This is it. The not-very-distinguished close to our regular Friday Quiz. See below for details about our pulse-relaxing Quizvitational. And stay tuned for 2005's all-new Friday Entertainment.
And now, today's dumbed-down diversion:
The fastest delivery time by ever clocked by Pony Express riders over the St. Joseph, Missouri - Sacramento, California route was 7 days, 17 hours. This was 2 days faster than the average time of delivery.
What were the contents of this speed-record delivery?
Unrelated what-the-hey bonus question: She was a schoolteacher from Bay City Michigan. Her name was Annie Taylor. In October of 1901, at the age of 63 (though she claimed, oddly, to be much younger), she became the first person to successfully do something. What was it?
First correct answer to comments wins a rare copy of The Unexpurgated Born Loser, complete with Art Sansom's never-published strips condemning the Falkland Islands War. No Googling or calling up Mrs. Anderson at the Sacramento Tourism Office. She's just too darn helpful! One guess per comment please, but comment as often as you'd like.
Getting the obvious guess to the main question out of the way:
Mail?
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 11:14 AMEmancipation Proclamation?
Posted by: Sara on December 3, 2004 11:37 AMBonus: Swim the English Channel?
Posted by: Sara on December 3, 2004 11:38 AMWell, it was mail, if you like. But we mean more like, "What was in the mail on this delivery?" It was one thing.
Posted by: BT on December 3, 2004 11:39 AMGood guesses on both from Sara, but neither on the money.
Posted by: BT on December 3, 2004 11:41 AMStamps?
Posted by: Sara on December 3, 2004 11:43 AMGettysburg Address?
Posted by: Sara on December 3, 2004 11:44 AMBill for mail delivery?
Posted by: Sara on December 3, 2004 11:45 AMSt Joseph's Aspirin
Posted by: teenidol on December 3, 2004 11:46 AMWas it perhaps an announcement of the secession of the southern states?
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 11:55 AMuh, what time is it? where am I?
guess: George Washington has died (or is that too early)
bonus: eat 60 hotdogs in 1 hour
Posted by: art on December 3, 2004 11:57 AMSome very good guesses, but none right yet.
Posted by: BT on December 3, 2004 11:57 AMNews of Appomattox Courthouse?
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 11:59 AMOr the death of Lincoln?
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 12:00 PMPossibly the Emancipation Proclamation?
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 12:02 PM(I actually think all of those last guesses may be a bit too late, so)
How about the start of the Civil War (meaning actual armed hostilities, rather than the formation of the Confederate States)?
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 12:04 PMSome very close guesses on both, but nothing yet.
Posted by: BT on December 3, 2004 12:12 PMFirst Edition of Huckleberry Finn (Twain)
waterskiing (bonus)
Posted by: art on December 3, 2004 12:14 PMThe Governator's starts-with-a-V-and-rhymes-with-the-falls and I can't post it literally because it looks Robotics.
So no starts-with-a-V-and-rhymes-with-the-falls jokes here anymore, folks.
Posted by: Scott on December 3, 2004 12:16 PMattack on Fort Sumpter (spelling)
bonus: swim Lake Michigan (or go over Niagara Falls in a barrell, I can't decide)
Posted by: art on December 3, 2004 12:17 PMTrying harder, "there's gold in them thar hills"
Posted by: Scott on December 3, 2004 12:17 PMOn the second, was she a White House intern?
Posted by: Scott on December 3, 2004 12:18 PMstonewall jackson elected president
bonus: swim lake huron
Posted by: art on December 3, 2004 12:26 PMend of Civil War
ask "Where's the beef?"
Posted by: teenidol on December 3, 2004 12:31 PMNews of the election of Lincoln?
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 12:37 PMMy cursory search missed Gavin's "News of Appomattox Courthouse" so I got nothin'.
Announcement of new St. Joseph to Sacramento Pony Express service?
Open an overpriced women's business clothing store?
Posted by: teenidol on December 3, 2004 12:43 PMPublisher's Clearinghouse letter
Posted by: teenidol on December 3, 2004 12:45 PMThere has been a near-miss on the main question.
Yes, Scott, the vayagara jokes have been made impossible by the comment spammers. Sorry.
Posted by: BT on December 3, 2004 12:50 PMsurrender of Robert E. Lee
bonus: hot air balloon across Lake Michigan
Posted by: art on December 3, 2004 01:01 PMcapture of Fort Sumpter (spelling)
bonus: swim Atlantic Ocean
Posted by: art on December 3, 2004 01:04 PMtranscript of Lincoln's debate with Stephen Douglas (or whatever his name was--am I hallucinating yet?)
bonus: knit a scarf as long as Lake Erie
Posted by: art on December 3, 2004 01:06 PMLincoln was shot?
Posted by: Sara on December 3, 2004 01:15 PMAbe Lincoln v. Steven Tyler debate
leap over Lake Erie
Posted by: teenidol on December 3, 2004 01:21 PMBonus: Ice skate across Lake Erie
Posted by: Sara on December 3, 2004 01:28 PMStill not there with either.
