WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel are back for a quiz about numbers.
Last week's challenge
Start with the name of Weekend and The Best Man playwright Gore Vidal. Rearrange the letters and you can spell a two-word phrase (5,4) that is a way of describing the Grand Canyon. What is the phrase?
Answer: LARGE VOID.
THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: POWERS OF TEN
On-air questions: On December 23, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed into law the Metric Conversion Act. The Act declared the metric system "the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce" and commissioned the United States Metric Board to lead efforts in planning and education. The Metric Board was disbanded in 1982, partly because of its failure to effectively manage widespread implementation of the metric system. In honor of the Metric Conversion Act and subsequent efforts to metricize the U.S., this week each correct answer will contain a power of 10.
1. On many license plates issued by the state of Wisconsin, it says "America's Dairyland." Missouri license plates have featured the slogan "Show-Me State". What phrase has commonly appeared on license plates from Minnesota?
2. A map of what fictional place – based on a real forest some 35 miles south of London – includes areas labeled "Pooh Trap for Heffalumps," "Sandy Pit Where Roo Plays," and "My House," the latter of which is next to a self-portrait of a young boy named Christopher Robin, the map's artist?
3. By what name do we know an archipelago in the Saint Lawrence River that straddles the U.S.-Canada border (placing it partially in Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties in New York), is actually comprised of almost double the number of entities its name suggests, and is possibly the point of origin for a popular type of salad dressing?
4. "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man." is part of the opening of what 1970s TV show starring Lee Majors as the title character?
5. What 1956 film was nominated for seven Academy Awards (of which it won one for Best Visual Effects), was at the time of its release the most expensive film ever produced, and was praised by film critic Leonard Maltin, who said it was "vivid storytelling at its best…the parting of the Red Sea and the writing of the holy tablets are unforgettable highlights"?
Extra credit
1. The Wishing Chair, In My Tribe, and Our Time in Eden are among the albums recorded by what band, founded in Jamestown, New York, in 1981?
2. Airing on NBC from September 9 to 19, 2013, what game show pitted contestants against each other in a non-stop trivia showdown on a set shaped like an hourglass located on a roof in midtown Manhattan?
This week's challenge
Start with the phrase POWERS OF TEN. Change one letter to an L and you can rearrange the result to spell the four-letter name of an animal with four legs and the seven-letter name of an animal with no legs. What are they?
ANSWERS
On-air questions
1. "10,000 Lakes"
2. Hundred Acre Wood
3. Thousand Islands
4. The Six Million Dollar Man
5. The Ten Commandments
Extra credit
1. 10,000 Maniacs
2. The Million Second Quiz
