Quiz, Trivia, Interesting Facts, not a newspaper from Dublin

Monday, February 05, 2007

The Writing on the Wall - Answers

Here are the answers.

I was reading about the way you audition for Who Wants to be a Millionaire in the US. You apply through email, you are called for a written test, the qualifiers have a viva voce and if the producers think you are telegenic enough - you are on TV! Contrast that with KBC. You send SMS worth a few thousand rupees, get shortlisted through a lucky draw, answer a question, get selected again through lucky draw, reach KBC and then reach the hot seat through a fastest-finger-first. Life is tough or what?

Anyway, here is redemption at hand. If you cannot make it to KBC, answer these questions, instead. No designer watches and designer hugs if you do not know the answers, but at least you did not wear out your fingers SMSing to reach this far.

The next set of 10 questions on topics of general interest. Send answers to my yahoo email id (given on the right). Answers in 10 days.

Coming Up Next: The Odyssey Quiz 2007 - My favorite questions!

1) WHO AM I?
a) I was the Union Army's youngest general at the age of 34.
b) I was the son of a governor and myself the governor of New Mexico. I signed the death warrant of Billy the Kid and sent sheriff Pat Garrett to shoot the Kid. I was also the US minister to Turkey.
c) I was a judge at the court martial of Abraham Lincoln's killers.
d) I wrote a best selling novel which has never been out of print and three movies have been made out this novel.
A] I am Lew Wallace (the writer of Ben Hur)

2) This legendary ship was named after a German town. She was the last piston engine warship to be commissioned into the Navy. She was based out of the Chinese town of Tsingtao, now more famous for its beer.
When the World War I started, she ventured out into the Indian Ocean. She acquired the nickname "Swan of the East" because of the graceful lines of the ship. While ravaging ships in the Indian Ocean (she must have sunk over 30 ships), she put up a dummy fourth smokestack to fool other ships which were deployed to hunt it down. Its sally into the port towns of south-east Asia created panic and added words into Sinhalese and several other languages. It was eventually defeated and destroyed by HMAS Sydney at the Battle of Cocos. Identify.
A] EMDEN (phrase and words in Malayalam, Tamil, Sinhalese)

3) If George W Bush and Dick Cheney were both to resign (a mouth watering supposition!), who is next in line to become the President of the USA? Hint: It would create a first in the history of USA.
A] Nancy Pelosi - the current speaker of the House of Representatives - the highest-ranking woman in the history of the American federal government - and the closest a woman has come to becoming President

4) A multifaceted personality, he started as a professor in Medicine and Surgery and later become a professor in chemistry and pharmacy. He was the first to distinguish between organic and inorganic substances. He discovered the law of constant proportions and developed the chemical notation which we all know (representing water as H2O etc). He discovered silicon, selenium, thorium, cerium and helped discovered lithium and vanadium. He coined the term protein. He wrote a well-respected text book on Chemistry. He also studied the famous stone Runamo - and concluded that the supposed runic inscriptions were nothing but natural cracks in the rock (the accepted conclusion today). Who?
A] JJ Berzelius

5) It has been speculated that the crew of the DC-6 incorrectly used altitude data for Ndolo (915 ft, 279 m), which is in Congo and at lower altitude, rather than Ndola (4167 ft, 1270 m) in Northern Rhodesia. What is this an explanation for?
A] Death of Dag Hammarskjöld in Sep 1961 at Ndola in Northern Rhodesia
6) Isabella Eugenie Boyer (1841—1904) was born in Paris to French and English parents. Isabella married Isaac Merritt Singer, the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Co., in New York, in 1863 when Isaac was 52 and Isabella was 22. Isabella was still a striking lady when she met this sculptor . He asked her to be his model - for what? Note: This is one of the two popular theories regarding this sculpture.
A] Statue of Liberty. Sculptor was Bartholdi.
7) In the world of aviation, what is the significance of this spectacular crash?
CLUE: No wonder Rainman travels by car!
A] The QANTAS crash in Bangkok in 1999, which marred a straight 20 year clean run by the airlines.

8) Connect these four animals.
Clue: 21st Century.

A] Western black rhino, the Chinese River Dolphin, Pyrenean ibex and Miss Waldron's red Colobus monkey. These four mammals have gone extinct in the 21st Century.
9) What title was given to the English king for constructing the Westminister Abbey?
A] (King Edward) the Confessor

10) This was the first item in the world to be taxed in 2200 BC in China. Ancient Greek traders bartered their slaves for this extremely precious substance. A lazy or rebellious slave was therefore was deemed not worth the amount of this commodity paid. Roman soldiers were paid a dispensation to be able to buy this substance - giving rise to a common modern word.
What commodity?
A] Salt. The slaves were not worth their salt and the Roman soldiers were paid salarium argentum (Salary).

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