Please note: the Wombat is, unbelievably, getting feverish AGAIN. I may scamper off back to my den to chew on leaves sometime soon. In that case, I'll check in when I emerge.
(Do Wombats live in dens? Burrows? Wurrows?)
Posted by: BT on December 3, 2004 01:55 PMIn case my problem was glibness over clarity, discovery of gold in California?
Posted by: Scott on December 3, 2004 01:58 PMApproval for the transcontinental railroad
Posted by: boxjam on December 3, 2004 02:21 PMThe south's surrender?
Scale a building with suction bra cups?
funding for the new telegraph
Posted by: boxjam on December 3, 2004 02:25 PMOh, and Anne swam Lake MIchigan.
Posted by: boxjam on December 3, 2004 02:27 PMDiscovery of college football in Michigan?
Posted by: Scott on December 3, 2004 02:29 PMNo wait---seedlings?
Posted by: The Lady B. Yogurt on December 3, 2004 02:33 PM(News of) Sherman's March?
Swam from Detroit to Cleveland? (can you do that?)
Posted by: art on December 3, 2004 02:50 PMThe head of Alfredo Garcia?
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 03:01 PMOkay, applying logic late in the day: some dim corner of my mind recalls that the Pony Express ran for a stupidly short amount of time and ended when the Civil War got rolling.
So since we've already had a close guess, I think it's not news from some foreign quarters, but is almost certainly related to Lincoln's election or the immediate aftermath.
So I think it's one of four things:
1. (News of) the farewell address of James Buchanan (which is where, I think, he said, "I am the last president of the United States")
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 03:06 PM2. (news of) Lincoln's cabinet appointments
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 03:07 PM3. (news of) Lincoln's inaugural address
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 03:07 PM4. (news of) Lincoln's victory statement upon his election
Posted by: Gavin on December 3, 2004 03:08 PMandrew johnson elected (after serving out end of lincoln's term)
waterski jump over sharks below (bonus question)
Posted by: art on December 3, 2004 03:14 PMokay, assuming Gavin's logic is correct and we are dealing with something near his guess of "election of Lincoln" then... "congress approves declaration of war"?
Posted by: art on December 3, 2004 03:20 PM>>waterski jump over sharks below (bonus question)
I thought that was Fonzie.
==
News of Lincoln's re-election.
Jump 14 barrels in her motorcycle in front of Al's.
Posted by: teenidol on December 3, 2004 03:58 PMget well soon, Bill (we need you!)
Posted by: art on December 3, 2004 04:21 PMYeah, I remember that the pony express ran for less than two years, I think.
How about: Notice to marshal all federal troops in California, to report for war?
Posted by: boxjam on December 3, 2004 04:28 PMNews of the secession?
Posted by: KF on December 3, 2004 05:49 PMHoly cow, I'm HOURS late.
Posted by: KF on December 3, 2004 05:52 PMOn the bonus, though, how about drive a car?
Posted by: KF on December 3, 2004 05:55 PM(Across Lake Erie, if you like.)
Posted by: KF on December 3, 2004 05:56 PMOr maybe row a boat. Across Lake Erie.
Posted by: KF on December 3, 2004 05:56 PMNews of Nevada's statehood?
Bonus: first person to successfully dangle a hundred paper clips from a single magnet.
Posted by: Scraps on December 3, 2004 06:05 PMPretty sure wombats live in hi-rise condos.
Posted by: The Lady B. Yogurt on December 3, 2004 06:18 PMC'mon, Wombat, show us your Brokaw side. Stoicize it, and finish this last quiz.
Posted by: boxjam on December 3, 2004 07:29 PMGavin finally puts an end to all of the speculation: it was Lincoln's inaugural address.
And Boxjam is right -- the arrival of the telegraph in 1861 meant that the day of the Pony Express was short-lived.
No one got the bonus correctly: Annie was the first person to succesfully go over Niagra Falls in a barrell.
The wombat is feeling considerably better, thanks, although really sick of being sick.
Posted by: BT on December 4, 2004 09:33 AMtechnically I uttered the words "go over Niagara Falls in a barrell" in message 26 (but perhaps my double answer wasn't counted!)
Posted by: art on December 5, 2004 10:44 AMWhoops: I can only imagine that my internal editor, Art, managed to excise your double-guess before my cortex actually processed its existence.
Plus, I was sick!
My blindness -- thus leading to a needless expenditure of vital guess-energy on the part of many others -- is a greater crime than your violation of our petty-minded restrictions. So, consider yourself retroactively credited.
Posted by: BT on December 5, 2004 03:40 PMyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo
Posted by: tibincrunch on December 20, 2004 08:55 AMI would like to join in. Quick What are the FIVE main issues of the Civil War?
Posted by: Veronica Del Toro on December 13, 2005 08:45 PMOR! What's it mean or definition of Southern Secession?
Posted by: Veronica Del Toro on December 13, 2005 08:47 PM