Didactically Trivial (Jeopardy) by Design

Have you ever engaged in mindless web surfing in hopes of gaining nuggets of wisdom that may prove enlightening and useful? If so, continue reading as this may be one of those times. I’ll break it up for you in bite-sized “Jeopardy” like installments.

Let’s go Presidential trivia for a thousand. You’ve all seen the President depart the White House in a helicopter. What is the call sign of the Marine Corp Helicopter when carrying the President of the United States? The answer: Marine One. But this is a two-part answer for the thousand: How many helicopters accompany the President of the United States (POTUS) for those White House pickups? Typically, three Marine helicopters from Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) will sortie from their headquarters at Bolling Air Force Base across the Potomac River to pick up the President. Two will loiter about over Washington, while one descends to the White House lawn and picks up POTUS. When the helicopter has POTUS on board, the call sign changes to Marine One and it departs the White House lawn and is immediately joined by the other two identical helicopters for the journey ahead.

Next, Shades of Russian gray. The following is not necessarily flattering of Russia – but this seems to be the time to pile on. In July 1918 Czar Nicholas II of Russia, his wife, and 5 children was murdered and buried anonymously by Vladimir Lenin’s Russian Bolsheviks. As horrible as that was, the mass execution of a ruling president and his family were replicated in modernity.

Here’s a clue: The execution of this president kicked off a sequence of events that led to America’s boycott of the 1980 Olympics and subsequently 9/11 and America’s longest war. So the question is: what other ruling family was executed in a similar fashion in March 1978 that triggered these events? The answer: the first Afghan President, Mohammad Daoud Khan, his wife, and 26 family members and servants were executed in Kabul, Afghanistan by a Russian-backed Afghan coup and secretly buried for 30 years. As with Nicholas’s family, Daoud Khan’s family were all gunned down in a basement and transported out in military trucks for secret burial during darkness. Their bodies were not discovered until 2008. As a Lieutenant Colonel, I watched from atop a small hill as President Khan was given a state funeral 30 years later in Kabul. I wonder if Ukrainian President Zelensky, whose wife and two children have reportedly stayed in country with him, knows the Afghan President Khan trivia?

Let’s touch upon a less morbid subject like upcoming anniversaries – Anniversaries for a thousand: This May Front Royal is about to celebrate the 160th anniversary of one of the town’s most significant historic events. Hint: Did you know that Front Royal is the only town in the United States to have a running gun battle between two armies? If you swing by Historic Downtown Front Royal and check out the Civil War Trails’ signs, you’ll know the answer. But I’ll save you time. On May 23, 1862, during the U.S. Civil War, Stonewall Jackson’s Confederate army attacked U.S. forces and battled them through the streets of Front Royal, driving them in retreat towards Winchester. This was one of several battles that comprised the much renowned Jackson Valley Campaign. The anniversary is coming up.

Let’s stay with anniversaries as another lingers on the horizon: The date is April 18, what happened on this date 80 years ago? This year on the 18th of April we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the daring U.S. military air raid on Tokyo. This event occurred just over 4 months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Historically, what is the name of this raid? Answer: “The Doolittle Raid” – Look it up. It was America’s first bit of good news after the Japanese sunk much of the U.S. Pacific fleet (but not the aircraft carriers) at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Further trivia question: what was significant about the Doolittle Raid that had never been attempted prior? The raid entailed twin-engine B-25 army bombers launched from the aircraft carrier Hornet on what many believed would be a one-way suicide mission to bomb Tokyo – the enemy’s capital. Prior to 18 April 1942, only fighter planes had taken off a carrier deck. The military was not sure the planes could even make it off the carrier deck. Somehow the raid was a success and most of the Doolittle Raiders survived and subsequently held a reunion each year on the 18th of April until the last of their members died 3 years ago in 2019. The surviving airmen wore blue blazers with Doolittle Raiders emblazoned on it. I attended their leader’s funeral (Jimmy Doolittle) in Arlington in 1994. At the funeral I also met a distinguished group of aging African American men – who were there to pay respects to their ole WW 2 commanding officer. These gentlemen sported red blazers with a crest sewn on the left breast pocket. It was the emblem of the only black fighter pilot squadron in the US Army Air Corps in WW 2. Hopefully, these clues are helping you along – what was the emblem on their blazer? That’s right, they were the Tuskegee Airmen. You may recall a couple of the movies made about them, ‘Red Tails’ (2012) or the first one entitled, The Tuskegee Airmen (1995).

So, after reminiscing about the Doolittle Raid on the 18th, you should be on the lookout for the term 4/20 a couple days later on April 20th of this year. ‘Happy 4/20.’ Pray tell, what does that mean? Well, in short, it’s modern parlance for cannabis sativa, or marijuana day. Essentially Happy 4/20 is synonymous with Happy Marijuana Day! There’s more to it than that, but it’s too ambiguous to explain, so just look it up if you’re curious. Since it’s legal in Virginia now, I say, “Smoke ’em if you got ’em to celebrate.” But let’s move on before we bog down.

Once upon a time in the west there was a famous personality named Wild Bill Hickok. He was a living legend that still reverberates today. However he is also famous for the cards he was holding when he was murdered during a card game in Deadwood, South Dakota. Henceforth that poker hand has been referred to as the “dead man’s hand”. The real question is, what cards were in his hand? Wild Bill was holding two pair, eights and aces – henceforth known as the dead man’s hand.

You’ve heard the question “Who was buried in Grant’s tomb?” and this next question may resonate as such: Guess what color the famous “black box” is painted. Yes, I’m talking about the cockpit voice recorder that is standard for all passenger aircraft? Have you ever thought how difficult it is to find a black box in the scattered debris after a crash? If you are looking for a black box – you will be awhile. Luckily, the aviation industry ensures that they are painted bright orange.

Next topic is sleeping: Punch that up on the computer and you’ll find volumes written about it. For trivia purposes I ask this question – on average, how much do you think humans sleep over the course of our lives? Here’s some quick stats on sleep: Humans sleep roughly one-third of their lives, cats sleep two-thirds and only opossums and bats sleep more often than that. No one has yet to figure out why we sleep other than as cyclic rest for recharging the body and its brain.

Now, “Food” for a hundred: Just as turkey is the national meal at Thanksgiving, guess what has become the national meal for Christmas in Japan? In all likelihood, you’ve probably eaten it many times. Keep in mind that Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan but is essentially, a national “fun day”. Turkeys are nearly impossible to find there so the Japanese enjoy KFC. That’s right. Each November, the advertisements depicting Colonel Sanders in a Santa cap prompts the locals to submit their order through KFC for a barrel of his finger licking good recipe. As Christmas arrives, several million Japanese descend on the local KFCs, grab their takeout orders and return home for the big family meal. It you wait till Christmas Day to order or eat in, you’ll find incredible lines and you might be out of luck. From the 23rd-25th of December, KFC makes a third of its annual sales in Japan. That’s 33% of annual sales in three days.

What time is it? Two hundred years from now, our descendants will be leafing through antique magazine from the 21st century and they will wonder about the significance of the time on all the watch ads. On the other hand – perhaps it will go un-noticed just as it has amongst most of us, except for me of course. The next time you see a watch advertisement – check the time on the watch being advertised. They are all the same. No matter the brand or the country you’re in, it’s always 10 past 10, well mostly. I have found a couple of anomalies out there but you have to search hard.

But whatever time it is on your end right now, this episode of “Didactically Trivial (Jeopardy) by Design” is signing off.