Grab A Cup Of Coffee And A Croissant, It’s Quiz Time!

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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A cup of coffee and a croissant is pleasant at any time, but particularly on the first morning of the week if you have a quiz to try.

The usual wide range of questions, some rather difficult in this selection.

But remember if you get stuck you can always find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!

Enjoy and good luck.

 

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Q.  1:  What is ‘The Forbidden City’ better known as?

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Q.  2:  What is the connection between the Academy Awards and the Phonetic Alphabet?

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Q.  3:  Where are the breakfast delicacy of Croissants originally from?

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Q.  4:  What sea creature has the largest eye of any animal? .

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Q.  5:  What is studied in the science of cryogenics?

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Q.  6:  What are motorways called in France?

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Q.  7:  What business organization underwent a “big bang” in 1986?

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Q.  8:  Which musical Roman Emperor was originally named Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus?

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Q.  9:  ‘A Woman of Substance’, published in 1979, was a best-selling debut novel for which well-known writer?

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Q. 10:  Named after a town in Surrey, England where a spring containing it was discovered, how is hydrated magnesium sulphate better known?

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Q. 11:  Who killed Grendel and Grendel’s mother?

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Q. 12:  What North American mammal has a black and white face mask and a bushy tail with between five and seven rings?

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Q. 13:  Saint Paul’s Cathedral is in which European city?

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Q. 14:  Who played John Walton Sr. in season 1 thru 8 and the six movie sequels of The Waltons? (Five bonus points if you can name the actor who played the role in the pilot for the series.)

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Q. 15:  Where was a major treaty in the history of the EU signed in February 1992?

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Q. 16:  In literature which 1719 book has gained wide acceptance as ‘the first English novel’ ?

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Q. 17:  What is the state capital of Nebraska?

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Q. 18:  Magnetite, hematite, limonite and siderite are ores of which metal?

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Q. 19:  What color jersey is worn by the winners of each stage of the Tour De France?

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Q. 20:  Name the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

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ANSWERS

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Q.  1:  What is ‘The Forbidden City’ better known as?

A.  1:  Beijing.

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Q.  2:  What is the connection between the Academy Awards and the Phonetic Alphabet?

A.  2:  Oscar.

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Q.  3:  Where are the breakfast delicacy of Croissants originally from?

A.  3:  They come from Vienna, Austria, NOT Paris, France.

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Q.  4:  What sea creature has the largest eye of any animal?

A.  4:  The giant squid.

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Q.  5:  What is studied in the science of cryogenics?

A.  5:  Very low temperatures.

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Q.  6:  What are motorways called in France?

A.  6:  Autoroutes.

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Q.  7:  What business organization underwent a “big bang” in 1986?

A.  7:  The London Stock Exchange.

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Q.  8:  Which musical Roman Emperor was originally named Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus?

A.  8:  Nero.

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Q.  9:  ‘A Woman of Substance’, published in 1979, was a best-selling debut novel for which well-known writer?

A.  9:  Barbara Taylor Bradford.

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Q. 10:  Named after a town in Surrey, England where a spring containing it was discovered, how is hydrated magnesium sulphate better known?

A. 10:  Epsom salts.

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Q. 11:  Who killed Grendel and Grendel’s mother?

A. 11:  Beowulf.

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Q. 12:  What North American mammal has a black and white face mask and a bushy tail with between five and seven rings?

A. 12:  A Raccoon.

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Q. 13:  Saint Paul’s Cathedral is in which European city?

A. 13:  London.

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Q. 14:  Who played John Walton Sr. in season 1 thru 8 and the six movie sequels of The Waltons? (Five bonus points if you can name the actor who played the role in the pilot for the series.)

A. 14:  Ralph Waite was the actor who played John Walton Sr. in seasons 1 thru 8 and the six movie sequels. For your five bonus points, Andrew Duggan played the role in the pilot.

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Q. 15:  Where was a major treaty in the history of the EU signed in February 1992?

A. 15:  Maastricht.

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Q. 16:  In literature which 1719 book has gained wide acceptance as ‘the first English novel’?

A. 16:  Robinson Crusoe.

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Q. 17:  What is the state capital of Nebraska?

A. 17:  Lincoln.

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Q. 18:  Magnetite, hematite, limonite and siderite are ores of which metal?

A. 18:  Iron.

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Q. 19:  What color jersey is worn by the winners of each stage of the Tour De France?

A. 19:  Yellow.

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Q. 20:  Name the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

A. 20:  Peter Jackson. .

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Did You Know? – Here Are Some More Things You Probably Didn’t.

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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Welcome to another fact finding day on the fasab blog.

Fifteen more very random but hopefully interesting facts that you probably didn’t know.

Enjoy.

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If you live in France,

and happen to own a pig,

it is illegal to name it ‘Napoleon’.

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50 of the 83 restaurants

featured on Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares

have been sold or shut down.

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In Turkey, it is illegal for a man

over 80 years old to become a pilot.

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It took 127 beers to make Andre The Giant

pass out in a hotel lobby;

 he was so big, hotel management couldn’t

move him and left him there until the next day.

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If you have the plague you are not

permitted to flag down a taxi in London.

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If a set of identical twin women

married a set of identical twin men

and subsequently had children,

their kids would genetically be siblings.

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Every year Louis Vuitton burns

all of its unsold stock of bags.

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It is against the law in Barbados to wear any camouflage clothing,

but, hey, if it’s good enough whose going to notice?

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Sean Connery wore a wig in every

one of his Bond performances.

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Whilst chewing gum in Singapore is not illegal,

importing it, or selling it,

or spitting it on to the pavement definitely is.

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Peter Sellers was paid $1 million for his

part in the movie Dr. Strangelove,

55 percent of the film’s budget.

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In Canada stores are not

legally required to accept coins

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The United Arab Emirates donated a laptop

to every high school student in Joplin, Missouri,

after the city had been devastated by a tornado.

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Astronaut Pete Conrad’s first sentence on the moon was

“Oooh, is that soft an queasy”,

said in order to win a $500 bet.

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And speaking of the Moon,

the Moonwalk predates Michael Jackson by at least 50 years,

having been performed by James Brown, David Bowie,

Dick Van Dyke and Cab Calloway.

(MJ is still the best at it though.)

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First Quiz For December. Let’s See How You Do.

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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First of the Monday quizzes for December.

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

Enjoy, and good luck!

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Q.  1: In which American state did the English first settle in 1607?

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Q.  2:  What name was given to a pilot who flew suicide missions in World War II?

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Q.  3:  Whish of these is the name of a town or city in Turkey?

a)  Batman        b)  Robin           c)  Joker

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Q.  4:  Who was the first person to cross the English channel with an airplane?

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Q.  5:  Fifty years ago, on November 22^nd 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas but what was the name of the airport where Air Force One landed on that fateful journey?

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Q.  6:  Why did the Roman Catholic church ban Mozart’s music?

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Q.  7:  Australia built fences across outback areas to contain what agricultural pest?

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Q.  8:  Which country’s troops invaded Cambodia in 1979?

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Q.  9:  Who played an aging Jewish Nazi hunter named ‘Ezra Lieberman’ and in what movie? (A point for each answer.)

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Q. 10:  In which country is the site of the famous battle of Waterloo?

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Q. 11:  Which American diva got married after a whirlwind romance, in 2008?

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Q. 12:  What were the first names the four members of the ‘Cartwright family’ and what long running television show they were in?  (Character’s names, not their real names and you can have a point for each.)

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Q. 13:  What do the actors Rex Harrison, Yul Brynner and Yun Fat Chow all have in common?

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Q. 14:  Who noted the day before he was killed in 1968: “I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man”?

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Q. 15:  What famous television series starred Marilu Henner, Judd Hirsch and Danny DeVito?

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Q. 16:  In which 1964 musical movie was Audrey Hepburn’s singing dubbed by Marni Nixon?

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Q. 17:  In which country, until 1922, was the Ruler referred to as ‘Sultan of the Ottoman Empire’?

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Q. 18:  Which nanny did Julie Andrews win an Oscar for playing?

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Q. 19:  Which Scottish engineer gave the first public demonstration of television in 1925?

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Q. 20:  Which song by Survivor is the best selling UK heavy metal release of all time?

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ANSWERS

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Q.  1: In which American state did the English first settle in 1607?

A.  1:  Virginia.

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Q.  2:  What name was given to a pilot who flew suicide missions in World War II?

A.  2:  Kamikaze.

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Q.  3:  Whish of these is the name of a town or city in Turkey?

a)  Batman        b)  Robin           c)  Joker

A.  3:  a)  Batman  (Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo….)

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Q.  4:  Who was the first person to cross the English channel with an airplane?

A.  4:  Louis Blèriot.

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Q.  5:  Fifty years ago, on November 22^nd 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas but what was the name of the airport where Air Force One landed on that fateful journey?

A.  5:  Love Field.

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Q.  6:  Why did the Roman Catholic church ban Mozart’s music?

A.  6:  He joined the Freemasons.

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Q.  7:  Australia built fences across outback areas to contain what agricultural pest?

A.  7:  Rabbits.

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Q.  8:  Which country’s troops invaded Cambodia in 1979?

A.  8:  Vietnam.

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Q.  9:  Who played an aging Jewish Nazi hunter named ‘Ezra Lieberman’ and in what movie? (A point for each answer.)

A.  9:  Laurence Olivier in ‘The Boys From Brazil’.

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Q. 10:  In which country is the site of the famous battle of Waterloo?

A. 10:  Belgium.

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Q. 11:  Which American diva got married after a whirlwind romance, in 2008?

A. 11:  Mariah Carey.

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Q. 12:  What were the first names the four members of the ‘Cartwright family’ and what long running television show they were in?  (Character’s names, not their real names and you can have a point for each.)

A. 12:  Ben, Adam, Eric (Hoss), and Joesph (Little Joe) in Bonanza.

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Q. 13:  What do the actors Rex Harrison, Yul Brynner and Yun Fat Chow all have in common?

A. 13:  They have all played the King (King Mongkut) in film. Harrison (‘Anna and the King of Siam’, 1946) Brynner (‘The King and I’, 1956), Chow (‘Anna and the King’, 1999).

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Q. 14:  Who noted the day before he was killed in 1968: “I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man”?

A. 14:  Martin Luther King.

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Q. 15:  What famous television series starred Marilu Henner, Judd Hirsch and Danny DeVito?

A. 15:  Taxi.

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Q. 16:  In which 1964 musical movie was Audrey Hepburn’s singing dubbed by Marni Nixon?

