4,726 = the number of colleges and universities United States.
$589 billion = the amount spent by students annually.
Of that figure,
$393 billion = tuition fees, and
$196 billion = expenses like travel and housing.
538% = the percentage increase of the cost of a college education over the past three decades.
4.5 = the number times more expensive it is to go to college today than it was back in 1985, even allowing for inflation.
So is the cost worth it?
Does the education system make sense?
The vast majority of Americans never even consider these important questions. They are fixated on their kids going to college – end of debate.
Whether they have the ability or not, or whether it is the right career path for them or not, if the parents can afford it and/or the kids can get a student loan (which they usually can) then they go to college.
But there is a heavy cost to pay, as we have just seen above. By the time they graduate 70% of students are lumbered with a loan balance averaging $28,400. Nationwide in the US, student loan debt now sits at a staggering $1.2 trillion, which is nearly 50% higher than all the outstanding auto-loan debt, and almost double credit card debt.
While it is true that college graduates have more opportunities to earn more than those without a degree, the number of those good paying jobs is limited. Most college graduates have to settle for a lot less that they were planning for when they started that expensive college education.
What is often forgotten is that there are many other opportunities out there in the workplace for someone who spends their time and money learning a trade or a skill. A friend of mine who is a plumber earns many times more than many of his contemporaries with college degrees and office jobs.
In fact, since more and more young Americans are turning their noses up at manual type jobs and opting for expensive colleges, there will soon be a shortage of essential trades such as plumbers, electricians and so forth, making those jobs even more lucrative than they are now.
The statement in the title is not true, except that it is.
If you are a little confused stay with me and let me clarify.
The United States used to be the industrial power house of the world. Its industries generated unprecedented wealth for the country, creating the world’s first self-made billionaires and productive wealth creating jobs galore for everyone. The whole country prospered.
Today, however, the United States has become the world’s second biggest importer of goods. Worse than that, even though America still exports billions of dollars’ worth in oil, consumer goods and automotive products, it imports even more. This creates a trade deficit ($471 billion according to recent figures).
So what are all these imports into the US?
Well, they include industrial machinery and equipment ($681 billion), automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($309 billion), miscellaneous private services, primarily financial services ($201 billion), cell phones ($90 billion), travel passenger services ($86 billion), pharmaceuticals ($84 billion), computers ($65 billion), chemicals ($61 billion), other transportation services ($59 billion), computer accessories ($57 billion), telecommunications equipment ($54 billion), royalties and license fees services ($42 billion), apparel ($49 billion), petroleum products ($48 billion), fuel oil ($44 billion), industrial supplies ($29 billion), U.S. Government service imports primarily defense ($25 billion), fish ($18 billion), fruit ($13 billion), and vegetables ($11 billion).
If you are a bit shell-shocked by all those figures let me phrase it a bit differently using as examples the types of goods you would tend to buy.
100% (almost) of the shoes bought in the U.S. come from China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico;
90% of white goods (washers, fridges, etc.) and consumer electronics are imported;
85% of household furniture is imported;
80% of cars on U.S. roads come from Canada (31%), Japan (24%), Germany (16%) and Mexico (12%); and,
65% of U.S. clothing is imported from China (37%), Vietnam (9.4%), Indonesia (7.2%) and Bangladesh (6.7%).
Probably the saddest part is that even things you thought were “American” are now actually made overseas and imported.
I remember while on a business trip to the US many, many years ago I bought a gift for the young son of a friend of mine. He was a big sports enthusiast so I reckoned that one of the most iconic symbols of sport from America would be a baseball. I bought one in Wal-Mart. It was marked with all the different holding positions for the various ways to throw a baseball (fast ball, curve ball and all that). The perfect gift.
I gave it to him on my return feeling ever so pleased with myself. The kid opened it, showed momentary delight, then looked up at me accusingly. “It says ‘Made in China'” he told me.
