This quiz is over, and the winner this time is Mark Brader, well done!
Everyone else of us are obliged to hold Mark in awe for the next
24 hours!
Here is the scoreboard:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
=====================================
Mark B 1 - - - 1 - 1 1 1 - 1 - 6
Joshua K 1 - - - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 5
Dan T 1 - - - - 1 1 - - - 1 - 4
Pete G 1 - - - - - - - 1 - 1 - 3
Yes, there were a bit too many stumpers this time. Here are the correct answers:
1. Baloo, Bagheera and King Louie are characters from which popular movie
from the 1960s?
The Jungle Book
2. How many women served as head of state of Russia in the 18th century?
Four.
Catherine I, Anna, Elizabeth and Catherine II (the Great).
In contrast there were only three men: Peter I (the Great), Peter III
and Paul. There were also two boys: Peter II (died at 15 at his planned
wedding day) and Ivan VI (toppled away from power already as an infant.)
3. If you find yourself in Kashgar, in the western fringes of which
country are you?
People's Republic of China
From here it is 204 km as the crow flies to the tri-point with China, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and that is almost as west you can get in
China.
4. Roja Stona won gold in the Olympics, but he has now signed a contract
for a team in another sport. Name any of the two sports. Be
sufficiently specific.
Javelin and American football.
It seems that I botched his name. The first name is Rojé, not Roja.
Also, from Swedish newspapers I got the impression that he had been
signed with an NFL team. Wikipedia says "In December 2024, he was
announced as joining the NFL's International Player Pathway scheme."
You can trust Swedish people not to know too much about American football.
5. Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham has been in the news recently. Why?
This is the rebel army that first took Aleppo and eventually Damaskus
and forced Bashar al'Assad to flee Syria.
Since the question asked for "why" and not "who", I had no problems
with approving "New leader" as if it was a person. On the other hand
"leader of Syrian rebels" left out the important point why they were
in the news at all.
6. Old Prussian is an extinct language. Name any of the languages existing
today that it is most closely related to.
Lithuanian and Latvian.
That is, it was a language in the Baltic group of the Indo-European
languages.
7. The Finnish city of Rovaniemi prouds itself to be the home of
which mythical figure?
Santa Claus.
I approved of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, although I could not find
any direct reference to red-nosed reindeers in Rovaniemi. But logically,
where Santa lives, Rudolph lives.
And, yes, there are more places that makes the claim to be home of
Santa. And since Patara is in ruins, it has difficult to tell the
others to be quiet.
8. The American English word "rutabaga" origins from which language?
Swedish.
I actually learnt this the same day I wrote the quiz. The normal word
in Swedish is "kålrot", but there are many dialectal names, and
"rutabaga" is derived from one of them. (It's from a different part of
the country than me, and I had never heard it before.)
In British English the name is apparently "Swedish turnip" or just
"swede". I also learnt that the rutabaga was achieved by breeding
turnip and cabbage, and that happened in Sweden in the 17th century.
Although, it may be that it happened in what is Finland today.
9. Which artist turned the summer of 2024 into a brat summer?
Charli XCX
You would have to live under a rock not to hear about her and the "Brat"
album. No, I have not heard it, only heard about it.
10. A month or two back, which world leader came to assistance on a
flight when they asked if there was a doctor on board?
Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission.
She is a doctor by profession.
11. In computing, what does the abbreviation VPN stand for?
Virtual Private Network
12. What famous department store are these two pictures from? There is
of the exterior, and one from the interior you see as might you
step in from the street.
Fortnum & Mason
Definitely my favourite spot in London. A nice place to buy tea,
marmalade and biscuits. I should probably have added something about
that to the question. Or refrained from cutting down the second picture,
which in its full format sports baskets with F&M on it. There is
still a smaller one visible in the background to the right.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
