Savvy Minds Entertainment

04/09/2025

*********Reminder*********

Trivia changes back to 6:00 tonight at S2S Everett

Send a message to learn more

29/08/2025

Bonus topic for the week of 08/31/25 - 09/06/25:

The final question of last week’s trivia was about Roman numerals so I thought I would research them a little bit further. They consist of only seven letters, I, V, X, L, C, D and M followed by a bar or double bar located above or below those letters for higher numbers. It’s widely believed that the Romans took their numbering system from the ancient Etruscans who would mark on their staffs while counting their livestock. One mark obviously meant one, two slanted lines forming a V meant 5, and X meant 10. Originally an upward pointing arrow represented 50 and an asterisk was 100, later changed to L and C respectfully. There is no record of what symbols were used for higher numbers than a hundred, which eventually became D and M. Oddly, there was no symbol for zero. The word “nulla” was used to notate it and occasionally the letter N would represent it. In the early days of Roman numerals, the highest number that could be written was 3,999 - MMMCMXCIX. It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that a bar was devised to increase the range of numbers. The bar placed over or under the number multiplied its value times one thousand. For example, M=1,000 became M=1,000,000. Later, a double bar was added that multiplied the number by one million. The use of Roman numerals declined after the introduction of Arabic numbers in the 11th century, but was still popular for another 400 years. Today, they’re primarily used to denote monarchs and popes, clock faces and of course, sporting events like the Olympics and the Super Bowl. They also make for good trivia questions from time to time.

This week’s bonus question:

What is the name of the bar added to Roman numerals to increase their value?

Bring your answer to this week’s trivia for a bonus point

25/08/2025

Bonus topic for the week of 08/24/25 - 08/30/25:

After several weeks of serious topics, I decided to go easy on you and talk about a dish I ate this weekend, nachos. It’s been a popular item for years, but how long has it been around? Let’s start with the two basic ingredients, chips and cheese. Tortilla chips have existed in Mexico since at least Aztec and Mayan times. Cheese, on the other hand, didn’t make it there until the Spaniards brought sheep to the New World in the 16th century. I find it hard to believe somebody didn’t at least discover nachos accidently for the next four hundred years, but maybe it just didn’t get recorded in the annals of history. Finally in 1943, it happened. Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya, was a Maitre d’ at the Victory Club restaurant in the Mexican border town of Piedras Negras. In came a group of Army wives from the nearby Fort Duncan just across the border. The cooks had all left for the day, but in an effort to keep the ladies’ business, Ignacio decided to put something together for them to eat. Using leftovers from the kitchen, he layered totopos, a type of corn chip, with Colby cheese and some pickled jalapenos, popped it in the oven and called it Nacho’s Especiales. It was an immediate hit and was made into a menu item. The popularity spread throughout the local area and shortly into Texas and the American southwest. It appeared in a 1949 cookbook called A Taste of Texas. Waitress Carmen Rocha is credited with bringing the recipe from San Antonio to Los Angeles in 1959. Although the nachos trend continued to grow in the U.S. a huge innovation helped to explode it within the sporting world. In 1976, Arlington Stadium concession businessman, Frank Liberto, CEO of Rico’s products was able to invent a shelf stable cheese sauce that could be mass produced and a thicker tortilla chip leading to the creation of the “ballpark nachos”. On a 1978 Monday Night Football broadcast, legendary announcer Howard Cosell mentioned it several times during the game and in subsequent weeks, giving ballpark nachos further exposure. In celebration of the success of nachos, a three day festival is held in Anaya’s hometown of Piedras Negras, which also presented him with a bronze plaque. After his invention, Ignacio was promoted to chef at the Victory Club and in the 60’s he opened his own restaurant named appropriately enough, Nacho’s. He passed away in 1975 at the age of 80.

This week’s bonus question:

November 6th is National Nachos Day, and this day is International Nachos Day?