But it’s not only baseballs. Similar types of product that you would think are all-American, like Converse All Stars, Levi’s, Huffy bicycles, televisions, Monopoly, Etch-a-Sketch, Radio Flyer wagons, Barbie dolls, and last but by no means least, most of those American flags just ain’t American no more.
It really doesn’t have to be this way. Apple, for example, doesn’t have to become the richest company in the world by manufacturing its products in China and storing its vast hoards of cash overseas.
Or does it?
Everything on the lists above could still be made in the US and surpluses exported to other countries. But the US government and its moronic bureaucrats are spending their time and our money thinking up new ways, not to help American businesses, but to add ever-increasing amounts of rules, regulations and bureaucracy on to American companies.
American businesses can no longer compete, because their own government has ensured that the deck is stacked against them.
In the mind of a bureaucrat losing a million productive wealth creating jobs, for example, in the automotive industry, and replacing them with a million more administrative jobs that cost the country money evens things out.
It doesn’t. Simple math will tell you that. Every time it happens things get worse and America gets poorer.
So America just can’t make it anymore, but not because China has stolen the jobs. It’s because the US government bureaucrats gave them away.
Don’t get too excited, it is only a little, but it is good news.
In a recent ruling by British regulators, the top executives and managers at banks operating there (which is practically all the major banks) could have their bonuses clawed back for up to ten years after any finding of misconduct. It will also prohibit bonuses for nonexecutive directors and for the managers of companies that are receiving financial support from the government.
The move, which is long, long overdue and still does not go far enough, extends a seven-year clawback period that one regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority, (part of the Bank of England), introduced for so-called variable pay (read ‘bonuses’) last year as part of tougher accountability rules.
The new rules announced by the authority, which is part of the Bank of England, and by another regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, are the latest effort by financial regulators in Europe to hold the banksters accountable for improper actions that could play a role in precipitating future financial upheavals.
The regulators say they are trying to “embed an accountable culture” in the City of London, which actually means that the authorities realize that the banksters have learned nothing from their previous catastrophic frauds and thefts. They know when the chance arrives these greedy and immoral people will try to do it all again.
The new British rules, which apply to banks, building societies and investment firms regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority, including British units of United States banks and other financial firms based outside Europe, mean that senior managers, risk managers and others at banks will also be asked to defer more of their variable pay for a longer period, making it easier for regulators and financial institutions to recover bonuses if misconduct is uncovered.
Other countries in Europe are also enacting new regulations for their banksters. Dutch lawmakers, for example, capped bonuses this year for employees in the banking, insurance and other finance sectors that limits variable pay to 20 percent of their fixed salaries. The Dutch have also banned bonuses for executives at bailed-out banks.
European rules already limit bankers’ bonuses to the equivalent of their annual salaries, or to two times their base salaries if the company’s shareholders approve it. But they know they are so greedy that they will try to find ways round that.
Already some banks are making moves to get round the limits by introducing role-based remuneration and other payments, so the regulators have their work cut out for them keeping a step ahead of the thieves.
What they really need to do is confiscate ALL their ill-gotten gains, impose severe additional financial penalties AND throw these criminals in jail – for a long time.
America, which always likes to consider itself as the leader of the world, should lead in this regard too. It would be better than starting another war in some far off God forsaken country.
Unfortunately I think it will be an equally long time, and a lot more frauds, before they get to that much needed stage.
Half the year almost gone, but not before you get the chance to try out these questions.
As usual, if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating.
Enjoy and good luck.
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Q. 1. What was bought by the United States from France in 1803?
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Q. 2. ‘Black’, ‘Hooper’ and ‘Bewick’ are all types of what bird?
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Q. 3. What city in South America is known as ‘The City Of The Kings’ ?
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Q. 4. Very recently in the news for all the wrong reasons, what organization do the letters ‘FIFA’ represent?
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Q. 5. Who was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953?
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Q. 6. What did Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discover by accident on November 8 1895?
