To up my game, there will be an ACTUAL AWARD for the winner of the ring of eight TDs. To be eligible to win an Amazon gift card, you must participate in all eight TDs. Winner will be the one with the lowest total score.
Each TD in the ring will have at least one visual question, at least one aural question, at least one sports question, and one before and after question.
I will not take over TDs for the next eight weeks, so these TDs will be spread out over many months.
Standard TD rules apply. For each question below, there are a number of choices. Choose one as your answer. Think Different is scored by the number of people who submit the same answer. It's best to be the only person who chooses a particular answer. The most common answer is called the sheep. You don't want to be a sheep. Incorrect answers get the sheep score plus five points. Low score wins. Bonus questions will allow you to reduce your score by up to four.
You may drop one question and sheep one question. (To sheep means to accept the highest score on a question without fear of giving an incorrect answer.) No research! Your answers must come from your head; not your reference library, search engine or your neighbor who writes for a quiz show. This TD closes Monday, March 12 at 9:00 AM EDT.
Submit your answers here
For information only, here's the area code map from the classic period. Note how simple it is compared to today's area code map.
On with the TD...
201 - NEW JERSEY
Answer one of these questions about Thomas Alva Edison. LETTER NOT REQUIRED.
- Ten letter American word for a device that can play back recorded sound
- Twelve letter word for a light bulb containing a strip of tungsten inside a vacuum
- Although he spent most of his career in New Jersey, Edison was born in what state whose capital is Columbus?
- In 2016, a statue of Edison became part of Statuary Hall in what building?
- Edison grew up in which Michigan city on the Canadian border and a large lake?
- What kind of current did Edison advocate for wiring the nation's homes?
- What company did Edison organize in Schenectady in 1892?
- In which major U.S. city did Edison build the first electrical distribution system?
- What is the three word term for the phenomenon that lets people experience a motion picture as a continuous viewing experience instead of seeing 18-24 discrete frames per second?
- Edison was known as the wizard of what New Jersey place?
202 - DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Name a federal cabinet department.
203 - CONNECTICUT
Answer a question about one of these Yale alumni. LETTER NOT REQUIRED.
- Wrote "Main Street" and "Babbitt"
- Won the design competition for the Vietnam Memorial in Washington while an undergraduate.
- Wrote several books about Nixon and three volumes of "Bush At War"
- Who let nothing stand in his way as he engineered public works marvels from one end of New York to the other (and back)?
- Who served 12 years as governor of Arkansas in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s?
- What fiercely proud alumnus was known for his awkward use of obscure polysyllabic words during decades of hosting Firing Line?
- Who wrote her senior thesis on the building of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and then got elected to succeed Hubert H. Humphrey (and his wife) in the U.S. Senate?
- Name the composer of "You're the Top," "Love for Sale," and "Night and Day."
- What Academy Award winning actress was an undergraduate at Yale when she became enmeshed in an assassination attempt?
- Who is best known for portraying Arthur Fonzarelli?
BONUS - Name the four four-letter Republican presidents who have degrees from Yale. -1 each.
204 - MANITOBA
No point in taking chances on the weather. Even when weather is unpredictable someplace else, it's always nice and frosty all winter in Manitoba!
Name a city or town in Manitoba.
205 - ALABAMA
Alabama is first in the alphabet. Answer a question about one of these places that's also first in the alphabet. LETTER NOT REQUIRED
- This province of Canada is known for its mountains and oilfields
- The name of this state of Mexico means hot waters
- This European country is called Shqipëria in its own language
- NATO went to war against this Asian country on October 7, 2001
- This African country is the largest in area
- This president is first alphabetically
- This 1950 film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz is the first Best Picture winner alphabetically
- This Hartford-based insurance company is the first of the Fortune 100 alphabetically
- Which of the five great lakes is first alphabetically?
- Among the largest cities in each of the 50 states, which is first alphabetically?
206 - WASHINGTON
Seattle has emerged as an important business center in the last 25 years. Answer one of these questions about companies based in the Emerald City and its suburbs. LETTER NOT REQUIRED
- What aircraft company, formerly the largest headquartered in Washington by far, moved its headquarters to Chicago in the early 2000s?
