Spaghetti Tree | Answers

The answers to my earlier post are shown in bold below..

Duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), Scottsdale, TAS, Australia. Wikipedia
  1. True—Male platypuses have spurs on their hind feet that deliver painful venom making them one of only a few species of venomous mammals.
    Harriet Beecher Stowe by Alanson Fisher (1807 – 1884).
    Google Art Project/Wikipedia
  2. False—Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in Litchfield, Connecticut. Stowe, an American writer and philanthropist, is best known for her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which significantly impacted public opinion against slavery and is considered a contributing factor to the American Civil War. Growing up in a family of intellectuals and abolitionists, Stowe’s experiences in Cincinnati, Ohio, and her interactions with fugitive slaves deeply influenced her writing.
    Yogi Bear. Hanna-Barbera Productions/Wikipedia
  3. False—Yogi first appeared on Hanna-Barbera’s The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958.
    Jewish girls during Bat Mitzva in Alexandria, Egypt (before 1967).
    Nebi Daniel Association/Wikipedia
  4. True—a bat mitzvah is a solemn ceremony held in some synagogues where a girl of 12 to 13 years of age is formally accepted as an adult member of the Jewish community. It is equivalent to a boy’s bar mitzvah.
    Roadrunner. Wikipedia
  5. True—Roadrunners, or chaparral birds, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos found in deserts across the southwestern and south-central United States, Mexico and Central America. The roadrunner, popularised by Warner Bros. cartoons, is depicted as faster than coyotes, but in reality, coyotes are twice as fast. The cartoons also perpetuate the misconception that roadrunners say “meep, meep”.

    The Simpson-Reed Grove of coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) on US Route 199, California, USA. Wikipedia
  6. FalseSequoia is a genus of redwood coniferous trees. Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, is a large, hairy mythical creature said to inhabit forests in North America. It holds significant cultural importance in American and Canadian folklore.

Spaghetti tree

Why Spaghetti Tree? The BBC’s 1957 April Fools’ Day hoax, broadcast on the current-affairs programme Panorama, featured a convincing three-minute segment showcasing a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from “spaghetti trees”. The report, which claimed the eradication of the dreaded spaghetti weevil had resulted in a bumper crop, was given credibility by being voiced by respected journalist Richard Dimbleby. At the time, spaghetti was relatively unfamiliar to the British public, prompting many viewers to contact the BBC for tips on cultivating their own spaghetti trees. This cleverly executed prank has since been hailed by CNN as

“undoubtedly the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled.”

—CNN.

The Spaghetti tree hoax on BBC’s Panorama current-affairs programme was voiced by respected journalist Richard Dimbleby. Wikipedia

Spaghetti Tree

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner in Zoom and Bored, 1957. Wikipedia

April 1. Some of these may be true, indeed they may all be, but on the other hand they may, some or all, be false. Don’t be fooled!

  1. True or false: a platypus, aka a duck-billed platypus, is a venomous mammal.
  2. True or false: novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama?
  3. True or false: Yogi Bear made his television debut in The Bugs Bunny Show.
  4. True or False: A bat mitzvah is a coming-of-age ritual in Judaism.
  5. True or false: The roadrunner is one of two species of fast-running ground cuckoos.
  6. True or false: Sequoia is another name for Bigfoot, the legendary creature from the forests of North America’s Pacific Northwest.

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

Quirky Queries: A Journey Through Art, History and Curiosities | Answers

The answers to my earlier post are shown in bold below.

Ecstasy of St Teresa.
Wikipedia
  1. Bernini—Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, depicting Teresa of Ávila’s mystical experience is in the Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. The chapel was commissioned by Federigo Cardinal Cornaro and St. Teresa is surrounded by sculptures of the cardinal and his family. Teresa of Ávila was born 28 March 1515.
    Istanbul.
    Wikipedia
  2. Istanbul—Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, was the capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. Located on a peninsula between Europe and Asia, it has been a strategic city for over 2,500 years. The city’s name evolved from Byzantium to Constantinople, and finally to Istanbul in 1930.
    Virginia Woolf. Wikipedia
  3. Virginia Woolf—Virginia Woolf, an English writer, is known for her novels, essays, and letters. Her works, including Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse, influenced the genre through their non-linear narrative.
    Three Mile Island on the Susquehanna
    River.
    Wikipedia
  4. Susquehanna River—The Three Mile Island accident near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1979 was the most serious nuclear power accident in US history. A valve malfunction caused a partial core meltdown, but fortunately, radioactive gases did not pose a threat to the surrounding population.
  5. Spanish Civil War—The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was a conflict between the Nationalists, supported by Italy and Germany, and the Republicans, aided by the Soviet Union and International Brigades. The Nationalists, led by General Francisco Franco, emerged victorious, establishing a dictatorship that lasted until his death in 1975.
General Francisco Franco.
Wikipedia

Quirky Queries: A Journey Through Art, History and Curiosities

All of today’s questions relate to 28 March.

