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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 50 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Thematic 10Q Very Difficult
| Finally, another quote to wrap things up. Who said "On the loftiest throne in the world we are still sitting only on our own rump."? | The Enthroned Quiz
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Montaigne. From his 1595 essay "Of Experience". Of interest is that about 200 years later, Benjamin Franklin said the same thing, slightly more crudely. They were both right. Wherever you may be sitting, I hope you have enjoyed my quiz.
| Thrones seem to be a common name for heavy metal bands. There's "Throne of Nails", "Darkthrone", and "Throne of Chaos", among others. From what country is the group known as "Blood Red Throne"? | The Enthroned Quiz
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Norway. The five-member band's first album was "Monument of Death". Not part of my personal CD collection, but as my mother always said, if we all liked the same things it would be a pretty dull world.
A Byzantine church. Ludwig died before much of Neuschwanstein could be finished. There is no throne in the otherwise-completed, ornate Throne Room.
| What would you find in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in Beijing's Forbidden City? | The Enthroned Quiz
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Dragon Throne. 24 Ming and Qing emperors ruled China from the Dragon Throne for 500 years.
| From Rome we go to ancient Greece. Who's the Olympian who sits on an ivory throne with a white calfskin cushion?
| The Enthroned Quiz
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Hera. Hera used the cow as an emblem. Artemis and Athena both had silver thrones, and Hebe, the goddess of youth, didn't have one.
The Cathedra Petri. All four choices can be found in St. Peter's. The Cathedra Petri, or "Chair of Peter" is a stunning piece of art by Bernini. It is located at the end (apse) of the basilica and encloses the putative chair of the first Pope. The Papal Loggia is the the main balcony of the basilica's façade; the Colonna Santa is a 4th century Byzantine spiral column from the original basilica on this sacred site; and the Baldacchino is Bernini's canopy over the main altar.
| Let's begin with a quote. What Italian said "It is more honorable to be raised to a throne than to be born to one. Fortune bestows the one, merit obtains the other."? | The Enthroned Quiz
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Francesco Petrarch. Petrarch, 1304-1374, was an Italian poet and scholar.
| How often does the proxigean spring tide occur? | 100 Facts
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every 18 months, at most. The proxigean spring tide is a rare, unusually high tide that occurs when the moon is both at its closest point to Earth and in the New Moon phase. 2. The Antarctic Ice Sheet is almost twice the size of the United States. 3. Ninety percent of all volcanic activity occurs in the oceans. 4. Canada has the longest coastline of any country, with 56,453 miles. 5. At the deepest point in the ocean the pressure is more than 8 tons per square inch. 6. Eighty percent of all life on earth is found under the ocean surface. 7. The Arctic produces 10,000 to 50,000 icebergs per year. 8. In one year, three times as much garbage is dumped into the ocean as the weight of fish caught. 9. The Kuroshio Current, off the shores of Japan, is the largest current. 10. Antarctica has as much ice as the Atlantic Ocean has water.
| At 1,000 years old, it's estimated to be the world's oldest. It's at the Hildeshiem Cathedral in Germany. What is it? | 100 Facts
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a rose bush. 2. A rose fossil dated at 40 million years old was found in the US. 3. Confucius had about 600 books on how to grow roses. 4. The name "Rhodes", as in Island of, comes from "rhodon", Greek for "rose". 5. There are no native species of roses south of the Equator. 6. The first guide to roses was written around 300 BC by Theophrastus. 7. Rose hips contain more vitamin C than almost any fruit or vegetable. 8. You must distil about 10,000 pounds of roses to get one pound of rose oil. 9. The Sweet Brier rose is mentioned in the writings of Chaucer and Shakespeare. 10. Josephine, Napoleon's wife, had a rose garden featuring 250 varieties, all of those known at that time.
| What were the names of William Shakespeare's twins? | 100 Facts
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Hamnet and Judith. William Shakespeare and his wife had eight kids, including twins Hamnet and Judith, who were christened on February 2, 1585. Hamnet died at age 11, Judith at 77. 2. Shakespeare wore earrings. 3. Shakespeare's father, mother, and one daughter were illiterate. 4. Shakespeare invented the word "assassination". 5. There is no surviving record of the play "Cardenio", which has been credited to Shakespeare. 6. Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets. 7. "Romeo and Juliet" was based on the life of two actual Verona lovers who both died for each other in 1303. 8. Shakespeare is said to have had a vocabulary of some 29,000 words. 9. Shakespeare was also an actor who performed many of his own plays as well as those of other playwrights, such as Ben Jonson. 10. Shakespeare was a favorite of King James I; in fact, King James made Shakespeare's acting company Grooms of Chamber.
ants. 2. Ants have five noses, each designed to detect a different scent. 3. Some types of ants carry their dead to ant cemeteries. 4. The queen ant never leaves her nest unless there is an emergency, such as a disaster, or the colony wants to relocate to a better place. 5. Unlike adult ants, ant larvae can consume solids. 6. Some species of ants, like the leaf-cutter ants, use leaves to produce fungi in their nests for food. 7. A worker ant can carry up to 50 times its own weight. 8. All ants in a colony, except for the drones, are female. 9. As of 2002, there are 11,006 known species of ants! 10. Ants hibernate during cold seasons.
