People, Places And Probably More – Quiz Day!

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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People and places feature a lot in today’s quiz so if you’re good at those then you are in with a good chance of scoring well.

You will also find out what the CIA has been up to with your tax dollars. Makes you proud!

As usual, if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!

Enjoy and good luck.

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quiz confused1

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Q.  1.  A ‘Beluga’ is a type of what?

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Q.  2. In what country did the game of ‘Chess’ originate?

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Q.  3.  In 1983 the District of Columbia petitioned to become a state, if the petition had been successful what was the new state to be called?

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Q.  4.  The popular ‘Volkswagen Beetle’ car was developed under whose direction?

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Q.  5.  What drug did the CIA hand out in order to bribe warlords in Afghanistan?

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Q.  6.  What began as a winter resort for the British aristocracy in the late 1700s and now hosts 50% of the world’s super yachts every year?

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Q.  7.  What two men wrote the first and the final drafts of the American Declaration of Independence? (A point for each correct answer.)

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Q.  8.  What percentage of the water on Earth is saltwater?

            a)  17%          b) 37%          c) 57%          d)  77%          e) 97%

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Q.  9.  What mountain range is sometimes known as “The Backbone Of England” ?

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Q. 10.  What was the last major landmass on earth to be populated by humans?

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Q. 11.  What is the name given to a young female cow that has not given birth?

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Q. 12.  What famous gourmet insured his taste buds for £250,000 in 1993?

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Q. 13.  ‘Duplicatus’, ‘intortus’ and ‘perlucidus’ are among the varieties of what?

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Q. 14.  What well known city in Australia used to be known as ‘Batmania’ ?

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Q. 15.  What King of England was famous for having six wives?

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Q. 16.  And how many of his six wives did this King have executed? (A bonus point for each one you can name correctly.)

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Q. 17.  What is the more common name for the fictional character ‘Kal-El’ and where is he supposed to be from? (A point for each correct answer.)

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Q. 18.  What is the famous steeplechase horse race run at Aintreee in Liverpool, England every year?

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Q. 19.  What well known classical music composer has the initials ‘W.A.M.’ ?

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Q. 20.  And finally for today another name. Columbo is one of the most famous ever detectives to appear on television but what is his first name?

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ANSWERS

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Q.  1.  A ‘Beluga’ is a type of what?

A.  1.  Whale.

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Q.  2. In what country did the game of ‘Chess’ originate?

A.  2. Chess originated in India during the Gupta Empire (almost 1,400 years ago)

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Q.  3.  In 1983 the District of Columbia petitioned to become a state, if the petition had been successful what was the new state to be called?

A.  3.  New Columbia.

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Q.  4.  The popular ‘Volkswagen Beetle’ car was developed under whose direction?

A.  4.  Volkswagen Beetles were developed by Hitler because he wanted to manufacture a cheap, affordable car for his roadways.

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Q.  5.  What drug did the CIA hand out in order to bribe warlords in Afghanistan?

A.  5.  Viagra.

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Q.  6.  What began as a winter resort for the British aristocracy in the late 1700s and now hosts 50% of the world’s super yachts every year?

A.  6.  The French Riviera.

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Q.  7.  What two men wrote the first and the final drafts of the American Declaration of Independence? (A point for each correct answer.)

A.  7.  Benjamin Franklin actually wrote the first Declaration of Independence. Eventually, however, Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write the final draft.

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Q.  8.  What percentage of the water on Earth is saltwater?

            a)  17%          b) 37%          c) 57%          d)  77%          e) 97%

A.  8.  The correct answer is e) 97%.

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Q.  9.  What mountain range is sometimes known as “The Backbone Of England” ?

A.  9.  The Pennines.

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Q. 10.  What was the last major landmass on earth to be populated by humans?

A. 10.  New Zealand.

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Q. 11.  What is the name given to a young female cow that has not given birth?

A. 11.  It is known as a heifer.

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Q. 12.  What famous gourmet insured his taste buds for £250,000 in 1993?

A. 12.  Egon Ronay.

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Q. 13.  ‘Duplicatus’, ‘intortus’ and ‘perlucidus’ are among the varieties of what?

A. 13.  They are all the names of clouds (cirrus duplicatus, cirrus intortus and altocumulus perlucidus to be more precise.)

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Q. 14.  What well known city in Australia used to be known as ‘Batmania’ ?

A. 14.  The city of Melbourne used to be called ‘Batmania’.

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Q. 15.  What King of England was famous for having six wives?

A. 15.  Henry VIII.

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Q. 16.  And how many of his six wives did this King have executed? (A bonus point for each one you can name correctly.)

A. 16.  Henry VIII had two of his wives executed, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

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Q. 17.  What is the more common name for the fictional character ‘Kal-El’ and where is he supposed to be from? (A point for each correct answer.)

A. 17.  His more common name is Superman and hs home planet is Krypton.

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Q. 18.  What is the famous steeplechase horse race run at Aintreee in Liverpool, England every year?

A. 18.  It is called the ‘Grand National’.

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Q. 19.  What well known classical music composer has the initials ‘W.A.M.’

A. 19.  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

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Q. 20.  And finally for today another name. Columbo is one of the most famous ever detectives to appear on television but what is his first name?

A. 20.  His first name is “Frank”. It can be seen on his police ID, for example, in the 1971 episode “Dead Weight”, when Columbo introduces himself to General Hollister. So now you know!

Columbo-Signature2-bright

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It’s The Quiz Of The Week!

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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Hi and welcome to another week and another quiz.

Twenty more random questions to test you knowledge, some easy and some difficult, but there are a few multi-pointers in to help you with your score.

As usual the answers can be found waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating.

Enjoy and good luck.

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quiz confused1

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Q.  1:  How many ‘contiguous’ states are there in the United States of America?

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Q.  2:  In which movie would you find the robot or cyborg known as the ‘T-800’?

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Q.  3:  The 2014 Winter Olympics are being held next month (February 2014) in what country? (A bonus point is available if you can also name the City.)

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Q.  4:  Where were the previous (2010) Winter Olympics held and what location has been chosen for the next Winter Olympics in 2018? (A point for each and bonus points if you can also name the Cities.)

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Q.  5:  Which company built the ‘1972 911 Carrera RS’ classic automobile?

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Q.  6:  In what country did the soup known as ‘Miso’ originate?

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Q.  7:  Name the fictional detective associated with ‘Mrs. Hudson’.

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Q.  8:  What kind of mixed drink takes its name from the Hindi or Sanskrit word for ‘five’?

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Q.  9:  What is the common name for the garden flower ‘Helianthus’?

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Q. 10:  ‘Thimpu’ is the capital of what country?

            a) Nepal        b) Bhutan        c) Bahrain

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Q. 11:  Where was Super Bowl XLVII played on February 3, 2013?

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Q. 12:  In the late 1960s and early 1970s Leonard Nimoy starred in two classic television series, what were they? (Yes, a point for each correct answer and bonus points for the names of the characters he portrayed.)

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Q. 13:  ‘Rosalind’, ‘Portia’ and ‘Ophelia’ are moons of which planet?

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Q. 14:  A picture of Betty Grable wearing a white bathing suit made her the most popular pin-up of which war?

            a) WWI        b) WWII        c) Korea        d) Vietnam

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Q. 15:  Scandinavia is a large region of Northern Europe. What are the four mainland countries and one island nation that are generally collectively known as ‘Scandinavia’? (A point for each correct answer.)

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Q. 16:  As of the end of 2013, who has won the Academy award for Best Actor the most times? (Bonus points if you can name the movies too.)

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Q. 17:  What sort of creature is a whinchat?

            a) fish        b) insect        c) bird        d) mammal

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Q. 18:  ‘Columbo’,  ‘Morse’,  ‘Magnum’,  ‘Bergerac’,  and  ‘Nash Bridges’ were all television detectives and policemen who had one thing in common apart from their jobs, what was it?

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Q. 19:  With one word complete the following Acme Corporation inventions in ‘The Roadrunner’.

           a) dehydrated  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _    and, b) portable  _ _ _ _ _

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Q. 20:  Released in 1954, a single by Bill Haley & His Comets became one of the best selling songs of all time with sales of 25 million. What was it?      

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ANSWERS

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Q.  1:  How many ‘contiguous’ states are there in the United States of America?

A.  1:  48.

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Q.  2:  In which movie would you find the robot or cyborg known as the ‘T-800’?

A.  2:  Terminator.

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Q.  3:  The 2014 Winter Olympics are being held next month (February 2014) in what country? (A bonus point is available if you can also name the City.)

A.  3:  The 2014 XXII Winter Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia.

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Q.  4:  Where were the previous (2010) Winter Olympics held and what location has been chosen for the next Winter Olympics in 2018? (A point for each and bonus points if you can also name the Cities.)

A.  4:  Vancouver, Canada in 2010 and Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018.

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Q.  5:  Which company built the ‘1972 911 Carrera RS’ classic automobile?

