Where have the Athletics played baseball?

Questions:

1. Name the seven countries that end with the letters “stan.”

2. What was the name of the ship that Charles Darwin sailed the world on?

3. Which Disney animated movie was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1991?

4. Who are the two women Ben Affleck has been married to?

5. Which classic book features Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy?

Fun Facts:

Mother’s Day was first officially recognized by the U.S. in 1914.

In the 1840s a man named Gerrit Smith gave 40 acres to each of 3,000 free Black men so they could start farms and qualify to vote as land owners. 

Some bamboo species can grow two feet a day.

In 1616, 19-year-old Tsar Michael Romanov held a “bride show,” inviting 500 eligible women to compete for the role of empress. He ultimately chose Maria Dolgorukova, but tragically, she died soon after the wedding after she was poisoned by Michael’s mother.

When plants move their leaves to track the sun it’s called heliotropism. Helio- means sun, and tropos means turn.

The Athletics have now played in four cities — Philadelphia, Kansas City, Oakland and currently Sacramento, and they’re scheduled to move once again, this time to Las Vegas in 2028.

In Inuvik, a Canadian Arctic town, an old hockey arena was transformed into the northernmost commercial greenhouse. It uses wind-powered artificial lighting during the long winters and takes advantage of 24-hour sunlight in the summer to supply the town with fresh produce.

In 1937, actor Lionel Barrymore tripped on set and broke his hip and kneecap. To keep him filming, MGM’s Louis B. Mayer reportedly gave him $400 worth of cocaine daily to help him with the pain. Barrymore is now best known as the villainous Mr. Potter in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Producers of the Dick Van Dyke Show were concerned when Mary Tyler Moore wanted to wear capris on the show because it revealed the “cupping under” of her backside.

Woodrow Wilson is the only president with the first and last initials the same — W. W.  

Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day, and it’s celebrated more in the U.S. than in Mexico. It originally celebrated a great victory of Mexico over France but now is a celebration of Mexican American pride.

Answers:

1. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

2. H.M.S. Beagle (The trip lasted almost five years.)

3. Beauty and the Beast (the first animated film to be nominated)

4. Jennifer Garner (married 2005, divorced 2018) and Jennifer López (M -  2022, D  - 2025)

5. Pride and Prejudice (published in 1813)