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Q. 7. He was born in Illinois and died in Idaho and during his lifetime he published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature. Who was he?
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Q. 8. What name is given to calfskin, dressed and prepared for writing on?
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Q. 9. Which sea is sometimes called the Euxine Sea?
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Q. 10. What is the name given to the person who is appointed the chief lawyer of the U.S. government?
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Q. 11. Name the famous Russian ballet dancer who changed the face of modern ballet?
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Q. 12. Who invented the rabies vaccination?
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Q. 13. Who is the current (2015) British Prime Minister?
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Q. 14. Big points opportunity. How many countries lie between Canada and Colombia? (A point for the correct number and a bonus point for each one you can name correctly.)
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Q. 15. What fruit is ‘Calvados’ distilled from?
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Q. 16. What is ‘Scooby’ short for in the name ‘Scooby Doo’ ?
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Q. 17. What does ‘RADAR’ stand for?
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Q. 18. In which French city was Joan of Arc put to death?
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Q. 19. What are the seven most popular sports in America? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you can name them in the correct order.)
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Q. 20. He was famous as ‘Dracula’, ‘Scaramanga’ and ‘Saruman’. Who was he?
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ANWERS
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Q. 1. What was bought by the United States from France in 1803?
A. 1. The Louisiana territory (828,000 square miles).
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Q. 2. ‘Black’, ‘Hooper’ and ‘Bewick’ are all types of what bird?
A. 2. Swans.
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Q. 3. What city in South America is known as ‘The City Of The Kings’ ?
A. 3. Lima, Peru. (Ciudad de los Reyes)
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Q. 4. Very recently in the news for all the wrong reasons, what organization do the letters ‘FIFA’ represent?
A. 4. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer.
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Q. 5. Who was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953?
A. 5. Joseph Stalin.
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Q. 6. What did Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discover by accident on November 8 1895?
A. 6. X-rays.
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Q. 7. He was born in Illinois and died in Idaho and during his lifetime he published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature. Who was he?
A. 7. Ernest Hemmingway.
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Q. 8. What name is given to calfskin, dressed and prepared for writing on?
A. 8. It is known as ‘Vellum’.
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Q. 9. Which sea is sometimes called the Euxine Sea?
A. 9. The Black Sea.
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Q. 10. What is the name given to the person who is appointed the chief lawyer of the U.S. government?
A. 10. He/she is known as the ‘Attorney General’.
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Q. 11. Name the famous Russian ballet dancer who changed the face of modern ballet?
A. 11. Rudolf Nureyev.
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Q. 12. Who invented the rabies vaccination?
A. 12. Louis Pasteur.
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Q. 13. Who is the current (2015) British Prime Minister?
A. 13. David Cameron.
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Q. 14. Big points opportunity. How many countries lie between Canada and Colombia? (A point for the correct number and a bonus point for each one you can name correctly.)
A. 14. There are 9 countries that lie between Canada and Colombia – they are The United States, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
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Q. 15. What fruit is ‘Calvados’ distilled from?
A. 15. Apples.
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Q. 16. What is ‘Scooby’ short for in the name ‘Scooby Doo’ ?
A. 16. Scoobert.
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Q. 17. What does ‘RADAR’ stand for?
A. 17. ‘RADAR’ stand for ‘Radio Detection and Ranging’.
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Q. 18. In which French city was Joan of Arc put to death?
A. 18. Rouen.
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Q. 19. What are the seven most popular sports in America? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you can name them in the correct order.)
A. 19. 1. American Football 2. Baseball 3. Basketball 4. Ice Hockey 5. Soccer 6. Tennis and 7. Golf
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Q. 20. He was famous as ‘Dracula’, ‘Scaramanga’ and ‘Saruman’. Who was he?
A. 20. He was the wonderful actor Sir Christopher Lee.
Twenty questions covering the usual wide range of subjects, so hopefully there will be one or two that you find easy and one or two that you find a lot more difficult.
But remember, as always if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!
Enjoy and good luck.
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Q. 1: According to a survey conducted by Citrix, what percentage of people thought that stormy weather affects cloud computing?
a) 1% b) 15% c) 51% d) 85%
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Q. 2: What city is known as ‘The Harbor City’ ?
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Q. 3: What is another name for the prairie wolf?
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Q. 4: If your boss cuts your salary by 10% but offers to let you work 10% more to make up for it, should you accept?
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Q. 5: Six men are widely accepted to be the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. What were their names? (You get a point for each correctly named and a bonus point if can correctly name all six.)
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Q. 6: A follow-up question to # 5, which one of these Founding Fathers once wrote a scientific piece called ‘Fart Proudly’ ?
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Q. 7: What percentage of the Earth’s volcanoes are underwater?
a) 10 % b) 30 % c) 50 % d) 70 % e) 90 %
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Q. 8: In Greek mythology who attempted to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax, but flew too close to the Sun and perished when the wax melted?
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Q. 9: And when we’re on the subject of flying, what area code would you use if you wanted to call the Kennedy Space Center in Florida?
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Q. 10: What do you call the three sides of a right-angled triangle? (Hint, you get zero points for answering ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’.)
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Q. 11: This one is the name of a famous Shakespeare tragedy and a multiplayer board game based on the popular game Reversi. What is it?
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Q. 12: What nationality is the famous musician Richard Clayderman and what instrument is associated with him? (A point for each correct answer.)
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Q. 13: ‘Equatorial’, ‘Gulf Stream’ and ‘Humboldt’ are names give to what?
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Q. 14: Russians consume about 6 times as much what as Americans?
a) milk b) coffee c) tea d) beer e) spirits
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Q. 15: Which paper format has the largest area, the ‘International A4’ as used for example in the UK or the ‘Letter’ format used in the United States?
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Q. 16: There are seven main weight divisions used in professional boxing, what are they? (You get a point for each one you can name correctly and three bonus points if you get all seven correct.)
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Q. 17: What is the link between something to eat, something to drink, somewhere to go and something to call your daughter?
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Q. 18: What was the name of the cat that survived the sinking of the Bismark, HMS Cossack and HMS Ark Royal?
a) Kit Kat b) Wet Willie c) Unsinkable Sam
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Q. 19: What is the largest country in South America (a) by area and (b) by size of population? (A point for each correct answer.)
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Q. 20: Who had a ‘Manic Monday’ and went on to ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ ?
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ANSWERS
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Q. 1: According to a survey conducted by Citrix, what percentage of people thought that stormy weather affects cloud computing?
a) 1% b) 15% c) 51% d) 85%
A. 1: Unbelievably the correct answer is c) 51%.
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Q. 2: What city is known as ‘The Harbor City’ ?
A. 2: Sydney, Australia.
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Q. 3: What is another name for the prairie wolf?
A. 3: Coyote.
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Q. 4: If your boss cuts your salary by 10% but offers to let you work 10% more to make up for it, should you accept?
A. 4: You should NOT accept the offer. This is a percentage question. For example, if you made $10 per hour, a 10% cut in your salary would leave you with $9 per hour. Adding 10% back would only be 10% of $9, or 90 cents so you would end up with only $9.90.
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Q. 5: Six men are widely accepted to be the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. What were their names? (You get a point for each correctly named and a bonus point if can correctly name all six.)
A. 5: The six men are widely accepted to be the Founding Fathers of the United States of America are George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and, of course, Benjamin Franklin.
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Q. 6: A follow-up question to # 5, which one of these Founding Fathers once wrote a scientific piece called ‘Fart Proudly’ ?
A. 6: Benjamin Franklin wrote a scientific piece called Fart Proudly. It was all about farts.
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Q. 7: What percentage of the Earth’s volcanoes are underwater?
a) 10 % b) 30 % c) 50 % d) 70 % e) 90 %
A. 7: The correct answer is e) 90% of all volcanoes are underwater.
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Q. 8: In Greek mythology who attempted to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax, but flew too close to the Sun and perished when the wax melted?
A. 8: Icarus.
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Q. 9: And when we’re on the subject of flying, what area code would you use if you wanted to call the Kennedy Space Center in Florida?
A. 9: The telephone area code for the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is ‘321’ which imitates the countdown before liftoff. It was assigned to the area, instead of suburban Chicago in November 1999 after a successful petition led by local resident Robert Osband. Try it out, call the Kennedy Space Center on (321) 867-5000.
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Q. 10: What do you call the three sides of a right-angled triangle? (Hint, you get zero points for answering ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’.)
A. 10: They are called ‘opposite’, ‘adjacent’ and ‘hypotenuse’.
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Q. 11: This one is the name of a famous Shakespeare tragedy and a multiplayer board game based on the popular game Reversi. What is it?
A. 11: Othello.
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Q. 12: What nationality is the famous musician Richard Clayderman and what instrument is associated with him? (A point for each correct answer.)
A. 12: Richard Clayderman is French and he is a pianist.
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Q. 13: ‘Equatorial’, ‘Gulf Stream’ and ‘Humboldt’ are names give to what?
A. 13: Ocean currents.
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Q. 14: Russians consume about 6 times as much what as Americans?
a) milk b) coffee c) tea d) beer e) spirits
A. 14: The correct answer is c) tea, Russians also consume about 6 times as much tea as Americans.
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Q. 15: Which paper format has the largest area, the ‘International A4’ as used for example in the UK or the ‘Letter’ format used in the United States?
A. 15: A4 has the largest area. (A4 is 210 mm (8.25”) wide and 297 mm (11.75”) long or 62,370 m2, and US Letter is 216 mm (8.5”) wide by 279 mm (11”) long or 60,264 m2.)
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Q. 16: There are seven main weight divisions used in professional boxing, what are they? (You get a point for each one you can name correctly and three bonus points if you get all seven correct.)
A. 16: Although modern additions have been added, the seven main weight divisions used in professional boxing are ‘Flyweight’, ‘Bantamweight’, ‘Featherweight’, ‘Lightweight’, ‘Welterweight’, ‘Middleweight’ and ‘Heavyweight’.
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Q. 17: What is the link between something to eat, something to drink, somewhere to go and something to call your daughter?
A. 17: Margarita.
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Q. 18: What was the name of the cat that survived the sinking of the Bismark, HMS Cossack and HMS Ark Royal?
a) Kit Kat b) Wet Willie c) Unsinkable Sam
A. 18: The correct answer is c) Unsinkable Sam.
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Q. 19: What is the largest country in South America (a) by area and (b) by size of population? (A point for each correct answer.)
A. 19: The correct answers are (a) Brazil with an area of 8,514,877 Km2, and (b) Brazil with a population of more than 195.5 million.
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Q. 20: Who had a ‘Manic Monday’ and went on to ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ ?
I’ve done ‘peanut butter‘ and ‘chocolate‘ and ‘coffee‘ in other posts. Today it is another fasab food favorite, the curry.
A curry, properly made, has to be one of the most delicious foods in the world.
I have spent many happy evenings with friends enjoying this delicacy in one form or another. Personally I like it with some naan bread or sometimes with rice. Either way is socially acceptable and extremely tasty.
Mouth watering already?
Very good, let’s get straight to the facts.
Enjoy.
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The word curry comes from a Tamil word ‘kari’ or ‘karil’, meaning spices or sautéd vegetables.
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The meaning changed when Portuguese traders used it for the sauces with which rice was served.
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Essentially, the term curry was invented by the English administrators of the East Indian Trading Co. and later continued by British government employees.
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The British army in India further changed the meaning as its liking for hot sauces introduced the modern idea of curries being hot.
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Surprisingly, the term ‘curry’ isn’t used very much in India. There are many types of curry-style dishes, which have their own characteristic regional variations.
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Curry Powder is a mix of spices, rather than a spice in its own right. It usually consists of turmeric, coriander, cardamom, cumin, sweet basil, and red pepper.
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Some of the most common types of curry are ‘Korma’, ‘Massala’, ‘Dhansak’, ‘Phall’, ‘Rogan Josh’, ‘Dopiaza’, ‘Madras’ and ‘Vindaloo’.
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Curry is said to have a number of valuable health benefits, including the prevention of cancer, protection against heart disease, reducing Alzheimer’s disease symptoms, easing pain and inflammation, boosting bone health, protecting the immune system from bacterial infections, and increasing the liver’s ability to remove toxins from the body.
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In addition to being an established and firm favorite in Britain. and increasing popular throughout Europe and the United States, curry forms a major element of the diets of several Asian countries including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Maldives, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan and Fiji.
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Chili (or Chilli) is the most popular spice in the world and can help combat heart attacks and strokes and extends blood coagulation times preventing harmful blood clots.
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Contrary to common western belief, curries are not always ‘hot’, they can be mild, medium and hot.
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The earliest known curry was made in Mesopotamia in around 1700 BC, the recipe for meat in a spicy sauce appearing on tablets found near Babylon.
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The Scoville scale is the measurement of the pungency (spicy heat) of chili peppers or other spicy foods.
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The ‘Bhut Jolokia Chilli Pepper’ (also known as the ‘Naga Jolokia’), is the hottest pepper in the world, accompanied with its own health warning! This pepper is also known as the ‘Ghost Chilli’ or ‘Ghost Pepper’, and is grown in the Indian states of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.
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The first commercial curry powder appeared in about 1780.
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In Britain Indian food now surpasses Chinese food in popularity, with Indian restaurants outnumbering Chinese restaurants by two to one.
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The word ‘balti’ means bucket. Balti is more a style of cooking than one particular curry.
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In specialist ‘Balti Houses’ the balti is a meal in itself which contains both meat and vegetables and is eaten straight from the karahi using curled up pieces of naan bread. In standard Indian restaurants the balti is more of a stir-fried curry containing plenty of fried green peppers and fresh cilantro (also known as coriander).
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South Indian food is more spicy than North Indian food.
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The first curry recipe in English appeared in Hannah Glasse’s ‘The Art Of Cookery’ in 1747.
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The world’s biggest ever curry was a 13 tonne Biryani, including 187lb of chilies and 6600lb of rice. It took 60 chefs to make in New Delhi in June 2008. And required three cranes to move the container and a 3ft high furnace to cook it!
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In Western Europe and the U K, curry powders available contain more turmeric than anything else, and tend to be toned down to palates used to bland food.
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The tallest poppadom stack in the world stands at a massive 282 poppadoms. The record was set by a chef from the Jali Indian Restaurant in Blackpool.
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In 2008, Bath and North East Somerset Council advised a man to sprinkle curry powder on his wife’s grave to keep squirrels and deer away.
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Tim Stobbs, aged 42 years, currently holds the world record for munching an impressive 15 poppadoms in 5 minutes! The annual World Championships, in aid of Cancer Research UK Scotland, is held every year at St Andrews University.
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There are about 10,000 Indian restaurants serving curry in the UK, the vast majority of which are run by people from Bangladesh, not India.
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To make a ‘hot’ curry mild, just add some coconut milk.
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The word ‘masala’ means spice mix.
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In 1846, William Makepeace Thackeray wrote ‘A Poem To Curry’, as part of his Kitchen Melodies.
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Britain’s first curry house, called the Hindustani Coffee House and located in London’s Portman Square, opened in 1809. Now there are more curry houses in London, England than in Mumbai, India.
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Chili can help combat heart attacks and strokes.
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One of the hottest curry dishes ever made is known as the Bit Spicy 3 Chili Phall which is even hotter than the infamous ‘Chicken Naga’, made with a high volume of Naga pepper seeds. More than 100 times hotter than jalapeño peppers!
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People crave a curry because the spices arouse and stimulate the taste buds.
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Vindaloo was originally a Portuguese dish which took its name from the two main ingredients which were ‘vinho’, wine/wine vinegar, and ‘alhos’, garlic. Over time it was spiced up, hotted up and otherwise changed by the indigenous peoples of the ex-Portuguese colony of Goa.
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The ‘Big Jim’, a large chili hailing from New Mexico, currently holds the world record for the largest chili ever grown. This plant frequently produces chilies that are over a foot in length, which is hugely impressive considering that the plant itself never grows more than two feet!
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The town of North Curry is in Somerset while West Curry is in Cornwall.
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Madras and pathia are both hot and sour dishes. Kashmiri a more subtle and creamy dish usually made with lychees or bananas – or both.
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Scientists at Nottingham Trent University have discovered that people begin to crave for a curry because the spices arouse and stimulate the taste buds.
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One in seven curries sold in the UK is a chicken tikka masala, making it the most popular Indian restaurant dish in the UK. It is thought to have originated in Britain after an enterprising Indian chef had the idea of adding a tomato and onion paste to the grilled chicken to satisfy the British preference for food that isn’t dry.
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The largest naan bread ever made was a whopping 2.75m in diameter and contained meat dumplings – the equivalent of 167 normal sized naan breads. The bread took over ten hours to finish and required twelve chefs, 30kg mutton, 125kg flour, 16kg onion and 90kg of water to cook it.
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Southeastern Asian cultures have always mixed a number of spices to flavor their dishes, usually according to recipes handed down from generation to generation.
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A common way to categorize Thai curry is by the color of the curry paste used to make the curry dish. Green and red curry paste are the most typical. Yellow and sour curries (also sometimes known as orange curry, gaeng sohm) are also well known. Each has its own particular combination of herbs and spices to make up the curry paste that makes it unique.
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‘Panang’ and ‘masaman’ curry are probably the most popular Thai curries in the West, because of their rich tastes.
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Finally, if you are eating a curry which is just too hot for you, don’t drink water, that only makes it hotter!
Yes, lots of names in today’s quiz, either as the answers or as part of the questions.
Some easy and some quite difficult, but you’ll have to have a bit of knowledge of various subjects to answer them all correctly.
And as usual, if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!
Enjoy and good luck.
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Q. 1: In which city does the American football team the ’49ers’ play?
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Q. 2: These two men had the same name, one was sentenced to death by hanging in the United States in 1859 and the other was a Ghillie who became close to Queen Victoria after the death of her husband Prince Albert – what was their name?
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Q. 3: And still on the subject of names, separated only by a vowel, what were the surnames of two famous painters born in Paris, France during the 19th Century who had a significant impact on the ‘impressionist’ movement? (There is usually a point for each correct answer in questions like this, but in this case if you get one right you’ll get them both right, so just one point up for grabs.)
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Q. 4: What type of animal is an Ibex?
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Q. 5: Who and what is ‘Tristan da Cunha’ ? (A point for each correct answer.)
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Q. 6: Which treaty with Germany brought a formal end to the First World War?
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Q. 7: What city is known as the ‘fashion capital of the world’ ?
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Q. 8: ‘Entomology’ is the study of what?
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Q. 9: In which organ of the body is insulin produced?
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Q. 10: As well as skiing, which other sport takes place on a piste?
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Q. 11: Who had himself crowned King of Scotland at Scone in 1306?
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Q. 12: Who performed the first human heart transplant?
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Q. 13: Who is the victim of ‘The Murder in the Cathedral’ in T S Eliot’s play of that name?
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Q. 14: In the Crimean War, Roger Fenton was the first person to be accredited in what capacity?
