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Library Reference Stumper To solve the "Quote," contestants must identify both the author and the title of the work from which the quote was taken. Look for the "Stumper" each month on the last page of our newsletter, or on this page. Winners receive a T-shirt and have the option of having their picture appear for one month on the library’s web page.
The
winner chosen will be the first person to answer both parts of the
"Stumper" correctly. Answer to "Quote of the Month" must include title
AND author. DECEMBER 2011 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "A little attention...to the nature of the
human mind evinces that the entertainments of fiction are useful as
well as pleasant. That they are pleasant when well written, every
person feels who reads." Brain
Teaser: Who was the first speaker to address an organization via
television? NOVEMBER 2011 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "Yet there was a measure of uncertainty surrounding
that very thought a thought he was so used to having he couldn't keep
from it. Maybe it was true that even though he liked her, liked the
frankness and direct nature of her conduct toward him, intimacy was
not what he wanted. She appealed to him in a surprising way, but he
was not physically attracted to her. And maybe, he thought, looking
at her across the table, an intimacy with him was the last thing on
earth she was interested in. She was French." Brain
Teaser: This movie was the first to be shown on network television
without commercial interruption. What was the name of this movie? OCTOBER 2011 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "But the fact is, he's just so freaked out
of his mind that he did so well, and it all blew up in his face anyway
. . . Like he did this great enterprising thing for himself and his
family, and made a fortune in this incredibly tough racket, and got
a house on the park without any help from anyone, and he never felt
bad for anyone who couldn't do the same thing." Brain
Teaser: The first musical to be based on an American theme, it
ran for two weeks and featured bare-legged dancing. What was the name
of this musical? SEPTEMBER 2011 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "Of course great artists are 'personalities'
and have special styles; even Shakespeare occasionally, though very
occasionally, reveals a personal obsession. But the greatest art is
'impersonal' because it shows us the world, our world and not another
one, with a clarity which startles and delights us simply because
we are not used to looking at the real world at all." Brain
Teaser: The first novel written by a writer born in America, it
was published in London, England. What was this novel and who was
the author? AUGUST 2011 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "The uniqueness that Jefferson and Lincoln
claimed for us, we must remember, was for the sake of all mankind.
Our Declaration of Independence takes its clue from "the course
of human events." The Great Seal of the United States on our
dollar bill still proclaims "Novus Ordo Seclorum" a new
order of the centuries. When before had people put so much faith in
the unexpected?" Brain Teaser:
A spacecraft was launched carrying a message intended to be
read by living beings elsewhere in the universe. Who designed the
message? JULY 2011 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "If social inequality is on the rise . . .
then the attempt to close the gap between the rich and poorthe
socialist traditionis one of our greatest treasures. If corporate
values are turning our citizens into mindless consumers, then the
healthy "elitist" intellectual tradition of our civilizationhistory,
philosophy, literatureis another treasure we have to fight for,
and hand down. If the masses zone out on Titanic and Wayne's World
at the Cineplex, there is the whole world of Truffaut and Kurosawa,
which could conceivably inspire a new generation of filmmakers and
moviegoers." Brain
Teaser: The first retirement community in the U.S. was a plan
originated by this person. Where was this community and who originated
the plan? JUNE 2011 STUMPER Winner: M. Wilkes (6-2-11) Quote
of the Month: "In the end, though, despite the pseudoscientific
patina, intelligent design is not really about science or facts. Most
likely, its roots derive not just from religious fundamentalism but
from the deep-seated fear that, evolutionarily speaking, we humans
may be closer to the savannah than most of us feel comfortable admitting.
In particular, many people seem to fear that, if evolution is true,
it somehow deflates our sense of moral purpose as humansthe
fervent hope that many hold that we might be the special pinnacle
of God's earthly creations." Brain
Teaser: Who wrote the software for the first word processor for
computers and what was it called? MAY 2011 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "People are too readily resigned to fatality.
They are too ready to believe that, after all, nothing but bloodshed
makes history progress and that the stronger always progresses at
the expense of the weaker. Such fatality exists perhaps. But man's
task is not to accept it or to bow to its laws. If he had accepted
it in the earliest ages, we should still be living in prehistoric
times." Brain
Teaser: He was the leader of a gang of American mercenaries who
were convicted of planning a terrorist attack in the United States
on behalf of a foreign government. What was the name of the gang's
leader? APRIL 2011 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "But the fact is, he's just so freaked out
of his mind that he did so well, and it all blew up in his face anyway
. . . Like he did this great enterprising thing for himself and his
family, and made a fortune in this incredibly tough racket, and got
a house on the park without any help from anyone, and he never felt
bad for anyone who couldn't do the same thing." Brain
Teaser: The first musical to be based on an American theme, it
ran for two weeks and featured bare-legged dancing. What was the name
of this musical? MARCH 2011 STUMPER Winner: John Fahey (3-9-11) Quote of the Month: "What is the difference between summer and winter on Wall Street? The buildings don't wave in the wind, they don't turn from brown to green to gold to gray; the windows don't fall out. The cabs are still yellow; people do the same thing they did last season. There is no dusk, there is no dawn. In the city I know when the moon is full only because there are more murders than usual. In Walleye I know when the moon is full because I can see it." Brain Teaser: What is the name of the first American book review editor and where did the editorials appear? FEBRUARY 2011 STUMPER No Winner Quote of the Month: "Reason is a means of finding truths through deductive and inductive logic. These truths may be valuable in themselves in helping us to understand who we are (theory of evolution), but they have also, through medicine, for instance, transformed human life. We are free to apply the fruits of reasoned thought to some of our greatest needs, in many areas with enormous success." Brain Teaser: What was the name of the first television drama program regularly scheduled and what was the name of the first drama it presented? JANUARY 2011 STUMPER No Winner Quote of the Month: "Fourteen thousand years ago, in what is now France, a remote Ice Age ancestor took a walk with a young child into what many of us today would think of as a dark and forbidding place. Deep in an underground cave the adult held the child's hand against a wall and blew pigment over it, leaving a shadowlike imprint of a tiny hand that remain to this very day." Brain Teaser: What was the name of the first television program in color to be presented daily? DECEMBER 2010 STUMPER (Winner: Naomi King) Quote of the Month: "I am the supervisor, she had to remind herself constantly, I must not join the work. She hovered around, inspecting finished pieces, encouraging, advising. She scrutinized the tailors bent over the machines, their brows furrowed. The inch-long nails on their little fingers intrigued her; they used them for folding seams and making creases." Brain Teaser: Who was the first husband and wife team to win Oscars, she before he? NOVEMBER 2010 STUMPER No Winner Quote of the Month: "And all the others, with flowers in their hair, circling past in a dance, scattering blossoms, notes, ribbons, and long white gloves in their wake. These women had brought the intoxication of love's first adventures into their lives, and with all its companions: desire, jealousy, and the struggles with loneliness. And yet, beyond their roles and their lives in society, beyond the women, something else, something more powerful made itself felt. A feeling known only to men. A feeling called friendship." Brain Teaser: Who was the first child born of English parents in New England? OCTOBER 2010 STUMPER (Winner: Naomi King) Quote of the Month: "If there is some kind of life after death, what if it's not a life exclusively for the dead? What if it's a life available to us all, as Harvey argues, something the living can participate in, too? Just after someone has died, this life sometimes becomes briefly and intensely visible and what? Inhabitable?" Brain Teaser: What was the first western series on television and who was the star? SEPTEMBER 2010 STUMPER (Winner: David Titus, 9/7/10) Quote of the Month: "Fourteen thousand years ago, in what is now France, a remote Ice Age ancestor took a walk with a young child into what many of us today would think of as a dark and forbidding place. Deep in an underground cave the adult held the child's hand against a wall and blew pigment over it, leaving a shadowlike imprint of a tiny hand that remain to this very day." Brain Teaser: This regularly scheduled television drama ran for 11 years. What was the title of the first drama produced on this program and what actor played the leading role? AUGUST 2010 STUMPER No Winner Quote of the Month: "There is hardly one religion in the world which fails to extol godhead as truth, or beauty. God is truth, we are constantly reminded. God is truth; God is beauty. Well then, if these properties of godhead are universally acknowledged, can we not then simply agree among ourselves there wherever we find truth, then an element of godhead is present? We need not go so far as to conclude that wherever we find truth, wisdom and beauty there also exists godhead, no." Brain Teaser: Who were the first husband and wife to win Oscars for their acting performances in a motion picture? JULY 2010 STUMPER No Winner Quote of the Month: "Fourteen thousand years ago, in what is now France, a remote Ice Age ancestor took a walk with a young child into what many of us today would think of as a dark and forbidding place. Deep in an underground cave the adult held the child's hand against a wall and blew pigment over it, leaving a shadowlike imprint of a tiny hand that remain to this very day." Brain Teaser: This regularly scheduled television drama ran for 11 years. What was the title of the first drama produced on this program and what actor played the leading role? JUNE
2010 STUMPER (Winner:
Naomi King, 6/30/10) Quote
of the Month: "If there is some kind of life after death,
what if it's not a life exclusively for the dead? What if it's a life
available to us all, as Harvey argues, something the living can participate
in, too? Just after someone has died, this life sometimes becomes
briefly and intensely visible and what? Inhabitable?" Brain
Teaser: What is the name of the first American book review editor
and where did the editorials appear? MAY 2010 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "I don't believe there is such a thing as a
good way to die. Death to me is a wasteful Brain
Teaser: What
was the name of the author of an 18th century English satirical poem
which mocked Quote of the Month: "Reason is a means of finding truths through deductive and inductive logic. These truths may be valuable in themselves in helping us to understand who we are (theory of evolution), but they have also, through medicine, for instance, transformed human life. We are free to apply the fruits of reasoned thought to some of our greatest needs, in many areas with enormous success." Brain Teaser: What was the name of the first television drama program regularly scheduled and what was the name of the first drama it presented? MARCH 2010 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "There is hardly one religion in the world which
fails to extol godhead as truth, or Brain Teaser: What is the name of the first movie to cost more than $100 million to make and who was the star of the movie? FEBRUARY 2010 STUMPER No Winner Quote of the Month: "If intelligent life exists on other planets (and the consensus of astronomers and biochemists is that it does, in abundance), we cannot expect it to be hominoid, mammalian, eucaryotic, or even DNA based. We should rescue the contemplation of other civilizations from science fiction. Real science tries to characterize not just the real world but all possible worlds. It identifies them within the much vaster space of all conceivable worlds studied by philosophers and mathematicians." Brain Teaser: What was the name of the first opera by an American composer performed in America and who was the composer? JANUARY 2010 STUMPER No Winner Quote of the Month: "Millennial expectations always fail, and their movements are left with a host of radical social practices that must now be reconciled with an unexpected and continuing life on the present earth. These novelties, now transferred from designs for the blessed millennium to devices for potential reform of the current order, often become a motor for major disruptions and transformations on the complex pathways of human history." Brain Teaser: She was the star of the first made-for-TV movie? DECEMBER 2009 STUMPER (Winner: Edward Mallgraf;12-28-09) Quote
of the Month: "We have not yet reached the phase in which the
supremos of science can warn us that breathing is bad for the health,
or at least that starvation implies certain risks, but we know for a
fact that each individual only exploits a minimal portion of the brain's
potential. This finding suggests that the true key to life's adventure
is the unlocking of the floodgate of knowledge which is every person's
birthright, only just out of reach." Brain
Teaser: The first movie shown as a regular in-flight movie on an
airplane was called? What year was it shown? NOVEMBER 2009 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "War has always diminished our freedom. When
our freedom has been expanded, it has not come as a result of war or
of anything the government has done but as a result of what citizens
have done. The best test of that is the history of black people in the
United States, the history of slavery and of segregation. It wasn't
the government that initiated the movement against slavery but white
and black abolitionists. It wasn't the government that initiated the
battle against racial segregation in the 1950s and 1960s, but the movement
of people in the South." Brain
Teaser: This was the first radio broadcast of a complete opera featuring
a professional cast. Who sang OCTOBER 2009 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "There is hardly one religion in the world which
fails to extol godhead as truth, or beauty. God is truth, we are constantly
reminded. God is truth; God is beauty. Well then, if these properties
of godhead are universally acknowledged, can we not then simply agree
among ourselves there wherever we find truth, then an element of godhead
is present? We need not go so far as to conclude that wherever we find
truth, wisdom and beauty there also exists godhead, no." Brain
Teaser: Who were the first husband and wife to win Oscars for their
acting performances in a motion picture? SEPTEMBER 2009 STUMPER (Winner: Ed Mallgraf, 9-14-09) Quote
of the Month: "Most of the day he sat with open eyes, as if
looking into the Valley he had left. It was all so plain now. He had
lied. He phrased it "been fed upon lies," but lies are the
natural food of boyhood, and he had eaten greedily. His first resolve
was to be more careful in the future." Brain
Teaser: What was special about the horse Olivia de Havilland rode
in the 1938 film, The Adventures of Robin Hood? AUGUST
2009 STUMPER (Winner:
Ed Mallgraf) Quote
of the Month: "Perhaps the ten thousand years of our encroaching,
defiant civilization, an eternity to us and a yawn to the rocks around
us, could give way to ten thousand years of humble civilization when
we choose to pay more for the benefits of nature, when we rebuild the
sense of wonder and sanctity that could protect the natural world. At
the end of that span we would still be so young, and perhaps ready to
revel in the timelessness that surrounds us." Brain
Teaser: Name the first Broadway play shown in a television version
with its original cast intact?
JULY
2009 STUMPER (Winner
on June 30, 2009: Ed Mallgraf) Brain
Teaser: Who was the first child born of English parents in New England?
JUNE
2009 STUMPER
No
Winner
Brain
Teaser: What was the first play produced in America which was performed
1,000 times and who was the star? MAY
2009 STUMPER No
Winner Brain
Teaser: What was the first movie shown on a television screen? APRIL
2009 STUMPER (Winner on 4-17-09: Paula Katz) Brain
Teaser: Who was the first African-American opera singer to sing
a white role with a white cast? MARCH 2009 STUMPER (Winner on 3-9-09: Joanne Razzano) Quote
of the Month: "If you want to be remembered as a clever person
and even as a benefactor of humanity, don't write a novel, or even talk
about it: instead, compile tables of compound interest, assemble weather
data running back seventy-five years, or develop in tabular form improved
actuarial information. All more useful than anything "creative"
most people could come up with, and less likely to subject the author
to neglect, if not ridicule and contempt. In addition, it will be found
that most people who seek attention and regard by announcing that they're
writing a novel are actually so devoid of narrative talent that they
can't hold the attention of a dinner table for thirty seconds, even
with a dirty joke." Brain
Teaser: A monument to this man exists in Westminster Abbey. He lived
under 9 kings of England and was over 150 years old when he died. What
is his name? FEBRUARY 2009 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "I drink because it is the only thing that isn't
painful. Being drunk is sad sweet partial. Pieces of me become left
out. All the moving and shaking pieces. They become invisible. And when
they become invisible they also get very powerful and finally take over
like a mindless force which is really the most intelligent part of me.
It knows what I really want." JANUARY 2009 STUMPER No Winner Quote
of the Month: "Twenty years ago no European had ever been here,
and there we were with a band playing, and observing that St Cloup's
Potage a la Julienne was perhaps better than his other soups, and so
on, and all this in the face of those high hills, and we one hundred
and five Europeans being surrounded by at least three thousand Indians,
who looked on at what we call our polite amusements, and bowed to the
ground if a European came near them. I sometimes wonder they do not
cut all our heads off and say nothing more about it." Past
Winners 2010 2009 2007 2006 2004 |