🎓 Academic Closed

[tipsandtricks]

Nelson Mandela Was on the U.S. Terror Watch List Until 2008

This went back to 1986, when the Reagan administration condemned Mandela's group, the African National Congress, for fighting against the apartheid regime of South Africa (which had supported the U.S. during the Cold War) through what it called "calculated terror" (it didn't help that Mandela's group also included a number of prominent Communists).

 

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Trivia Question: What is the Twitter bird’s official?
Answer: Larry

 

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Kleenex Were Invented by the Military to Use in Gas Masks

 

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Trivia Question: What is a community of ants called?
Answer: A colony

 

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John F. Kennedy, Aldous Huxley, and C. S. Lewis All Died the Same Day

 

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Trivia Question: Who was said to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee”?
Answer: Muhammed Ali

 

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A Soldier Once Survived a Freefall of 22,000 Feet

Alan Magee, an American gunner during WWII survived a fall of 22,000 feet, without a parachute, when his B-17 was shot and caught fire. He passed out on the way down due to shock and a lack of oxygen that high up but woke up to find that he had fallen through the glass roof of the train station of a small German town. He was treated and became a prisoner of war for two years.

 

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Trivia Question: Where did Heineken beer originate?
Answer: The Netherlands

 

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"Make Your Wet Dreams Come True" Was Once a Political Slogan

In 1928, as former New York Governor Al Smith ran for president against Herbert Hoover in the midst of the debate over whether ******* should continue to be banned, Smith's campaign figured his anti-prohibition ("wet") stance should be promoted to those frustrated by the restrictions. So they produced some now-notorious buttons bearing the slogan "Make Your Wet Dreams Come True," which carry a very different meaning today than they once did.

 

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Trivia Question: How many signs are there in the Zodiac?
Answer: 12

Trivia Question: What are the two fruit juices in a cosmopolitan?
Answer: Cranberry and lime

Trivia Question: What object is said to bring bad luck if it is broken?
Answer: A mirror

 

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Aluminum Was Once More Valuable Than Gold

 

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Trivia Question: Which country did bagels originate from?
Answer: Poland

Trivia Question: What is the name of the group of men who elect a Pope?
Answer: College of Cardinals

 

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Now that we use it to wrap our food, it might seem hard to believe that in the 19th century, this element was hugely valuable. When it was finally learned how the metal could be extracted, as Slate explains, "people adored Element 13's color and luster, which reminded them of the sparkle of gold and silver—a brand-new precious metal. In fact, aluminum became more precious than gold and silver in the 19th century, because it was harder to obtain. The French government once displayed Fort Knox-like aluminum bars next to the crown jewels, and the minor emperor Napoleon III reserved a prized set of aluminum cutlery for special guests at banquets. (Less favored guests used gold knives and forks.) The United States, to show off its industrial prowess, even capped the Washington monument with a six-pound pyramid of aluminum in 1884." Once innovators figured out how to extract it on an industrial scale, the market came crashing down. But for a while, aluminum was king.

 

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Trivia Question: An Apgar score is given to what?
Answer: Health of newborns

Trivia Question: The Candlestick, Lead Pipe, Knife, Revolver, Rope, and what else are the six weapons in a standard game of Clue?
Answer: Wrench

Trivia Question: What city did Starbucks open its first store in 1971?
Answer: Seattle

 

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Pirates Wore Eye Patches to Give Them Better Below-Deck Vision

 

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Trivia Question: What do you call filo pastry stuffed with chopped nuts and honey or syrup?
Answer: Baklava

Trivia Question: What is the Jewish New Year called?
Answer: Rosh Hashanah

Trivia Question: What book starts with the line “Call me Ishmael.”?
Answer: Moby ****

 

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You probably assumed it was because they'd lost an eye and vanity led them to cover it up with the ρá†ch. Not so, it turns out. Jim Sheedy, a doctor of vision science and director of the Vision Performance Institute at Oregon's Pacific University, explained to the Wall Street Journal that since pirates were having to move frequently from the bright conditions above deck to the extreme dark below, many "wore a ρá†ch over one eye to keep it dark-adapted outside."

 

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Trivia Question: What is the first element on the Periodic Table?
Answer: Hydrogen

Trivia Question: What object did Ben Franklin attach to the end of a kite string to prove that lightning is electricity?
Answer: A metal key

Trivia Question: What does a Scoville unit measure?
Answer: Spiciness

 

[tipsandtricks]

We Are Running Out of Helium for Balloons​

 

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Trivia Question: What US president put a Twinkie in the country’s millennium time capsule?
Answer: Bill Clinton

Trivia Question: What is an ice hockey puck made from?
Answer: Rubber

Trivia Question: Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs was known for wearing what color turtleneck?
Answer: Black