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Greg's Useless Trivia #26 (1 Viewer)

GregR

Footballguy
A collection of mostly useless but sometimes interesting things I've come across.

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1) The following countries are the only ones to share this trait:  Morocco, Jordan, Swaziland, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Brunei

They are the countries left that are fully ruled by monarchs.
 
 
 
2) The speed of light is about 186,000 miles per second. What are the following 3 celestial speeds?

1,037 miles per hour
2,288 miles per hour
18.5 miles per second

The first is the speed of the Earth's rotation at the equator. The second is the speed of the Moon as it orbits around the Earth.  The last is the speed of the Earth as it orbits the Sun.
 
 
 
3) What is the only bird that can fly backwards?

The hummingbird.
 
 
 
4) Why does sunlight bleach hair but darken skin?

Short answer: because hair is dead and skin is alive.  Sunlight bleaches and destroys the melanin in hair, making it lighter. Since the hair cells are dead and don't replace the melanin, the hair will stay that color until new hair replaces it. But skin is alive and when its melanin is destroyed it creates even more of it as a defense, as melanin helps protect the body from being damaged by the sun.
 
 
 
5) Many people know that Italy completely surrounds the independent nation of Vatican City. However, it also completely surrounds a second independent nation. Name it.

The mountaintop Republic of San Marino. San Marino has a population of 32,500 and is 24 square miles in size, the third smallest European nation. One reason San Marino has mostly stayed independent over the centuries is because of its hilly location. In the 1800s, the country took in many people who were persecuted for supporting the unification of Italy, and in 1862 a friendship treaty guaranteed its continuing independence from the Italian state.
 
 
 
6) The Beatles hold the records for most #1 hits on the Billboard music charts, with 20. When it comes to top ten hits, however, The Beatles are in second place behind this singer.

Madonna, who has 38 top ten hits to 34 by The Beatles
 
 
 
7) What temperature is the same in both Celsius and Fahrenheit?

-40 degrees.
 
 
 
8) Why did Dalmatians come to be associated with firehouses?

Dalmatians were the top choice to serve as carriage dogs. Trained to run alongside a horse-drawn carriage, they would attack the horses used by highwaymen, giving the owners' human security time to respond to the actual robbers. Carriage dogs were kenneled in the stables, and bonded with the horses as pups. Firemen began to use them to help clear the way in crowded streets for horse-drawn fire-engines.


9) According to a study of British families by retailer Littlewoods, how many questions a day do children ask on average?

a) 75
b) 125
c) 225
d) 300

d) 300.  Four year-old girls were the most frequent questioners, clocking in at an average of a question every two minutes!
 
 
 
10) Deinonychus is one of the dinousaur species that the general public are most familiar with, though most people will tell you that they've never heard of them. Why the confusion?

Because we think they are called Velociraptor, when actually that is a different species. Blame it on Michael Crichton. The dinosaurs he portrayed in Jurassic Park as vicious, cunning killers were entirely based on Deinonychus. Crighton intentionally misidentified them as Velociraptor because the latter name was "more dramatic". While both species were similar in appearance, Velociraptors were only about the size of turkeys.



 
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1) The following countries are the only ones to share this trait:  Morocco, Jordan, Swaziland, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Brunei
Spoiler:

I wonder what the distinction between these leaders and the leader of North Korea. Is Kim Jong Un, in all but name, a monarch?
 
Spoiler:

I wonder what the distinction between these leaders and the leader of North Korea. Is Kim Jong Un, in all but name, a monarch?

Technically he's Chairman of the Communist party, I think. It might be a monarchy in truth, but they at least try to give the appearance it isn't. The list I used came from... hmm, think it was USA Today maybe. Some article about a Japanese princess giving up her royal status in marrying a commoner... they had a world map of monarchies split out by true rulership, monarch holding some power, or just figurehead.
 
3/10 but I'll also give myself an additional two-thirds because I got 2 of the celestial speed ones right. 

 

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