Sacre Bleu! – Er, Make That Red White And Bleu!

July 10, 2015June 30, 2015 fasab Crime, Current Events, Factoids, Politics, Rants a petit oui, America and France, America's snooping, American, American interventions in the Middle East, American people, americans, an official protest, apologizing, arrogant behavior, Conseil de la Défense, Current Events, damning, diplomatic maneuvers, disgraceful, do not represent, documents, education, Edward Snowden's revelations, emergency meeting, espionage, facts, Files, financial catastrophe, France, France’s ambassador to the US, France’s current head of state, Francois Hollande, french, French government ministers, French presidency, French Presidents, French readers, further reaction, Germany, Greece, Greek economic crisis, groveling, illegal and bad behavior, implicate, information, intelligence agencies, intelligence briefs, international issues, invasion of Iraq, iraq, Israeli-Palestinian dispute, Jacques Chirac, jointly monitor, Libya, mutual concern, National Security Agency, national security forum, Nicolas Sarkozy, no one is surprised any more, non-cooperation, NSA, NSA spying operations, Opinion, Oui, personal communications, politics, President Obama, President of France, protocol, published, Rants, Red White And Bleu, reputations of Americans, ruled France, Sacre Bleu, senior officials, spying, stronger response, syria, targeted, the American ambassador to France, the Ukraine, Thoughts, timely and important revelations, top secret intelligence reports and technical documents, trouble, United Nations, United States government, US, US spy agencies, veto, WikiLeaks

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

There has been a lot of activity in France lately concerning the United States government spying on three French Presidents.

The current President of France even called an emergency meeting of the Conseil de la Défense, the country’s highest national security forum to discuss the emergence of documents that appear to implicate the US National Security Agency (NSA) – now who’da guessed that? – spying on Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, who ruled France from 1995 to 2012.

The documents further indicate that the NSA may have also targeted the personal communications of Francois Hollande, France’s current head of state.

The files were published by WikiLeaks, which described them as “top secret intelligence reports and technical documents”, detailing NSA spying operations against the French presidency, as well as espionage directed at several French government ministers and at France’s ambassador to the US.

The documents include intelligence briefs, which detail the thoughts and diplomatic maneuvers by French presidents and other senior officials, on subjects such as the Greek economic crisis, the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and the United Nations.

This is further evidence of more disgraceful and arrogant behavior by US spy agencies.

The thing is, however, no one is surprised any more.

Since Edward Snowden’s revelations the world has come to expect illegal and bad behavior from Americans. It is as simple as that. And for the reputations of Americans it is as bad as that. Which is a great pity because these activities do not represent in any way the vast majority of the American people.

So, if they aren’t a surprise to anyone, will the latest revelations cause trouble between America and France? I think the undoubted answer is “Oui”, but only a “petit oui”.

As befits normal protocol in these kinds of things, the American ambassador to France was summoned for what was called ‘an official protest’, but little or nothing more happened apart from President Obama getting on the phone with the French President, groveling and apologizing and assuring him in no uncertain terms “that the US is no longer spying on France”.

No, I don’t believe him either, but there it is.

There was no need for America’s snooping. As with Germany, French and American intelligence agencies cooperate with each other regularly. They jointly monitor international issues of mutual concern, such as what is happening in Syria, Iraq, the Ukraine, Libya, and even the financial catastrophe that is Greece.

For now that will continue, but the road ahead looks bumpy.

Wikileaks has already made good on its promise that its “French readers can expect more timely and important revelations in the near future”.

The latest release from the whistleblower website contains more documents that indicate that the National Security Agency (NSA), under orders from Washington, were tasked with collecting secret information not only about the economic policies of the French government and the country’s financial sector, but on export contracts by French companies.

In fact every French-registered company involved in negotiations for international projects or other sales contracts valued at over $200 million, like car makers Peugeot and Renault and financial institutions like BNP Paribas and the agricultural credit union, were also subjected to US government secret snooping.

Washington’s pathetic statements that none of this information is ever used to benefit American companies competing for international contracts rings mighty hollow with the French, and the rest of the world come to that.

This latest information is a lot more damning and may necessitate a much stronger response from the French – even if it is just to save face.

Like their attitude over the invasion of Iraq, I think any further reaction would include little or no cooperation in any future American interventions in the Middle East and maybe the use of a veto or two in the United Nations.

We might be at the start of a new meaning to the term “non” cooperation?

=======================================

Icebergs And Sunshine, Both Make The Fact File Today.

February 3, 2015January 6, 2015 fasab Factoids, Unusual 671 Lincoln Avenue, acoustics, agave tequilana Weber, aguamiel, all right, Aston Martin, bathroom, blue agave, Bond, bottle of champagne, car tires, champagne bottle, Chicago, Daniel Craig, deadliest spare-related accidents, education, Egyptian mythology, Egyptian pyramids, England, Entertainment, exploded, fact, factoid, factoids, factory, facts, farm, farmer, first video uploaded to YouTube, first words uttered on YouTube, flight of death, floating, French words, George Washington, greatest threat to your health, Greece, grew marijuana, Harry Potter, heart disease, historic ship, Home Alone, honey water, hot chilies, Hot Sauce and Hot Chili Pepper Eating Contest, hotness, ICBM, iceberg, Illinois, immigrant, infamous, information, Jawed Karim, Karim, killed, Large Cayenne Pepper, last surviving Mayflower passenger, launch pad, lower your risk of heart disease, Mary Allerton, Massachusetts, Mayflower, McCallister´s house, Me at the zoo, movie, Nedelin Catastrophe, New World, Nikita Khrushchev, North Carolina, passengers, permanent residence, plant, Plymouth, Plymouth Colony, popped cork, pressure, realm of the dead, relaxing place, San Diego Zoo, Scoville Heat Units, secret, setting sun, shower, sing in shower, single-family house, so here we are in front of the elephants, Soviet Premier, Soviet R-16 rocket, Sunniest Country In Europe, sunny, sunshine, syrup, Tequila, The Orange Habenero, Titanic, tourist attraction, transported the first Pilgrims, trivia, video, village, Voldemort, west bank of the River Nile, Winnetka, Yakov Lapitsky, YouTube cofounder

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Another contrasting day of facts here at the fasab blog.

And what could be more of a contrast than icebergs and sunshine?

Find out more below.

Enjoy.

Contrary to popular belief,

the ‘t’ at the end of Voldemort,

who features in the Harry Potter stories,

is silent.

The name comes from the French

words meaning “flight of death.”

In North Carolina each year there is a

Hot Sauce and Hot Chili Pepper Eating Contest,

consisting of 5 rounds in which the participants

have to eat increasingly hot chilies.

The hotness of chilies is based on Scoville Heat Units.

In the first round, each contestant starts out with a

Large Cayenne Pepper (Long Hots) (500-2,500 SU)

and those who make it all the way to the last fifth round

have to deal with The Orange Habenero (100,000-300,000 SU).

Crikey!

Apparently Greece Is the “Sunniest” Country in Europe

enjoying on average more than 250 days of sunshine

(three thousand hours) a year,

which also makes it one of the

most sunny countries in the world.

Daniel Craig is able to take any

Aston Martin from the factory

for the rest of his life,

because of his time as Bond.

Tequila is made from the blue agave,

or agave tequilana Weber.

According to WebMD, the core of the plant

contains aguamiel or “honey water,”

which is used for syrup (and tequila) production.

All Egyptian pyramids were built

on the west bank of the River Nile,

which as the site of the setting sun

and was associated with the realm of

the dead in Egyptian mythology.

The more education you have,

the lower your risk of heart disease,

however, in spite of that, heart disease

is still the greatest threat to your health.

The infamous iceberg that sank the Titanic

has been floating around since about 1,000 B.C.

Why do people sing in shower?

One theory is that they might simply feel

more comfortable in the shower

since it is a relaxing place

and they are by themselves.

Or it may be because the acoustics

are better in the bathroom,

so the chances of you sounding

like a great singer are higher.

Although it is supposed to be in Chicago,

the McCallister´s house in the movie Home Alone

is actually located at 671 Lincoln Avenue

in the village of Winnetka, Illinois.

The three-story single-family house

was listed for sale at $2.4 million in 2011

and sold for $1.585 million in 2012.

The house is now promoted as a tourist attraction.

As a farmer,

George Washington grew marijuana

on his farm and promoted its growth.

The October 24, 1960 saw one of the

deadliest spare-related accidents in history,

when a Soviet R-16 rocket (an ICBM) exploded

on the launch pad during testing.

72 workers were killed.

Soviet Premier at the time, Nikita Khrushchev,

demanded it be kept secret.

Today it is known as the Nedelin Catastrophe.

