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A cat makes a great listener, and therefore makes a great sidekick for pop culture characters. How well do you know feline sidekicks from movies, and TV? The challenge at today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss is to match 10 kitty sidekicks with the main character he/she goes with. I only got half of them correct. You will do better! Link
Are you a die-hard football fan? Are you a real Super Bowl fanatic? Then you should be able to name all the quarterbacks who won the Super Bowl in its 45-year history. In eight minutes. I named four of them, although one was a gimme. Anyone can do better! Link
So far, three Republican presidential hopefuls have won one state primary or caucus each. Eventually, only one will be selected for the presidential race. Mental_floss looks back into previous election races for today’s Lunchtime Quiz. You will be given ten politicians who ran for president unsuccessfully in the past, and you try to recall whether they ever won a state primary race or not. It’s not easy! I was surprised to score 60%. Link
Who was it: Stefani Germanotta or Jerrica Benton? These singers are better known as pop star Lady Gaga and ’80s cartoon rock star Jem. In today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you’ll be given twelve statements, and you decide which diva it applies to. Believe it or not, I scored 75% without knowing anything about either of them! How did you do? Link
The newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame are to be announced today. I found out that no player has ever been inducted with 100% of the votes tallied. But there have been 27 players who got 90% or more of the votes cast. How many of those players can you name? I could only name ten, and that was with a list of Hall-of-Famers and my husband’s help! Maybe you can beat the current average of 39%. Link
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You probably already know that China has a one child per couple policy, but you might not know how it is enforced or who is granted exceptions to the rule. The answers to these questions can be found over at Mental Floss and they are simply fascinating.
Provincial governments are responsible for enforcing the policy and do so through a mix of rewards and punishments doled out by local officials. In most provinces, having a an extra child gets you a fine, the amount of which varies across provinces. In some places, the fine is a set amount (usually in the thousands of dollars), and in others it’s based on a percentage of the violator’s annual income. In some provinces, policy violators can also have their property and/or belongings confiscated and lose their jobs.
Who knew they even can fire you from your job for having an extra baby?
How much do you remember about the big events of 2011? OK, how about the not-so-big events that you should recall? That’s the subject of today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. It’s not all that easy; there are some diverse subjects covered. I scored 67%, not because I forgot already, but because there were some thing I just never knew (like the sports). Link
No, I’m not telling you what they are. If you already know, you’ll do well on today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. Can you name the 20 most popular breeds in 2010 according to the American Kennel Club in three minutes or less? I only thought of half of them before time ran out, then I was embarrassed to see the answers I missed! Link
Can you tell a real news headline from one made up by the satirical website The Onion? It’s not as easy as you might think, but that’s the challenge of this quiz from mental_floss. You might remember some of these headlines, but you need to remember how true they are. I knew them all, but it’s my business to know weird news stories. I want to see how well you do! Link
TV, literature, and movies are full of fictional businesses and products. How well do you know these companies that don’t exist? Find out in today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. I didn’t know any of the answers, but scored 7/12 by educated guess! I bet you can do better. Link
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No matter how busy we are with family on Thanksgiving, we always find a way to watch a little TV around the holiday, and that includes Thanksgiving stories on our favorite series. Today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will test your nostalgia for those shows. You’ll be given a Thanksgiving plot, and you guess what show its from. It’s not that hard; I scored 9/11 (82%) even though I hadn’t seen even half these shows. Link
Neatorama readers might have a bit of a leg up on today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. In the wake of the “do a barrel roll” frenzy, they’ve looked up more neat tricks from Google and made some up from imagination as well. Your challenge is to determine which is which. I got 10 out of 12 correct, as I did NOT open a new tab to quick-check the answers. That would be too easy. Link
How well do you remember the TV game shows of the 1980s and ’90s? Find out by taking this Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. Hint: there are a lot of kids’ game shows represented. I was lucky to score 60% because I haven’t watched them. Maybe you will do better! Link
It’s time for another movie quote quiz from mental_floss! In today’s Lunchtime Quiz, you are challenged to sort your Farrelly Brothers films. You’ll be given quotes, and you try to recall if each is from Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin, or There’s Something About Mary. I’ve seen two of the three, but I kept mixing them up and scored only 36%. You will do better! Link
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It’s not a case of “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” but rather a case of “if you like this kind of movie, the odds are good that you’ve watched all three of these films.” In today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you’ll be given movie quotes from Zoolander, Anchorman, or Blades of Glory. The challenge is to remember which film each is from. Let us know how you do on his one! Link
