The World You Are In Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a truly remarkable woman. She knew at an early age that she wanted to dedicate her life to Christ and serve the poor. She joined the Sisters of Loreto Abbey where she came in contact with the destitute of India. She decided to venture off on her own and start the Missionaries of Charity with a focus on providing a place for the unwanted to be able to die with dignity.

Many of the people she served were suffering from AIDS, leprosy, or extreme poverty. By the time of her death, the Missionaries of Charity had over 4,000 sisters in the order and spanned over 100 countries in the world. On September 4, 2016, Mother Teresa was canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church.

Answer: Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine wrote the quote, "These are the times that try men's souls," as part of his essay on the American Crisis published on December 19, 1776, and also in his pinnacle work "Common Sense". Thomas Paine was a huge believer in the American colonies throwing off the rule of Britain, and at the beginning of 1776 he anonymously published a pamphlet encouraging the citizens to establish an egalitarian state.

His pamphlet became immensely popular and was read in taverns up and down the colonies. It had a critical impact on encouraging the citizens to fight for freedom.

As for the quote itself, it states that it is easy to be a soldier in the sun but only the truly brave and commendable were standing by Washington's side in the cold winter of 1776.

Answer: Madeleine Albright

Albright was the 64th Secretary of State, and the first woman to hold the position. She was appointed by President Clinton in December 1996, and sworn in the following month.

The daughter of a diplomat, Albright was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1937. By the age of 11, she had moved to the United States with her family as an asylum seeker from the new communist government taking over Czechoslovakia. Albright studied political science earning her doctorate. As a member of the Georgetown University staff, she became an expert on Eastern European countries. She went on to become an ambassador to the United Nations. During her time as Secretary of State, Albright focused her efforts on Eastern Europe and the Middle East. She was particularly keen on sanctions against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Answer: Albert Camus

Albert Camus was the author of the novel "The Stranger" and the founder of the philosophy of absurdism. While humans often wish to find meaning in life and the world, absurdism states that there is none. The human existence is meaningless and the world has nothing meaningful to offer. Absurdism is closely related to nihilism but is different in that nihilists think there is a meaning to life despite there being none.

It is also important that the absurdism philosophy relates to all of life, not just certain situations.

The day-to-day important things in life are far less important when taking a broader global view. Seems to me like the absurdist has failed to find love or joy in their life.

Answer: Shaun White

Shaun White has long been known as "The Flying Tomato," however, he no longer embraces the name. He grew up in San Diego, California and his first passion was skateboarding. At the age of nine, he was good enough to attract Tony Hawk's attention and later turned pro at the age of 16. Snowboarding was a natural second love for White and, as with skateboarding, he quickly gained attention.

Due to his skills in both events, he has won an event at both the Summer and Winter X games, becoming the first person to do so. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, he scored well enough on his first run to win gold, so his second run was a freebee. On his second run, he landed a trick he invented which he called a double McTwist 1260 which has to be seen to be believed.

Answer: Perverted

The word licentious is most commonly used to refer to inappropriate sexual behavior. It can also mean a disregard for moral rules of correctness. Licentious has its roots in the Latin word licentia, which has a wide range of meanings, from having freedom, to acting wantonly. Licentia has its root in the verb licere which means to be allowed.

Interestingly, the word license comes from the same root. By looking at the origins, both English words were focused more on taking action and less on actually having permission.

Answer: Criminal Intent

In a court of law mens rea means criminal intent and often must be proven for a defendant to be convicted of a crime. There are four levels of criminal intent in the Model Penal Code with the worst being "acting purposely" to harm another. The next three levels are, "acting knowingly," "acting recklessly," and "acting negligently." Knowingly is not necessarily premeditated but shows a lack of care. Recklessness is knowing there is a possibility of potential harm and doing it anyway, while negligence is a case of should have known the action would be harmful.

The criminal intent can also be divided into "express malice," or intentionally harming, and "implied malice," indifference to harming by carelessness or inattention.

Answer: Kentucky

It may surprise some to learn that Abraham Lincoln was not born in Illinois but rather in the state of Kentucky. He was born in Sinking Springs in a one-room log cabin. Talk about humble origins! His birthplace is now a part of the town of Hodgenville right in the middle of the state. While the original log cabin was taken down in the 1860s, a replica has been built for tourists to see.

Lincoln's family moved to the territory that would become Indiana when he was seven and stayed there until the extended family moved to Illinois when he was 21 years old. A year later, Lincoln moved to the village of New Salem, Illinois where he spent time as a store clerk, boatman, and surveyor before becoming a largely self-taught lawyer. Three years later at the age of 25, he was elected to the Illinois State Legislature.

Answer: Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan is famous for his fiscal policy which is sometimes called Reaganomics. The idea behind the policy is less government spending and a focus on balancing the federal budget. Reagan was also a champion for the wealthy to pay less taxes on income and capital gains. His dubious theory of trickle-down economics postulated that giving tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations would result in everyone else down the line benefiting as a result. The reality looked nothing like the theory predicted and usually just helped the wealthy get wealthier.

As for the government being the problem it is interesting that Reagan's government spent more than any other president before or after until President Obama came to office.

Answer: Wilson

Tom Hanks plays system analyst Chuck Noland who finds himself stranded alone on a desert island for four years. One night, while trying to light a fire, Noland cuts himself and gets a bloody handprint on a volleyball. He soon forms a bond with the volleyball and since it is made by the Wilson company, that becomes its name. Noland has frequent dialogues with Wilson over the years of his exile. Sadly, while Noland is attempting to raft to freedom, Wison falls off the raft and floats away.

