Test your wits!

What is the name of the tallest mountain in the
> world? Everst
>
> What man made artefacts can be seen from the moon? The US flag?
>
> How many galaxies are visible to the naked eye? Imma guess one
>
> Who invented the telephone? Bell
>
> How many senses does a human being have? some say five I say 6
>
> What did feminists do with their bras? burn them
>
> What did Nero do when Rome burned? probably got drunk..lol
>
> Where do most tigers live? Asia and India(which I guess is in Asia to)
>
> Who introduced tobacco and potatoes to England?
>Tobacco was grown in the West Indies/Bahamas and by the native Americans than it was introduced by the settlers. Potatoes I think come from the Mexico area or at least native Americans
anyway though they were popular in Ireland.
>
Whats the most likely survivor of a nuclear war? roaches and twinkies
>
> How many states are there in the USA? 50
>
> Where was baseball invented? donno don't like the game
>
> Whats the best use for Marmite? Don't know what it is
>
> Who was the first to claim the earth goes around the
> sun? Galileo I think?
>
> Where do camels come from? They live in the middle east and Africa
>
> What was James Bond's favourite drink? Martini shaken not stirred
>
> Who discovered penicillin? dunno, but I'm allergic
>
> What shape is a raindrop? Depends on on fast it is falling
>
> Where is the driest place on earth? Sahara but the hottest place is in southern Ethiopia (watch planet earth0
>
> Which bird lays the smallest egg for it's size? Big bird
>
> How many states of matter are there? I hate science questions!
>
> What colour is Mars? red? but you spelled color wrong..lol
>
> What is a rhino's horn made from? dead skin or cartilage?
>
> Who is America named after? Some groovy Spanish dude Ameriga Vespucci.( I'm taking a Us history class right now )
>
> How many dog years equal one human year? 7 my dog lived to be over a 100 RIP Muffy

I have a good question to had to this fun little game.....who was the first president in America?

Originally posted by karl 12
reply to post by asmeone2

 

Hi thanks for the replies,here are the true Answers as confirmed by BBC objective research

> What is the name of the tallest mountain in the
> world?
> EVEREST ?

No,Mauna kea,the highest point on the island of Hawaii.
The inactive volcanoe is a modest 4,206m(13,799 feet) above sea level,but when measured from the seabed to its summit,it is 10,200m(33,465 feet)high-about three quarters of a mile taller than Mount Everest.
As far as mountains are concerned,the current convention is that the 'highest' means measured from sea level to summit:'tallest' means measured from the bottom of the mountain to the top.
So while Mount Everest,at 8,848m(29,029 feet)is the highest mountain in the world,it is not the tallest.


>
> What man made artifacts can be seen from the moon?
> GREAT WALL OF CHINA ?

No, human artefacts at all can be seen from the moon with the naked eye.
The idea that the Great Wall is the 'only man made object that can be see from the moon' is all pervasive,but it confuses 'the moon' with space.
'Space' is quite close.It starts about 100km(60 miles) from the earth's surface.From there,many artificial objects are visible:motorways,ships on the sea,railways,cities,fields of crops and even some individual buildings.
However,at an altitude of only a few thousand miles after leaving earth's orbit,no man made objects are visible at all.From the moon-over 400,000 km(some 250,000,miles)away-even continents are barely visible.


> How many galaxies are visible to the naked eye?
> ONE ?

No,the answer is four although from where you are sitting you can only see two: and one of those is the Milky way(the one we're in).
Given that there are estimated to be more than 100 billion galxies in the universe,each containing between 10 and 100 billion stars,its a bit disappointing.In total only four galaxies are visibile from earth with the naked eye-In the northern hemisphere its the Milky way and Andromeda(M31) and in the Southern hemisphere you can see the large and small Magellanic Clouds.


> Who invented the telephone?
> ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL ?

No,Antonio Meucci.
An erratic,sometimes brilliant,Florentine inventor,Meucci arrived in the USA in 1850.In 1860,he first demonstrated a working model of an electric device he called teletrofono.He filed a caveat(a kind of stopgap patent) in 1871,five years before Alexander Graham Bell's telephone patent.
In the same year,Meucci fell ill after he was badly scalded when the States Island ferry's boiler exploded.Unable to speak much English and living on the dole,he failed to send the $10 required to renew hid caveat in 1874.
When Bell's patent was registered in 1876,Meucci sued but to no avail.

>
> How many senses does a human being have?
> FIVE ?

No,at least nine.
The five sense we know about-sight,hearing,taste,smell and touch and then:
6 Thermoception: the sense of heat (or its absence) on our skin.
7 Equilibrioception: our sense of balance-which is determined by the fluid-containing cavities in the inner ear.
8 Nociception: the perception of pain from the skin,joints and body organs.
9 Proprioception: the unconscious knowledge of where our body parts are without being able to see or feel them.


> What did feminists do with their bras?
> BURN ?

No,arguably the most influential feminist protest in history occured at the 1968 'Miss America' beauty contest in Atlantic city,New Jersey.
A small group of protesters picketed the pageant and proceeded to toss their high heel shoes,bras,curlers and tweezers into a 'freedom trash can'.
What they didn't do was burn the their bras.They wanted to but the police advised that it would be dangerous while standing on a wooden boardwalk.
The myth of bra burning began with an article by a young New York post journalist called Lindsay Van Gelder.
She mentioned the protesters were planning to burn bras,girdles and other items in a 'freedom trash can' and the headline writer took it a step further and called them bra burners.
The headline was enough to create a media frenzy,journalists across America seized on it without even bothering to read the story.

>
> What did Nero do when Rome burned?
> PLAY THE FIDDLE?

No,the fiddle wasn't invented until the fifteenth century.
He wasn't actualy there at all and was 56 KM (35 miles)away at this seaside holiday home.When told the news,he raced back to Rome and took personal charge of the fire fighting duties.
As for his attributes he invented ice cream,was a transvestite and played the lyre,harp and bagpipes.



> Whats the most likely survivor of a nuclear war?
> COCKROACH ?

No,cockroaches have been around for a lot longer than we have(about 280 million years) but would be one of the 'first' insects to die in a nuclear war.
A human dies at 1000 rads
A cockroach dies at 20,000 rads.
A fruit fly dies at 64,000 rads.
A parasitic wasp dies at 180,000 rads.
But the king of radiation resistance goes to the bacterium 'Deinococcus Radiodurans' which can tolerate a whopping 1.5 million rads(except when frozen when it's tolerance doubles).
>
> How many states are there in the USA?
> 50 ?

No,technically ,there are only forty six.
Virginia,Kentucky,Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are all offically commonwealths.
This grants them no special constitutonal powers.They simply chose this word to describe themselves at the end of the War of Independance.It made clear they were no longer 'royal colonies' answering to the king,but states governed by the 'common consent of the people'.

> Who was the first to claim the earth goes around the
> sun?
> COPERNICUS?

No,Aristarchus of Samos,born 310 BC.
Not only did Aristarchus suggest the earth and planets travelled around the sun,he also calculated the relative sizes and distances of the Earth,Moon and Sun and worked out that the heavens were not a celestial sphere,but a universe of almost infinite size.
He studied at the Lyceum in Alexandria and is described as a man who was 'knowledgable across all branches of science'.He also invented the hemispherical sundial.
Copernicus(1,800 later) was certainly aware of Aristachrus because he credits him in the manuscript of his epoch making 'On the revolutions of heavenly spheres'.
However,when the book was printed in 1514,all mentions of the visionary Greek had been removed,presumably by the publisher,nervous of it undermining the book's claims for originality.

>
> What was James Bond's favourite drink?
> VODKA MARTINI, SHAKEN NOT STIRRED

Not the vodka martini.
A painstaking study of Ian Flemming's complete oeuvre has shown that James Bond consumed a drink,on average,every seven pages.
Of the 317 drinks consumed in total,his preferred tipple was whiskey by a long margin,he drinks 101 in all(58 bourbons and 38 scothches)-Bond only opts for his supposed favourite drink 19 times.

>
> What shape is a raindrop?
> TEARDROP?

Spherical,not teardrop shaped.

>
> Where is the driest place on earth?
> DEATH VALLEY ?

No,Antarctica.Parts of the continent have seen no rain for two million years.
The Sahara gets just 25mm(1 inch)of rain a year.
Antartica's average rainfall is about the same,but 2 per cent of it,known as the Dry Valleys,is free of ice and snow and it never rains there at all.


> How many states of matter are there?
> FOUR - SOLID, LIQUID, GAS, PLASMA ?

No,Fifteen.
Solid,amorphous solid,liquid,gas,plasma,superfluid,degenerate matter,neutronium,strongly symmetric matter,weakly symmetric matter,quark-gluon plasma,fermionic consendate,Bose-Einstein condensate and strange matter.

Originally posted by karl 12
What is a rhino's horn made from?
> HAIR ?

No,A rhinoceros horn is not made out of hair-its made out of tightly packed strands of keratin fibres.Keratin is the protein found in human hair and fingernails,as well as animal claws and hooves,bird's feathers,porcupine quills and the shells of armadillos and tortoises.
Rhinos are the only animal to have a horn that is entirely made from keratin;unlike those of cattle,sheep antelopes and giraffes who do not have any bone core.


> Who is America named after?
> AMERIGO VESPUCI ?

Not the Italian merchant and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci,but Richard Ameryk,a Welshman and wealthy Bristol merchant.
Ameryk was the chief investor in the second transatlantic voyage of John Cabot-the English name of the Italian navigator Giovanni Caboto whose voyages in 1497 and 1498 laid the groundwork for the later British claim to Canada.He moved to London from Genoa in 1484 and was authorised by king Henry to search for unknown lands to the west.
On his little ship 'Matthew',Cabot reached Labrador in May 1497 and became the first recorded European to set foot on American soil,predating Vespucci by two years.
Martin Waldseemuller's great map of the world made the assumption that the name derived from a Latin version of Amerigo Vaespucci's first name but the only place the name 'America' was ever used was Bristol.
Vespucci never reached North America at all(all the early maps and trade were British), nor did he ever use the name America for his 'discovery'.
New countries or continents were always named after the surname so America would have become Vespucci land (or Vespuccia) if the Italian explorer had consciously given a name to it.

