America, Asia and Australia – It’s A Global Quiz.

June 8, 2015June 7, 2015 fasab Questions, Tests above the surface of the Earth, acronym, America, An Lushan rebellion, art, Asia, astronaut, Australia, backgammon, band, Beaufort Scale, body, books, boxing, Brighton Rock, Cassius Clay, castle, city, commemoration day, court, Decoration Day, defeat, earth, education, ELO, enemy fleet, English naval commander, Entertainment, first Space Shuttle launched, functions, general knowledge, Geography, Heavyweight Championship of the World, history, honor, jfk, kangaroos, King Arthur, last Space Shuttle launch, literature, math, mathematics, maths, measured, most translated book in the world, music, nasa, novelist, Our Man In Havana, Pacific Ocean, Pearl of the Danube, People, Pietà sculpture, Presidency, questions, quiz, quizzes, Rasceta, science, sport, stop a game of bowls, test, tests, The Quiet American, triangles, trigonometry, Union and Confederate soldiers fallen in the American Civil War, word, young rabbit

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Questions relating to most continents today so truly a global quiz.

Twenty more questions to test your general knowledge.

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

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1. In Australia are there are more people than kangaroos or more kangaroos than people?

Q. 2. In America what commemoration day was in honor of the Union and Confederate soldiers fallen in the American Civil War, and known as the Decoration Day?

Q. 3. To be officially considered an astronaut by NASA you must travel how many miles above the surface of the Earth?

a) 50 miles b) 100 miles c) 150 miles d) 200 miles

Q. 4. In 755 AD the An Lushan rebellion in which over 30 million people died (almost a sixth of the world population) occurred in what country?

Q. 5. On what part of your body would you find Rasceta?

Q. 6. What is a young rabbit called?

Q. 7. What is the most translated book in the world, available in 2454 languages?

Q. 8. Approximately what proportion of the Earth is covered by the Pacific Ocean?

a) one eighth b) one fifth c) one quarter d) one third

Q. 9. In what year (excluding test flights) was the first Space Shuttle launched?

Q. 10. In what year (excluding test flights) was the last Space Shuttle launched?

Q. 11. What city is known as the ‘Pearl of the Danube’ ?

Q. 12. What is measured on the Beaufort scale?

Q. 13. What English naval commander reputedly refused to stop a game of bowls when an enemy fleet was sighted?

Q. 14. What famous novelists works include ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘The Quiet American’, and ‘Our Man In Havana’ ?

Q. 15. Which two figures are normally found in a Pietà sculpture?

Q. 16. What are the three main functions in trigonometry?

Q. 17. What word links a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur and the presidency of JFK?

Q. 18. Who did Cassius Clay first defeat to win the boxing Heavyweight Championship of the World?

Q. 19. What are the 12 long triangles on a backgammon board called?

Q. 20. In music what band is known by the acronym ELO?

ANSWERS

Q. 1. In Australia are there are more people than kangaroos or more kangaroos than people?

A. 1. In Australia there are approximately 23.87 million people, but current Federal Government estimates puts the number of kangaroos at 50 – 60 million.

Q. 2. In America what commemoration day was in honor of the Union and Confederate soldiers fallen in the American Civil War, and known as the Decoration Day?

A. 2. Memorial Day.

Q. 3. To be officially considered an astronaut by NASA you must travel how many miles above the surface of the Earth?

a) 50 miles b) 100 miles c) 150 miles d) 200 miles

A. 3. The correct answer is a) 50 miles.

Q. 4. In 755 AD the An Lushan rebellion in which over 30 million people died (almost a sixth of the world population) occurred in what country?

A. 4. In China.

Q. 5. On what part of your body would you find Rasceta?

A. 5. The lines on the back of your wrist are called Rasceta.

Q. 6. What is a young rabbit called?

A. 6. A young rabbit is called a ‘kitten’ or a ‘kit’, not a bunny.

Q. 7. What is the most translated book in the world, available in 2454 languages?

A. 7. The Bible.

Q. 8. Approximately what proportion of the Earth is covered by the Pacific Ocean?

a) one eighth b) one fifth c) one quarter d) one third

A. 8. The correct answer is d) one third.

Q. 9. In what year (excluding test flights) was the first Space Shuttle launched?

A. 9. It was launched in 1981, on April 12th.

Q. 10. In what year (excluding test flights) was the last Space Shuttle launched?

A. 10. It was launched in 2011, on July 8th.

Q. 11. What city is known as the ‘Pearl of the Danube’ ?

A. 11. Budapest.

Q. 12. What is measured on the Beaufort scale?

A. 12. Wind speed. It’s full name is the Beaufort wind force scale, although it is a measure of wind speed and not of force in the scientific sense.

