Author Archive | Kevan Choset

As a follow-up to the IMDb records post a few days ago, who has the earliest birth date listed on IMDb?

In what order have I arranged the Presidents below? (Feel free to do some online research, but don’t just google this list, etc.) Pierce Tyler Andrew Johnson Truman Theodore Roosevelt Arthur Cleveland Madison Fillmore Coolidge Grant, McKinley Lyndon Johnson Ford Taft Jackson Nixon All other Presidents

Each of the following Presidents served exactly one full term in office (i.e., they did not start in the middle of the term by replacing someone else; they did not leave in the middle of the term through death or resignation; and they did not seek or win reelection). However, one of them served a […]

What person has the most credits listed on their IMDb page? What person has the most credits listed under one category (e.g., Actor, Producer, Director, Writer, etc.)? What person has credits in the most categories? For example, Tom Hanks has 45 Actor, 26 Producer, 7 Director, 3 Writer, 3 Miscellaneous Crew, 1 Composer (he wrote […]

…, New York Rangers, New York Yankees, Sammy Sosa, New York Yankees, ________, New York Yankees, New York Yankees. For a hint, click below: (show) The answer is not related to sports. (hide) UPDATE: Some more hints: (show) The answer is very appropriate for today. (hide) (show) The list is the end of a much […]

After the 2004 Presidential election, when Bush supporters said that their candidate had received the most votes of any candidate in history (59.5 million), Kerry supporters often responded by pointing out that Kerry himself had gotten the second highest number of votes in history (55.9 million). Who received the third highest popular vote in history? […]

What do these words have in common? You’ll know it when you have it. Once you get it, post some more examples in the comments (with citations, please). Water Nanny File Travel UPDATE: I’ve posted the following challenge in the comments: When did the phenomenon that joins the four words above begin? What is the […]

I won’t even post answers to these, since they’re too easy, but I imagine most of you will be surprised by how long it takes you to think of the answers: Who is the only President whose last name begins with two vowels? Who is the only President whose last name ends in two vowels […]

A few months ago, Amazon.com began listing “Statistically Improbable Phrases” (“SIPs”) for certain books. These are phrases that appear in a book disproportionately to how often they appear in the rest of the books in Amazon’s database. (By comparing the phrases to the rest of the database, Amazon gets rid of common contentless phrases like […]

What do Justice Brennan, Human Rights Campaign founder James Hormel, and John Bolton have in common? (show) They were all recess appointments. In addition to being a gay rights activist and heir to the Hormel Foods (SPAM) fortune, Hormel was appointed by President Clinton as the Ambassador to Luxembourg. Justice Brennan was appointed by President […]

have in common? I’m looking for something very specific and noteworthy (you’ll know it when you get it), and while there must be more people who share this with them, I cannot think of any other famous examples. Once you’ve collectively figured out the answer, please post any other examples you can think of in […]

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, here are some questions on Presidential births. (You might want to try to answer all the questions before looking at any of the answers, since some answers may give away other ones.) We all know that the Presidents who died closest in time to each other were John Adams […]

There are currently four living ex-Presidents (Ford, Carter, Bush, Clinton). Who was President the first time there were four living ex-Presidents? (show) John Quincy Adams. From JQ Adams’ inauguration until July 4, 1826, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were all alive. (hide) What is the highest number of ex-Presidents to be alive at one time, […]

Reader Corey Lanum poses the following question: There are many places in the US where the shortest line between two points in the same state passes through another state. E.g., a straight line from Duluth to Rochester, MN, passes through Wisconsin. There is one place in the country where you can draw a straight line […]

have in common? (An easy one to start out the week…) Elton John Larry David Babe Ruth Marc Anthony