[sceptic]

You only have 15 minutes to beat my score

1) How long did the Hundred Years' War last?

2) Which country makes Panama hats?

3) From which animal do we get cat gut?

4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?

5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?

6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?

7) What was King George VI's first name?

8) What color is a purple finch?

9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?

10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?

I will post the answers in a week

please dont post answers yet, just your scores thank you

[sceptic]

Rankings

10/10 needs to get out more
9/10 Brainbox
8/10 Steven Hawkings
7/10 Genius
6/10 Clever bugger
5/10 sceptomaniac
4/10 Einstein
3/10 dummy
2/10 bigger dummy
1/10 oh my God
0/10 (moderated)

[finally17]

I knew 6. I looked up the rest, but forgot the title of the post, so 6.

Why 15 minutes for something like this? You either know it or you don't. The 15 minutes is why I went looking.

Hidden question, with spoiler to one:

Spoiler

Can I have bonus points for knowing that the birds are named after the islands, and the islands named after dogs?

Heh.

[Gerardo]

Spoiler

• 116.
  
• Ecuador.
  
• 
  
• November (They were still using Julian calendar at the time, for people using Gregorian calendar it happened in November).
  
• 
  
• Dog ("Can" is a possible spanish translation for "dog"). Edit: And OBVIOUSLY it came from Latin.
  
• Edward.
  
• 
  
• 
  
• Orange, very bright, to be able to be spotted easily.

Doubts in 1 and 7, but I think they are right.

[1eyedjack]

sceptic, on Mar 29 2008, 08:00 AM, said:

6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?

Quiz must have been written by an American

[TimG]

sceptic, on Mar 29 2008, 02:00 AM, said:

6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?

Didn't they used to be in the Atlantic Ocean?

[TimG]

I got 7 1/2. I believe there are multiple correct answers for at least one of the questions and I got one of the less common, but likely correct answers, thus the 1/2.

[blackshoe]

The Canary Islands were deported due to lack of proper immigration documents.

[helene_t]

Wow I thought I was a knowledgable person, I only knew 4 and 6 ( and 6 is not a parardox at all so it doesn't really count ).

[kenberg]

helene_t, on Mar 29 2008, 10:55 AM, said:

Wow I thought I was a knowledgable person, I only knew 4 and 6 ( and 6 is not a parardox at all so it doesn't really count ).

That's one better than I can do, although I suppose I could try some guessing.


The Canary Islands I know about (I can even place them n the correct ocean!), but I never even heard of Chinese gooseberries and I don't know a finch from a swallow.

George VI was the last George, right? Just before Elizabeth? So maybe Andrew or William?


"They say there was an earthquake that left nothing but a Panama hat, and a pair of old Greek shoes..."--- Dylan in Blackwater Bay, but that's probably not right. Really stretching here. "I left my hat in Haiti, in some forgotten flat in Haiti, ---" Fred Astaire. No. Nothing comes to mind.

In college I took pride in being able to score well on exams in subjects that I knew nothing about. I seem to have lost the ability.

[finally17]

kenberg, on Mar 29 2008, 11:48 AM, said:

The Canary Islands I know about (I can even place them n the correct ocean!), but I never even heard of Chinese gooseberries and I don't know a finch from a swallow.

I knew the Chinese gooseberries one from a conversation I had on bridgebase, with a regular forum poster actually. JILLLY!!!

And I completely didn't notice the ocean discrepancy. I've seen that particular question before though, on Jeopardy! and elsewhere. Skimming it was enough.

[Gerben42]

There is only one group of "Canary Islands"! And they're not in the Pacific Ocean, unlike the Galapagos islands (which are famous for some birds).

Quote

I don't know a finch from a swallow.

African or European swallow?

[finally17]

Gerben42, on Mar 29 2008, 02:25 PM, said:

There is only one group of "Canary Islands"! And they're not in the Pacific Ocean, unlike the Galapagos islands (which are famous for some birds).

Quote

I don't know a finch from a swallow.

African or European swallow?

And is it fully laden?

[irdoz]

1. Not 100
2. Not Panama
3. Not cats (though there is more than one animal...)
4. Not October (though depends on what calandar you're using)
5. Not camels
6. Not canaries
7. Not George
8. Not purple (though the males and females have different colours)
9. Not China
10. Not black

Do I win? (I think I actually know 6 but Ive seen some before... I know approximately no 1 but Im not sure if you count the no. of years between the start and end where there was no war...)

[matmat]

finally17, on Mar 29 2008, 10:56 PM, said:

Gerben42, on Mar 29 2008, 02:25 PM, said:

There is only one group of "Canary Islands"! And they're not in the Pacific Ocean, unlike the Galapagos islands (which are famous for some birds).

Quote

I don't know a finch from a swallow.

African or European swallow?

And is it fully laden?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[kenberg]

Gerben42, on Mar 29 2008, 02:25 PM, said:

There is only one group of "Canary Islands"! And they're not in the Pacific Ocean, unlike the Galapagos islands (which are famous for some birds).

Quote

I don't know a finch from a swallow.

African or European swallow?

Whichever one is actually from Australia.

[finally17]

Now I'm confused. Did you just totally not get the reference, or are you being funny?

Sorry, I'm dumb. I had to ask.

[kenberg]

finally17, on Mar 30 2008, 02:20 PM, said:

Now I'm confused. Did you just totally not get the reference, or are you being funny?

Sorry, I'm dumb. I had to ask.

Me? No I did not understand about the fully laden.

I was just getting into the spirit of things not matching their names. If African or European is a subtle allusion to something or other rather than a sub-species then I didn't get that either.

When I was in college someone asked me if I wanted to go with them to the Monet exhibit and I said who's Monet. The more things change.... Please explain.

As you can imagine, I have always had a feeling of connection with the Judy Holliday character in Born Yesterday (a terrific movie if you have never seen it, or if you have, for that matter).

K

[finally17]

every comment since gerben's has been a reference to a bit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, widely considered among geeks to be one of the funniest films ever...personally I think it's over-rated.

[sceptic]

it is over rated, Life of Brian is much better