It's all so trivial!

[ellaguru]

I thought of that, too!  I would've guessed there were like 4 additional unsuccessful attempts, but 18?  Sheesh.  Nixon twice, even.

Or, who was the most recent president that nobody tried to assassinate?

It's been 40 years since you've had a leader you haven't tried to kill down there, eh? And that's probably just because you were still resting up after killing the guy before that.

Seriously, y'all should attack your leaders in a more civilized fashion, as we do up here in Canada.

[Andrew_TSKS]

"The average age of a soldier in World War II was twenty-six. What was the average age of a soldier in Viet Nam?"

nineteen. nineteen. n-n-n-n-nineteen.

[Andrew_TSKS]

I thought of that, too!  I would've guessed there were like 4 additional unsuccessful attempts, but 18?  Sheesh.  Nixon twice, even.

a corollary: name the manson family member who later attempted a presidential assassination, and/or name the president said family member tried to assassinate.

[Aglaya]

"The average age of a soldier in World War II was twenty-six. What was the average age of a soldier in Viet Nam?"

nineteen. nineteen. n-n-n-n-nineteen.

Actually, I fact checked that, and it was 22.

[Good Intentions]

Which British historical figure died from pneumonia he got after stuffing a corpse of a chicken full of snow to investigate whether cold can help preserve meat?
Francis Bacon

In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the levees protecting New Orleans burst, leaving 80% of the city submerged in water. What was the previous time the levees broke in New Orleans?
Hurricane Betty, 1965

What is DVORAK?
A keyboard layout, designed to maximise typing speed

Corrolary: What was the QWERTY keyboard layout designed for?
To decrease typing speeds, specifically to seperate frequently used keys, since at the time the keys would get stuck because the typists would hit them too quickly.

[girl]

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/where-pub-trivia-questions-are-born/
Well-timed NY Times city blog article about pub trivia. (20 question quiz included)

[Andrew_TSKS]

"The average age of a soldier in World War II was twenty-six. What was the average age of a soldier in Viet Nam?"

nineteen. nineteen. n-n-n-n-nineteen.

Actually, I fact checked that, and it was 22.

do you totally not get the reference here, or are you just trying to out-deadpan me?

wikipedia explanation

[Aglaya]

No, I got the reference, I was just sayin'.
Edit: Because I will probably use that question.  Though I could use the version Gareth asks on The Office (which specifically references the song), in which case 19 is correct.

[Trousers and Pat]

did you know- cigarette lighters were invented before matches!

[aftm]

WOAH! Did you know the can was invented some fifty years before the can-opener?

[Aglaya]

While interesting, I'm not sure how I would phrase those in a question that wouldn't be obvious.

[Good Intentions]

A doubly-landlocked country is a country that is surrounded by landlocked countries. Name one.
Liechtenstein or Uzbekistan

Name a sovereign nation that is entirely surrounded by another country.
Lesotho (by South Africa) or San Marino and the Vatican City (both surrounded by Italy).

[elpollodiablo]

Is the second one the Vatican?

[Good Intentions]

I whited out the answers. There are three possible answers.

Wikipedia lists come in really useful for things like this, I've discovered.

[cool banana]

heh, pollo, i started guessing too, but then I realised the answers are whited out. I never would've got Uzbekistan but I was comfortable with the rest.

What colour skin do polar bears have?
Black

What note do most car horns play?
F

How long was the Hundred Years War?
116 years

What does the second L in L.L.Cool J. stand for?
Love

Who said "Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho"?
Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard

What is estimated to weight 5,940,000,000,000,000,000,000 metric tons?
Earth

and I recommend this page if you wanna write geography questions... http://www.worldatlas.com/geoquiz/thelist.htm


edit: what colour is the background of these alternate posts?

[Ah_Pook]

Who said "Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho"?
Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard

bad question, it was actually john mcclane who wrote that on the dudes shirt. alan rickman read it out loud, but thats splitting hairs. everyone would say john mcclane and then be angry.

[elpollodiablo]

Haha, I was just about to post that

[cool banana]

Who said "Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho"?
Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard

bad question, it was actually john mcclane who wrote that on the dudes shirt. alan rickman read it out loud, but thats splitting hairs. everyone would say john mcclane and then be angry.

Yeah, it rewards the trainspotters. The one in ten people that get it will feel fucking great about it. Don't want none of this spreading the happiness around.

[dieblucasdie]

Is the answer "time"?

[maggiego]

What note do most car horns play?
F

I used to know how to tune my guitar to a dial tone, but I have no home phone and can't remember what it was. F# maybe? Anyone?

[Andrew_TSKS]

nope, dial tones are in e, the note of the first and sixth strings on a standardly tuned guitar, though it's closer to the low e as far as octave is concerned.

[Aglaya]

Need help.  If I were to list the band members Neal Doughty, Kevin Cronin, Bruce Hall, Bryan Hitt, and Dave Amato, would anyone at all be able to name that band without the help of the internet?

[slow west vultures]

no way.  i think if you're going to list band members it should at least be a band that you might hear on a classic rock or oldies station, or maybe a corporate rock radio station - but without being as obvious say as the beatles or rolling stones.  i don't know what crowd you're playing to though. 

[Aglaya]

That's REO Speedwagon.  They play at least one of their songs almost every night I'm there, but yea, I didn't know those names when I found them, despite their being the first band I saw live, and growing up listening to them.  It kind of blew my mind when I looked at the list and went "Who?"

[slow west vultures]

unless your audience is all dudes in their . . . 40s?  then i don't think anybody will get that.  i'm thinking of that scene in 'billy madison' where adam sandler strolls into high school as a grown man thinking he'll be uber-cool wearing an REO speedwagon t-shirt.  i think its from that movie.  anyway i'd have a tough time identifying an REO speedwagon song, let alone naming the band members.  maybe you could just list song titles and ask the audience to name the band.  or you could repose that scene i just mentioned - 'when adam sandler is forced to repeat high school, and he comes in wearing a shirt from an 80s band thinking he'll impress people - what band's shirt was he wearing'