Q. 13. What English naval commander reputedly refused to stop a game of bowls when an enemy fleet was sighted?

A. 13. Sir Francis Drake.

Q. 14. What famous novelists works include ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘The Quiet American’, and ‘Our Man In Havana’ ?

A. 14. Graham Greene.

Q. 15. Which two figures are normally found in a Pietà sculpture?

A. 15. The Pietà sculpture depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion.

Q. 16. What are the three main functions in trigonometry?

A. 16. They are ‘Sine’, ‘Cosine’ and ‘Tangent’, often shortened to ‘sin’, ‘cos’ and ‘tan’.

Q. 17. What word links a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur and the presidency of JFK?

A. 17. Camelot.

Q. 18. Who did Cassius Clay first defeat to win the boxing Heavyweight Championship of the World?

A. 18. Sonny Liston.

Q. 19. What are the 12 long triangles on a backgammon board called?

A. 19. They are known as ‘Points’.

Q. 20. In music what band is known by the acronym ELO?

A. 20. The Electric Light Orchestra.

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

Did You Know? – Today Is Fact Day.

April 15, 2014April 13, 2014 fasab Factoids, Unusual Academy Award, american civil war, beer, best special effects, Bill Clinton, coal, Computers, Confederate, Constitution of the Confederate States of America, correspondent, deepest lake on Earth, Detroit, education, ego boost, Egyptian brewers, emails, Entertainment, fact, facts, fermenting ingredients, football team, forward pass, fresh water, fungal remains, Hawaii, Honolulu, information, invented, Isles of Scilly, Judges, Karl Marx, Lake Baikal, largest volume, longest war in history, men, Misc, Miscellaneous, Moon, murders, Napoleon, Neil Armstrong, Netherlands, New York Daily Tribune, Presidency, rabbits, Random, Robert E Lee, Saint Louis University, Saturn's rings, sclerotinite, Siberian rift lake, slave trade, slaves, straw, trivia, Trojan Magnum condoms, Tron movie, Union general, unsolved, US customs, US Grant

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Yes it’s fact day at the fasab blog, and that means another totally random selection of facts that – not only you never knew – but facts that you never knew you never knew.

Here they are.

Enjoy

Saturn’s rings are only between

30 and 300 feet thick.

Napoleon was once attacked by rabbits.
(I bet they were English!)

The Constitution of the Confederate States

of America banned the slave trade.

When the American Civil War started,

Confederate Robert E. Lee owned no slaves,

but Union general U.S. Grant did.

The Siberian rift lake, Lake Baikal,

is not only the deepest lake on Earth

but it also has the largest volume containing

roughly 20% of the Earth’s surface fresh water.

Officially, the longest war in history was between

the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.

It lasted from 1651 to 1986.

There were no casualties.

Neil Armstrong went through U.S. customs

in Honolulu, Hawaii,

on the way back from the moon.

The original Tron movie did not win an Academy Award

for best special effects because the judges said

they cheated by using computers.

70% of murders in Detroit go unsolved.

Sorry guys, but Trojan Magnum condoms

are designed for most men to fit into

so that most purchases include an ego boost.

Karl Marx was once a correspondent

for the New York Daily Tribune.

The straw was probably invented by Egyptian brewers

to taste in-process beer without removing the fermenting ingredients

which floated on the top of the container.

The name for fungal remains found in coal is sclerotinite.

The forward pass was created by the football

team at Saint Louis University.

During his Presidency Bill Clinton sent a total of two emails.

(I guess he was busy doing other things!)

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

Did You Know? More Fascinating Facts.

December 3, 2013November 19, 2013 fasab Factoids, Unusual Abraham Lincoln, achievement, adults, aerial combat, alarm system, alter-ego, American blues musicians, Bibles in hotels, bone, broken laser pointer, Charles Lindbergh, cigarette company, Clark Kent, Columbia, Columbia City, commercials, Daily Planet, devout Christian, Did You Know, Distinguished Flying Cross, education, educational, Entertainment, fabulous facts, fact, factoid, facts, Fascinating Facts, Fire Department, first American space station, first item sold on eBay, first recipient, Flintstones, Floyd Council, God, heroism, Honeywell International, hospitals, human body, hyoid bone, In God We Trust, information, Interesting Facts, Iron Mountain, kids, Larry, Larry Bird, leaves, lowest violent-crime rate in the US, Maine, military bases, Misc, Miscellaneous, money, Montana, nasa, neutered pets, neuticles, Pink Anderson, Pink Floyd, poinsettia, Presidency, prisons, Random, red petals, reporter for the Daily Star, sacrilege, Salmon Chase, Skylab, smoke detector, smoke or fire, sponsored, state of Minnesota, Stephen King, Superior Hotel, Superman, Syd Barrett, synthetic testicles, The Gideons, Theodore Roosevelt, transatlantic flight, Treasury Secretary, trivia, Twitter's bird logo, University of Minnesota, US currency, US homes, useful facts, Washington DC, Washington state, Winstons

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Another ‘Did You Know’ day on the fasab blog.

