Tough Trivia Challenge (or...help endear me to my in-laws)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Only about 80% confidence on these, as I didn’t thoroughly fact check:

  1. 1 Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto Number 2

  2. 2 Aha, maybe Abba. AOXOMOXOA is an album, no luck on song title

  3. Lost innnocence

  4. Vents are fixed to mantle for longer period. On earth plate tectonic drift severs the connection.

  5. Liverpudlian

  6. Yes, the Great Pyramid at Giza.

  7. Tom House

  8. Economics

  9. Shaky info, but: Janitorial office

  10. General Barnike (?)

  11. Knowledge is Good

  12. BankAmericard

  13. Denver Gillen

  14. 704 Hauser Street

  15. WAG: love

  16. NASA’s Crawler Transport

  17. strontium

  18. 60’ per gallon, obviously lots of variables

22

That is correct, according to PBS’ website.

http://pbskids.org/clifford/caregivers/faq.html

23

Here’s an excerpt from “The Beatles Recording Sessions - The Official Abbey Road Studio Session Notes, 1962 to 1970,” by Mark Lewisohn. It also confirms the Brandenburg #2. The trumpeter himself, David Mason, is quoted.

But that means this is a fact, not a rumor! A trick question, maybe? :wink:

24

Regarding cruise ship fuel consumption, there’s a commonly-circulated “factoid” that the ship QE2 travels only 6 inches on a gallon of fuel, against which someone did the math and concluded that this is pure hoo-hah; his calculations indicate 26 feet per gallon. So this brings up two questions: 1) What answer does your trivia-quizzers expect? The widespread but evidently false factoid, or a more rigorous reply? 2) Assuming it’s the latter, how much latitude will the quizzers give? With cars, fuel mileage can easily vary by 2x or more, and I’d expect it to be no different for cruise ships (and thus Waverly’s suggestion is entirely within range).

Colibri, et al. - I stand corrected. Thank you. I shan’t spread any more misinformation.

25

Both Billboard Top Pop Singles 1955-1996 and the official Abba website at http://www.abbasite.com/music/songdata/103.html list the title as SOS, with no periods. (The SOS distress signal was first adopted by Germany in 1905).

26

This would put fuel consumption up at approx 120 feet per gallon, but this a smallish ship. I’ll stick with 60’/gal as an average.

27

The Great Pyramid at Giza…481 ft…with the capstone. Which was gone by 1492.

The White Pyramid of Xian…962 ft

No comparison.

28

Could you provide a link with photos? I’m interested in learning more.

29

Waverly…

From Debij’s post above…

http://www.crystalinks.com/tibet.htm

30

Reeder, Ellie Crystal’s Metaphysical and Science Website has a photo from WWII. As somewhat of an archaeology buff, I was hoping for something with a more scientific bent. Certainly scientists have studied this behemoth?

31

http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/text/dnew54x.htm

"The Fabulous 1,000-Foot White Pyramid of Xian
Since the end of the Second World War, rumors regarding the existence of giant pyramids in China have been appearing with increasing regularity in the press and literature of many countries. There has been talk of structures whose size puts to shame the Cheops Pyramid of Egypt and the Sun Pyramid at Teotihuacan in Mexico.

I’ve journeyed deep into China three times to discover the truth behind these rumors. All three times, these pilgrimages have taken me into Shaanxi Province, to an area about 40 miles south-west of the ancient Chinese capital of Xian, in the mountainous Qin Ling Shan region.

I was searching for a pyramid which was said to have been, once, many millennia ago, multicolored, and to now be a dusty white. This was a pyramid which, legend has it, rises to the aston-ishing height of 1,000 feet - four-fifths the elevation of the Empire State Building. Not only was this extraordinary structure said to be the largest pyramid in the world (the Giant Pyramid of Egypt, by comparison, rises a mere 450 feet); but, in the valleys surround-ing it, there were said to be dozens of other pyramids, some rising to an elevation almost as great."

etc etc etc

Long story short he didn’t find it. Smaller 200 foot tall ones yes. Big 1,000 footer no.
http://hawk.hama-med.ac.jp/dbk/chnpyramid.html

This site has pictures of purported 1000 foot tall pyramid taken during WWII and more modern pictures. Most site links claiming existence of this beast as fact, however, are in the unexplained phenomena vein. Would think archeologists would be all over this if he really did discover it. Odd. source for data links back to

"DRAMATIC REVELATION FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS

Hartwig Hausdorf publisher of “The White Pyramids” (only in German at the moment) showed films of his recent return from Xian province in China, where up to NINETY pyramids have been “discovered”, one pyramid was a collossal 300 meters high, the rest ranged from 35 to 90 meters. In one area SEVENTEEN Pyramids are visible even in the industrial-polluted atmosphere at Xian.

