Pondering on the Prairie: Monday Trivia

Showing posts with label Monday Trivia. Show all posts

Monday, August 8, 2011

Mostly Trivia Monday - Wow, Swans!

Was tickled to see this on the way home yesterday--what a treat. Since I don't know a lot about swans I thought I'd share what I found while checking up on these beautiful birds. Did you know a male is a cob, a female is a pen, and young are called cygnets?

Never having seen cygnets so close before prompted this picture. They had no interest in leaving and showed no fear. We just parked next to them to watch them and take the picture.

In bygone years swan feathers were prized for the best quill pens.
Swans can live over 24 years.
Trumpeter swans, like the picture above, are assumed to mate for life.
Swans are the largest of North American waterfowl.
A clutch (group of swan eggs) size is 1 to 9 eggs.
Swans are creamy white colored as adults.
These beautiful birds live in a lake/pond habitat and dine on aquatic vegetation, grasses and grains. Their nests are found on the ground.

If you're interested in finding more information about these gorgeous birds visit The Trumpeter Swan Society website at http://www.trumpeterswansociety.org/ or The Cornell Lab of Ornithology--All About Birds website at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/

At one time these wonders were almost extinct, but they are fairly common now. Hope to see more of these along our travels.

Blessings!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Monday Trivia - Just Who's In Charge Anyway?

While thinking about trivia ideas for today I was reminded of the many current events going on around us. I was also thinking about how in 9th grade we had to memorize a list of US and world leaders and know what they did--and yes, there was a test. With the many comings and goings in our government in the last few years I thought it might be interesting to review the list and see how many I know now--unfortunately not as many as I should. If you're interested in brushing up on who's in charge of the various parts and positions of our government go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/ for more information.

*** *** *** *** ***

Most people in the US know that Barack Obama is President, but did you know more than 2 or 3 of the following? If it was important back then, with the craziness of everything around us now, I'm thinking that brushing up on the list of our current leaders and their positions and job functions is going to be on the list for school this year. How about you?

White House Staff

Chief of Staff                          Bill Daley

Deputy Chiefs of Staff             Nancy-Ann DeParle
                                              Alyssa Mastromonaco

Counselor to the President       Pete Rouse

Senior Advisors                      Valerie Jarrett
                                              David Plouffe

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Did you also know that all of the following entities exist within the Executive Office of the President?

Council of Economic Advisers
Council on Environmental Quality
National Security Council and Homeland Security Council
Office of Administration
Office of Management and Budget
Office of National Drug Control Policy
Office of Science and Technology Policy
Office of the United States Trade Representative
Office of the Vice President
Executive Residence

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Or how about that the following exist within The White House?

Office of Cabinet Affairs
Office of the Chief of Staff
Office of Communications
Communications
Media Affairs
New Media
Research
Speechwriting
Office of the First Lady
Office of the Social Secretary
National Security Advisor
Office of Legislative Affairs
Office of Management and Administration
White House Personnel
White House Operations
Telephone Office
Visitors Office
Oval Office Operations
Office of Political Affairs
Office of Presidential Personnel
Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs
Office of Public Engagement
Council on Women and Girls
Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
Urban Affairs
Office of the Press Secretary
Office of Scheduling and Advance
Office of the Staff Secretary
Presidential Correspondence
Executive Clerk
Records Management
Office of the White House Counsel
Office of White House Policy
Domestic Policy Council
Office of National AIDS Policy
Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation
National Economic Council
White House Military Office

I'm pretty sure this will take a while to accomplish around here, but we're going to give it a shot. How did you do? Good luck staying on top of it all. Ever feel like asking "Who are all these people, and where did they come from?"

Blessings!

*****Don't forget to enter the Laugh Out Loud book give away that will be drawn Friday, July 15th at 8 a.m.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Rain, Rain, Go Away - Monday Trivia

Refreshing, messy, life-giving, sometimes destructive . . . We're seeing a lot of rain and flooding around these parts lately. While often refreshing, at times it's been a frustration. I was thinking this morning, while watching more rain out my window, that perhaps it is a good day for a little trivia about rain, that gift we've been blessed with lately.

