Have you ever wondered what all those space shuttle flights were about? Not the headline grabbing ones, but all the others. Everybody is at it, the US, Russia, China, the EU….
That’s the ones we know about. There have been many others that are never publicized.
And then there is the question of what happens to whatever it is they put up there when they have served whatever purpose they were originally sent up there to do. They call that bit “space junk”. Except sometimes it isn’t junk at all. It only looks like it.
For example, the Russian government says it recently detected a group of satellites that are spying on Russia while orbiting the Earth camouflaged as “space junk”.
They made the announcement rather appropriately on April 12, which ever since 1961 is known as “Space Day”, when Russia commemorates Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering voyage into outer space.
There wasn’t so much junk about in his day. Now it is estimated that there are 100,000 objects orbiting planet Earth on any given day. So plenty of cover to hide your spies.
Apparently these ‘disguised-as-junk’ spy satellites are designed to collect signals from Russian telecommunications and other electronic systems.
So far the Russians aren’t saying who these junk satellites belonged to, or whether it had tried, or was going to try, to shoot them down or disable them.
It would be rather appropriate given the name ‘junk’ if they turned out to be Chinese, but with America’s recent record for snooping on the whole world you’d find it hard to rule them out of the silent running.
Chocolate, yoghurt and a lot more make up today’s questions.
So why not pour yourself a cup of coffee too and have a go?
As usual, if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!
Enjoy and good luck.
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Q. 1: What are the names of the two famous Star Wars robots?
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Q. 2: How many muscles does your body use to balance itself when you are standing still?
a) 100 b) 200 c) 300 d) 400 e) 500
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Q. 3: What is the name of the largest and oldest chocolate company in the U.S.?
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Q. 4: ‘tcby’ now means ‘The Country’s Best Yogurt’ but what did the letters ‘tcby’ originally stand for?
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Q. 5: Who was the leader of the Macedonian Empire?
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Q. 6: Time to rack up a lot of points, what were the names of the six principal actors in the long running hit TV series ‘Friends’? (Bonus points if you can also correctly name the characters they played.)
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Q. 7: What is the name generally used for the traditional curved blade Japanese sword?
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Q. 8: Recently they seem to be trying to put it back up again, but in what year was the Fall of the Iron Curtain?
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Q. 9: Approximately how many pieces of ‘space junk’ are orbiting around Earth?
a) over 4,000 b) over 6,000 c) over 8,000 d) over 10,000
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Q. 10: There’s a new one out this year, but how many ‘Planet Of The Apes’ based movies have there been? (Bonus points if you can name them and even more bonus points if know the years they were released.)
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Q. 11: Which two rivers meet at Khartoum to make the Nile?
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Q. 12: Who, in 2012, became the first person to break the sound barrier, unprotected and under his own power?
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Q. 13: During World War II approximately how many tanks were produced by American factories?
a) 59,000 b) 69,000 c) 79,000 d) 89,000 e) 99,000
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Q. 14: Who is the current Prime Minister of Canada?
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Q. 15: Isadora Duncan, known as the mother of modern dance, was killed in an unusual way, how?
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Q. 16: What is the recommended standard recreational diving limit for ordinary divers?
a) 20 meters b) 30 meters c) 40 meters d) 50 meters
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Q. 17: In Las Vegas, what is the name of the ancient Egyptian themed hotel with a pyramid shaped casino?
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Q. 18: What was the name of the mythical Roman god of war?
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Q. 19: Who was ‘Dr Frasier Crane’ and his brother ‘Dr Niles Crane’? (A point for each correct answer.)
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Q. 20: What musician is known as “The Boss” and what was the name of the band he played with? (A point for each correct answer.)
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ANSWERS
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Q. 1: What are the names of the two famous Star Wars robots?
A. 1: The two famous Star Wars robots are called 3CP0 and R2D2.
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Q. 2: How many muscles does your body use to balance itself when you are standing still?
a) 100 b) 200 c) 300 d) 400 e) 500
A. 2: Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.
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Q. 3: What is the name of the largest and oldest chocolate company in the U.S.?
