Mercury's Musings

  A brand of soda with Code Red and Live Wire varieties // A classification system named for a librarian with the given name Melvil ANSWER: Mountain Dewey Decimal System 2. The 33rd President of the United States // The author of “In Cold Blood” ANSWER: Harry Truman Capote 3. The capital city of the state of Florida // The largest city by population in the state of Washington ANSWER: Tallahasseattle 4. Three word nickname of pretender to the throne Charles Edward Stuart // Son of Martin Sheen who starred on the sitcom Two and a Half Men ANSWER: Bonnie Prince Charlie Sheen 5. Speaker of the line “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” // Trophy won by the Colorado Avalanche in 2022 ANSWER: Henry Morton Stanley Cup 6. Coming of age novel by Nick Hornby, adapted into a 2002 film // Lead singer of Culture Club ANSWER: About a Boy George 7. A painter of the Hudson River School known for his The Course of Empire series // A composer who wrote the music and lyrics for the musical “Kiss Me

  1. The largest non-U.S. fast food company in the world (based on number of locations), is which Toronto based coffee chain? ANSWER: Tim Hortons 2. Denali, Kenai Fjords, and Wrangell-St. Elias are National Parks in which U.S. state? ANSWER: Alaska 3. Pugilist Chuck Wepner is perhaps best remembered today for serving as the inspiration for which 1976 Oscar-winning film? ANSWER: Rocky 4. Bourbon is an American whiskey primarily distilled from what vegetable? ANSWER: Corn 5. Montero Lamar Hill is the birth name of which American rapper, known for a crossover hit that became one of the best selling singles of all time? ANSWER: Lil Nas X 6. Which martial art, which comes from the Hebrew for “Contact Combat,” was developed by the Israel Defense Forces? ANSWER: Krav Maga 7. Which Chinese billionaire is known as the co-founder of Alibaba Group and Yunfeng Capital? ANSWER: Jack Ma 8. Which large species of rodent has a name which comes from the Tupi for “grass-eater?” ANSWER: Cap

I know a handful of Missy Elliott hits, but had never delved all that deep into her discography prior to this album. It took me a couple listens to get into this one, but wound up really enjoying it! Some highlights: "Beep Me 911," "Why You Hurt Me," "I'm Talking," "Pass the Blunt." Cool, laid-back, smooth 90s hip-hop.

  Fun House  is the second studio album by The Stooges. Released in 1970, it is considered seminal in the development of what would eventually become punk rock as we know it today. Having never heard anything on this album before, I was shocked to read that it came out in 1970- which probably says a lot about this album's influence. "Down on the Street" is a great opener, with it's bluesy, almost proto-thrash metal riff. I was also a fan of the hilariously vulgar "Loose." Wasn't expecting that saxophone to come in on "1970," but that was a lot of fun as well. All around, solid album.

 Ugh, Drake. Drake is one of those artists whose mass cultural appeal is completely mystifying to me. I find his voice grating, his rhymes cringeworthy, and his beats boring. It's also pretty surprising to see a Drake album considered among the 100 best albums of all time. I get that he's really popular, and has had some influence in a particular cringeworthy style of rap, but come on. The Marshall Mathers LP  is #145. I get that it's popular to hate on Eminem, particularly with how lackluster his last decade or so has been, but that album changed the game. Even more egregiously, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City  is #115. In Kendrick's case, he does have an album at #19, so I can understand not wanting two of his albums in the top 100, but GKMC is a modern classic. In contrast, we have Take Care . Come on, bro. Take Care  is an hour and a half (!) of mostly mopey, whiney, and all-around insufferable pablum. There's something about Drake's obnoxious way of being both bra

Which ancient kingdom in Central Asia gives its name to a species of two-humped camel? ANSWER: Bactria 2. What is the first name of the child born to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on June 4, 2021? ANSWER: Lilibet 3. The last two letters in the initialism IPCC (an intergovernmental body of the UN) stand for which common phrase? ANSWER: Climate Change 4. Which American rock band has released the albums Murmur, Out of Time, and Automatic for the People? ANSWER: R.E.M. 5. The Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque are located in which city? ANSWER: Jerusalem 6. Which operation in calculus measures the rate of change in a function? Formally, it is equal to the slope of the tangent line of a function at a given point. ANSWER: Derivative 7. Joe Biden has nominated which American attorney to replace the vacate seat of Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court? ANSWER: Ketanji Brown Jackson 8. Code Red, Voltage, and Live Wire are flavors of which soda? ANSWER: Mountain Dew 9. What