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Any Questions #260

WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel are back for a show all about 500.

Last week's challenge
Start with the term BEARDED COLLIE. Rearrange the letters and you can spell a two-word phrase (six letters, seven letters) describing what you might have to do to read an unfamiliar language. What is the phrase?
Answer: You might have to DECODE BRAILLE.

THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: 500
On-air questions: On August 19, 1909, the first automobile race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Fifteen drivers entered the race, four of which finished. Two land speed records were set, but safety concerns caused the rest of the day's events to be cancelled. Two years later, the first running of the race that came to be known as the Indy 500 was held. To commemorate the first auto race in Indianapolis, this week our questions are about the number 500.

1. In the 2012 version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, five of the top 20 and four of the top 10 (including the album at number one) were recorded by what band?
2. A list of the largest corporations by revenue has been published since 1955, and while it originally included only companies in manufacturing, mining, and energy, it now encompasses companies in all fields. What magazine publishes this annual list of the top 500?
3. Often the highest-valued regularly-used coin in the world (depending on exchange rates), the 500-yen coin was first minted in Japan in 1982, when it replaced the 500-yen note. In addition to the standard-issue coin, numerous commemorative 500-yen coins have been minted over the years, including three in 1997 that featured different sports that were struck in advance of what event that took place the following February?
4. There are 27 members of Major League Baseball's 500 home run club. Of those, two players are still active. One of them is Albert Pujols of the Angels. Which player – who has announced he will retire after the current season – is the other, and is the most recent of the active members to reach the 500 mark, doing so in September of 2015?
5. In the system of Roman numerals, D represents the number 500. In that system, how many Cs are in a D?

Extra credit
1. A building located at 500 Boylston Street in Back Bay is used as the exterior of the location of the fictional law firm of Crane, Poole & Schmidt on what 2000s drama series?
2. The card game known as 500 rummy is a popular variant of the trick taking game. It is also known as pinochle rummy and by a name that includes what Midwestern state?

This week's challenge
Think of an eight-letter word starting with M for numbers that automobile drivers might be concerned with. Add a double D somewhere in the word and the result will be a two-word phrase (six letters, four letters) for a time when there weren’t any automobiles. What is the word and what is the phrase?

ANSWERS
On-air questions

1. The Beatles
2. Fortune
3. Winter Olympics
4. David Ortiz
5. Five

Extra credit
1. Boston Legal
2. Michigan
 

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.
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