National Airlines

When you see an airline called Air India or Air Canada or Alitalia, it's obvious where those airlines come from. It's the ones with not-so-related names that we need to be concerned about.

Part 1: A sampling of airlines that don't have their associated country in their name. Some of the names with initials may very well stand for (or at least hint at) what country they're from, but it's not overtly apparent.

Qantas: Australia
Gulf Air: Bahrain
Maya Island Air: Belize
AeroSur: Bolivia
TAM Airlines: Brazil
LAN Airlines: Chile
Avianca: Colombia
Lacsa: Costa Rica
TAME: Ecuador
TACA: El Salvador
Lufthansa: Germany
Olympic Airlines: Greece
Cathay Pacific: Hong Kong
Malev: Hungary
Aer Lingus: Ireland
El Al: Israel
KLM: Netherlands
Copa Airlines: Panama
TAROM: Romania
Aeroflot: Russia
Iberia: Spain
Etihad Airways: United Arab Emirates

Part 2: Country of the day = Bangladesh. Capital city = Dhaka.



Part 3: Word of the day = compunction noun a feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by regret or doing wrong or causing pain

Clinton's Cabinet

As a follow up to the previous post, here's a list of Clinton's cabinet. There are multiple names in most departments 'cause of the changing of the guard through the course of the administration. Note that in my historical trek backwards through presidential cabinets that I'm conveniently skipping over George Bush the younger. 'Cause frankly, I don't care who was in his cabinet.

Part 1: Clinton's cabinet. There wasn't a Homeland Security secretary back then (pre-9/11).

Vice President: Al Gore, Jr.
State: Warren M. Christopher, Madeleine Albright
Treasury: Lloyd Bentsen, Robert E. Rubin, Lawrence H. Summers
Defense: Les Aspin, William J. Perry, William S. Cohen
Justice: Attorney General Janet Reno
interior: Bruce Babbitt
Agriculture: Mike Espy, Dan Glickman
Commerce: Ronald H. Brown, Mickey Kantor, William M. Daley, Norman Y. Mineta
Labor: Robert B. Reich, Alexis Herman
Health and Human Services: Donna E. Shalala
Housing and Urban Development: Henry G. Cisneros, Andrew M. Cuomo
Transportation: Federico F. Pena, Rodney Slater
Energy: Hazel R. O'Leary, Federico F. Pena, Bill Richardson
Education: Richard W. Riley
Veterans Affairs: Jesse Brown, Togo D. West, Jr.

Part 2: Country of the day = Bahrain. Capital city = Manama.



Part 3: Word of the day = alimentary adjective concerned with the function of nutrition

Obama's Cabinet

One topic I know I'm weak on is guys' and gals' names who serve politically, whether it be governors, mayors, congressfolks, or cabinet members. This is not just a problem with those currently in office, but it's most definitely a problem historically. So I might as well start in the here and now.

Part 1: Obama's cabinet, listed in order of succession. Note that between the VP and the Secretary of State, succession includes the Speaker of the House (Nancy Pelosi) and the President pro tempore of the Senate (Robert Byrd), but those two are not included in this list 'cause they're not cabinet members.

Vice President: Joseph R. Biden
State: Hillary Rodham Clinton
Treasury: Timothy F. Geithner
Defense: Robert M. Gates
Justice: Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Interior: Kenneth L. Salazar
Agriculture: Thomas J. Vilsack
Commerce: Gary F. Locke
Labor: Hilda L. Solis
Health and Human Services: Kathleen Sebelius
Housing and Urban Development: Shaun L.S. Donovan
Transportation: Raymond L. LaHood
Energy: Steven Chu
Education: Arne Duncan
Veterans Affairs: Eric K. Shinseki
Homeland Security: Janet A. Napolitano

Part 2: Country of the day = the Bahamas. Capital city = Nassau.



Part 3: Word of the day = fastidious adjective excessively particular, critical, or demanding

The 1987-1988 Los Angeles Lakers

Part 1: Here are the Lakers from 21 years ago: the season that Pat Riley guaranteed would be an NBA championship winning season. Listed in order of position: guards first, then forwards, then the tall guys.