This week, mental_floss welcomes guest quizmaster Hillary Buckholtz of the blog I’m Remembering for series of nostalgic Lunchtime Quizzes! Today you are challenged to remember bygone drinks. This coffee drinker scored miserably -only 40%. You will do better! Link
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You may have seen all the movies of the ’90s, but that’s been a few years now. Test your memory with today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. You’ll be given 12 different movie quotes, and for each one, decide whether it’s from Reality Bites, Empire Records, or Singles. I scored 42%, which is honestly not bad for someone who hasn’t seen any of the movies. Link
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Led Zeppelin released their first album in 1969, about the time I started buying record albums. They released their last one in 1982, about the time I stopped buying record albums. Of course, I then had to get the entire collection on CD. Anyway, today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss challenges you to name all nine of Led Zeppelin’s studio albums in three minutes or less. It took me about a minute to complete, because I’m not much of a typist. Link
If you are on Barack Obama’s email list, you may have noticed the weirdly personal subject lines. Jason English has, and made a quiz about it. Some of the lines are actual presidential email subjects, and some are from Jason’s aunt. Now, Jason’s aunt doesn’t send me anything, but just like you, I have relatives who send me similar messages, so I scored only 74%. Maybe you will do better. Link
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There have been three movies (so far) in Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story franchise. Can you distinguish quotes from each film? This Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss might be confusing if you’ve seen all three movies in a short period of time. I had a slight edge in that I haven’t seen Toy Story 3, so I scored 75% (better than expected). Link
Business names don’t always follow the rules of grammar, and some are so old you don’t know for sure if they are grammatically correct or not. But you might know what the signs look like -right? We’ll find out in today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. You’ll be given a store name, and you decide whether there is an apostrophe in it or not. It’s not as difficult as it sounds -I scored 80%. Link
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The National Football League begins its new season on Thursday. Today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will determine how psyched up you are! Football fans: can you name the starting quarterbacks for all 32 NFL teams playing this weekend? Some of them may surprise you. You have five minutes -and mental_floss even gives you a starting hint. Good luck! Link
You might not know as much as you think you do when it comes to the USSR. In today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you are challenged to name all the leaders of our old Cold War rival. There were 8 leaders of the former Soviet Union, and the 3 leaders of the new Russian Federation -so far. Can you name them all in ten minutes? I got ten of them, but could not remember the current president! Oh, and spelling counts, which is what ate up my time, but you only need the surname. Link
Do you know which countries produce the most crude oil? That’s the subject of today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. You are challenged to name the 12 nations that produce the most oil (not the ones that have or export the most) in three minutes. There was only one left when I ran out of time. Link
If you are a fan of classic TV, you’ll enjoy today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss! How well do you know the secondary characters on your favorite TV series? Almost every sitcom had characters that didn’t appear in every episode. In this quiz, you’ll be given three choices for each show, and you decide which character appeared in the most episodes. I scored 60%, which isn’t bad, as I was correct on all the series I actually watched. Link
For today’s Lunchtime Quiz, the folks at mental_floss took a dozen restaurant names from a list of the top 100 US chains. The question is: does the name have an apostrophe or not? It’s harder than you think! I only got half of them right -apparently I haven’t paid enough attention. And I don’t eat out. Link
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The Soviet Union launched fruit flies into space in 1947. I did not know that until today. Since then, we’ve sent many living species up into space for exploration and experimental purposes, and eight of those were mammals. Can you name them all in two minutes? You don’t have to know their personal names, just what kind of mammal they were, in today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. I only missed one. Link
Cable TV channels and networks merge and split and rebrand and just plain change. How well do you keep up with those changes? Find out in today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. I remember when we used to watch the Lifetime channel to see surgical procedures, but that’s been a long time -and many changes- ago. Still, I scored 67%; better than I expected. Link
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How well do you know your Pixar films? Do you know who did the voices? Of course, you know Tom Hanks did Woody and Tim Allen did Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story movies, but other celebrities provided voices you might not know about -unless you recognized them. Test yourself in this Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. Come on, I scored 60% just by educated guess! Link
Over on Mental Floss, Miss C has a great round up of tiny artworks by extremely talented artists. My personal favorite is the tiny working gun seen here, created by Michel Lefaivre. I can’t help but wonder how much damage this little thing could actually do.
