Another chance to pit your wits against the fasab quiz archives with another random set of twenty questions.
Although there are one or two very easy ones, I think quite a lot of them are difficult this time, but here’s your chance to prove me wrong.
As always the answers are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below – but NO cheating.
Enjoy and good luck!
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Q. 1: What does the http:// in web URLs stand for?
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Q. 2: What is the hood ornament on a Rolls Royce called?
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Q. 3: Which former president of the United States, in his college days, worked as a male model, and even appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan?
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Q. 4: In what country would you find the strangely named lakes “Titicaca” and “Poopo”?
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Q. 5: Sleeping through the winter is called “hibernation,” but what is the word that describes sleeping through hot and dry periods like summer?
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Q. 6: Members of the band “ZZ Top” are famous for their beards, but what was the surname of the only member who hadn’t got one?
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Q. 7: In 1918 the so-called “Spanish Flu” spread around the world killing tens of millions of people, but where did the outbreak start?
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Q. 8: Who was the only U.S. president never to sign a bill into law?
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Q. 9: On which continent are the 50 tallest mountains on Earth are all located? (This is easy if you think about it)
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Q. 10: Which world famous company’s name means “three oceans” in Japanese because the company’s founder wanted to sell his wares across the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans?
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Q. 11: How old was Albert Einstein, a genius if ever there was one, when he learned how to drive?
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Q. 12: What was the first ever registered domain name?
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Q. 13: What city is America’s skyscraper capital?
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Q. 14: Earlier this month the United States celebrated its birthday, but what is the only other country in the world to celebrate its birthday on July 4th?
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Q. 15: Who is O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois named after?
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Q. 16: The citizens of which country eat more donuts per capita than any other?
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Q. 17: What European country is the world’s leading exporter of false teeth?
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Q. 18: At more than 3.3 million square miles, what is the name of the world’s largest hot desert?
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Q. 19: We have all seen a Snellen Chart, but what is it?
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Q. 20: Possibly some of you have said “!#@%” when faced with a difficult question in this test, but what is the name for symbols such as “!#@%” that are used to indicate swearing in comic strips?
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ANSWERS
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Q. 1: What does the http:// in web URLs stand for?
A. 1:The http:// in web URLs stands for “Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.”
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Q. 2: What is the hood ornament on a Rolls Royce called?
A. 2: The Spirit of Ecstasy.
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Q. 3: Which former president of the United States in his college days, worked as a male model, and even appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan?
A. 3: Former president Gerald Ford wasn’t always gray-haired and paunchy — in his college days, he worked as a male model, and even appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan.
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Q. 4: In what country would you find the strangely named lakes “Titicaca” and “Poopo”?
A. 4: In Bolivia, South America.
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Q. 5: Sleeping through the winter is called “hibernation,” but what is the word that describes sleeping through hot and dry periods like summer?
A. 5: Sleeping through hot and dry periods like summer is called “estivation.”
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Q. 6: Members of the band “ZZ Top” are famous for their beards, but what was the surname of the only member who hadn’t got one?
A. 6: Ironically, the only member of ZZ Top without a beard has the last name Beard.
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Q. 7: In 1918 the so-called “Spanish Flu” spread around the world killing tens of millions of people, but where did the outbreak start?
A. 7: The so-called “Spanish Flu” of 1918 started at a military camp in Kansas before spreading around the world and killing millions.
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Q. 8: Who was the only U.S. president never to sign a bill into law?
A. 8: William Henry Harrison was the only U.S. president never to sign a bill into law — he died before having the opportunity.
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Q. 9: On which continent are the 50 tallest mountains on Earth are all located? (This is easy if you think about it)
A. 9: Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth is located in the Himalayas in Asia so since it has to be one of the 50 tallest mountains on Earth, they all have to be located in Asia.
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Q. 10: Which world famous company’s name means “three oceans” in Japanese because the company’s founder wanted to sell his wares across the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans?
A. 10: Sanyo means “three oceans” in Japanese.
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Q. 11: How old was Albert Einstein, a genius if ever there was one, when he learned how to drive?
A. 11: Albert Einstein never learned how to drive.
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Q. 12: What was the first ever registered domain name?
A. 12: The first registered domain name was symbolics.com. It was registered on March 15th, 1985.
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Q. 13: What city is America’s skyscraper capital?
A. 13: Chicago is America’s skyscraper capital. The city has more 1,000-foot tall buildings than any other U.S. city.
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Q. 14: Earlier this month the United States celebrated its birthday, but what is the only other country in the world to celebrate its birthday on July 4th?