Bring your answer to this week’s trivia for a bonus point

18/08/2025

Bonus topic for the week of 08/17/25 - 08/23/25:

Lately I’ve been immersing myself in mythology, figure I’d pick a related topic. Medusa, you’ve all heard at least some of her story, but where did she come from and why was she a monster. Like most mythological tales, there are differing accounts. One of the origin stories is that she was born as a Gorgon along with her sisters Euryale and Stheno, from the blood of Uranus after his castration. Her sisters were immortal while Medusa was not. It was also suggested that they were the offspring of two primordial sea deities, Phorcys and Ceto, who were not only siblings, but husband and wife. The varying list of their offspring includes the Stygian witches also known as the Graeae, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and other monsters. A more tragic story was that she was a very beautiful woman who became a priestess for Athena. Priestesses were required to remain virgins and devote their life to the goddess. Poseidon was smitten with her and since he and Athena were adversaries he decided to anger her. He violated Medusa on the steps of Athena’s temple. Instead of confronting Poseidon however, she turned on Medusa for betraying her. She banished her and her sisters to a distant island and transformed them into hideous monsters so no man could look upon them again without being turned to stone. Enter Perseus. He was a demigod whose father was Zeus. He grew up on the island of Seriphus where the king of the island, Polydectes, had eyes for Perseus’ mother, Danae. He was very protective of his mother and didn’t think the king was a suitable match. In an effort to remove Perseus from the picture, the king threw a banquet where guests were expected to bring a horse as a gift. Since Perseus didn’t have a horse to give, he offered to get a gift that the king would find acceptable. According to plan, Polydectes requested the head of a Gorgon to which Perseus agreed. Seeing this as a deadly venture, Zeus requested help from other gods to protect Perseus. He was given winged sandals, a sword, invisibility helmet and a polished shield. After forcing the location from the Graeae, he traveled to the island of Sarpedon, where he found the sleeping Gorgons. Since the sisters were immortal, Medusa was the target. Using the mirrored shield, he was able to behead her without looking into her stony gaze. He collected her head in a bag, evaded the pursuit of her sisters by wearing the helmet and left the island. Before delivering the head to Polydectes he was able to save the life of his future wife, Andromeda, who was to face the wrath of the sea monster, Cetus, sent by none other than Poseidon. He used Medusa’s head to turn it into stone and then returned to Seriphus where he did the same to Polydectes. As a gift, he gave Medusa's head to Athena.

This week’s bonus question:

Upon the beheading of Medusa, these two mythological figures sprang out of her neck?

Bring your answer to this week’s trivia for a bonus point

11/08/2025

Bonus topic for the week of 08/10/25 - 08/16/25:

In recent bonus topics, I’ve talked about prisons and twin infanticide, so I might as well go a little darker, renaissance artists and the dedication to their craft. The anatomical works from that time frame had incredible realism due to the fact that artists would either study cadavers during autopsies or in more extreme measures, they dissected the bodies themselves. Two of the most influential artists in history, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo belong to the more extreme variety although on different paths. Da Vinci was 23 years older and his start in studying human anatomy was met with resistance since the church viewed dissection as desecration to the human body. It is rumored that he resorted to using grave robbers or unscrupulous physicians to gain access to bodies. Da Vinci examined the entire human body while Michelangelo was only interested down to the muscular level. It’s believed Michelangelo dissected his first body at the age of 17 after the death of his mentor, Lorenzo de’ Medici. Many of the cadavers he worked with belonged to deceased criminals as allowed by the Catholic church. Due to his deep fascination and his desire for knowledge about human anatomy, he was eventually allowed special permission from the church to conduct his examinations at will. By contrast, Da Vinci kept most of his anatomical drawings a secret however, owing in part to the fact that he was not a medical professional and perhaps also because of how he “conducted business”. He did share sketches about human proportions as evident in his famous work, Vitruvian Man. It’s believed he created over 750 sketches of the human body, from the heart and brain to the internal organs, bones and even prenatal development. His drawings were finally made public after his death in 1519. Michelangelo, on the other hand, destroyed most of the sketches that he drew and very few exist today, although his dedication to the study of the human body is clearly exhibited in works such as the statue of David and the Sistine Chapel.

This week’s bonus question:

This controversial Michelangelo fresco painted on an entire Sistine Chapel wall contains over 300 human figures and has been described as “the most perfect and well-proportioned composition of the human body in its most varied positions”?

Bring your answer to this week’s trivia for a bonus point

04/08/2025

Bonus topic for the week of 08/03/25 - 08/09/25:

