that had played at Penn State?
Answer: Lenny Moore.
December 24
STUMPER: The most watched TV broadcast in history up to that time occurred on Christmas Eve in 1968. Much of the show featured readings from the Book of Genesis. What was the broadcast?
Answer: Apollo 8 orbiting the moon.
STUMPER: On May 13, 1971 Laura Douglas died. How was she famously connected to Christmas and still is?
Answer: Laura Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas, as in "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus."
December 23
STUMPER: Which famous author grumbled in 1850 about Christmas gift-giving leading to “worlds of money wasted, at this time of year, in getting things that nobody wants and nobody cares for after they are got”. (This author wrote the 2nd best selling book of the 19th century, 2nd only to the Bible.)
Answer: Harriet Beecher Stowe, an American abolitionist, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
STUMPER: What did Henry Cole and John Horsley invent in 1843 (the same year as the publication of The Christmas Carol) that has become a multi-billion dollar industry?
Answer: The Christmas Card.
December 22
STUMPER: Which are the four longest running TV situation comedies based on number of episodes produced?
Answer: 1) The Simspons (441 and counting); 2) The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (435); 3) My Three Sons (380); The Danny Thomas Show (336).
December 21
STUMPER: This is the anniversary of the death of George S. Patton. Who were the three US Generals in the European Theater that Eisenhower rated better than Patton?
Answer: Omar Bradley, Carl Spaatz, and Walter Bedell Smith.
December 18
CLUED-IN STUMPER: 1) He was a millionaire and one of the richest men in the South when the Civil War began and yet he enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army, nonetheless he rose to the rank of general being one of the few soldiers on either side in the Civil War to rise to become general after starting as a private;
2) Shelby Foote described him as one of the two geniuses (besides Lincoln) of the Civil War;
3) After the war, he strongly opposed Reconstruction and became the first Grand Wizard of the KKK and his namesake was played by Tom Hanks in an academy award winning movie.
Answer: Nathan Bedford Forest
STUMPER: Who was the only college football player to win four MVP awards for four bowl games?
Answer: Bo Jackson
December 16
JEOPARDY STUMPER: The answer is 364.
Question: What is the total number of gifts mentioned when the 12 days of Christmas song is sung all the way through?
December 15
STUMPER: On this date in 2001, The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to fortify it, without changing its famous lean. Why does the Tower of Pisa look better from the southwest than from the northeast?
Answer: It leans to the southeast so from the SW, it's leaning right, but it's leaning left from the NE.
STUMPER: Which former U.S. Congressman, from the greenest state, killed a bear when he was 3 and fixed the crack in the Liberty Bell (or so they say)?
Answer: Davy Crockett
December 14
STUMPER: Senator George Vest (MO) on this date in 1882 said "a woman's place is in the home." But another of his saying is even more famous. What is it?
Answer: A dog is Man's best friend.
STUMPER: With less than 1 inch rainfall per year and .03% average humidity, what is the world's driest desert?
Answer: The South Pole.
December 11
STUMPER: What famous movie featured a chase scene with Foggy Mountain Breakdown as the background music?
Answer: Bonnie and Clyde
STUMPER: According to Dr. John, which state's name is most often used in famous songs?
Answer: Indiana
December 10
MONA LISA VITO STUMPER: Who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1948? Hint: The same person who won the Nobel Price in Mathematics.
Answer: No one.
ADD-ON STUMPER: Who was the first American to win a Nobel Prize?
Answer: Theodore Roosevelt.
HEISMAN STUMPER: Of the top four vote getters in the 1964 Heisman Trophy voting, who was the only one that was not a quarterback?
Answer: Dick Butkus
December 9
STUMPER: According to the cartoonist/animator/director Chuck Jones, which of the Looney Tunes character is who we want to be and which is who we are?
Answer: Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, respectively.
December 8
STUMPER: Why is November 10 on Dr. John's list of "Seven Most Important Calendar Dates for Americans"?
Answer: The founding of the Marine Corps, November 10, 1775.
STUMPER: According to Dr. John, who is the greatest person of the last 1,000 years?
Answer: George Washington (so put February 22 on the list).
December 7
STUMPER: On an NFL football field, what is 533 1/3 square yards before kick-off, but shrinks to 20.74074 square yards once the game begins?
Answer: The Neutral Zone.
December 4
STUMPER: According to Vince Lombardi, where is the only place that success comes before work?
Answer: In the dictionary.
December 3
MONA LISA VITO STUMPER: The two time defending national champion UCLA mens basketball team played its first game in Pauley Pavilion in 1966. They would go on to win 8 of the next 10 national championships, yet lost their first game in Pauley. Whom did they lose to?
Answer: The UCLA mens freshman team led by Lew Alcindor.
December 2
STUMPER: Who's number 5? According to the American Film Institute, who was the 5th biggest male movie star of the 20th century behind Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Marlon Brando?
Answer: Fred Astaire.
STUMPER: Who's number 5? According to the American Film Institue, who was the 5th biggest female movie star of the 20th century behind Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn and Ingrid Bergman.
Answer: Greta Garbo
December 1
STUMPER: Which president's political opponents referred to him as "His Rotundity"?
Answer: John Adams
STUMPER: In Statuary Hall, which statue is of a non-US citizen?
Answer: Kamehemeha and Junipero Serra
STUMPER: Whose is the most recent statue to appear in Statuary Hall?
Answer: Helen Keller
November 30
STUMPER: In the Fraser Institute's ranking of countries by economic freedom, the USA is 6th. Whose number 5, just ahead of the USA and behind Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, and Switzerland?
Answer: Chile
November 27
STUMPER: What do Florence Nightingale, Alexander Graham Bell, Herman Hollerith(founder of company that would become IBM), Andrew Carnegie, and Martin Van Buren have in common?
Answer: These historical figures all were members of the American Statistical Association (ASA), the second oldest continuously operating professional association in the country founded on November 27, 1839.
November 25
STUMPER: According to Animal Fair Magazine, which city got 5 bones for being the pet-friendliest destination in America?
Answer: Philadelphia
November 24
STUMPER: Who was the first major league pitcher to lead the league in lowest ERA while pitching for a last place team? He did it in 1955 and is 75 years old today.
Answer: Bob Friend of the Pittsburgh Pirates
MONA LISA VITO ADD-ON: Despite his great pitching in 1955, Bob Friend did not win the Cy Young award as the league's best pitcher, in fact, he didn't even get one vote for the award. Why not?
Answer: Cy Young died in 1955 and it was the next year, 1956, when the award in his honor was first given out.
November 23
CLUED-IN STUMPER: Who is she? CLUE 1: She was born Anne Francis Robbins and rolled Easter eggs on the White House lawn when she was 7 years old and Cal Coolidge was president; CLUE 2: When she met her husband he was a staunch democrat, but she changed his ways and his political views; CLUE 3: Her prescription for solving the drug problem in America (and elsewhere) is the best, highlighting personal responsibility.
Answer: Nancy Davis Reagan
JEOPARDY STUMPER: Answer: 93
Question: What is the number of surviving Medal of Honor awardees?
STUMPER: If Washington, D.C., were a baseball field with the Capitol at home plate, the Washington Monument as the pitcher's mound, and the Lincoln Memorial as second base, what would third base be?
Answer: The Jefferson Memorial
November 20
STUMPER: What business, which has millions of sales every day, moved its operations to a hotel in New York City on this date in 1984 for one day to make one sale?
Answer: McDonalds in order to sale its 1 billionth burger.
November 19
STUMPER: According to the Times International, what is the best university in the United States that is not in the Ivy League?
Answer: The University of Chicago.
STUMPER: All of the Ivy universities were founded before 1776 except one. Which of the Ivy schools is the youngest?
Answer: Cornell.
November 18
STUMPER: Who has the perfect name for a politician and, though not having ever run for office, he has received the most write-in votes in history?
Answer: Mickey Mouse
STUMPER: Who is the only person to win both an Oscar and a Nobel prize? He was a dedicated socialist who was one of the founders of the London School of Economics.
Answer: George Bernard Shaw
November 17
STUMPER: Admiral George Stephen Morrison was famous for being the admiral in charge of the Pacific Fleet when the Gulf of Tonkin incident took place. But what else is he famous for?
Answer: He was the father of Jim Morrison of The Doors.
STUMPER: In which city in the world would you find the largest capitalized company running a financial market? Hint: The company's value is more than twice the combined value of the companies running the NYSE and NASDAQ.
Answer: Chicago is where the CME Group Inc. is located, operators of the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Futures Exchanges.
