February Facts Finish Today.

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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February facts finish here, but not to worry, all being well there will be more next month.

Meantime have a look at this selection.

I hope you find something interesting.

Enjoy.

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did you know5

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Approximately seven hundred

tweets per minute contain a YouTube link.

twitter logo

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The most beer-drinking country in

the world is the Czech Republic.

With an incredible per capita beer consumption

of almost 40 gallons a year, the Czechs are way out

in front in the beer drinking world league table,

leaving the Irish, Germans, Americans and

other “beer nations” far behind.

most beer-drinking country in the world is the Czech Republic

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None of the soldiers wore metal helmets in 1914.

The French were the first to introduce them in 1915.

Future prime minister Winston Churchill wore a

French one during his time on the front in 1916.

WWI soldiers 1914

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The first known pyramid architect was Imhotep,

an Ancient Egyptian polymath, engineer and

physician who is considered to be the designer of

the first major pyramid – the Pyramid of Djoser.

Imhotep statue

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In 1783, then Yale University president Ezra Stiles

predicted that the population of the United States

would reach 300 million in the next two hundred years.

He based his prediction on his analysis of the

population growth in Europe.

Apparently, just a little over 200 years later,

the population of the country actually hit 300 million.

Ezra Stiles portrait

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Sean Connery,

the first and arguably the best James Bond,

began balding when he was only 21-years-old,

therefore in al his appearances as ‘Bond’

he is wearing a toupee.

Sean Connery as James Bond

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The phrase, “Bite the bullet”,

meaning to endure something painful,

was first recorded in Rudyard Kipling’s 1891 novel

‘The Light that Failed’ describing the barbaric era

before anesthetics were used in medical procedures.

Injured soldiers had to bite on a bullet to help them

endure the pain of an operation or amputation,

an action that usually also resulted in a few broken teeth

aside from the other pain.

Bite the bullet

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A normal heart valve is about

the size of a half dollar

size of a half dollar

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Payne Stewart was a prolific golfer

and a three-time major championship winner

who was extremely popular with spectators

for his exciting style of play and fancy clothes.

Sadly, in 1999 his career was cut short by an

airplane accident that cost him his life a few

months after his latest triumph in the U.S. Open.

Payne Stewart

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The Laser is an innovation made possible

by Quantum mechanics.

It was once thought to have no practical use,

however, innovation and development has

enabled laser technology to be applied to different

inventions from the CD player to

missile-destroying defense systems.

The Laser

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In  Port Lincoln, Australia, each January

they hold the ‘Tunarama Festival’ which is a

competition to see how far someone can

throw a frozen tuna.

Fortunately, the 2007 festival was the last one

in which real tunas were used for the throws

(because of their drastically dwindling populations).

Since then artificially made fake tunas have been used.

Tunarama Festival

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From 1850 to 1942, marijuana was

considered a useful medicine for

nausea, rheumatism, and labor pains

and was easily obtained at local general stores

or pharmacies throughout the U.S.

marijuana used to be for sale in pharmacies

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In Formula 1 motor racing,

there is no longer a car with the number 13.

The number has been removed after two drivers

were killed in crashes — both driving cars numbered 13.

Formula 1 no car with the number 13 now

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Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space,

was also a victim of a training jet crash.

He died on March 27, 1968,

along with his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin,

when their MiG-15UTI plane crashed.

There has always been a lot of speculation and

conspiracy surrounds their deaths.

For example, documents declassified in April 2011

include a 1968’s commission conclusion that they

had to maneuver sharply to avoid a weather balloon,

whereas a KGB report concluded the aircraft

entered a spin. from which it subsequently could

not recover. to avoid a bird strike or another aircraft.

Yuri Gagarin funeral

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Alan Thicke,

the father in the TV show Growing Pains

wrote the theme songs for

The Facts of Life

and

Diff’rent Strokes.

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It’s Monday, It’s May 12th, And It’s Quiz Day!

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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Welcome to another fasab quiz.

Some difficult ones, some easy ones, and one or two that you should know but might not.

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

Enjoy and good luck.

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Quiz 5

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Q.  1:  Take a quarter, multiply it by a dime, divide that total by 2 bits and add 3 nickles, and what have you got?

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Q.  2:  Name the top three cork-producing countries in the world. (And take a point for each correct answer.)

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Q.  3:  You’ve seen it thousands of times, but why was the dollar symbol ($) designed this way?

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Q.  4:  What was the name of the physician who set the leg of Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth? (A point for his last name, a bonus if you know his first name as well.)

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Q.  5:  Where in North America is the largest water clock?

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Q.  6:  What is the only letter in the alphabet that has more than one syllable?

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Q.  7:  There are six words in the English language with the letter combination “uu.” Two of them you have probably heard of, the rest are more obscure, but you get a point for each one you can name correctly.

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Q.  8:  Who are the only three angels mentioned by name in the Bible? (A point for each correct answer.)

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Q.  9:  What do you call the little hole in the sink that lets the water drain out, instead of flowing over the side?

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Q. 10:  Why has the Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, twice as many bathrooms as is necessary?

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Q. 11:  What are residents of the island of Crete called? (If you spell this wrong it will be very stupid.)

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Q. 12:  And, what are residents of the island of Lesbos called?

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Q. 13:  Who was the only American president to be wounded in the Civil War?

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Q. 14:  If you add up the numbers 1-100 consecutively (1+2+3+4+5 etc) what is the total?

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Q. 15:  Where were Venetian blinds invented?

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Q. 16:  What is the southern most city in the United States?

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Q. 17:  Everyone thinks that a ‘qwerty’ computer keyboard is just the same as a typewriter keyboard, but it isn’t. What is missing from the typewriter keyboard that is always on a computer keyboard?

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Q. 18:  Where do Panama hats come from?

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Q. 19:  How many ‘Die Hard’ movies have there been  –  so far? (Bonus points for each one you can name correctly. Double bonus if you know the years.)

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Q. 20:  What was the first video ever played on MTV Europe?

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ANSWERS

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Q.  1:  Take a quarter, multiply it by a dime, divide that total by 2 bits and add 3 nickles, and what have you got?

A.  1:  Answer = 25  (25 x 10) / (2 x 12.5) + (3 x 5)  =  25

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Q.  2:  Name the top three cork-producing countries in the world. (And take a point for each correct answer.)

A.  2:  The top three cork-producing countries are Spain, Portugal and Algeria.

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Q.  3:  You’ve seen it thousands of times, but why was the dollar symbol ($) designed this way?

A.  3:  The dollar symbol ($) is a U combined with an S (U.S.)

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Q.  4:  What was the name of the physician who set the leg of Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth? (A point for his last name, a bonus if you know his first name as well.)

A.  4:  Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was the physician who set the leg of Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth … and whose shame created the expression for ignominy, “His name is Mudd.”

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Q.  5:  Where in North America is the largest water clock?

A.  5:  The largest water clock in North America is at the shopping mall in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.

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Q.  6:  What is the only letter in the alphabet that has more than one syllable?

A.  6:  ‘W’ is the only letter in the alphabet that has more than one syllable… it has three.

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Q.  7:  There are six words in the English language with the letter combination “uu.” Two of them you have probably heard of, the rest are more obscure, but you get a point for each one you can name correctly.

A.  7:  The six words in the English language with the letter combination “uu” are:                                         Muumuu, vacuum, continuum, duumvirate, duumvir and residuum.

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Q.  8:  Who are the only three angels mentioned by name in the Bible? (A point for each correct answer.)

A.  8:  The three angels mentioned by name in the Bible are Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer.

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Q.  9:  What do you call the little hole in the sink that lets the water drain out, instead of flowing over the side?

A.  9:  The little hole in the sink that lets the water drain out, instead of flowing over the side, is called a “porcelator”.

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Q. 10:  Why has the Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, twice as many bathrooms as is necessary?

A. 10:  The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary because when it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

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Q. 11:  What are residents of the island of Crete called? (If you spell this wrong it will be very stupid.)

A. 11:  They are called Cretans. (Deduct a point if you said Cretins!)

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Q. 12:  And, what are residents of the island of Lesbos called?

A. 12:  Residents of the island of Lesbos are Lesbosians, rather than Lesbians. (Of course, lesbians are called lesbians because Sappho was from Lesbos.)

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Q. 13:  Who was the only American president to be wounded in the Civil War?

A. 13:  Rutherford B. Hayes was the only president to be wounded in the Civil War — not once, but four times. Four horses were shot out from beneath him.

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Q. 14:  If you add up the numbers 1-100 consecutively (1+2+3+4+5 etc) what is the total?

A. 14:  If you add up the numbers 1-100 consecutively (1+2+3+4+5 etc) the total is 5050.

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Q. 15:  Where were Venetian blinds invented?

A. 15:  You’d think it should be Venice, but Venetian blinds were invented in Japan.

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Q. 16:  What is the southern most city in the United States?

A. 16:  The southern most city in the United States is Na’alehu, Hawaii.

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Q. 17:  Everyone thinks that a ‘qwerty’ computer keyboard is just the same as a typewriter keyboard, but it isn’t. What is missing from the typewriter keyboard that is always on a computer keyboard?

A. 17:  The back slash is missing. Before the age of computers, typewriters only had one type of slash, the forward slash (/). Even earlier versions hadn’t even got that! Bet you never even noticed.

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Q. 18:  Where do Panama hats come from?

A. 18:  Panama hats are made in Equador.

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Q. 19:  How many ‘Die Hard’ movies have there been  –  so far? (Bonus points for each one you can name correctly. Double bonus if you know the years.)

A. 19:  There have been five ‘Die Hard’ movies so far, ‘Die Hard’ (1988), ‘Die Hard 2’ (1990), ‘Die Hard with a Vengeance’ (1995), ‘Live Free or Die Hard’ (2007) and ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ (2013).

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Q. 20:  What was the first video ever played on MTV Europe?

A. 20:  The first video ever played on MTV Europe was “Money For Nothing” by Dire Straits.

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