19 Nov 2017, Day 92

Question 1:
Because the company increased shareholder dividends for 25 years in a row, what S&P designation was granted the world's largest distributor of toys? Answer: S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats.

Please see Day 45 for the explanation.

Question 2:
What industry is the primary user of perchloroethylene, a chemical that researchers at Boston University have linked to mental illness, like bipolar disorder? Answer: dry cleaners.

Please see Day 8 for the explanation.

Question 3:
Who is generally regarded as one of the very first Americans to die in the struggle for liberty from British Rule? Answer: Crispus Attucks.

When you place revolutionary war first casualty in the search field you'll see two names. The other, an 11 year old boy named Christopher Seider died two weeks before Attucks, but in typical Internet fashion there are many arguments but no citations(even from an organization like the New England Historical Society, who have the means to investigate). Until source material becomes widely available Mr. Attucks is the answer.

18 Dec, 2015: Day 8

Question 1:
What industry is the primary user of perchloroethylene, a chemical that researchers at Boston University have linked to mental illness, like bipolar disorder? Answer: dry cleaners.

Full disclosure: my cousin ran a dry cleaner for number of years and I wrote a paper describing an alternate use of PERC. For the uninitiated, perchloroethylene uses is a quick way of resolving the question. FYI, it's known as tetrachloroethylene or tetrachloroethene, depending on what bottle you are reaching for.

Question 2:
What Frankish ruler is associated with the Carolingian Renaissance? Answer: Charlemagne.

It's hard not to remember a ruler who was crowned Emperor of the Romans by the Pope on Christmas Day, 800 C.E. but I paid attention in world history class, I'm a geek like that. Getting to the information just as fast just type Carolingian Renaissance into the search field. You have to do some digging, but the answer is contained on one of the results on the first page.

Question 3:
Whose likeness reportedly served as the artist's inspiration for the figure of Plato in "The School of Athens"? Answer: Leonardo da Vinci.

This is one of several paintings they teach in art school, this painted by the master Raphael. If you look up this painting in Wikipedia you'll come up with the same answer.