November 16
STUMPER: On this date in 1776, what was the first country to officially recognize the United States as an independent country?
Answer: The United Provinces (Netherlands)
MONA LISA VITO STUMPER ADD-ON: What was the actual first country to recognize the independence of the United States? (Also in 1776.)
Answer: The United States of America, in Congress assembled, on July 4, 1776.
November 13
STUMPER: On this date in 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote, in a letter to a friend, one of the most famous and oft repeated sentences in the English language. What was it?
Answer: "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
STUMPER: What is the most famous Augustinian university in the U.S.A.?
Answer: Villanova University
November 12
STUMPER JEOPARDY: Give the best question to the following answer: 77.
Question: What is the number of lives saved by lifeguard Ronald Reagan.
November 11
STUMPER: Who was the first American to be awarded both the Victoria Cross and the Medal of Honor?
Answer: The WW I soldier in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
STUMPER: What is unusual about the uniforms worn by the soldiers guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?
Answer: They have no rank insignia.
November 10
STUMPER: What movie presaged global warming concerns with the final line being, "As long as the arctic stays cold"?
Answer: The Blob with Steve McQueen and Aneta Corsault.
STUMPER: What happened for the first time in a hotel room on this date in 1908, but has been done many times since?
Answer: A Bible was placed in a hotel room compliments of the Gideons.
November 9
STUMPER: Of whom was Helmut Kohl speaking when he said, "He was a stroke of luck for the world, especially Europe."
Answer: Ronald Wilson Reagan
STUMPER: What was the official occasion of the Reagan "Tear Down This Wall" speech?
Answer: 750th anniversary of the founding of Berlin.
November 6
STUMPER: Which pitcher-batter combination faced each other more times than any other in major league baseball history? HINT: They both were among the 5 original inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Answer: Walter Johnson and Ty Cobb.
STUMPER: What is the name of the school newspaper and the name of the school yearbook of Walter Johnson High School?
Answer: The newspaper is called "The Pitch" and the yearbook is named "The Windup".
November 5
STUMPER: Who was the first NBA player to cause a glass backboard to shatter? Hint: He was also a professional baseball player, but is better known for his non-sports professional career.
Answer: Chuck Connors
STUMPER: Besides West Point and the Naval Academy, which college or university has the most graduates who have been awarded the Medal of Honor?
Answer: Harvard
November 4
STUMPER CLASSIC: Of whom was Will Rogers talking when famously said, "I bet you if I had met him and had a chat with him, I would have found him a very interesting and human fellow, for I never yet met a man that I didn't like."?
Answer: Trotsky
ADD-ON: Fill in the blank from another Rogersism: "What this country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner _______________."
Answer: Minds.
November 3
STUMPER: What English-language newspaper has the largest circulation in the world for newspapers published in English?
Answer: The Times of India with over 3,000,000 per day founded Nov 3 1838.
ADD-ON STUMPER: What was arguably the most famous newspaper headline ever, published on this date in1948?
Answer: DEWEY BEATS TRUMAN
STUMPER: What was the official name of "Laika's coffin"?
Answer: Sputnik 2, which had the first living thing in space, Laika, a Russian dog, who died in the capsule, which the Soviets never intended to return.
ADD ON STUMPER: Where is the world's most famous dog named Laika currently alive and what is her connection to Altoona?
Answer: Laika is a borzoi living at the Teine Kennel in Wapakoneta, Ohio and her daughter, Annushka, resides on St. Francis Lane here in Altoona.
November 2
STUMPER: Everyone's heard of the name Axis Powers, referring to the Germany-Italy coalition in WW II. But who came up with the name, Axis?
Answer: Benito Mussolini.
STUMPER: What did John Campbell of Minnesota do first on this date in 1898? Today it is something done by millions across America and even more around the world.
Answer: He lead some cheers and became the first cheerleader.
October 30
STUMPER: Who was the first lady to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda?
Answer: Rosa Parks on this date in 2005.
STUMPER: Investors consider New York City the #1 financial hub city in the world and London #3. Which city is #2?
Answer: Singapore.
October 29
STUMPER: Besides Chase Utley who did it last night, who was the only left-handed hitter to hit two home runs off a left-handed pitcher in the same World Series game? Hint: Go with the obvious suspect.
