CONTEST TRIVIA

Did you know:

•  The very first ice skates were made from hollowed out elk ribs?

 Alina's book available from Amazon http://tinyurl.com/SkateCrime.

• The patron saint of figure skating is St. Lydwina, who, in the 14th century fell while skating on a frozen canal in Holland and broke her ribs, leading to a lifetime of opportunistic illnesses (kids, be careful!).  During World War II, citizens of her home-town, Schiedam, prayed to Lydwina to save them from Nazi bombing raids?

•  Charles II of England introduced figure skating to his home country after a visit to Holland in 1662?

• The first figure skating club in North America was founded in 1849 - as the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society?

• The Axel (Paulsen), (Ulrich) Salchow, and (Alois) Lutz jumps are all named after people who developed them?  The Loop is not in America, but in Europe it is called a (Warner) Rittberger.  (Maybe they were afraid Americans would think it was something to eat?)

• Famed television announcer Dick Button is the only man to ever win the US, World, Olympic and European Championships.  (After Dick, Americans were forbidden from entering the European event.)

• Michelle Kwan shares the record with Maribel Vinson for most US titles won by a woman - 9? (But Maribel also won 4 U.S. Pairs titles).

• Michelle Kwan shares the record with Carol Heiss for most World titles won by a woman - 5?

• The 2011 World Figure Skating Championships, scheduled to take place in Japan from March 21-27, 2011, have been postponed indefinitely due to the earthquake.  Previously, the event was canceled from 1915 to 1921 due to World War I, from 1940 to 1946 due to World War II, and exactly fifty years ago in 1961, when the entire US Figure Skating Team was killed in an airplane crash en route to the competition?

Thank you to Alina Adams for this interesting trivia and for DONATING AN ebook TO THE PRIZE POOL! Leave a comment below and SKATE CRIME MULTIMEDIA could be yours!

Find out more about Alina and her books at http://www.AlinaAdams.com and http://www.FigureSkatingMystery.com 

Alina Adams used her past as a figure skating researcher for ABC, NBC, ESPN and TNT to write the Figure Skating Mystery series of books for Berkley Prime Crime.  She used her experience working in television to create "Skate Crime: Multimedia," an e-book with skating videos embedded directly in the text as part of the story.  Available now on Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/SkateCrime.

 

 

 

 

Leave a comment below (click on green comment button) to be entered to win fabulous books.  Visit Alina's website and double your chances to win!

CONTEST TRIVIA...

Did you know...

...Gan Palace is the Zhuang name for the stunning YiLing Caves in the scenic karst mountains surrounding the southern city of Nanning in China's Guang-Xi Zhuang Autonomous Region? It means "Place as beautiful as a palace."

YiLing Caves or "Gan Palace"

YiLing Caves or "Gan Palace"

Thank you to author, Donna Carrick, for this trivia and the photos.  Donna's novel THE FIRST EXCELLENCE takes place in China.

Leave a comment below with contact info to be entered to win books by trivia-contributing authors. See my home page http://www.eileenschuh.com for full contest details.

Be sure to visit Donna's website and leave a comment mentioning this contest to double your chances to win. 

www.DonnaCarrick.com 

www.CarrickPublishing.com 

Donna is offering both a copy of her novel THE FIRST EXCELLENCE and her hubby, Alex Carrick's book THREE SCOOPS IS A BLAST as prizes.  Stay tuned for more prize details.

The First Excellence, “An exquisitely-crafted saga of one person’s search for her roots set against a clash of cultures.” ~ The Sherbrooke Record, February 18, 2011a

CONTEST TRIVIA...

...Dog Island, a small island at the east end of Lesser Slave Lake, Alberta Canada, got its name from the days of dogsleds. In the early days there was a homestead on the island and it was a stopping place for the steamships that traveled from Sawridge to Grouard. The island was home during the summer to the sled dogs. They were fed fish now and then and harnessed up again for the winter. Today it is part of the Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park.

 

Dog Island from Devonshire Beach Fall 2010

Dog Island, along with other Canadian Aboriginal culture, lore, and local history is featured in Alberta author, Aaron Lehman's, Mystery on Dog Island series. For more information on Aaron and his books visit http://www.blcitours.com/.

Thanks to Aaron Lehman for sharing this trivia and for the photo of Dog Island.

