The Daily Mix
Six questions, six subjects, one little challenge. A new mix lands every day at midnight New York time.
Which NFL franchise is widely known as "America's Team"?
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Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys picked up the nickname from the narration of their 1978 NFL Films highlight reel, and it stuck because of their national following and five Super Bowl wins.
Cowboys coach Tom Landry initially disliked the nickname because he felt it gave opponents extra motivation.
Which author wrote The Metamorphosis, in which Gregor Samsa wakes to find himself transformed into a giant insect?
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Franz Kafka
Kafka, a Prague insurance clerk who wrote in German, published the novella in 1915; its blend of the ordinary and the nightmarish gave the language the word Kafkaesque.
He asked his friend Max Brod to burn his unpublished manuscripts after his death. Brod refused, and The Trial and The Castle survived.
When a diner orders omakase at a sushi counter, what does the word literally mean?
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I leave it up to you
Omakase comes from the verb makaseru, to entrust, so the diner is telling the chef to choose every course. It lets the itamae serve whatever is best that day and build the meal in a deliberate order from lighter to richer fish.
The phrase diners say before eating, itadakimasu, means I humbly receive and is a thank you to everyone and everything that produced the meal.
Which site became the 63rd and newest US national park when it was redesignated in December 2020?
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New River Gorge
New River Gorge in West Virginia was upgraded from a national river to a national park and preserve on December 27, 2020. White Sands had become the 62nd park the year before.
The New River Gorge Bridge is closed to traffic only once a year, on Bridge Day in October, when BASE jumpers leap from its deck.
Which planet is often called Earth's twin because of its similar size and mass?
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Venus
Venus is about 95 percent of Earth's diameter and 80 percent of its mass, but its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere traps heat and bakes the surface at around 465 °C (870 °F), hot enough to melt lead.
Venus spins backwards compared with most planets, so the Sun there rises in the west and sets in the east.
Which was Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, published in 1953?
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Casino Royale
Casino Royale introduced Bond at a baccarat table against the Soviet paymaster Le Chiffre and was published in April 1953, with Live and Let Die following a year later.
The rights to Casino Royale were sold separately, which is why it became a 1967 spoof and did not get an official adaptation until 2006.
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How the Daily Mix works
Every day at midnight New York time, the mix picks six categories and draws one question from each. The draw works through every question in a category before any of them comes around again, so you will not see the same question twice in a hurry. Everyone gets the same six questions on the same day, so you can compare scores with friends. Answer at your own pace, read the explanation after each pick, and come back tomorrow for a fresh set.