Answer: The Bambino, Babe Ruth.
October 28
STUMPER: At what event did Ronald Reagan, aboard the USS JFK, say "Tonight there is much to celebrate and many blessings to be grateful for. So while it's good to talk about serious things, it's just as important and just as American, to have some fun. Now, let's have some fun!"?
Answer: The re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty, July 4, 1986.
MONA LISA VITO STUMPER CLASSIC: The first college founded in the United States of America is the 16th oldest college in the United States of America. What college is the answer to that seeming contradiction?
Answer: Dickinson College, founded 1783.
October 27
STUMPER: For the first time since the rankings began the USA has fallen out of first place as a financial center. In fact, it's fallen to number 3. Which two countries are numbers 1 and 2 now according to the World Economic Forum?
Answer: The UK and Australia.
October 26
STUMPER: In terms of particulate matter in parts per million, 8 of the top 10 most polluted cities are in India and China. But what city is number 1 and it's not in India or China?
Answer: Cairo Egypt.
October 23
STUMPER: Who was the coach of Georgia Tech when it ran up the score, 220-0, on Cumberland College in October, 1916?
Answer: John Heisman
STUMPER: What was Lincoln talking about when he said it is "the fuel of interest for the fire of genius"?
Answer: The Patent Office.
October 22
STUMPER: What is the 5th most massive object in the solar system? Hint: Think Ed Rendell.
Answer: Uranus
STUMPER: The Notre Dame / USC game had a viewing audience of 6.5 million this past Saturday. What was the last Notre Dame game to have a bigger audience?
Answer: Penn State on 9/9/06
October 21
STUMPER: David Nathan and Manfred Lepofsky were better known by another name, a pen name. What was it?
Answer: Ellery Queen.
STUMPER: Who was the only major league baseball player to see combat action in WW II and also in Korea. Hint: He was the MVP of the 1950 World Series and is still active in major league baseball.
Answer: Jerry Coleman, play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres.
STUMPER: A skilled fisherman and engineer, who was the world famous author of "Fishing for Fun". Hint: He was world famous because he was president of the USA and it's not Jimmy Carter.
Answer: Herbert Hoover.
STUMPER: According to the "Little Book of the Flag" by Eva March Tappan, what were flag poles called in the era leading up to the American Revolution?
Answer: Liberty Poles.
MONA LISA VITO STUMPER: Who was promoted from captain to admiral on this date in 1991?
Answer: Captain Kangaroo was named Admiral in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska.
October 19
STUMPER: According to a well-known magazine, Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany) is the most powerful woman in the world. Who is the second most powerful woman in the world? HINT: It's an American, but not Hillary Clinton.
Answer: Sheila Bair, Chair of the FDIC.
STUMPER: Besides the Queen of the UK (42), which queen is on the list of world's most powerful women?
Answer: #76 Queen Rania of Jordan.
October 16
STUMPER: What city bills itself as the "Air Capital of the World" because it's the home of dozens of plane makers and suppliers?
Answer: Wichita, Kansas
STUMPER: What was Dr. John's much used nickname until he graduated from college? Hint: It's the last name of a famous composer.
Answer: Strauss
October 15
STUMPER: In a 2004 poll on the North American Vexillological Association, Chicago's flag was voted second best. Which city's flag was voted #1 among United States city flags. HINT: It has three red stars above 2 red stripes on a white background.
Answer: Washington, D.C., adopted on this date in 1938.
STUMPER: Besides Pittsburgh, which city's flag has only black and gold colors?
Answer: Baltimore
STUMPER: According to the North American Vexillolgical Association, which U.S. state has the best flag?
Answer: New Mexico
October 14
STUMPER: What jurisdiction has a flag with 2 stripes representing bodies of water and 4 stars, each representing a historical event, one of which was a terrible catastrophe?
Answer: Chicago.
STUMPER: Who was he? He was known in his home country (not the USA) as The Liberator and was described by William Thakeray as the person, "who did more for his nation than anyone since George Washington." His heart was buried in Rome, and the rest of his body in his native country. He was an inspiration for Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King JR.: "The principle of my political life .... is, that all ameliorations and improvements in political institutions can be obtained by persevering in a perfectly peaceable and legal course, and cannot be obtained by forcible means, or if they could be got by forcible means, such means create more evils than they cure, and leave the country worse than they found it."
