Humor – The Grumpy Doc

Christmas Trivia Quiz

By John Turley

On December 4, 2025

In Humor

A lighthearted Christmas quiz to make you smile. I posted this last year; see if you do better. Answers are at the end.

Question 1

Which country is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition?

A. Germany
B. Sweden
C. England

Question 2

What was the first song ever broadcast from space?

A. “Silent Night”
B. “Jingle Bells”
C. “Frosty the Snowman”

Question 3

What gift did the Little Drummer Boy give to the newborn Jesus?

A. A lamb
B. Gold
C. A song

Question 4

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, what is the name of Scrooge’s deceased business partner?

A. Jacob Marley
B. Bob Cratchit
C. Fred

Question 5

In the movie Home Alone, where does the McCallister family go on vacation when they leave Kevin behind?

A. Paris
B. Rome
C. London

Question 6

Which U.S. state was the first to recognize Christmas as an official holiday?

A. Alabama
B. Virginia
C. New York

Question 7

Who wrote the famous Christmas poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas?

A. Clement Clarke Moore
B. Washington Irving
C. Edgar Allan Poe

Question 8

What is the most popular Christmas movie of all time, according to box office records?

A. Home Alone
B. Elf
C. Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (2018)

Question 9

In which Gospel do we find the account of the angel announcing Jesus’ birth to shepherds?

A. Matthew
B. Luke
C. John

Question 10

Who is the villain in The Nightmare Before Christmas?

A. The Grinch
B. Oogie Boogie
C. Jack Skellington

Question 11

What was the name of George Bailey’s guardian angel in It’s a Wonderful Life?

A. Alfred
B. Clarence
C. Harold

Question 12

Which reindeer is Rudolph’s father?

A. Blitzen
B. Prancer
C. Donner

Question 13

What is the best-selling Christmas single of all time?

A. “Last Christmas”
B. “White Christmas”
C. “All I Want for Christmas Is You”

Question 14

What Christmas beverage is also known as “milk punch”?

A. Mulled wine
B. Eggnog
C. Wassail

Question 15

What is the name of the Grinch’s dog in How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

A. Max
B. Charlie
C. Spot

Question 16

Which department store is featured in Miracle on 34th Street?

A. Bloomingdale’s
B. Macy’s
C. Sears

Question 17

What plant is associated with Christmas because of its red and green colors?

A. Holly
B. Poinsettia
C. Mistletoe

Question 18

In the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” how many total gifts are given by the end?

A. 78
B. 364
C. 144

Question 19

What animated Christmas movie features a train bound for the North Pole?

A. Frosty the Snowman
B. Arthur Christmas
C. The Polar Express

Question 20

Which Christmas character is known as “Kris Kringle”?

A. Santa Claus
B. St. Nicholas
C. Frosty

Question 21

What is the name of the holiday celebrated on December 26 in many countries, including the UK and Canada?

A. Boxing Day
B. St. Stephen’s Day
C. Epiphany

Question 22

Which classic Christmas song contains the lyrics, “In the meadow, we can build a snowman”?

A. “Jingle Bells”
B. “Let It Snow”
C. “Winter Wonderland”

Question 23

In the movie Elf, what is the first rule in the Code of Elves?

A. Treat every day like Christmas
B. The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear
C. Always be kind

Question 24

Which biblical figures followed a star to find the baby Jesus?

A. Shepherds
B. Wise Men (Magi)
C. Angels

Question 25

In A Charlie Brown Christmas, what does Charlie Brown set out to find for the Christmas play?

A. A wreath
B. A Christmas tree
C. A Santa costume

Question 26

What is the name of the miserly character in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

A. Scrooge
B. The Grinch
C. Ebenezer

Question 27

Who played the title role in the 2003 movie Bad Santa?

A. Robin Williams
B. Billy Bob Thornton
C. Will Ferrell

Question 28

What Christmas tradition involves hanging a stocking over the fireplace?

A. To invite Santa into the home
B. To receive small gifts or treats
C. To honor St. Nicholas

Question 29

Which of the following is a traditional Christmas dessert in England?

A. Pumpkin pie
B. Christmas pudding
C. Fruitcake

Question 30

What is the opening line of the Christmas carol “O Holy Night”?

A. “Silent night, holy night”
B. “O holy night, the stars are brightly shining”
C. “It came upon the midnight clear”

Answers

1 A, 2 B, 3 C, 4 A, 5 A, 6 A, 7 A, 8 C, 9 B, 10 B, 11 B, 12 C, 13 B, 14 B, 15 A, 16 B, 17 B, 18 B, 19 C, 20 A, 21 A, 22 C, 23 B, 24 B, 25 A, 26 B, 27 B, 28 B, 29 B, 30 B

How did you do?

Christmas Trivia

By John Turley

On November 28, 2025

In Humor

By John Turley

On May 16, 2025

In Humor, Medicine, Politics

Have A Very Happy And Healthy New Year

By John Turley

On January 1, 2025

In Commentary, Humor

If you must. -The Grumpy Doc

Christmas Trivia Quiz

By John Turley

On December 4, 2024

In Humor

A lighthearted Christmas quiz to make you smile. Answers are at the end.

Question 1

Which country is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition?

A. Germany
B. Sweden
C. England

Question 2

What was the first song ever broadcast from space?

A. “Silent Night”
B. “Jingle Bells”
C. “Frosty the Snowman”

Question 3

What gift did the Little Drummer Boy give to the newborn Jesus?

A. A lamb
B. Gold
C. A song

Question 4

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, what is the name of Scrooge’s deceased business partner?

A. Jacob Marley
B. Bob Cratchit
C. Fred

Question 5

In the movie Home Alone, where does the McCallister family go on vacation when they leave Kevin behind?

A. Paris
B. Rome
C. London

Question 6

Which U.S. state was the first to recognize Christmas as an official holiday?

A. Alabama
B. Virginia
C. New York

Question 7

Who wrote the famous Christmas poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas?

A. Clement Clarke Moore
B. Washington Irving
C. Edgar Allan Poe

Question 8

What is the most popular Christmas movie of all time, according to box office records?

A. Home Alone
B. Elf
C. Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (2018)

Question 9

In which Gospel do we find the account of the angel announcing Jesus’ birth to shepherds?

A. Matthew
B. Luke
C. John

Question 10

Who is the villain in The Nightmare Before Christmas?

A. The Grinch
B. Oogie Boogie
C. Jack Skellington

Question 11

What was the name of George Bailey’s guardian angel in It’s a Wonderful Life?

A. Alfred
B. Clarence
C. Harold

Question 12

Which reindeer is Rudolph’s father?

A. Blitzen
B. Prancer
C. Donner

Question 13

What is the best-selling Christmas single of all time?

A. “Last Christmas”
B. “White Christmas”
C. “All I Want for Christmas Is You”

Question 14

What Christmas beverage is also known as “milk punch”?

A. Mulled wine
B. Eggnog
C. Wassail

Question 15

What is the name of the Grinch’s dog in How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

A. Max
B. Charlie
C. Spot

Question 16

Which department store is featured in Miracle on 34th Street?

A. Bloomingdale’s
B. Macy’s
C. Sears

Question 17

What plant is associated with Christmas because of its red and green colors?

A. Holly
B. Poinsettia
C. Mistletoe

Question 18

In the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” how many total gifts are given by the end?

A. 78
B. 364
C. 144

Question 19

What animated Christmas movie features a train bound for the North Pole?

A. Frosty the Snowman
B. Arthur Christmas
C. The Polar Express

Question 20

Which Christmas character is known as “Kris Kringle”?

A. Santa Claus
B. St. Nicholas
C. Frosty

Question 21

What is the name of the holiday celebrated on December 26 in many countries, including the UK and Canada?