A. 16:  My Fair Lady.

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Q. 17:  In which country, until 1922, was the Ruler referred to as ‘Sultan of the Ottoman Empire’?

A. 17:  Turkey.

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Q. 18:  Which nanny did Julie Andrews win an Oscar for playing?

A. 18:  Mary Poppins.

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Q. 19:  Which Scottish engineer gave the first public demonstration of television in 1925?

A. 19:  John Logie Baird.

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Q. 20:  Which song by Survivor is the best selling UK heavy metal release of all time?

A. 20:  Eye of the Tiger.

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Did You Know? Another Fifteen Fabulous Fasab Facts!

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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Fifteen fabulous and very random facts.

I don’t know how much of this information you retain, probably not that much if you’re like me, but hopefully you enjoy reading them all the same.

Here we go….

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The city of Austin, Texas,

was originally named “Waterloo.”

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The term “couch potato”

is the legal property of Robert Armstrong,

who trademarked it in 1976.

(I wonder where he got the energy?)

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Al Gore (1992, 1996),

Dick Cheney (2000, 2004)

and Joe Biden (2008, 2012)

are the first three consecutive vice presidents

to be elected to two terms.

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Worcestershire sauce was invented accidentally

when a British company was trying to recreate

the flavors in Indian food.

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The term “dogfight” originated during WWI.

The pilot had to turn off the plane’s engine from time to time

so it would not stall when the plane turned quickly in the air.

When a pilot restarted his engine midair, it sounded like dogs barking.

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Jim Henson said he made the first Kermit

out of his mom’s old coat.

He used Ping-Pong balls for eyes.

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The concept of community service as a form of probation

originated in Alameda County, California, in 1966.

It was first used as an alternative punishment for female traffic offenders.

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The name “The Birdman of Alcatraz” is not strictly accurate

because Robert Stroud was allowed to keep birds

when he was incarcerated at Leavenworth,

not when he was transferred to Alcatraz.

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Will Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix.

Instead he starred in Wild Wild West.

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Mayan tradition dictated that a mother

should cover her newborn’s face for the first year of life

in order to drive away evil spirits.

The practice is still carried out in rural Guatemala.

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The modeling compound Play-Doh started out in the 1950s

as a wallpaper cleaner for coal residue.

Sales began to fall as coal was used less frequently in furnaces,

but the owner’s sister-in-law, a preschool teacher,

suggested it be used as a children’s toy.

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The 100-ounce pyramid-shaped capstone on top of

the Washington Monument is made of aluminum.

At the time it was placed (December 6, 1884)

it was the largest aluminum object cast.

In those days aluminum was very hard to produce

and was worth as much as silver.

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Chicago is America’s skyscraper capital.

The city has more 1,000-foot tall buildings

than any other U.S. city.

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If we define the “highest spot on the Earth”

as that which is closest to the moon, stars, etc.,

then Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador is an

incredible 1.5 miles higher than Mt. Everest

due to the oblate spheroid shape of the earth.

(Y’all clumb the wrong mountain boyz!)

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The spooky theme song for Alfred Hitchcock Presents

is titled “Funeral March of a Marionette.”

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Did You Know? It’s Fascinating Fact day.

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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

More random facts to get your head around.

Enjoy.

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The first Dunkin Donuts and the first Howard Johnson’s

were both in Quincy, Massachusetts.

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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.”

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The Gateway Arch in St. Louis

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

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

Students are taught how to be

“an informed and appreciative sports spectator.”

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Telephone cards first took off in Hawaii,

since long-distance charges from the far-flung state

were higher than anywhere else in the country.

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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.

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The majority of the text in the Monroe Doctrine

was actually penned by John Quincy Adams.

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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.

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

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

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Albert Einstein never received a Nobel Prize

for his theory of relativity.

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

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

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The first man to appear on the cover of Playboy

was the actor Peter Sellers.

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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.

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The popular game Bingo was originally called “Beano”

because players used beans to cover the numbered squares.

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Cruise control and automatic transmissions were invented

by a blind engineer named Ralph Teetor.

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Modern scholars believe that Jericho,

settled around 10,000 years ago,

was the first walled city in the world.

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

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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.

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According to doctors, humans have an average

of 14 episodes of flatulence per day.

(I always knew I was above average!)

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

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

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Feeling Smart? Good, Coz It’s Quiz Day!

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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Another random selection of questions in today’s quiz.

This has become quite a long running feature on the fasab blog. I enjoy putting them together, I hope you all continue to enjoy trying them out.

As always you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below – but NO cheating! 

Enjoy.

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Q.  1:  What is Bugs Bunny’s catchphrase?

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Q.  2:  Where in the USA is the Sonoma wine growing region?

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Q.  3:  Which sad word stems from the combined Greek words for goat and song?

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Q.  4:  In ‘Star Trek’, from which planet did Spock’s mother come?

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Q.  5:  Which animal is not a Chinese year? 

    a. Ox    b. Crow    c. Hare    d. Goat

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Q.  6:  Who is the only American President to have served non-consecutive terms in office?

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Q.  7:  Thomas Selfridge was the first fatality in a plane crash. Who was the pilot?

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Q.  8:  In which American town or city was the ‘Little House On The Prairie’ TV series set?

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Q.  9:  If you saw ‘canard’ on a French Menu, what type of meat would be on offer?

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Q. 10:  Which historical character did Errol Flynn play in the 1941 movie ‘They Died With Their Boots On’?

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Q. 11:  Whose face is said to have launched a thousand ships?

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Q. 12:  Who directed ‘Jaws’, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and ‘ET’?

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Q. 13:  What are the three styles of port? (a point for each)

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Q. 14:  Which country has special tea houses and is famous for it’s elaborate tea ceremonies?

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Q. 15:  Jack Bauer and Aaron Pierce are the only two characters that have appeared in seven seasons of the TV series ‘24’. What does Aaron Pierce do for a living?

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Q. 16:  Alan Shepard was the first man to do what?

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Q. 17:  Plus or minus 10, what percentage of the life forms on earth live in the oceans and seas?

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Q. 18:  The car in the ‘Knightrider’ series was called ‘KITT’. What does this acronym stand for?

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Q. 19:  Who sucked apple sauce to become the first American to eat in space?

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Q. 20:  The Academy Award winning song ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ was written for which classic 1940 movie?

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ANSWERS

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Q.  1:  What is Bugs Bunny’s catchphrase?

A.  1:  ‘Whats Up Doc?’

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Q.  2:  Where in the USA is the Sonoma wine growing region?

A.  2:  California

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Q.  3:  Which sad word stems from the combined Greek words for goat and song?

A.  3:  Tragedy

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Q.  4:  In ‘Star Trek’, from which planet did Spock’s mother come?

A.  4:  Earth

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Q.  5:  Which animal is not a Chinese year? 

    a. Ox    b. Crow    c. Hare    d. Goat

A.  5:  b. Crow

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Q.  6:  Who is the only American President to have served non-consecutive terms in office?

A.  6:  Grover Cleveland

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Q.  7:  Thomas Selfridge was the first fatality in a plane crash. Who was the pilot?

A.  7:  Orville Wright

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Q.  8:  In which American town or city was the ‘Little House On The Prairie’ TV series set?

A.  8:  Walnut Grove

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Q.  9:  If you saw ‘canard’ on a French Menu, what type of meat would be on offer?

A.  9:  Duck

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Q. 10:  Which historical character did Errol Flynn play in the 1941 movie ‘They Died With Their Boots On’?

A. 10:  General Custer

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Q. 11:  Whose face is said to have launched a thousand ships?

A. 11:  Helen of Troy

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Q. 12:  Who directed ‘Jaws’, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and ‘ET’?

A. 12:  Steven Spielberg

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Q. 13:  What are the three styles of port? (a point for each)

A. 13:  Ruby, tawny and vintage

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Q. 14:  Which country has special tea houses and is famous for it’s elaborate tea ceremonies?

A. 14:  Japan

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Q. 15:  Jack Bauer and Aaron Pierce are the only two characters that have appeared in seven seasons of the TV series ‘24’. What does Aaron Pierce do for a living?

A. 15:  Secret Service agent

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Q. 16:  Alan Shepard was the first man to do what?

A. 16:  Hit a golf ball on the moon

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Q. 17:  Plus or minus 10, what percentage of the life forms on earth live in the oceans and seas?

A. 17:  Circa 90%

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Q. 18:  The car in the ‘Knightrider’ series was called ‘KITT’. What does this acronym stand for?

A. 18:  Knight Industries Two Thousand

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Q. 19:  Who sucked apple sauce to become the first American to eat in space?

A. 19:  John Glenn

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Q. 20:  The Academy Award winning song ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ was written for which classic 1940 movie?

A. 20:  Pinocchio

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Did You Know? More From The Strange Fact File

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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Here is another very random selection of strange facts from fasab’s files.

As with other in this series, by the time you have read these you will know more than you did and possible more than you want to.

But have a look anyway.

Enjoy.

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The adult electric eel can produce a five hundred volt shock,

which is enough to stun a horse

– and I don’t mean a seahorse!

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As an iceberg melts, it makes a fizzing sound
because of the compressed air bubbles popping in the ice

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Kermit the frog delivered the commencement address

at Southampton College located in the state of New York in 1996

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The mythical Scottish town of Brigadoon

appears for one day every one hundred years

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A rainbow can occur only when the sun

is 40 degrees or less above the horizon

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The most common injury caused by cosmetics

is to the eye by a mascara wand

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The sound made by the toadfish when mating underwater

is so loud that it can be heard by humans on the shore

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In America, approximately 20% of children between

the ages of 2 – 7 have televisions in their rooms

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Families who do turn off the television during meals tend to eat healthier.

This was regardless of family income, or education

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Two out of five people end up marrying their first love

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Forty-one percent of women apply body and

hand moisturizer at least three times a day

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Scientists have determined that having guilty feelings

may actually damage your immune system

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The first box of Crayola that was ever sold

had the same eight colours that are sold in the box today

consisting of red, blue, yellow, green, violet, orange, black and brown.

The box was sold for a nickel in 1903

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The best time for a person to buy shoes is in the afternoon.

This is because the foot tends to swell a bit around this time

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According to psychologists, the shoe and the foot

are the most common sources of sexual fetishism in Western society

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Bank robber John Dillinger played professional baseball

John Dillinger top left

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The first company to mass produce teddy bears was the Ideal Toy Company

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Flight pioneer and pilot, Orville Wright,

was involved in the first aircraft accident.

His passenger was killed.

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The mother of famous astronomer Johannes Kepler

was accused of being a witch

Johannes Kepler 1610

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In the past 60 years, the groundhog has only predicted

the weather correctly 28% of the time.

The rushing back and forth from burrows

is believed to indicate sexual activity, not shadow seeking

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Significant Number Factoid Friday – Today Number Twenty-Seven 27

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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Today is another numbers day and the randomly chosen number is twenty-seven. Were you  born on the 27th, is it your lucky number, has it some other significance for you or do you just like facts and trivia. Whatever your interest you will probably find something in here that you didn’t know about the number twenty-seven.

Enjoy.

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Number Twenty-Seven 27

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In religion

• There are six occurrences of 27th in the Bible: Genesis 8.14; I Kings 16.10, 16.15; 2 Kings 15.1, 25.27; Ezekiel 29.17
• God creates man “male & female” in the 27th verse in Genesis I;
• After the Flood, the earth was dried on the 27th day of the 2nd month (Genesis 8.14);
• In the 27th year the Lord gave Egypt to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon;
• Book 27 of Proverbs has 27 verses;
• The New Testament is made up of 27 books;
• The Book of Revelation is the 27th Book and last book of the New Testament;
• John Calvin published Institutes of the Christian Religion when he was 27 years old (1536);
• Twenty-seven is the highest level of knowledge in rupaloke (Buddhism);
• In ancient Incan culture there were 27 roads to El Dorado.

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In mathematics

• An Octillion is 10²⁷ which is a 1 followed by 27 zeros
• Twenty-seven is a perfect cube, being 3 to the power of 3 or 3 × 3 × 3.
• Twenty-seven is the only positive integer that is 3 times the sum of its digits.

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In science

• The atomic number of Cobalt (Co) is 27
• The atomic weight of Aluminum (Al) is 27

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In space

• Solar rotation: The Sun rotates on its axis once in about 27 days;
• The 27th moon of Jupiter is Sinope.
• The planet Uranus has 27 moons
• Messier 27, the Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Apple Core Nebula, M 27, or NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1,360 light years;

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• On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, he was 27 years old;

‘

• This is the official insignia of the NASA STS-27 mission. The patch depicts the space shuttle lifting off against the multi-colored backdrop of a rainbow, symbolizing the triumphal return to flight of our nation’s manned space program. The design also commemorates the memory of the crew of Challenger mission STS-51-L, represented by the seven stars. The names of the flight crew members of STS-27 are located along the border of the patch. They are astronauts Robert L. Gibson, commander; Guy S. Gardner, pilot; Jerry L. Ross, Richard M. (Mike) Mullane and William M. Shepherd, mission specialists. Each crew member contributed to the design of the insignia.

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In books, music, TV and movies

• Rudolph Valentino was 27 when he stared in film Blood and Sand;
• Sergei Eisenstein directs The Battleship Potemkin in 1925, aged 27;
• 27 year old Greta Garbo uttered the famous words, “I want to be alone” in film Grand Hotel in 1932;
• Errol Flynn (1909-1959) stars in film Charge of the Light Brigade (1936);

• Ingmar Bergman (born 7-14-1918) directs his first film Crisis (1945);
• Deanna Durbin, teenage star retires in 1949, aged 27, after her 22 film career;
• In the 1977 Carl Reiner movie Oh, God!, Jerry Landers (John Denver), a supermarket manager meets God (George Burns) on the 27th floor in Room 2700;
• Captain Jean-Luc Picard has made contact with twenty-seven species of aliens in the series Star Trek: The Next Generation;
• The following famous authors published these works when they were 27 years old: Jacob Grimm, Grimm’s Fairy Tales (1812-1815); George Sand, her first book, Indiana in 1831; Nikolai Gogol, The Inspector General in 1836 and Upton Sinclair, The Jungle in 1906;
• Famous Scottish poet Robert Burns publishes The Kilmarnock Poems in 1786, aged 27;
• Rupert Brooke was 27 when he wrote the poem “If I should die, think only this of me…” in 1914; he died the following year (1915) in World War I;

RupertBrooke

• Hugh Hefner (born 1926) publishes Playboy magazine (1953);
• In 1956, Grace Kelly was 27 years old when she retired from movies to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco;
• Aged 27 Julie Andrews starred in her first film Mary Poppins in 1963 and won an Oscar for the Best Actress (1964);

• January 27 is the birthday of Mozart 1756, Lewis Carroll 1832, and Jerome Kern 1885;
• When he is 27 years old Claude Debussy composes Claire de Lune in 1890;
• The 27 Club is the collective term used when talking about musicians and singers who all died at the age of 27: Robert Johnston, blues singer and musician; Brian Jones, founder member of the Rolling Stones; Janis Joplin, rock singer, from drugs overdose in 1970; Jimmy Hendrix, rock guitarist, died from drugs overdose in 1970; Jim Morrison, rock singer, from a heart attack in 1971; Kurt Corbain, rock singer, from drugs overdose in 1994; and Amy Winehouse, singer, from drink and drug overdose in 2011.

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In politics

• Florida became the 27th State to enter the Union (March 3, 1845)

• There are twenty-seven words in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution;
• The 27th President of the United States was William Howard Taft (1857-1930), who served (1909-1913). He later served as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1921-1930).

President William H Taft

• Taft was the heaviest president ever at 332 pounds, and famously got stuck in the White House bathtub. Subsequently he had an oversized version brought in for his use.
• William Howard Taft was the first president to own a car at the White House (he had the White House stables converted into a 4-car garage), the first to throw out the first ball to begin the professional baseball season, and the first president to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
• Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912, also making Taft the first President of the 48 contiguous states.
• Taft liked milk so much that he brought his own cow to the White House. The cows name was Mooly Wolly. Mooly was replaced by another cow called Paulin. Paulin was the last cow to graze on the White House lawn.
• During his administration, the U.S. parcel post system began, but sadly during his term Congress approved the 16th Amendment, providing for the levying of an income tax.

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In sport

• Carlton Fisk, Baseball Hall of Famer, wore uniform #27 while playing with the Boston Red Sox. Fisk waves his homer fair to win Game 6 of the 1975 World Series 7-6 in the 12th inning against the Cinncinati Reds.

Carlton Fisk

• The size of a tennis court for singles is 78 feet long and 27 feet wide.
• In tennis Bill Tilden (1893-1953) won his first Wimbledon tennis championship in 1920 at the age of 27 (he went on to win  it two more times in 1921 and 1930); he also won his first US Championship in 1920 aged 27 (and went on to win it six more times in 1921-25, and in 1929)

• At the age of 27, Bob Feller achieved a strike-out record of 348 batters; Sandy Koufax breaks his own NL strike-out record with 276 and also sets major-league record with 11 shut-outs for a left-hander;
• Dawn Fraser won the Olympic 100-meters freestyle swimming in 1964 aged 27.

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In militaria

• USS Suwannee (CVE-27)
• During WWII, USS Suwannee (CVE-27) (originally an oiler AO-33, converted to an escort carrier AVG/ACV/CVE-27) saw a great deal of active service and earned 13 battle stars.  She took part in the invasion of North Africa and during the Naval Battle of Casablanca from 8–11 November, Suwannee sent up 255 air sorties and lost only five planes, three in combat and two to operational problems. She was also the first escort carrier to score against the enemy undersea menace, and she helped to prove the usefulness of her type in anti-submarine warfare.
• Later the Suwannee was sent to the South Pacific. For the next seven months, she provided air escort for transports and supply ships replenishing and bolstering the marines on Guadalcanal, as well as for the forces occupying other islands in the Solomons group. She also participated in the Gilbert Islands operation as part of the Air Support Group of the Southern Attack Force, and her planes bombed Tarawa, while the ships in the Northern Attack Force engaged the enemy at Makin.
• During 1944 the Suwannee joined the Northern Attack Force, and her planes bombed and strafed Roi and Namur Islands, in the northern part of Kwajalein Atoll, and conducted antisubmarine patrols for the task force. By 30 March, she was in the vicinity of the Palau Islands as the 5th Fleet subjected those islands to two days of extensive bombing raids.
• On 24–25 October 1944, the Japanese launched a major surface offensive from three directions to contest the landings at Leyte Gulf. Suwanee was hit during the attacks but was able to resume air operations helped to fight off two more air attacks. Just after noon on 26 October, another group of kamikazes jumped Taffy 1. A Zero crashed into Suwanee’s flight deck at 1240 and careened into a torpedo bomber which had just been recovered. The two planes erupted upon contact as did nine other planes on her flight deck. The resulting fire burned for several hours, but was finally brought under control. The casualties for 25-26 October were 107 dead and 160 wounded.
• Suwannee remained in reserve at Boston for the next 12 years. She was redesignated an escort helicopter aircraft carrier, CVHE-27, on 12 June 1955. Her name was struck from the Navy List on 1 March 1959. Her hulk was sold to the Isbrantsen Steamship Company, of New York City on 30 November 1959 for conversion to merchant service. The project was subsequently canceled and, in May 1961, her hulk was resold to the J.C. Berkwit Company, also of New York City. She was finally scrapped in Bilbao, Spain, in June 1962.

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• MIG-27
• The Mikoyan MiG-27 is a variable-geometry ground-attack aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan design bureau in the Soviet Union and later license-produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics as the Bahadur (“Valiant”). It is based on the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 fighter aircraft, but optimized for air-to-ground attack. Unlike the MiG-23, the MiG-27 did not see widespread use outside Russia, as most countries opted for the MiG-23BN and Sukhoi Su-25 instead. It currently only remains in service with the Indian, Kazakh and Sri Lankan Air Forces in the ground attack role. All Russian and Ukrainian MiG-27s have been retired.
• It was used by Soviet forces during the later stages of the Afghanistan conflict in 1987–1989.
• The MiG-27 aircraft also entered service with the Sri Lanka Air Force in 2000. During the Sri Lankan Civil War, they saw considerable action bombing strategic targets and providing close air support.
• Since 2001, the Indian Air Force has lost 12 MiG-27s to crashes and in mid-February 2010, India grounded its entire fleet of over 150 of the aircraft after a MiG-27 crashed on 16 February 2010 in Siliguri, West Bengal. The crash was attributed to defects in the R 29 engines of the aircraft, suspected to have occurred during the overhauling of the aircraft by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
• The MiG-27 remains in service with the Kazakh Air Force.

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• Alenia C-27J
• The Alenia C-27J Spartan is a medium-sized military transport aircraft. The C-27J is an advanced derivative of Alenia Aeronautica’s G.222, with the engines and systems of the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules.

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• CZ 27
• The CZ-27, a single action semiautomatic pistol with a capacity of 8 or 9 rounds, was developed in around 1926 by Czech arms designer Frantisek Myska in an attempt to produce simplified version of the CZ Vz.24 pistol, chambered for less powerful 7.65×17 SR Browning ammunition (also known as .32 ACP) and suited for police and security use.
• It was put into production in 1927, at arms factory in Praha. Until the appearance of the famous CZ-75 pistol, the CZ-27 was one of the most successful handguns produced in Czechoslovakia, with well over 500 000 guns of this type produced between 1927 and 1951. During the German occupation of Czechoslovakia it was manufactured for German armed forces and police as Pistole model 27, or P.27(t) in short. It was extensively used by Czechoslovak police and security forces, and widely exported to many parts of the world.

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• OTs-27 “Berdysh” pistol
• Originally developed by the TSKIB SOO (central design bureau for sporting and hunting arms, Tula, Russia, later merged with famous KBP design bureau) the OTs-27 “Berdysh” is a Double Action semiautomatic 9 mm pistol with a capacity of 18 rounds. It was developed for “Grach” trials, with the goal being the replacement for the venerable Makarov PM as a standard issue sidearm for Russian army. The  OTs-27 was subsequently dropped from the Grach trials, but the development continued and the pistol first appeared circa 1994.

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Other stuff

• Cities located at 27 degrees longitude are Lajes, Azores and Izmir, Turkey;
• Cities located at 27 degrees latitude are Brisbane, Australia and Katmandu, Nepal;
• There are 27 bones in the human hand;
• The Hebrew alphabet consists of 27 letters;
• Napoleon was named commander of the army of Italy during his 27^th year, on March 2, 1796;

• Elias Howe invents the first sewing machine in 1846 when he was 27 years old;
• When he was aged 27 F.W. Woolworth founded Woolworth Co. (1879) selling 5¢ and 10¢ merchandise;
• There are 27 small cubes in a Rubik’s cube;

• In 1806, aged 27, Zebulon M. Pike discovers Pike’s Peak, Colorado;
• At the age of 27, Captain Matthew Webb was the first person to swim the English Channel in 1875. He took 21 hours 43 minutes for the distance of 21 miles. Sadly eight years later, aged 35, Webb drowned while trying to swim across the waters above Niagara Falls in an attempt to exploit his fame as a swimmer. A memorial stone to Webb carries this inscription: “Nothing Great Is Easy”.

• John Smith was 27 years old when he led the first English settlement in North America at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607; he was saved from death by Pocohontas.

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Significant Number Factoid Friday – Fourteen

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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They’ve been ‘beautiful’,  they’ve been ‘big’  and they’ve been ‘unusual’. 

Today we have another ‘significant’ number, fourteen, so-called because of its use and the beliefs surrounding it.

Enjoy.

 

14 Fourteen

The number 14 seems to have some regal significance, particularly where these two Royals were concerned:

 

Louis XIV

• ascended to the throne on May 14^th, 1643  (1+6+4+3=14);
• he was saved by Turenne at Blema in 1652  (1+6+5+2=14);
• in accordance with an Edict of Charle V, he was declared major at 14 years and governed himself in 1661 (1+6+6+1=14);
• he built the Hotel of the Invalids in 1670 (1+6+7+0=14);
• he died in 1715 (1+7+1+5=14), at the age of 77 years old (7+7=14);  
• having reigned 72 years (7×2=14).

Louis XIV

 

 

England’s King Henry IV

• was born 14 centuries, 14 decades and 14 years after the Christian era;
• he came into the world on December 14^th ;
• he died on May 14^th :
• he lived 4 x 14 years, 14 weeks and 14 days.

England’s King Henry iv

 

 

Other stuff

The atomic number for Silicon is 14.

The approximate atomic weight of nitrogen 14.

There are fourteen ascending and downward days of the moon.

The fourteenth year is, for the man, the year of the puberty.

The fingers of each of the two hands are composed of fourteen phalanxes.

February 14^th is Saint Valentine’s Day, a fact most men are not allowed to forget.

February 14th – St Valentine’s Day

 

 

In the Bible

• There are fourteen generations from Abraham to David;
• The fourteen epistles written by saint Paul, having on the whole 100 chapters and adding up 2335 verses;
• With the return of Exile, after the rebuilding of the Temple, the Israelis celebrated the Passover the fourteenth day of the first month; (Ezr 6,19)
• Jacob worked fourteen years for his uncle Laban in order to be able to marry his daughter Rachel, they had fourteen sons and grandsons; (Gn 29,15-30 and 46,22)
• The sufferings of the Christ would have begun fourteen days before Passover to finish with his passion;
• Every year, the celebration of the Easter is never done in the same date. At the fourth century after Jesus Christ, it was established that this major feast of the liturgical calendar would be celebrated the first Sunday following the 14th night of lunation of March;
• In the Book of Enoch (not included in the Bible) it talks about the fourteen preferential trees which remain always green for all season of the year.

 

In legends

• According to the Egyptian legend, the body of Osiris was cut into 14 pieces, 13 of which were found by Isis, the 14th, the penis, having been devoured by the fishes.
• In Egypt, the Amenti, area westward of the Nile, where go the souls of deaths, was divided in 14 parts.
• Among Greeks, the fourteen days “alcyonians” were the 7 days preceding and the 7 days following the solstice of winter. During this period, the sea was supposed calm so as to allow the “alcyons” to build their nest and to brood. The alcyons came from the Metamorphosis of Ceyx, son of the Star of the morning, Eosphéros (in Latin Lucifer) and his wife Alcyon, girl of Eole.

 

Fourteen also is:

• The number of days in a fortnight;
• In traditional British units of weight, the number of pounds in a stone;
• A number supposedly ‘encoded’ in much of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach may have considered this number a sort of signature, since given A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc., then B + A + C + H = 14;
• A common designation for the thirteenth floor in many buildings for superstitious reasons;
• The number of lines in a sonnet;
• The Number 14 airship by Alberto Santos Dumont that was used to test the aerodynamics of his 14-bis airplane;
• The number of the French department Calvados;
• A Storage server manufactured by IBM. It goes by name of “XIV” and is pronounced as the separate letters “X”, “I”, “V”;
• The Piano Sonata No. 14, also known as Moonlight Sonata, is one of the most famous piano sonatas composed by Ludwig van Beethoven;
• Age 14 is the earliest that the emancipation of minors can occur in the U.S.
• Minimum age at which one can work in many U.S states. Some require parental consent while others don’t;
• Minimum age at which one can work in most Australian states with parent’s consent;
• Minimum age at which one can drive a vehicle in the U.S. with a driver’s license (with supervision of an adult over 18 years of age, and with a valid, unmarked driver’s license, and at least 365 days of experience driving an actual automobile);
• The minimum age limit to drive a 50cc motorbike in Italy.

 

In Politics

The fourteenth President of the United States was Franklin Pierce (1804–1869) of the Democratic Party, who served from March 4^th, 1853  to March 4^th, 1857. His VP was William R. King (March 4^th, 1853 to April 18^th, 1853, when he died of tuberculosis only 45 days into office, the position being vacant from April 18^th, 1853 to March 4^th, 1857.)

Franklin Pierce 14th President of the United States of America

 

 

Then There Was The Fourteen Points

‘The Fourteen Points’ was a speech given by US President Woodrow Wilson to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918. It was the only explicit statement of war aims by any of the nations fighting in World War I, and was intended to assure the country that the Great War was being fought for a moral cause and for postwar peace in Europe.

President Woodrow Wilson

 

The Fourteen Points were:

• There should be no secret alliances between countries;
• Freedom of the seas in peace and war;
• The reduction of trade barriers among nations;
• The general reduction of armaments;
• The adjustment of colonial claims in the interest of the inhabitants as well as of the colonial powers;
• The evacuation of Russian territory and a welcome for its government to the society of nations;
• The restoration of Belgian territories in Germany;
• The evacuation of all French territory, including Alsace-Lorraine;
• The readjustment of Italian boundaries along clearly recognizable lines of nationality;
• Independence for various national groups in Austria-Hungary;
• The restoration of the Balkan nations and free access to the sea for Serbia;
• Protection for minorities in Turkey and the free passage of the ships of all nations through the Dardanelles;
• Independence for Poland, including access to the sea;
• A league of nations to protect “mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small nations alike.”

The Fourteen Points was accepted by France and Italy on November 1, 1918. Britain later signed off on all of the points except the freedom of the seas. The United Kingdom also wanted Germany to make reparation payments for the war, and thought that that should be added to the Fourteen Points.

The speech was delivered 10 months before the Armistice with Germany and became the basis for the terms of the German surrender, as negotiated at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The Treaty of Versailles had little to do with the Fourteen Points and was never ratified by the U.S. Senate.

 

In aviation

In aviation the designation 14 has been used for several famous aircraft. Best known would be the Grumman F-14 Tomcat which entered the fleet in 1973, replacing the F-4 Phantom II. New variants were introduced in 1987 (the F-14B) and in 1990 (the F-14D).

An F-14A Tomcat over Iraq during Southern Watch

 

 

The designation has also appeared on Soviet/Russian aircraft, the most notable being the Antonov An-14 Pchelka, a utility transport introduced in 1966 and primarily used by the Soviet Air Force, Aeroflot, Afghan Air Force and East German Air Force. Production continued until 1972. Known as the “Little Bee”, it was a twin-engined light STOL utility transport first flown on 15 March 1958. Serial production started in 1966, and about 300 examples were built by the time production ended in 1972. A small number of An-14 are still in airworthy condition.

The Ilyushin Il-14 was a commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that entered service in 1954.

 

In space

Apollo 14, launched on January 31st, 1971, was the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. It was the last of the “H missions”, targeted landings with two-day stays on the Moon with two lunar EVAs, or moonwalks.

The astronauts were Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell.

Shepard and Mitchell made their lunar landing on February 5th in the Fra Mauro formation (this had originally been the target of the aborted Apollo 13 mission).
They spent about 33 hours on the Moon, with Shepard famously hit two golf balls on the lunar surface with a makeshift club he had brought from Earth.

Apollo 14 landed in the Pacific Ocean on February 9.

And finally

Finally, the No. 14 chair is the most famous chair made by the Thonet chair company. Also known as the bistro chair, it was designed by Michael Thonet and introduced in 1859. It became one of the best-selling chairs ever made with some 50 million being sold between 1859 and 1930. Millions more have been sold since.

The famous and best selling No 14 chair

 

Movement 1 from Ludwig Van Beetoven’s famous Moonlight Sonata

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