Byron Scott
Jeff Lamp
Magic Johnson
Milt Wagner
Wes Matthews
Michael Cooper
A.C. Green
Billy Thompson
James Worthy
Kurt Rambis
Ray Tolbert
Tony Campbell
Mychal Thompson
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Mike Smrek

Part 2: Country of the day = Azerbaijan. Capital city = Baku.



Part 3: Word of the day = elocution noun a person's manner of speaking or reading aloud in public

The Impressionists

Rouen is one of my favorite French cities. Monet's series of Rouen Cathedral paintings are some of my favorite impressionist works. The standard guess when anything comes up about impressionists and I have no idea is, Who is Monet?

Part 1: Some of The Impressionists and a well known work by each:

Gustave Caillebotte (Paris Street, Rainy Day)
Mary Cassatt (The Boating Party)
Paul Cezanne (The Cardplayers)
Edgar Degas (anything with ballet dancers)
Edouard Manet (Execution of Emperor Maximillian of Mexico)
Claude Monet (the Rouen Cathedral series, of course! - or anything with lilies)
Camille Pissarro (The garden of Pontoise)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Luncheon of the Boating Party)
Alfred Sisley (Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne)

Part 2: Country of the day = Austria. Capital city = Vienna.



Part 3: Word of the day = ululate verb howl, wail

The Tempest

I think I read The Tempest in the mid-90's and I don't remember anything about it. The good thing about Jeopardy is that all you really need to know about any work of literature is an extremely brief summary and a few of the major characters.

Part 1: The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. A king sailing home gets in a big storm. They're on an island with a magician. Shenanigans ensue. Every is okay in the end.

Characters:
Prospero
Miranda
Ariel
Caliban
Alonso
Ferdinand
Sebastian
Antonio
Gonzalo
Stephano
Trinculo
spirits
sailors

Part 2: Country of the Day = Australia. Capital city = Canberra.

Part 3: Word of the day = mellifluous adj. having a smooth rich flow

Hemingway

Jeopardy! last night had a final question about a posthumous Hemingway book. All three contestants got it wrong.

Part 1: Hemingway novels
The Torrents of Spring
The Sun Also Rises
A Farewell to Arms
To Have and Have Not
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Across the River and Into the Trees
The Old Man and the Sea
Adventures of a Young Man
Islands in the Stream
The Garden of Eden

Part 2: Country of the day = Armenia. Capital city = Yerevan.



Part 3: Obama used this word multiple times today. Word of the day = misapprehension noun mistake, misunderstanding

1939 Academy Awards

Part 1: Major winners of the 1939 Academy Awards:
Best Picture: Gone With The Wind
Best Director: Victor Fleming, Gone With The Wind
Best Actor: Robert Donat, Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Best Actress: Vivien Leigh, Gone With The Wind
Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Mitchell, Stagecoach
Best Supporting Actress: Hattie McDaniel, Gone With The Wind

Part 2: Country of the day: Argentina. Capital city: Buenos Aires.



Part 3: The previous post was the last word from the movie Better Luck Tomorrow. Now I'll come up with something random each day.

Word of the day: selenography noun the scientific mapping of the moon; lunar geography

D-Day

Part 1: The code names of the WWII Normandy D-Day beaches, from west to east:
Utah
Omaha
Gold
Juno
Sword

Part 2: Country of the day = Antigua and Barbuda. Capital city = Saint John's.



Part 3: Word of the day = inextricable adj. 1. that which cannot be disentangled, undone, or loosed; 2. hopelessly intricate, involved or perplexing

The NATO Phonetic Alphabet

This is the naming system I use for my 26-part series on George Nelson Benches. 26 letters. 26 benches. 26 words that are used for each letter so there's no confusion on the battlefield.

Part 1: The NATO Phonetic Alphabet:
Alfa (or Alpha)
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliett (or Juliet)
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
Xray
Yankee
Zulu

Part 2: Country of the day = Angola. Capital city = Luanda.



Part 3: Word of the day = catharsis noun a cleansing or purging that releases emotions