A. Boxing Day
B. St. Stephen’s Day
C. Epiphany

Question 22

Which classic Christmas song contains the lyrics, “In the meadow, we can build a snowman”?

A. “Jingle Bells”
B. “Let It Snow”
C. “Winter Wonderland”

Question 23

In the movie Elf, what is the first rule in the Code of Elves?

A. Treat every day like Christmas
B. The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear
C. Always be kind

Question 24

Which biblical figures followed a star to find the baby Jesus?

A. Shepherds
B. Wise Men (Magi)
C. Angels

Question 25

In A Charlie Brown Christmas, what does Charlie Brown set out to find for the Christmas play?

A. A wreath
B. A Christmas tree
C. A Santa costume

Question 26

What is the name of the miserly character in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

A. Scrooge
B. The Grinch
C. Ebenezer

Question 27

Who played the title role in the 2003 movie Bad Santa?

A. Robin Williams
B. Billy Bob Thornton
C. Will Ferrell

Question 28

What Christmas tradition involves hanging a stocking over the fireplace?

A. To invite Santa into the home
B. To receive small gifts or treats
C. To honor St. Nicholas

Question 29

Which of the following is a traditional Christmas dessert in England?

A. Pumpkin pie
B. Christmas pudding
C. Fruitcake

Question 30

What is the opening line of the Christmas carol “O Holy Night”?

A. “Silent night, holy night”
B. “O holy night, the stars are brightly shining”
C. “It came upon the midnight clear”

Answers

1 A, 2 B, 3 C, 4 A, 5 A, 6 A, 7 A, 8 C, 9 B, 10 B, 11 B, 12 C, 13 B, 14 B, 15 A, 16 B, 17 B, 18 B, 19 C, 20 A, 21 A, 22 C, 23 B, 24 B, 25 A, 26 B, 27 B, 28 B, 29 B, 30 B

How did you do?

History Rocks!

By John Turley

On November 4, 2024

In History, Humor

Always has, always will.

Rock on!

A Philosophical Chuckle

By John Turley

On September 18, 2024

In Humor

Words to live by.

Even More Fun With AI

By John Turley

On June 18, 2024

In Art, Commentary, Humor

Since I’m easily amused, I’m still playing with the AI image generator DALL-E. I wanted to take some time to show you just how easy this is to use. All these images were generated on the requests shown below. The only ones I’ve modified or edited are the ones in the series to demonstrate an edit. You will usually get two versions with each request. You can save either one or both. You can generate up to 50 images a day. I’ve hit my limit more than once.

I generated the image above using the following command. In a cartoon style, generate images of a man dressed as an artist, wearing a beret and a smock, and holding an artist palette and brush. On the easel, have a computer screen with a picture of the same man.

It only takes a little bit of change to get a completely different feel to your pictures. I created the image below basically by saying in a realistic style as opposed to in a cartoon style.

Generate an image in a realistic style of a man dressed as an artist with a smock and beret, holding a palette and a paintbrush and standing in front of an easel with a computer screen in a messy studio.

Now, let your imagination soar and see what you can come up with. I’m going to make up a few commands now and see what develops.

In a surrealistic style generate images of a young boy with pale green skin and feathers on his arms soaring with fantastical eagles over a fantasy landscape of canyons and forests.

In a realistic style, generate images of an African American woman in a sophisticated business suit and carrying a briefcase. Place her in a whimsical background with fantasy creatures, such as elves, fairies, and unicorns.

In a steampunk style, generate images of a doctor examining a patient with a stethoscope. Have the patient have a third eye in the middle of his forehead.

In an abstract style, generate images of a man and a woman sitting in chairs facing each other. Have the man smoking a cigar and have the woman with purple hair.

In a style reminiscent of the French impressionists, generate images of young people in colorful outfits, dancing on an outside patio.

In a cubist style generate images of baseball players.

