Yahoo! Answers

Hey Guys,

I don’t know the first thing about hockey. But I do know one thing: The National Hockey League has, without question, the coolest trophy in all of sports. The Stanley Cup, given each year to the league’s champion, is engraved with hundreds of names of past champions. But hockey noobs like myself may be wondering — just who was Stanley?

Frederick Arthur Stanley, better known as Lord Stanley, was the man behind the Cup. Stanley, an Englishman, was appointed as Governor General of Canada in 1888. Stanley and his seven strapping sons were all athletic, and upon moving to Canada, they started playing ice hockey. One of Stanley’s sons, Arthur, went on to create the Ontario Hockey Association.

According to a 2002 column from Ask Yahoo!, Arthur and his brother Algy talked their dad into donating a trophy to the league as “an outward and visible sign of the ice hockey championship.” Stanley purchased a silver cup for around $50, but I doubt he had any idea it would go on to be a part of history. The trophy was awarded for the first time in 1893, and it’s been a symbol of championship hockey ever since.

The silver cup was retired in 1970 (it became too fragile) and can be seen at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada. But the current trophy is still in use. And what makes the trophy unlike any other is that each member of the championship team gets to take the cup home with them for a day. And that can lead to some comic misadventures, which you can read more about on Snopes.

You can watch the Stanley Cup finals this week between the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

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**Secret Revealed**

In 1971, an English teacher, a history teacher and writer started a coffee roasting business in Seattle.

It’s not surprising that such an intellectual group would have an affinity for classics like Moby Dick. In fact, Starbucks was nearly called Pequod, the name of the whaling ship in Moby Dick. Thankfully, one of the partners rejected the name. Instead, they went with Starbucks, the name of Pequod’s first mate.

Although Starbuck was a fictional young quaker from Nantucket, there were a number of real sailors from that era with the name “Starbuck.”. Naming a coffee company was’t the first time the name was borrowed either. There is an island in the South Pacific, a popular region for whaling, called Starbuck Island.

Starbuck Island was heavily mined for phosphate in the late 1800s and many ships were wrecked there. The high frequency of shipwrecks was probably caused by the reefs that surrounded the island, but there is a mythical explanation too.

In Greek Mythology there are seductresses who lure sailors to shipwreck on the coast of their islands. These mythical creatures are called Sirens and the Starbucks logo contains one.

Chad Upton is the editor-in-chief of Broken Secrets and an official Yahoo Answers contributor.

Thanks for reading,

Sources: Wikipedia (Starbucks, Moby Dick, Starbuck Island, Siren)

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Hey Guys,

It’s summer movie season. That means a lot of big budget flicks at the box office. Many folks call these movies “blockbusters.” Why?

The modern meaning refers to a movie’s potential to make a “big impact” and, with it, big money. Based on what’s out there, the current meaning most likely evolved from a military expression used during World War II.

When a plane from the British Royal Air Force dropped a large bomb on a German city and scored a direct hit, it was often referred to as a block-buster. Certain bombs were powerful enough to destroy entire city blocks.

That’s the story of the blockbuster. But what about the trailer? Why are trailers called trailers if they’re shown before the main feature?

Back in the good ol’ days, trailers were actually shown after the movie finished. A blog from the experts at The Straight Dope quotes a 1966 article from the Los Angeles Times that explains everything. Apparently the world’s first trailer was shown at a New York amusement park in 1912.

“One of the concessions hung up a white sheet and showed the serial “The Adventures of Kathlyn.” At the end of the reel Kathlyn was thrown in the lion’s den. After this “trailed” a piece of film asking Does she escape the lion’s pit? See next week’s thrilling chapter! Hence, the word “trailer,” an advertisement for a coming picture.”

Got any more questions about movie-related trivia? Please leave a question in the comments below.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

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