How many did you get right?
I didn't get many.
Cheers Karl
If you like strange ,odd trivia and bizarre unusual facts -
Clicky:www.belowtopsecret.com...

My my, what an array of eager minds...

Here's another "test" - also culturally biased, and based entirely on geographic knowledge, but you actually GIVE as you learn:

Knowing Helps

Enjoy!

Originally posted by Vanitas


My my, what an array of eager minds...

Here's another "test" - also culturally biased, and based entirely on geographic knowledge, but you actually GIVE as you learn:

Knowing Helps

Enjoy!

Hey Vanitas thats a wonderful link-I donated some cups of water to the third world and expanded on my geography too!
Great post!
Cheers Karl

Originally posted by Vanitas


My my, what an array of eager minds...

Here's another "test" - also culturally biased, and based entirely on geographic knowledge, but you actually GIVE as you learn:

Knowing Helps

Enjoy!

Ummm... yeah After it showed the empire state building as being about 50-100 miles inland in New York, I gave that one up.

reply to post by sir_chancealot



Yeah...it showed London as being in Birmingham too...

reply to post by karl 12


I suspected you might like it.
Glad you do.

Here's another one, equally altruistic, for the edifying collection you are building here:

Test your vocabulary


(I believe there is a German version, too... somewhere.)

Originally posted by sir_chancealot
[
Ummm... yeah After it showed the empire state building as being about 50-100 miles inland in New York, I gave that one up.

Why?
It allows for misses of up to 1000 kilometres (or more).
Sure, you get less points - and give less cups - but even a 900 km miss still gives a cup of water.

And to a thirsty person, a single cup of water is much preferable to none.

What is the name of the tallest mountain in the
> world?

>

I believe it's called Sagarmatha: "mother of the Sky".
Others call it Chomolungma.

Oh, and the Western world calls it Mount Everest.

What is the name of the tallest mountain in the
> world? Mt. Everest
>
> What man made artifacts can be seen from the moon? Great wall of China
>
> How many galaxies are visible to the naked eye? one
>
> Who invented the telephone? Marconi
>
> How many senses does a human being have? Six
>
> What did feminists do with their bras? Burn them
>
> What did Nero do when Rome burned? Played the fiddle
>
> Where do most tigers live? India
>
> Who introduced tobacco and potatoes to England? The Romans
>
> What’s the most likely survivor of a nuclear war? Cockroaches
>
> How many states are there in the USA? 49
>
> Where was baseball invented? Cooperstown, Ohio? (Forgot which state)
>
> what’s the best use for Marmite? don't know
>
> Who was the first to claim the earth goes around the
> sun? Galileo
>
> Where do camels come from? Camel factory?
>
> What was James Bond's favorite drink? Vodka Martini, dry, shaken not stirred!
>
> Who discovered penicillin? (It was a female but can’t remember name).
>
> What shape is a raindrop? Teardrop
>
> Where is the driest place on earth? Death Valley
>
> Which bird lays the smallest egg for it's size? Condor
>
> How many states of matter are there? five
>
> What color is Mars? brown
>
> What is a rhino's horn made from? Ivory
>
> Who is America named after? Amerigo Vespucci
>
> How many dog years equal one human year? It’s the same in the beginning but becomes seven later.

Originally posted by Vanitas
reply to post by karl 12

 

I suspected you might like it.

Glad you do.

Here's another one, equally altruistic, for the edifying collection you are building here:

Test your vocabulary

Another mighty fine (altruistic) link- I've now fed and watered someone
and brushed up on my English and Geography too!

Don't know if you enjoy unusual,strange facts but theres a few here:
www.belowtopsecret.com...
Cheers Karl

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Whats the most likely survivor of a nuclear war?

Cher?

reply to post by Stormdancer777




Why single her out?
My bet would be, the entire Silicon Valley AKA Hollywood
(with ZsaZsa and Joan Rivers leading the procession of proud survivors ;-)).

Originally posted by GeneralLee

> What man made artifacts can be seen from the moon? Great wall of China

That's one persistent myth... but it's just a myth.
None.

> How many galaxies are visible to the naked eye? one
>

It depends on where you live.
In the desert or in Amazonia, I would imagine at least two or three.
In most parts of the "civilised" world - none (including the Milky way).

Originally posted by Vanitas
reply to post by Stormdancer777

 

Why single her out?
My bet would be, the entire Silicon Valley AKA Hollywood
(with ZsaZsa and Joan Rivers leading the procession of proud survivors ;-)).

LOL No Doubt

Originally posted by karl 12

> What shape is a raindrop?
> TEARDROP?

Spherical,not teardrop shaped.

Surely, due to friction in the air it would be very slightly oval in shape?

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
Whats the most likely survivor of a nuclear war?

Cher?

No,sorry its..Bob Ross
www.tranism.com...

Originally posted by Vanitas

Originally posted by sir_chancealot
[And to a thirsty person, a single cup of water is much preferable to none.

Vanitas-never a truer word said.
(Like the sig)


[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]