A. 14: The only other country in the world to celebrate the United States’ birthday, July 4th, is Denmark.
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Q. 15: Who is O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois named after?
A. 15: O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois is named after Al Capone’s lawyer’s son, Lt. Cmdr. Butch O’Hare.
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Q. 16: The citizens of which country eat more donuts per capita than any other?
A. 16: Canadians eat more donuts per capita than any other country.
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Q. 17: What European country is the world’s leading exporter of false teeth?
A. 17: Liechtenstein is the world’s leading exporter of false teeth.
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Q. 18: At more than 3.3 million square miles, what is the name of the world’s largest hot desert?
A. 18: At more than 3.3 million square miles, the Sahara Desert is as large as the world’s next 20 largest hot deserts combined.
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Q. 19: We have all seen a Snellen Chart, but what is it?
A. 19: The eye test chart with the big ‘E’ on top is known as the Snellen Chart.
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Q. 20: Possibly some of you have said “!#@%” when faced with a difficult question in this test, but what is the name for symbols such as “!#@%” that are used to indicate swearing in comic strips?
A. 20: Symbols such as “!#@%” that are used to indicate swearing in comic strips are called grawlix.
What better way to start of the week than with a quiz?
Okay, okay, so there are better ways, but this is the way we’re doing it here.
I think some of the questions are pretty tough this week, but if you are up for a challenge please have a go at them.
As always the answers are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but NO cheating!
Enjoy.
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Q 1: From what animal do we get Catgut?
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Q 2: What country has more lakes that the rest of the world combined?
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Q 3: What is the collective noun for a group of Unicorns, should such a thing exist?
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Q 4: How many of each ‘clean’ animal did God tell Noah to take into the Ark?
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Q 5: How many people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th?
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Q 6: What is the name that means “Craft of the Wise Ones”?
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Q 7: What is printed on the tablet being held by the Statue of Liberty?
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Q 8: The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, made famous by the film of that name starring Bill Murray and Andie McDowell. But what date is Groundhog Day?
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Q 9: By what name is the Tooth Fairy known in Mexico?
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Q 10: What former U.S. president worked as a lifeguard in his youth at a beach near Dixon, Illinois and saved over 77 lives?
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Q 11: What was the only commercial aircraft that able to break the sound barrier?
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Q 12: They were originally called Baby Gays. What do we know them better as?
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Q 13: What were the first words that Thomas A. Edison spoke into the phonograph? (Now you know this, even you think you don’t)
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Q 14: What disease killed over 20 million people worldwide in 1918?
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Q 15: Used in US English to describe a student in the second year of study at high school or university, what does the word “sophomore” literally mean?
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Q 16: The British call them a fruit machine, but what are they known as elsewhere?
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Q 17: What US State is known as “Land of Enchantment”?
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Q 18: The Tibetans call it Chomolungma. What do we know it better as?
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Q 19: The vast majority of people, male and female, have a Glabella, but what is it?
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Q 20: The largest library in the world is located in Washington D.C. What is its name?
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ANSWERS
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Q 1: From what animal do we get Catgut?
A 1: Catgut comes from sheep not cats.
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Q 2: What country has more lakes that the rest of the world combined?
A 2: Canada has more lakes that the rest of the world combined.
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Q 3: What is the collective noun for a group of Unicorns, should such a thing exist?
A 3: A group of Unicorns is called a blessing.
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Q 4: How many of each ‘clean’ animal did God tell Noah to take into the Ark?
A 4: According to Genesis 7:2, God told Noah to take 14 of each kind of ‘clean’ animal in to the ark.
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Q 5: How many people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th?
A 5: Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn’t added until 5 years later.
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Q 6: What is the name that means “Craft of the Wise Ones”?
A 6: Witchcraft
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Q 7: What is printed on the tablet being held by the Statue of Liberty?
A 7: July IV, MDCCLXXVI
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Q 8: The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, made famous by the film of that name starring Bill Murray and Andie McDowell. But what date is Groundhog Day?
A 8: Groundhog Day is on February 2nd
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Q 9: By what name is the Tooth Fairy known in Mexico?
A 9: In Mexico the Tooth Fairy is known as the Tooth Mouse, which takes the tooth and leaves treasures in its place
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Q 10: What former U.S. president worked as a lifeguard in his youth at a beach near Dixon, Illinois and saved over 77 lives?
A 10: Ronald Reagan
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Q 11: What was the only commercial aircraft that able to break the sound barrier?
A 11: The Anglo-French manufactured “Concorde”.
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Q 12: They were originally called Baby Gays. What do we know them better as?
A 12: Q-Tip Cotton Swabs
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Q 13: What were the first words that Thomas A. Edison spoke into the phonograph? (Now you know this, even if you think you don’t)
A 13: The first words that Thomas A. Edison spoke into the phonograph were, “Mary had a little lamb.”
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Q 14: What disease killed over 20 million people worldwide in 1918?
A 14: The flu pandemic of 1918 killed over 20 million people
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Q 15: Used in US English to describe a student in the second year of study at high school or university, what does the word “sophomore” literally mean?
A 15: “wise moron.”
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Q 16: The British call them a fruit machine, but what are they known as elsewhere?
A 16: A slot machine.
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Q 17: What US State is known as “Land of Enchantment”?
A 17: New Mexico is known as the “Land of Enchantment”
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Q 18: The Tibetans call it Chomolungma. What do we know it better as?
A 18: Mount Everest
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Q 19: The vast majority of people, male and female, have a Glabella, but what is it?
A 19: The space between your eyebrows is called the Glabella
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Q 20: The largest library in the world is located in Washington D.C. What is its name?
The answer to the question in the title is, of course, you can’t. Bollocks is bollocks no matter from which race, religion, continent or country it comes from, or in what language.
I tried, and tried hard, but I couldn’t let Friday’s non-event go by without a word or several about the Mayans and particularly about the dipsticks who thought they had interpreted the Mayan calendar.
By the way “the Mayan Calendar” is an anagram of “deny earth almanac” so that in itself should have told them something.
But no, in the best bollocks-brain tradition that also brought us ‘the Y2K crisis that never was’ and that never made any sense either, we have been subjected for months and years now to all this end of the world malarkey from so-called learned scholars who knew such a lot about such a little they might as well have known nothing about anything at all. Plus, they have not an atom of common sense between them!
There’s a fasab rule that there are none so dumb as those who think they are smart. I suppose that’s my take on “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. Happily I have been blessed with the ability to recognize that there are at least a trillion things that I don’t know for every little thing that I do know. I have also learned not to jump to conclusions when there is precious little evidence to support them.
So here’s the story.
We all know by now that the Mayans carved a calendar into a big round stone and that some self-important smart asses tried to decipher it and came to the conclusion that, because the calendar apparently stops at Dec 21, 2012, that is the date when the world must end.
That’s a bit like munching your way through a bar of chocolate, looking at the empty wrapper and deciding that there will be no more bars of chocolate ever! (Now THAT would be the end of the world!)
There could have been lots of reasons why the Mayan calendar ended on that date (if indeed it did) but they were either dismissed or, much more likely, never even considered. None of them fit with dipstick logic.
For example,
the wee-calendar-carver-man-person may have keeled over and died without passing on his ‘magic formula’ to a successor.
he may just have got pissed off with the job and stopped.
he could have broken his chisel.
he might have whacked himself on the thumb with his hammer.
he could have continued his work on a second stone that nobody has found yet.
or he may have been the Mayan equivalent of the modern day dipsticks who tried to interpret it and really did think the world was going to end on that date.
It’s not the fact that we have these ‘end of the world’ morons and their equally moronic pronouncements about the apocalypse that annoys me. It’s the utterly depressing fact that no matter how insanely stupid their ideas are there are always hoards of other morons willing to believe them.
How sad is that?
And it has been going on for thousands of years.
A Roman priest and theologian in the second and third centuries, predicted Christ would return in A.D. 500. His calculations were based on the dimensions of Noah’s ark!
In the year 999, despite the fact that there weren’t any of the events required by the Bible transpiring at that time, there was almost hysteria over the return of Christ with all members of society seemingly affected by the prediction that it would happen on January 1, 1000 AD.
In 1186 the “Letter of Toledo” warned everyone to hide in the caves and mountains. The world would be destroyed and only a few would be spared.
In 1420 the Taborites of Czechoslovakia predicted every city would be annihilated by fire. Only five mountain strongholds would be saved.
Also around the same time someone called ‘Mother Shipton’ claimed the world would end 400 years later in 1881.
In 1666 the bubonic plague outbreak killed 100,000 Londoners and, along with the Great Fire of London during the same year, made the world ending likely to most. The fact that the year ended with the Beast’s number (666), didn’t help sanity to prevail either.
By 1809 things were getting really silly. A woman fortune teller, named Mary Bateman, had a magic chicken that laid eggs with end time messages on them. However the uproar she created was ended abruptly when an unannounced visitor caught her forcing a magic egg up the hen’s ass! She was later was hanged for poisoning a wealthy client.
William Miller founded an end-times movement that became known as ‘Millerism’. He determined that the second coming would happen sometime between 1843-1844. A spectacular meteor shower in 1833 gave the movement a good push forward and the anticipation continued to build up until March 21, 1844, when Miller’s one year time table ran out.
In 1874 the Jehovah’s Witnesses were getting in on the fun, but failed. They also struck out in 1878 and 1881. Charles Taze Russell then predicted the Rapture in 1910, followed by the ‘End of the World’ in 1914. He later reinterpreted this as the ‘invisible’ return of Christ when the world ignored him and continued. The Witnesses had no better luck with predictions for 1918, or 1925, or 1957, or 1975, or 1994. Amazingly, the failure of every one of their forecasts has not affected the growth of the movement, the Watchtower magazine, a major Witness periodical, having apparently over 13 million subscribers worldwide.
Then the revisit of Haley’s comet was, for many, an indication of the Lord’s second coming. The earth actually passed through the gaseous tail of the comet. One of the few sane people of the time was enterprising enough to sell ‘comet pills’ to people for protection against the effects of the toxic gases.
1960 was the date chosen by Piazzi Smyth, a past astronomer royal of Scotland, whose 1860 book titled “Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid” both predicted that year as the date of the new millennium and was responsible for spreading the belief in pyramidology throughout the world.
1962 saw Pope John XXIII contributing to the madness, predicting that visitors from outer space would arrive in chariots of flaming steel and would share their advanced knowledge with humanity. Our life span would be increased to 150 years or longer and most diseases would be wiped out.
In 1967 when the city of Jerusalem was reclaimed by the Jews, prophecy watchers declared that the ‘Time of the Gentiles’ had come to an end.
By the mid 1970s it was the turn of the late Moses David (formerly David Berg) founder of ‘The Children of God’ to predict that a comet would hit the earth, and destroy all life in the United States.
Then a group called the ‘Tara Centers’ placed full-page advertisements in many major newspapers for the weekend of April 24-25, 1982, announcing “The Christ is Now Here!” and predicting that he would make himself known “within the next two months.” After the date passed, they said that the delay was only because the “consciousness of the human race was not quite right…” in other words, all our fault, not theirs!
In 1983, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Guru of the Rajneesh movement also predicted massive destruction on earth, including natural disasters and man-made catastrophes. Floods larger than any since Noah, extreme earthquakes, very destructive volcano eruptions, nuclear wars etc. would be experienced. Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Bombay would all disappear. To the best of my knowledge they are all still around although Bombay did have a makeover name change. .
In 1991 Nation of Islam Leader, Louis Farrakhan, proclaimed the Gulf War would to be “the War of Armageddon … the final War.” Wrong!
In 1992, we had the whacko in Waco. David Koresh and his Branch Davidian group change the name of their commune from Mt. Carmel to Ranch Apocalypse, because of his belief that the final all-encompassing battle of Armageddon mentioned in the Bible would start at the Branch Davidian compound. They had calculated that the end would occur in 1995. After a 51-day standoff, on April 10,1993, they did have their own mini apocalypse when 76 members died as a result of a deliberately set fire.
Also in 1992 Lee Jang Rim started a church called, “Mission For The Coming Days”. Using numerology as the basis for his chosen date, the cult (no spelling error) looked forward to the Second Coming believing that Jesus would return through Sydney Harbour! An hour after the appointed prediction time the cult leaders ran for it, hiding their faces from reporters. One reporter was punched. Some disappointed members committed suicide, probably because they had given all their worldly assets to Lee Jang Rim who was later jailed for two years for embezzling 4.4 million dollars from 10,000 of his cult followers. Ironically Lee Jang Rim had used the money to buy bonds that matured AFTER the end of the world! You gotta laugh!
Pastor John Hinkle of Christ Church Los Angels also caused quite a stir when he announced he had received a vision from God that warned of an apocalyptic event on June 9th, 1994. Hinkle, quoting God, said, “On Thursday June the 9th, I will rip the evil out of this world.” Nope, didn’t happen either.
Then Harold Camping in his book “Are You Ready?” predicted the Lord’s return in September 1994. The book was full of methods that added up Bible numbers up to 1994 as the date of Christ’s return. Of course it was nonsense, but proving that you can’t keep a good man down, he was at it again in 2011, when he pronounced that May 21 that year would be ‘Judgment day’. Needless to say he was wrong again!
In 1993, when Rabin and Arafat signed their peace pact on the White House lawn on September 13, some saw the events as the beginning of the tribulation. With the signing of the peace agreement Daniel’s 1260 day countdown was underway and by adding 1260 days to September, 1993 they came to February 24, 1997 as the fateful day.
The July 29, 1997 an issue of the ‘Weekly World News’ carried a statement by a spokesperson of the ‘International Association of Psychics’ which said that 92% of their 120,000 members had had the same “end time” vision. War, pestilence, and a worldwide plague were among the predicted events which would see the end of mankind by around the year 2001. So much for psychics!
Also around 1997 a group called the ‘Sacerdotal Knights of National Security’ reported that “A space alien captured at a UFO landing site in eastern Missouri cracked under interrogation by the CIA and admitted that an extraterrestrial army will attack Earth on November 27 with the express purpose of stripping our planet of every natural resource they can find a use for — and making slaves of every man, woman and child in the world!”
Then, because 666 times three equals 1998, that year saw another spasm of end of the world predictions. For example, a Taiwanese cult operating out of Garland Texas predicted Christ would return on March 31, 1998. The group’s leader, Heng-ming Chen, announced God would return, and then invite the cult members aboard a UFO. However, the group had to abandon their second coming prediction when a precursor event failed to take place. The cult’s leader said God would appear on every channel 18 of every TV in the world, but as one commentator concluded, perhaps God realized at the last minute that the Playboy Network was channel 18 on several cable systems, and he didn’t want to have Christians watching a porn channel.
Also in 1998 the famous psychic, Edgar Cayce, predicted that a secret, underground chamber would be discovered between the paws of the Great Sphinx and that inside there would be documents revealing the history of Atlantis. This revelation would trigger the Second Coming of Christ. This prediction is more interesting than most because two independent studies have revealed that there is in fact an underground structure just where Cayce said it would be!
The wonderfully and appropriately named ‘Church of the Subgenius’ predicted that on “X Day”, July 5, 1998, the end of the world would occur. At that time, “the Men from Planet X, or XISTS, will arrive on Earth, close a deal with “Bob,” rapture the card-carrying Ordained SubGenii up to the Escape Vessels of the Sex Goddesses, and destroy the remaining population of Earth, VERY VERY SLOWLY.” In case you are wondering, ‘Bob’ is J.R. Dobbs, leader and High Epopt of the Church of the SubGenius, Living Avatar of Slack, the Saint of Sales. You couldn’t make it up!
The new millennium year of 2000 produced an upsurge in end of the world predictions. When none of that came true some of them regrouped and hit on the ‘no year zero’ excuse, pushing their doomsday date out to 2001. Nope. Wrong again!
A few years later, Shelby Corbett, of Bradenton, Florida put up benches throughout the town advertising that the rapture will happen in 2007! She had little Biblical knowledge but conveniently had a book out pushing the same information.
Then Arnie Stanton noted on September 16, 1997 that that evening was the fourth Jewish festival since April 3, 1996 when a lunar eclipse had occurred. He quoted Luke 21:25-26 which mentions “signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars and on the earth distress of nations” and decided that “these recent lunar eclipses are the last known astronomical signs that will precede a 7 year (360 day/year) countdown to Armageddon/Christ’s return to the Earth.” Arnie expected that Christ’s return would occur within a few months of September 29, 2004 when Asteroid Toutatis made a very close approach to the Earth. Afraid not Arnie.
On April 17, 2008 Ronald Weinland travelled to Jerusalem and announced that he and his wife were the two witnesses of Revelation. The title of his book, “If it doesn’t come to pass…starting in April, then I’m nothing but a false prophet…” said it all.
And then we had the Mayan calendar nonsense, which brings me back to where this post started. It turned out to be a bit longer than I had intended, but I wanted to give you a flavor of the idiots that are out there, all with equally idiotic followers. And this is just a few of many, many more examples.
So is there an answer?
Well yes there is. And it’s pretty simple. Just do three things, (a) don’t listen to self-important academics and scientists who clearly don’t know what they are talking about. (b) treat others the way you like to be treated yourself, and providing you are reasonably normal and not some kind of kinky masochist, then that yardstick should do fine; and (c) don’t worry about the end of the world, you can’t do anything about it anyway, I mean where are you going to go?
fasab 