More fascinating facts to ponder over.

Enjoy.

The first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer.

A collector of broken laser pointers bought it for $14.83.

The first recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross award

(for heroism or achievement in aerial combat)

was Charles Lindbergh.

He achieved this feat a year before his famous transatlantic flight.

The Gideons, who went on to place millions of Bibles

in hotels, prisons, hospitals and military bases,

first did so at the Superior Hotel in Iron Mountain, Montana, in 1908.

The poinsettia’s red petals are actually leaves.

Superman’s alter-ego, Clark Kent, originally worked

as a reporter for the Daily Star.

The Star changed its name to

the more familiar Daily Planet in 1940.

Washington State was supposed to be named “Columbia”

but the idea was scrapped because it was thought

it would be too easily confused with “Columbia City”

(today commonly referred to as Washington, D.C.).

Neuticles are synthetic testicles for neutered pets.

The tagline: “It’s like nothing ever changed.”

The Flintstones was sponsored by a cigarette company

during the show’s first two seasons.

The show was intended for adults, not kids,

so few complained about the commercials that depicted

the stone-age characters puffing away on Winstons.

The hyoid bone is the only bone in the human body

not connected to another bone.

In 1973, NASA launched Skylab, the first American space station.

Three successive crews lived and worked there for more than 171 days.

Knowing a call to the fire department would accomplish precious

little from outer space, NASA and Honeywell International, Inc., developed

an alarm system that would alert the station’s crew to smoke or fire.

The smoke detector used on the space station is the same kind

that is now found in 90 percent of U.S. homes.

Twitter’s bird logo is named Larry,

for Larry Bird.

The University of Minnesota

is older than the state of Minnesota.

While Stephen King sets many of his stories in Maine,

the state actually has the lowest violent-crime rate in the U.S.

Printing the phrase “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency was a mandate

handed down by Abraham Lincoln’s Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase.

During his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt attempted to remove the slogan

because he, as a devout Christian, felt that putting God on money was a sacrilege.

Syd Barrett got the name Pink Floyd from two American blues musicians,

Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

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

Term Talk

October 27, 2013October 23, 2013 fasab Current Events, Politics, Rants 36 years, 49 years, 58 years, America, American politics, asses, career politicians, Current Events, Democrats, earn a living again, elected, elected representative, election, electorate, elephants, entrenched, experience, generous pension benefits, good living, governing the country, government, House of Representatives, in office, John Conyers, John Dingell, legislation, lifers, longest serving, longevity, members of Congress, Michigan, Misc, Miscellaneous, new blood, no incentive, obamacare, Opinion, parasites, policies, politicians, politics, premier health care, Presidency, President Obama, professor of politics, second term, selected for election, senate, serve, stupid system, system sucks, taxes, term, the House, Thoughts, turkeys wouldn’t vote for Thanksgiving or Christmas, two terms, vote, Washington, Washington DC, Wikipedia

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

The Sunday Sermon

Don’t worry the title of this post doesn’t mean that you’re back at school again. This ‘term talk’ in the title refers to politics and politicians.

President Obama takes a lot of stick because of his headstrong insistence in implementing his Obamacare legislation. As I’ve said before, it’s a laudable goal, but the country can’t afford it. But on he goes anyway.

Love him or hate him, or neither, he’s limited to two terms of four years in office, then he has to go and make way for the next person who wants the job.

To begin with that’s a stupid system because the main thrust of the first Presidency about half way or so in office isn’t governing the country but instead trying to ensure election for a second term and wasting billions of dollars doing it.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the present system sucks. Nor do you have to be a professor of politics to suggest an alternative – for example a single term of five or six years, which still leaves plenty of time to settle into the job and implement whatever policies you have promised the electorate.

So that’s the first problem solved.

However, there is another term problem that infests American politics (and many other countries too).

What about the rest of the elected politicians?