A bottle of champagne contains

90 pounds or pressure per square inch,

which is three times the pressure found in car tires.

The popped cork from a champagne bottle

travels as fast as 60 miles per hour

and can cause some serious damage.

Mary Allerton was an immigrant

who established a permanent residence in

Plymouth Colony, which we know today as Massachusetts.

She was one of the many passengers of on the Mayflower,

the historic ship that transported the first Pilgrims,

from Plymouth, England, to the New World.

She was only four years old when she boarded the ship

and would die almost 80 years later,

making history as the last surviving Mayflower passenger.

The first video uploaded to YouTube,

titled “Me at the zoo,”

made its debut on April 23, 2005.

The nineteen-second video was shot by Yakov Lapitsky

and shows YouTube cofounder Jawed Karim

at the San Diego Zoo.

It also contains the first words uttered on YouTube

which were

“All right, so here we are in front of the elephants”

when Karim was trying to “charm” the camera.

====================================

Sweaty Palms And Underarms – I Smell Fact Day!

January 27, 2015January 4, 2015 fasab Factoids, Unusual 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Australian census, Blue whale, body, boost their mood, dance, dancers, dancing plague, deaths, decoration only, died on July 4th, Divine Wind, doctors' sloppy handwriting, education, emotional stress, Entertainment, exhaustion, fact, Fact day, facts, four smokestacks on the Titanic, Great Pyramid of Giza, Greece, Greek origin, Greek population, heart attack, help regulate their menstrual cycle, help women relax, her lips, hit the nail on the head, information, James Bond, Japan, John Adams, Kamikaze, ladies, largest Greek population, largest heart, man's underarm, maritime bear, Melbourne, Mongol fleets, most watched YouTube video, origin of the phrase, palm sweat, polar bears, Psy’s “Gangnam Style”, real working chimneys, remember four things at a time, scientific name, sea, Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, smell, still in existence, street in Stasbourg, stroke, sweat, Sweaty Palms, temperature, The Book of Margery Kempe, Thomas Jefferson, triggered, trivia, typhoon, Underarms, Ursus Maritimus

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Yes, today’s selection of facts includes sweaty palms and underarms.

You may be surprised by these and some of the other offerings below.

Enjoy.

A person can only remember

four things at a time.

And speaking of four,

of the four smokestacks on the Titanic,

only three were real working chimneys,

the fourth was totally for decoration only.

Palm sweat can be triggered by two separate things,

your body trying to control its temperature

or trying to cope with emotional stress,

both of which are closely linked.

In July of 1518 a woman began to

dance in the street in Stasbourg.

She was eventually joined by about 400 dancers.

It’s not clear exactly how many people died

due to this ‘dancing plague’, but some

definitely died from heart attack,

stroke or exhaustion.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest of

the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

and the last one still in existence.

In his entire career (so far) James Bond

has been shot at 4,662 times.

The blue whale has the largest heart

weighing over 1,500 pounds.

Although polar bears are usually born on land,

they spend most of their time at sea.

Their scientific name Ursus Maritimus

means ‘maritime bear’.

When a person gets right to the precise point

or says something that is verified as correct it is

often said that they have ‘hit the nail on the head’.

The exact origin of the phrase is not known,

but it appeared for the first time in print in

1438 in The Book of Margery Kempe.

7,000 deaths occur each year because

of doctors’ sloppy handwriting.

According to the Australian census,

Melbourne has the largest Greek population

outside Greece with over 150,000 people

being of Greek origin, which technically

makes Melbourne the sixth biggest city

in terms of Greek population.

The sweat from a man’s underarm

can help women relax,

boost their mood and

help regulate their menstrual cycle,

if applied to her lips.

There you are ladies, now you know.

Mongol fleets tried to conquer Japan

twice in 7 years, but both times

they were stopped by a typhoon.

These events were described as

Kamikaze or ‘Divine Wind’.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams

both died on July 4th

on the 50th Anniversary of

the Declaration of Independence.

Psy’s “Gangnam Style” is

the most watched YouTube video ever

with nearly 2.2 billion views and counting.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Can You Handle The Quiz?

December 8, 2014December 8, 2014 fasab Questions, Tests Absynth, Bergrisar, bounce, boxer, British naval intelligence officer, challenging, children's story, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, color, Cornucopia, country, cranberry, Daityas, directed, education, eight different members of the D'Ascoyne family, England, Entertainment, famous movie, Fionn mac Cumhaill, first European to cross the Pacific Ocean, first professional fight, first Twitter user to reach 20 million followers, Formula One World Driver's Championship, France, general knowledge, Geography, Greece, H-3, H-4, harvested, history, IMAX, IMAX Cinemas, inches, Italy, Japanese, jfk, large screen, martial art, mechanical wonders, movie, movie star, movies, music, mythology, nationality, nature, Nephilims, never elected, Nixon, oldest universities in Europe, Patagons, Police Chief of Fayetteville, politics, popular singer, Portuguese-born navigator, President, questions, quiz, quizzes, ripe, secret love, shortest, Sir Alec Guinness, sold, sport, tallest President of the United States, test, tests, Tunney Hunsaker, Turkey, up and down, US president, Vice President, way of the sword, West Virginia, wild turkeys, won, world war ii, wrote

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Hi and welcome to another week.

Today’s quiz has a few questions that I think you will find quite challenging, plus one or two that you should breeze through with ease.

But the only way to find out is to have a go.

And remember, as always, if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1: What goes up and down, but still remains in the same place?

Q. 2: Who directed both JFK and Nixon?

Q. 3: Before being harvested and sold, an individual cranberry must bounce at least how many inches high to make sure they aren’t too ripe?

a) 2 inches b) 3 inches c) 4 inches d) 5 inches

Q. 4: What World War II British naval intelligence officer wrote the children’s story ‘Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang’?

Q. 5: Who is the only US President who was never elected as either President or Vice President?

Q. 6: The ‘H-3’ and the ‘H-4’, built in 1757 and 1759 were mechanical wonders. Who constructed them both and what were they used for? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you get them both correct.)

Q. 7: What does the term ‘Cornucopia’ mean?

Q. 8: To nearest 1000, in the year 1800 how many wild turkeys were there in Turkey?

Q. 9: The two oldest universities in Europe are both found in which country?

a) France b) England c) Italy d) Greece

Q. 10: Who was the tallest President of the United States and who was the shortest? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you get them both correct.)

Q. 11: In which 1949 movie did Sir Alec Guinness famously play the role of eight different members of the D’Ascoyne family?

Q. 12: Who won this year’s (2014) Formula One World Driver’s Championship and what was his nationality? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you get them both correct.)

Q. 13: ‘Fionn mac Cumhaill’, ‘Bergrisar’, ‘Daityas’, ‘Patagons’ and ‘Nephilims’ are all examples of what?

Q. 14: What does ‘IMAX’, as in the large screen IMAX Cinemas stand for?

Q. 15: Which boxer’s first professional fight was against Tunney Hunsaker, Police Chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia, on October 29, 1960?

Q. 16: Which Portuguese-born navigator was the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean?

Q. 17: Who was the first Twitter user to reach 20 million followers?

Q. 18: Which martial art takes its name from the Japanese for ‘way of the sword’?

Q. 19: What color is ‘Absynth’?

Q. 20: Which popular singer and movie star had a ‘secret love’ in 1954 and in which famous movie did it feature? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you get them both correct.)

ANSWERS

Q. 1: What goes up and down, but still remains in the same place?

A. 1: Stairs!

Q. 2: Who directed both JFK and Nixon?

A. 2: Oliver Stone.

Q. 3: Before being harvested and sold, an individual cranberry must bounce at least how many inches high to make sure they aren’t too ripe?

a) 2 inches b) 3 inches c) 4 inches d) 5 inches

A. 3: The correct answer is c) 4 inches.

Q. 4: What World War II British naval intelligence officer wrote the children’s story ‘Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang’?

A. 4: Ian Fleming, much better known as author of the James Bond novels.

Q. 5: Who is the only US President who was never elected as either President or Vice President?

A. 5: Gerald R Ford, who became the 40th Vice-President when Spiro Agnew resigned the position and who subsequently became the 38th President of the USA, when he took over the job after Richard M Nixon resigned.

A. 6: John Harrison. H-3 and H-4 were the first successful maritime chronometers.

Q. 7: What does the term ‘Cornucopia’ mean?

A. 7: Literally ‘Horn of Plenty’, used as a symbol of abundance.

Q. 8: To nearest 1000, in the year 1800 how many wild turkeys were there in Turkey?

A. 8: The correct answer is ‘None’, the wild turkey it is a native North American bird.

Q. 9: The two oldest universities in Europe are both found in which country?

a) France b) England c) Italy d) Greece

A. 9: Many people think it is England with the famous Oxford and Cambridge Universities, but the correct answer is c) Italy. Parma (1065 AD) and Bologna (1119 AD)

Q. 10: Who was the tallest President of the United States and who was the shortest? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you get them both correct.)

A. 10: Abraham Lincoln was the tallest at 6′ 4″, and James Madison was the shortest at 5′ 4″.

Q. 11: In which 1949 movie did Sir Alec Guinness famously play the role of eight different members of the D’Ascoyne family?

A. 11: Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Q. 12: Who won this year’s (2014) Formula One World Driver’s Championship and what was his nationality? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you get them both correct.)

A. 12: Lewis Hamilton who is British.

Q. 13: ‘Fionn mac Cumhaill’, ‘Bergrisar’, ‘Daityas’, ‘Patagons’ and ‘Nephilims’ are all examples of what?

A. 13: Giants.

Q. 14: What does ‘IMAX’, as in the large screen IMAX Cinemas stand for?

A. 14: IMAX stands for ‘Image Maximum’.

Q. 15: Which boxer’s first professional fight was against Tunney Hunsaker, Police Chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia, on October 29, 1960?

A. 15: Cassius Clay. (Sorry, but you do not score a point if you only said ‘Muhammad Ali’, he did not change his name until 15 years later after converting to Sunni Islam in 1975.)

Q. 16: Which Portuguese-born navigator was the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean?

A. 16: Ferdinand Magellan (1480 – 1521).

Q. 17: Who was the first Twitter user to reach 20 million followers?

A. 17: Lady Gaga.

Q. 18: Which martial art takes its name from the Japanese for ‘way of the sword’?

A. 18: Kendo.

Q. 19: What color is ‘Absynth’?

A. 19: Green.

A. 20: Doris Day and the movie was Calamity Jane.

===============================================

Another Twenty Questions

June 16, 2014June 11, 2014 fasab Questions, Tests 1592, 1908, 1963 London premiere, action movie, actor, American born, Anthony Quinn, automobile brands, BMW, britain, built, Cameron Poe, capital city, Captain Queeg, Chile, Con Air, county in Northern Ireland, Curd Jürgens, die, downfall, education, England, Entertainment, European countries, famous, Fifty cardinals, film, first Christian Emperor of Rome, FM dial, former government agent, founded, founder of Constantinople, France, fruit, general knowledge, Geography, Great Lakes, Greece, history, hot dog buns, iconic, India, Jeep, letters, Long Haired Lover From Liverpool, lowest, Mahatma Gandhi, map, Misc, Miscellaneous, movie, movies, music, musical family, narrate, North America, Northern Ireland, number, oldest university, politics, Portugal, profession, questions, quiz, quizzes, Random, Raymond Red Reddington, Republic of Ireland, Richard Burton, six penguins, South Africa, South America, spain, standard package, states, strait, Switzerland, television series, The Blacklist, The Caine Mutiny, Tierra Del Fuego, two flamingos, United States of America, up-market, William Shakespeare, WWII

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Get ready to scratch that head.

Another twenty questions for fasab quiz day.

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

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1: Who played Cameron Poe in the action movie Con Air?

Q. 2: What is the lowest number on the FM dial?

Q. 3: We’ve all seen the iconic ‘Jeep’, but approximately how many were built during WWII?

a) 250,000 b) 450,000 c) 650,000 d) 850,000 or e) 1,050,000

Q. 4: Think about a map of the bottom of South America for this one, what strait separates Chile from Tierra Del Fuego?

Q. 5: One of the most famous up-market automobile brands is BMW, but what do the letters ‘B-M-W’ stand for?

Q. 6: Who is former government agent ‘Raymond “Red” Reddington’ in the excellent television series ‘The Blacklist’?

Q. 7: Founded in 1592, what is the oldest university in the Republic of Ireland called?

Q. 8: Founded in 1908 what is the oldest university in Northern Ireland called?

Q. 9: How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?

Q. 10: What is the capital city of each of the following European countries? (A point for each correct answer, plus a bonus point if you name them all correctly.)

a) Greece b) Britain c) France d) Spain e) Portugal f) Switzerland

Q. 11: Fifty cardinals, two flamingos and six penguins attended the 1963 London premiere of what movie?

Q. 12: Mahatma Gandhi qualified in England for which profession before practicing in South Africa and then moving back to India?

Q. 13: Name North America’s ‘Great Lakes’? (A point for each correct answer, plus a bonus point if you name them all correctly.)

Q. 14: The stirring voices of Anthony Quinn, Richard Burton and Curd Jürgens were all used, albeit in different versions, to narrate what?

Q. 15: How many states in the United States of America begin with the letter ‘C’? (Bonus points for each one you name correctly.)

Q. 16: What American born actor of the 1930s to the 1950s shares his name with a county in Northern Ireland?

Q. 17: Who was allegedly the first Christian Emperor of Rome and founder of Constantinople?

Q. 18: Which fruit plays a role in the downfall of Captain Queeg in the movie ‘The Caine Mutiny’?

Q. 19: In which year did William Shakespeare die?

Q. 20: What member of this musical family was a ‘Long Haired Lover From Liverpool’?

ANSWERS

Q. 1: Who played Cameron Poe in the action movie Con Air?

A. 1: Nicolas Cage.

Q. 2: What is the lowest number on the FM dial?

A. 2: 88.

Q. 3: We’ve all seen the iconic ‘Jeep’, but approximately how many were built during WWII?

a) 250,000 b) 450,000 c) 650,000 d) 850,000 or e) 1,050,000

A. 3: The correct answer is c) approximately 650,000 Jeeps were built during WWII.

Q. 4: Think about a map of the bottom of South America for this one, what strait separates Chile from Tierra Del Fuego?

A. 4: The Strait of Magellan. (Sometimes also called The Straits of Magellan.)

Q. 5: One of the most famous up-market automobile brands is BMW, but what do the letters ‘B-M-W’ stand for?

A. 5: ‘BMW’ is an acronym for ‘Bavarian Motor Works’.

Q. 6: Who is former government agent ‘Raymond “Red” Reddington’ in the excellent television series ‘The Blacklist’?

A. 6: James Spader.

Q. 7: Founded in 1592, what is the oldest university in the Republic of Ireland called?

A. 7: Trinity College, aka the University of Dublin.

Q. 8: Founded in 1908 what is the oldest university in Northern Ireland called?

A. 8: Queens University.

Q. 9: How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?

A. 9: 8.

Q. 10: What is the capital city of each of the following European countries? (A point for each correct answer, plus a bonus point if you name them all correctly.)

a) Greece b) Britain c) France d) Spain e) Portugal f) Switzerland

A. 10: a) Athens b) London c) Paris d) Madrid e) Lisbon f) Berne

Q. 11: Fifty cardinals, two flamingos and six penguins attended the 1963 London premiere of what movie?

A. 11: The clue was in the question, it was the movie premier of ‘The Birds’.

Q. 12: Mahatma Gandhi qualified in England for which profession before practicing in South Africa and then moving back to India?

A. 12: Law.

Q. 13: Name North America’s ‘Great Lakes’? (A point for each correct answer, plus a bonus point if you name them all correctly.)

A. 13: North America’s ‘Great Lakes’ consist of Lakes ‘Superior’, ‘Michigan’, ‘Huron’, ‘Erie’, and ‘Ontario’.

Q. 14: The stirring voices of Anthony Quinn, Richard Burton and Curd Jürgens were all used, albeit in different versions, to narrate what?

A. 14: Jeff Wayne’s musical version of ‘The War Of The Worlds’. Burton’s was used in the English version, Quinn’s in the Spanish, and Jürgens’ in the German.

Q. 15: How many states in the United States of America begin with the letter ‘C’? (Bonus points for each one you name correctly.)

A. 15: Three states in the US begin with the letter’C’, California, Colorado and Connecticut.

Q. 16: What American born actor of the 1930s to the 1950s shares his name with a county in Northern Ireland?

A. 16: Tyrone Power. County Tyrone is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland.

Q. 17: Who was allegedly the first Christian Emperor of Rome and founder of Constantinople?

A. 17: Constantine The Great.

Q. 18: Which fruit plays a role in the downfall of Captain Queeg in the movie ‘The Caine Mutiny’?

A. 18: Strawberries.

Q. 19: In which year did William Shakespeare die?

A. 19: It should be an easy one to remember, the year was 1616.

Q. 20: What member of this musical family was a Long Haired Lover From Liverpool?

A. 20: Little Jimmy Osmond. Here it is…. Sorry!

=======================================================

What Day Is It? – It’s Quiz Day, And That Wasn’t One Of The Questions!

June 9, 2014June 3, 2014 fasab Questions, Tests $300 million, 1979, ABBA, adjusts the opening, aliens, assassinated, beautiful, Britain’s Royal Family, broken off, career, Chinese dynasty, Ching, city of Rome, clockwise, clouds, Cold War, cord, counter-clockwise, country, dessert, dried fruit, education, electricity, Entertainment, fairy tales, famous man, fantasy novels, Galapagos Islands, general knowledge, Geography, Greece, Hans Christian, Harry Potter, highest priced painting in the world, history, Ireland, island country, Jin, June 14th, largest city in North Carolina, Latin word, member, men who served, merry-go-round, Ming, movie, movies, Mullaghmore, music, mythical founder, mythology, named, Napoleon, old name, painted, politics, port city, Qing, questions, quiz, Quiz Day, quizzes, returned safely, sailing, sales price, second best bed, slats, slayer, small clouds, sporting tournament, star trek, Tang, tasers, television, The Card Players, title, tv, twin brother, U-boats, US president, USA, venetian blind, videos, war-like race, White House, wife, wife of King George III, wills, world war ii, wrote, WWII, Xin, YouTube

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

No, sorry, no points if you said it was Quiz Day, even though you are right.

Twenty more challenging questions for you to ponder over.

So get a pot of coffee going and try you hand at these.

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

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1: You’ve heard of tasers, you’ve probably seen videos of them on TV or YouTube, but what do the letters ‘T-A-S-E-R’ stand for?

Q. 2: Out of the 40,000 men who served on U-boats during World War II, approximately how many returned safely?

a) 100% b) 75% c) 50% d) 25% e) 15%

Q. 3: When did the Cold War end?

Q. 4: On which side of a venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?

Q. 5: To which country do the Galapagos Islands belong?

Q. 6: What member of Britain’s Royal Family was assassinated whilst sailing from Mullaghmore in Ireland in 1979?

Q. 7: Harry Potter is a very famous and successful series of seven fantasy novels, who wrote them?

Q. 8: Does a merry-go-round turn clockwise or counter-clockwise?

Q. 9: Which popular dried fruit is named after a port city in Greece?

Q. 10: Currently the highest priced painting in the world with a sales price equivalent to something in the region of $300 million, ‘The Card Players’ was painted by whom?

Q. 11: The old name for this island country stems from the Latin word for beautiful, what is it called today?

Q. 12: Complete the title of each of the following Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales. (And yes, you get a point for each correct answer.)

a) The Red ….. b) The Emperor’s … ……. C) The Steadfast … …….

d) The Princess And … … and, e) The Wild …..

Q. 13: Some wills are strange, which very famous man left his wife his second best bed?

Q. 14: It’s the name of a dessert, the largest city in North Carolina, USA, and the wife of King George III – what is it?

Q. 15: Which of the following was NOT the name of a Chinese dynasty?

a) Qing b) Xin c) Ming d) Jin e) Ching or, e) Tang

Q. 16: What huge sporting tournament begins June 14^th this year?

Q. 17: Who was the first US President to have electricity in the White House?

Q. 18: What are very small clouds that look like they have been broken off of bigger clouds called?

Q. 19: He was the mythical founder of the city of Rome and the slayer of his twin brother. His name was also used for a war-like race of aliens in the series Star Trek. What was his name? (And a bonus point on offer if you can also correctly name his twin brother.)

Q. 20: It was the end of Napoleon’s career and the start of ABBA’s, what was it?

ANSWERS

Q. 1: You’ve heard of tasers, you’ve probably seen videos of them on TV or YouTube, but what do the letters ‘T-A-S-E-R’ stand for?

A. 1: ‘Taser’ – Stands for ‘Thomas A Swift Electric Rifle’.

Q. 2: Out of the 40,000 men who served on U-boats during World War II, approximately how many returned safely?

a) 100% b) 75% c) 50% d) 25% e) 15%

A. 2: The correct answer is d) 25%. Out of the 40,000 men who served on U-boats during WWII, only approximately 10,000 returned safely.

Q. 3: When did the Cold War end?

A. 3: This year (2014) is the 25^th anniversary of the end of the Cold War, so take a point if you said ‘1989’.

Q. 4: On which side of a venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?

A. 4: It’s on the left.

Q. 5: To which country do the Galapagos Islands belong?

A. 5: Ecuador.

Q. 6: What member of Britain’s Royal Family was assassinated whilst sailing from Mullaghmore in Ireland in 1979?

A. 6: Earl Mountbatten.

Q. 7: Harry Potter is a very famous and successful series of seven fantasy novels, who wrote them?

A. 7: The Harry Potter series was written by the British author J. K. Rowling.

Q. 8: Does a merry-go-round turn clockwise or counter-clockwise?

A. 8: Counter-clockwise.

Q. 9: Which popular dried fruit is named after a port city in Greece?

A. 9: Corinthians (after the port city Corinth).

Q. 10: Currently the highest priced painting in the world with a sales price equivalent to something in the region of $300 million, ‘The Card Players’ was painted by whom?

A. 10: Paul Cézanne.

Q. 11: The old name for this island country stems from the Latin word for beautiful, what is it called today?

A. 11: The old name was ‘Formosa’, but the island nation is now known as Taiwan or officially the Republic of China.

Q. 12: Complete the title of each of the following Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales. (And yes, you get a point for each correct answer.)

a) The Red ….. b) The Emperor’s … ……. C) The Steadfast … …….

d) The Princess And … … and, e) The Wild …..

A. 12: The five answers are a) The Red SHOES b) The Emperor’s NEW CLOTHES

c) The Steadfast TIN SOLDIER d) The Princess And THE PEA e) The Wild SWANS

Q. 13: Some wills are strange, which very famous man left his wife his second best bed?

A. 13: There was a clue in the question, the answer is Will Shakespeare.

Q. 14: It’s the name of a dessert, the largest city in North Carolina, USA, and the wife of King George III – what is it?

A. 14: Charlotte.

Q. 15: Which of the following was NOT the name of a Chinese dynasty?

a) Qing b) Xin c) Ming d) Jin e) Ching or, e) Tang

A. 15: They are all the names of Chinese dynasties except for e) Ching which I just made up! Take a point if you answered e).

Q. 16: What huge sporting tournament begins June 14^th this year?

A. 16: The football (soccer) World Cup.

Q. 17: Who was the first US President to have electricity in the White House?

A. 17: Benjamin Harrison was the first president to have electricity in the White House. However, he was so scared of getting electrocuted that he would never touch the light switches himself.

Q. 18: What are very small clouds that look like they have been broken off of bigger clouds called?

A. 18: Very small clouds that look like they have been broken off of bigger clouds are called ‘scuds’.

A. 19: His name was ‘Romulus’. His twin brother’s name was ‘Remus’.

Q. 20: It was the end of Napoleon’s career and the start of ABBA’s, what was it?

A. 20: Waterloo.

==============================================

Twenty Quiz Questions. Go On, Have A Go!

November 4, 2013November 2, 2013 fasab Questions, Tests American town, assassinated, Austria, autobiography, Billboard pop chart, bird's nest, borders, California license plates, camels, Canadian provinces, cane, Charlton Heston, city, collective term, conquered, country, current affairs, Dalmatians, diplomatic relations, Disney, Dr. Christian Szell, Dustin Hoffman, education, eggs, Entertainment, Eraser, famous lady, famous musical, father-daughter collaboration, film, films, first name, General 'Chinese' Gordon, general knowledge, Geography, George Taylor, GI Joe, Greece, history, Ironside, John the Baptist, ladies, lead stars, Macedonian Army, metal band, Michael Jackson, Michelangelo, Misc, Miscellaneous, Moonwalk, Moses, movie, movies, music, Nasser, Nazi war criminal, niddick, number one, pencil, politics, President of Egypt, questions, quiz, quizzes, Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, Scoville Heat Index, Sir Laurence Olivier, Some Like It Hot, starring, test, tests, TV series, United States, US president, US state, Woodrow Wilson

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Hello and welcome to another start of the week quiz.

Another very random selection of questions, but don’t let that discourage you, have a go!

As usual the answers are given waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below – but please, NO cheating.

Enjoy, and good luck.

Q. 1: How many Dalmatians starred in the 1961 Disney movie?

Q. 2: Where do they make California license plates?

Q. 3: What is the collective term for a group of eggs, such as those found in a bird’s nest?

Q. 4: Which famous lady edited Michael Jackson’s 1988 autobiography “Moonwalk”?

Q. 5: What do they call G.I. Joe in the U.K.?

Q. 6: What was US President Woodrow Wilson’s first name?

Q. 7: In which American town or city was the TV series “Ironside” set?

Q. 8: What is your “niddick”? (Yes, ladies you have one too.)

Q. 9: In which movie, also starring Dustin Hoffman, did Sir Laurence Olivier play a Nazi war criminal named Dr. Christian Szell?

Q. 10: What is the name for the metal band that joins the eraser to a pencil, or the metal band at the end of a cane?

Q. 11: Name the only U.S. state that borders three different Canadian provinces.

Q. 12: Who succeeded Nasser as President of Egypt and was later assassinated?

Q. 13: Where did camels originate?

Q. 14: What famous musical was set in Austria?

Q. 15: What is the Scoville Heat Index and what is it used for?

Q. 16: Who conquered Greece in 336 at the head of a vast Macedonian Army?

Q. 17: Name the three lead stars in the movie “Some Like It Hot”.

Q. 18: What was the first country to seek diplomatic relations with the United States.

Q. 19: In which movies did Charlton Heston play the following roles?

a. George Taylor,

b. Moses,

c. Michelangelo,

d. General ‘Chinese’ Gordon,

e. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar,

f. John the Baptist

(One point for each correct answer so your chance to earn six points here!)

Q. 20: What was the only father-daughter collaboration to hit number one on the Billboard pop chart? (One point each for the names of the two artists and for the name of the song.

ANSWERS

Q. 1: How many Dalmatians starred in the 1961 Disney movie?

A. 1: 101

Q. 2: Where do they make California license plates?

A. 2: All California license plates are made in prisons.

Q. 3: What is the collective term for a group of eggs, such as those found in a bird’s nest?

A. 3: A group of eggs, such as those found in a bird’s nest, is known as a “clutch.”

Q. 4: Which famous lady edited Michael Jackson’s 1988 autobiography “Moonwalk”?

A. 4: Michael Jackson’s 1988 autobiography Moonwalk was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Q. 5: What do they call G.I. Joe in the U.K.?

A. 5: G.I. Joe is called “Action Man” in the U.K.

Q. 6: What was US President Woodrow Wilson’s first name?

A. 6: Woodrow Wilson’s first name was Thomas. Woodrow was actually his middle name.

Q. 7: In which American town or city was the TV series “Ironside” set?

A. 7: San Francisco

Q. 8: What is your “niddick”? (Yes, ladies you have one too.)

A. 8: “Niddick” is another name for the nape of your neck.

Q. 9: In which movie, also starring Dustin Hoffman, did Sir Laurence Olivier play a Nazi war criminal named Dr. Christian Szell?

A. 9: Marathon Man.

Q. 10: What is the name for the metal band that joins the eraser to a pencil, or the metal band at the end of a cane?

A. 10: The metal band that joins the eraser to a pencil and the metal band at the end of a cane is a called a “ferrule.”

Q. 11: Name the only U.S. state that borders three different Canadian provinces.

A. 11: Montana is the only U.S. state that borders three different Canadian provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan).

Q. 12: Who succeeded Nasser as President of Egypt and was later assassinated?

A. 12: Anwar Sadat.

Q. 13: Where did camels originate?

A. 13: Camels actually originated in North America.

Q. 14: What famous musical was set in Austria?

A. 14: The Sound Of Music.

Q. 15: What is the Scoville Heat Index and what is it used for?

A. 15: The Scoville Heat Index is a scale for measuring the spiciness of food. The spiciest pepper has over 1,000,000 Scoville units.

Q. 16: Who conquered Greece in 336 at the head of a vast Macedonian Army?

A. 16: Alexander The Great.

Q. 17: Name the three lead stars in the movie “Some Like It Hot”.

A. 17: Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe.

Q. 18: What was the first country to seek diplomatic relations with the United States.

A. 18: In 1777, Morocco became the first country to seek diplomatic relations with the United States.

Q. 19: In which movies did Charlton Heston play the following roles?

a. George Taylor,

b. Moses,

c. Michelangelo,

d. General ‘Chinese’ Gordon,

e. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar,

f. John the Baptist

(One point for each correct answer so your chance to earn six points here!)

A. 19: Charlton Heston played

a. George Taylor in “Planet of the Apes (Beneath the Planet of the Apes)”

b. Moses in “The Ten Commandments”

c. Michelangelo in “The Agony and the Ecstasy”

d. General ‘Chinese’ Gordon in “Khartoum”

e. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar in “El Cid”

f. John the Baptist in “The Greatest Story Ever Told”

Q. 20: What was the only father-daughter collaboration to hit number one on the Billboard pop chart? (One point each for the names of the two artists and for the name of the song.)

A. 20: The only father-daughter collaboration to hit number one on the Billboard pop chart was “Something Stupid” by Frank & Nancy Sinatra in 1967.

=====================================

I See Boomerangs Are Making A Comeback.

September 12, 2013August 21, 2013 fasab comedy, Humour, Language, Puns amusing, animal in bed, arguing, bad jokes, bollocks, bomb, Boomerangs, breast, Chinese, coleslaw, Comeback, Comedy, couldn't see the point, Czech girlfriend, dating, dislodge, drew her eyebrows, drinking a pint of lager, driving, Entertainment, Esso, Farm assist, farmer's laborer, football match, footnote, friend, from the rear, funny, garlic bread, gas station, girls, gnome, go off, good jokes, Greece, Heineken Manoeuvre, hoover, hotel receptionist, Humor, Humour, invaded, joke, jokes, lighter fluid, Little Red Riding Hood's gran, lost my touch, Marines, Maths class, microsoft, Misc, Miscellaneous, Ohm's law, petrol station, phone, Pizza Hut, play on words, pocket, PS de resistance, pun, puns, reading Braille, Russia, sell by date, sign, sign on the road, silly jokes, sine, Slovak, spell something, stick an arrow in the ground, stuck in my throat, stupid, stupid jokes, suck, surprised, Survey crew, table, taking sides, the kinda guy, too high, Turkey, vacuum cleaner industry, wake-up call, what are you doing with your life, women, word play, word plays, write a letter, Zippo

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

It’s not only boomerangs that are making a comeback – so are puns!

And I continue to do my little bit here on the fasab blog to help them.

So read on and enjoy!

Any time I get something stuck in my throat,

I just dislodge it by drinking a pint of lager.

It’s called the Heineken Maneuver.

I saw a sign on the road while driving today that said,

Survey crew ahead.

I did. They looked okay.

Me and my friends played a football match against a load of Marines yesterday.

At half time they brought on a Chinese bloke.

I thought to myself, he’s a yellow sub marine.

Ever since I filled up my Zippo

I haven’t been able to lift it out of my pocket.

I think I need some lighter fluid.

A girl winked at me across the room in Maths class today;

I think it was a sine…

$pun math$

I’m the kinda guy who,

when asked to spell something over the phone,

says ‘G….for gnome’ just to throw them.

My friend once decided to stick an arrow in the ground.

I couldn’t see the point.

Whenever I write a letter to someone,

I add a footnote briefly explaining Ohm’s law.

It’s my P.S. de resistance.

I’ve started dating Little Red Riding Hood’s gran.

She’s an animal in bed.

I’m just a farmer’s laborer,

but when girls ask what I do,

I find ‘Farm assist’ sounds better.

I told a girl she drew her eyebrows on too high.

She looked pretty surprised.

I heard that women have one breast bigger than the other,

or is that just bollocks?

I was arguing with my girlfriend in Pizza Hut the other day

when my best friend came over, grabbed the garlic bread

and coleslaw from our table and ran off.

I wish he would stop taking sides.

I asked the hotel receptionist for a wake-up call.

Next morning, she rang and said,

“what are you doing with your life?”

I used to be really good at reading braille.

But I lost my touch.

Just got myself a new Czech girlfriend,

but it’s taken her 5 days to hoover the house.

Turns out she’s a Slovak.

My local gas station had a letter stolen from its sign last night.

Not to worry though, the company’s sending out an Esso S.

The day that Microsoft creates a product that doesn’t suck

is the day that they venture into the vacuum cleaner industry.

When a bomb passes its sell by date, does it go off?

If Russia invaded Turkey from the rear,

would Greece help?

