2050 promises to be a great year as we celebrate from here at what has recently become our coastal pub with another crowd-pleasing Trivia Night. 2050’s New Year’s questions will look back on a very different year, 2020:
— Back in 2020, Tesla joined the then S&P 500. What, however, was the name of the space transportation company Elon Musk also owned before morphing it into the US Government’s privatized space program in the late 2020s?
A) Kevin Spacey; B) Falcon Heavy; C) SpaceX; D) Amazon Prime
— Back in 2020, the Black Lives Matters movement propelled what iconic 2016 kneeling Quarterback back into the spotlight, leading to his eventual election as a U.S. Senator from California?
A) Colin Kaepernick; B) Antonio Brown; C) Tommy Tuberville; D) Lebron James
— Back in 2020, what was the then online communication platform President Trump utilized?
A) Pornhub; B) Twitter; C) QAnon – Conspiracy Theories “R” Us; D) TASS
— Back in 2020, people still read books, things you see today in virtual museums. By what year was the last book, as history knew them, printed?
A) 2030; B) 2035; C) 2040; D) 2045
— Back in 2020, fittingly, since the countries from which they had a parent emigrate are today’s #1 and #2 world economies, a Chinese American baseball (a major sport then) General Manager and an Indian-American U.S. Vice-President made history, winning positions in November that year. Who were they?
A) Lucy Liu & Oprah Winfrey; B) Sandra Oh & Jameela Jamil; C) Xi Jinping & Dolly Bollywood; D) Kim Ng & Kamala Harris
— Speaking of Kim Ng, back in 2020 which city did her team represent? Of course, it no longer exists, along with other cities dotting coasts such as Shanghai and Dhaka, since the western Antarctic sheet disappeared.
A) Atlanta; B) Detroit; C) Boston; D) Miami
— Back in 2020, The Queen’s Gambit was a popular TV series about what pastime, then played by people instead of modern programmed mind-machine devices?
A) Baseball; B) Video Gaming; C) Chess; D) Stalking
— Back in 2020, Presidents were still elected through representative state electors. That December gathering of electors was called what?
A) College of Cardinals; B) Trump University; C) Electoral College; D) Phoenix University
— Back in 2020, Americans who followed Director of the National institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Fauci’s best practices to ward off Covid-19 social distanced, sheltered in place, and wore masks. Previously, what Americans typically wore masks?
A) Baseball Catchers and Hockey Goalies; B) Halloween celebrants; C) Convenience Store Robbers; D) All of the Above
— Back in 2020, what Western State calamities foreshadowed today’s 135-degree summer days, droughts, and fights over water between the rich, willing to pay for as much water as they desire, and others demanding access beyond gold-coin operated public taps?
A) Attorney General William Barr’s GOP threats to replace 9th Circuit Court judges with Originalist appointees; B) Wildfires; C) Portland Clashes with Homeland Security Agents; D) All of the above
— Available for the first time back in 1920, what was the name of the Thomas Kail filmed version of a Broadway (where live theatre used to happen) musical that spoke to 2020, though it starred Lin-Manuel Miranda as one of the Originalists?
A) Cabaret; B) The Sound of Music; C) Springtime for Hitler; D) Hamilton
— Back in 2020, what then major sports league anticipated people living in Bubble pods when it completed its pandemic Bubble season?
A) National Cornhole League; B) National Basketball Association; C) Major League Softball; D) NASCAR
— Back in 2020, who, still on our present Supreme Court, was named the ninth and final Justice, different than today’s 21-member Court, to take the place of Ruth Bader Ginsburg?
A) Amy Coney Barrett; B) Gavin Newsome; C) Sasha Obama; D) Jared Kushner
— Back in 2020, Florida panthers, lesser prairie chickens, and monarch butterflies were endangered. By what year did they all become extinct?
A) 2025; B) 2030; C) 2035; D) 2045
— Back in 2020, the grid wasn’t subject to blackouts as much as today. Because of this, electrical appliances and gizmos were in demand. People even had gas-powered or electrical devices to do what?
A) Blow Leaves; B) Blow Coke; C) Blow Smoke; D) Blowhard
— Incredibly, back in 2020, estimates claimed Christianity had 31.4 % of the world’s believers and Islam had 23.2% and Hinduism 15.2%. What year was it that saw Christianity passed by both other religions?
A)2032; B) 2036; C) 2042; D) 2046
— Back in 2020, smashburgers gained popularity. Unlike today, when we enjoy our vermin smashburgers, especially because we get to smash the rats alive and dead, what provided the most typical substance of smashburgers then?
A) Cattle; B) Bison; C) Plants and Fungi; D) Stem Cells
— Back in 2020, students attended classes in buildings and on campuses. Among such relics left standing, though not used, are all the following EXCEPT which?
A) Georgetown University; B) PS 191; C) Jefferson Davis Academy; D) West Point
— Back in 2020, coffins were traditionally buried – they weren’t stacked then – the same number of feet recommended for social distancing, no doubt a coincidence. How many feet was that in 2020?
A) 3; B) 6; C) 10; D) 100
— Back in 2020, President Trump survived an impeachment trial, winning a strictly partisan Senate vote with one exception. Who was the one Republican, himself a former Presidential candidate, who voted to convict? This person’s grandson is the present Utah Governor.
A) Mitt Romney; B) Steve Young; C) Brigham Young; D) Mitch McConnell