DALL-E offers the capability to edit your pictures. However, as you’ll see from the series below it actually generates new pictures with slight variations based on your requests for edit.

In a cartoon style generate images of a young man walking down a sidewalk on a sunny day. Have him in a suburban neighborhood with trees and flowers and well tended lawns and houses.

Change the neighborhood to urban with cars parked on the street and the sky overcast.

So far, the changes seem to be fairly consistent and go along with the general style we requested. Let’s make a couple of big changes and see what happens.

Have him look disheveled and scruffy. Make the neighborhood run down with trash in the streets. Have him carry a whiskey bottle and a cigarette.

I think it’s right on with this one. It got the feel I was looking for.

Now for my last picture, I’m going to let my imagination run wild and try to come up with these strangest and most bizarre images I can imagine and see if DALL-E matches or exceeds my ideas.

In a dystopian style with a post-apocalyptic background, generate images of an emaciated Santa Claus jumping rope while talking to an Easter Bunny with vampire fangs and a leprechaun with claws. Add any other menacing characters you think may be appropriate.

I couldn’t decide which one I liked best, so I decided to use them both. I’m not sure what it says about me that I like these images.

I couldn’t resist trying one more edit. I asked DALL-E to generate the above image in cartoon style. It sent me this response: I encountered some issues while trying to generate the cartoon-style images. Please let me know if you would like to try a different request or if there’s anything else I can assist you with. Perhaps it thought cartoon style would attract children and the subject matter was a little too ghoulish for kids. After tweaking the prompt a couple of times, I got the following image:

Maybe they were right the first time.

Give it a try. I think you’ll have as much fun as I do.

Doctor’s orders!

Fun with AI

By John Turley

On April 27, 2024

In Humor

Depending on what you read, Artificial Intelligence will either be the greatest advancement in the history of humanity or it will be the end of civilization as we know it. I’m not sure if it will be either of those, but I do know I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. I’ve been using chatGPT, a popular form of AI for a little over a year. I first used it to help me research blog ideas and, for the first time, I used it to edit my most recent post. The text feature is what we most often think about when considering chatGPT, and I’ll talk about that in a future post, but today I want to tell you about DALL-E, a feature available on the enhanced version.

DALL-E is an AI powered image generator that creates original images based on user input. I have always thought the banner illustration for this blog was boring and wanted to create a new one. I tried using stock images but you always run into copyright and fee problems. When I discovered DALL-E, I realized it was the answer to my problem. I just didn’t know how much fun it would be.

My first attempt was to simply enter the command: “Generate images for the home page of a blog titled The Grumpy Doc”. These were the responses I got.

I thought they looked pretty good, but obviously I don’t have a beard so I tried a few more. I entered for him to have gray hair and glasses and be clean shaven. I got what looked like a gray haired 14 year-old with a lab coat and a stethoscope. When I said make him look older, it gave him a gray beard. When I said make the beard go away, it turned it brown. I went through a variety of commands for images in a realistic style and a cartoon style with many various other instructions. The more detailed the instructions you give it, the better images you will get. One caveat, it will not generate images of actual people or of copyrighted material. I probably generated almost 100 images for this project. Here are few of those images.

DALL-E has some trouble depicting human emotion. It doesn’t seem to distinguish between grumpy, angry and just plain mean.

When I asked DALL-E for a whimsical or sly smile, I got this down right goofy look.

Being a hefty guy myself, I asked for The Grumpy Doc to be a little heavier:

Please, no wisecracks about how that looks just like me or you may be in my next blog.

Sometimes the images just don’t make sense. In the image below you will see a stethoscope tube that doesn’t connect to any thing, book titles in no known language and a dial with unrecognizable symbols. Look at some of the above images and you will find many of the same types of mistakes. It is almost like a built-in game.

When asking for text or a title you have to check closely. Sometimes it is fine; other times there are subtle mistakes. One of the pictures above has one of those. See if you can find it. Other times you get something like this: