Trivia & Strange 4/28/11

TRIVIA TEST

1. MUSIC: How many strings does a ukulele have?

2. HISTORY: Who founded the Ottoman dynasty?

3. GEOGRAPHY: What is the traditional dividing line between Manhattan’s east and west sides?

4. U.S. STATES: What state’s motto is, “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you”?

5. MONEY: What is the common currency of South Africa?

6. LITERATURE: What was the first land Gulliver encountered in the satirical novel “Gulliver’s Travels”?

7. MATH: What is the Arabic equivalent of the Roman numeral D?

8. PRESIDENTS: Who was Dwight Eisenhower’s vice president?

9. COMMON KNOWLEDGE: Who is the patron saint of physicians?

10. LANGUAGE: From what language are all the modern Romance languages directly derived?

Answers

1. Four

2. Osman I

3. Fifth Avenue

4. Michigan

5. Rand

6. Lilliput

7. 500

8. Richard Nixon

9. St. Luke

10. Latin

(c) 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.

STRANGE BUT TRUE

By Samantha Weaver

It was Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein who made the following sage observation: “If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.”

Much like farmers of today, ancient Egyptians who worked the land worried about a variety of animals that could destroy their crops: locusts, sparrows, mice and worms. Unlike the typical Midwesterner of today, though, they also had to worry about hippopotamuses.

The fierce Apache warrior we know today as Geronimo was not originally so named. His given name was Goyahkla, which means “one who yawns.”

We’ve all seen pictures of African women carrying heavy loads — up to 75 pounds in some cases — balanced securely on their heads. But you might not realize that these women can carry more, relative to body size, more efficiently than pack mules.

As the end of the school year approaches, this might be a good time to remember that it was Americans who came up with the idea of summer camp.

The name of the country of Iraq is derived from the Arabic word meaning “origin.”

If you’ve ever watched the closing credits of a film (and are not yourself involved in the movie industry), you might be wondering about some of the titles you’ve seen, so here’s a quick rundown: The gaffer is the chief electrician on the project; the key grip puts together and takes down sets, as well as lighting and laying the track on which the cameras move; and the best boy assists the gaffer and the key grip.

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Thought for the Day: “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” — Isaac Asimov

(c) 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.