Skeleton Trivia for Thursday, 2025-06-05
Important to distinguish Argus Panoptes from Argus the faithful dog of Odysseus
Hiya Skeleton Crew,
It’s a wild ’n’ wacky Themie Thursday here at the ol’ Trivia Zone!
Every Thursday I try ’n’ make it so the two answers are linked in some way. Sometimes it means that they’re components of a two-part phrase, like how last week’s answers were block ’n’ tackle. Or maybe the answers share some kinda wordplay, like when the answers were beriberi ’n’ Makemake (both reduplicative words).
I dunno, it’s just kinda a way to kinda mix things up a li’l bit? It don’t really matter. But I mention it because very occasionally it might help ya get an answer ya might not a’ gotten otherwise.
Answers to Last Time
In addition to foundin’ the philosophical school a’ utilitarianism, Mr. Jeremy Bentham also cooked up a prison design he called the panopticon.
It was Michel Foucault who took the idea a’ the literal architectural panopticon an’ applied to his sociocultural historiographical postmodern analytical doodads.
Today’s Trivias
Trivia 1
I can’t ever see the word “panopticon” without thinkin’ a’ my ol’ pal Argus Panoptes. He served Hera, a job he’d nabbed after successfully beatin’ up that half-serpentine mother of monsters, a.k.a. the lady youse ’n’ I know as Echidna. Strong guy, Argie was!
He was also an incredibly good watchman, on account a’ his havin’ a hundred eyes that only some a’ them were asleep at any given moment. But ... well, that ended up bein’ his downfall, uff da! See, ’cause Mrs. Hera decided ol’ watchful Argie’d be the perfect fella to keep guard over what lover of Zeus who’d been turned into a heifer?
It was a whole thing. I don’t wanna get into all the gory details, the but short version’s that Zeusy sent sneaky ol’ Hermes to kill Argus in order to free this lady-turned-heifer.
Ah jeez!! It took me a minute to forgive Hermes for that one.
Hera did do me a favor by sewin’ ol’ Argus’s eyes into the peacock’s tail. Which I guess is a kinda nice consolation? Now I can’t see a peacock without thinkin’ ’bout good ol’ Argie.
Trivia 2
Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain, ’n’ Ajman are the five smallest members (in both area ’n’ population) of a heptad that’s best known as what?
OK then
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee