This match day leans heavily on names that carry a lot of history: Indonesia’s planned capital Nusantara (and its long‑time capital Jakarta), the rowing town of Henley-on-Thames, America’s Yellowstone, Wall Street’s “Magnificent Seven,” the hyper‑polysemous word set, and the entertainment juggernaut known simply as SNL. Indonesia is in the midst of relocating its capital from Jakarta to the purpose‑built city of Nusantara in East Kalimantan under the 2022 State Capital Act; Henley-on-Thames hosts the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta and lends its name to the Henley shirt; Yellowstone National Park, named from the French rendering Roche Jaune of the Yellowstone River, was established in 1872 as the first U.S. national park and is widely considered the first in the world; Michael Hartnett of Bank of America borrowed the title of the 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven to label the mega‑cap tech stocks Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla; Guinness World Records and the OED highlight set as having 430 senses in the 1989 second edition; and NBC’s 2025 documentary Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music makes explicit how central “SNL” has become as a three‑letter brand.
A second throughline is the intersection of politics, environment, and media framing. Jakarta’s overcrowding, land subsidence, and flood risk have made it one of the world’s “sinking cities,” strengthening the case—at least in government rhetoric—for shifting core state functions to Nusantara on Borneo. Yellowstone’s creation as a roughly 3,500‑square‑mile park in 1872 launched the national park idea that later spread worldwide. Financial media recast a film title into a market narrative with the “Magnificent Seven” stocks dominating index performance, while SNL’s 50th‑anniversary music documentary turns decades of live television into a single prestige event.
For study purposes, this day rewards noticing how often these reference points recur across culture: Ken Burns’s The National Parks: America’s Best Idea retells Yellowstone’s origin story; finance sites dissect the “Magnificent Seven”; promos and think‑pieces surround SNL’s 50th; and even dictionary trivia about words like set or run pops up in popular magazines and websites. If you train yourself to connect news, films, TV specials, and language geekery back to core facts like these, questions that initially feel niche become much more gettable on future match days.
Study Notes
Question 1: Indonesia’s New Capital Nusantara
CURR EVENTS - In 2024, what Southeast Asian country officially began moving some government functions to its future new capital Nusantara, starting the transition away from the city which has served as capital since its independence in 1945 (and prior to that during its Japanese occupation and Dutch colonial period)?
Indonesia is relocating its capital from Jakarta to the planned city of Nusantara in East Kalimantan on Borneo, under a State Capital Act passed in 2022, with 2024 marking high‑profile steps like moving Independence Day ceremonies and initial ministry functions to the new site. Jakarta—called Batavia under Dutch rule and renamed Jakarta during the Japanese occupation—became the center of Indonesian national life when independence was proclaimed there on 17 August 1945 and has functioned as the capital ever since.
Connections
- Major explainers on Jakarta’s subsidence and congestion—by outlets like Euronews, National Geographic, and Global Citizen—often segue directly into Indonesia’s plan to build a new capital, so climate‑change or megacity coverage is an indirect way to learn about Nusantara.
- In 2024 and 2025, international news carried images of President Joko Widodo beginning to work from the new presidential palace and of plans to host Independence Day ceremonies in Nusantara, signaling that real government activity (not just construction) was shifting there.
- Political and business coverage in outlets such as The Guardian and Reuters has tracked budget cuts, court decisions on investor land rights, and the rebranding of Nusantara as a “political capital,” so anyone following Asian infrastructure or emerging‑market finance has repeatedly encountered the project.
Sources
- Nusantara (city) – Wikipedia – Details location in East Kalimantan, phased construction since 2022, and the first Independence Day celebration held in Nusantara on 17 August 2024.
- State Capital Act 2022 – Wikipedia – Explains the Indonesian law (Law No. 3/2022) formally designating Nusantara as the future capital and setting the legal framework for moving government functions from Jakarta.
- Batavia, Dutch East Indies – Wikipedia – Describes Batavia as the capital of the Dutch East Indies, its renaming to Jakarta during Japanese occupation, and its status change around Indonesian independence.
- Proclamation of Indonesian Independence – Wikipedia – Confirms that independence was proclaimed in Jakarta on 17 August 1945.
- Jakarta – Wikipedia – Summarizes the city’s evolution from Batavia to Jakarta and its role as Indonesia’s capital after independence.
- President Widodo to start working from new capital in July – Antara – Reports Jokowi’s plan to begin working from Nusantara in mid‑2024.
- Civil servant transfers to Nusantara to kick off in Sept: minister – Antara – Outlines the first wave of civil‑servant relocations and notes that some ministers would begin working from Nusantara in July 2024.
- Government transferring 3,246 civil servants to IKN in Jul–Nov 2024 – Antara – Gives numbers, timing, and ministries for the initial relocation plans.