- What maker of premium soft drinks is headquartered in Seattle, despite having the name of another city in its products?
- Name the upscale department store company founded in Seattle in 1901.
- What warehouse store's house brand is named Kirkland Select after the Seattle suburb where it's headquartered?
- What software and Internet giant was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975?
- What company that got its start as an online book seller now claims to be earth's biggest store?
- Nature doesn't compromise. Neither does this outdoor outfitter.
- What forest products company got its start with 900,000 acres of timberland?
- Some people refuse to start the day without a visit to one of this company's 27,000 locations worldwide.
- Clutterers should try to avoid shopping at this chain of for-profit thrift stores headquartered in Bellevue.
207 - MAINE
Maine is home to Acadia National Park, one of the most visited in the Northeast. Answer one of these questions about America's national parks. LETTER REQUIRED.
A. This first park, established in 1872, lies at the junction of three states.
B. This largest national park outside Alaska contains the lowest point in the United States.
C. Name the most-visited national park, on the Tennessee-North Carolina border.
D. What national park is bound together with Waterton Lakes National Park on the Canadian side?
E. What California park contains the landmark mountains El Capitan and Half Dome?
F. What park of the Southwest contains the Great White Throne?
G. What national park is in Michigan, although closer to Minnesota?
H. Bill Clinton grew up near what national park?
I. What national park is home to manatees, crocodiles, and sawgrass?
J. In which state is Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park?
208 - IDAHO
Name a variety of potato
209 - CALIFORNIA
Name one of these products of California's fabulous Central Valley.
212 - NEW YORK
Identify one of these films set in New York City
213 - CALIFORNIA
Name a landmark in Los Angeles County
214 - TEXAS
Answer one of these questions pertaining to the events of November 22-24, 1963. LETTER NOT REQUIRED.
- Who let himself into the police garage and assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald?
- What is the four word name of both the company that employed the assassin and the building from which he fired?
- What Dallas police officer was shot dead in broad daylight on November 22, 1963?
- What is the connection of the film "War Is Hell" starring Van Heflin to the assassination?
- Name the Texas governor wounded in the barrage.
- What is the name of the airport from which the presidential motorcade began?
- Who was the first woman to swear in a president?
- In what country was the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle manufactured?
- What river flows through Dallas?
- What newsman and future PBS anchor did Lee Oswald encounter as he fled the scene?
215 - PENNSYLVANIA
Name a pro sports team from one of the big four professional sports that was once or still is based in Philadelphia.
216 - OHIO
Name a person who has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo performer.
217 - ILLINOIS BEFORE & AFTER
You know how to do it. Combine two clues into an overlapping answer. Example: Current supreme court justice who wrote the Declaration of Independence: Clarence Thomas Jefferson.
- Civil War president easily recognized by that arc for the spare tire inside the trunk
- Venue that hosted William "The Refrigerator" Perry and woolly mammoths
- Shopping and entertainment center who sets his novels in Xanth
- Founder of Hull House has a tollway featuring Carolyn Jones & John Astin
- Longtime Chicago mayor (or his son) who can let a Jeopardy! contestant advance in score rapidly
- Senator from Massachusetts who had a hit record with "Gallant Men" before his unexpected death
- Lerner and Loewe wrote a song about these twin cities that are home of the University of Illinois
- North Side college always ready with a saucy barb as the center square
- Infamous murdered atheist who by some measures is the world's busiest
- Former president who settled in Galena and went on to produce his wife's sitcom and all its spinoffs
- Woman's Christian Temperence League founder who gave shoutouts to people on their 100th birthdays
- Gary Coleman utterance pertaining to the world's tallest building for 30 years
218 - MINNESOTA
Name a lake in Minnesota. It need not be within the 218 area code.
219 - INDIANA
Northern Indiana is most famous for three things. Two are Notre Dame and Michael J. Jackson. I forget the third thing.
Listen to this audio clip and name one of the hits of Michael Joseph Jackson. LETTER REQUIRED.