"We Didn't Stop The Fire" Trivia Quiz

Answer: 2001

Author's note. This quiz documents a decade of turbulent history. It is based on a Billy Joel song where significant major historical events are listed next to pop culture references. It does not seem acceptable to juxtapose the gravity, say of 911 with a TV show, and this may be interpreted as flippancy. This is no way meant to trivialise our history but it is an attempt to mimic our own memories of that era. We remember the pop culture references as much as we remember the sombre and sobering 'real events' of our history. I hope I have been able to capture the spectrum of events that occurred in this decade.

Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing on September 11, 2001. Indeed that day changed our world forever. Nineteen hijackers gained control over four U.S. commercial airliners and crashed two planes into the World Trade Center twin towers, collapsing both. The hijackers crashed the third aircraft into the Pentagon, in Virginia. The fourth plane crashed into a rural Pennsylvania, following apparent passenger intervention.
In May 2001, American Dennis Tito paid a reported $20 million for six days on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft where after training on the ground assisted by cosmonauts conducting experiments. Mr Tito became the first space tourist. On 15 January 2001, Wikipedia went online followed by the release of the first generation iPods on October 23, 2001. The first of eight films about JK Rowling's Harry Potter was released, as was the first of New Zealander Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. George W Bush refused to sign the Kyoto Agreement on Climate Change. "The Sopranos" a bleak story about a New Jersey Mafia family is the most popular show on TV; the Leaning Tower of Pisa, built 1360 reopened in December after 11 years of repairs, now stabilised. In August 2001, the Australian government refused Norwegian freighter MV Tampa which had rescued 433 asylum seekers in international waters) permission to offload the refugees at Christmas Island, an Australian territory.

Answer: George Bush

It was 2002. US Airways filed for bankruptcy during August due mainly to a drop in revenue for all airlines suffering post-911 lack of patronage. United Airlines also filed for bankruptcy protection. Former US president Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel peace prize. His greatest achievement was in 1978 as President when he brokered a peace deal between Egypt and Israel but he continued to work in the field after he left the presidency. Slobodan Milosevic the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia began his War Crimes trial at the International Tribunal in The Hague.

Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Golden Jubilee. NATO expands its organisation by an unprecedented seven nation intake with former Soviet Bloc countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. Kelly Clarkson won the Inaugural "American Idol" TV show prize Jemaah Islamiyah detonated bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202.

U.S. President George W. Bush, in his State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, described Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "Axis of Evil".

Answer: No

In 2003, February 1st, the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurs where seven crew were killed when then Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry. The program was suspended for two years. The biggest blackout in North American history affected 50 million people in the north-eastern states of US and Ontario on August 14. Severe acute respiratory syndrome better known as SARS was an animal borne pneumonia like illness that caused an outbreak resulting in 774 deaths In 37 countries.

The outbreak was traced back to bats in western China.

The United States led Iraqi invasion was initially called "Operation Iraqi Liberation", but this was changed to "Operation Iraqi Freedom" due an acronym that spelled "OIL". Saddam Hussain was captured by American troops, in a hole in the ground near Tikrit in Iraq.

He was detained for trial. The Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq were never found and probably never existed despite being the primary justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. On September 21, 2003, Galileo the spaceship designed to inform us about Jupiter was destroyed by sending it into Jupiter's atmosphere at eliminating the possibility of contaminating Jovian moons with earthly bacteria. Galileo had circulated Jupiter for 14 years. Focus on poorly paid jobs caused "McJob" to be added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary where it was defined as "a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement". Americans renamed "French Fries" to "Freedom Fries" in protest to France's refusal to send troops to the Iraqi war.