A.  5:  Porsche.

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Q.  6:  In what country did the soup known as ‘Miso’ originate?

A.  6:  Japan.

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Q.  7:  Name the fictional detective associated with ‘Mrs. Hudson’.

A.  7:  Sherlock Holmes.

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Q.  8:  What kind of mixed drink takes its name from the Hindi or Sanskrit word for ‘five’?

A.  8:  Punch.

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Q.  9:  What is the common name for the garden flower ‘Helianthus’?

A.  9:  Sunflower.

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Q. 10:  ‘Thimpu’ is the capital of what country?

            a) Nepal        b) Bhutan        c) Bahrain

A. 10:  b) Bhutan.

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Q. 11:  Where was Super Bowl XLVII played on February 3, 2013?

A. 11:  At the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

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Q. 12:  In the late 1960s and early 1970s Leonard Nimoy starred in two classic television series, what were they? (Yes, a point for each correct answer and bonus points for the names of the characters he portrayed.)

A. 12:  Mr. Spock in Star Trek (1966-1969, 79 episodes) and Paris in Mission Impossible (1969-1971, 49 episodes).

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Q. 13:  ‘Rosalind’, ‘Portia’ and ‘Ophelia’ are moons of which planet?

A. 13:  Uranus.

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Q. 14:  A picture of Betty Grable wearing a white bathing suit made her the most popular pin-up of which war?

            a) WWI        b) WWII        c) Korea        d) Vietnam

A. 14:  b) WWII

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Q. 15:  Scandinavia is a large region of Northern Europe. What are the four mainland countries and one island nation that are generally collectively known as ‘Scandinavia’? (A point for each correct answer.)

A. 15:  Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland.

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Q. 16:  As of the end of 2013, who has won the Academy award for Best Actor the most times? (Bonus points if you can name the movies too.)

A. 16:  Daniel Day-Lewis. (In 1990 for ‘My Left Foot’, in 2008 for ‘There Will Be Blood’, and in 2013 for ‘Lincoln’.)

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Q. 17:  What sort of creature is a whinchat?

            a) fish        b) insect        c) bird        d) mammal

A. 17:  c) bird.

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Q. 18:  ‘Columbo’,  ‘Morse’,  ‘Magnum’,  ‘Bergerac’,  and  ‘Nash Bridges’ were all television detectives and policemen who had one thing in common apart from their jobs, what was it?

A. 18:  They all drove classic or distinctive cars.

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Q. 19:  With one word complete the following Acme Corporation inventions in ‘The Roadrunner’.

           a) dehydrated  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _    and, b) portable  _ _ _ _ _

A. 19:  a) dehydrated boulders   and, b) portable holes

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Q. 20:  Released in 1954, a single by Bill Haley & His Comets became one of the best selling songs of all time with sales of 25 million. What was it?      

A. 20: “Rock Around the Clock”

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Eye, Eye, What’s Going On Here Then?

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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A slight break from the usual today.

Never one to hide from controversy, I want to open up a discussion on a subject that has over the years been debated intensely but never proved conclusively.

Let me set the scene.

Peter Falk as Columbo

One of the most enduring characters on television has to be Lieut. Columbo, the short, disheveled, cheap cigar smoking, eccentric detective of that name, who by persistence, dogged investigation of the clues and a deceptive intelligence, always managed to get his man, or his woman.

Now I know you could have driven Columbo’s beat up Peugeot through some of the holes in the plot lines, but that aside, Peter Falk’s unique interpretation and portrayal of the character always made for enjoyable TV watching. Even the repeats, of which there have been many over the past three decades or so.

Columbo's old battered Peugeot cabriolet

There’s no argument, or there shouldn’t be, as to Falk’s acting ability. Although known by a lot of people only as Columbo, he also played many other roles both on the big screen and on television.

But Falk also had a disability. He lost an eye due to a childhood disease and as a result for most of his life he wore a glass eye.

And that gets us to the great debate I was telling you about in the intro to this post.

In the Columbo series, there is nothing in the scripts that indicates that Lieut. Columbo had been injured as a policeman or in an accident.

So the big question is, as Lieut. Columbo, was Falk’s glass eye a glass eye, or was it a glass eye playing the part of a real eye?

glass eye

I used to think that we were the only people whose minds were warped enough to think up a question like this, but apparently others have been asking the same question and I have even on one occasion heard the subject mentioned on TV.

So what is the answer?

Do you know, or do you have an opinion one way or the other?

If you have, please let me know. There are already far too many uncertainties in the world at the moment. One less would help things along greatly!

Thanks.

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