Hot water. According to a study conducted by Mississippi State University, over 200,000 injuries happen in American bathrooms yearly. The largest percent are attributed to burns caused by hot water. The easiest way to avoid this is to set your hot water heater at 120 degrees.
| Urban legend has it that "Leave It To Beaver" was the first network television show to actually show a toilet in an episode. In actuality, it was the first show to show a toilet tank. What was this episode titled? | Straight Flush: A Quiz About Bathrooms
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Captain Jack. Captain Jack was the name of the $2.50 baby alligator that Beaver and Wally recieved via the mail. His home was in the toilet tank that Wally referred to as Captain Jack's aquarium. The censors refused to allow a full view of the toilet so in compromise, the producers had one quick scene of Wally putting the alligator in the tank.
A Bible passage. James Gamble of Procter and Gamble originally called their soap that floated White Soap but Harvey Procter, the other founder of Proctor and Gamble, got the idea for the name "Ivory" while in church listening to a Bible passage about "ivory palaces". Psalm 45: "All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made me glad."
Toothpaste. The warning label on my tube of toothpaste reads: "Keep out of the reach of children under six years of age. If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional help or contact a poison control center immediately." Scary stuff!
Crane Plumbing. Chevy Chase's birth name is Cornelius Crane Chase. His grandmother gave him the nickname Chevy. Chevy's mother Cathalene is descended from the Crane Plumbing family. He spent his vacations as a child at the family's Crane Castle in Ipswich, Massachusetts where his grandfather and namesake Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane lived.
Putting "In God We Trust" on US currency. Salmon P. Chase was President Lincoln's Secretary of Treasury. He also served as a Supreme Court Chief Justice. Chase Manhattan Bank was named after him.
Joan Crawford. Joan Crawford was a neat freak to say the least. Anyone who has ever read or seen the movie "Mommie Dearest" can understand why the woman would change her toilet seats. Joan Crawford was married five times. Just when you get use to something, it changes.
The White House. The first bathrooms complete with plumbing and electrical wiring were installed in the White House during Theodore Roosevelt's administration during the 1902 restoration. All 35 bathrooms in the White House are private so you better go before you visit.
Four. In 1994, a Federal law was passed to restrict toilet tanks to 1.6 gallons of water per flush. These "low flow" toilets seemed to be more of a waste than ever as some had to flush twice. Now days, manufacturers have worked out the bugs and you only need to flush once.
| Do you remember the pain and suffering you underwent when you tried to learn how to tie your own shoelaces? How long has this been going on? | Fast Facts About Fasteners
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Since Medieval times. The shoelaces we know today, those strings passed through eyelets in our shoes, have been around since the 12th century. Just think, little kids have been crying with frustration for centuries as they tried to tie their shoelaces. I was five before my chubby fingers mastered the art!
When Alpine climbers found the well-preserved body of an Ice Age man in Switzerland a few years back, they noticed that his grass-filled animal skin boots were held on with thongs made of lime bark string. Thongs have been used in every culture and made of every material including animal hide, plant fibres or fabrics. In my part of the world - Western Canada - the aboriginal people tied their moccasins with buffalo sinew thongs. I suppose one could consider the ubiquitous thongs as the precursors of shoelaces.
17th century. Shakespeare probably wore buckled shoes, and so did all those dashing cavaliers and less-than-dashing Pilgrim Fathers. Those buckles were nothing like the ornate, even bejewelled, buckles worn when the fashion hit its height in the 18th century. By the end of the Regency period, buckled shoes were worn only by the hopelessly old-fashioned. The buckle came back into its own in the trendy 1960s, but usually as a mere decoration rather than a practical device designed to keep one's shoes on one's feet.
| In North America they're bobby pins; in the UK they're kirby grips or hairgrips. When did they come onto the market? | Fast Facts About Fasteners
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Late 1800s. Surprise! Bobby pins (kirbygrips, hairgrips) have been around since the late 1800s when they were used by - wait for it - men! Evidently those elaborate hairstyles adopted by men in the Gay Nineties needed more than pomade and macassar oil to keep them in place. Bobby pins were invented and manufactured by one Bobby T. Plympton out of his home, and he sold his patent around 1900. He must have kicked himself for his short-sightedness when bobbed hair came into fashion in the 1920s and the sale of bobby pins really took off. By the 1940s, the bobby pin was an essential item in every woman's grooming kit, and they were even manufactured in various colours to match the wearer's hair.
I'm told that a bobby pin can be used to pick a lock but I hasten to assure you that I have never put one to this nefarious use.
pins. The little metal clips that keep your tensor bandage in place go by the pedestrian name of pins. I don't know about you, but I invariably lose the two that come with any tensor bandage I buy and I have to resort to using Mr. Hunt's modern adaptation of the fibula!
Snap fasteners were invented in Germany in the mid-1800s, grommets are the little metal (sometimes plastic these days) rings used to reinforce the holes in tarps, flags, etc., to prevent the fabric from ripping when rope is passed through them, and aiglets are those little metal or plastic tips on shoelaces that make it easier for us to insert the laces into the eyelets.
| Speaking of pins, let us pause to praise the modern safety pin. How long has this multi-use pin been keeping the diapers/nappies on small behinds, holding broken bra straps in place, and generally making itself useful? | Fast Facts About Fasteners
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Since 1849. The modern safety pin was invented in 1849 by American Walter Hunt. He sold the rights to his patent for $400.00 and I'll bet his heirs and descendants have been annoyed with him ever since, considering the millions and billions of safety pins in use around the world since 1849.
Hunt based his design on the fibula used by the ancient Mycenaean in the 14th century BCE. Indeed, those old fibulae were very similar to the modern safety pin and served the same function - except for the bra strap thing. The use of fibulae spread throughout the ancient world and they have been dug up in Roman ruins, Celtic archaeological sites and throughout Europe and the Middle East.
I suppose, in effect, Hunt didn't so much invent the safety pin as adapt an ages-old design.
| Joyce Grenfell used to sing a song called "Never Go Out Without Your Hatpin". When did hatpins come into vogue? | Fast Facts About Fasteners
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17th century. Hatpins have been around since the 15th century. Originally they were handmade and there are records of a Gloucestershire hatpin manufacturer who employed 1500 hatpin makers in the 1600s. Naturally, the hand-made hatpins were expensive, so only the very wealthy could afford them to hold their veils, wimples and other headgear in place when the wind blew. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, hatpins were made by machines rather than people and my old hometown of Birmingham in the Midlands became the centre of the hatpin industry in the UK. So heavy was the demand for hatpins that British retailers began importing the commodity from France to keep up. The British Parliament, concerned about the effect of these imports on the balance of trade, actually passed an Act prohibiting the purchase of hat pins on all except two days a year, in January. Could this be the inspiration for January Sales, or even the term 'pin money'?
Nowadays no one need worry about hatpins affecting the balance of trade. Hatpins, like button hooks and mourning brooches, have become sought-after collectibles.
(My thanks to the Hat Pin Society of Great Britain for this information.)
Since the Middle Ages. Believe it or not, buttons have been around for thousands of years. Buttons have been found at archaeological sites in the Indus Valley (circa 2800-2600 BCE) and in China (circa 2000-1500 BCE), but those early buttons were used as ornaments, not as fasteners.
The button as we know it first appeared in Germany in the 13th century. They came into use with the prevalent fashion for snug-fitting clothing, and they've never gone out of style. I'm told that Qiaotou, in the Zhejiang province of China, is the centre of button manufacturing these days. They've got the world market buttoned up, so to speak.
1913. The first zipper-type fastener was invented by Elias Howe (who also invented the sewing machine). He patented his device in 1851 but never bothered to manufacture or market it. In 1893 Whitcomb Judson, the inventor of the Pneumatic Street Railway (whatever that is) also came up with a zipper-type fastener which he called the C-curity Fastener. It had very limited success. It took Gideon Sundback, a Swedish-born engineer who was chief designer for the Universal Fastener Company in St. Catharines, Ontario, to come up with the zipper as we know it today. He designed it in 1913, patented it in 1917, and also designed the machine that would make his 'Separable Fastener'.
Switzerland. Velcro has been making life easier for tots, people with arthritic hands and everyone else who has difficulty with other types of fastenings since it was patented by Swiss mountaineer/inventor George de Mestral. It seems that George and his dog got covered in burrs after taking a stroll along the Alpine trails and George was fascinated by the way the burrs clung so securely to his trouser legs (we don't know what his poor dog thought about it). He saw the possibilities for a new type of fastening device and, ignoring the derision of his colleagues and friends, got busy with a weaver friend to perfect his hook and loop invention. Velcro was patented in 1955 and George set up Velcro Industries to manufacture his product (Velcro, by the way is a combination word taken from Velour and Crochet). Within a very short space of time de Mestral was selling 60 million yards of Velcro a year, and the sales of this Nature-inspired fastener now run into billions of dollars world-wide.
| As the science of of blood transfusion and donation developed over the centuries more and more medical procedures depended on it and its use became more widespread. By 2008, approximately how many pints of blood were being used in the USA and Canada each day? | Nearly an Armful: Blood Donation Facts and Fun
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43,000. A few more facts to leave with you: More than 4.5 million patients need blood transfusions each year in the U.S. and Canada; Someone needs blood every two seconds; About 1 in 7 people entering a hospital need blood; One pint of blood can save up to three lives. [Source:Blood Centers of the Pacific, www.bloodcenters.org]
They wanted to help others. Unfortunately, 15 per cent of those who were asked why they did not give blood said they were "too busy". There are often shortages at busy holiday periods. If only one more percent of all Americans would give blood, shortages would disappear for the foreseeable future. [Source:Blood Centers of the Pacific, www.bloodcenters.org]
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