Pauls Quiz 203
1. Which sea takes its name from someone's enterprising, albeit uppity flight into disaster?
2. General Antonio L?pez de Santa Anna (of Alamo fame) had two funerals. The first one took place while he was President of Mexico and he himself was a mourner. What was put to rest in this pompous 'funeral'?
3. The following extra terrestrial lyrics are from which songs?
a. I'm sitting in a tin can far above the world
b. This is starfleet control, you are clear to go hyper space
c. Well I dreamed I saw the silver space ships flying in the yellow haze of the sun
d. I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation but we are experiencing violent storm conditions in the asteroid belt
e. I miss my wife, it's lonely out in space
f. You have been observing our earth, and we'd like to make contact with you, we are your friend
g. Ah, we come in peace, shoot to kill, shoot to kill
h. It started with a low light, next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed
i. You always look so cool when spaceships come out of the pool
4. Which capital and mega city's name translated means 'the bellybutton of the waters of the moon'?
5. For 31 years the Queen Mary was the pride of the Cunard Line. Circa 2,139 passengers was her norm. During WWII however she annoyed Adolf Hitler and carried vast numbers of troops across the Atlantic. Plus or minus 2,000, what was the record number of troops brought across in one crossing?
6. The original 'two bits' (quarter coin) looked like a cake or pie shaped wedge and was one quarter of what?
7. Pluto orbits our sun once every how many years?
a. 8 years
b. 16 years
c. 86 years
d. 248 years
8. Who's first abode was reputedly the Lupercal cave?
9.The evil emperor of the planet Mongo was the bad guy in Flash Gordon. What was the stinker's name?
a. Fetore
b. Malodor
c. Ming
d. Reek
10. Herman Melville's novel 'Moby Dick' was partly based on the trials faced by which real whaling ship? Clue: also the name of an English county.
ANSWERS
1. Icarian sea. (Icarus's flight from Crete resulted in a flight too close to the sun) Icarus is a character in Greek mythology. He is the son of Daedalus and is commonly known for his attempt to escape Crete by flight, which ended in a fall to his death. The Icarian Sea is an area of the southeastern Aegean Sea, is bordered by Chios to the north, the eastern Cyclades to the west and Asia Minor to the east.
2. His amputated leg. He engaged the French at Veracruz and, as the Mexican resistance retreated after a failed assault, Santa Anna was hit in the leg and hand by cannon fire. His ankle was shattered and this resulted in the amputation of his leg, which he ordered buried with full military honors. Santa Anna famously used a cork leg after the amputation, but it was captured and kept by American troops during the Mexican-American War. It is on display at the Illinois National Guard Museum in Springfield. The Mexican government has repeatedly asked for its return. Despite Mexico's capitulation to French demands, Santa Anna was able to use his wound to re-enter Mexican politics as a hero. He never allowed Mexico to forget him and his sacrifice in defending the fatherland.
3. Nine answers
a. Space Oddity (David Bowie)
b. I lost my heart to a starship trooper (Sarah Brightman or Hot Gossip)
c. After the goldrush (Neil Young)
d. Clouds across the moon (Raa Band)
e. Rocket Man (Elton John)
f. Calling occupants of interplanetary crafts (Carpenters)
g. Star Trekkin (The Firm)
h. Spaceman (The Killers)
i. Thunderbirds are go (Fab)
4. Mexico City After New Spain won independence from Spain, it was decided that the new country would be named after its capital, Mexico City, which was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Aztec capital of M?xico-Tenochtitlan. The origin of the name of the city comes from the Nahuatl language, where Mextli or Mēxihtli, a secret name for the god of war and patron of the Aztecs, Huitzilopochtli, in which case Mēxihco means "Place where Mēxihtli lives".
The word Mēxihco derives from the mētztli ("moon"), xictli ("navel", "center" or "son"), and the suffix -co (place), in which case it means "Place at the center of the moon" or "Place at the center of the Lake Moon", in reference to Lake Texcoco. The system of interconnected lakes, of which Texcoco was at the center, had the form of a rabbit, the same image that the Aztecs saw in the moon. Tenochtitlan was located at the center (or navel) of the lake (or rabbit/moon).
5. 16,683
6. The Spanish silver dollar, the dollars were called pesos de ocho (pieces of eight). .
7. d. 248 years
8.. Romulus and Remus.
9. c. Ming
10. The Essex The Essex was an American whaleship from Nantucket, Massachusetts. She was 87 feet (27 m) long, measured 238 tons, and was captained by the 28-year-old George Pollard, Jr..
She is best known for being attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the Pacific Ocean in 1820. The incident was the inspiration for Moby Dick. Word of the sinking reached a young Herman Melville, who was inspired by the idea that a whale was capable of such violence. In time, he wrote Moby-Dick: or, The Whale, in which a sperm whale is said to be capable of similar acts. Melville's book draws its inspiration from the first part of the Essex story, ending with the sinking. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex is a National Book Award winning work of maritime history by Nathaniel Philbrick. It tells the story of the Essex, including the point of view of Nickerson in addition to that of Chase.
Today, staff members of the Nantucket Historical Association retell the story of this ill-fated ship almost daily, in a presentation called "the Essex Gam."