Well, why not introduce the same system for them? Elected for a five or six year term after which they have to start to earn a living again?

Sounds good to me.

According to Wikipedia John Dingell has managed 58 years in the House and still going. John Conyers has been there for 49 years. Coincidentally both these politicians are Democrats and both represent Michigan, so another problem that these ‘lifers’ cause is that there is no incentive for new blood to enter politics when they have little or no chance of being selected for election.

I’m not picking on these guys in particular. They just happen to be the two longest serving examples. There were others of similar longevity but they had the good grace to eventually retire, or die after half a century or so. Amazingly more than one hundred members of Congress have been allowed to serve for at least 36 years.

When I say “serve” I am just using the normal expression for these jobs. Whether they realize it or not, career politicians are nothing more than parasites living a cozy life off the money provided by the rest of us through our taxes. When an elected representative is entrenched in his or her position for a very long period of time they are not serving their people, they are simply relying on their people to provide them with a good living, premier health care and generous pension benefits (assuming they retire eventually!).

“Ah,” I hear someone say. “But what about the ‘experience’ that these long serving members bring?”

“Oh,” I reply. “What about it? Have we not seen in recent years and months that whatever experience they bring is not worth a hell of a lot. Just look at the mess the country is in and tell me if fresh faces could do any worse.”

So the solution to the two worst political problems that face America are easily solved.

The next question is will they be solved?

And the answer to that is probably ‘NO’. And it is probably ‘NO’ because the people who have the power to change the law are the very people that that law would affect.

They say turkeys wouldn’t vote for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Asses and elephants probably wouldn’t vote for this idea either.

What a pity.

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

Did You Know? More Random Facts From Fasab’s Files

May 14, 2013May 13, 2013 fasab Factoids, Unusual 3000 years ago, 92.5 percent silver, accidentally planted, Albert Einstein, Alexander the Great, animal, astronauts, auction, Australia, average American, bark, Bert and Ernie, Bert the cop, bottom of the glass, bounce up and down, bury nuts, cadaver tag, characters, composed, constant gnawing, conversations, Did You Know, dirty word, eat beans, education, Egyptians, eighteenth century, employee, England, English gambling dens, Entertainment, epileptic, Ernie the taxi driver, extras, fact, factoid, factoids, facts, flim, forest, forget, Frank Capra, French resistance, glass of fresh champagne, growing, hid, I, invented, Irving Berlin, Israel, It's a Wonderful Life, Jacques Cousteau, job, knowledge, leaves, Lee Harvey Oswald, lifetime, Lilly, millions of trees, Misc, Miscellaneous, most spoken word in the English language, movie, New Zealand, Olympic gold medal, orbiting Earth, pants, Papa New Guinea, party, passing wind, pay their taxes, Picard, police raid, Presidency, quarter, raisin, Random, read music, rodent’s teeth, Russia, scuba gear, second most spoken English word, Sesame Street, spacesuit, squirrels, Star Trek First Contact, swallow the dice, talking, thirty, vegetables, walla walla, Walla Walla scene, win-win scenario, works, world war ii, worn down, You

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Another chance to increase your knowledge with a very random list of facts from fasab’s files.

Have some fun throwing one or two of these into conversations. It will either make you the hit of the party, or you won’t be asked back. Possibly a win-win scenario!

As always, enjoy.

“I” is the most spoken word in the English language

“You” is the second most spoken English word

An Olympic gold medal must contain 92.5 percent silver

Lee Harvey Oswald’s cadaver tag sold at an auction for $6,600 in 1992.

The average American works 24,000 hours in their lifetime

just to pay their taxes

A quarter of Russia is covered by forest.

A rodents teeth never stop growing.

They are worn down by the animal’s constant gnawing

on bark, leaves, and vegetables.

About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians

died by the time they were thirty.

A Walla Walla scene

is one where extras pretend to be talking in the background

when they say walla walla it looks like they are actually talking.

Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans

because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.

Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952.

Alexander the Great was an epileptic.

(He’d have a fit if he knew I’d told you that!)

In eighteenth century English gambling dens,

there was an employee whose only job

was to swallow the dice if there was a police raid.

In England, in the 1800’s pants was considered a dirty word.

In the movie “Star Trek: First Contact”,

when Picard shows Lilly she is orbiting Earth,

Australia and Papa New Guinea are clearly visible

.. But New Zealand is missing.

Irving Berlin, who was born on 11 May 1888

and who composed three thousand songs in his lifetime,

couldn’t read music.

It is estimated that millions of trees in the world

are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts

and then forget where they hid them.

