This week’s questions:
1) What government building in Washington, D.C. houses a slice of Tom Thumb’s wedding cake?
2) What 1967 discovery did astronomers half-jokingly refer to as Little Green Men?
3) What is the only North American mammal with a prehensile tail?
4) What over-the-top character is the onstage alter ego of Australian comedian Barry Humphries?
5) To what fellow writer did Herman Melville dedicate his whaling epic Moby Dick?
This week’s answers:
1) The Library of Congress. Thumb married fellow P.T. Barnum midget Lavinia Warren in 1863.
2) Pulsars–because the rapidly spinning neutron (collapsed) stars emitted pulsating radio signals at regular intervals, which suggested the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life.
3) The opossum. It uses its hairless foot-long tail to grasp objects and climb trees.
4) Dame Edna Everage.
5) Nathaniel Hawthorne, who had urged Melville to draw on his whaling experiences to write a novel.