This Brainbuster originally ran in The Daily Record on January 9, 2009.
1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.
2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?
4. What is the difference between the porpoise and the dolphin? Nothing; porpoises are related to whales; dolphins are not; A porpoise is smaller; a dolphin has three fins, a porpoise has four.
5. The world’s windiest place is also the coldest, and one of its driest. The katabatic winds blow down to the sea at speeds of up to 320 km/h (200 mph). More than 95 percent of this place is covered by layers of ice, some up to three miles thick. Where is it? Alaska; Greenland; Antarctica; Iceland
6. The deadliest tropical storm in history claimed an estimated 500,000 lives, mostly by drowning, and left another 100,000 people missing. This was: Cyclone Bhola (East Pakistan, now Bangladesh); Hurricane Katrina (Gulf of Mexico coast, United States); Typhoon Nancy (Japan); “The Great Hurricane” (Caribbean Islands)
7. In the signature Duke Ellington Orchestra song “Take the ‘A’ Train,” where does the A train go? The French Quarter, New Orleans; Hollywood, Calif.; Harlem, N.Y.; Kansas City, Mo.
8. Suppose you were stranded on a Pacific Island and you are very hungry. After no luck with using your handmade spear, you decide to try another method of fishing employed by indigenous people throughout the Pacific. What is that fishing technique? Tubli plant poisoning; Net fishing; Line fishing; Fly-fishing.
ANSWERS
1. Boxing.
2. Niagara Falls is the North American landmark constantly moving backward. The rim is worn down about two and a half feet anually because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.
3. Asparagus and rhubarb.
4. Porpoises are smaller than dolphins, and dolphins have a beak-like snout; although both are closely related to whales.
5. Antarctica is one of the windiest, coldest, and driest places on Earth. The entire continent is technically a desert, despite the cold temperatures, as it receives less than two inches of rainfall annually.
6. On Nov. 12, 1970, Cyclone Bhola made landfall in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing approximately a half-million people.
7. The ‘A’ train is the quickest way to Harlem, where the prominent Cotton Club nightclub was located.
8. Tubli Plant poisoning. The Tubli Plant, common throughout the Pacific, has distinctive oval leaves and is found near coastlines and along streams. Its roots contain rotenone, which is highly toxic to fish but causes no harm to humans. Indigenous habitants crush the roots and extract the oil. They then shake the mixture over shallow pools along the shore, where fish are often trapped. Within minutes, fish float to the surface.