This week’s trivia challenge by Colfax Librarian Sarah Phelan-Blamires takes a seasonal turn with a side of summer facts. To test your trivia skills against others, visit the Whitman County Library Facebook page at 5:30 p.m. Thursdays for a live trivia challenge.
- Name all three summer birthstones (June, July, August).
- What popular summer treat was accidentally invented by an 11-year-old boy in San Francisco in 1905?
- What does the acronym “SPF” stand for?
- What inspired the phrase, “the dog days of summer”?
(a) Dogs’ behavior. (b) Hot temperatures. (c) Star positions. (d) Laziness.
- Name the four different swimming strokes featured in the modern summer Olympic Games.
ANSWERS
- Pearl, Ruby, Peridot. (For June, will also accept alexandrite and moonstone; For August, will also accept sardonyx and spinel.)
- The popsicle. Young Frank Epperson made a fruit-flavored soda drink out of powder and water, a popular concoction then, but accidentally left the cup and stirring stick on his porch overnight on a cold evening and the popsicle was born. Later, his children referred to the creation as their Pop’s ‘sicle.
- Sun Protection Factor.
- (c) Star Positions. Historically the “dog days of summer,” ranging from late July to August, are the hottest days of the year. They are named so after Sirius the Dog Star, the brightest star in the night sky at that time of year. This star is located in the constellation of Canis Major, Latin for “greater dog.”
- Freestyle, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke.
