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Stump
Me Questions Answered in September 2001
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Q.: Who is responsible for the creation of the Pillsbury
Doughboy?
- Andrew
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A.:
This comes directly from the good people at Pillsbury:
"Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding Poppin' Fresh, the
Pillsbury Doughboy.
The idea for Pillsbury's Poppin' Fresh began in the fall of 1965 at Leo Burnett,
a Chicago-based advertising agency.
We appreciate your interest.
E. Warner"
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Q.: In
Twisted Metal Black for PlayStation 2, what was the
original name of the car, Warthog?
- No Name Given
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A.:
White Knight.
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Q.: How did the handshake come to be a gesture of good will, or of welcoming?
- No Name Given
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A.:
Handshaking came about as a way of showing that two strangers
had peaceful intentions. They would hold out their empty
right hands - which tended to be their weapon hands
- as a gesture of peace.
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Q.: Ok, just to see how good you really are: What is the etymology of the word "Jehovah"?
Answer that, bubeleh.
- Dave
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A.: According to
The Dictionary of Etymology, Jehovah dates back to sometime around 1530.
Borrowing from the New Latin work "Iehoua," it's an erroneous translation of the Hebrew divine name YHWH (the "tetragrammaton") using the vowel points of Hebrew
"adhonai," often represented as Yahweh.
Oh, and thanks for the bubeleh...my
brother used to call me that.
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Q.: Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?
- No Name Given
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A.: This
question is worded exactly the same as the one that
appears in the trivia book, Imponderables.
Since the book answers it in three pages, I'll just give
you the summary.
Two plastic surgeons, whose
livelihoods depend upon knowing what the effects of
opening the mouth are on the eyes, say that opening the
mouth tightens muscles and puts the skin on the eyelids on
a stretch. This makes it easier to apply mascara for
pretty much the same reason that men make jaw contractions
while shaving their necks.
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Q.: What is the only crime that will get you in prison if you attempt it, but if you succeed in committing the crime, you wont get punished?
- Mike
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A.: Come
on, Mike...you've asked tougher ones than this. The
answer is suicide. By the way, thanks to Michelle
and Zach for sending me the answer to this one. I'd
figured this one out, but I do want to give credit to
people who take their time to send me an answer.
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Q.: What police television series did Lee Marvin play in?
- Roxanne G.
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A.: M
Squad was a TV series that lasted from 1957 to
1960. Lee Marvin played Lieutenant Frank Ballinger.
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Q.: 1)
Where has The Little League World Series been played every year for 55 years?
2) On the TV show The Simpsons, what is the Simpson's home address?
3) In the Disney movie Toy Story, how many times
does the character Mr. Potato Head get his pieces knocked off?
- Lori H.
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A.: 1)
South Williamsport, PA.
2) As a huge Simpsons fan, I'd
be pissed with myself if I didn't know that 742 Evergreen Terrace
is the home address. Although there have been others
throughout the years, this one is the one used the most
often.
3) I actually rented the movie
to get you answer. Mr. Potato Head loses his face
three times, although you only see it happen twice.
The one you don't see is at the beginning when the baby
sister is banging him against the side of her crib.
You see pieces of his face hit the floor, but you don't
see the body. The other two times are towards the
end of the movie.
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Q.: 1)
How many game titles were released for the original
Nintendo entertainment
system?
2) For Atari?
- No Name Given
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A.: 1)
The following is from an e-mail from Greg Wallace of
Nintendo of America, Inc.: "I don't have an exact number for you, but there were approximately 680 games released
for the NES in North America." I've since found
a Web site that lists 785 titles.
2) Since you didn't mention
which system you were talking about I've gathered a list
of the three most popular Atari systems. All figures
come from http://www.xocolatl.com/carts/: Atari 2600
- 1,010
Atari 5200 - 94
Atari 7800 - 69
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Q.: 1)
How is Coca-Cola made?
2) Where did the band "Dynamite Hack" get its
name?
