Skeleton Trivia for Wednesday, 2026-01-14
No, it’s not a hair salon
Hiya Skeleton Crew,
Can ya believe we’re already halfway through the first month of the year? It’s basically almost the end of January! That means February’s just ’round the corner, at which point it’ll pretty much be spring, & that means we’ll be gearin up for graduation season & summer vacay ... before ya know it, it’ll be back to school & Pumpkin Spice Latte season & Yuletide!
Answers to Last Time
- Bangladesh is where we saw some of the most notable Gen Z protests in the past coupla years, what with its July Revolution & all.
- Hailee Steinfeld starred as Emily Dickinson in the teevee show Dickinson.
Today’s Trivias
Trivia 1
Don’t get Bangladesh’s 2024 July Revolution (a.k.a. the Monsoon Revolution) confused with France’s 1830 July Revolution (a.k.a. the Second French Revolution)!
The story behind the latter situation is that the French had this king, a guy named Charles X, who was basically an ol’ fuddy duddy reactionary type.
“But Mr. S,” I hear some of ya askin, “didn’t the French get RID of their king back in the 1790s or whatever?”
I KNOW, right?
But ANYWAYS: the French didn’t like Charlie X, they dumped him, then they decided to go with a fella named Louis Philippe as king instead. Which worked out for a li’l bit ... until there was ANOTHER French Revolution, this time in 1848, when they elected a fella named Napoleon III to be president. But then he decided why be a president when ya could be an EMPEROR instead? So that’s what he did.
“But Mr. S,” I hear more of ya askin, “didn’t the French already TRY havin an emperor named Napoleon? And anyway, isn’t an emperor basically just a king by another name? Weren’t they sick of kings by NOW???”
I KNOW, right!!!!!????
I dunno what to tell youse guys. I can’t say how many conversations I had with my French pals at the time. They were all like, “Non, this time is complètement différent!” & I’d say, “Ennnh, but is it really all that different from the PHRASE REDACTED?” except instead of sayin “phrase redacted” I’d say what two-word French phrase that the Encyclopedia Britannica defines as the “political and social system of France prior to the French Revolution”?
Trivia 2
One of Napoleon III’s big things was a renovation of Paris into the grand-boulevarded city we know & love today. That was done at the behest of a fella named Georges-Eugène Haussmann.
One of the crown jewels of Haussmann’s program was the Palais Garnier, architected by a guy named (surprise surprise) Charles Garnier. Here’s a (lightly redacted) picture of it:
All I wantcha to tell me for THIS trivia is: what purpose does the Palais Garnier serve?
OK then
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee