Games – Page 8 – Fun with Traveling Boy

March 5, 2020March 7, 2020

Trivia #23

Where did the expression “Enemy of the People” stem from? Did Taj Mahal workers have their hands chopped off? These questions and more are addressed in Traveling Boy’s 23rd installment of Global Travel Trivia Games. No one will see your answers except for you.

Global Trivia 23

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Question 1

Name the second most visited city in Asia

A	Bangkok, Thailand
B	Hong Kong, China
C	Macau, Macau, China
D	Shenzhen, China
E	Singapore, Singapore

Question 1 :

A. Bangkok, Thailand

Top 10 most visited cities in Asia

Hong Kong, China (27,880.3 million)
Bangkok, Thailand (22,453.9 million)
Singapore, Singapore (17,618.8 million)
Macau, Macau, China (17,337.2 million)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (12,843.5 million)
Shenzhen, China (12,075.1 million)
Phuket, Thailand (11,613.1 million)
Tokyo, Japan (9,549.4 million)
Taipei, Taiwan (9,273.3 million)
Guangzhou, China (9,004.8 million)

Question 2

Did Shah Jahan chop off the hands of his workers after building the Taj Mahal so nothing as beautiful could ever be built again?

A	True
B	False

Question 2 :

B. False

The Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World, was commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan, in memory of his deceased wife Mumtaz. That the hands of workers were amputated because Shah Jahan wanted, ‘nothing as beautiful ever be built again,’ is a myth propagated by the play, Guards At The Taj. Many workers, artisans and architects did have their hands cut off, but not due to a royal decree. The workforce toiled closely together for days upon end, often bruising and cutting their hands and fingers. Their wounds would often times develop puss, and, if not treated properly, would become poisonous and contagious. That is the reason why the fingers and the hands of those workers had to be amputated.

More Facts About the Taj Mahal

Question 3

What is the most popular Girl Scout cookie?

A	Do-si-dos/Peanut Butter Sandwich
B	Samoas/Caramel deLites
C	Tagalongs/Peanut Butter Patties
D	Thin Mints
E	Trefoils/Shortbread

Question 3 :

D. Thin Mints

Most Popular Girl Scout Cookies

Thin mint
Samoas/Caramel deLites
Tagalongs/Peanut Butter Patties
Do-si-dos/Peanut Butter Sandwich
Trefoils/Shortbread

Girl Scout Cookie History

An icon of American culture

For more than 100 years, Girl Scouts have helped ensure the success of the iconic annual cookie sale — and they’ve had fun, developed valuable life skills, and made their communities a better place every step of the way. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized after Low met Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, in 1911. Upon returning to Savannah, Georgia, she telephoned a distant cousin, saying, "I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight!"

More on Girl Scout Cookie History

Question 4

Where did the expression "Enemy of the People" stem from?

A	Athens, Ancient Greece: Draco
B	France: Robespierre
C	Norway: Henrik Ibsen
D	Roman Empire: Senate
E	Soviet Union: Stalin

Question 4 :

D. Roman Empire: Senate

The expression dates back to Roman times. The Senate declared emperor Nero a hostis publicus in AD 68. Its direct translation is "public enemy." Whereas "public" is currently used in English in order to describe something related to collectivity at large, with an implication towards government or the State, the Latin word "publicus" could, in addition to that meaning, also refer directly to people, making it the equivalent of the genitive of populus ("people"), populi ("popular" or "of the people"). Thus, "public enemy" and "enemy of the people" are, etymologically, near synonyms.

The term has been used for centuries in literature: Coriolanus, the play by William Shakespeare in 1605, and An Enemy of the People, the play by Henrik Ibsen in 1882.

The words "ennemi du peuple" were used extensively during the French Revolution. On December 25, 1793, French revolutionary Robespierre stated: "The revolutionary government owes to the good citizen all the protection of the nation; it owes nothing to the Enemies of the People but death.” Ironically Robespierre was later beheaded by the same revolutionary government.

The Soviet Union made extensive use of the term until 1956, notably Stalin, who used it to describe anybody critical of himself personally.

It is routinely used by authoritarian rulers, and since early 2017 it has been used on multiple occasions by US President Donald Trump to refer to news organizations and journalists who he perceives as critical of and biased against him.

Draco (Dreɪkoʊ; Greek: Δράκων, Drakōn; 7th century BC), also called Drako or Drakon, was the first recorded legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece. He replaced the prevailing system of oral law and blood feud by a written code to be enforced only by a court of law. Draco was the first democratic legislator, requested by the Athenian citizens to be a lawgiver for the city-state, but the citizens were fully unaware that Draco would establish laws characterized by their harshness. Since the 19th century, the adjective draconian (Greek: δρακόντειος drakónteios) refers to unforgiving punishment to those who have broken minor rules or laws.

Question 5

John Lennon appeared as an actor in three films directed by Richard Lester, which include A Hard Day’s Night and Help! Name the third film.

A	The Bedsitting Room
B	Don’t Look Back
C	How I Won the War
D	Magical Mystery Tour
E	Yellow Submarine

Question 5 :

C. How I Won the War

How I Won the War is a 1967 British black comedy directed by Richard Lester, based on a novel of the same name by Patrick Ryan. The film stars Michael Crawford as bungling British Army Office Lieutenant Earnest Goodbody, with John Lennon (in his only non-musical role, as Musketeer Gripweed).

The movie follows the attempt of the British Army's "3rd Troop, the 4th Musketeers" to build a cricket pitch behind enemy lines in WW II Tunisia, lampooning the absurdity of the war.

Lester, having worked with Lennon previously in A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, was astutely aware of his cynical Liverpudlian persona and tailored Lennon’s character along those lines.

More on John Lennon and How I Won the War

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March 4, 2020March 5, 2020

The Taj Mahal, Girl Scouts and John Lennon

Facts About the Taj Mahal

The construction of the Taj Mahal began in 1632 and was completed in 1653. It took a total of twenty two years to complete the construction of this monument.
The architecture of the Taj Mahal is a combination of Indian, Persian and Islamic styles of architecture.
The name of the architect of the Taj Mahal is Ahmed Lahauri.
The Taj Mahal was Shah Jahan’s imagination of Mumtaz’s home in paradise.
Around 20,000 people worked day and night for twenty two years to complete construction of the Taj Mahal.
The Taj Mahal was constructed using the best quality marble from Rajasthan, Tibet, Afghanistan and China.
At different times of the day the Taj Mahal appears to be in a different color. Some believe that these changing colors depict the changing moods of a woman.
The Taj Mahal is one of the seven modern wonders of the world and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
There was a popular myth that Shah Jahan was planning to construct a black Taj Mahal across the Yamuna, this is not true.
Another popular myth around the Taj Mahal is that after the construction of the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan cut off the hands of all the workers so that such a structure could not be built again. Fortunately, this is not true.
The Taj Mahal has a mosque in its premises, which is why the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays and only those going for customary prayers are permitted inside the Taj Mahal.
By the late 19^th century, the Taj Mahal had been defaced by the British soldiers who chiseled out precious stones from the walls of the monument. At the end of the 19^th century, British Viceroy, Lord Curzon, ordered a restoration of the monument and also gifted a large lamp which hangs in the interior chambers of the Taj Mahal.
In 2000, an Indian writer P.N. Oak claimed that the Taj Mahal was actually a ShivTemple and filed a petition with the Supreme Court of India to excavate the site of the Taj to look for proof. His petition was rejected by the Supreme Court.
In 2001, the UNESCO documented more than two million visitors to the Taj Mahal.
India’s’ Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, referred to the Taj Mahal as a “tear drop on the cheek of time”.
Calligraphy on the tomb of Mumtaz identifies and praises her.
The four minarets of the Taj Mahal have been constructed slightly outside of the plinth so that in case the minarets fell, they would fall away and not on the main structure.
After his death, Shah Jahan was laid to rest in the Taj Mahal besides the tomb of his wife Mumtaz.

Girl Scout Cookie History

An icon of American culture

girl scouts preparing fruit and vegetable preserves, 1917 — Girl Scouts team up to preserve fruits and vegetables in response to food shortages, circa 1917.

For more than 100 years, Girl Scouts have helped ensure the success of the iconic annual cookie sale — and they’ve had fun, developed valuable life skills, and made their communities a better place every step of the way. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized after Low met Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, in 1911. Upon returning to Savannah, Georgia, she telephoned a distant cousin, saying, “I’ve got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we’re going to start it tonight!”

Girl Scout Cookies had their earliest beginnings in the kitchens and ovens of girl members, with moms volunteering as technical advisers. Girl Scouting in the U.S. officially began in 1912, when Low organized the first Girl Guide troop meeting of 18 girls in Savannah, Georgia. The advent of selling cookies started when the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, baked cookies and sold them in its high school cafeteria as a service project. In 1917, it concentrated on a way to finance U.S. troop during WW1. Today, It has since grown to 3.7 million members. .

1994: Chronicle of Philanthropy poll showed Girl Scouts ranked by the public as the eighth “most popular charity/non-profit in America” among more than 100 charities. It describes itself as “the world’s preeminent organization dedicated solely to girls.”

2016: Girl Scouts took the stage at the Academy Awards to sell cookies to Hollywood A-listers, beginning to the nationwide celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts selling cookies. That continued with the introduction of Girl Scout S’mores, which quickly became the most popular new cookie to launch in our history.

2020: Justin Timberlake started a fierce debate on social media when he declared Samoas to be his favorite Girl Scout cookies over Thin Mints.

Famous People who were Girl Scouts:

Michelle Obama
Lucille Ball
Taylor Swift
Martha Stewart
Mariah Carey
Meryl Streep
Katie Couric
Meghan Markle
Venus Williams
Queen Elizabeth II
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki
Hilary Clinton & daughter Chelsea

John Lennon and How I Won the War

How I Won the War is a 1967 British black comedy directed by Richard Lester, based on a novel of the same name by Patrick Ryan. The film stars Michael Crawford as bungling British Army Office Lieutenant Earnest Goodbody, with John Lennon (in his only non-musical role, as Musketeer Gripweed).

The movie follows the attempt of the British Army’s “3rd Troop, the 4th Musketeers” to build a cricket pitch behind enemy lines in WW II Tunisia, lampooning the absurdity of the war.

Lester, having worked with Lennon previously in A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, was astutely aware of his cynical Liverpudlian persona and tailored Lennon’s character along those lines.

Clapper (*Roy Kinnear): “You married?”
Musketeer Gripweed (Lennon): “No, I play the harmonica.”

John Lennon on the set of How I Won the War — LEFT: Richard Lester (top right) supervises Lennon’s haircut. RIGHT: Lennon in full character.

In order to play the period character, Lennon had to cut his Beatle mop top hair-style. A four-inch lock cut by a Germaharatern barber in 1966, sold for $35,000 at an auction, according to Heritage Auction in Dallas, Texas.

*Roy Mitchell Kinnear (1934 –1988) was a British character actor best known for his roles in films directed by Richard Lester; including Algernon in Help! (1965), Clapper in How I Won the War (1967), and Planchet in The Three Musketeers (1973), reprising the latter role in the 1974 and 1989 sequels, and cruise director Curtain in Juggernaut (1974).

John Lennon and Roy Kinnear on the set of How I Won the War — John Lennon and Roy Kinnear clowning around on the set of How I Won the War.

On September 19, 1988, Kinnear fell from a horse during the making of The Return of the Musketeers in Toledo, Spain, and sustained a broken pelvis and internal bleeding. He was taken to hospital in Madrid, but died the next day from a heart attack, brought on by his injuries. Lester, who had become close friends with Kinnear, quit the film business as a direct result of Kinnear’s death.

February 21, 2020February 26, 2020

Trivia #22

Name the second democracy in the Western Hemisphere. Did Free French Forces participate in D-Day? These questions and more are addressed in Traveling Boy’s 22nd installment of Global Travel Trivia Games. No one will see your answers except for you.

Global Trivia 22

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Question 1

What nation was the second democracy in the Western Hemisphere?

A	Argentina
B	Canada
C	Colombia
D	Haiti
E	United States

Question 1 :

D. Haiti

On January 1, 1804, Haiti proclaimed its independence from France, and became the second independent state in the Western Hemisphere and the first free black republic in the world. It started with a slave revolt in the French Haitian colony, then named Saint-Domingue. Toussaint-Louverture, a former slave, took control of the rebels. Gifted with natural military genius, Toussaint organized an effective guerrilla war against the island’s French colonial population. He found able generals in two other former slaves, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe, and in 1795 orchestrated the abolishment of slavery. Toussaint became governor-general of the colony, and in 1801 conquered the Spanish portion of the island, freeing the slaves there as well. In 1802, a French invasion force ordered by Napoleon landed on Saint-Domingue. After several months of furious fighting, Toussaint agreed to a cease-fire. He retired to his plantation, but in 1803 was arrested and taken to a dungeon in the French Alps, where he was tortured and died. Soon after Toussaint’s arrest, Napoleon announced his intention to reintroduce slavery on Haiti/Saint-Domingue. Dessalines led a new revolt against French rule. With the aid of the British, the rebels scored a major victory against the French force, which led to their surrender. In 1804, General Dessalines assumed dictatorial power, and renamed the former colony, Haiti, after its original Arawak name. Haiti became the official second independent nation in the Americas.

The United States, the first independent nation in the western hemisphere, initially supported the rebellion, but then changed sides and supported France. This was due to a fear of a slave revolt in their own nation, which was the largest (and considered the most callous) slave-holding nation in the world.

Question 2

Name the travel book NOT written by Pau Theroux.

A	Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Road
B	The Happy Isle of Oceania
C	Life on the Mississippi
D	On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey
E	Riding the Iron Rooster

Question 2 :

C. Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

Paul Theroux

Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is American travel writer, novelist and short story writer, whose best-known work is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). Theroux was born in Medford, Massachusetts, the son of Catholic parents; his mother, Anne (née Dittami), was Italian American, and his father, Albert Eugene Theroux, was French-Canadian. His mother was a former grammar school teacher and painter, and his father was a shoe factory leather salesman. Theroux was formally educated at the University of Maine, in Orono, (1959–60) followed by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he obtained a B.A. in English in 1963. After he finished his university education, Theroux joined the Peace Corps in 1963 as a teacher in Malawi. A new program, the Peace Corps had sent its first volunteers overseas in 1961. Theroux helped a political opponent of Prime Minister Hastings Banda escape to Uganda. For this Theroux was expelled from Malawi and thrown out of the Peace Corps. He was declared persona non grata by Banda in Malawi for sympathizing with Yatuta Chisiza. As a consequence, his later novel Jungle Lovers, which concerns an attempted coup in the country, was banned in Malawi for many years. Theroux’s Great Railway Bazaar was his first major success as a travel writer and now a classic in the genre.

Important Theroux travel books

The Great Railway Bazaar (1975)
The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas (1979)
The Kingdom by the Sea (1983)
Sailing Through China (1984)
Sunrise with Seamonsters (1985)
The Imperial Way (1985)
Riding the Iron Rooster (1988)
Travelling The World - The Illustrated Travels of Paul Theroux (1990)
The Happy Isles of Oceania (1992)
The Pillars of Hercules (1995)
Fresh Air Fiend (2000)
Dark Star Safari (2002)
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star (2008)
The Tao of Travel (2011)
The Last Train to Zona Verde (2013)
Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads (2015)
Figures in a Landscape: People and Places (2018)
On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey (2019)

Important Fiction

Waldo (1967), Paul Theroux's debut novel
Saint Jack was made into the film with the same title by director Peter Bogdanovich (1979)
Doctor Slaughter was made into the film Half Moon Street (1986)
The Mosquito Coast was made into a film by Australian director, Peter Weir (1986)
Kowloon Tong was made into the film Chinese Box (1997), based on Theroux’s study of the British handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.
Hotel Honolulu

Question 3

Of the five Normandy D-Day beachheads, which one did Free French Forces participate in?

A	Gold
B	Juno
C	Omaha
D	Sword
E	Utah

Question 3 :

D. Sword

Free French Forces were deployed with the British on Sword Beach with 177 commandos (1er Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins), led by Commandant Philippe Kieffer. Free French Paratroopers also played part. It was in early morning of June 6th, 1944, that four sticks of eight paratroopers from Free France belonging to the 3rd battalion under Bourgoin were dropped over Brittany. The French Resistance played a significant role as well, in facilitating the Allies' rapid advance through France following the invasion of Normandy by providing military intelligence on the German Wehrmacht defenses known as the Atlantic Wall, which include coordinated and executed acts of sabotage on German electrical power grid, transport facilities, and telecommunications networks. Free France and its Free French Forces (French: France Libre and Forces françaises libres) were the government-in-exile led by Charles de Gaulle that continued to fight against the Axis powers as one of the Allies after the fall of France. The Free French Forces stood at 1 million troops by the end of 1944, primarily fighting in Alsace, the Alps and Bretagne.

Freedom Fries, anyone?

On June 11,1940, the Polish government in exile signed an agreement with the British government to form a Polish army and Polish air force in the United Kingdom. The first two (of an eventual ten) Polish fighter squadrons went into action in August 1940. Polish airmen and several Polish ships also took part in missions on D-Day protecting the landing operations. The 1^st Polish Armoured Division landed later in the Normandy campaign and played a critical role in the battle of the Argentan-Falaise Pocket. The German 2nd SS "Das Reich" division, the 5th and the 7th Panzer Armies were almost completely surrounded by British, Canadian, American and Free French troops. The only way out for the Germans was a gap between Argentan and Falaise, the so-called "corridor of death.” The 1^st Polish Armoured Division saw wave after wave of Germans coming towards them. With tremendous determination and a very high casualty-rate, they succeeded in standing their ground and sealing off the gap, and opened the way for the Allies to liberate Paris.

The first French town to be captured in Normandy was St. Mere Eglise, taken by the US 82nd Airborne Division. When people (mostly tourists) visit St. Mere Eglise they notice what looks like a paratrooper hanging from his parachute from the Church steeple. What was the paratrooper’s his nationality and military outfit? Well, he was an American named John Steele from the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. U.S. actor Red Buttons played him in the movie, The Longest Day.

Gold: Britain
Juno: Canada
Omaha: US
Sword: Britain & Free France
Utah: US

Special thanks to John Clayton; still the best source for all things pertaining to D-Day.

Question 4

In 2001 an initiative was started by the Swiss corporation New7Wonders Foundation to choose the New7Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments. Name the monument NOT selected in 2007.

A	Chichen Itza: Mexico
B	Christ the Redeemer: Brazil
C	Mount Rushmore: U.S.
D	Petra: Jordan
E	Roman Colosseum: Italy

Question 4 :

C. Mount Rushmore: U.S.

Seven Modern Wonders of the World

Chichen Itza: Mexico (AD 600)
Christ the Redeemer: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (AD 1931)
Great Wall of China: (BC 7th century)
Machu Picchu: Peru c. (AD 1450)
Petra: Jordan (BC 100)
Roman Colosseum: (AD 80)
Taj Mahal: India (AD 1648)

The Great Pyramid of Giza: Egypt (2560 BC) is the only remaining of the Seven Ancient Wonders. It was not one of the winners announced in 2007, but was added as an honorary candidate.

Question 5

Name the film starring Meryl Streep where she plays an American.

A	Bridges of Madison County
B	A Cry in the Dark
C	The House of the Spirits
D	Mama Mia
E	Out of Africa
F	Sophie's Choice

Question 5 :

D. Mamma Mia! (2008): Streep plays a free-spirited American expiate living on a Greek island.

The Bridges of Madison County (1995): Italian accent

A Cry in the Dark (1988): Australian accent

The House of the Spirits (1993); Chilean accent

Out of Africa (1985): Danish accent

Sophie's Choice (1982): Polish accent

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress, often described as the "best actress of her generation." Particularly known for her versatility and accents, Streep has been nominated for a record 21 Academy Awards, where she has won three. Among other accolades, she has received 32 Golden Globe nominations, more than any other person, and won eight.

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February 14, 2020February 19, 2020

Trivia #21

What do you know about the Industrial Revolution? How about the Columbian Exchange? These subjects and more are addressed in Traveling Boy’s 21^st installment of our Global Trivia Game. No one will see your answers except for you.

Global Trivia 21

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Question 1

What nation leads the world in polluting the oceans with plastic waste?

A	China
B	India
C	The Philippines
D	Thailand
E	United States

Question 1 :

A. China

Top Ten Nation Ocean Polluters of Plastic Waste

1. China
2. Indonesia
3. Philippines
4. Vietnam
5. Sri Lanka
6. Thailand
7. Egypt
8. Malaysia
9. Nigeria
10. Bangladesh

Question 2

Name the food item not found in the pre-Columbian Americas.

A	Beans
B	Corn
C	Peppers
D	Potatoes
E	Watermelon

Question 2 :

E. Watermelon

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is a plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, a vine-like flowering plant originating in West Africa. It is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, having more than 1000 varieties. There is evidence from seeds in Pharaoh tombs of watermelon cultivation in Ancient Egypt.

The discovery of the New World by Columbus began what became known as the Columbian Exchange. This was an exchange of people, plants, animals and disease across the Atlantic Ocean. The Europeans were the main beneficiaries of this exchange. Europe received new crops of corn and potatoes which greatly improved European diets. Native Americans, however, suffered from the exchange of germs, to which they had never been exposed. As a result, it is estimated that as many as 90% of Native Americans died from small pox and other diseased brought by the Europeans. The changes in agriculture significantly altered global populations. The most significant immediate impact of the Columbian exchange was the cultural exchanges and the transfer of people (both free and enslaved) between continents.

Question 3

Eli Whitney is often considered the "father of American technology," due to this invention.

A	Cotton gin
B	Electric generator
C	Spinning jenny
D	Watt steam engine
E	The typewriter

Question 3 :

A. Cotton gin

Eli Whitney was born in 1765 and grew up on a Massachusetts farm. During the Revolutionary War he manufactured nails to fill the demand caused by British embargos. Young Eli quickly learned how the marketplace worked, and diversified into hatpins and canes. It was his genius to observe what people needed, and to provide it.

After working his way through college at Yale, Whitney moved to South Carolina where he saw how hard it was to separate the green seeds from short-staple cotton. In 1793, he invented a machine that could do the task ten times faster than a single person (almost always a slave) doing the work by hand. The cotton gin revolutionized agriculture. It also made possible the cotton economy of the American South, perpetuating and increasing the practice of slavery upon which the agricultural system depended.

In 1798, Whitney, who had not seen much profit from his epochal machine, launched a new venture: arms manufacturing. Once again he observed carefully, noting a war scare with France, and delivered something necessary and innovative: arms that he claimed he could produce more efficiently with the help of machines. His idea of machine-made, interchangeable parts was the beginning of what would become known as the "American system" of mass production. Although other Americans would create this system in their industries, it was Whitney who popularized the idea and was instrumental in lobbying politicians to pass legislation to standardize arms production.

Additional important inventions

Electric generator: The first electric generator was invented by Michael Faraday in 1831: the Faraday Disk.

Spinning jenny was a spinning engine invented in 1764 by James Hargreaves. Able to be operated by unskilled workers, it was a key development in the industrialisation of weaving, as it could spin many spindles at a time.

Watt steam engine: During the latter half of the nineteenth century, Scottish engineer James Watt sought to improve Newcomen’s engine. He thus invented the first practical steam engine.

Type-writer: In 1829 William Burt, an American inventor, patented the first type-writer which he called a ‘typographer’. Although it was dreadfully ineffective (actually proving slower to use than writing something out by hand), Burt is nonetheless regarded as the ‘father of the typewriter’. Thirty-eight years later the first modern typewriter was invented by Christopher Sholes.

Question 4

U.S. history has us believe that all British colonies in North America broke from the Crown, creating 13 different states that became the United States of America. Actually, there were a number who remained part of Great Britain. Name a former colony that did secede.

A	The Floridas: (East and West )
B	Maine
C	Newfoundland
D	Nova Scotia
E	Quebec

Question 4 :

B. Maine

Maine did secede from Great Britain, but was then part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Never-the-less Maine’s New Somersetshire Colony was established in 1629 by the British Crown before being absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1658. Maine was a center of Patriotism during the American Revolution, with less Loyalist activity than most colonies. Merchants operated 52 ships that served as privateers attacking British supply ships. On March 15, 1820, under the Missouri Compromise, Maine broke from Massachusetts and was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state.

Question 5

Name the Liverpool rock group or vocalist that Brian Epstein DID NOT manage.

A	Cilla Black
B	Gerry & the Pacemakers
C	Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders
D	Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas
E	Tommy Quigley
F	The Silkie

Question 5 :

C. Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders

The Beatles' Brian Samuel Epstein was an English music entrepreneur, best known for managing The Beatles, but also managed Cilla Black, The Cyrkle, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, The Silkie and Gerry & the Pacemakers.

Epstein first discovered The Beatles in November 1961 during a lunchtime Cavern Club performance. He was instantly impressed and saw great potential in the group. Epstein was rejected by nearly all major recording companies in London, until he secured a meeting with George Martin, head of EMI's Parlophone label. In May 1962, Martin agreed to sign The Beatles partly because of Epstein's conviction that the group would become internationally famous.

The Beatles' early success has been attributed to Epstein's management style, and the band trusted him without hesitation. In addition to handling the Beatles' business affairs, Epstein often stepped in to mediate personal disputes within the group.

Epstein gave The Pacemakers the same buff and shine he’d given to The Beatles, putting them in identical suits and smartening up their stage presentation. And when the The Beatles passed on recording “How Do You Do It” as their second single, it was given to The Pacemakers, who promptly scored the group’s first No. 1 when it was released in 1963. It was replaced at No. 1 by The Beatles’ “Please Please Me,” which was then replaced by the Pacemakers’ “I Like It” — a run of 14 straight weeks of acts managed by Epstein. The Merseybeat boom was under way.

Epstein’s management empire hit its peak in 1964, after the massive success of The Beatles, and early successes of Gerry & the Pacemakers, Cilla Black and Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas. But as his roster continued to expand, success became increasingly elusive. Too many acts were being signed expecting the Esptein touch. He focused on The Beatles and often was unavailable to work with other groups, to their disappointment.

The Beatles' unquestioning loyalty to Epstein later proved detrimental, as the band rarely read contracts before signing them. Shortly after the song "Please Please Me" rose to the top of the charts in 1963, Epstein advised the creation of Northern Songs, a publishing company that would control the copyrights of all Lennon–McCartney compositions recorded between 1963 and 1973. Music publisher Dick James and his partner Charles Silver owned 51-percent of the company, Lennon and McCartney each owned 20%, and Epstein owned 9%. By 1969, Lennon and McCartney had lost control of all publishing rights to ATV Music Publishing. Still, Epstein's death in 1967 marked the beginning of the group's dissolution and had a profound effect on each Beatle.

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February 3, 2020February 11, 2020

Trivia #20

Which Pope banned all clerical marriages? What is a Berliner? These questions and more are in our 20^th installment of Traveling Boy’s Global Travel Trivia game.

Global Trivia 20

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Question 1

Name the country where English is NOT an official language

A	Belize
B	Botswana
C	Guyana
D	India
E	USA
F	Zimbabwe

Question 1 :

E. USA

Although English is taught in schools and used everywhere in the country, the United States actually has no official national language. According to the CIA World Factbook, “English has acquired official status in 32 of the 50 states; Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii, and 20 indigenous languages are official in Alaska.”

Belize is the only English-language-official country in Central America. English is not the only language spoken in Belize — nearly half of the population is fluent in an impressive three languages: English, Spanish, and Kriol. Although Belize was first settled by the Maya around 1500 B.C.E, the country was colonized by the British in the 1600s and eventually became the Colony of British Honduras, which is why English wound up as the official language. In 1981, Belize won full independence, but the official language of English stuck.

Botswana has both an official language (English) and a national language (Setswana), and you’ll find both spoken throughout the country if you visit. English is used for official documents and formal written communications, whereas Setswana is primarily used as a spoken language. Including English and Setswana, there are over 30 different languages spoken throughout diverse Botswana.

Guyana is the only country in South America with English as the official language. This is a leftover byproduct of British colonization — Guyana gained independence in 1966. Although English is the official language, most Guyanese have Guyanese Creole as a first language.

India has two national languages — English and Hindi. There are also 22 other officially recognized languages that are used by sections of the population, including Bengali, Punjabi, and Urdu. However, just because English is an official language doesn’t mean you can expect everyone you meet in the country to speak it. According to one report, only about 30 percent of Indian residents speak English.

Zimbabwe holds the Guinness World Record for the country with the most official languages, clocking in at 16. English is one of those languages, as are Chewa, Chibarwe, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Shona, sign language, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda and Xhosa.

Courtesy of Caroline Morse Teel, Senior Editor at SmarterTravel. Follow her on Twitter @CarolineMorse1 and Instagram @TravelWithCaroline.

Question 2

Which Pope issued a decree against all clerical marriages in the Catholic Church?

A	Pope Celestine V
B	Pope Gregory VII
C	Pope John Paul II
D	Pope Pius X
E	Pope Celestine V

Question 2 :

B. Pope Gregory VII

Pope Gregory VII (Latin: Gregorius VII; c. 1015 – 25 May 1085), born Hildebrand of Sovana (Italian: Ildebrando da Soana), was pope from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He enacted many reforms such as reversing centuries of civil control over church affairs and giving the pope of Rome full sovereignty over all church affairs in the West. He promoted a more saintly episcopacy and priesthood and fought against simony, the buying and selling of church office. He introduced the legislation that locked in the observance of celibacy, despite frequent debates over the issue. He decreed the Roman rite for all of Europe and established Nov. 1 as All Saints’ Day. He lifted the excommunication of Emperor Henry IV in 1077 after the emperor did public penance of walking barefoot in the snow.

The practice of priestly celibacy began to spread in the Western Church in the early Middle Ages. In the early 11th century Pope Benedict VIII responded to the decline in priestly morality by issuing a rule prohibiting the children of priests from inheriting property. A few decades later Pope Gregory VII issued a decree against all clerical marriages.

But the belief that religious figures should be celibate began long before the birth of Christianity. Ancient Druid priests were thought to have been celibate and Aztec temple priests were expected to remain sexually abstinent. Other pre-Christian sects mandated that the people chosen for their sacrificial offerings must be pure, meaning that they had never engaged in sex.

Jesus lived a chaste life and never married and at one point in the Bible is referred to as a eunuch (Matthew 19:12), though most scholars believe that this was intended metaphorically. The implication was that Jesus lived a celibate life like a eunuch. Many of his disciples were also chaste and celibate. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, recommends celibacy for women: "To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion." (1 Cor. 7:8-9) But the early Christian church had no hard and fast rule against clergy marrying and having children. Peter, a Galilee fisherman, whom the Catholic Church considers the first Pope, was married. Some Popes were the sons of Popes. But that all ended with Gregory VII.

Question 3

Name the nation that DOES NOT have territorial claims in Antarctica

A	Australia
B	Brazil
C	Chile
D	France
E	New Zealand
F	Norway

Question 3 :

B. Brazil

There are seven sovereign states who have territorial claims in Antarctica: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. These countries place their Antarctic scientific observation and study facilities within their respective claimed territories; however, a few nations have facilities located outside of the claimed territories such as Russia and the United States, which have no claims. Antarctica has traditionally been the preserve of scientists and polar explorers – including Earnest Shackleton, Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen – but today as many as 40,000 hardy tourists arrive on the continent annually to marvel at the frozen wilderness. According to the Antarctic Treaty, which came into force in 1961, Antarctica is designated as a “natural reserve, devoted to peace and science,” which must always be put before territorial disputes.

Question 4

Name the Liverpool band in which Ringo Starr played drums before joining the Beatles.

A	Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas
B	Freddie and the Dreamers
C	Rory Storm and the Hurricanes
D	Gerry and the Pacemakers
E	The Searchers

Question 4 :

C. Rory Storm and the Hurricanes

Born in Liverpool in 1942, Alan Caldwell took the name Rory Storm when he formed his own rock band, Rory Storm & the Hurricanes. In 1962, they were the most popular band in Liverpool with more fans than their friends, the Beatles. It is widely believed that an upstart singer Rod Stewart, who saw Rory perform many times in the early days, "stole" the singer's trademark persona and found success of his own with well-choreographed moves on stage and flaunting his blonde hair. Rory would indirectly make history when he advised his drummer, Ritchie Starkey, to change his name to "Ringo" because of the drummer's penchant for wearing rings. Ringo Starr had to fill in many times for original Beatle drummer, Pete Best. When Best was forced to leave the Beatles – believed to be due to an inferior drumming style – Ringo was the unanimous choice to replace him.

With the explosion of Beatlemania, other groups out of Liverpool, such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, The Searchers and Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas achieved success. However, Rory and his band fell on hard times and were constantly passed over for a recording contract.

Rory had to deal almost on a daily basis with the Beatles' success because his sister Iris was Paul McCartney's girlfriend, before and after the Beatles’ success. Even after the couples’ break-up, Paul kept in touch regularly with Rory's mother, Violet Caldwell. In fact, when Paul wrote Yesterday, the first person he called was Violet to sing it to her over the phone.

Some followers of the Liverpool club scene prior to 1962 believe that Rory Storm was just as talented as any of the acts that found fame in the "British Invasion." Success was all around Rory Storm for many years, but life dealt him an unfortunate hand.

Question 5

A Berliner is Berlin’s most traditional pastry, similar to a doughnut with no central hole. It is referred to by many different names throughout the world, BUT what do Berliners call a Berliner?

A	Berliininmunkki
B	Bismark
C	Bola de Berlim
D	Pfannkuchen
E	Sufganiya

Question 5 :

D. Pfannkuchen

Although not necessarily unique to Berlin, a Pfannkuchen is made from sweet yeast dough fried in fat or oil, with a with jelly or custard filling, and usually covered in sugar or icing. It is basically a round doughnut filled with jelly or custard and. It has an equivalent in almost every country, region or city:

Berliininmunkki: Finland
Bismark: North America
Bola de Berlim: Portugal
Fánk: Hungary
Krapfen: Bavaria
Sufganiya: Israel

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January 30, 2020February 1, 2020

Trivia #19

What is the birthplace of coffee? Name the nurse referred to as the Angel of the Battlefield. These questions and more are in our 19^th installment of Traveling Boy’s Global Travel Trivia game.

Global Trivia 19

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Question 1

Name the birthplace of coffee

A	Colombia
B	Costa Rica
C	Ethiopia
D	Guatemala
E	Kenya

Question 1 :

C. Ethiopia

Abyssenia, now modern day Ethiopia, is considered the birthplace of coffee. Ancient Ethiopian history tells us that around the year 850, there was a goatherd by the name of Kaldi, responsible for discovering the now famous plant and introducing it to Abyssenian culture. He saw his goats eating coffee cherries. Afterwards, he observed a change in their behavior, gaining a high amount of energy and unable to sleep at night.

Upon his arrival at a local monastery, the goatherd presented the coffee berries to the head Monk, ecstatically exclaiming the effect that these berries had: he’d never felt so elated in thought and body after trying one! The head Monk grabbed the berries from Kaldi’s outstretched hand and threw them into the fire, deeming them the “Devil’s work.”

Within moments, the chamber was filled with the smell of roasting coffee. This brought other Monks out to investigate what was making the indelible aroma.

Intrigued, the curious Monks raked the coffee beans from the fire and crushed them in order to put out the molten embers. The Monks poured hot water over the now powdered coffee. The Monks stayed up all night drinking this new concoction, vowing to always drink it in order to stay awake for their nocturnal devotions. News of this event spread, and soon coffee was consumed throughout the country.

Coffee was introduced to the trade world in 1454 when the Mufti of Aden visited Ethiopia and sampled the beverage. Claiming that the drink had cured him of some affliction, his approval carried so much weight amongst his men that soon word of mouth spread like wildfire. His men introduced coffee to the ports in Yemen and Mecca - and coffee was seemingly on the menu everywhere.

Coffee Facts

Coffee is a fruit, the pit of a berry.
Coffee has no calories
Coffee is the world’s 2nd largest traded commodity. Crude oil is first.
The lighter the bean, the more caffeine.
Europe imports more coffee than the USA.
Brazil is the lead exporting country in coffee
Finland consumes the most coffee per ratio in the world.
U.S. citizens spend on average $1,092 a year on coffee.
Millennials spend more on coffee than baby boomers
Hawaii is the only American state that grows coffee
Beethoven loved coffee
Mecca banned coffee, believed to stimulate radical thinking and idleness.
In ancient Arab culture, a woman could only divorce her husband if he didn’t like her coffee.
Caffeine is often sold to Coca-Cola.
Not verified: Yemen claims to be the historical and mythical origin of coffee.

Question 2

This Traveling Wilburys’ song by Bob Dylan is considered a parody of Bruce Springsteen compositions.

A	If You See Her, Say Hello
B	Subterranean Homesick Blues
C	Tangled Up in Blue
D	Tweeter and the Monkey Man
E	Visions of Johanna

Question 2 :

D. Tweeter and the Monkey Man

Listen to the song

See lyrics

Question 3

This Barcelonés architect is considered the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism.

A	Alonzo Cano
B	Antoni Gaudí
C	Adolfo Morales de los Ríos
D	Carlos Morales Quintana
E	Diego de Riaño

Question 3 :

B. Antoni Gaudí

Antoni Gaudí (1852 1826): Often times referred to by his nickname, “God’s Architect,” Barcelona architect, Antoni Gaudí, is considered the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. As a proud Catalander, he refused to speak Spanish and seldom left his beloved Catalonia. Gaudí’s architecture illustrates his profound passion for nature and devotion to religion. Still ahead of his time, he integrated used ceramic pieces, stained glass and wrought ironwork into his architectural style. Seven of his works have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and include the still-incomplete Sagrada Família, the most-visited monument in Spain. A visiting bishop once asked him, “Why do you trouble yourself so much about the tops of the towers? After all, no one will ever see them.” “Your Grace,” replied Gaudí, “The angels will see them.” His faith in the Roman Catholic Church intensified towards the end of his life, with his living in a squalid room at Sagrada Família, frantically attempting to finish his astonishingly masterpiece. Still dressed in his work clothes, he would venture out for long walks in nature. In 1926 he was tragically run down by a streetcar and was left to lay on the shoulder of the road. Gaudí desperately waved for assistance from passing vehicles, but was dismissed as a ragged beggar, and died shortly after.

Question 4

Name the actor who DID NOT play two different characters in the same film.

A	Nicolas Cage
B	Tom Hardy
C	Jeremy Irons
D	Scarlett Johansson
E	Jack Nicholson
F	Barbra Streisand

Question 4 :

F. Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand has never played more than one character in a film, but her résumé is immensely impressive: a vocalist, stage and screen performer, film director and producer, and winner of five Emmy awards. After her splashy debut on Broadway in 1962’s I Can Get It For You Wholesale, Barbra Streisand played entertainer Fanny Brice in the 1964 Broadway musical Funny Girl. Her 1965 television special, My Name is Barbra, won five Emmy awards and made her a small-screen star. In 1968 she went herself one better, winning the best actress Oscar for William Wyler‘s film version of Funny Girl. A legendary case of stage fright kept Streisand from performing publicly for the next two decades, but in those years she remained a top star in recording and movie studios. She wrote, directed and starred in 1983’s Yentl and 1991’s The Prince of Tides (with Nick Nolte). In 1986 she began singing in public again, and in 1998 she married actor James Brolin. As of 2009, she had won more gold records than any other performer in history and the top-selling female artist in American music recording history. While not making movies or singing, Streisand kicks up dust in the political arena as an outspoken Democrat.

The following played more than one character in the below films.

Nicolas Cage: Adaptation (2002); Cage plays identical twin screenwriters, Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman

Tom Hardy: Legend (2015); Hardy plays identical twin gangsters, Reggie Kray / Ron Kray

Jeremy Irons: Dead Ringers (1998); Irons plays identical twin gynecologists , Beverly Mantle / Elliot Mantle.

Scarlett Johansson: The Island (2005); Johansson plays two different characters, Jordan Two Delta and Sarah Jordan.

Jack Nicholson: Mars Attacks! (1996); Nicholson plays two different characters, US President James Dale and nutcase Art Land.

Interesting note: John Travolta and Nicholas Cage both played two characters in John Woo’s Face Off.

Question 5

This famous nurse was coined the "Angel of the Battlefield" during the U.S. Civil War.

A	Clara Barton
B	Mary Breckinridge
C	Florence Nightingale
D	Margaret Sanger
E	Mabel Keaton Staupers

Question 5 :

A. Clara Barton

Clara Barton is known as America's "Angel of the Battlefield." While nursing during the Civil War, Barton was deeply affected by the lack of medical supplies available to the wounded soldiers. Barton took action and took medical supplies to the battlefield, nursing the wounded where they lay. Barton also founded the American Red Cross in 1881 and led the organization until 1904.

Mary Breckinridge became an RN in 1910 and introduced nurse-midwifery to the United States after spending time in France after World War I with the American Committee for Devastated France. Breckinridge founded the Frontier Nursing Service in 1925, providing prenatal and postnatal nurse-midwifery care to women in Kentucky's far-removed Appalachian Mountains.

Florence Nightingale certainly holds the honor of being the most famous nurse on our list. She became a nurse in 1851 and traveled to Turkey to aid British soldiers during the Crimean War. Devastated by the poor conditions of both the facilities and the soldiers, Nightingale took action, tending to the soldiers and cleaning up the hospitals. Many survived because of Nightingale's proactive approach.

Margaret Sanger witnessed many deaths resulting from botched abortions while nursing in New York City's Lower East Side. Sanger defied the authorities and opened a birth control clinic in Brooklyn in 1916. She founded the American Birth Control League in 1942, which eventually became the Planned Parenthood Foundation, and she helped the development of the first birth control pill.

Mabel Keaton Staupers fiercely advocated for racial equality in nursing. She served as a secretary to Mahoney's NACGN and brought African-American nurses into the armed forces during World War II. In fact, in 1945, Staupers won a battle against the military that led to race no longer playing a role in nurses being accepted into the military.

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January 20, 2020January 5, 2023

Trivia #19

What is Serfdom? Who led the Jacobites in the Battle of Culloden? These and more are in our new Global Trivia game, Part 18.

Global Trivia 19

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You scored %%SCORE%% out of a possible 5 points.

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Question 1

Name the World's Longest River

A	Amazon River
B	Mississippi/Missouri
C	Nile River
D	Yangtze River
E	Yenisei/Angara

Question 1 :

C. Nile River

1. Nile River – 6,693 km.
2. Amazon River – 6,436 km.
3. Yangtze River – 6,378 km.
4. Mississippi/Missouri – 5,970 km.
5. Yenisei/Angara – 5,539 km.

