Showing posts with label factoids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label factoids. Show all posts

Sunday, February 4, 2007

False Trivia - Random Trivia Answers

  • A1) Nothing. The answer given on many trivia lists is the Great Wall of China, but despite its great length, its narrow 20-foot width renders it invisible from the moon.
  • A2) Cream. The given answer is usually pink. Perhaps if it were mixed with some blood. In addition, technically it's nak's milk, as yak is to bull as nak is to cow.
  • A3) None. He disliked raw carrots, but eating them caused him no harm. He needed to spit out the carrots mainly because swallowing them took too long.
  • A4) None. Trivia lists claim that Susan Lucci is Diller's daughter, perhaps because they resemble each other a little bit. Robin Strasser isn't Diller's daughter either.
  • A5) None. Peter Pan popularized the name in 1904, but it definitely existed earlier.
  • A6) Nobody. Scissors have been around since 1500 B.C. in ancient Egypt, and even the current cross-blade design dates back to A.D. 100 in Rome. Leonardo da Vinci may have designed some improvement for the cutting devices.
  • A7) None. The given answer is sometimes 8, sometimes another number. The beauty of this question is only that a journalist intentionally spread the falsehood, successfully.
  • A8) None. Betty Rubble had been missing since the children's vitamins debuted in 1968, but a groundswell of support, aided by Rosie O'Donnell, who played her in the 1994 movie The Flintstones, led Bayer to conduct a poll and replace the Flintmobile with Betty the following year.
  • A9) Go. Actually, there are several commands that are complete sentences. Perhaps the original intention was the shortest declarative sentence, such as "I am" (the given answer), but "I do" and "I go" are just as short.
  • A10) 26. The intended answer of 50 is impossible because Hawaii and Alaska weren't states yet when the memorial was constructed. Many of the states' names are hidden from view anyway.
  • A11) Nobody. But Isaac Asimov had one in nine of the ten categories, missing only Philosophy and Psychology.
  • A12) None. Texas has no special privileges just because it is the land of six flags, having been part of Spain, France, Mexico, an independent republic, the Confederacy, and the United States of America.

In addition, a duck's quack does echo; the plane that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper was not called American Pie; a regulation golf ball can have a wide range of dimples on it, not just 336; Niagara Falls did not freeze over in 1932, women don't blink twice as often as men; turkeys won't drown by looking up at the rain, and although Mark Twain was the first author to write a novel on a typewriter, the story was Life on the Mississippi, not Tom Sawyer.

To see more fast facts confirmed or debunked, try this Google Answers thread, Jeff Lewis's factoids, or the Media Desk's explanations (note that they all started with the same basic list).

Saturday, February 3, 2007

False Trivia - Random Trivia Questions

You undoubtedly receive lists of trivia in your e-mail inbox occasionally. The first time you read these "facts", you might think, "Wow! I didn't know that." The more skeptical among you probably wonder, "Is that really true?", and in many cases you'd be right! For this week's quiz I've turned some of the more common erroneous statements into question and answer format. Try to figure out both the incorrect answer that is usually given (for one point) and the correct answer if there is one (for two points).

False Trivia Questions

  • Q1) What is the only man-made object that can be seen from the moon?
  • Q2) What color is yak's milk?
  • Q3) What vegetable was Mel Blanc allergic to?
  • Q4) What Emmy-award winning actress is Phyllis Diller's daughter?
  • Q5) What children's story introduced the girls' name "Wendy"?
  • Q6) Who invented scissors around A.D. 1500?
  • Q7) How many spiders do average Americans eat during their sleep in their lifetimes?
  • Q8) What is the only main character missing from Flintstones Chewable Vitamins?
  • Q9) What is the shortest complete sentence in the English language?
  • Q10) How many states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of a U.S. $5 bill?
  • Q11) Who is the only author to have a book published in every Dewey Decimal system category?
  • Q12) What is the only state that is allowed to fly its state flag at the same height as the U.S. flag?