====================================

Significant Number Factoid Friday – Today The Number Is Sixty-Four 64

June 28, 2013 fasab Factoids, Numbers, Unusual 000 Challenge, 000 Question, 1964, 64, 64 bits, 64-bit computing, 64-bit CPU, 64th Psalm, Advanced Crew Escape Suit, Afghanistan, AH-64 Apache, Albatross, Alfa Class Submarine, ALU, American game show, Andy's Pride, anti-submarine warfare carrier, Apache Longbow, apple, ASCII, assassination, assault rifle, Atari, atomic number, Atomic Weight, attendants, Australia, Baltimore Colts, Base64, Black Eye Galaxy, Boeing AH-64 Apache, Boeing Defense, books, british army, Buffalo Bills, bullpup layout, canada, Canadian, Caribia, Cetus, Chapter 64, chess, chessboard, Chicago Bears, Chinese, Cleveland Browns, CN Tower, Colorado Avalanche, Coma Berenices, Commodore 64, Commodore Business Machines, Commodore International, commodore pet, Commodore VIC-20, computing, Conoco Oil/Pelita, convoy duty, copper, Cu, Dakinis, Dave Wilcox, deliverance from his enemies, Democratic candidate, Department of Labor, Department of State, destroyer, dodecagonal number, dragon 32, dragon 64, Dragon Data, draughts, education, Elvis, EM-2, email, Emergency War Program, employment of workers with disabilities, enhanced-radiation, Erickson Air-Crane company, etheric body, Euler's totient function, EVA, extravehicular activity, Fermat prime, fighting fires, Florida, flying boat, FN FAL, Form DS-64, gadolinite, Gadolinium, galaxy, Galaxy Queen, Gaza Strip, Gd, Genesis, genetic code, George Blanda, Googol, googolplex, Graham's number, Greece, Grumman G-64/111 Albatross, Guard, guided-missile cruiser, Guinness Book of World Records, helicopter, HMS Beverley (H 64), HMS Centaur, HMS Fencer (D64), HMS Scorpion (D64), HMS Vansittart, Houston Oilers, hypergiant, IBM PC compatibles, ice hockey player, incumbent, India religious traditions, iraq, Isabelle, Israel, James Robert McGinn IV, Japan, Japanese, Jean de Marignac, Joe Delamielleure, John F Kennedy, John Lennon & Paul McCartney, K-64 Designation, Kaiserliche Marine, Kennedy Space Center, King David, King James Version, king james version of the bible, Kitty Hawk–class supercarrier, knight, Knight's Tour, Korean War, Kosovo, L1A1 SLR, L64, Lady Dina, Large Magellanic Cloud, large numbers, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Lebanon, lend-lease, lidar, Lidar In-space Technology Experiment, light, light detection and ranging, linebacker, LITE, Lord Shiva, Los Alamos, Los Alamos Laboratory, Louisiana, Magic Square, main battle tank, Martin Gardner, Mathematical Games, mathematics, Mersenne prime, Messier object M64, Militaria, military, MIME, Minnesota Vikings, Misc, Miscellaneous, Moser's number, Mother goddesses, movies, music, National Hockey League, NATO, Nauticus, Nazi German Kriegsmarine, NCAA Basketball Tournament, neutron bomb, New General Catalogue, New York Giants, NFL Hall of Famers, Norfolk, North Atlantic, North Korean, nuclear warhead, number, numbers, Oakland Raiders, object NGC 64, Old Testament, Olga, Operation Desert Storm, optical radar, Pacific, Pacific Theater, Panama, passport, politics, Port Talbot, President Lyndon B Johnson, Quarterback-Kicker, Randall McDaniel, Random, religion, Resorts International, RNA codon table, Roma, Ronald Graham, Royal Navy, Russian chess magazine, Russian Northern Fleet, San Francisco 49ers, scandals, science, Scientific American, Scorpion, self number, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool, significant numbers, Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane, Siller Brothers, Singapore, Six Four Incident, sixty-four, Skewes' number, song, South Korean, Soviet, space, Space & Security, Space Shuttle Discovery, SPARTAN-201, spin-off show, sport, STS-64, sun, super-perfect number, Switzerland, T-64, Taden, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tano of New Orleans, The Beatles, the Bible, The Incredible Hulk, The National Maritime Center, the Netherlands, the Persian Gulf, Tiananmen Square, Ticonderoga class, Tirpitz, Tomahawk, Toronto, triangular number, TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo), tv, TV quiz shows, U-64, United Nations, United States presidential election, US Army, US Coast Guard, USS Constellation (CV-64), USS Croatan (CVE-14), USS Gettysburg (CG-64), USS Wisconsin (BB-64), utility amphibians, VIC-64, Virginia, W class destroyer, W64 nuclear warhead, Wales, When I'm 64, WOH G64, World War I, world war ii, WWII, XML, Y A Tittle, Yoginis

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Another significant numbers day.

In case you are wondering these numbers are picked quite randomly. Only after it makes itself known does the search start for things associated with it.

Sometimes there is a lot, sometimes not so much. Sixty-four seems to be a well used number so a lot of information below.

If you are into numbers, enjoy.

The Number Sixty-Four 64

In religion

The 64th word of the King James Version of the Bible’s Old Testament Genesis is “light”;
King David prays for deliverance from his enemies in the 64th Psalm;
The 64 Dakinis or Yoginis are 8 Mother goddesses each with 8 attendants in India religious traditions; each of the 64 can be further correlated to the currents or winds of the human “etheric” body;
The Lord Shiva has 64 forms or manifestations.

In mathematics

Sixty-four is the square of 8, the cube of 4, and the sixth power of 2;
Sixty-four is the smallest number with exactly seven divisors;
Sixty-four is the lowest positive power of two that is adjacent to neither a Mersenne prime nor a Fermat prime;
Sixty-four is the sum of Euler’s totient function for the first fourteen integers;
Sixty-four is also a dodecagonal number and a centered triangular number;
In base 10, no integer added up to its own digits yields 64, hence it is a self number;
Sixty-four is a super-perfect number – a number such that s(s(n))=2n.

Base64
Base64 is a group of similar binary-to-text encoding schemes that represent binary data in an ASCII string format by translating it into a radix-64 representation. The term Base64 originates from a specific MIME content transfer encoding.
Base64 encoding schemes are commonly used when there is a need to encode binary data that needs to be stored and transferred over media that are designed to deal with textual data. This is to ensure that the data remain intact without modification during transport.
Base64 is commonly used in a number of applications including email via MIME, and storing complex data in XML.

Graham’s number
Graham’s number, named after Ronald Graham, is unimaginably larger than other well-known large numbers such as a googol, googolplex, and even larger than Skewes’ number and Moser’s number.
The number gained a degree of popular attention when Martin Gardner described it in the “Mathematical Games” section of Scientific American in November 1977, writing that, “In an unpublished proof, Graham has recently established … a bound so vast that it holds the record for the largest number ever used in a serious mathematical proof.” The 1980 Guinness Book of World Records repeated Gardner’s claim, adding to the popular interest in this number.
Specific integers known to be far larger than Graham’s number have since appeared in many serious mathematical proofs (e.g., in connection with Friedman’s various finite forms of Kruskal’s theorem).

In Computing

64-bit
In computer architecture, 64-bit computing is the use of processors that have datapath widths, integer size, and memory addresses of 64 bits (eight octets) wide. Also, 64-bit CPU and ALU architectures are those that are based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. From the software perspective, 64-bit computing means the use of code with 64-bit virtual memory addresses

Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, commonly called C64, CBM 64 (for Commodore Business Machines), or VIC-64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International.
Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595.
Preceded by the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore PET, the C64 took its name from its 64 kilobytes (65,536 bytes) of RAM, and had favorable sound and graphical specifications when compared to contemporary systems such as the Apple II, at a price that was well below the circa US$ 1200 demanded by Apple.
For a substantial period (1983–1986), the C64 dominated the market with between 30% and 40% share and 2 million units sold per year, outselling the IBM PC compatibles, Apple Inc. computers, and Atari 8-bit family computers.
Sam Tramiel, a later Atari president and the son of Commodore’s founder, said in a 1989 interview “When I was at Commodore we were building 400,000 C64s a month for a couple of years.”

Dragon 64
The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo), and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., in Port Talbot, Wales, and for the US market by Tano of New Orleans, Louisiana.
The model numbers reflect the primary difference between the two machines, which have 32 and 64 kilobytes of RAM, respectively.

In science

Sixty-four is the Atomic Number of Gadolinium (Gd), discovered by Jean de Marignac 1880 (Switzerland), and named after the mineral gadolinite;
Sixty-four is the Atomic Weight of Copper (Cu).
There are 64 codons in the RNA codon table under genetic code.

In space

Messier object M64, is a magnitude 9.0 galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, also known as the Black Eye Galaxy;
The New General Catalogue object NGC 64, a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus;
WOH G64 is a red hypergiant in the Large Magellanic Cloud. With 1540 times the radius of the Sun, it is one of the largest known stars and the largest known in the LMC. The physical parameters are still poorly known due to the distance, visual faintness, several solar masses of shrouding dust, and the possibility of a bright hot companion.

STS-64
STS-64 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission, launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 9 September 1994, to perform multiple experiment packages.
STS-64 marked the first flight of Lidar In-space Technology Experiment (LITE) and first untethered U.S. extravehicular activity (EVA) in 10 years. LITE payload employs lidar, which stands for “light detection and ranging”, a type of optical radar using laser pulses instead of radio waves to study Earth’s atmosphere.
On day five of the mission, the Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy-201 (SPARTAN-201) free flyer was released using the Remote Manipulator System arm.
STS-64 was the first mission to see the use of the new full-pressure Advanced Crew Escape Suit, which eventually replaced the partial-pressure Launch Entry Suit.

In politics

Department of State Form DS-64 is the one US Citizens need if they lose or have your passport stolen;
Department of Labor Chapter 64 regulates the employment of workers with disabilities at special wages;
In the United States presidential election of 1964, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964, Democratic candidate and incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson who had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, and who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy’s popularity, won 61.1% of the popular vote, the highest won by a candidate since 1820.

In Chinese the “Six Four Incident” refers to Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

In sport

There are 64 teams participating in the NCAA Basketball Tournament;
In chess or draughts, there are a total of 64 black (dark) and white (light) squares on the game board;
The Knight’s Tour of a chessboard is a sequence of moves by a knight so that each of the 64 squares is visited only once. The numbers of the knight’s moves form a magic square where each row and column adds up to 260;
64 is the name of the premier Russian chess magazine;
NFL Hall of Famers with jersey #64 include Dave Wilcox, Linebacker (Boise Junior College, Oregon) and 1964-1974 San Francisco 49ers; George Blanda, Quarterback-Kicker, 1949, 1950-58 Chicago Bears, 1950 Baltimore Colts, 1960-66 Houston Oilers, 1967-1975 Oakland Raiders; Joe Delamielleure, Guard, 1973-1979, 1985 Buffalo Bills, 1980-1984 Cleveland Browns; Randall McDaniel, Guard, 1988-1999 Minnesota Vikings, 2000-01 Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Y.A. Tittle, Quarterback, 1948-1950 Baltimore Colts (AAFC/NFL), 1951-1960 San Francisco 49ers, 1961-1964 New York Giants.

In the National Hockey League, jersey #64 is used by James Robert McGinn IV is a Canadian professional ice hockey player currently playing for the Colorado Avalanche.

In books, movies, music and TV

The $64,000 Question is an American game show broadcast from 1955–1958, which became embroiled in the scandals involving TV quiz shows of the day. The $64,000 Challenge (1956–1958) was its popular spin-off show.
When I’m 64 is a song by John Lennon & Paul McCartney from The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album (1967).

In militaria

HMS Vansittart
HMS Vansittart was an Admiralty modified W class destroyer built for the Royal Navy. She was ordered in January 1918 from William Beardmore & Company with the 13th Order for Destroyers of the Emergency War Program of 1918-19. She was the second Royal Navy ship to carry the name which was first used in 1821 for a hired packet.

HMS Beverley (H 64)
Completed in July 1920 as USS Branch (DD 197) for the US Navy, on 8 Oct, 1940 she was transferred to the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Beverley (H 64).
On 9 Apr, 1943, during WWII convoy duty in the North Atlantic, HMS Beverley had been seriously damaged in a collision with the British steam merchant Cairnvalona and had taken station in the rear of the convoy. When it was subsequenty attaced by a German U-Boat, U-188, 30 hours later she was hit by torpedos and sunk. HMS Clover (K 134) (Lt P.H. Grieves, RNR) later picked up five survivors and recovered two bodies, but one of the survivors later died on board.

HMS Fencer (D64)
The USS Croatan (CVE-14) (originally AVG-14 then ACV-14) was transferred to the United Kingdom on 20 February 1943 under lend-lease where she served as HMS Fencer (D64). As an anti-submarine warfare carrier, Fencer escorted Atlantic, Russian and African convoys, even participating in a strike on the German battleship Tirpitz before being transferred to the Pacific.
Following World War II, she returned to the United States 21 December 1946, stricken for disposal on 28 January 1947 and sold into merchant service 30 December as Sydney.
The ship went through a series of renamings, first to Roma in 1967, then Galaxy Queen in 1970, Lady Dina in 1972 and finally Caribia in 1973 before being scrapped in Spezia in September 1975.

HMS Scorpion (D64)
HMS Scorpion (D64) was a Weapon-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy. Originally named HMS Centaur, the ship was renamed Tomahawk and finally Scorpion (in September 1943) before her launch.
Scorpion was the only Weapon-class ship fitted with the Limbo depth charge mortar rather than the older Squid.
In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

HMS Theseus (R64)
HMS Theseus (R64) was a Colossus-class light fleet aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 July 1944.
Theseus was laid down to serve in the Second World War, but was not completed before peace was declared in 1945. She was utilized as a training vessel until the outbreak of the Korean War when she was deployed to Korea, commencing standard carrier operations.
In 1956, Theseus was used as an emergency commando carrier, along with her sister-ship Ocean, during the Suez Crisis. From November to December, helicopters from Theseus transported troops ashore, as well as evacuating wounded soldiers. Compared to her actions during the Korean War, her role at Suez was relatively quiet. The following year she was placed in reserve. She was subsequently broken up at Inverkeithing in 1962.

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)
The USS Wisconsin (BB-64), “Wisky” or “WisKy”, is an Iowa-class battleship, the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. She was launched on 7 December 1943 (the second anniversary of the Pearl Harbor raid).
During her career, Wisconsin served in the Pacific Theater of World War II, where she shelled Japanese fortifications and screened United States aircraft carriers as they conducted air raids against enemy positions.
During the Korean War, Wisconsin shelled North Korean targets in support of United Nations and South Korean ground operations, after which she was decommissioned.
She was reactivated 1 August 1986, modernised and participated in Operation Desert Storm in January and February 1991.
Wisconsin was last decommissioned in September 1991, having earned a total of six battle stars for service in World War II and Korea, as well as a Navy Unit Commendation for service during the January/February 1991 Gulf War.
She currently functions as a museum ship operated by Nauticus, The National Maritime Center in Norfolk, Virginia. .

USS Constellation (CV-64)
The USS Constellation (CV-64), a Kitty Hawk–class supercarrier, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the “new constellation of stars” on the flag of the United States and the only naval vessel ever authorized to display red, white, and blue designation numbers.
One of the fastest ships in the Navy, as proven by her victory during a battlegroup race held in 1985, she was nicknamed “Connie” by her crew and officially as “America’s Flagship”.
She was launched 8 October 1960 and delivered to the Navy 1 October 1961, and commissioned 27 October 1961, with Captain T. J. Walker in command. At that time, she had cost about US$264.5 million. Constellation was the last U.S. aircraft carrier (as of 2010) to be built at a yard other than Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company.

USS Gettysburg (CG-64)
The USS Gettysburg (CG-64) is a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser in the United States Navy, built at the Bath Iron Works in Maine and named for the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War.
With her guided missiles and rapid-fire cannons, she is capable of facing and defeating threats in the air, on the sea, or ashore, and underneath the sea. She also carries two Seahawk LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters, but mainly for anti-submarine warfare (ASW).
She is based in Mayport, Florida.

U-64
The first U-64 was a Type U-63 class submarine in the Kaiserliche Marine that served during World War I. She was built in 1916 and served in the Mediterranean Sea.
On 19 March 1917, while on patrol in the Tyrrhenian Sea, U-64 torpedoed and sank the French battleship Danton 30 miles south of Sardinia, with the loss of 296 men. She herself was lost on 17 June 1918.

In 1937 another German submarine U-64, a Type IXB U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine, was ordered in July 1937 and launched in September 1939.
This U-64 had a very short career and sank no enemy vessels. Having left her home port of Wilhelmshaven for her first war patrol on 6 April 1940, she was intercepted by Allied aircraft seven days later off the coast of Norway during the invasion of that country and was sunk by a bomb from a Fairey Swordfish aircraft of HMS Warspite. Of her crew of 46, eight men died and 38 escaped from the sinking submarine.

K-64
The K-64 Designation was first given to the first Alfa Class Submarine, launched on April 22, 1969.
In 1972, the submarine suffered a major reactor problem in the form of a leak of liquid metal coolant. The superheated metal solidified on contact with the colder outside air, freezing and damaging internal components of the reactor. She was removed from service and towed to Severodvinsk.
The K-64 designation was again given to a Delta IV class submarine launched on February 2, 1986 as the fourth ship of its class, entered in service in the Russian Northern Fleet. The sub was laid down in December 1982 and was built at Sevmash plant in Severodvinsk.
This ship is still in active service.