Answer: Hurricanes

The Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster shocked over a dozen countries in SE Asia, Sri Lanka and East Africa causing over 300,000 deaths on December 26.
Taipei 101 becomes the tallest skyscraper in the world in Taiwan, Locust plagues in Chad and Mauritania cause crop loss of over 90%.
The European Union expanded to include an additional ten countries: Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus and the Czech Republic. This was the most important EU expansion to join the economies of the Eastern countries to Western Europe for the first time since the Soviet Union break-up.
The CIA admitted "There was no imminent threat from weapons of mass destruction before the 2003 invasion of Iraq: The very threat of WMDs precipitated the war in the first place.
Flash Mobs were the rage du jour and even entered the "Concise Oxford English Dictionary", where it was described as an "unusual and pointless act".
The Olympics returned to where it all started in 1896 (in the modern era) in Athens
Morgan Spurlock an American who made an infamous documentary gained 25 pounds in 30 days eating only McDonalds food. But it took over a year to lose the weight
Ivan, Charley and Jeanne were destructive hurricanes: Hurricane Ivan strikes Grenada causing damage to 90% of property before striking, Jamaica, Cuba Hurricane and mainland USA; Hurricane Jeanne killed over 3,000, most in Haiti; Hurricane Charley killed 17 people in Florida, Cuba and Jamaica.
The Boston Red Sox baseball team won their first World Series since after an eighty-six year championship drought. Referred to as the "Curse of the Bambino," as many believed the drought was related to the Red Sox's sale of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920.

Answer: Benedict XVI

Hurricane Katrina strikes Louisiana. Levee banks can't hold back the flooding Mississippi and most of New Orleans floods causing 1600 deaths. The government is criticised for its time to respond.
The Airbus A380, the first totally double decker jet plane makes its maiden flight out of France. Bhutan is the first country in the world to ban tobacco products nationally. Barry Marshall drinks a cocktail of Helicobacter pylori bacteria to prove that ulcers are bacterial in origin (He was right.)
Live 8 concerts occur in members of the G8 cities worldwide to put pressure on the leaders of the G8 countries to do more world poverty. Concerts were held in London, Philadelphia, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Moscow, Edinburgh, Cornwall, Johannesburg, and Barrie.
Priince Charles married Camilla Parker-Bowles but she did not become a Princess but was given the title of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall as a wedding gift from the Queen.
The IRA announces an end to armed conflict in Northern Ireland and surrenders its weapons to independent agents. Mark Zuckerberg offered to sell Facebook to Myspace. But CEO Chris DeWolfe rejected thought 75 million dollars US was too high. At that stage Facebook was limited to US colleges and high school students. Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim created YouTube" a video sharing website in 2005.
Pope John Paul II died on April 2 2005; Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected as the new Pope on April 19, He took the name Pope Benedict XVI.

Answer: Colorado USA

The U.S. Energy department reported that underneath Colorado is "about a trillion barrels worth of oil in the form of oil shale" "and it equals nearly as much as the rest of the world's conventional oil reserves added together" Cost of extraction is high and there is a negative environmental impact due to processing oil shale into oil being too expensive at this time.

The Venus Express was a European Space Agency unmanned spacecraft which arrived at Venus in April. The craft was able to relay information back to earth until 2014. Honda became the sole supplier for Indy cars - a world first. Barry Bonds scored 725 home runs beating Babe Ruth's record. The Pittsburgh Steelers were the first NFL team to win five Super Bowls.
In Mumbai India, over 160 people are killed by seven bombs on the local train network on July 11th. Blu-Ray a video medium five times better than DVD is released. Pluto is downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planer. Steve Irwin tragically died from a stingray barb. Dick Cheney shoots Harry Whittington accidentally in the face and chest while hunting.

Answer: New Australian Prime Minister

In November 2007 Australia elected an Australian Labor Party government for .the first time since 1993. The leader was Kevin Rudd so he became Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto, first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan was assassinated in Rawalpindi in 2007.
The Australian drought is so severe, world wheat prices rise alarmingly. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation held a competition to finish the phrase "as Canadian as ____" (as an analogy with "as American as apple pie"). The winner was: "as Canadian as possible, under the circumstances". Serbian vandals drove a stake into convicted war crimes ex-President Slobodan Milosevic's grave to ensure he did not return as a vampire.
In Minneapolis a bridge over the Mississippi river on I35W collapsed with cars dropping the 15 metres into the river, but due to first responders' quick responses "only" 13 people were killed.
One of the largest wild fires in US history wiped out much of Southern California due to the Santa Ana winds. The fire destroyed hundreds of square miles and 2,000 homes.
The iPhone is released in January with demand outstripping supply. The Tesla Roadster, the world's first electric car capable of being mass produced is displayed at car shows prior to release in 2008.

