Journey #3: answers and sources
Spoilers ahead! Play the video first. Here is every answer, the fun fact and the source we checked it against.
Scores: 0-39: Tourist · 40-64: Local · 65-84: Tour guide · 85+: Mayor of Ahaville. Don't forget your Couch Wager. Spotted a mistake? Email hello@ahaville.com with the question number.
Level 1: Warm-up
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In the US, which coin is worth ten cents?
Dime It's the smallest and thinnest US coin in circulation.
Source: usmint.gov/learn/coins-and-medals/circulating-coins/dime · wikipedia.org/wiki/Dime_(United_States_coin)
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In which city is the Hollywood Sign?
Los Angeles It first read HOLLYWOODLAND, an ad for new homes.
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Which famous toy bricks come from Denmark?
Lego Its name comes from two Danish words meaning “play well.”
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego
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In which game do you build words from letter tiles?
Scrabble Q and Z are worth 10 points each.
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What do we call lumps of ice that fall in a thunderstorm?
Hail The biggest US hailstone was 8 inches wide.
Source: weather.gov/abr/vivianhailstone
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Which US holiday falls on the fourth Thursday of November?
Thanksgiving Congress fixed this date by law in 1941.
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Which superhero is nicknamed the Caped Crusader?
Batman He first appeared in a comic book in 1939.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman
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Which sitcom's friends hang out at Central Perk?
Friends It ran for 10 seasons, until 2004.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends
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What color are school buses in the US?
Yellow That shade was chosen in 1939, to stand out.
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Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the US?
France It was dedicated in New York Harbor in 1886.
Source: nps.gov/HDP/exhibits/stli/liberty_index.html · nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/index.htm
Level 2: Quick-fire
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Level 3: Emoji movies
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Which movie is this? 🍄🪠🐢
The Super Mario Bros. Movie It earned over $1.3 billion worldwide.
Source: boxofficemojo.com/title/tt7634766 · wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Super_Mario_Bros._Movie
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Name this film. 🦍👦🌴
Tarzan Phil Collins wrote all of its songs.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzan_(1999_film) · wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzan_(1999_soundtrack)
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Which movie? 👶💼👔
The Boss Baby Alec Baldwin voices the baby in the suit.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boss_Baby
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Guess the movie. 🗣️🌳🪓
The Lorax Dr. Seuss's book came out in 1971.
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Which film is this? 🧑🚀🔴🥔
The Martian Matt Damon's astronaut grows potatoes on Mars.
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Name this movie. 👨🔬🤏👧👦
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Rick Moranis plays the inventor dad.
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Which movie is this? 🤖🪿🏝️
The Wild Robot Roz the robot raises an orphaned gosling.
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Guess this one. 🐬🦿🏥
Dolphin Tale Winter, the real dolphin, played herself.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin_Tale
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Which film? 👦🍑🐛🗽
James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl's book came out in 1961.
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Last movie: which one? 🇯🇲🛷❄️
Cool Runnings It's inspired by Jamaica's real 1988 Olympic bobsled team.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Runnings
Level 4: Around the world
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Which river flows through Paris?
Seine Paris has 37 bridges across it.
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Which is the largest island in the Caribbean?
Cuba Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is next.
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Which is the largest country in Africa by area?
Algeria The Sahara covers more than four-fifths of it.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Algeria · archive.uneca.org/node/2109
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Which city sits on two continents?
Istanbul The Bosphorus strait splits it between Europe and Asia.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul
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Which ancient city was buried by Mount Vesuvius?
Pompeii Vesuvius erupted in the year 79.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii
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Who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic?
Amelia Earhart She did it in 1932, five years after Lindbergh.
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Near which town did the Wright brothers make their first flight?
Kitty Hawk That first flight lasted just 12 seconds.
Source: airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/1903-wright-flyer/n... · nps.gov/wrbr/learn/historyculture/thefirstflight.htm
- 38
From which country did the US buy Alaska?
Russia It cost $7.2 million: under 2 cents an acre.
Source: archives.gov/milestone-documents/check-for-the-purchase-o... · history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/alaska-purchase
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Which is the only US state named after a president?
Washington It became the 42nd state in 1889.
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Which Canadian city has the most people?
