Born on the 4th of July

by Dotti

Okay, I wasn’t really born on the 4^th of July but I like the title! But I do want to have a little fun with this national holiday with another trivia challenge. {Sorry. I’m a history geek.} Hold down your enthusiasm, please. There are ten questions in the first half of this post and you’ll find the answers ‘below the fold’, as they say in the blogging world.

1. What are the first words of the Declaration of Independence?

2. How many stars were in the first United States flag?

3. Which two former Presidents both died on July 4, 1826?

4. Another former President died on July 4 in another year. Do you know who that was?

5. One President was born on the 4^th of July. Do you know which one?

6. Whose signature is the largest on the Declaration of Independence?

7. How many people actually signed the Declaration of Independence on the 4^th of July , 1776?

8. What day did most signers actually sign the Declaration?

9. What other countries celebrate the 4^th of July?

10. In what year did the 4^th of July become a legal holiday?

1. When in the course of human events …

2. There were 13 stars and 13 stripes. The flag still has only 13 stripes for the original 13 colonies.

3. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the fiftieth anniversary of the 4^th of July. These two founders became estranged during their respective terms in office but years later were reconciled and carried on a prolific written correspondence with one another until their deaths.

4. James Monroe died on July 4, 1831.

5. Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872.

6. John Hancock who wrote large so he wouldn’t have to put his spectacles on.

7. Two. John Hancock and Charles Thomson

8. August 2, 1776

9. Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and England reportedly because so many people immigrated to the United States in the early 1900’s.

10. 1938

Happy 4^th of July to each and every one of you and even if you live in another country, we wish you a happy day!

Resources: http://www.ibtimes.com/fourth-july-2014-9-trivia-facts-about-independence-day-1616992

http://www.ibtimes.com/fourth-july-2014-9-trivia-facts-about-independence-day-1616992

In Pursuit of Trivia

by Dotti

Do you like trivia? Who doesn’t, right? Well, I’m not a true trivia nut but I do like trivia so since today is Friday the 13th and we’re all ready to jump into the weekend, I thought we’d lighten things up with our very our pursuit of trivia. {Notice I’m being careful not to infringe on any copyrights.}

Here are the questions and you’ll find the answers in the lower half of the blog.

1. Do you know how the Coke bottle got its shape?

2. The Heinz company is perhaps most famous for its ketchup but do you know what the company’s first product was?

3. When was Eastman Kodak’s first Brownie box camera first sold?

4. Which came first, Hydrox cookies or Oreos?

5. Why are Hershey’s kisses called ‘kisses’?

6. What does ‘M & M’s’ stand for?

7. In 1985, when Coca Cola announced the return of the original formula, what daytime show was interrupted with a news bulletin?

8. What was Kool Aid first called?

9. The famous Christmas song, ‘Silver Bells’ originally had another title. Do you know what it was?

10. Why do boxes of Animal Crackers have strings on them?

11. Did you know ‘Tooth Fairy’ is a registered trademark? Who owns it?

12. We all know Julie Andrews was a child singing prodigy with a phenomenal vocal range of four octaves. Do you know how old she was when she made her Broadway debut and what show it was?

1. In the late 1800’s when Coke was just becoming popular, there were many copy cat products. At that time, Coke was bottled in a straight sided bottle. The Coca-Cola bigwigs asked eight glass companies to come up with a distinctive bottle that would, 1) be recognizable even in the dark and 2) also be recognizable if broken. Thus, the curvy Coca-Cola bottle we know today was designed.

2. H. J. Heinz Company’s first product was horseradish and the recipe was Mr. Heinz’s mother’s very own recipe. It was several years before they made ketchup.

3. Kodak’s Brownie box camera was first sold in 1900 for $1.00 and a roll of 6-exposure film cost 15c.

4. Most people think Hydrox cookie is the knock-off but the reality is that Hydrox came first, making its debut in 1908, four years before the famous Oreo product.

5. Hershey kisses got their name from the distinctive smacking sound the chocolate blobs make when they hit the conveyor belt during production.

6. ‘M & M’ stands for the last names of the originators of the candy, Mr. Mars and Mr. Murrie.

7. ABC News interrupted then-popular soap opera, General Hospital, to announce the decision of the Coca-Cola company to return to the original formula product.

8. Who would believe it but Kool Aid was first called ‘Fruit Smack’.

9. Originally called, ‘Tinkle Bells’, the name was changed when co-composer Jay Livingston’s wife told him that tinkle had another meaning.

10. The strings on Animal Crackers are to hang them on the Christmas tree.

11. Colgate owns the trademark to ‘Tooth Fairy’.

12. Dame Julie Andrews made her Broadway debut as the lead in The Boyfriend, the night before her 19^th birthday.

If you have any trivia you would like to add in our comments today, we’d be delighted to read them. And with that, let’s all jump into the weekend!

Here are the resources for all this amazing information:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/08/how-the-coke-bottle-got-into-shape.html?ncid=newsltushpmg00000003

http://www.heinz.co.uk/Our-Company/About-Heinz/Trivia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Andrews

http://mentalfloss.com/article/29639/119-amazing-facts-national-trivia-day

Also, the uptop picture is a bottle that came from a case of Coke meant to be loaded into a Coke machine. It has clear water, no syrup and no fizz. My husband found it as he loaded a Coke machine while working his way through graduate school. We've had it for over forty years and it has stayed intact through several moves.