Knowledge Quiz, No. 59

I dislike the term trivia. No knowledge is trivial. All information contributes to the whole of an intelligent human being. And, it is an essential part of critical thinking. That is why I did not call this aTrivia Quiz. Instead, I am calling it a Knowledge Quiz.

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1. Who invented the postage stamp?

2. What former boxing world champion named all of his five sons after himself?

3. How is the year 2015 written in Roman numerals?

4. What condition do you have if you are suffering from desynchronosis?

5. Muammar Gadafi was the dictator of which African country?

6. What is the shape of an American football?

7. What is the chemical symbol for gold?

8. What was the total of the British Empire's war casualties during World War I?

9. What was the code name of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945?

10. What is the location of is International Court of Justice?

11. What is the smallest country in the world?

12. Who invented the modern cell-phone?

13. Mark Twain was the pen name of what famous author?

14. In what year did the Wright brothers make the first successful man-powered airplane flight?

15. What is the 8th letter of the Greek alphabet?

16. What is an angle measuring below 90 degrees called?

17. What is the lowest range of the male singing voice?

18. Who wrote the only eyewitness account of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79A.D.?

19. What artist painted "Van Gogh painting Sunflowers"?

20. What European city has catacombs containing six million human skeletons?

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1. The postage stamp was invented in England in 1837 by a schoolmaster named Rowland Hill. Because of his efforts, for which he was knighted, the first postage stamp was issued on May 6, 1840. The British Penny Black stamp was engraved with the profile of Queen Victoria.

2. George Foreman is a retired American professional boxer, two-time World Heavyweight Champion, Olympic gold medalist, ordained minister, author, and entrepreneur. Foreman has 12 children: five sons and seven daughters. The boxing legend and famous grill salesman named all of his sons after him: George Jr., George III, George IV, George V, and George VI. He also has a daughter named Georgetta, and another daughter named Freda George. The rest of his daughters are not named after him.

3. 2015 (MMXV) is the current year. Roman numerals, the numeric system used in ancient Rome, employs combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. I=1, V=5, X=10, L=50, C=100, D=500, M=1000. The year 2015 can be expressed in Roman Numerals as MMXV. (MMXV = 1000 + 1000 + 10 + 5.)

4. Jet lag, medically referred to as desynchronosis is a physiological condition which results from alterations to the body's circadian rhythms resulting from rapid long-distance transmeridian (east–west or west–east) travel on high-speed aircraft. For example, someone traveling from New York to California feels as if the time were three hours later. The condition of jet lag may last several days until one is fully adjusted to the new time zone, and a recovery rate of one day per [time zone] crossed is a suggested guideline. The issue of jet lag is especially pronounced for airline pilots, crew, and frequent travelers.

5. Colonel Muammar Gadafi was a Libyan revolutionary and politician who governed Libya as its primary leader from 1969 to 2011. Taking power in a coup d'etat, he ruled as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then as the "Brotherly Leader" of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011, when he was ousted in the Libyan Civil War.

6. An American football's shape is called a prolate spheroid, a continuously curved three-dimensional object that is longer than it is around. Unlike a spherical ball, the prolate spheroid shape actually helps the football to spiral, through something called the gyroscopic effect, which helps maintain its control and trajectory by its continual spin. As a prolate spheroid, a football experiences less drag as it cuts through the air, which explains why you can toss a football farther than a spherical ball such as a basketball or soccer ball that is roughly the same size and weight.

7. The Latin name for gold is aurum. Thus, the chemical symbol for gold is Au. In its purest form, gold is a bright, slightly reddish yellow, dense, soft, malleable and ductile metal. This metal has been a valuable and highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since long before the beginning of recorded history.

8. By the time the World War I ended, there were 930,785 British Empire soldiers who had either died in combat or were declared missing in action. The empire's civilian deaths due to military action or crimes against humanity totaled 18,829, while civilian deaths as a result of malnutrition and disease (excluding the influenza pandemic) hit 109,000. Breaking down the total of the empire's soldiers killed in combat or declared missing in action, the United Kingdom itself accounted for 734,697, followed by India with 62,060; Canada, 56,638; Australia, 53,560; New Zealand, 16,710; and South Africa, 7,120. 

9. Little Boy was the code name for the type of atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., commander of the 509th Composite Group of the United States Army Air Forces. It was the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare. It exploded with an energy of approximately 15 kilotons of TNT. According to figures published in 1945, 66,000 people were killed as a direct result of the Hiroshima blast, and 69,000 were injured to varying degrees.

10. The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial branch of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Its main functions are to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and to provide advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized international branches, agencies, and the UN General Assembly. It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946. The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council.

11.Vatican City is the world's smallest country. With an area of approximately .2 square miles, and a population of about 800, it is the world's smallest country in both area and population. The Vatican City is situated on the Vatican hill, within the city of Rome, and serves as the spiritual center for millions of practicing Roman Catholics worldwide. Within Vatican City are cultural sites such as St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums. They feature some of the world's most famous paintings and sculptures. The unique economy of Vatican City is supported financially by the sale of postage stamps and tourist mementos, fees for admission to museums, and the sale of publications.

12. Dr. Martin Cooper (born:1926) invented the modern cell phone. He invented the technology responsible for the cell phone when he was the Director of Research and Development at Motorola. Dr. Martin Cooper is also known as the first person to make a call on a cell phone. His revolutionary call took place in April of 1973 and was placed to his rival at AT&T's Bell Labs from the streets of New York City.

13. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "The Great American Novel". Twain was born shortly after a visit by Halley's Comet, and he predicted that he would "go out with it", too. He died the day after the comet returned.

14. The American brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, are credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane. In 1903, the Wright brothers achieved the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight. In the two years afterward, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.

15. Theta is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet. The Greek letter theta is commonly used to denote an angle. Unknown angles are referred to as angle theta and may be calculated in various ways, based on known sides and angles.

16. An acute angle is an angle that measures less than ninety degrees but more than zero degrees.

17. A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C. Basses are often divided into different subcategories based on range, vocal color or timbre, the weight of the voice, and dexterity of the voice. Basses are often broken down into six subcategories: basso profondo, basso buffo, bel canto bass, basso cantante, dramatic bass, and bass-baritone.

18. History has Pliny the Younger to thank for much of what we know about the catastrophic eruption of  Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The young Roman official, who was later to gain fame as a poet, was stationed across the bay from the eruption, far enough away to ensure his safety. His eyewitness accounts of the eruption, laid out in a series of letters written years later to famed Roman historian Tacitus, miraculously survived for centuries and were discovered in the 16th century. Pliny's letters recount how "a dark and horrible cloud charged with combustible matter suddenly broke and set forth. Some bewailed their own fate. Others prayed to die."  However, While Pliny the Younger was lucky enough to survive the eruption relatively unscathed, his uncle, known as Pliny the Elder, was less fortunate. The older Pliny was in command of the Roman fleet in the Bay of Naples, from which vantage point he viewed the spectacular eruption. However, in an attempt to help survivors, he sailed to shore near the port of Stabiae. Upon going ashore, he was overcome by toxic gas and died shortly thereafter. 

19. "Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers" is a portrait of Vincent van Gogh by Paul Gauguin  painted in December, 1888. Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh had an early friendship which blossomed into an invitation to Arles, France, where van Gogh wanted Gauguin to stay with him and create an art colony. This painting was completed during Gauguin’s stay in Arles, depicting van Gogh painting his famous work Sunflowers. Unfortunately, Gauguin and Van Gogh were unable to create their art colony, as Gauguin only stayed for two months. A short time after Gauguin finished this picture, Van Gogh threatened him with a razor before cutting off part of his own ear.