Trivia Night!
On Thursday March 31st, the Ottawa chapter of the Canadian Society of Epidemiology & Biostatistics (Twitter @CSEBOttawa) hosted their first trivia night at the Royal Oak pub on campus.
I asked for, and was granted, the responsibility to be the game show host, a position I have long striven to fill. I thought of 50 questions, asked in four rounds, and five teams played. Here are the final results:
| Team name | round 1 | round 2 | round 3 | round 4 | Final |
| HSS bitches | 7 | 9 | 10 | 2 | 28 |
| Quiz in my pants | 7 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 24 |
| Broad St Pumpers | 6 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 25 |
| Sweet Flo | 8 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 26 |
| Boga Boga | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 11 |
Congratulations to the “Bitches” (actually, their team name was “HSS BCH”, which was lame. So they agreed to be called the bitches. Much better):
HSS BCH (The “Bitches”)
Here are some more photos from the event. At the bottom, you will find the actual questions asked. Maybe some of them are controversial. I don’t know. How well did you do?
Sweet Flo
Broad Street Pumpers (though I prefer “Plumpers”)
Quiz In My Pants and one member of Boga Boga
ROUND 1
1. In what city was Christopher Columbus born?
A: Genoa
2. Who was the second man to walk on the Moon?
A: Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin
3. The only country in Western hemisphere named for an element?
A: Argentina
4. At what temperature do the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales converge?
A: -40 degrees
5. The Diary of Anne Frank was written in what city?
A: Amsterdam
6. Which of the following was never a King of England? Richard II, Edward IV, William V, or Stephen
A: WIlliam V
7. 10,000 years ago, the Ottawa valley was beneath a body of water. What was the name of that body of water?
A: Champlain Sea
8. Victoria Claflin Woodhull was the first American woman to do what, in 1872?
A: Run for President
9. The richest woman (excluding royalty) in the world is one of the owners of what company?
A: Walmart
10. What’s the original name of the Ottawa Citizen?
A: Bytown Packet
11. Which planet in our solar system has a gravity most similar to that of Earth?
A: Venus
12. What award is given to the NHL player who is judged “to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability”
A: Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
13. If a man has a mass of 60kg on the surface of the Earth, what will his mass be on the surface of the Moon?
A: 60 kg
14. What city in the world has the most people? (38 million)
A: Tokyo
15. Name the three smallest bones in the human body
A: Malleus (hammer), Incus (anvil), Stapes (stirrup)
ROUND 2
1. What Canadian Prime Minister won the Nobel Peace Prize?
A: Lester B Pearson
2. Who became US President after JFK was assassinated?
A: Lyndon B. Johnson
3. What’s the capital of Iceland?
A: Reykjavic
4. How many chromosomes does a gorilla have? (Diploid count, 2n)
A: 48
5. Who was the first man to simultaneously hold both the WWE and WCW world wrestling championships?
A: Chris Jericho
6. Who was Canadian Prime Minister during WWI?
A: Robert Borden
7. What disease did Isaac Asimov die of?
A: HIV/AIDS
8. The Ottawa valley is part of the traditional territory of which First Nations people?
A: Algonquin
9. Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius are thought to have created what alphabet?
A: Cyrillic alphabet
10. Who wrote “Gone With The Wind”
A: Margaret Mitchell
11. The thylacine is an extinct dog-like creature which was native to what continent?
A: Australia
12. What was the first nation to employ postage stamps?
A: United Kingdom
13. What country won the very first gold medal in Olympic hockey (in 1920)
A: Canada (controversial answer… some say it was UK)
14. In terms of average mass, what is the largest animal (species) to have ever existed?
A: Blue whale
15. What were the two objects depicted on the flag of the Soviet Union
A: Hammer and sickle
ROUND 3
1. Once you adjust for inflation, what is the highest grossing movie of all time?
A: Gone With The Wind ($3.4 billion)
2. Oh shit, I don’t remember what this question was. Shit.
3. There are two countries in South America named after people. Colombia is one of them. What is the other?
A: Bolivia (turns out Peru is also a viable option)
4. Shakespeare only wrote one comedy with the word “Love” in it. What was the title of that comedy?
A: Love’s Labours Lost
5. Who was the first woman to go to outer space?
A: Valentina Tereshkova
6. What was the name of the horse of Alexander the Great?
A: Bucephalus
7. Name the author of “The Old Man and the Sea”
A: Ernest Hemingway
8. Who was the first Emperor of Rome?
A: Augustus (or Octavius or Octavian)
9. Which day of the week (in English) is named for the Norse god of thunder?
A: Thursday
10. What city hosted the summer Olympics in 2008?
A: Beijing
11. What was the first single released by the Beatles?
A: Love Me Do (1962)
12. What is the capital city of Turkey?
A: Ankara
13. What was te capital city of West Germany?
A: Bonn
14. What is the single most prescribed drug in the world?
A: Hydrocodone (Vicodin)
15. In 1667, the first recorded blood transfusion featuring a human recipient was recorded. But what species of animal donated the blood?
A: Lamb (or sheep)
ROUND 4
1. What is the currency of South Africa called?
A: Rand
2. What is the currency of Brazil called?
A: Real
3. Since 2011, Canadian bills have been made from plastic polymers. What were they mostly made of before then?
A: Cotton
4. In what year was the Euro introduced?
A: 1999
5. In 2015, 28 countries had at least 10 billionaires. The USA had the most, with 536. China had the 2nd most, with 213. Which country had the 3rd most billionaires, with 103?
A: Germany