As I’ve mentioned before, I watch a lot of game shows. Sometimes I get ideas for questions or bonus topics, and I recently heard something interesting. Now I know I just did the story of Alcatraz a few weeks ago, and I don’t have a fascination with incarceration facilities, but I didn’t know that the Olympic Village for the 1980 Winter games in Lake Placid, New York was built with a dual purpose, to first house world class athletes and then inmates. Over the history of the modern Olympics, the aftermath in the host cities is usually a huge waste of money and resources. Tens of billions of dollars is the average cost of preparing to host the games with the majority invested in constructing new buildings for the events, but those facilities are often abandoned or destroyed after the games. Lake Placid took this into mind. Planning began in 1976, but since they had previously hosted the Olympics in 1932, some of the existing structures were still adequate for use and the Olympic Village became the primary focus. Congress appropriated $28 million for its construction but the policy was that any federally-funded facility had to have a secondary purpose. There were thoughts that it could be used for housing, a hospital, athletic training, but nothing happened until the Bureau of Prisons stepped in. The rise in incarceration increased dramatically during the 1970’s and 24 prisons had been built in a ten-year span, so it was decided that the Olympic Village would be a perfect place for another one. With that in mind, the construction plans were designed to create buildings that could be easily converted into a prison. There were small rooms with cinderblock walls, bunk beds in each for up to four people and a bar across a narrow window to prevent outside intrusion, a security measure that was later used to keep inmates from escaping. After the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich games, security was a necessary consideration for the athletes. Some of the rooms though had no windows, the doors were made of heavy steel with small peep windows and two electric fences surrounded the building. Despite the addition of a disco, movie theater and a stage for live performances, it didn’t really detract from its prison feel. Visiting countries didn’t care to be “incarcerated” and some actually searched for off-campus options. Protest groups also tried to terminate the building of a prison in the area. Regardless of the backlash, the project was completed in 1979 and the games went on as planned, which included the historical Miracle on Ice. Six months after the 1980 Olympics, the village was fully converted into the Federal Correctional Institution, Ray Brook still in use today.

This week’s bonus question:

The face of the anti-prison movement at Lake Placid was known by this four-letter acronym?

Bring your answer to this week’s trivia for a bonus point

27/07/2025

Bonus topic for the week of 07/27/25 - 08/02/25:

I recently heard about an interesting phenomenon that occurs in Nigeria, the birth rate frequency of twins. The global average is around 12 sets of twins per 1,000 births, as high as 30 or more in the United States, very likely due to fertility drugs, but for the Yoruba people of southwest Nigeria that number is estimated to be at least 45-50 per 1,000 and in the town of Igbo Ora there was an unsubstantiated rate of over 150. Due to this uncommon occurrence, this area has been widely researched and it has been suggested that diet has a link to the increase of twins. One particular food is a certain yam that has a high content of natural estrogen. The consumption of this tuber may cause the release of an extra egg during ovulation leading primarily to fraternal twins. It’s also possible that some of their food is high in antioxidants promoting better reproductive health. Probably the most accepted reason is that villages practice marrying from within allowing concentration of twin-related genes. In some areas, most households are said to have at least one set of twins, some with four or five. The prevalence of twins in Nigeria wasn’t always considered a blessing, however. Twins were once thought to be a bad omen and among some societies the babies were either killed or abandoned and the parents were ostracized, the father as an evil spirit and the mother as a sinner. Although there are rumors that the practice still continues today, it was mostly eradicated in the mid-1800’s through the legislation of local kings and with the assistance of Scottish missionary, Mary Slessor. Early attempts at infanticide were met with resistance from the populace, but as missionaries converted people to Christianity they were taught about the importance of all human life. In addition, Mary was granted power by the British government to protect women and children from these atrocities. At one point, she had a sanctuary built to house those that had been abandoned. Nowadays, twins in Nigeria are revered, at least by the majority of society, often given the same two names. The first twin is Taiwo, meaning “the one who tests the world” and the second is Kehinde, meaning “the one who came after”. The second twin is considered the elder spirit who allows the first one to experience the world beforehand.

This week’s bonus question:

Passing away in March 2025, the last surviving twin rescued by Mary Slessor was this woman who lived to the age of 115?

Bring your answer to this week’s trivia for a bonus point

21/07/2025

Bonus topic for the week of 07/20/25 - 07/26/25:

The MacGuffin. It’s defined as an object, event or character in a film or story that helps drive the plot along but has no real importance itself. Examples include the Maltese Falcon in Hitchcock’s film of the same name and the Ark of the Covenant from Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. The list is endless, but I have to believe the one that may have been discussed the most in cinematic history was from a film I mentioned last week, Pulp Fiction and the contents of the mysterious briefcase. We first see it in an early scene of the film when John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson’s characters retrieve the case from Brett and his associates. When it’s opened, a golden glow emanates from inside, but what’s inside of it is never revealed nor talked about. Tarantino is known for paying homage to other films and this MacGuffin may be a nod to 1955’s Kiss Me Deadly which had a similar glowing briefcase, the eerie car trunk in 1984’s Repo Man or even the previously mentioned Ark of the Covenant. At least in those movies there was an idea what the glow was, but not so in Pulp Fiction. Tarantino explained that there is no significance to the contents and it’s up to the viewers to make their own opinions. The prevailing theory is that big boss Marcellus Wallace sold his soul to the Devil, but he wanted it back and that’s what’s in the briefcase. This is further supported by the fact that the combination for the case is 6-6-6. In another scene, Marcellus has a Band-Aid on the back of his neck and some believe that the Devil takes your soul out that way. There were also mentions of “divine intervention”, so the film had a spiritual undertone to it. An explanation was given that Marcellus portrayer Ving Rhames had a fresh scar on the back of his neck and it was decided that it might be distracting, so it was covered up. Another theory refers back to Reservoir Dogs. Diamonds are stolen in the film, but it’s unknown what exactly happened to them and that they showed up in the Pulp Fiction briefcase. Diamonds were originally supposed to be in the case, but there was no mystique in that and instead, an orange light bulb was placed in it to achieve the golden glow. Drugs were also theorized to be in the case, playing off the idiom “sunshine in a bag”. Whatever is thought to be in that briefcase, Tarantino planned it perfectly to keep the audience talking.

This week’s bonus question:

The term MacGuffin was coined in the 1930’s by this British screenwriter and frequent collaborator of Alfred Hitchcock?

Bring your answer to this week’s trivia for a bonus point

14/07/2025

Bonus topic for the week of 07/13/25 - 07/19/25:

You’ve heard a lot lately about Alligator Alcatraz, but I’m not going anywhere near that topic, instead the focus is on the real Alcatraz in San Francisco. Although it was closed on March 21st, 1963, it has remained a popular tourist destination since. The first documented mention of Alcatraz goes as far back as 1775 when it became known as La Isla de los Alcatraces by Spanish naval officer and explorer, Juan Manuel de Ayala. Nearby island, Yerba Buena was originally given the name, but English explorer Frederick Beechey inadvertently switched the names in the late 1820’s and the names stuck. The United States eventually gained control of the island by the 1850’s despite land disputes that continued for decades. It was proposed that fortifications at Alcatraz and two batteries at the entrance to San Francisco would help defend the city against any maritime threats. The first structure completed on the island was the lighthouse in 1854, the first one on the west coast. Troops arrived in 1859 around the same time that Alcatraz began holding incarcerated soldiers and by 1868, it became a long-term military prison. Construction improvements continued for years including upgrading the prison buildings with concrete in the early 1900’s. The modernization of other naval facilities rendered Fort Alcatraz unnecessary and soldiers were swapped out with prison guards. The military kept control of the island however until the early 1930’s when the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice took it over. After further fortifications to both the facility and security, the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary opened on August 11,1934. It was considered a brutal facility with bad conditions and harsh treatments. Over the course of its 28-year span, 14 escape attempts occurred involving 34 prisoners. One was the bloody “Battle of Alcatraz” in which inmates overtook guards, stealing their weapons, killing two of the guards and injuring 14 more. Three of the six inmates were killed, two were later executed and one was sentenced to life in prison. The most well-known attempt was depicted in a Clint Eastwood film, appropriately titled, Escape from Alcatraz, duh. Four inmates used discarded saw blades and spoons to widen the ventilation ducts in their cells allowing them access to the utility corridor. They set up a workshop where they created makeshift life preservers, a rubber raft and papier mache heads to conceal their absence. Three of the men, Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers, were able to reach the shoreline with their raft, but the fourth man, Allen West, was unable to gain access in time and just went back to sleep. It’s unknown what happened to the three escapees, but it’s believed they may have drowned before reaching freedom. Notable inmates at Alcatraz were Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly (not the rapper) and Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz.

This week’s bonus question:

The name, Alcatraz, came from the Spanish, “Las Isla de los Alcatraces” which translates as what?

Bring your answer to this week’s trivia for a bonus point

07/07/2025

Bonus topic for the week of 07/06/25 - 07/12/25:

There are many engineering marvels that have been produced in history, but maybe none as incredible as the creation of the Panama Canal. The idea for a direct trade route between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans was conceived as far back as 1513 by Spanish conquistador Vasco de Balboa, but that’s as far as he went with it. The narrow isthmus was instead used to transport plunder by land to the Caribbean side for delivery to Spain. The concept gained traction over the centuries, including an alternate route across Nicaragua, but very little was done to make it a reality until the late 19th century. Enter the French in 1881 led by engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, who was responsible for the construction of the Suez Canal in 1869. Similar to the Suez, de Lesseps planned a sea level canal across the 50-mile isthmus, a massive endeavor in and of itself, made worse by environmental conditions, landslides and disease. It is estimated that 200 people a month were dying of diseases, but at the time, it wasn’t known that mosquitos were carriers for things like malaria and yellow fever. It is also estimated that over 22,000 workers died over the construction period and eventually the French effort was abandoned. The U.S. took over in 1904 after helping Panama secede from Colombia. By this time the mosquito problem had been identified, living conditions had been improved and the plan for a sea level canal was scrapped. Instead, engineers relied on a series of locks that would raise and lower ships 85 feet to a large man-made reservoir, eliminating the need to remove as much earth as the French plan. Ten years later, hundreds of steam shovels, millions of sticks of dynamite and nearly 5 million cubic yards of concrete and the Panama Canal was complete, still at the loss of about 5,600 lives. With the opening of the canal, it shortened the shipping route from around the tip of South America, a distance of around 8,000 nautical miles. The convenience of not having to travel that far though comes at a price. Nowadays, the fee for traveling through the canal averages about $150,000, but can run over $1,000,000. About 14,000 ships pass through the canal yearly which takes about ten hours to cross. Check out the 15-minute YouTube video, The Engineering Marvel Called Panama Canal by Sabin Civil Engineering. It’s a comprehensive description of the history and the construction of the canal, a very informative watch.

This week’s bonus question:

The Panama Canal officially opened on August 15th, 1914 with the crossing of the cargo ship, SS Ancon, but this sister ship actually made the first crossing on August 3rd (not the floating crane)?

Bring your answer to this week’s trivia for a bonus point

03/07/2025

Just a reminder that trivia will be starting at 6:30 on Thursdays at S2S until the end of August

Send a message to learn more

30/06/2025

Bonus topic for the week of 06/29/25 - 07/05/25:

I’m an American sports fan, but it’s turned into too much of a greedy business with the inflated salaries and the increased focus on gambling, so I’ve turned my focus “down under” to the AFL, the Australian Football League or Footy. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it’s unlike any “football” you’ve ever seen. First of all, the dimensions of the field. While NFL fields are a standard rectangular size of 120 yards long and 53.3 yards wide, an AFL field is oval and is much bigger. It can run from 135-185 yards in length and 110-155 yards wide depending on the venue. Instead of a set of goal posts at each end, it has four separate posts. The two inner posts are taller and if the ball (similar to a rugby ball) is kicked through these without being touched by the other team or hitting either post it’s a goal worth 6 points. If it passes through the outer posts or touches the post, it’s known as a behind worth 1 point. Since the field is so much larger, 18 players are allowed to play for each team at a time. Gameplay is very fast and time stoppage is virtually non-existent. A match consists of four 20 minute quarters and each quarter starts with ‘the bounce” where the referee bounces it off the ground while the teams fight for possession. I describe Footy as being similar to chasing a greased pig. With so many people on the field at one time, it’s extremely hard for one person to maintain possession for very long. They may get the ball knocked out, or get tackled and since there are no set plays, it’s kind of a free-for-all. The ball gets advanced by either short passes, called handballs, where you attempt to punch it to your teammate or by kicking it. If the kick is over 15 meters and is caught by either team, that player is allowed 10 seconds to decide the next move or 30 seconds if they’re kicking for a goal. A successful catch by a teammate is called a mark and is known as an intercept if caught by the opposition. The ball can also be run down the field, but you have to bounce it at least once every 15 meters. Like rugby, this game is very physical but protective gear is not worn. I was watching a match this weekend and a player took a shot to the head early on that cut him. He returned later all bandaged up, but had to leave again, because as the announcer said, “he was leaking everywhere”. There are rules to help avoid injuries though, tackles must be made below the shoulders and above the knees, not interfering with a player after a successful mark and penalties that usually result in free kicks and if severe, a 50 meter advancement of the ball down the field. Because the game is so fast-paced, the scoring can reach into the hundreds and the margins of defeat can be huge (I watched the Hawthorn Hawks beat the North Melbourne Kangaroos, 150-65). The season lasts from March to September, 23 weeks of games with the top eight teams advancing to the playoffs, no wild cards and no play-in games. There is obviously more to Footy than what I’ve mentioned, so you’ll just have to check it out for yourself. Catch it on FS2 on Thursday and Friday nights, might want to DVR it since it can run really late.

This week’s bonus question:

This team won the 2024 AFL Grand Final by defeating the Sydney Swans, 120-60?

Bring your answer to this week’s trivia for a bonus point