1. Nile River – 6,693 km

Although most of us recognize the Nile as the lifeline of Egypt, the Nile is, in fact, an international river shared by 11 countries in Africa. However, it is the main source of water in two countries: Egypt and Sudan. The Blue and the White Nile are the two tributaries of the river with the latter having a greater length than the former. The source of the White Nile is not yet fully determined but is believed to be somewhere in Burundi or Rwanda. According to some reports, Lake Victoria is considered to be the source of the White Nile which is, in turn, fed by the Kagera River whose two major tributaries are the Ruvyironza and the Nyabarongo rivers of Burundi and Rwanda, respectively. The Kagera is formed at the confluence of these two rivers near the Tanzania-Rwanda border. The Blue Nile has a more defined origin in Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The two tributaries meet near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. The Nile River’s final course is through Egypt before it forms a delta and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. According to the USGS, the length of the Nile River is 4,258 miles. It is the longest river in the world as well as the longest river in Africa.

2. Amazon River – 6,436 km

The Amazon River is undoubtedly the largest river in the world by discharge volume of water. However, its position as the second-longest river in the world is highly disputed as the title has for long been granted to the Nile River in Egypt. The dispute arises from the determination of the origin of the Amazon. Until now, the headwaters of the Apurímac River were considered to be the origin of the Amazon River. However, a recent 2014 study claims that the origin of the Amazon can be traced to the Cordillera Rumi Cruz from where Peru’s Mantaro River originates. This river then confluences with the Apurímac River (whose headwaters were earlier regarded as the source of the Amazon) and then other tributaries join the river downstream to form the Ucayali River which finally confluences with the Marañón River to form the main stem of the Amazon River. However, critics of this measurement point out that the study has not been published.

3. Yangtze River – 6,378 km

The Yangtze River is the world’s third longest river and the longest to flow entirely within one country. It is also Asia’s longest river. The river basin of the Yangtze houses one-third of the population of China, the most populated country in the world. Two origins of the Yangtze River has been suggested. Traditionally, the government of China recognizes the Tuotuo tributary located in the Tanggula Mountains as the source of the river. At 17,526 ft above sea-level, it is definitely the highest source of the Yangtze. According to new data, however, the source of the Yangtze River is located in the Jari Hill from where the headwaters of the Dam Qu tributary originate. These tributaries, and more join to form the mighty Yangtze River which finally drains into the East China Sea at Shanghai.

4. Mississippi/Missouri – 5,970 km

The river system comprising of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Jefferson rivers, is regarded as the world’s fourth longest river system. The river system drains 31 US states and 2 Canadian provinces. The Mississippi River begins in northern Minnesota where Lake Itasca is believed to be the origin of the river and drains into the Gulf of Mexico. However, when we regarded the Jefferson River as the furthest source of the Mississippi River, then we get the Mississippi–Missouri–Jefferson river system.

5. Yenisei/Angara – 5,539 km

This is the world’s fifth-longest river system and the largest draining into the Arctic Ocean. The Selenge River is regarded as the headwaters of this river system. The Selenge River is 992 km long and drains into Lake Baikal. The Angara river rises from Lake Baikal near Listvyanka and flows through the Irkutsk Oblast of Russia and finally joins the Yenisei River near Strelka. The Yenisei finally drains into the Arctic Ocean. The total length covered is 5,539 miles.

Question 2

Is slavery and serfdom the same thing?

A	Yes
B	No

Question 2 :

B. No

Serfdom is a condition of bondage that existed in the High Middle Ages in Europe, lasting up to the mid-19th century. It took place within the context of the feudalism system. Peasants (also called serfs) were not allowed to leave their land without the permission of their landlords. They belonged to the lowest social class of the feudal society. Slaves were human beings who were bought and sold as property. They were not considered humans and as such had no rights. However, serfs were legally people having limited rights in comparison to free peasants.

The Origin of Serfdom

Before the 10th century, serfdom existed in the ancient world. In ancient Greek, the “helots” of the city-state of Sparta played the same role as the serfs. Similarly, during the reign of the Roman Empire, in the 3rd century, there was a shortage of labor. As a result, Roman freemen volunteered to work on the lands of large farm owners as tenant farmers. These workers became known as the “coloni.” Afterwards, there was an empire that ruled Europe for over 200 years known as the Carolingian Empire. When the empire collapsed in the 10th century, it left a huge gap. There was no strong empire to rule Europe at the time. To fill this gap, a crop of powerful feudal lords arose. They established serfdom as a source of agricultural labor for their large farms. Hence, this was the context in which serfdom came into existence.

Duties of the Serfs

The serfs would work for their lord for 5-6 days per week. They used the rest of the time to work on their land. Some of their responsibilities to their lords included digging ditches, plow the fields, repair fences, and harvest the crops. The other duty of the serfs was paying taxes and fees to the landlord. The tax calculation depended upon the amount of the land owned by the serf. The standard taxes would be a third of the land. Furthermore, the serfs had an obligation to pay fees whenever they married, had a baby, or during a war. The payment was in the form of food items rather than money. Money was a rare commodity then. Whatever the payment was, it had to undergo a test to determine whether it was good enough. For instance, if the serf gave a chicken as payment, the chicken had to be able to jump over a fence.

The End of Serfdom

In Western Europe, serfdom declined during the Middle Ages. The Black Death greatly reduced the rural population and strengthened the bargaining powers of the workers. In England on the other hand, serfdom’s end began with the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt. It ended fully in 1574 with the freeing of all the remaining serfs by Elizabeth I. In France, the end of serfdom was de facto as pronounced by Philip IV, Louis X, and Philip V. By the 15th century most serfdom scenarios excluding a few cases had ceased. In other parts of Europe such as Castile, northern France, Sweden, Germany, and Portugal among others, serfdom had to stop due to the revolts staged by the peasants.

Question 3

Name the John Huston film adapted from a James Joyce short story.

A	Beat the Devil
B	The Dead
C	Reflections in a Golden Eye
D	Under the Volcano
E	Wise Blood

Question 3 :

B. The Dead (By James Joyce, short story from "Dubliners.")

John Huston's dramatization of Joyce's masterful story, 'The Dead,' is all the more poignant because it was his last film, made from his wheelchair while using an oxygen mask. At the time of making the film, he called the short story his favorite literary work

Beat the Devil

Reflections in a Golden Eye

Under the Volcano

Wise Blood

Question 4

Who led the Jacobites in the Battle of Culloden?

A	Joan of Arc
B	Robert the Bruce
C	Mary, Queen of Scotts
D	Charles Edward Stuart
E	William Wallace

Question 4 :

D. Charles Edward Stuart (aka Bonnie Prince Charlie)

The Battle of Culloden is one of the most tragic and historically important civil wars of Great Britain. It was the final attempt of the Jacobite rising that resulted in a victory for the House of Hanover over the House of Stuart. The Jacobite rising was instigated by Charles Edward Stuart, essentially for the restoration of the House of Stuart as a ruling family. However, it soon had a religious touch as Catholic Christians supported the House of Stuart while the British army was backed by Protestant Christians. The Battle of Culloden is also famous for being the last ever pitched battle in the history of Great Britain.

On April 16^th 1746, the two armies came face to face – the Highland Scottish Jacobites and the British Government’s troops – at the Culloden Moor. Charles Edward Stuart ignored the advice of his generals, chose to fight on flat, open, marshy ground where his forces would be exposed to superior government firepower. The Jacobite troops of 6,000 men advanced without any form of military coordination. Britain’s Duke of Cumberland, youngest son of King George II, utilized the best of the situation with his army of 8,000 soldiers, and shattered the Jacobite front lines. Within the first half hour of the battle, Charles Edward Stuart, plagued by indecision, abandoned his Jacobite forces for safety, which greatly affected his troop’s morale. Meanwhile, the Scottish Highlanders attacked the second line of government army, where they were rebuked, losing their left wing. Seeing that, the Duke of Cumberland ordered an advance of his government armies to end the battle. It took only one hour for the government forces to win this battle. The British suffered casualties of 300, whereas the Jacobites lost 2,000 including 200 French.

The night before the Battle of Culloden, the Jacobite army made a strategic move by planning a night attack on the British army camped in Nairn. It was a slow march due to darkness and lack of coordination, which forced them to return to their camp without attacking the government forces. On the day of the Battle of Culloden, the Jacobites where exhausted from lack of sleep and food, and, in some cases, with no ammunition. William of Cumberland's troops committed a number of atrocities as they hunted for the defeated Jacobite soldiers, earning him the title, the Butcher from the Highlanders. In England, the Sweet William flower is named in his honor; in Scotland a weed bears his name, A Stinking Billy.