- Is Indonesia’s plan to save Jakarta by building a new capital a ‘massive ecological disaster’? – Euronews Green – Connects Jakarta’s sinking and environmental issues with the push to build Nusantara.
- Indonesia’s giant capital city is sinking. Can the government’s plan save it? – National Geographic – Explores the subsidence and flooding problems in Jakarta and discusses the relocation idea.
- Nusantara, Indonesia’s planned new political capital – The Guardian – Short explainer on the scale, costs, and political re‑framing of Nusantara.
- Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara, in danger of becoming a ‘ghost city’ – The Guardian – Discusses budget cuts, low population, and concerns that Nusantara may not attract residents or investment.
- Indonesia’s President Prabowo to spend $3 bln on new capital city through 2029 – Reuters – Provides figures on state spending and outlines the goal of relocating government functions by 2028.
Question 2: Henley-on-Thames and the Henley Shirt
LIFESTYLE - What town on the River Thames in England, home to the Royal Regatta, lent its name to the collarless shirt with a short buttoned placket that provided ideal ventilation for rowers? Today it’s a menswear staple as a casual T-shirt alternative, undershirt, or layering piece.
The Henley shirt is a collarless pullover with a round neckline and a short buttoning placket, named because it was the traditional rowing uniform in Henley-on-Thames, the Thames‑side town that hosts the Henley Royal Regatta. Over time, what began as 19th‑century men’s underwear and sportswear for rowers was reimagined by designers such as Ralph Lauren as a versatile menswear staple and T‑shirt alternative.
Connections
- The Henley Royal Regatta itself is a major event on the rowing calendar; in The Social Network, the Winklevoss twins race at Henley, with critics and director David Fincher calling it the “Super Bowl of boat racing,” so film fans may have absorbed the town’s prominence from that sequence.
- Product descriptions on sites like Polo Ralph Lauren repeatedly mention that Henleys were “originally worn by English rowers in crew races,” so anyone browsing online shops has probably seen the garment’s origin story in marketing copy.
- Local media such as the Henley Herald explicitly tell the story of how the town and regatta lent their names to the shirt, tracing its evolution from undergarment to global casualwear—useful background if you read regional British news or fashion history pieces.
Sources
- Henley shirt – Wikipedia – Defines the Henley shirt, describes its placket and collarless construction, and notes that it was named for Henley-on-Thames because it was the traditional rowers’ uniform there.
- Henley Royal Regatta – Wikipedia – Provides context on the regatta as an annual rowing event on the Thames at Henley-on-Thames, founded in 1839.
- “Henley’s Heritage – The Henley Shirt” – Henley Herald – Local article explaining how the shirt developed from underwear to rowing kit and eventually mainstream fashion, and why it carries the town’s name.
- Moleskin Henley Shirt for Men – Ralph Lauren – Example of modern Henley marketing that references the shirt as originally worn by English rowers.
- Ralph Lauren – Cotton Moleskin Henley Shirt – Dick Ferguson’s Clothing – Another product page echoing the “originally worn by English rowers” origin story.
- The Social Network – Wikipedia – Notes that rowing scenes with the Winklevoss twins were filmed at the Henley Royal Regatta.
- “Coding in pictures: The Social Network” – RogerEbert.com – Discusses the visual design of the Henley regatta scene and its narrative role.
- “David Fincher Explains the Henley Royal Regatta Tilt-Shift Scene from The Social Network” – GeekTyrant – Includes Fincher’s comments likening Henley Royal Regatta to the “Super Bowl of boat racing.”
Question 3: Roche Jaune and Yellowstone National Park
AMER HIST - French fur traders in the late 1700s encountered a river they called Roche Jaune. This river eventually gave its name to a roughly 3,500-square-mile region of the U.S. that was formally designated in 1872 as the first of its kind in the world. What is this area named?
French trappers translated an Indigenous Hidatsa name for the river as Roche Jaune (“Yellow Rock”), and that river became known in English as the Yellowstone River. The surrounding region was set aside in 1872 as Yellowstone National Park—widely regarded as the world’s first national park—covering about 3,472 square miles, close to the “3,500-square-mile” figure in the question.
Connections
- Classic cartoons starring Yogi Bear are set in the fictional “Jellystone Park,” explicitly described as a riff on Yellowstone National Park, so many people first encountered the park’s name through kids’ TV rather than a map.
- The hit Paramount series Yellowstone and its expanding franchise (1883, 1923, and other spin‑offs) center on the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch in Montana and frequently reference nearby Yellowstone National Park, keeping the park’s name in pop‑culture circulation.