Ecstasy of St Teresa
Wikipedia
  1. The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, shown above, is in the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. Whose work is the sculpture?
    • Bernini
    • Donatello
    • Michelangelo
  2. This city, dating back to c657 BCE, underwent name changes under the Romans in the 4th century and again in 1930. Can you name it?
    • Baghdad
    • Istanbul
    • Sofia
  3. This author, who passed away on this day in 1941, is best known for her novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927). Who is she?
    • Rebecca West
    • Katherine Mansfield
    • Virginia Woolf
  4. The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant experienced an accident on 28 March 1979 that resulted in radioactive leakage. On what river does the plant stand?
    • Atchafalaya River
    • Susquehanna River
    • Willamette River
  5. On this day in 1939, General Franco, the leader of the Nationalist forces during a civil war, captured his nation’s capital city. This was one of the last events before he declared victory. What civil war?
    • Austrian Civil War
    • Greek Civil War
    • Spanish Civil War

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

Three Mile Island nuclear generating station, 1979.
Wikipedia

Who, What, When, Where, Why and How II | Answers

Here are the answers to my earlier post.

Calvin Coolidge.
Wikipedia
  1. Calvin Coolidge—was US President on the 26 March 1925. Calvin Coolidge, the 30th US President, served from 1923 to 1929. He is known for his small-government conservatism, taciturn personality, and support for racial equality. Coolidge oversaw economic growth during the “Roaring Twenties” but is criticised for failing to address economic inequality and for his potential role in the Great Depression.
  2. World War I—The First Battle of Gaza, fought on 26 March 1917, was a British defeat during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. The British Desert Column, nearing capture of Gaza, withdrew due to darkness and Ottoman reinforcements.
  3. 2000—Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer, has served as President of Russia since 2012, with previous terms from 2000 to 2008. His rule has been marked by economic growth, military conflicts, authoritarian tendencies, and human rights violations. Putin’s actions have led to international sanctions and a war crimes warrant.
    Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat with U.S. president Jimmy Carter at Camp David in September 1978.
    Wikipedia
  4. Camp David, Maryland—the Camp David Accord was reached the previous September (1978) when President Carter hosted Egypt’s President Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Begin at his Maryland retreat.
  5. They believed a spacecraft was arriving to take them as immortal extraterrestrials to a better place
  6. 16-years

Who, What, When, Where, Why and How II

Kremlin, Moscow.
Wikipedia

All of the following relate to today’s date, 26 March.

  1. Who was the president of the United States of America 100 years ago today, 26 March 1925?
    • Warren G. Harding
    • Calvin Coolidge
    • Herbert Hoover
  2. What conflict saw the First Battle of Gaza take place on this date?
    • The Six Day War
    • World War I
    • World War II
  3. When was Vladimir Putin, a Russian intelligence officer and politician, elected president of Russia for the first time.
    • 2000
    • 2004
    • 2006
  4. Where did talks, mediated by US President Jimmy Carter, between Menachem Begin, the Israeli Prime Minister, and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt take place? These talks led to an historic peace treaty between Israel and Egypt that was signed on 26 March 1979.
    • Camp David, Maryland
    • Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
    • Plains, Georgia
  5. Why did these members of Heaven’s Gate kill themselves? On 26 March 1997 the bodies of 39 members of Heaven’s Gate were found after a mass suicide.
    • They believed they alone would be reincarnated as gods in an earthly paradise
    • They believed a spacecraft was arriving to take them as immortal extraterrestrials to a better place
    • They believed they had to poison themselves to meet Jesus
  6. How long had this interlude lasted? After a hiatus, the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who made a triumphant return to television with a new episode in which Christopher Eccleston reprised the iconic role of the Doctor.
    • 6-years
    • 10-years
    • 16-years

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

Tardis
Wikipedia