Charles Edward Stuart hid in the moors, and eventually sailed to France, disguised as a woman.

The Jacobite defeat lead to the Highland Clearances: the forced eviction of inhabitants of the Highlands and western islands of Scotland, which cleared the land of people primarily to allow for the introduction of sheep pastoralism. The Highland clan system was outlawed, and the playing of the Bagpipe was banned in Scotland, classified as an instrument of war by the loyalist government.

Question 5

This iconic pop artist was sadly dubbed The Queen of El Lay by Rolling Stone Magazine.

A	Joan Baez
B	Judy Collins
C	Carole King
D	Joni Mitchell
E	Linda Ronstadt

Question 5 :

D. Joni Mitchell

From Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffe

With her high cheekbones and her flaxen hair, Joni Mitchell emerged in the late 1960s as some kind of hippy Venus with an overbite. She was the personification of the New Woman, liberated by the pill and by her talent to take ownership of her body, her art and her destiny. She was thoughtful, feisty, free-wheeling, ‘open to experience and in touch with the miraculous’, as she put it. Her precocious songs chronicled the complexity of her newly claimed agency; they meditated on liberty and longing, love and lust, independence and loneliness. ‘I’m a living storybook,’ she said of her autobiographical catalogue. In her thrilling falsetto Mitchell told of ‘love’s illusion’ before we knew quite what either love or disillusion was. Her songs calmed the mind of a turbulent, panic-struck society. ‘Before Prozac, there was you,’ two teenage fans once told her.

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January 3, 2020January 15, 2020

Trivia #17

Is Holland a nation? Did Russian Czar Peter the Great ban beards? These and more are in our new Global Trivia game, Part 17.

Global Trivia 17

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Question 1

Is Holland a nation?

A	Yes
B	No

Question 1 :

B. No

Only the central part of the Netherlands is geographically named Holland. This part of the Netherlands consists of two provinces Noord Holland (North Holland) and Zuid Holland (South Holland). This is the region where important cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague (Den Haag), Delft, Leiden and Haarlem are located, making it confusing for some visitors.

Question 2

Did Czar Peter the Great institute a ban on wearing beards in the Russian Empire?

A	Yes
B	No

Question 2 :

B. No

But he tried by instituting a beard tax to bring Russian elite in line with Western European models. To enforce the taxation on beards, the tsar empowered police to forcibly and publicly shave those who refused to pay the tax.

Born in Moscow, Peter the Great (1672 – 1725) was the Russian czar who transformed Russia from an isolated agricultural society into an Empire on a par with European powers. He moved the Russian Empire’s capitol city of Moscow to St. Petersburg, built on a marsh on the eastern edge of the Baltic Sea, as Russia’s Window to the West. His visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. As Peter toured Europe (sometimes in disguise to avoid being recognized) he educated himself in ship building and science. Mirroring Western culture, he introduced new administrative and territorial divisions, modernized the Russian alphabet, secularized schools and administered greater control over the reactionary Orthodox Church.In 1698, he instituted a beard tax to bring Russian elite in line with Western European models. To enforce the ban on beards, the tsar empowered police to forcibly and publicly shave those who refused to pay the tax. Peter was not solely content with having a more European economy. He also implemented hard line social and cultural reforms such as forcing Russian nobility to wear European-style dress in his court, attempts to end arranged marriages, and the introduction of the Julian Calendar in 1700. He reorganized the Russian army along modern lines and began making Russia a maritime power. One of Peter’s most audacious goals was reducing the influence of the boyars, or the feudal elite class. He did this by imposing taxes and services on them as well as creating comprehensive administrative reforms that opened civil service to commoners. However, sharp class divisions, including the already tragic fate of serfs, only deepened. Tax and trade reforms enabled the Russian state to expand its treasury almost six-fold between 1680 and 1724. Peter acquired territory in Estonia, Latvia and Finland; and through several wars with Turkey in the south, he secured access to the Black Sea. In 1709, he defeated the Swedish army by purposely directing their troops to the city of Poltava, in the midst of an unbearable Russian winter. It was in 1712 when Peter established the city of St. Petersburg on the Neva River and moved the capital there from its former location in Moscow. In 1725 he dove in the water to help rescue some drowning sailors; he ended up with a bad cold and died a short time later.

Question 3

What nation suffered the most deaths (combined: soldiers & civilians) in World War 1?

A	Austro-Hungarian Empire
B	France
C	Germany
D	Great Britain & Ireland
E	Italy
F	Russia
G	Turkey
H	U.S.

Question 3 :

F. Russia - 2,754,369

The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I, was around 40 million. There were 20 million deaths and 21 million wounded. The total number of deaths includes 9.7 million military personnel and about 10 million civilians.

See the complete list here.

Question 4

At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Hitler planned to show the world that the Aryan people were the dominant race, but U.S. track star Jesse Owens proved him wrong, winning four gold medals over six days. But name the American track and field sprinter who won the silver medal in Men's 100 metres in the same race?

A	Harold Abrahams
B	Linford Christie
C	Michael Johnson
D	Eric Liddell
E	Ralph Harold Metcalfe Sr.

Question 4 :

E: Ralph Harold Metcalfe Sr. was an American track and field sprinter and politician. He jointly held the world record in the 100-meter dash and placed second in to Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.

Although Jesse Owens is remembered as the great sprinter of the 30s, Ralph Metcalfe was on many counts Owens' superior. Metcalfe was at his best between the 1932 and 1936 Olympics and he won both sprints at the AAU and NCAA for three straight years (1932-34) and won the AAU 200m in 1935-36 to give him a record of five straight wins in this event. Metcalfe, who attended Marquette, equaled the world record of 10.3 for 100m six times, but only three of those clockings reached the record books. In the 1932 Olympic 200m, Metcalfe may have been unfairly deprived of a gold medal when it was later shown that the lane in which he ran was about two meters longer than it should have been. Metcalfe graciously declined a protest and a re-run because the American threesome of [Eddie Tolan], [George Simpson], and himself had swept the medals in the event. Ralph Metcalfe later became well known in Chicago politics, serving on the city council under Mayor Daley for many years. In 1970, Metcalfe was elected to the U.S. Congress from the 1st District in Illinois, serving until his death. He also gave yeoman service to the USOC, being elected to their board of directors in 1969.

Question 5

Name the 60’s British Invasion band whose name stemmed from a John Ford film.

A	3 Godfathers
B	The Horse Soldiers
C	The Hurricane (The Hurricanes)
D	The Searchers
E	Wagon Master (The Wagon Masters)

Question 5 :

D. The Searchers

The Searchers were an English Merseybeat group who emerged in the 1960s along with the Beatles, the Hollies, the Fourmost, the Merseybeats, the Swinging Blue Jeans, and Gerry and the Pacemakers. Founded as a skiffle group in Liverpool in 1959 by John McNally and Mike Pender, the band took their name from the 1956 John Ford western film The Searchers.

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January 3, 2020January 29, 2020

Military and Civilian Casualties in World War 1

Entente Powers	Population (million)	Mobilised soldiers	Dead soldiers	Civilian casualties	Total number of dead
Great Britain and Ireland	46.1	6,100,000	750,000	600,000	1,350,000
Belgium	7.6	292,000	38,000	50,000	88,000
France	39.0	8,100,000	1,327,000	600,000	1,927,000
Greece	4.9	449,000	25,000		25,000
Italy	36.0	4,300,000	460,000	700,000?	1,160,000
Japan	53.0	30,000	1,000		1,000
Montenegro	0.2	50,000	13,000		13,000
Portugal	6.1	100,000	7,000		7,000
Romania	7.6	750,000	250,000	300,000	550,000
Russia	164	15,800,000	1,811,000 to 2,254,369	500,000 (borders from 1914)	2,311,000 to 2,754,369
Serbia	3.1	750,000	275,000	300,000	525,000
United States of America	98.8	2,100,000	117,000		117,000
Australia	4.5	349,000	61,966		61,966
New Zealand	1.1	100,000	18,052		18,052
Central Powers	Population (million)		Dead soldiers	Direct civilian casualties	Total number of dead
Austro-Hungarian Empire	52.6		1,460,000	400,000	1,860,000
Bulgaria	4.7		88,000	300,000	388,000
Germany	67.8		2,037,000	700,000	2,737,000
Turkey	17.3		325,000	2.000,000	2,325,000

Tweeter and the Monkey Man

Traveling Wilburys

Tweeter and the Monkey Man were hard up for cash
They stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash
To an undercover cop who had a sister named Jan
For reasons unexplained she loved the Monkey Man

Tweeter was a Boy Scout ‘fore she went to Vietnam
And found out the hard way, nobody gives a damn
They knew that they found freedom just across the Jersey line
So they hopped into a stolen car, took Highway 99

And the walls came down
All the way to hell
Never saw them when they’re standing
Never saw them when they fell

The undercover cop never liked the Monkey Man
Even back in childhood he wanted to see him in the can
Jan got married at fourteen to a racketeer named Bill
She made secret calls to the Monkey Man from a mansion on the hill

It was out on Thunder Road,…

It was out on Thunder Road, Tweeter at the wheel
They crashed into paradise, they could hear them tires squeal
The undercover cop pulled up and said “Everyone of you is a liar
If you don’t surrender now it’s gonna go down to the wire”

And the walls came down
All the way to hell
Never saw them when they’re standing
Never saw them when they fell

An ambulance rolled up, a state-trooper close behind
Tweeter took his gun away and messed up his mind
The undercover cop was left tied up to a tree
Near the souvenir stand, by the old abandoned factory

Next day the undercover cop was hot in pursuit
He was taking the whole thing personal, he didn’t care about the loot
Jan had told him many times, “It was you to me who taught
In Jersey anything’s legal as long as you don’t get caught”

And the walls came down
All the way to hell
Never saw them when they’re standing
Never saw them when they fell

Some place by Rahwey Prison they ran out of gas
The undercover cop had cornered them, said
“Boy, you didn’t think this could last?”
Jan jumped out of bed, said, “There’s someplace I gotta go”
She took the gun out of the drawer, said, “It’s best that you don’t know.”

The undercover cop was found face down in a field
The Monkey Man was on the river bridge, using Tweeter as a shield
Jan said to the Monkey Man, “I’m not fooled by Tweeter’s curl
I knew him long before he became a Jersey Girl”

And the walls came down
All the way to hell
Never saw them when they’re standing
Never saw them when they fell

Now the town of Jersey City is quieting down again
I’m sitting in a gambling club called the Lion’s Den
The TV set was blown up, every bit of it is gone
Ever since the nightly news showed that the Monkey Man was on

I guess I’ll go to Florida and get myself some sun
There ain’t no more opportunity here, everything’s been done
Sometimes I think of Tweeter, sometimes I think of Jan
Sometimes I don’t think about nothing but the Monkey Man

And the walls came down
All the way to hell
Never saw them when they’re standing
Never saw them when they fell

January 2, 2020January 2, 2020

Trivia #16

nation with 5% of the world's biodiversity

Was Mozart left-handed? Is Belize home to 5% of the world’s biodiversity? These and more are in our new Global Trivia game, Part 16.

Global Trivia 16

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Question 1

This nation, island or territory consists of .03% of the earth’s land mass, but is home to 5% of its biodiversity.

A	Belize
B	Costa Rica
C	Easter Island (a Chilean "special territory")
D	The Galápagos Islands (part of the Republic of Ecuador)
E	Republic of Madagascar

Question 1 :

B. Costa Rica

Costa Rica, the alluring Central American nation of five million Ticos (citizens), consists of just 0.03% of the earth’s landmass, but is home to 5% of its biodiversity. Because Costa Rica is located between 8 and 12 degrees north of the Equator, the climate is tropical year round. However, the country has many microclimates depending on elevation, rainfall, topography and by the geography of each particular region. Statistics tell us that Costa Rica has a bounty of 230 mammal species, 890 bird species, 220 reptile species, 35,000 insect species and 9,000 plant species. Virtually half the nation consists of national parks, nature and wildlife reserves.

Question 2

Name the one person WHO IS NOT left-handed.

A	Adele
B	Jimi Hendrix
C	Mozart
D	Napoleon
E	Barack Obama
F	Babe Ruth
G	Leonardo da Vinci

Question 2 :

A. Adele Adkins

Left-handed people make up only about 10 percent of the population. But that 10 percent has made quite an impact. In recent years, psychologists have hypothesized that - rather than being a sign of malady or evil - being left-handed may actually be a sign of a strong right brain and, as such, superior language skills and creativity. The fact that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are both lefties certainly supports that theory.

Jimi Hendrix played guitar upside down and backwards. The six-string revolutionary favored a right-handed Fender Stratocaster, slung upside-down across his shoulders, that didn’t even need to be restrung. Hendrix taught himself how to hit the strings in reverse order, producing a unique sound and allowing him to alternate between left- and right-handed playing if he so desired. (He could play right-handed but generally preferred not to).

Being left-handed can be an advantage for pianists. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was known to be ambidextrous (which would be even better for pianists than just being left-handed), but he may well have been born with a preference for his left hand and forced to learn to use his right hand.

Napoleon Bonaparte was left-handed, therefore his armies had to march on the right so he could keep his sword arm between him and the advancing enemy.

In the past hundred years, the U.S. presidency has veered more and more to the left — not in policy, but in handedness. Barack Obama is the latest to join a long list of left-handed presidents from the 20th century: James Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton were all southpaws.

Babe Ruth is baseball’s most decorated left-handed player But few people realize that early in his career, Ruth was also one of the game’s élite pitchers. Between 1915 and 1919, he won 85 games (plus three World Series contests) while notching an ERA of 2.02, before the Boston Red Sox decided he’d be more valuable at the plate.

Leonardo da Vinci took his sinistrism to an extreme: he wrote from right to left. Historians have plenty of creative theories to explain this so-called “mirror writing” — named because you had to hold it up to a glass to read it. For example: perhaps he was trying to make it harder for people to sneak a peek at his notes and lift his ideas. One argument, however, is less fanciful but perhaps more logical: writing in ink from left to right was too messy because Leonardo was a southpaw. Some historians have suggested that da Vinci’s left-handedness added to his genius, because it forced him to think and see in an extraordinary way. (If so, he wasn’t alone: fellow left-handers include rival Renaissance titans Michelangelo and Raphael.)

Question 3

"That'll Be the Day," the title of the Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison 1956 composition, was taken from the phrase repeatedly used by the lead character in this John Ford film.

A	How Green was my Valley
B	The Searchers
C	She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
D	The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
E	Wee Willie Winkie

Question 3 :

B. The Searchers

In June 1956, Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison and Sonny Curtis went to see the movie The Searchers, starring John Wayne, in which Wayne repeatedly used the phrase "That'll Be the Day." This line of dialogue inspired the young musicians, Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison to compose the song, "That'll Be the Day." It was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956, and was re-recorded in 1957 by Holly and his new band, the Crickets. The 1957 recording achieved widespread success. Holly's producer, Norman Petty, was credited as a co-writer, although he did not contribute to the composition.Many other versions have been recorded, including the first song recorded by the Quarrymen, the skiffle group that evolved into the Beatles.

Question 4

What was the nationality of Russian Empress Catherine the Great?

A	France
B	Germany
C	Hungary
D	Italy
E	Russia

Question 4 :

B. Germany

Catherine the Great (II) wasn’t Russian, and her name wasn’t even Catherine. The woman whom history would remember as Catherine the Great was Russia’s longest-ruling female leader. Born in 1729, Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst was the eldest daughter of an impoverished Prussian (now Germany) prince. In 1744, 15-year-old Sophie was invited to Russia by Czarina Elizabeth, a daughter of Peter the Great who had assumed the Russian throne in a coup just three years earlier. The unmarried and childless Elizabeth had chosen her nephew Peter as heir and was now in search of his bride. Sophie, well-trained by her ambitious mother, made an immediate impact on Elizabeth, as well as her intended husband. Catherine the Great was known more for her affairs of the heart than for affairs of state, but nevertheless greatly expanded Russia’s empire. The earlier Catherine I, later as Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya, was born in what is today’s Poland, 1684 –1727. She was the second wife of Peter the Great and Empress of Russia until her death.

Question 5

Name the Oscar-winning performer WHO DID NOT speak primarily a foreign language in the film.

A	Roberto Benigni: (1997) Life Is Beautiful
B	Marion Cotillard: (2007) La Vie En Rose
C	Robert De Niro: (1974) The Godfather: Part II
D	Benicio Del Toro: (2000) Traffic
E	Ben Kingsley: (1982) Gandhi
F	Sophia Loren: (1960) Two Women

Question 5 :

E: Ben Kingsley (1982) Gandhi

Despite winning an Oscar for best actor in Gandhi, Kingsley spoke English in the title role

Roberto Benigni: Italian (1997) Life Is Beautiful (Best actor & director)

Marion Cotillard: French (2007) La Vie En Rose (Best actress)

Robert De Niro: Sicilian (1974) The Godfather: Part II (Best supporting actor) De Niro spent four months learning to speak a Sicilian dialect

Benicio Del Toro. Spanish (2000) Traffic (Best supporting actor)

Sophia Loren: Italian (1960) Two Women (Best actress)

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