Answer: Milton

John Milton wrote the epic poem "Paradise Lost" in 1667. Milton chose blank verse for his writing style with his masterpiece containing over 10,000 lines of poetry. The poem explores the story of Adam and Eve and the fall of man paralleled with Satan's fall from grace.

The two plot lines converge in the Garden with Satan taking the form of a serpent who convinces Eve to defy God's command to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Blank verse is poetry in the form of iambic pentameter without necessarily rhyming.

Answer: Luke

The first books of the New Testament are the four Gospels with Luke being the third one. The Gospel of Luke is called a synoptic Gospel which shares content with both Matthew and Mark. Luke starts with a greeting to Theophilus meaning "Lover of God." The Gospel follows a parallel line from birth to mission, to crucifixion, and finally resurrection.

The authorship of Luke has historically been attributed to Luke, a physician, and companion of Paul. Recent scholars are not so sure Paul's companion was the writer and prefer to consider the author to be unknown. What is clear is that the Gospel was written to be read at meetings of the early church to teach Christians about the life and works of Jesus Christ.

Answer: Bill Clinton

The US Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war; however, at times the Presidents will act with force without getting permission first. This was the case during the Vietnam conflict. The USA never actually declared war on Vietnam which led Congress to pass the War Powers Act to limit the President's power.

The Act specifically limited the President's power to send troops or air support for more than 60 days without Congressional approval. In 1999, Bill Clinton continued to bomb Kosovo for two weeks past the 60-day limit. Clinton defended his action by stating since Congress approved the spending for the bombing they thereby also approved the war.

Answer: Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was a fierce opponent of government corruption and unnecessary expenditures. Combined with strong government revenue during his tenure, the debt was paid off and Jackson's tenure ended with a positive balance. As for banks, Jackson was completely opposed to a federal bank and insisted on supporting state banks instead.

He believed the Federal Bank was corrupt and only served the interest of the richest Americans and foreign investors.

Answer: Lobotomy

Antonio Moniz won a Nobel Prize in 1949 for developing the surgical technique called the lobotomy. Neuroscience was in its infancy and the role of the frontal lobe being the home of deeper-order thinking was not established at this time. Rather, some in the psychiatric community believed the frontal lobe was the root cause of undesirable behaviors like psychosis.

The goal of the lobotomy was to help treat mental illness and relieve the overcrowding of mental facilities. Unfortunately, not only did the lobotomy not cure the underlying disease, but it also left the patient apathetic with a lack of initiative and often radically changed their personalities. No doubt it also impaired their cognitive reasoning and problem-solving abilities.

Answer: Giving a victory speech after winning the California primary.

Robert Kennedy gave his victory speech for winning the California primary and then started to leave the hotel through the kitchen, where Sirhan Sirhan shot him multiple times. Sirhan's anti-zionist beliefs fueled the assassination because Kennedy had vocally supported Israel.

The aftermath of this murder led to political candidates getting Secret Service protection. Kennedy had been the forerunner for the Democratic party's presidential nomination. Upon his death, Hubert Humphrey won the nomination but later lost the election to Richard Nixon.

Answer: Colorado Rockies

The Colorado Rockies play their home games at Coors Field in Denver. The stadium was opened in 1995 for the Rockies' third season; Coors Brewing purchased the rights to name the ballpark for $30 million. While the stadium was being built, several small dinosaur bones were discovered inspiring the Rockies' triceratops mascot named Dinger. Due to the high elevation and thin air, Coors Field is called a hitter's park. With this in mind, the outfield is constructed to be larger and the balls are kept in a humidor before being used to make it more difficult for hitters to hit home runs.

Answer: Alexander Hamilton

"My name is Alexander Hamilton and there's a million things I haven't done but just you wait, just you wait." -"Hamilton" the musical.

Hamilton was in his twenties during the Revolutionary War where he served as an aide to General Washington. After the war, Hamilton was a prolific writer and supporter of a centralized government for the colonies. Hamilton was frustrated with having to rely on the state's whim of when and how to help support the Federal government, leading him to be one of the main writers of the Federalist Papers. Once Washington was elected, Hamilton was selected as the first US Secretary of the Treasury through which he worked to gain credibility and authority for a national bank including establishing a mint. In 1794, Hamilton's wife suffered a miscarriage leading him to resign from his office.

Answer: Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone is a brilliant writer of controversial films. Stone has suggested that his own cocaine addiction led to his modern adaption of the film "Scarface." After serving in Vietnam, Stone had plenty of personal material to work with for the writing of "Platoon" which went on to win four Academy Awards.

The film "Natural Born Killers" takes a blunt look at media glorification of violence. Oliver Stone has been outspoken politically, accusing the US government of not doing enough to thwart dictators like Vladimir Putin and Hugo Chavez.

Answer: Smallpox

Smallpox has to be one of the most horrific diseases in human history. The disease often claimed more lives than bullets did during the Revolutionary War. Many of the colonial soldiers did not want to reenlist when their contract was up over fear of smallpox more than British gunfire.

The process of inoculating for smallpox required soldiers to quarantine for five days while they recovered. Because of this lengthy process, Washington had to inoculate his troops in waves while keeping the process secret from the British to avoid being attacked while short-staffed.

While not universally accepted by the colonial spirit, Washington's action to protect his troops probably was a major factor in ultimately winning the war. It certainly kept troops from deserting or dying of disease.