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Q. 15: What fictional character famously ‘tilted at windmills’ and who served as his ‘squire’ ?
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Q. 16: Which chemical element, number 11 in the Periodic table, has the symbol ‘Na’ ?
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Q. 17: What is the longest bone in the human body?
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Q. 18: In which spacecraft did Yuri Gagarin become the first man in space?
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Q. 19: In which country are two islands linked by the Seikan rail tunnel, the longest rail tunnel in the world? (Two bonus points are available if you can also correctly name the islands.)
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Q. 20: ‘Professor Henry Higgins’ and ‘Eliza Doolittle’ central characters in which George Bernard Shaw play and which Hollywood musical?
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ANSWERS
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Q. 1: In which city does the American football team the ’49ers’ play?
A. 1: San Francisco.
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Q. 2: These two men had the same name, one was sentenced to death by hanging in the United States in 1859 and the other was a Ghillie who became close to Queen Victoria after the death of her husband Prince Albert – what was their name?
A. 2: John Brown.
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Q. 3: And still on the subject of names, separated only by a vowel, what were the surnames of two famous painters born in Paris, France during the 19th Century who had a significant impact on the ‘impressionist’ movement? (There is usually a point for each correct answer in questions like this, but in this case if you get one right you’ll get them both right, so just one point up for grabs.)
A. 3: They are Édouard Manet (born 23 January 1832) and Oscar-Claude Monet (born 14 November 1840).
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Q. 4: What type of animal is an Ibex?
A. 4: A Mountain Goat.
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Q. 5: Who and what is ‘Tristan da Cunha’ ? (A point for each correct answer.)
A. 5: ‘Tristan da Cunha’ is the name of a famous Portuguese navigator and the name of an island in the South Atlantic that he first sighted it in 1506.
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Q. 6: Which treaty with Germany brought a formal end to the First World War?
A. 6: The Treaty of Versailles.
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Q. 7: What city is known as the ‘fashion capital of the world’ ?
A. 7: Milan.
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Q. 8: ‘Entomology’ is the study of what?
A. 8: Insects.
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Q. 9: In which organ of the body is insulin produced?
A. 9: The Pancreas.
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Q. 10: As well as skiing, which other sport takes place on a piste?
A. 10: Fencing.
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Q. 11: Who had himself crowned King of Scotland at Scone in 1306?
A. 11: Robert the Bruce. (Think back to the final scene in the movie Braveheart.)
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Q. 12: Who performed the first human heart transplant?
A. 12: Doctor Christian Barnard.
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Q. 13: Who is the victim of ‘The Murder in the Cathedral’ in T S Eliot’s play of that name?
A. 13: Thomas Beckett.
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Q. 14: In the Crimean War, Roger Fenton was the first person to be accredited in what capacity?
A. 14: War Photographer.
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Q. 15: What fictional character famously ‘tilted at windmills’ and who served as his ‘squire’ ?
A. 15: Don Quixote and his squire was Sancho Panza. (From the Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.)
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Q. 16: Which chemical element, number 11 in the Periodic table, has the symbol ‘Na’ ?
A. 16: Sodium.
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Q. 17: What is the longest bone in the human body?
A. 17: The femur, or thighbone, either answer gets you the point.
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Q. 18: In which spacecraft did Yuri Gagarin become the first man in space?
A. 18: Vostok 1.
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Q. 19: In which country are two islands linked by the Seikan rail tunnel, the longest rail tunnel in the world? (Two bonus points are available if you can also correctly name the islands.)
A. 19: The country is Japan, and for your two bonus points the names of the islands are Honshu and Hokkaido.
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Q. 20: ‘Professor Henry Higgins’ and ‘Eliza Doolittle’ central characters in which George Bernard Shaw play and which Hollywood musical?
A. 20: The play is called ‘Pygmalion’ and the movie version ‘My Fair Lady’.
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