Trivia #2

1. The ingredients of what food product was the subject of the world’s first consumer protection law?



Beer. In a 1516 decree called the Rheinheitsgebot, or purity law, Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria mandated that beer have only three ingredients—barley malt, hops, and water.



2. How many passengers could be seated inside the stagecoaches operated by Wells, Fargo and Company?

Up to nine. There was also seating on the roof—unless there was too much luggage.

3. Which two states have official donuts? What kinds of donuts are they?



Louisiana, the beignet; Massachusetts, the Boston cream donut.



4. What is the only mammal with a true shell?

The armadillo.




5. Why does New York’s Penn Station bear the name of another state?

It wasn’t named for Pennsylvania—it was named for the Pennsylvania Railroad, which completed construction of the original Penn Station in 1910. The railroad also operated Penn Stations in Newark, New Jersey; Baltimore, Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; and, more fittingly, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.


6. Why were the Academy Award ceremonies postponed in 1968?

For the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr. The ceremonies were delayed on only two other occasions—following a devastating flood in Los Angeles in 1938, and after the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

7. How many sides are there to each honeycomb cell in a beehive?


Six. The hexagonal cells are molded from beeswax secreted by worker bees.



8. What are the triffids in the classic 1951 sci-fi novel and 1963 cult horror film The Day of the Triffids?

Plants—fierce, mobile man-eating plants that can kill with a single swipe of their poisonous stingers.


(from Page-A-Day Calendars)