GregR
Footballguy
A collection of mostly useless but sometimes interesting things I've come across.
Links to previous Useless Trivia:
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1) The Irish Potato Famine took place in the 1840s. The island had a population of over 8 million at one point, which was cut in half by death and emmigration due to the famine. Counting from 1850, how many decades did it take for the island to regain its previous population size?
2) A bar tab from part of this famous governmental function showed that 55 delegates consumed 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, eight of whiskey, 22 of porter, eight of hard cider, 12 of beer, and seven bowls of alcoholic punch.
3) Rodeo is the official sport of Texas, while for Hawaii it is surfing. What is the official sport of Maryland? (Edit: Maryland has both a state sport, and a state team sport. Asking for the state sport.)
4) Ranking sovereign states by age based on the last date they were controlled by an external power or a major change in government (like a monarchy ousted for a democracy), Wikipedia shows Spain and Portual are the 2nd and 3rd oldest nations on Earth. The country that is listed as the oldest has the Roman Empire listed as the previous ruling state. What is it?
Hint: it was an answer this year in another Useless Trivia question.
5) Where does the US rank on the above list of nations by age?
a) 9th oldest nation
b) 18th oldest nation
c) 27th oldest nation
d) 36th oldest nation
6) The longest known time lapse between the birth of these is 87 days.
7) The budget for this movie was largely raised by donations from bands including Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Elton John.
8) This iconic character's shape took form when the creator was thinking about the word "eat" while looking at a pizza.
9) In a plague that struck Strasbourg in 1518, around 400 people uncontrollably did this activity for days without rest, resulting in as many 15 deaths a day at some points according to some records.
10) Sheep, Goats, Octopuses and Toads are examples of animals that have eyes that differ from humans in this fashion.
Links to previous Useless Trivia:
#1
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#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
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#10
#11
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#14
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1) The Irish Potato Famine took place in the 1840s. The island had a population of over 8 million at one point, which was cut in half by death and emmigration due to the famine. Counting from 1850, how many decades did it take for the island to regain its previous population size?
Trick question. Even after 160 years, it still hasn't. The island's population is currently about 6.6 million.
2) A bar tab from part of this famous governmental function showed that 55 delegates consumed 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, eight of whiskey, 22 of porter, eight of hard cider, 12 of beer, and seven bowls of alcoholic punch.
The Constitutional Convention. It was a farewell party for George Washington, two days before the Constitution was signed. The tab can be seen at http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/citytavern/.
3) Rodeo is the official sport of Texas, while for Hawaii it is surfing. What is the official sport of Maryland? (Edit: Maryland has both a state sport, and a state team sport. Asking for the state sport.)
Jousting
4) Ranking sovereign states by age based on the last date they were controlled by an external power or a major change in government (like a monarchy ousted for a democracy), Wikipedia shows Spain and Portual are the 2nd and 3rd oldest nations on Earth. The country that is listed as the oldest has the Roman Empire listed as the previous ruling state. What is it?
Hint: it was an answer this year in another Useless Trivia question.
San Marino, which was the answer to a previous edition's question on what other nation, along with Vatican City, is completely surrounded by Italy.
5) Where does the US rank on the above list of nations by age?
a) 9th oldest nation
b) 18th oldest nation
c) 27th oldest nation
d) 36th oldest nation
a) 9th oldest nation. Oldest to youngest are San Marino, Portugal, Spain, Sweeden, Bhutan, Lichetenstein, Oman, and Nepal. Then the USA.
6) The longest known time lapse between the birth of these is 87 days.
Twins. It happened in 2013 when twin sisters were born 3 months apart.
7) The budget for this movie was largely raised by donations from bands including Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Elton John.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
8) This iconic character's shape took form when the creator was thinking about the word "eat" while looking at a pizza.
Pac-Man. According to creator Tohru Iwantani, "While thinking about the word 'eat' when taking a piece of pizza, I saw that the rest of pizza looked like a character, and that’s how Pac-Man’s iconic shape was created." Iwantani was trying to come up with something conceptually that all people would relate to. He chose "eat" over other options he'd considered, like 'Love".
9) In a plague that struck Strasbourg in 1518, around 400 people uncontrollably did this activity for days without rest, resulting in as many 15 deaths a day at some points according to some records.
Dancing. It is known as the Dancing Plague of 1518. There are other instances of this having occurred, where people began dancing uncontrollably. Modern theories include food poisoning by ergot fungi, which contains the original substance from which LSD was first synthesized.
10) Sheep, Goats, Octopuses and Toads are examples of animals that have eyes that differ from humans in this fashion.
Their pupils are rectangular. Typically classified as prey, these animals need to have a defense both day and night. But they don't have vertical slits due to their need to survey their surroundings more accurately. The narrower the pupil in relation to the horizon, the greater the accuracy of depth perception is in the peripheral vision of the animal.
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