2011 ReadWriteWeb Trivia Challenge, All Week [Updated]

Robyn Tippins — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:00:00 -0800

As a thank you to our loyal readers and community, ReadWriteWeb is partnering with ThinkGeek to give away a few fun and geeky prizes. The way this extremely complex game works is that we'll give you a few cool trivia tidbits to wow you with our vast knowledge of the cool but unimportant and then we'll close with a trivia question that we do hope will stump you. You can dig deep into the recesses of your brain (or Google) and answer via the comments on the post. The best answer, according to the RWW staff, will win the prize of the day, kindly donated for your geeky pleasure from ThinkGeek.

]]> Today's installment of trivia is general in nature, but will offer you a chance to win a companion worthy of your love. The companion cube from Portal, that many of you have already met and incinerated dozens of times, is today's prize. Warning, she is not really safe up to 4000 degrees Kelvin.

The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Companion Cube cannot speak. In the event that the Companion Cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice. -- GLaDOS, Portal

The Driest Continent

Ever wonder which continent is most likely to dehydrate? Antarctica wins the prize for the most parched of the 7. Take heart though, if her ice sheets melted, the oceans of the world would be 200 feet higher. Source: Uncle John's Triumphant 20th Anniversary Bathroom Reader, page 340, photo from Mike White on McMurdodo Dry Valleys

Green Potatoes Are Deadly

Potatoes are a member of the nightshade family (yes, the same family that offers up the Nightshade flowers that are so very useful in your Elder Scrolls plant collecting), and as such, do have a deadly component, Solanine. While small quantities of solanine are found throughout the plant, green areas on the tuber have higher concentrations. This is because green indicates the potato has been exposed to the sun, causing increased production of solanine (and harmless chlorophyll). Unless you actively attempt to poison yourself though, you're probably safe. You'd have to eat several pounds of green potatoes to see symptoms. Source: Wikipedia, Snopes and photo from Ask Julie

The Lydians Invented Money

As we all purchase our holiday gifts this year with money rather than chickens and goats, we should thank the Lydians, who are the first to coin money. That's, of course, as far as historians know, and certainly depends on the definition of the word 'coin', but remember, if the Lydians weren't the first, they were certainly the first to spread their coin around. Source: Exeter and photo from Numismatics

Which 3 Technological Advances Made the Age of Skyscrapers Possible?

Do you think you know all three? If so, submit your answer in the comments on this post. We'll announce the winner of the mute but cuddly Companion Cube tomorrow.

Congratulations to Andrew Orr, who submitted the best answer and won the Companion Cube. Stay tuned the rest of the week for more Trivia.

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Full Harper's Index Now Searchable Online

Marshall Kirkpatrick — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 15:43:11 -0800

Chance you could search the full Harper's Index online, last week: 0% Chance you can do so today: 100%

Harper's Index, the most thought provoking fun you'll find on one printed page, is turning 25 years old. Harper's Magazine, launched in 1850, is the 2nd longest continuously published magazine in the United States (behind Scientific American) but the Index is the first page that many readers skip to in each issue. To celebrate the Index's anniversary, Harper's has put the full index of biting trivia one-liners up on its website for searching and reposting on Twitter. Welcome to the 21st century Harper's Index, may you bring us as much joy and reflection in the future as you always have in the past.

]]> If you've never read the Harper's Index, you're in for a treat. In an age when blogs like Boing Boing have built huge audiences by collecting fascinating little tidbits from around the web, it's good to remember the predecessor of the art, Harper's. The company's research interns have scoured offline media for timely factoids since 1984.

New York Times City Room editor Patrick LaForge noted the new page's availability this afternoon and the official Harper's Twitter account announced a "Twitter sneak preview" yesterday. Search results are displayed just like a topically organized installment of the traditional Index, but with sources displayed and a link to Tweet each fact when you hover over one with your mouse. It's quite nice.

This is a great way to introduce the print publication to a new generation of readers. We hope it will help this institution continue to thrive into the next era of media.