What exactly is rain anyway? Of course we all know that it must be that liquid precipitation that falls from the sky, randomly, at the most inopportune time and drenches our new outfit, the library books we just checked out, the daily mail and our perfectly styled hair. But rain/RAIN can be soo much more . . .

To find out more about the wet stuff click here to go to Weather Wiz Kids where you'll find weather information for kids. This is a really fun site where you can go to learn about rain, floods, tornadoes, other weather terms and weather forecasting. You'll find weather experiments, games (including memory, word search, maze, word jumble, crossword and more), flashcards, folklore, weather instruments, optical illusions, links and more. Hey moms, there are even Lesson Plans and Science Fair ideas! By the way Q - "What did one raindrop say to the other?" A - "My plop is bigger than your plop."

Why not check out some of these other interesting resources about RAIN/rain :

*In Indiana RAIN (Ride Across INdiana) is an annual ride across the state of Indiana, sponsored by Bloomington Bicycle Club. The 160 mile ride runs along the Historical National Route 40. For more information click here or write to the club at Bloomington Bicycle Club, P.O. Box 463, Bloomington, IN, 47402

*In North Carolina RAIN is the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network. This network provides resources and links for testing, specialized infectious disease clinics, food and shelter assistance, and medical and mental health support as well as clergy resources and minority programs. For more information click here or you can contact RAIN at :
RAIN, Inc., PO Box 37190, Charlotte, NC 28237 or (704)372-RAIN (7246)

*In South Korea Rain is a pop and R&B singer, dancer, model, actor, businessman, and designer. To see more click here .

*While I like to listen to the pitter patter of gently rain, there's a completely different sort of sound at the RAIN you'll find here . Visit this site where Kurt Hanson provides the daily Radio And Internet News to see what's happening today.

Here's hoping the rain is refreshing and not too annoying today! Blessings!

"You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the LORD, have created it." (NIV)

Monday, June 13, 2011

Mostly Trivia -- A Bit of This, A Bit of That and Modest Swimwear

What to do? What to do? For this first post of Mostly Trivia my overloaded brain is trying to decide which might be more fun to share--useful trivia or fun trivia. I think a bit of both for today. Take a break for a few and join me.

First, lose that Monday stress - according to research, Monday is the most common day for heart attacks. Go here for more about the research.

To lose that Monday morning stress:

Can you name 5 characters from 5 different Disney Movies? We had fun with this as we tried to name as many characters, A-Z, that we could think of from all of our Disney animated movies. It turns out there's an A-Z list of these characters, with the name of their movie and the name of the person who did their voice, on Wikipedia here or go to Listology here for an alphabetical list of every animated movie ever created (according to them). Yes, there are plenty of other lists of this information on the Internet, these are just two we used for reference.

Hey, here's some interesting stuff--on this day, June 13th, in

1926 Paul Lynde, comedian (Uncle Arthur-Bewitched) was born
1962 Ally Sheedy, actress (St Elmo's, Short Circuit, Maid to Order) was born
1979 Darla Hood, actress (Little Rascals) died
1986 Benny Goodman the "King of Swing" died
1898 Yukon Territory of Canada organized and Dawson was chosen as the capital
1927 Ticker-tape parade welcomed Charles A Lindbergh to NYC
1940 Paris was evacuated before the German advance
1967 Thurgood Marshall was nominated as 1st black Supreme Court justice
1983 Pioneer 10 became the 1st man-made object to leave the Solar System
Go to the Today-in-History page here to see what else happened today over the years.

And finally, a piece of useful trivia--

Like many girls and women, this time of year is frustrating for me because it's so difficult to find modest swimwear. Check out these websites I found for some new options:

Modest Clothing has information about swimwear from