3) What type of wood is Eddie Van Halen's
"Frankenstein" guitar body made out of?
4) How many concept cars
is Lamborghini currently
working on?
- Zach
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A.: 1)
The following is from an e-mail sent to me by Mary Lewis
of The Coca-Cola Company:
"First, we thought that it would be useful for you if we explained the difference between our company and the independent bottlers. Although you may not be aware, The Coca-Cola Company manufactures beverage syrups that are sold to a network of bottling companies in the United States and overseas. Our company also develops products, as well as produces national advertising and programs to support our products.
The bottlers, which are all local businesses, combine the concentrate with other ingredients and package the beverages in bottles, cans or fountain containers. Bottlers are additionally responsible for marketing and distributing the products throughout their territories.
The Coca-Cola Company ensures the quality of its products by continually monitoring and analyzing the treated water, sugar, and other ingredients used in our products to make certain they are of the highest quality and meet all regulatory requirements. To ensure uniformity and to monitor quality, the company maintains laboratories around the world that regularly examine samples of beverages produced by individual bottling plants."
2) According to Bobby Roberts of www.sweetbob.com
(who interviewed them), "They got it from the movie
Caddyshack....it is a quote from that movie." 3)
Thanks to Brett Norton of www.vhlinks.com
for the answer: Ash. 4)
Glen at http://www.lamborghiniregistry.com
answered this for me: "There is the new Diablo Replacement that will be released on Sunday, September 9, 2001, and one other car that is still in development that is expected in 2002 or 2003 (most likely). I should have photos of the Diablo Replacement car on my site on Sunday evening or Monday."
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Q.: What was the first consumer product to have a barcode and
why?
- Margaret B.
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A.: In June 1974, one of the first UPC scanner, made by NCR Corp. (which was then called National Cash Register
Co.), was installed at Marsh's supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
On June 26, 1974, the first product with a bar code was scanned at a check-out counter.
It was a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum.
The pack of gum wasn't specially designated to be the first scanned product.
It just happened to be the first item lifted from the cart by a shopper whose name is long since lost to history.
Today, the pack of gum is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
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Q.: What is the origin of hamburger?
- Julie
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A.: The word "hamburger" actually traces its roots back to Hamburg, Germany, where people used to eat a similar food called the "Hamburg steak."
Eventually, the Hamburg steak made its way to the United States, where people shortened its name to "hamburger."
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Q.: What are the ten languages spoken by most people world wide as either a
mother tongue or as a second language (fluently), listed in order (most to least)?
- Liam D.
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A.: According to The Top 10 of
Everything 2001, the top 10 most spoken languages are:
Chinese
English
Hindustani
Spanish
Russian
Arabic
Bengali
Portuguese
Malay-Indonesian
French
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Q.: Why
does God need followers?
- No Name Given
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A.: He
doesn't. People choose to follow at their own free
will. By the way, if you're reading this question,
please make a point of reading the answer to the next
question.
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Q.: Adam
and Eve were the first people on Earth. They had 2
sons Cane and Able. Now
the whole of the human race came from these 4
people. Therefore Eve's 2 sons had incestuous sex
with her sons. Incest has
now been proved to be dangerous due to genetic mutations
etc...so why is the human race not a load of mentally
deficient blobs? Does this not prove that the bible
is fiction?
- Dave P.
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A.: OK,
I'm going to have to draw the line here. I got a ton
of e-mail over this question, and while I have my own
personal opinions, I didn't create this Web site to
express viewpoints that are so obviously close to people's
hearts. Let's remember a few things here:
1) There are numerous
religions in the world and they all worship different
things.
2) Practitioners of one
religion tend to believe there are flaws with the
fundamental principles of the others.
3) This is a trivia Web
site. I have made every effort not to censor what
people send in or impose my personal feelings about a
particular subject. However, from this point on I
will not be posting any more questions like this
one. It really takes the fun out of working on
Mindless Crap.
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