Update on Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 6:59PM by Eileen Schuh

Aaron Lehman is offering a copy of THE MYSTERY OF DOG ISLAND as part of the prize package in my TRIVIA CONTEST.  Thanks, Aaron. 

Leave a comment below his trivia post to be entered in the June early bird draw and the August final draw.  Visit his website and leave him a message about the contest to double your chances to win.  Good Luck!

...there are many more fun terms used in the sport of Curling?

...a bonspiel is a competition between curling teams. Usually teams pay to enter and are awarded cash prizes if the place well.  At least three games and an evening meal for participants is usually included in the entry fee and sometimes entertainment is provided, as well. In smaller towns, businesses often donate many door prizes in addition to trophies and/or prizes for the top teams.

...a funspiel is like a bonspiel, except special scoring and playing rules are created to enable all teams, regardless of ability, the chance to win.  Funspiels are often organized to raise dollars for charitable causes.  It's not unusual for someone who's never curled in their life, to participate in a 'funspiel'

...stepping into the hack is not slipping on a gob of mucous.  The hacks are toe holds, usually rubber, that are frozen into the ice at each end of the sheet.   By putting one foot in the hack, the curler is able to push off when throwing the rock.  Good curlers will know how hard to push out of the hack so the rock goes as far as is needed to end up where the skip wants it. Normal curlers sometimes use the arm to push the rock rather than the leg.  This makes it more difficult to control the speed and direction of the rock. *sigh*

...being told you are heavy and wide does not refer to your physique in the sport of curling?  It means you threw the rock too hard and were off the target. If you're inside, outside, or off the broom it means you missed the target, too.

...meeting between the sheets has no sexual connotations in the sport of curling?  The lanes of ice in a curling rink are called 'sheets'.  In some curling rinks there are walkways between the sheets.

...throwing rocks at houses is the very essence of the sport of curling?  Granite stones with handles, called 'rocks' are thrown down sheets of ice with concentric circles at each end.  These circles are called 'the house'.  Only rocks within the house or touching the house have the possibility of scoring.  The back of the house refers to the part of the ring farthest from the shooter (the person throwing the rock) and the top of the house is the part of the ring closest to the shooter.  Rocks are often purposely thrown in front of the house to 'guard' rocks that are in the rings--making it harder for the opposition to knock out the rocks that are counting.

curling rocks in and in front of the house

...hogging a rock has nothing to do with keeping a rock away from the opposition?  It is what happens if one doesn't throw a curling rock hard enough.  If the rock doesn't get over the line (the hog line) in front of the house, the thrower is said to have 'hogged' the rock and the rock is taken out of play.

...reading the ice is not at all like reading a book?  "sticky" "frosty" "slick" "fast" "hot" "slow" "straight" are some words curlers use to describe the condition of the ice.  Reading the ice correctly is vital in the game of curling.  Each sheet will read differently and often ice conditons change as the game progresses.  The skip places her broom on the ice and the curler aims at the broom, giving the rock a slight 'twirl' as she releases the rock.  The skip doesn't want the rock to end up where she has her broom.  Because the rock is rotating, it will 'curl' in the direction of the rotation and end up...someplace.  The speed of the rock (weight), the condition of the ice, the rock's rotation, the efforts of the sweepers, are some things the skip must consider when deciding where to place her broom so that the rock ends up where she wants it to.

...sweeping a curling rock doesn't make it go faster?  Strong sweeping can, however, make the rock go straighter and make it go farther.

...a bonspiel is a curling competition where teams come together to vie for prizes and/or money and to socialize. It often lasts several days and involves food and drink, and perhaps fund-raising activities like raffles, Nevada, silent auctions. 

...there are four people on a standard curling team who throw 2 rocks each. Two teams compete on each 'sheet'.  The 'skip' is the leader, calls the shots and usually (but not always) throws the very important last two rocks. The lead throws the first two rocks, followed by the 2nd, and then the 3rd. The 3rd will usually hold the broom for the skip to aim at when she throws her rocks. If a player is not throwing the rock or holding the broom, they ought to be following the thrown rock down the ice in case the skip wants them to sweep it.

...when all rocks have been thrown, the 'end' is over (like a'period' in hockey or an 'inning' in baseball). League play usually consists of 8 ends. More vigorous and professional tournaments can go up to 12 ends.

CURLING...my favourite winter sport.

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