Toronto But the capital of Canada is Ottawa.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto
Level 5: Science & the body
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How many chambers does the human heart have?
4 Two atria on top, two ventricles below.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart
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Which organ filters your blood to make urine?
Kidneys Most people have two, each about fist-sized.
Source: niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/kidneys-h...
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Which of your two lungs is smaller?
The left one It leaves room for your heart.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung
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How many bones are in one human foot?
26 Your feet hold about a quarter of your bones.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot
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Which organ makes bile?
Liver The gallbladder stores it, but doesn't make it.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile · my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/21690-gallbladder
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What does pH measure?
Acidity Pure water sits right in the middle, at 7.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/PH
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What does a Geiger counter detect?
Radiation Each particle it detects makes a click.
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What causes the northern lights?
Particles from the Sun In the south, they're called the southern lights.
Source: spaceplace.nasa.gov/aurora/en/
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Which color of light has the longest wavelength?
Red Violet light has the shortest.
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What do we call a star that explodes?
A supernova One can briefly outshine a whole galaxy.
Level 6: Trap questions
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Who was the first US president to live in the White House?
John Adams He moved in in 1800, before it was finished.
Source: whitehousehistory.org/john-and-abigail-adams-a-tradition-...
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What color is the Sun, seen from space?
White Our air makes it look yellow from the ground.
Source: solar-center.stanford.edu/SID/activities/GreenSun.html
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In the original Wizard of Oz book, what color were Dorothy's shoes?
Silver Ruby red was the 1939 film's idea.
Source: si.edu/object/nmah_670130 · wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_slippers
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What does SOS stand for?
Nothing at all It's just a simple Morse pattern, hard to mistake.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/SOS · saturdayeveningpost.com/2023/02/in-a-word-sending-out-an-...
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Where does the Golden Gate Bridge get its name?
The strait it spans It was named in 1846, before the Gold Rush.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate
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What is the world's largest lake?
Caspian Sea It's called a sea, but it's a lake.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea
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Where did wild tulips first grow?
Central Asia They reached the Netherlands in the 1500s.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip
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How much of your brain do you actually use?
Virtually all of it Brain scans show activity all over it.
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Who were the first Europeans to reach North America?
The Vikings Wood they cut in Newfoundland dates to the year 1021.
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If you swallow chewing gum, how long does it stay in you?
A few days Your body can't digest gum base, but it passes through.
Source: scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-chewing-gu...
Level 7: Lightning
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Who painted the melting clocks of The Persistence of Memory?
Salvador Dalí
Level 8: Big numbers
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How many Apollo astronauts walked on the Moon?
12 Two on each of six landings, 1969 to 1972.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apollo_astronauts · rmg.co.uk/stories/space-astronomy/how-many-people-have-wa...
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About how much of an adult's body is water?
About 60% Babies are born about 78% water.
Source: usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/wate...
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About how many miles is it around Earth's equator?
25,000 That's about 40,000 kilometers.
Source: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html · wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth
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How many countries are there in Africa?
54 That's more than any other continent.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent... · worldatlas.com/articles/which-continent-has-the-most-coun...
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About how many miles per hour does Earth orbit the Sun?
67,000 That's about 30 kilometers every second.
Source: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html · wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_orbit
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How long is the Panama Canal?
About 50 miles That's about 80 kilometers, ocean to ocean.
Source: pancanal.com/en/history-of-the-panama-canal/ · wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal
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How many feet are in a mile?
5,280 And a kilometer is about 3,280 feet.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile
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How old was the oldest person ever verified?
122 Jeanne Calment of France, who died in 1997.
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How many US state names begin with the letter M?
8 N ties it: eight state names start with N.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state
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In Back to the Future, what speed must the DeLorean hit?
88 mph That's about 142 km/h.
Level 9: Genius
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What is the largest moon in our solar system?
Ganymede It's even bigger than the planet Mercury.
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What was the first fully computer-animated feature film?
Toy Story Pixar released it in 1995.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Story
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Which kitchen appliance grew out of World War II radar research?
Microwave oven The first one sold, in 1947, weighed about 750 pounds.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven · spectrum.ieee.org/microwave-oven · technologyreview.com/1999/01/01/236818/melted-chocolate-t...