Answer: Fidel Castro

An asteroid weighing approximately 80 tons exploded above the Nubian Desert in the Sudan in 2008. NASA detected the asteroid only 19 hours prior to it exploding.
The USA FDA permits the production and marketing of foods that have been derived from cloned animals.

Anomalies in the American Sub Prime mortgage market along with Wall Street Bank Lehman Brothers collapsed triggering the Global Financial Crisis, a worldwide recession where billions were wiped off stock exchanges in a few weeks. It would take years to claw back lost financial ground. The cost to financial institutions alone was $2,800,000,000,000 ($2.8 Trillion).
Jacques Vroom and Steve Rothstein had their American Airlines Airpasses revoked. They had paid $250,000+ each for unlimited travel and had chalked up a staggering 48 million miles of travel between the two of them costing the airline over $40 million. In 2008 they both had their Airpasses terminated for fraudulent activity.
2008 was given the title of "Year of the Potato".
Writers went on strike against Hollywood film and TV studios, which lasted for nearly 3 months until a compromise was reached. Daniel Craig had to finish his only movie screenplay by writing or at least finishing the "Quantum of Solace" screenplay.
Fidel Castro became Prime Minister of Cuba in 1959. He then became the 15th president in 1976. In 2008 he was too ill to continue and stepped down. His brother Raul then became Cuba's president.

Answer: A hijacked cargo ship

MV Maersk Cargo Ship, 280 miles southeast of Eyl, Somalia was boarded by pirate in an attempted hijacking which failed but the pirates took Captain Richard Phillips hostage. US Navy SEALs killed three of four pirates and retrieved Captain Phillips who was physically uninjured.

The World Health Organization declared H1N1 influenza, known as "swine flu", as a global pandemic.
Russia shut down its gas supply to Ukraine over a disputed $2 billion dollar debt. A slow down occurred on January 1 2009 but stopped completely ion January 7. There were knock on effects in Eastern Europe with Bulgaria, Moldova and Slovakia affected the most will nil supplies. A settlement was reached an gas was restored on January 30.
Barrack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States in his first of two terms.
Michael Jackson died in mysterious circumstances causing social media and search engines to crash. Google first thought that the millions of search requests meant they were under attack, and blocked searches related to Michael Jackson for 30 minutes.
"Avatar" became the biggest selling movie of the year but not quite as successful as James Cameron's previous movie "Titanic".
Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger maked a successful crash landing with nil loss of life on the Hudson River after US Airways Flight 1549 was struck by a flock of Canada geese upon take-off.
Bush fires in Victoria, Australia claimed 174 lives and destroyed 2,000 homes. They were the deadliest bush fires in Australia's history and they became known as the Black Saturday bushfires.

Answer: Plastic horn

The long-lasting effects of the GFC continued to hit hard with depressed housing markets and little consumer spending. Europe and America pursued different ideologies to address the issues. Countries like the US and Australia continued to attempt to spend their way out of the recession by creating more jobs. Europe addressed budget deficits. Two of the largest Earthquakes ever recorded killed thousand in Haiti and Chile.
Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building at 828 meters 2,716ft high with 160 floors opened in Dubai - previously the world's tallest skyscraper was Taipei 101 - 509.2 m or 1,671 ft.
The Best Party was an Icelandic mock political party. They openly stated they would keep none one of their campaign promises. They won 35% of the city vote, with Jon Gnarr, their leader becoming mayor.
Netflix having migrated from a DVD distribution company became the most popular streaming service in North America, changing the way we view television.
Iran continued with its nuclear power plant construction causing the United Nations to place stringent sanctions on this country over concerns the nuclear material would be siphoned off for weapon-making
The 2010 FIFA World Cup took place in South Africa, Spain won the World Cup beating The Netherlands but the competition is overshadowed as Vuvuzelas, a 65cm plastic horn capable of producing a single note is used prolifically during the competition. There were so many complaints from a world-wide TV audience; broadcasters had to develop ways to filter out the annoying sound.