Sarah and I helped write the questions for tonight's trivia at Dain's. Have I mentioned how much I like Dain's? Well, I should have. I recommend the burger. Or the chicken sandwich. Or the cheesesteak. Or the grilled cheese. Oh, and get the fries. Mmm... fries...
Anyway, there were, as usual, six categories with five questions each. We came up with about half the questions and S. and D. did the rest. D. did the hosting honors and read the questions. Good times.
Category: December
1. In most British commonwealth countries, December 26 is usually what holiday?
2. In US history, what is the significance of December 7th?
3. What form of decoration is traditional for Festivus, celebrated on December 23rd?
4. What is the date of winter solstice this year?
5. December 19th is what major Muslim holiday? (It commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son)
(answers below the cut)
1. Boxing Day
2. Pearl Harbor Day
3. an aluminum pole
4, Dec 22
5. Eid or Eid al-Adha
That solstice question is a tricky one, generally speaking: The solstices/equinoxes occur at the instants when the Earth arrives at specific points in its orbit. When you translate that to a time, the day can usually be one of two different days, depending on where you are. So it's good to specify "GMT" or "EST" or the like to specify further what the date is. This year, the winter solstice is at approximately 6:10, 22 December UT, which translates to 1:10 am 22 December EST. Were it a couple hours earlier, it would happen on 22 December in Britain, but 21 December in the US. The exact instant varies from year to year mostly because of leap days, but I guess there are also other small perturbations.