- Ken Burns’s PBS documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea devotes significant time to the political and cultural battle to create Yellowstone, a story also recounted in National Park Service and popular history materials.
- Travel and nature outlets—from the Yellowstone Forever foundation to NASA’s Earth Observatory—publish visually striking overviews of the park’s size, geothermal features, and history, which often emphasize its status as the pioneer national park.
Sources
- Yellowstone River – Wikipedia – Explains the etymology from the Hidatsa name Mi tse a-da-zi (“Yellow Rock River”) and French trappers’ translation Roche Jaune, later Anglicized to “Yellowstone.”
- Yellowstone National Park – Wikipedia – Provides history, including creation by the 1872 act, the link to the Yellowstone River, and the park’s approximate area and location in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.
- Yellowstone National Park Protection Act – Wikipedia – Describes the March 1, 1872 law signed by President Ulysses S. Grant that created Yellowstone as the first U.S. national park.
- Yellowstone National Park Facts – Yellowstone Forever – Lists key facts, including the park’s area (3,472 square miles / 2.2 million acres) and its establishment in 1872.
- Yellowstone National Park – Britannica – Confirms that Yellowstone was established in 1872 as the first U.S. national park and generally considered the first national park in the world, and gives its area.
- Yellowstone National Park – NASA Earth Observatory – Describes the park’s area and notes its distinction as the first national park in the United States and possibly the world.
- Yellowstone National Park – UNESCO World Heritage Centre – Highlights Yellowstone’s size (nearly 9,000 km²) and its global significance.
- “Yellowstone, America’s first national park, established” – HISTORY – Narrative of the expeditions and political process leading to the 1872 act.
- Yogi Bear – Wikipedia – Notes that Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park is a variant of Yellowstone National Park.
- “Barney’s Hungry Cousin” – Wikipedia – Early cartoon short that first mentions “Jellystone National Park,” later popularized by Yogi Bear.
- Yellowstone (franchise) – Wikipedia – Describes the modern TV franchise set around the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch and its connection to Yellowstone National Park.
- “Where Is the Yellowstone Ranch?” – People – Explains that the TV series films at Chief Joseph Ranch in Montana, near Yellowstone National Park.
- The National Parks: America’s Best Idea – Wikipedia – Overview of Ken Burns’s documentary miniseries about the history of the U.S. National Park System, including Yellowstone’s creation.
Question 4: “Magnificent Seven” Tech Stocks
BUS/ECON - In 2023, Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett coined what phrase, derived from a classic 1960 Western, to refer collectively to the influential tech stocks with the ticker symbols AMZN, AAPL, GOOG, META, MSFT, NVDA, and TSLA?
In market commentary, the “Magnificent Seven” refers to seven dominant U.S. stocks—Alphabet (GOOG/GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), and Tesla (TSLA)—whose performance has heavily influenced major equity indices. Bank of America strategist Michael Hartnett popularized this phrase in 2023, explicitly echoing the 1960 Western film The Magnificent Seven about a band of hired gunfighters.
Connections
- Investors who track U.S. markets or own S&P 500 index funds will have seen endless charts, ETFs, and headlines built around the “Magnificent Seven,” often contrasting them with earlier acronyms like FAANG and warning about their outsized impact on index performance.
- The original 1960 film The Magnificent Seven (and its sequels and 2016 remake) are staples on cable, streaming platforms, and film‑history lists, so the stock nickname immediately evokes a familiar pop‑culture reference for many viewers.
- Financial journalists sometimes play with the branding—coining terms like “Lagnificent 7” when the group lags—so even bearish or critical pieces reinforce the underlying label and its film connection.
Sources
- “Magnificent 7 Stocks: What You Need to Know” – Investopedia – Defines the Magnificent Seven stocks, lists the seven companies and tickers, and notes that Hartnett of Bank of America introduced the term in 2023, inspired by the Western film.
- “Tech giants to turn into ‘Lagnificent 7’…” – MarketWatch – Uses the “Lagnificent 7” pun and discusses Bank of America strategists’ views on the Magnificent Seven’s future performance.
- The Magnificent Seven (1960 film) – Wikipedia – Summarizes the classic Western film, its plot about seven gunfighters, and its subsequent sequels and TV adaptations.
- The Magnificent Seven – Britannica – Provides an overview of the film’s production, cast, and influence, confirming its status as a major Western.
- The Magnificent Seven – Rotten Tomatoes – Offers critical consensus and background, reinforcing the film’s prominence.
Question 5: The Many Meanings of Set
LANGUAGE - “To ornament (metal or other surface) by inlaying or encrusting it with stones or gems” is one of the many definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary for what word, which had a Guinness-record 430 separate definitions in the OED’s 1989 version?