A. 3: The largest and oldest chocolate company in the U.S. is Hershey’s. Founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894, this company produces over one billion pounds of chocolate products every year.
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Q. 4: ‘tcby’ now means ‘The Country’s Best Yogurt’ but what did the letters ‘tcby’ originally stand for?
A. 4: The letters ‘tcby’ originally stood for ‘This Can’t Be Yogurt’, but the name was changed after the company was sued by a rival company called ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt’.
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Q. 5: Who was the leader of the Macedonian Empire?
A. 5: Alexander the Great.
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Q. 6: Time to rack up a lot of points, what were the names of the six principal actors in the long running hit TV series ‘Friends’? (Bonus points if you can also correctly name the characters they played.)
A. 6: The six ‘Friends’ were Jennifer Aniston as ‘Rachel Green’; Courteney Cox as Monica Geller; Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay; Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani; Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing; and David Schwimmer as Ross Geller.
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Q. 7: What is the name generally used for the traditional curved blade Japanese sword?
A. 7: The traditional curved blade Japanese sword is called a ‘Katana’.
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Q. 8: Recently they seem to be trying to put it back up again, but in what year was the Fall of the Iron Curtain?
A. 8: The Iron Curtain fell in 1989.
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Q. 9: Approximately how many pieces of ‘space junk’ are orbiting around Earth?
a) over 4,000 b) over 6,000 c) over 8,000 d) over 10,000
A. 9: The correct answer is c) over 8,000.
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Q. 10: There’s a new one out this year, but how many ‘Planet Of The Apes’ based movies have there been? (Bonus points if you can name them and even more bonus points if know the years they were released.)
A. 10: There have been eight planet of the apes movies so far, ‘Planet of the Apes’ (1968); ‘Beneath the Planet of the Apes’ (1970); ‘Escape from the Planet of the Apes’ (1971); ‘Conquest of the Planet of the Apes’ (1972); ‘Battle for the Planet of the Apes’ (1973); ‘Planet of the Apes’ (2001); ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ (2011); and ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ (2014).
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Q. 11: Which two rivers meet at Khartoum to make the Nile?
A. 11: It’s easier than you think, the two rivers that meet at Khartoum to make the Nile are the White & Blue Niles.
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Q. 12: Who, in 2012, became the first person to break the sound barrier, unprotected and under his own power?
A. 12: Felix Baumgartner became the first person to break the sound barrier, unprotected and under his own power. In his record breaking stunt he reached speeds of up to 834 mph.
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Q. 13: During World War II approximately how many tanks were produced by American factories?
a) 59,000 b) 69,000 c) 79,000 d) 89,000 e) 99,000
A. 13: The correct answer is d) 89,000.
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Q. 14: Who is the current Prime Minister of Canada?
A. 14: Stephen Harper.
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Q. 15: Isadora Duncan, known as the mother of modern dance, was killed in an unusual way, how?
A. 15: Isadora Duncan was pulled from the vehicle in which she was a passenger and violently slammed against the road when her long scarf got caught in the wheel. Her neck was broken and she died on impact.
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Q. 16: What is the recommended standard recreational diving limit for ordinary divers?
a) 20 meters b) 30 meters c) 40 meters d) 50 meters
A. 16: The correct answer is b) 30 Meters (98 feet), the average depth at which nitrogen narcosis symptoms begin to appear in adults.
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Q. 17: In Las Vegas, what is the name of the ancient Egyptian themed hotel with a pyramid shaped casino?
A. 17: It’s called the ‘Luxor’.
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Q. 18: What was the name of the mythical Roman god of war?
A. 18: Mars.
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Q. 19: Who was ‘Dr Frasier Crane’ and his brother ‘Dr Niles Crane’? (A point for each correct answer.)
A. 19: They were Kelsey Grammar and David Hyde Pierce from the wonderful hit TV sitcom ‘Frasier’.
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Q. 20: What musician is known as “The Boss” and what was the name of the band he played with? (A point for each correct answer.)
A. 20: In the music world “The Boss” is Bruce Sprigsteen and he played with the E Street Band.
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