Jacques Cousteau invented scuba gear

while in the French resistance during World War II

The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street

were named after Bert the cop and Ernie

the taxi driver in Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champange

will bounce up and down continually from the bottom of the glass to the top.

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

Some Strange Facts

February 13, 2013 fasab Factoids, Humour, Uncategorized, Unusual aglets, Allies, amusing, bald, bald eagle, bees, Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Berlin Zoo, Bill Clinton, body, bomb, buttocks, Charlie Chaplin, chewing gum, China, contest, crying, education, elephant, emails, English speakers, Entertainment, facts, Fender Guitars, guitar, Humor, Humour, information, kangaroo, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Leo Fender, lion, MGM Logo, Misc, Miscellaneous, national bird, nose, ocean, password, peeling onions, philtrum, photocopying, Presidency, raindrop, Random, shoelaces, Statue of Liberty, strange facts, strongest muscle, third prize, tongue, top lip, trivia, ultraviolet light, United States, video, world, WWII, YouTube

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Here are some facts that you might find interesting, about things you probably never thought of before.

I can’t vouch for the absolute accuracy of all of them, but stranger things have happened and at least you will have something to say during those awkward silences in conversations!

Enjoy.

It would take over 1000 years to watch every YouTube video

The tongue is the strongest muscle in the body

99% of people delete everything in their password when they miss only one character.

Leo Fender who invented Fender Guitars never knew how to play the guitar

The Statue of Liberty’s index finger is eight feet long.

Kangaroos can’t walk backwards.

Bill Clinton only sent two emails in his entire eight year presidency, I don’t know whether or not they were to Monica.

250 people have fallen off the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The two lines that connect your top lip to the bottom of your nose are called philtrum.

Bees can see ultraviolet light.

It takes a drop of ocean water more than 1000 years to circulate around the world.

The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

The first bomb the Allies dropped on Berlin in WWII killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

The average raindrop falls at 7 miles per hour.

Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.

Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

China has more English speakers than the United States.

Benjamin Franklin was offended about putting a bald eagle as the national bird because he thought that other people were trying to make fun of him, since he was bald.

People photocopying their buttocks are the cause of 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide.

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

The Richest Nation The World Has Ever Known Has Become The Greatest Debtor The World Has Ever Known

September 1, 2012September 26, 2012 fasab bankers, banking, Banks, Business, Politics, Rants, Uncategorized, Unusual bankrupt, banksters, Blogs, borrow, Bush, change, control, Current Events, debt, debtor, events, Federal Reserve, Feds, government, idiots, Misc, Miscellaneous, morons, national debt, Obama, Opinion, Personal Writing, politics, Presidency, questions, Random, Rants, regime, rich, richest, stupid, stupid people, stupid politicians, stupid rules, stupidity, tax, taxes, Thoughts, trillion, trillions, us debt, working, yes we can

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

****A Saturday rant****

One day this week, according to all reliable financial sources, the United States of America’s debt burden reaches the $16 trillion mark, or as close to it as makes no difference.

That’s $16,000,000,000,000.00

The richest nation the world has ever known has now become the greatest debtor the world has ever known.

And the problem which began to get seriously out of control under the Bush Presidency is still spiraling out of control under Obama’s regime.

To add a little perspective to the huge numbers, it took the United States government more than two hundred years to accumulate its first trillion dollars of debt, BUT it took only two hundred and eighty-six days for the most recent trillion dollars of debt to be added. And that was under the “Yes We Can” and “Change” administration.

So what has changed?

Nothing much.

Yes we can what?

Borrow and borrow and borrow again?
Let the horrific bankster’s mess run on for a few more decades?
Dream up more and more new government programs that we cannot afford?
Leave future generations in so much debt that they will never and can never get out from under it, (because there won’t be enough money to pay the interest on the debt let alone repay it)?
Continue to stick our heads in the sand while other nations kick our ass?

As I write this I can hear the Fed’s printing presses clunking away producing more new dollars out of thin air, which they will distribute through the banks – who will keep most of the money instead of releasing it to individuals and businesses to stimulate the economy and create employment.

Sadly, not only is the nation bankrupt, but the politicians who govern it are too – bankrupt of good ideas, intelligence and common sense. Their mentality is, ‘if something isn’t working, don’t change it, just do more of it’. (Aaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!!)

Their ultimate solution will be, as it inevitably always is – more taxes and more control! Just wait for those shoes to drop.

In the US, Hawaii and Florida are the only states that grow bananas. I suggest that they start looking for ways to up production because that is the type of republic the politicians seem hell bent turning us into!

****End rant****