Guinness World Records cites the verb set as the English word with the most meanings, listing 430 senses in the 1989 second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and noting that its entry runs about 60,000 words. Among those is a jewelry and metalworking sense “to fix (a stone or gem) in a surface of metal as an ornament,” effectively “to ornament metal or another surface by inlaying or encrusting it with stones or gems,” just one of hundreds of related uses across verb, noun, and adjective forms.
Connections
- Word‑trivia and linguistics pieces—such as those aggregated by the Spelling Society or Reader’s Digest—often discuss how run recently overtook set as the most polysemous English word, but still highlight set’s 430 OED senses and record‑holding status.
- Online Q&A forums and blogs that list “English words with the most meanings” almost always put set at or near the top, quoting OED statistics and sometimes Guinness, so language‑curious readers may have seen this fact before.
- General introductions to polysemy—including the Wikipedia article—use set (along with run and put) as textbook examples of words with exceptionally large numbers of related senses.
- Guinness World Records also mentions set in the context of other language records (like longest dictionary entry and longest words), so it can crop up in general “record‑book” browsing, not just in specialized linguistic sources.
Sources
- English word with the most meanings – Guinness World Records – States that the verb set has 430 senses in the 1989 OED second edition and that its entry is around 60,000 words long.
- Largest English language dictionary – Guinness World Records – Notes that the OED’s longest entry in the second edition is for the verb set, with over 60,000 words of text.
- Oxford English Dictionary – Wikipedia – Confirms that the OED2’s longest entry is for set, describing around 580 senses (430 for the bare verb, plus phrasal verbs and idioms).
- Excerpt of OED entry for set – PDFCoffee – Shows the specific sense “To fix (a stone or gem) in a surface of metal as an ornament,” illustrating the jewelry/ornamentation meaning referenced in the question.
- Polysemy – Wikipedia – Discusses polysemy and notes that run, put, and set are the three most polysemous words in English according to the OED.
- “A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia” – Jeff Miller – Summarizes that run has become the most polysemous word but that set previously held the record with over 430 senses and a 60,000‑word entry.
- “Top 10 words with the most entries in the Oxford English Dictionary?” – EnglishLanguageFAQs – Lists set at the top with hundreds of definitions in the OED.
- “Ten words with most separate meanings?” – EnglishLanguageFAQs – Another summary highlighting set as having the largest number of OED entries.
- “Words with most meanings” – English Language & Usage StackExchange – Community discussion that cites set as the most polysemous English word and references OED statistics.
- “Has ‘Run’ Run Amok? It Has 645 Meanings … So Far” – NPR/WBUR – Explores run’s explosive growth in meanings and notes set’s earlier dominance in the OED.
- “The Most Complicated Word in English Is Only Three Letters Long” – DoYouRemember (syndicating Reader’s Digest) – Popular article about run and set that mentions set’s massive OED entry and record status.
Question 6: SNL’s 50 Years of Music
TELEVISION - Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of [BLANK] Music is a documentary directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Oz Rodriguez that premiered on NBC in January 2025. What three letters fill in the blank?
Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music is a 2025 documentary directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Oz Rodriguez that surveys five decades of musical performances on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The three‑hour special premiered on NBC in prime time on January 27, 2025, with next‑day streaming on Peacock, as part of the broader slate of specials marking SNL’s 50th anniversary—so the missing letters are SNL.
Connections
- NBC heavily promoted the documentary in early 2025, with network articles explaining how to watch Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music and positioning it alongside the SNL50 anniversary special, so regular SNL viewers would have seen the title repeatedly.
- Questlove previously directed the Oscar‑winning documentary Summer of Soul about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, and outlets like The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, and Variety ran interviews and reviews about his new SNL project—coverage that emphasized the “50 Years of SNL Music” branding.
- The film revisits famous SNL musical moments (Elvis Costello’s song switch, Nirvana’s raucous debut, early hip‑hop appearances, controversial performances) that already circulate widely on YouTube and in retrospectives, so people who watch such clips may have heard about the documentary as a curated way to revisit them.
Sources
- Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music – Wikipedia – Gives the full title, credits Questlove and Oz Rodriguez as directors, describes the focus on Saturday Night Live’s musical history, and lists the NBC premiere on January 27, 2025, with streaming on Peacock the next day.
- “Questlove’s 50 Years of SNL Music Documentary Is Coming to NBC” – NBC – Network article explaining how and when to watch the special and placing it within the SNL 50th‑anniversary celebrations.
- “Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years Of SNL Music’” – Decider – Review that summarizes the documentary’s content and emphasizes its focus on the musical legacy of SNL.
- Saturday Night Live – Season 50 and specials overview – Wikipedia – Includes SNL’s 50th‑anniversary programming, listing Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music among the related specials.