Look Smart Trivia: Mystery Theme
7Return with us now to the quizzically delicious kingdom of “Wait, what?” with today’s mystery wrapped in a riddle swallowed by an enigma. You look at these five photos. You figure out what they have in common. (Be as specific as possible!) You list the relevant answer for each photo and post a photo of your own in keeping with the theme. If you’re the first one to get it right, you’ll pocket a $5 coupon code backed by the full faith and credit of Meh. Insert signoff catchphrase here!
@medz was king of the hill, A-number-1, top of the heap in yesterday’s New York By Decade quiz, correctly dating the five glamour (or otherwise) shots of the Modern Gomorrah:
- 1960s
- 1930s
- 1940s
- 1900s
- 1980s
- 11 comments, 21 replies
- Comment
@medz You were only saved by my shitty work internet.
@JasonToon Yikes. This one might require a hint.
@cinoclav It’s only noon.
@cinoclav OK I’m lost too.
I’ve got other stuff I need to work on today but here is what I’ve found out so far for whoever wants a crack at this:
@jmoor783 I got the same things more or less. Maybe something to do with the letters?
@jmoor783 @sammydog01 Yep, same here.
@cinoclav @jmoor783 There’s a bird very similar to the whippoorwill called a chuck wills widow. If that makes more sense.
#1 is John Kerry on the “super committee” tasked with the deficit reduction deal
#2 is the atacama desert in chilie near the andes mountains
#3 jawanda has indian roots
#4 maybe about debt
#5 whip-poor-wills populations are in decline
probably has something to do with reduction or decline…
@medz-
Maybe Whip-poor-will is more literal, as in part of the name?
Also,
@kdemo @medz Poor?
#3 looks to be from Nov 1983. Internet says this finance legislation stuff was passed in 1983…
Social Security Amendments of 1983
Interest and Dividends Tax Compliance Act of 1983
Railroad Retirement Revenue Act of 1983
@kdemo @medz That address is in Canada- British Columbia.
@kdemo Reagan also supposedly got rid of Pinochet, Chile’s Ruthless Dictator around 1983… (#2)
Probably about Prez Reagan
1 Some possible assholes.
2 Some possible assholes.
3 Some possible assholes.
4 Some possible assholes.
5 Some possible assholes.
@f00l
Thanks to @JasonToon, today I learned more about the Senate Finance Committee, Whippoorwills and Whippoorwill Island, Atacama Desert - one of the driest places in the world with salt peter mines and major observatories - but I still don’t know the theme.
Star wars - space - financing - ?
I’d just like to ask @jasontoon if the highlight in #3 is intentional or incidental. Are we supposed to be looking just at the name on the label, or the whole image?
My only theory at this point is hyphenated terms (somewhat bolstered by others’ guesses)…
#1 super-committee (I was thinking “majority-leader” but have no idea if Kerry ever was that)
#2 salt-flats
#3 address-label
#4 book-keeper
#5 whip-poor-will
Especially after seeing confirmation that “whip-poor-will” really is spelled like that (I had no idea that’s what type of bird that is before reading it here) - I think I’m on to something.
Even if I am, I don’t think I’ve got them all, but just in case:
Having doubts now after doing some digging…
Of the guesses I made above, whip-poor-will is the only one that is correctly meant to be hyphenated.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Looked into Kerry a bit and the only thing I could come up with that would fit my theory was “co-chair”.
edit: “Spider-Man” is correctly hyphenated, btw.
@Trillian nice try.
/image a for effort
@Trillian Ooh, I think you nailed it.
@Trillian - Triple double congrats to you!
@Trillian Damn! If that’s not right, it should be!
/image the baroness
@DennisG2014
Things that start with the letter S: Senate, salt, shipping label, statistician, songbird.
@eonfifty Things I learned today- whip-poor-wills aren’t songbirds.
@sammydog01
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
all start with “b”
I think I nailed it!!!
I think #2 was supposed to be Death Valley. It might actually be Chile, but it also looks like Death Valley.
If so (and based on a tip from my VMP sister) this seems to be along a theme of: government, death, time, taxes, poor. She was thinking there’s a song lyric tying this together (and that’s how it would lead to the next picture in the series) but we couldn’t crack it. Anyway the other one is up now so I think if we’re on the right track we’re past the buzzer so I look forward to the answer!