Bit of This and That No 4 Trivia Quiz

Answer: You need a permit to wear high heels

This law was still active as at 2011. It's doubtful if it is enforced today however. Imagine the outcry. The reason behind its enactment was to put a stop to any lawsuit that resulted if a woman tripped over on uneven pavements caused by tree roots. This permit is obtained free of charge at Carmel's City Hall.

It applies to all high heels which are more than two inches high, and with bases attached to the shoe that are less than a square inch in size. Another unusual law that was in place in this city was that ice-cream wasn't allowed to be eaten on the streets. Clint Eastwood, when he was Mayor of this city in the 1980s, overturned this and other similar peculiar laws that he considered were bad for the economy of the town.

However, the required permit for high heels remained in place. What piffle.

Answer: Mars

It's all so thrilling - especially for a Trekkie. We're seeing the future of space travel and settlement unfold before our very eyes. This mobile laboratory is called Curiosity. It's five times the size of all previous mobile labs sent to explore various elements of space. What is even more exciting is that it carries more than ten times the number of investigative instruments than previous vehicles. Who knows what it may unearth? The purpose of the mission is to see if Mars is capable of supporting life. The brave little probe is expected to land on Mars in August, 2012. The following quote from the TV series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987-1994) seems appropriate here somehow.

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before".

Answer: The start of the protest demonstrations in Arab nations

These protests began in Tunisia on 18 December, 2010 and very rapidly spread to other Arab nations from that time. Countries involved included Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudia Arabia, Sudan and Western Sahara. It was, and is, absolutely astonishing for the rest of the world to witness and comprehend. The reasons behind these uprisings include dissatisfaction with harsh rule, violation of human rights, rising prices everywhere without accompanying matching incomes, unemployment and poverty.

Contributing to this is a rise in education and literacy - and knowledge - but with no government reforms to match. The head on clash was inevitable. Horrifyingly, many, many lives have been lost as the people's call for a better life have largely been ignored or violently resisted. It's a human tragedy with an appalling cost.

Answer: An out of phase aircraft motion

The name Dutch roll is taken from a skating style where the skater moves sides to side on the outer edge of his or her skates. In a plane, the wings begin to seesaw up and down. At the same time the tail of the plane goes up and down as well. Just reading about this makes me airsick.

The Dutch roll is experienced sometimes if the plane's air speed decreases at the same time as its altitude increases. However, you'll be pleased to know that the design of a plane, particularly its wing positioning, automatically restores the machine to its original flight path. Hopefully, anyhow.

This manoeuvre is usually taught to students pilots to help them improve their stick and rudder handling abilities. The plane is made to roll up to sixty degrees left and right during this lesson. I wonder where they keep the parachutes?

Answer: A sickle

Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system. It is approximately nines times bigger than earth, and is known for its rings and moons. The rings, twelve in all, consist mostly of space debris, dust and ice. Of the sixty-two moons in Saturn's orbit, Titan is the only one with an atmosphere.

There is also evidence of liquid on this moon, which sounds rather promising for the far distant future. This was discovered by a Dutch astronomer, Christiaan Huygens, in 1655. The basic design of a sickle is a handled instrument with a long curved blade attached.

It has been used by mankind to harvest grains or cut grasses for very many centuries. Evidence of its use has been found back as far as pre-neolithic times.

Answer: The Great Smog

Also known as the "Big Smoke", this horrifying event made another 100,000 people very sick. It was caused by a combination of several factors. These included polluted air from the burning of coal, the cold weather, and the lack of any winds to blow the smog away.

It therefore settled in the city from 5th to 9th December until the weather changed and the winds sprang up again. So thick was it that ambulances couldn't be driven because of the lack of visibility. People had to make their own way to hospitals instead. Eventually, transport stopped altogether. So did concerts and public screenings of films as the smog made its way into any large spacious buildings and homes. One positive that did emerge from this tragedy was the establishment of Britain's Clean Air Act.

It took them four years to get round to passing it however. Perhaps they couldn't find the relevant papers in the smog?

Answer: A whale

A whale it was. It is believed that the poor creature had been injured by a large ship, which led to it beaching itself on a coast of Taiwan. There it subsequently died. For some peculiar reason it was then decided to do an autopsy on it to determine cause of death.

The task of loading the huge fish onto the back of a truck involved three super cranes, fifty men, and fifteen hours of hard work before it was finally on board. Watching this event was a large crowd of people. They were so intrigued by the whole process that takeaway food stands selling hot foods and drinks were set up to keep them fed.

When the convoy carrying its massively heavy burden reached the centre of Tainan however, the whale suddenly exploded. It "splattered blood and whale entrails over surrounding shop-fronts, bystanders and cars" and the smell was appalling according to outraged local residents and shopkeepers. All in all then, you could say, it seems that not everyone had a whale of a time.

Answer: An edible mushroom

This mushroom is native to Europe, but is becoming harder to find there. By 2011, for example, it had became endangered in Holland. Fortunately it also grows really well in North America. It thrives when grown in chalky soils on which deciduous or coniferous trees have been planted.

When prepared for a meal it has a taste that varies according to one's taste buds. With a botanical name of Tricholoma atrosquamosum, it's not to be confused with the darker, similar looking Tricholoma pardinum though. That one, with the common name of tigertop, is very poisonous.

Answer: The first American test of a hydrogen bomb

This sterling event took place on the Bikini atoll, Marshall Islands on the first day of March 1954. The force of the explosion was one thousand times bigger than either of the bombs dropped Japan during World War Two. One is not sure what good Castle Bravo achieved for humanity, but the following facts are known for sure:

The crater formed as a result had a diameter of 6,500 feet. Within one second of its detonation, it had formed a fireball that was four and a half miles wide. The mushroom cloud expanded at the rate of 224 miles per hour to eventually cover a huge area of the Pacific. Large numbers of the natives born later on the Marshall Isands had birth defects. Natives who returned to live on the atoll afterwards were poisoned. A Japanese fishing boat crew minding their own business in the area grew sick. One died as a result. How unlucky were they to have survived Hiroshima, only to be downed by a bikini instead. Crew on the vessels involved in the test also suffered radiation effects. The fallout was experienced in parts of Australia, the US itself, Europe, India and Japan. And what this did all this achieve? Who knows? The facilities on the islands designed to test the results of the explosion were blown away - along with most of the test results. And seven years later, the Soviet detonated an even bigger bomb. Whee, and the merry-go-round still continues into the 21st century. What a jolly world we live in, to be sure.

Answer: Military training

As the horsemen of these nations went round and round in circles, they practised fighting mock enemies with their swords while maintaining their sense of balance as well. What fun! English crusaders saw these contraptions in operation and took the idea back to that nation to train their knights. Riders there had to spear rings suspended from the roof of the carousel.

This was great training practice for the ring-tilt jousts which gradually replaced deadlier jousts of the past. Carousels were first used simply for pleasure by the French in the 17th century, and from then on, by the rest of the world.