The biggest pyramid (50km SW of Xian) was first noticed/photographed by an American pilot off-course in the last war. Then the report was forgotten, and the “cultural” Revolution wiped out all references to the Pyramid Fields of Xian.

The local “archaeologist” and museum curator was asked in Xian, what work they had done on the White Pyramids to discover their origin,- NOTHING. “We have been given no money nor instructions,” they muttered. “It will have to be for the next generation.”

The construction of the Chinese Pyramids is similar to Teotiuhuacan, made of piled earth with stepped sides, rather than the spectacular engineering of Khufu. also the tops of most of them are flattened off - like the Mayan ones, some also being rectangular.

The questions remain, because oftheir size, what was their purpose? and who built them and why were these pyramids built? Nobody knows anything. What percentage of “professional” archaeologists had even a glimmer of awareness of their existence?! Isn’t it amazing that such a site could remain secret for so long. So what ELSE is hidden on this planet?"
etc etc

His book.

http://www.wexclub.com/ExtraTerrestrial/pages/chro.htm

"The Chinese Roswell
UFO Encounters in the Far East from Ancient Times to the Present by Hartwig Hausdorf

Hausdorf takes us along on his search for the fabled 1,000-foot White Pyramid of Xian, the largest pyramid in the world. He seeks evidence of extraterrestrials in ancient China and discusses such mysteries as the mercury-filled tomb chamber of the emperor Chi Huang Ti, builder of the Great Wall; the mysterious stone disks of Bayan Kara Ula; Mount Meru in Tibet; mind-over-matter techniques of Tibetan adepts; Chinese inventions; and the ancient parachute jump of Emperor Shun. Chapters on Jade Chariots and Flying Dragons, Underground River of the Plesiosaurs, Vimanas and Japan, UFOs over Shanghai, more.

211 pages. 6x9 Paperback. Illustrated. Bibliography & Index. $13.95. "

32

[last hijack]
That’s pretty much my understanding as well, astro. I was being politely skeptical. I wouldn’t say the pyramid couldn’t exist, but there needs to be a bit more archaeological substantiation than what is uncovered during a quest for “evidence of extraterrestrials in ancient China” by a nuevo-VonDaniken.
[/last hijack]

33

Interesting about the Chinese pyramid, but I am pretty skeptical without some more solid backup. (Not that some pyramids exist, but that one is as large as 300 m high.) As others have said, almost all the web sites referencing it have an extraterrestrial/mystic bent.

In any case, the judges of the trivia quiz in the OP are almost certainly expecting the Great Pyramid of Cheops, which AFAIK held the record until the Washington Monument beat it in 1884 (to be superseded by the Eiffel Tower a few years late).

34
  1. What was Archie Bunker’s address?

And if you want to be really picky about it, it’s Astoria Queens, NY

35

Interesting. My sources are:

  1. Microsoft Music Central (CD) 1997
  2. The Guiness Book of Hit Singles 12th edition
  3. The Best of Abba (LP)

Any chance that, for some interesting reason perhaps related to interpretation, the title was changed for US releases?

36

And apologies for not including that information on my previous post.

37

The link provided cites:

Just curious why any Buddhist Monastery would predate the Buddha, who died 2544 years ago. Of course that was his final incarnation.

38

You guys rock!

I’m still a bit unclear on the tallest structure and the biggest vehicle

I don’t think there is enough verification fro a 1,000 foot pyramid in China to be the correct answer (you’d think such a thing would be hard to miss and well known if it did exist). That leaves the Great Pyramid in Egypt and the Lincoln Cathedral. Dr. Schadenfreude has the Lincoln Cathedral at 525 feet compared to Cheops which is 481 feet with the capstone and 452 without it. Unfortunately I can’t find confirmation on Lincoln Cathedral. Their official website, while very slick, seems to miss this piece of info (as do several otehr sites but I may not be looking hard enough).

The Big Muskie excavator, being gone, probably doesn’t count for this question (or should it?). The Big Muskie had a ‘smaller’ brother Big Brutus. One question poses itself here:

Big Brutus weighs more than the Crawler Transporter (11 million pounds vs. 6 million pounds)? However, while it still actually exists (unlike Big Muskie) it is totally defunct and no longer operational in any capacity. Does it still count to being the biggest vehicle? (I guess I’m asking how you would interpret this question…I have no way of obtaining a better definition of the question being asked or else I’d just do that.)

Unbelievable the things you guys and gals are all able to come up with. Very cool!

39

There is anecdotal evidence here:

http://www.aislingmagazine.com/Anu/articles/TAM17/Moon.html

This supports an entry in 'The Guinness Book Of Millennium Records.

40

Hmm. I looked at the list of songs on the “Thank You For the Music” box set, and it is listed as “S.O.S.” Three periods! I guess the consistency of the periods was simply not considered important. Can you imagine that? Anyway, sorry about the hijack.