P-64
P-64 was the designation assigned by the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) to the North American Aviation NA-68 fighter, an upgraded variant of the NA-50 developed during the late 1930s.
Six NA-68s ordered by the Royal Thai Air Force were seized before export by the US government in 1941, after the Franco-Thai War and growing ties between Thailand and the Empire of Japan. These aircraft were used by the USAAC as unarmed fighter trainers.
Seven NA-50s were purchased by the Peruvian Air Force, which nicknamed it Torito (“Little Bull”). The Peruvian NA-50s subsequently saw action during the Ecuadorian-Peruvian War of 1941.

The Grumman G-64/111 Albatross
The Albatross is easily the largest of Grumman’s series of utility amphibians, and was the only one originally developed specifically for military service.
The Albatross resulted from a late 1940s US Navy requirement for a general purpose amphibious transport. The first Albatross prototype flew for the first time on October 24 1947, with more than 400 production HU-16s subsequently delivered to the US Navy, US Coast Guard and 12 other nations. Military Albatross missions included general reconnaissance, maritime patrol, anti submarine warfare (in which role it could be armed with torpedoes and depth charges) and search and rescue.
In the late 1970s, Grumman and major US flying boat operator Resorts International began work on a program to convert the Albatross for civil airline service. The conversion incorporated numerous changes to the basic Albatross, including a 28 seat passenger interior, a galley and provision for a flight attendant, upgraded avionics and other improved systems.
In all only 13 aircraft were converted, 12 for Resorts International, and 1 for Conoco Oil/Pelita which operated from Singapore. Several of these are still active, together with ex military examples.

AH-64 Apache
The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew.
Originally, the Apache started life as the Model 77 developed by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army’s Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the AH-1 Cobra, and was first flown on 30 September 1975.
The AH-64 was introduced to U.S. Army service in April 1986.
The AH-64 Apache features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vision systems; is armed with a 30-millimeter (1.2 in) M230 Chain Gun carried between the main landing gear, under the aircraft’s forward fuselage; and has four hardpoints mounted on stub-wing pylons, typically carrying a mixture of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and Hydra 70 rocket pods. The AH-64 has a large amount of systems redundancy to improve combat survivability.
The first production AH-64D Apache Longbow, an upgraded version of the original Apache, was delivered to the Army in March 1997. Production has been continued by Boeing Defense, Space & Security; over 1,000 AH-64s have been produced to date.
The U.S. Army is the primary operator of the AH-64; it has also become the primary attack helicopter of multiple nations, including Greece, Japan, Israel, the Netherlands and Singapore; as well as being produced under license in the United Kingdom as the AgustaWestland Apache. U.S. AH-64s have served in conflicts in Panama, the Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Israel used the Apache in its military conflicts in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip; both British and U.S. Apaches have seen deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane
The Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane is an American twin-engine heavy-lift helicopter, the civil version of the United States Army’s CH-54 Tarhe. The S-64 Aircrane is the current production version, manufactured by the Erickson Air-Crane company.
Erickson Air-Crane purchased the type certificate and manufacturing rights in 1992 and since that date they have become the manufacturer and world’s largest operator of S-64 Aircranes. The Aircrane can be fitted with a 2,650-gallon (~10,000 litre) fixed retardant tank to assist in the control of bush fires, and it has proved itself admirably in this role.
Erickson is manufacturing new S-64s, as well as remanufacturing existing CH-54s, with each being assigned an individual name, the best-known being “Elvis”, used in fighting fires in Australia alongside “The Incredible Hulk” and “Isabelle”.
Other operators, such as Siller Brothers, have followed with their Sikorsky S-64E, Andy’s Pride. The Erickson S-64E nicknamed “Olga” was used to lift the top section of the CN Tower into place in Toronto, Canada.
The S-64 is the first helicopter built with a rear-facing pilot’s seat—this allows the pilot to watch exactly where the load is being placed as he’s flying the helicopter. The feature came in handy in 1993, when an S-64 removed and replaced the Statue of Freedom from the US Capitol building during a renovation. When transporting a big load like that, the S-64 uses an anti-rotation rigging system that prevents the aircraft from twisting and swaying.

T-64
The T-64 is a Soviet main battle tank, introduced in the early 1960s. It was a more advanced counterpart to the T-62: the T-64 served tank divisions, while the T-62 supported infantry in motor rifle divisions. Although the T-62 and the famed T-72 would see much wider use and generally more development, it was the T-64 that formed the basis of more modern Soviet tank designs like the T-80.

W64 nuclear warhead
The W64 nuclear warhead was the Los Alamos Laboratory’s entry into a brief competition between Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and Los Alamos to design an “enhanced-radiation” nuclear warhead (i.e., a “neutron bomb”) for the United States Army’s MGM-52 Lance tactical surface-to-surface missile.
The Los Alamos design, the W64, was canceled in September 1964 in favor of Livermore’s W63. In November 1966, the W63 was canceled in favor of the W70, the model that finally entered production.

L64
The L64 was an intermediate calibre British bullpup layout prototype assault rifle developed in the 1970s. The British Army had considered bullpup designs with intermediate calibre rounds in the 1950s, and officially adopted one of these as .280 British in 1951 in the EM-2 and Taden gun. However, US intransigence during NATO standardization efforts, and Winston Churchill’s interest in standards above all, led to the adoption of the significantly more powerful 7.62×51mm NATO round and the British and Canadian armies adopted the L1A1 SLR, a licensed version of the FN FAL, itself originally designed for the .280.
In the late 1960s a new L64/65 “Individual Weapon” was developed, outwardly similar to the earlier EM-2, but adopted a firing mechanism very similar to ArmaLite’s latest AR-18 design. The first examples were available in 1972.
By 1976, NATO was ready to standardize on a small calibre round, and testing of the various rounds head-to-head started in 1977. As designed, the British round out-performed the standard US 5.56 mm. However Fabrique Nationale’s entry based on the 5.56 mm, the “SS-109” performed as well as the British cartridge. In the end it was selected largely due to its similarity with existing US ammunition.
The L64 pattern was later developed into the SA80 family of weapons, which entered service with the UK in the 1980s.

P-64 Pistol
The P-64 is a Polish 9mm semi-automatic pistol designed to fire the 9x18mm Makarov cartridge. The pistol was developed in the late 1950s at the Institute for Artillery Research, which later became the Military Institute of Armament Technology.

In other fields

Cities situated on longtitude 64 degree west are: Charlotte Amalie, US Virgin Islands; Hamilton, Bermuda; Road Town, British Virgin Islands; and Córdoba, Argentina.
Cities situated on latitude 64 north are: Fairbanks, Alaska; Skellefteå, Sweden; Anadyr and Arkhangelsk, Russia; Nuuk (Godthåb), Greenland; and Reykjavík, Iceland.
There are 64 gems in total number in a standard Bejeweled game board.
64 is the code for international direct dial calls to New Zealand.
There are 64 Braille characters in the old 6-dot system.
Since 1996, the number 64 has been an abbreviation or slang for Nintendo 64 (though N64 is more common) along with the games Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64 and more.

64 is the maximum number of strokes in any Chinese character.
There are 64 hexagrams in the I Ching.
There are 64 sexual positions in the Kama Sutra.
There are 64 demons in the Dictionnaire Infernal.
There are 64 classical arts listed in many Indian scriptures. They include: singing, dancing, painting, poetry, playing cards, making arguments, making flower garlands, etc.
The 64th French department is Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
Unsurprisingly it is the number of crayons in the popular Crayola 64 pack.
64 is the maximum stack size in the popular game Minecraft.
64 (dog) is a character in the Donald Duck comics universe.
Number of golden disks in the myth of the Tower of Hanoi.
The S64-1.25 MW has a well-suited ratio of rotor diameter to generator for most sites in a medium wind speed regime. The wind turbine concept is based on robust design and is efficiently handled by the Suzlon controller. These technologies are all well-known in the wind power industry and have proven themselves over time.

PARALOID B-64 solid grade acrylic resin provides an outstanding combination of hardness, flexibility, and adhesion to various substrates. This general-purpose resin permits wider latitude in formulating in solvents that are suitable for specific applications.
Group f/64 was a group of seven 20th century San Francisco photographers who shared a common photographic style characterized by sharp-focused and carefully framed images seen through a particularly Western (U.S.) viewpoint. In part, they formed in opposition to the Pictorialist photographic style that had dominated much of the early 20th century, but moreover they wanted to promote a new Modernist aesthetic that was based on precisely exposed images of natural forms and found objects.
64 is the slang term referring to a 1964 Chevrolet Impala, often configured as a lowrider, a popular subject among early-90’s gangsta rap.