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What did Mary Anderson patent for cars in 1903?
The windshield wiper A lever inside worked a rubber blade outside.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Anderson_(inventor) · lemelson.mit.edu/resources/mary-anderson · invent.org/blog/inventors/mary-anderson-windshield-wipers
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Which kind of tree includes the tallest living tree?
Coast redwood The tallest, Hyperion, is about 380 feet.
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Who led the first expedition to reach the South Pole?
Roald Amundsen He beat Robert Scott's team by about five weeks.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%27s_South_Pole_expedition
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Which is the world's best-selling album of all time?
Thriller Michael Jackson released it in 1982.
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Which country has three capital cities?
South Africa Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa
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In which city did George Washington become president?
New York City He took the oath at Federal Hall, in 1789.
Source: nps.gov/feha/learn/historyculture/inaugural-balcony.htm
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Whose face is on the US $50 bill?
Ulysses S. Grant He led the Union Army before becoming president.
Source: uscurrency.gov/denominations/50
Level 10: Impossible
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What was the first product ever sold by scanning its UPC barcode?
A pack of gum Wrigley's gum, in Troy, Ohio, in 1974.
Source: smithsonianmag.com/innovation/history-bar-code-180956704/ · history.com/this-day-in-history/june-26/barcode-scanner-i... · wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode
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What was the first home video game console?
Magnavox Odyssey It came out in 1972 and had no sound.
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Which language gave English the word “robot”?
Czech It comes from “robota”: forced labor.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot
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Which US state capital was founded first?
Santa Fe Spanish settlers founded it around 1610.
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Which is the longest-running show in Broadway history?
The Phantom of the Opera It ran for 35 years, until 2023.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_of_the_Opera_(1986_musical)
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Which plant has the largest single flower?
Rafflesia It can be 3 feet wide and smells like rotting meat.
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Who invented the first all-electronic television?
Philo Farnsworth In 1927, his first image was a single line.
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Which animals are in the very first YouTube video?
Elephants Co-founder Jawed Karim posted it in April 2005.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_at_the_zoo
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What was the first music video played on MTV?
Video Killed the Radio Star MTV went on the air on August 1, 1981.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV
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The very last one. What is the dot over a lowercase “i” called?
A tittle The letter j has one too.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Tittle
The Big Aha stories
- How the teddy bear got its name: In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt joined a bear hunt in Mississippi. His guides tied a bear to a tree. He refused to shoot it: that wasn't fair hunting. A cartoon in The Washington Post made the moment famous. A Brooklyn shop owner then sold a toy called Teddy's bear, and the name stuck. Sources: nps.gov/thrb/learn/historyculture/storyofteddybear.htm · si.edu/object/nmah_491375 · wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_bear
- America's secret metric system: Americans measure in inches, feet, pounds and miles. But since 1893, they've officially been based on the meter and the kilogram. Since 1959, one inch has been exactly 2.54 centimeters. In 1999, NASA lost a Mars probe because one team used pounds and another used metric units. Sources: nist.gov/pml/us-surveyfoot · nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/SP/nbsspecialpublication... · wikipedia.org/wiki/International_yard_and_pound · jpl.nasa.gov/news/mars-climate-orbiter-team-finds-likely-...
- The shoes that changed color: In the book from 1900, Dorothy's magic shoes are silver. The film made them ruby red, to sparkle in Technicolor on the yellow brick road. One pair Judy Garland wore is on display at the Smithsonian, in Washington. Another pair was stolen from a museum in 2005. The FBI got it back in 2018. Sources: si.edu/object/nmah_670130 · wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_slippers · fbi.gov/news/stories/stolen-ruby-slippers-recovered-090418
- Mirrors on the Moon: Three Apollo crews left mirrors on the Moon. Observatories still fire lasers at them, and time how long the light takes to come back. The timing shows the Moon drifts away from Earth by about 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) a year. That's about as fast as your fingernails grow. Sources: nasa.gov/missions/laser-beams-reflected-between-earth-and... · ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/scienceContributions/lunar.html · wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Laser_Ranging_experiments
Bonus question
Which US state's name can you type using one keyboard row? We reveal the answer in the pinned comment under the video.