No More Quizzes – Not This June Anyway. (Except For This One!)

June 29, 2015June 24, 2015 fasab Questions, Tests America, ballet dancer, Bewick, bird, Black, books literature, born, British prime minister, calfskin, Calvados, canada, chief lawyer, city, classics of American literature, Colombia, countries, dancer, died, discoveries, distilled, dracula, education, Entertainment, Euxine Sea, FIFA, France, French city, fruit, general knowledge, Geography, history, Hooper, Idaho, Illinois, invented, inventions, Joan of Arc, leader of the Soviet Union, modern ballet, movies, music, nature, Nobel Prize, non-fiction, novels, organization, People, places, popular sports, published, Pulitzer Prize, put to death, questions, quiz, quizzes, rabies vaccination, Radar, represent, Russian, Saruman, Scaramanga, science, Scooby, Scooby-Doo, sea, short story collections, South America, sport, test, tests, The City Of The Kings, U S government, United States, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, wrong reasons

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Welcome to final fasab quiz for June 2015.

Half the year almost gone, but not before you get the chance to try out these questions.

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

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1. What was bought by the United States from France in 1803?

Q. 2. ‘Black’, ‘Hooper’ and ‘Bewick’ are all types of what bird?

Q. 3. What city in South America is known as ‘The City Of The Kings’ ?

Q. 4. Very recently in the news for all the wrong reasons, what organization do the letters ‘FIFA’ represent?

Q. 5. Who was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953?

Q. 6. What did Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discover by accident on November 8 1895?

Q. 7. He was born in Illinois and died in Idaho and during his lifetime he published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature. Who was he?

Q. 8. What name is given to calfskin, dressed and prepared for writing on?

Q. 9. Which sea is sometimes called the Euxine Sea?

Q. 10. What is the name given to the person who is appointed the chief lawyer of the U.S. government?

Q. 11. Name the famous Russian ballet dancer who changed the face of modern ballet?

Q. 12. Who invented the rabies vaccination?

Q. 13. Who is the current (2015) British Prime Minister?

Q. 14. Big points opportunity. How many countries lie between Canada and Colombia? (A point for the correct number and a bonus point for each one you can name correctly.)

Q. 15. What fruit is ‘Calvados’ distilled from?

Q. 16. What is ‘Scooby’ short for in the name ‘Scooby Doo’ ?

Q. 17. What does ‘RADAR’ stand for?

Q. 18. In which French city was Joan of Arc put to death?

Q. 19. What are the seven most popular sports in America? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you can name them in the correct order.)

Q. 20. He was famous as ‘Dracula’, ‘Scaramanga’ and ‘Saruman’. Who was he?

ANWERS

Q. 1. What was bought by the United States from France in 1803?

A. 1. The Louisiana territory (828,000 square miles).

Q. 2. ‘Black’, ‘Hooper’ and ‘Bewick’ are all types of what bird?

A. 2. Swans.

Q. 3. What city in South America is known as ‘The City Of The Kings’ ?

A. 3. Lima, Peru. (Ciudad de los Reyes)

Q. 4. Very recently in the news for all the wrong reasons, what organization do the letters ‘FIFA’ represent?

A. 4. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer.

Q. 5. Who was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953?

A. 5. Joseph Stalin.

Q. 6. What did Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discover by accident on November 8 1895?

A. 6. X-rays.

A. 7. Ernest Hemmingway.

Q. 8. What name is given to calfskin, dressed and prepared for writing on?

A. 8. It is known as ‘Vellum’.

Q. 9. Which sea is sometimes called the Euxine Sea?

A. 9. The Black Sea.

Q. 10. What is the name given to the person who is appointed the chief lawyer of the U.S. government?

A. 10. He/she is known as the ‘Attorney General’.

Q. 11. Name the famous Russian ballet dancer who changed the face of modern ballet?

A. 11. Rudolf Nureyev.

Q. 12. Who invented the rabies vaccination?

A. 12. Louis Pasteur.

Q. 13. Who is the current (2015) British Prime Minister?

A. 13. David Cameron.

Q. 14. Big points opportunity. How many countries lie between Canada and Colombia? (A point for the correct number and a bonus point for each one you can name correctly.)

A. 14. There are 9 countries that lie between Canada and Colombia – they are The United States, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.

Q. 15. What fruit is ‘Calvados’ distilled from?

A. 15. Apples.

Q. 16. What is ‘Scooby’ short for in the name ‘Scooby Doo’ ?

A. 16. Scoobert.

Q. 17. What does ‘RADAR’ stand for?

A. 17. ‘RADAR’ stand for ‘Radio Detection and Ranging’.

Q. 18. In which French city was Joan of Arc put to death?

A. 18. Rouen.

Q. 19. What are the seven most popular sports in America? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you can name them in the correct order.)

A. 19. 1. American Football 2. Baseball 3. Basketball 4. Ice Hockey 5. Soccer 6. Tennis and 7. Golf

Q. 20. He was famous as ‘Dracula’, ‘Scaramanga’ and ‘Saruman’. Who was he?

A. 20. He was the wonderful actor Sir Christopher Lee.

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

Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire – Some Hot Facts!

June 9, 2015June 7, 2015 fasab Factoids, Unusual 3rd-century, Abraham Lincoln, astronaut, atmosphere, Australia, Bill Clinton, Bill Nye, Byzantine Empire, Charlie Chaplin, cloud, contractions, delivered, Dr Otto Loewi, dream, Eastern Empire, eats at McDonalds, education, elected to congress, electrically, emails, Entertainment, fact, factoid, factoids, facts, false facts, fell, giant gas cloud, heat, Himiko, I did not do it, I did not have sexual relations with that woman, I didn't do it, Inca mail, information, interesting, Japanese scientist, Japanese shaman queen, John F Kennedy, Justinian, Kennedy, lake, Lake Hillier, last emperor to use the title Caesar, liar, light years, Lincoln, look-alike contest, messengers, nasa, nerves, network of roads, Nobel Prize, oceans, pink, President, relay system, Science Guy, scientists, shot in the head, space, statistically, Suns, survived, transmitted chemically, transmitted information, true, truthful statement, Western Roman Empire, world’s population

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

We’ll get to one of the biggest liars America has produced later.

But ahead of that have a look at another selection of fasab facts.

And…

Enjoy.

There is a lake in Australia called Lake Hillier

that is a bright shade of pink.

Unlike with other similar lakes,

scientists are still not completely sure why.

Bill Nye the Science Guy

originally wanted to be an astronaut,

but NASA kept rejecting him.

In 476 AD the Western Roman Empire fell

and the Eastern Empire survived

as what we know today as the Byzantine Empire.

Charlie Chaplin once lost a

Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest

Although there have been emails floating about

for years containing many false facts about

Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy,

there were a few that are true and interesting.

Lincoln was elected to congress in 1846,

Kennedy in 1946.

Lincoln became president in 1860,

Kennedy in 1960 (though sworn in 1961).

And both were eventually shot in the head on a Friday.

Inca mail was delivered along their network of roads

by way of messengers who would hand mail off

to each other using a sort of relay system.

A bit like the Pony Express without the ponies!

1% of the world’s population

eats at McDonalds every day.

Named by a Japanese scientist after

a 3rd-century Japanese shaman queen, Himiko,

is a giant gas cloud and one of the largest

objects ever found in space.

With a length of about 55,000 light years,

the cloud is roughly the equivalent

mass of 40 billion Suns.

The top ten feet of the oceans

holds the same amount of heat

as the entire atmosphere

In the early 20th century, scientists thought

our nerves transmitted information electrically.

After a dream, Dr. Otto Loewi awoke during the night

and scribbled some thoughts on a paper.

Upon waking in the morning,

he realized he had written about information

being transmitted chemically,

later proven to be true and

winning him the Nobel Prize in 1936.

Justinian was the last emperor

to use the title ‘Caesar’.

A liar tends not to use contractions.

For example, “I didn’t do it”

statistically tends to be a more truthful

statement that “I did not do it”.

Remember Bill Clinton,

he didn’t say, “I didn’t do it”,

he said,

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

He lied.

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

Don’t Beam Me Up Just Yet, Scotty!

March 24, 2015February 1, 2015 fasab Factoids, Unusual Adolf Hitler, airplane tickets, airport security, American soldiers, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, American women, Ancient Egyptians, ancient toothpaste, bad luck, Beam me up Scotty, beautifully bound. brief impression, bitter, bizarre hospital-themed restaurant, bleeding gums, cell phone, Champagne, China, Chinese tradition, cleaning powder, cold weather, craigslist, Daniel Defoe, Denomination of Origin, dissolved into particles, dog, Don’t judge a book by its cover, dressed as nurses, dried iris flowers, drinks, DS Music Restaurant, education, english, Entertainment, exam, fact, Fact day, factoid, factoids, facts, Ferdinand Porsche, first spacecraft to carry an animal, flavors, fluent in French, France, George Eliot, German National Prize for Art and Science, Guanajuato, Hello Girls, hospital beds, human body, humans, information, IV bottles, Jalisco, Laika, Matter, Mexican state, Mexico, Michoacan, Mint, Mr Tulliver, music, Nayarit, New York Times, Nikola Tesla, Nobel Prize, oldest-known formula for toothpaste, outward appearance, pepper, Pershing’s forces in Europe, pregnant, pregnant Chinese woman, prolong battery life, quantum physics, rock salt, Russian, salty, savory/meaty, science fiction, scientific study, shopping for baby things, side effect, sour, Soviets, space, specific receptor areas, Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, star trek, stressing, stroller, sweet, tables, Taipei, Taiwan, Tamaulipas, telephone operators, teleporter, Tequila, test, The History of the Devil, The Mill on the Floss, tongue, transmit messages via personal devices, trivia, umami, US Army, USSR, veteran benefits, Volkswagen Beetle, waitresses, war medals, west, wireless communication devices, women, world’s first hybrid car, WWI, X-ray scans, YouTube

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

You will get what the title is all about later. Let’s just say for now I’ll still be buying my airplane tickets and enduring the rigors of airport security for a few years longer.

As for now it’s Fact Day so have a look at the current offerings.

Enjoy.

In cold weather keeping your cell phone

as close to your body as you can,

or in the inside pocket of an insulated base layer

will help keep it warm and prolong battery life.

In the West women usually start shopping for baby things

as soon as they discover they’re pregnant

but in China a pregnant Chinese woman will avoid

getting a stroller before her baby is born because

according to Chinese tradition it’s considered

bad luck to have an empty stroller in the house

while you’re pregnant.

The world’s oldest-known formula for toothpaste

was created by the ancient Egyptians

who used crushed rock salt, mint, dried iris flowers,

and pepper and mixed them to create a cleaning powder.

Research suggests this ancient toothpaste was more

effective than formulas used as recently as a century ago,

although it did have the unfortunate side effect

of causing bleeding gums.

A scientific study has suggested that if you

are stressing over an important test or exam,

writing down your feelings on a piece of paper

before an exam will allow you to achieve higher scores.

Contrary to many theories,

the tongue does not have specific receptor areas

for bitter, sour, salty, and sweet flavors.

In fact, there is a fifth taste (umami, for savory/meaty flavors)

and all zones of the tongue can sense all flavors.

After banning the Nobel Prize,

Adolf Hitler developed his own version

– the German National Prize for Art and Science.

Ferdinand Porsche was one of the awardees

for being the man behind the world’s first

hybrid car and for the Volkswagen Beetle.

In a statement he gave to the New York Times in 1909,

Nikola Tesla predicted that it would soon be possible

to transmit messages via personal devices.

Today, we have wireless communication devices

that we bring with us anywhere we go.

A month after the USSR sent Sputnik 1 into space,

they sent Sputnik 2, which was the first spacecraft

to carry an animal (a dog named Laika) into space.

However, despite the Soviets initially claiming that

Laika had survived in orbit for a week,

decades later official Russian sources revealed

that Laika lived only a few hours

before dying from overheating.

Brave little doggie though.

During WWI “Hello Girls,” as American

soldiers called them, were American women

who served as telephone operators for

Pershing’s forces in Europe.

The women were fluent in French and English

and were specially trained by the American

Telephone and Telegraph Company.

In 1979, the U.S. Army finally gave war medals

and veteran benefits to the few Hello Girls who were still alive.

In its early days YouTube’s founders used

Craigslist to try to popularize the site

by offering $100 to attractive girls who would

post ten or more videos of themselves.

Unfortunately, they didn’t get a single response.

The phrase ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’

goes back to at least the mid-nineteenth century

as found in George Eliot’s ‘The Mill on the Floss’ (1860),

where Mr. Tulliver uses the phrase in discussing

Daniel Defoe’s ‘The History of the Devil’,

saying how it was beautifully bound.

Its general meaning today, of course, is that

we shouldn’t judge or make a decision about

someone or something based on a brief

impression or outward appearance.

Wise advice.

Just as true champagne must hail from France,

tequila has Denomination of Origin,

meaning that it has to be produced in Mexico,

mainly in the western Mexican state of Jalisco.

The states of Guanajuato, Michoacan, Nayarit,

and Tamaulipas are also acceptable.

Located in the city of Taipei in Taiwan, the

D.S. Music Restaurant has nothing to do with music at all.

In fact, it is a bizarre hospital-themed restaurant

where waitresses are all dressed as nurses,

tables are made from metal hospital beds,

drinks are served in IV bottles and

walls are decorated with X-ray scans.

Remember the teleporter Star Trek?

Well, it’s no longer science fiction because now

matter can be dissolved into particles, transported

and reassembled at another location.

However, it won’t be available for use on humans

in the near future because at the moment,

whilst it is indeed possible to scan every molecule

in the human body and reassemble it in another area,

according to Quantum physics, scanning and

reassembling changes the entire object.

You can’t make an exact copy.

So don’t beam me up just yet, Scotty!

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

It’s A May Day Holiday In Some Places, But There Are No Breaks From The Weekly Fasab Quiz.

May 5, 2014May 4, 2014 fasab Questions, Tests 2009 Asian Winter Games, A Clockwork Orange, Allied forces, American, Aston Martin DB6, atomic bomb, Benito Mussolini, Boney, books, Brazil, britain, British, capital, card, cardmaker's trademark, collective term, Dan Brown, deck, East of Eden, Entertainment, Ferrari Dino, Ford Mustang, Geography, german, go and milk it, green line, H Bomb, Hiroshima, history, In Dubious Battle, India, Italian dictator, Italy, Japanese city, K-mart, Liberty Steaks, longest chapter in the Bible, Mel Brooks, mountain, movies, music, Nagasaki, Name, Nelson Mandela, no smoking sign, Nobel Peace Price, Nobel Prize, nuclear device, occupations, Pennsylvania, People, politics, popular food, President, questions, quiz, quizzes, responsible, Silent Movie, slaves, Somalia, speaking role, target city, test, tests, The Apprentice, the Da Vinci Code, The Grapes Of Wrath, tigers, Triumph TR 6, United States of America, US, Washington DC, world war ii, writer, WWII, You’re Fired

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Holiday or not, no place to hide from the fasab weekly quiz.

Let’s see how you cope with today’s challenge.

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

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1: What does the ‘K’ in K-mart stand for?

Q. 2: Which way does a “no smoking” sign’s slash run?

Q. 3: During WWII, what popular food in the U.S. was dubbed “Liberty Steaks” to avoid a German-sounding name?

Q. 4: Do books have even # pages on the right or left side?

Q. 5: What is the name of Britain’s highest mountain?

Q. 6: The Triumph TR 6, Aston Martin DB6, Ferrari Dino and the early 1970s Ford Mustang all had which kind of tail or back?

Q. 7: Who was awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Price along with Nelson Mandela?

Q. 8: What is the collective term for a group of tigers?

Q. 9: Who is responsible for saying “You’re Fired” in the American and British versions of The Apprentice? (A point for each correct answer.)

Q. 10: On which card in a deck is the cardmaker’s trademark?

Q. 11: This small, war torn, country’s name translated means white, its Capital is divided by the ‘green line’, Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’ was banned there and it hosted the 2009 Asian Winter Games. What is it?

Q. 12: What were the early occupations of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini? (A point for each correct answer.)

Q. 13: The name of which country means ‘go and milk it’?

a) Italy b) India c) Somalia d) Brazil

Q. 14: What Nobel Prize winning writer was In Dubious Battle with The Grapes Of Wrath, East Of Eden?

Q. 15: Which President of the United States of America regularly bought slaves in Washington, D.C. and quietly freed them in Pennsylvania?

Q. 16: Towards the end of World War II, the Allied forces dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and a second, an H-bomb, on the city of Nagasaki. If it had been necessary to drop a third nuclear device what was to be the target city?

Q. 17: What is the longest chapter in the Bible?

Q. 18: In Mel Brooks’ ‘Silent Movie,’ who is the only person who has a speaking role?

Q. 19: Who wrote ‘A Clockwork Orange’?

Q. 20: Which letter of the alphabet links Boney People?

ANSWERS

Q. 1: What does the ‘K’ in K-mart stand for?

A. 1: The K stands for founder Sebastian S Kresge.

Q. 2: Which way does a “no smoking” sign’s slash run?

A. 2: Towards the bottom right.

Q. 3: During WWII, what popular food in the U.S. was dubbed “Liberty Steaks” to avoid a German-sounding name?

A. 3: Hamburgers.

Q. 4: Do books have even # pages on the right or left side?

A. 4: Left.

Q. 5: What is the name of Britain’s highest mountain?

A. 5: Ben Nevis.

Q. 6: The Triumph TR 6, Aston Martin DB6, Ferrari Dino and the early 1970s Ford Mustang all had which kind of tail or back?

A. 6: Kamm (Kamm tail, K-tail or Kammback).

Q. 7: Who was awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Price along with Nelson Mandela?

A. 7: Former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk.

Q. 8: What is the collective term for a group of tigers?

A. 8: An ‘Ambush’.

Q. 9: Who is responsible for saying “You’re Fired” in the American and British versions of The Apprentice? (A point for each correct answer.)

A. 9: Donald Trump in the US version and Lord Alan Sugar in the British version.

Q. 10: On which card in a deck is the cardmaker’s trademark?

A. 10: On the Ace of spades.

Q. 11: This small, war torn, country’s name translated means white, its Capital is divided by the ‘green line’, Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code was banned there and it hosted the 2009 Asian Winter Games. What is it?

A. 11: Lebanon.

Q. 12: What were the early occupations of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini? (A point for each correct answer.)

A. 12: He had been a teacher and journalist.

Q. 13: The name of which country means ‘go and milk it’?

a) Italy b) India c) Somalia d) Brazil

A. 13: c) Somalia.

Q. 14: What Nobel Prize winning writer was In Dubious Battle with The Grapes Of Wrath, East Of Eden?

A. 14: John Steinbeck.

Q. 15: Which President of the United States of America regularly bought slaves in Washington, D.C. and quietly freed them in Pennsylvania?

A. 15: James Buchanan.

A. 16: Third city to be targeted was Tokyo.

Q. 17: What is the longest chapter in the Bible?

A. 17: The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119.

Q. 18: In Mel Brooks’ ‘Silent Movie,’ who is the only person who has a speaking role?

A. 18: Typical of Mel Brooks’ humor, the only person with a speaking role in ‘Silent Movie’ is the famous mime Marcel Marceau.

Q. 19: Who wrote ‘A Clockwork Orange’?

A. 19: Anthony Burgess.

Q. 20: Which letter of the alphabet links Boney People?

A. 20: The letter is ‘M’ as in ‘Boney M’ and ‘M People’.

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

Did You Know? It’s Fascinating Fact day.

October 22, 2013October 22, 2013 fasab Factoids 1600s, 1912 Cadillac, actor, airplane, Albert Einstein, American automobile, an informed and appreciative sports spectator, and nothing but the truth, Apollo 7, astronaut, automatic transmissions, Beano, beans, Bingo, blind engineer, broken, car design, Chicago, clavicle, coal-mining capital of the US, collar bone, cosmonaut, course, cover of Playboy, cruise control, Deutsch, doctors, Dunkin Donuts, dutch, education, elective C-sections, English Common Law, Entertainment, fact, facts, fear of God’s wrath, first man, first walled city in the world, flatulence, freeze-dried ice cream, Gateway Arch, general knowledge, german, German ancestry, Harlem, Harlem Globetotters, Hawaii, hood ornament, hospital staffing, Howard Johnson, human bone, humans, induced labors, information, invented, Jericho, John Quincy Adams, knowledge, Lancaster County, Lincoln Beachey, long-distance charges, loop-de-loop, mascot, Massachusetts, Misc, Miscellaneous, mission to space, modern scholars, Monroe Doctrine, nature, Nobel Prize, numbered squares, Ohio State, penalties for perjury, Pennsylvania Dutch, Peter Sellers, Pilot, players, Quincy, Ralph Teetor, random facts, reputation, southeastern Pennsylvania, Sports for the Spectator, St. Louis, state, students, swearing, telephone cards, the truth, the whole truth, theory of relativity, top-producing coal mines, Tuesday, West Virginia, what day were you born on, witnesses, Wyoming

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

It’s another “Did You Know” day on the fasab blog.

More random facts to get your head around.

Enjoy.

The first Dunkin Donuts and the first Howard Johnson’s

were both in Quincy, Massachusetts.

The Pennsylvania Dutch are not really Dutch.

They are a people of German ancestry living in

southeastern Pennsylvania, primarily in Lancaster County.

“German” in German is “Deutsch.”

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis

is as wide at its base as it is tall (630 feet).

Ohio State offers a course called “Sports for the Spectator.”

Students are taught how to be

“an informed and appreciative sports spectator.”

Telephone cards first took off in Hawaii,

since long-distance charges from the far-flung state

were higher than anywhere else in the country.

What day were you born on?

Apparently Tuesday is the most popular day of the week for giving birth,

a fact that has nothing to do with Nature

and everything to do with hospital staffing;

elective C-sections and induced labors

are often scheduled during traditional working hours.

The majority of the text in the Monroe Doctrine

was actually penned by John Quincy Adams.

Despite its reputation as a cosmonaut staple,

freeze-dried ice cream only made one mission to space.

In 1968, it provided instant sugar rushes to the astronauts of Apollo 7.

In car design circles, a hood ornament is properly called a “mascot.”

The first American automobile to sport a mascot was the 1912 Cadillac.

Albert Einstein never received a Nobel Prize

for his theory of relativity.

On November 18th, 1913, pilot Lincoln Beachey was the

first person to make a complete loop-de-loop in an airplane.

The first man to appear on the cover of Playboy

was the actor Peter Sellers.

West Virginia is no longer the coal-mining capital of the U.S.,

nine of the ten top-producing coal mines are currently located in Wyoming.

The popular game Bingo was originally called “Beano”

because players used beans to cover the numbered squares.

Cruise control and automatic transmissions were invented

by a blind engineer named Ralph Teetor.

Modern scholars believe that Jericho,

settled around 10,000 years ago,

was the first walled city in the world.

The human bone most often broken is the clavicle (collar bone).

Swearing to tell

“the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”

dates back to English Common Law.

Interestingly enough, there were no penalties for perjury until the 1600s;

prior to that time, it was believed that the fear of God’s wrath

was enough to keep witnesses honest.

According to doctors, humans have an average

of 14 episodes of flatulence per day.

(I always knew I was above average!)

The Harlem Globetotters were originally a Chicago based team (1927).

They did not play a game in Harlem until the 1960s.

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

Did You Know? The Fact File Reveals More Random Facts.

August 13, 2013August 7, 2013 fasab Factoids, Humour $1 billion, a study, African Penguin, American merry-go-rounds, americans, amusing, ancient Greece, athletes, Babe, ballroom dancing, Barbie dolls, bathroom, bird droppings, Brigham Young University, canada, Canadians, carats, Central Park, cheesecake, chief export of Nauru, Christmas cards, clockwise, counterclockwise, course, cow, Disney, donkey-like braying call, drinking fountains, earth, elephant, Englishman, Entertainment, European carousels, fact, facts, first awarded, first Olympic Games, hares, Henry Cole, Humor, Humour, information, Interesting Facts, invented, Italy, Jackass Penguin, jackrabbits, Japanese, knowledge, largest diamond, Lion King, LZ 129 Hindenburg, Misc, Miscellaneous, movie, neck ties, new york, Nobel Prize, piglet, production, Random, random facts, seasons, shaving foam, soccer referees, spent, summer, toilet paper, toilet paper usage, top grossing, trivia, trunk, United States, Uranus, Utah, waving a handkerchief, Western Pacific, whistles, winter

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Fascinating facts never seem to come to an end, thank goodness.

Here is the latest selection from the fasab files. Always random, but I hope always interesting, there has to be at least one thing in here that you didn’t know.

Enjoy finding out.

The Lion King is the top grossing Disney movie of all-time

with domestic gross intake of $312 million.

The winter and summer seasons on Uranus

last the equivalent of 21 Earth years.

‘Cow’ is a Japanese brand of shaving foam.

The Nobel prizes (in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine,

Literature, and Peace) were first awarded in 1901.

The idea of Christmas cards was invented

by Englishman Henry Cole in 1843.

Before its name was changed, the ‘African’ Penguin

used be called the ‘Jackass’ Penguin

because of its donkey-like braying call.

The largest diamond that was ever found was 3106 carats.

More than $1 billion is spent each year on neck ties in the United States.

Ballroom dancing is a course at

Brigham Young University in Utah.

New York’s famous Central Park has 125 drinking fountains.

Before soccer referees started using whistles in 1878,

they used to rely on waving a handkerchief.

Jackrabbits (or Hares) can reach a speed of fifty miles per hour

and can leap as far as twenty feet.

Cheesecake was invented in Ancient Greece

and served to athletes at the very first Olympic Games.

As a rule, European carousels rotate clockwise,

while American merry-go-rounds spin counterclockwise.

In a study conducted regarding toilet paper usage,

Americans are said to use the most toilet paper per trip to the bathroom,

which was seven sheets of toilet paper per trip.

The trunk of an elephant can hold up to two gallons of water.

In the movie “Babe”, the piglet was played by

over 30 different piglets as they outgrew the part so quickly

during the production of the film.

There are more Barbie dolls in Italy

than there are Canadians in Canada.

Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru,

an island nation in the Western Pacific.

Despite the horrific display, nearly two-thirds of those

aboard the LZ 129 Hindenburg survived its fiery crash in 1937.

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

A Little Knowledge IS A Dangerous Thing, When It’s In The Mind Of The Moron

October 3, 2012 fasab Factoids, Humour, Inspirational, Rants, Uncategorized, Unusual Al Franken, arrogance, Basic Laws Of Human Stupidity, Bertrand Russell, Charles Darwin, cognitive ability, cognitive bias, competence, competent, delusion, delusional, delusions, dumb, Dunning, Dunning-Kruger Effect, education, erroneous conclusions, experiments, fools, graduate students, high achievers, high schieving women, idiots, illusory superiority, Kruger, Misc, Miscellaneous, mistakes, morons, Musings, Newt Gringrich, Nobel Prize, Opinion, People, performance, politics, Professor Carlo M Cipolla, pseudo certainty, psychological projection, psychology, Rants, Rush Limbaugh, science, students, study, stupid, stupid people, stupidity, The Descent Of Man, The Triumph Of Stupidity, Thoughts, unaware, unskilled

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

I mentioned a while ago in a post about Prof Cipolla’s “Basic Laws Of Human Stupidity” that two psychologists at Cornell University had written a study with the fabulous title, “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Leads to Inflated Self-Assessments”.

Their names were Dunning and Kruger and their work developed into what is now known as the “Dunning-Kruger Effect”. They were awarded a Nobel Prize for their paper on the subject in 2000.

Graphical representation of the Dunning-Kruger Effect

Stated scientifically, the “Dunning–Kruger Effect” is a cognitive bias in which unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than average.

This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their mistakes.

It further states that actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding.

Kruger and Dunning conclude, “the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others……..this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it.”

The effect has been shown by experiment in several ways. Dunning and Kruger tested students on a series of criteria such as humour, grammar, and logic and compared the actual test results with each student’s estimations of their performance.

Those who scored lowest on the test, in the bottom quartile, were found to have “grossly overestimated” their scores. Conversely, those with the highest scores underestimated their performance in comparison to others.

The tendency for those who scored well to underestimate their performance was explained as a form of psychological projection: those who found the tasks easy (and thus scored highly) mistakenly thought that they would also be easy for others.

This is similar to the “impostor syndrome” — found notably in graduate students and high achieving women — whereby high achievers fail to recognize their talents as they think that others must be equally good.

Put in layman’s terms, people who suffer from the “Dunning Kruger Effect” are so dumb not only do they fail to realize that they themselves are dumb, they actually believe themselves to be much more competent than everyone else.

It is a very dangerous phenomenon.

The idea isn’t a new one. Many people have come to the same conclusion independently, many of them a lot more famous than these two scientists.

For example, in 1871, Charles Darwin, in “The Descent of Man”, stated that “ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge”.

In the 1930s Bertrand Russell, in “The Triumph of Stupidity”, said that “The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”

And in his 1996 book “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot”, Al Franken described the phenomenon of “pseudo-certainty” which was rampantly being displayed by pundits and politicians such as Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich, who would use “common sense” as the basis for their confidently-made assertions, which were made without actually backing them up with time-consuming research or actual facts. In his own way Franken associates all this quite candidly with the term “being a fucking moron”.

So there you have it. It really isn’t just me sounding off or having a bit of a rant now and again. There is hard scientific evidence to show not only that stupidity exists big time, but that many of those possessing this infirmity are blissfully unaware of their problem.

Remember folks, please “Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”