Editorial
Front Page - Friday, February 4, 2011
Brainbuster — Make your brain tingle!
Kay Bona
1. In 1919, baseball Hall of Famer Tris Speaker offered the following appraisal of a strategic change regarding a famous player: “Taking the best left-handed pitcher in baseball and converting him into a right fielder is one of the dumbest things I ever heard.” After a while, Speaker was proven wrong, but about whom was he speaking? Cal Ripkin; Mickey Mantle; Babe Ruth; Darryl Strawberry.
2. The ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is a popular fairy tale about a girl who fell asleep and was woken with a kiss. What is the original story actually about? A girl in a coma; A girl who was raped by a passing stranger; An animal that hibernated; The very first recorded vegetative state patient.
3. Charles Goodyear discovered vulcanization by chance. It transformed rubber, and consequently we have Goodyear tires. How much money did Charles Goodyear make from this invention? A modest income as he gave the rest to charity; He became a millionaire; Nothing, he died in debt to the tune of $200,000; He made $500,000.
4. Many painters over the last two millennia have painted the ‘Last Supper’, but every one of these painters has made a mistake regarding the painting. Do you know what it is? The number of disciples present is incorrect; The disciples ate the last supper lying down; The seating arrangements are incorrect; There was no food on the table.
5. Alfred Nobel lent his name to the Nobel peace prize, and he also had other awards created in the scientific field. He also had 305 patents, but what were his very first inventions? Dynamite, blasting caps and smokeless gelatin; Gene pooling; DNA cells and molecular structures; Analgesics.
6. The tallest human ever recorded was 8 feet 11 inches. This title belonged to Robert Pershing Wadlow from Alton, Illinois. At what time of day is a person at his/her tallest: Morning, upon first waking; Afternoon; Evening; None of the above, you are always the same.
7. According to Guniess Book of World Records, who is the worlds largest wireless internet provider: United State’s Comcast; Japan’s NTT CoCoMo; China’s ChinaNet; UK’s PlusNet.
8. Where can you find the world’s highest-ranking Camel? Los Angeles, California; Cadaado, Somalia; Nairobi, Kenya; Baghdad, Iraq.
ANSWERS: 1. Babe Ruth is widely regarded as a baseball legend, and after making the change to right field he set some records, which stood for more than a short while. For instance, in 1927 he became the first player to hit sixty home runs in one season. This wasn’t beaten until Roger Maris hit sixty-one runs in the 1961 season, but some considered Maris had an advantage because that season was eight games longer than the one during which Ruth achieved his feat. 2. A girl who was raped by a passing stranger, who then left. ‘Sleeping Beauty’ was first written in 1636, in Italy. When she awoke nine months later, she found that she had twins. 3. Nothing, he died in debt to the tune of $200,000. 4. The disciples ate the last supper lying down. Apparently in those days, the people of ancient Judea ate in a reclining position. 5. Dynamite, blasting caps and smokeless gelatin. 6. In the morning upon first waking. During the course of the day, as a person stands the spine compresses. During sleep, it decompresses which causes you to be your tallest. 7. NTT DoCoMo (Japan) is the world’s largest wireless internet provider, with 45,687,117 subscribers to their i-mode service as of January 2006. Apparently that record still stands. 8. The world’s highest ranking law-enforcement camel is Bert, who was accepted as Reserve Deputy Sheriff for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, San Dimas, on April 5, 2003 and regularly goes on patrol with his handler Nance Fite.
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