It’s The Quiz!

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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It’s the quiz again.

Time to test your knowledge of a wide range of subjects including geography, history, politics, music, movies, sport… even space!

And a lot of muli-pointers to give you the chance of building up a good score.

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

Enjoy and good luck.

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Quiz 5

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Q.  1: What side of the road do you drive on in Japan, is it on the right (like the USA) or on the left (like Britain)?

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Q.  2: Who won this year’s (2014) Gentlemans and Ladies Singles titles at the world famous Wimbledon Tennis Tournament in England? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you get both correct.)

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Q.  3: What is the most distant human-made object from Earth?

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Q.  4: What is the automobile that began as a project between Swatch and Mercedes most commonly known as?

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Q.  5: In the days when countries took control of other nations and territories overseas they were called Empires. Which country at one time controlled the largest Empire in the world (in terms of land area)?

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Q.  6: There are twelve buttons on a touch tone phone. What two symbols bear no digits?

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Q.  7: In which branch of the armed forces did William Hitler, a nephew of Adolf Hitler, serve during World War II?

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Q.  8: One chocolate chip can give you enough energy to walk approximately how many feet?

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

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Q.  9: Plus or minus ten, The Bahamas consists of approximately how many islands?

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Q.  10: How many ‘Terminator’ movies have there been to date (2014)? (Bonus points if you can name them and the year they were released.)

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Q.  11: Who were the magician duo, known for their magic with big cats, who became the most successful and best known entertainers in Las Vegas?

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Q.  12: How many US Presidents have been assassinated? (A bonus point for each that you can name and even more points if you know where the assassinations took place and the names of the assassins.)

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Q.  13: If you added the number of players in a basket ball team, the number of players in an American football team, the number of players in a soccer team and the number of players in a rugby union team, what would be the total?

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Q.  14: Famous as Bret Maverick and Jim Rockford, who was he?

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Q.  15: What is the collective name for the 26 self-governing districts into which Switzerland is divided?

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Q.  16: The month of August falls within which two Zodiac signs?

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Q.  17: What was the name of the unexpected hit TV series about an unlikely duo who cook methamphetamine?

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Q.  18: Who is the current Prime Minister of Israel?

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Q.  19: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited is currently owned by whom?

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Q.  20: What song by the group Queen made it to number 1 in the British charts twice, in 1976 and 1991?

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ANSWERS

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Q.  1: What side of the road do you drive on in Japan, is it on the right (like the USA) or on the left (like Britain)?

A.  1: In Japan you must drive on the left side of the road.

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Q.  2: Who won this year’s (2014) Gentlemans and Ladies Singles titles at the world famous Wimbledon Tennis Tournament in England? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you get both correct.)

A.  2: In the 2014 Wimbledon tennis tournament Novak Djokovic was the winner of the Gentlemen’s Singles and Petra Kvitova was the winner of the Ladies’ Singles.

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Q.  3: What is the most distant human-made object from Earth?

A.  3: The Voyager 1 spacecraft is the most distant human-made object from Earth.

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Q.  4: What is the automobile that began as a project between Swatch and Mercedes most commonly known as?

A.  4: It is called the “SMART car”, an abbreviation of its original code name, the Swatch & Mercedes Art Car.

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Q.  5: In the days when countries took control of other nations and territories overseas they were called Empires. Which country at one time controlled the largest Empire in the world (in terms of land area)?

A.  5: Britain, whose Empire at one stage was 33.2 million km2  (approximately 8.2 billion acres).

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Q.  6: There are twelve buttons on a touch tone phone. What two symbols bear no digits?

A.  6: The star *  and the hash #  buttons have no digits.

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Q.  7: In which branch of the armed forces did William Hitler, a nephew of Adolf Hitler, serve during World War II?

A.  7: Adolf Hitler’s nephew, William, served in the Navy during WWII – the U.S. Navy!

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Q.  8: One chocolate chip can give you enough energy to walk approximately how many feet?

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

A.  8: The correct answer is c) 150 feet.

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Q.  9: Plus or minus ten, The Bahamas consists of approximately how many islands?

A.  9: The Bahamas consists of approximately 501 islands, give yourself a point if you said anything between 491 to 511.

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Q.  10: How many ‘Terminator’ movies have there been to date (2014)? (Bonus points if you can name them and the year they were released.)

A.  10: There have been four ‘Terminator’ movies to date (2014); they are ‘The Terminator’ (1984); ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ (1991);  ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’ (2003);  and, ‘Terminator Salvation’ (2009). A fifth Terminator movie is in post production scheduled for release in 2015.

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Q.  11: Who were the magician duo, known for their magic with big cats, who became the most successful and best known entertainers in Las Vegas?

A.  11: Siegfried and Roy.

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Q.  12: How many US Presidents have been assassinated? (A bonus point for each that you can name and even more points if you know where the assassinations took place and the names of the assassins.)

A.  12: Four US Presidents have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln, in Washington, D.C., on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth; James A. Garfield, also in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, July 2, 1881, by Charles J. Guiteau; William McKinley, in Buffalo, New York, on Friday, September 6, 1901, by Leon Czolgosz; and John F. Kennedy, in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, November 22, 1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald.

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Q.  13: If you added the number of players in a basket ball team, the number of players in an American football team, the number of players in a soccer team and the number of players in a rugby union team, what would be the total?

A.  13: The answer is 42  (5 + 11 + 11 + 15).

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Q.  14: Famous as Bret Maverick and Jim Rockford, who was he?

A.  14: He was James Garner, who sadly passed away on July 19, 2014.

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Q.  15: What is the collective name for the 26 self-governing districts into which Switzerland is divided?

A.  15: They are called ‘Cantons’.

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Q.  16: The month of August falls within which two Zodiac signs?

A.  16: The zodiac signs for the month of August are Leo (until August 22) and Virgo (from August 23 onwards).

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Q.  17: What was the name of the unexpected hit TV series about an unlikely duo who cook methamphetamine?

A.  17: Breaking Bad. The show originally aired on the AMC network for five seasons, from January 20, 2008 to September 29, 2013.

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Q.  18: Who is the current Prime Minister of Israel?

A.  18: Benjamin Netanyahu. (No points deducted if you get the spelling wrong.)

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Q.  19: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited is currently owned by whom?

A.  19: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW AG.

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Q.  20: What song by the group Queen made it to number 1 in the British charts twice, in 1976 and 1991?

A.  20: “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

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Term Talk

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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The Sunday Sermon

Generic Political Directional Signs

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.

4-four-more-years-button

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.

john_dingell
Congressman John Dingell

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.

turkeys voting for Christmas

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

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

What a pity.

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