5 Daily Trivia Questions - five ways to test your knowledge

Question 1: Although the federal holiday is officially named Washington’s Birthday, many states observe a broader 'Presidents’ Day.' Which two presidents—both with February birthdays—are most commonly associated with this modern celebration? Question 2: Chosen through a 1792 design competition, who was the Irish-born architect that gave the White House its neoclassical look and later helped rebuild it after the War of 1812? Question 3: A technological leap for the executive mansion came in 1891: which president oversaw the installation of electric lighting in the White House, a change that reportedly made the First Family wary of touching the switches? Question 4: Before it became a symbol of presidential power, the Oval Office had to be created. Which president reconfigured the West Wing in 1909 to establish the Oval Office we know today? Question 5: Made from timbers of the British Arctic ship HMS Resolute, the famed 'Resolute Desk' entered the White House in 1880. Which president was first gifted this desk, later seen in iconic photos of JFK? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, was born in Portland, Oregon—on what date does his birthday fall, a day fans often celebrate for the man who reshaped animated comedy? Question 2: Before The Simpsons became a prime-time phenomenon, it began as animated shorts—on which variety show did the family first appear in 1987? Question 3: In Futurama’s pilot episode, delivery boy Philip J. Fry is accidentally cryogenically frozen; when the tube opens, what year does he find himself in? Question 4: Characters like Homer J. Simpson and Philip J. Fry share a curious middle initial—what classic animation figure does Matt Groening’s recurring use of “J.” pay tribute to? Question 5: The Simpsons’ opening credits include two gag traditions that change from episode to episode; what are these playful recurring bits called? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: Which NASA spacecraft, from about 6 billion kilometers away in 1990, captured the photograph known as the “Pale Blue Dot,” showing Earth as a tiny speck in a scattered sunbeam? Question 2: In classical mythology, what is the name of Cupid’s Greek counterpart—the god of desire whose image as a winged archer became a lasting symbol of romantic love? Question 3: Which shimmering white-marble mausoleum in Agra was commissioned by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a global symbol of enduring love? Question 4: Which married scientific duo won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics for pioneering research on radioactivity, laying the groundwork for modern nuclear science and medicine? Question 5: Whose recorded brain waves and other bodily signals—made while she reflected on human life and falling in love—were included on the Voyager Golden Record sent into interstellar space? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: World Radio Day honors radio’s vital role in information, education, and emergency communication across the globe. On what date is it observed, and which organization proclaimed it a global day of recognition? Question 2: In 1901, Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal, a landmark that proved radio could span oceans. Which single Morse code letter did he report receiving on Signal Hill in Newfoundland? Question 3: Radio moved from experimentation to mass media in 1920 when a U.S. station broadcast election returns to the public. Which station is widely credited as the first commercial radio broadcaster? Question 4: Which 1938 radio drama, directed by Orson Welles, used news-bulletin style storytelling to depict a Martian invasion and became legendary for its realism? Question 5: Portable listening exploded in the 1950s with the first mass-market transistor radio. What model, released in 1954, pioneered pocket-size radio for consumers? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: Issued during the American Civil War, which executive order by President Abraham Lincoln declared enslaved people in the rebelling Confederate states free, and on what date did it take effect? Question 2: Charles Darwin’s observations in the Galápagos and beyond were made during a five-year voyage—what was the name of the ship he sailed on, and how did that journey shape his theory of evolution? Question 3: Which 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, overturning the “separate but equal” doctrine in education? Question 4: After decades of suffrage activism, which U.S. constitutional amendment guaranteed women the right to vote nationwide, and in what year was it ratified? Question 5: In 1858, Darwin’s ideas on natural selection were jointly presented alongside those of another naturalist—who was this co-contributor whose letter spurred Darwin to publish? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: She broke barriers as the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences and helped isolate new elements from pitchblende at the turn of the 20th century. Which pioneering physicist-chemist achieved this unique Nobel distinction? Question 2: In 1952, a single X-ray image nicknamed “Photo 51” captured the clues needed to decode DNA’s double-helix. What experimental technique did Rosalind Franklin use to produce this image? Question 3: During the 1962 Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, one astronaut famously asked that mathematician Katherine Johnson verify the computer’s orbital calculations before liftoff. Which astronaut made that request? Question 4: Drawing on centuries-old medical texts, which Chinese pharmaceutical chemist discovered the antimalarial compound that revolutionized treatment worldwide and earned a share of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine? Question 5: Looking to the future of biotechnology, which gene-editing tool developed by Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna earned them the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for enabling precise cuts to DNA? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: Laura Dern celebrates her birthday just as awards season hits its stride—on what exact date and year was she born? Question 2: In Jurassic Park (1993), Laura Dern’s Dr. Ellie Sattler isn’t a dinosaur wrangler but a scientist whose expertise shapes key decisions on the island—what is her field of study? Question 3: On HBO’s Big Little Lies, which character did Laura Dern portray to Emmy-winning effect, delivering ferocious, meme-worthy lines and a layered look at power and vulnerability? Question 4: Across a career ranging from Jurassic Park to prestige television, Laura Dern earned her first Oscar for which film, and in which category? Question 5: Before her own Oscar win, Laura Dern and her mother, Diane Ladd, made Academy history: in what 1991 film were they both nominated for Oscars for the same movie, and what were their categories? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: Joe Pesci’s birthday is a great excuse to revisit his career—on what date was the New Jersey–born actor actually born? Question 2: For which film did Joe Pesci win his only Academy Award, and in which category, delivering one of the shortest acceptance speeches in Oscar history? Question 3: In Goodfellas, which tense table-side exchange—drawn from a real incident Pesci experienced and largely improvised—has him snap, “Funny how? Funny like I’m a clown?” Question 4: In Home Alone, Joe Pesci plays Harry, one half of a bumbling burglar duo—what nickname do he and Marv adopt that becomes their soggy calling card? Question 5: To keep Home Alone family-friendly, what did Joe Pesci famously use instead of his usual profane tough-guy language during frustration-filled moments? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: What is the full date of Jules Verne’s birth, celebrated each year as a nod to his pioneering imagination? Question 2: In Verne’s 1865 novel 'From the Earth to the Moon,' the Baltimore Gun Club builds the colossal Columbiad to launch a projectile toward the Moon—which U.S. state does Verne choose as the launch site? Question 3: Sharing a name with Captain Nemo’s craft from 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas,' which U.S. Navy vessel became the first nuclear-powered submarine and made the historic under-ice transit to the North Pole in 1958? Question 4: In 'Journey to the Center of the Earth,' Professor Lidenbrock and Axel descend through a real volcanic crater in Iceland—what is the name of this glacier-capped stratovolcano? Question 5: Echoing 'Around the World in Eighty Days,' which British traveler and TV presenter completed an 80-day circumnavigation for a BBC series in the late 1980s, using only ground and sea transport? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: On February 9, 1964, an estimated 73 million Americans tuned in as four mop-topped Britons changed U.S. pop culture overnight. What television program hosted the Beatles’ landmark American debut that ignited Beatlemania? Question 2: Released by Capitol Records in late 1963, which Beatles single rocketed to No. 1 in early 1964 and is widely credited with opening the floodgates for the British Invasion in the United States? Question 3: In 1965, a fuzz-drenched guitar riff carried a British band to its first U.S. No. 1 and became a defining sound of the decade. Which song gave the Rolling Stones their breakthrough American chart-topper? Question 4: At the height of Beatlemania, the band accomplished an unprecedented chart takeover. What extraordinary Billboard Hot 100 feat did the Beatles achieve on April 4, 1964? Question 5: The roar of 55,000 fans marked the dawn of stadium rock when the Beatles played a pioneering concert in New York in August 1965. What venue hosted this groundbreaking show? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: Bob Marley’s birthday is widely marked with concerts, community service, and tributes around the world. On what date was he born—a day Jamaica spotlights with its month-long Reggae Month celebrations? Question 2: In April 1978, amid violent political tension in Jamaica, Bob Marley invited rival leaders Michael Manley and Edward Seaga on stage and joined their hands in a symbolic call for unity. What was the name of this historic Kingston event? Question 3: Which Bob Marley song draws its lyrics from Emperor Haile Selassie I’s 1963 United Nations speech condemning racism and oppression, underscoring Marley’s Rastafari beliefs? Question 4: Rooted in Rastafari ritual, what name is given to the communal drum tradition—featuring bass, funde, and repeater—that shaped reggae’s heartbeat and appears throughout Marley’s music? Question 5: Bob Marley wrote and performed a song celebrating African liberation and later played it at Zimbabwe’s independence festivities in 1980, even as tear gas drifted into the venue. What is the title of that anthem? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: National Weatherperson’s Day is observed annually on February 5 in honor of which early American physician who kept some of the first continuous weather records and even carried instruments on a pioneering 1785 balloon flight? Question 2: Known to newspaper readers as “Old Probabilities,” which meteorologist is often called the Father of the U.S. Weather Service for organizing early forecast operations and issuing the nation’s first official weather forecasts in the 1870s? Question 3: When meteorologists use Doppler radar to spot a tornado, what key measurement do they rely on to reveal rotation inside a thunderstorm—leading to signatures like velocity couplets and hook echoes? Question 4: The deadliest single tornado in U.S. history carved a 200-plus-mile path on March 18, 1925; which three states did the “Tri-State Tornado” tear through? Question 5: Which early 20th-century scientist and leader of the Bergen School laid the groundwork for modern weather forecasting by formulating the primitive equations of atmospheric motion and the polar front theory? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: When Mark Zuckerberg and his classmates launched the site from a Harvard dorm in 2004, what name did it go by before dropping the definite article? Question 2: Before Facebook and MySpace dominated, which 2002 social network popularized the “friend‑of‑a‑friend” concept but faltered under technical scaling problems, pushing users to newer platforms? Question 3: In 2006, Facebook unveiled a feature that turned the homepage into a stream of friends’ updates and triggered immediate privacy protests—what was this feature called? Question 4: What is the name of Facebook’s 2007 developer conference where it opened its platform to third‑party apps, paving the way for hits like Zynga’s FarmVille? Question 5: Which Google‑owned social network, launched in 2004 and named after its creator, became the dominant online community in Brazil and India during the mid‑2000s? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: On February 3, 1959, a small plane went down near Clear Lake, Iowa during the Winter Dance Party tour, an event later memorialized as the day the music died. Name all three rock-and-roll musicians who lost their lives in that crash. Question 2: Broadcast to an estimated 73 million viewers, which 1964 U.S. television appearance by a British band is widely credited with launching the British Invasion and transforming American pop culture? Question 3: At which festival and in what year did Bob Dylan plug in an electric guitar, stunning folk purists and marking a turning point for rock and singer-songwriter music? Question 4: When MTV debuted on August 1, 1981, what was the very first music video it aired, a cheeky choice that symbolized the coming era of video-driven pop? Question 5: Which album toppled Michael Jackson’s Dangerous from No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in January 1992, heralding grunge’s mainstream breakthrough? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: Which Christian feast day, observed on February 2 and traditionally marked by the blessing of candles, carried weather proverbs that helped inspire the later U.S. Groundhog Day? Question 2: In which Pennsylvania town do crowds gather at Gobbler’s Knob each February to watch Punxsutawney Phil issue his spring forecast? Question 3: According to Groundhog Day folklore, what does it mean if the groundhog emerges and sees its shadow on February 2? Question 4: Based on analyses by climatologists and weather services, roughly how accurate have Punxsutawney Phil’s predictions been over the long term? Question 5: Before groundhogs took center stage in Pennsylvania, which animal in German folk tradition served as the weather prophet at Candlemas, later inspiring the American custom? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: Marking Clark Gable’s birthday, on what exact date was the Hollywood icon born? Question 2: Clark Gable won his only Academy Award for Best Actor for which 1934 romantic comedy opposite Claudette Colbert? Question 3: As Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind, what famous closing line does Clark Gable deliver to Scarlett O’Hara? Question 4: Who was the independent producer who shepherded Gone with the Wind to the screen, coordinating its massive production and winning Best Picture? Question 5: Which member of the Gone with the Wind cast became the first African American to win an Academy Award, and for which role? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: Explorer 1, America’s first satellite, revealed a hidden feature of Earth’s near-space environment soon after its 1958 launch. What major scientific discovery did it make, and which onboard instrument recorded the telltale data? Question 2: Apollo 14 aimed to complete the geological objectives missed by Apollo 13. Which lunar region did the crew explore, and what hand-pulled device helped them lug tools and samples across the Moon’s rugged terrain? Question 3: Marking the United States’ entry into the space age, on what date and atop which rocket was Explorer 1 launched into orbit as the nation’s first satellite? Question 4: A playful moment on the lunar surface made Apollo 14 famous beyond science. Which astronaut swung a makeshift golf club on the Moon, and roughly how far did his best shot travel? Question 5: Among the most iconic images from space, which mission captured the “Earthrise” photograph while orbiting the Moon in 1968, reshaping public views of our planet’s fragility? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: Christian Bale’s fans celebrate his birthday at the end of January each year. On what exact date and year was he born? Question 2: Christian Bale’s brooding Bruce Wayne redefined Batman for a new generation. Which filmmaker directed the Dark Knight trilogy in which Bale starred? Question 3: In American Psycho (2000), Bale delivered a chilling turn as a status-obsessed Wall Street figure. What is the name of the character he plays? Question 4: Before donning the cape in Batman Begins, Bale underwent one of cinema’s most extreme physical transformations, appearing emaciated in a 2004 psychological thriller. What is the title of that film? Question 5: Bale is famed for disappearing into real-life figures as well. In which 2018 biographical film did he transform into former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Question 1: On National Puzzle Day we tip our hat to crosswords: Which newspaper debuted the first modern crossword puzzle, in what year, and who designed it? Question 2: The name “Sudoku” is a Japanese abbreviation—what longer phrase does it shorten, and what does that phrase mean? Question 3: In the classic Tower of Hanoi brainteaser, what is the formula for the minimum number of moves required to transfer a stack of n disks from one peg to another following the rules? Question 4: Tangrams are a timeless geometric puzzle: How many pieces make up a traditional tangram, and what shapes are they? Question 5: In the classic river-crossing puzzle featuring a farmer, a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage, which pairs cannot be left together unsupervised on either bank? You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

Elijah Wood's birthday: From Frodo to film - celebrating The Lord of the Rings and fantasy epics. You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun, Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.