Five Minute Trivia

Why call something an ocean when you can call it a sea? Why call it a sea when you can call it a gulf? Why is Long Island Sound a body of water and not a rock band? If you've ever looked at a map of the world's bodies of water and wondered what anyone was thinking, this week's show is for you.

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History is full of restless, ambitious overachievers who wanted to make some difference in the world. But what if our idea of the world is wrong? What if life is nothing more than a dumb accident of the universe with no meaning? This is the philosophy of absurdism. In Albert Camus' The Stranger, the idea of absurdism is told through the character of Meursalt, a guy so checked out of life that he can't even explain why he murdered someone. On this week's show, we're talking about life, death, and the meaning of it all. 

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When stars die, they don't go quietly. They can shrink, expand, explode, and everything in between. How does a star know what to do when it's done? We're covering all that in the conclusion of our two-part series.

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Black holes have been a reliable source of inspiration in science fiction and made astrophysicists like Stephen Hawking into household names. On this week's show, we follow how the idea of black holes went from a mathematical sideshow to a phenomenon that has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of the universe. This episode is the first of a two-parter on the funny business that happens when stars stop being stars.

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Impressionism was a 19th century art movement borne out of an insult, but quickly became one of the most popular and enduring art forms in history. Legendary painters like Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, and Mary Cassatt were impressionists. On today's show, we explore the history of this movement and how its artists embraced that derisive term. All of the paintings featured on today's episode can be found in the show notes on the www.5minutetrivia.com website.

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The Molotov cocktail is not a drink and the person it's named for didn't invent it. Yet there is perhaps no more iconic symbol of resistance in the world than a flaming bottle being thrown at a technologically superior opponent. Where did the Molotov cocktail come from and why is it called that? We're talking all about it on this week's show.

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If you want to turn today into tomorrow, you don't need to wait for science to invent something. You can just go west until you cross 180 degrees longitude. That's where the International Date Line is located. On today's show, we talk about what it is and why it's needed. Special appearances by Gary Cooper and The Ghostbusters.

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The 98th Academy Awards are right around the corner, so we thought we'd tackle some burning questions about the Oscars. Like who...or what...is Oscar? And has anyone named Oscar ever won an Oscar?

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For over a hundred years, Hollywood has been making movie adaptations of Wuthering Heights. And for over a hundred years, they've been controversial. The latest one starring Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff is no exception. This week, we're talking about this enduring novel that invented the genre of Gothic literature, even though the author pretended to be someone else and no one has any idea what the title means.

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This year, the Islamic month of Ramadan and the Catholic observance of Lent both started on the same day. Both faith traditions are characterized by fasting, spiritual devotion, and personal sacrifice. Both faiths also make up nearly 40% of the world's population, so that means that you probably know someone who's a little hungry right now. On this week's show, we're talking about them.

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