Finding Order Out of Chaos Trivia Quiz

10

Lacrosse, a ball game played with sticks with nets, is based on more than one game played by many Native American communities known since the 12th century. Traditionally each team comprised somewhere between 100 to 1,000 men on a field several miles long. A game lasted from dawn until dusk over two to three days. They were played as a component of a ceremonial ritual, mimicking warfare, and to give thanks to the Creator / Master. The Jesuit missionary priests in Canada standardised and documented the rules of a single game by the 17th century.

Each team has ten players: three attackmen, three midfielders, three defencemen, and one goalie. The positions are important, especially with the length of the stick permitted. Attackmen and midfielders carry a short stick (40 and 42 inches or 100 and 110 cm long), and defencemen carry a long stick (52 to 72 inches or 130 to 180 cm long). The goalie uses a stick with a wide head (12 inches or 30 cm) and a length that can be between 40 to 72 inches (100 to 180 cm) long.

Fun fact: Pearl Jam's 1991 album, "Ten" is not their tenth album but their first. There is an assumption that it is named as such because there are ten tracks on the album but there are actually eleven as there is a hidden track. Some people believe it is named after Mookie Blaylock, an All-Star basketball player who sported the number 10 jersey for the New Jersey Nets but this is not quite right either. Before Pearl Jam, the group called themselves "Mookie Blacklock" which they did indeed name after the basketballer. But "10" the album was a tribute to Pearl Jam's original name.

12

South America has twelve sovereign states: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It has one internal territory: French Guiana and two dependent territories: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, both of which are British Overseas Territories.

Most of South America was colonised by the Spanish though Brazil, the largest country in South America, was colonised by the Portuguese. In the early 1800s, these colonies started seeking independence. Colombia was the first to become independent of Spain followed by, in order: Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, with Bolivia being the last in 1825.
Brazil became independent of Portugal on 7 September 1822 with Uruguay becoming independent of Brazil in 1825.

The Guyanese territories became independent much later: Guyana in May 1966 (from the UK) and Suriname in November 1975 (from the Netherlands). French Guiana, in a 2010 referendum, voted against autonomy and it remains an Overseas Department of France.

Fun Fact: Pedantically there are only 11.86 years in a single solar orbit of Jupiter. Additionally, there are approximately 10 hours in a Jovian day (the fastest of all the eight planets) which means there are approximately 10 390 days in a year on Jupiter. A person who lives to be 70 years old on earth will not even be two and a half Jovian years old when they die.

20

Dartboards are no longer made from tree trunks. Since 1935 Ted Leggatt and Frank Dabbs began using a type of agave, the century plant, to make them. Sisal fibres of the same length were bundled together and compressed into a disc. Darts did no damage to the board as they parted the packed fibres when thrown into the board.

Dartboards are not standardised worldwide. For example, the Yorkshire and Manchester Log End board differs from a 'standard board' in that they have no triples, only doubles and bullseyes. Dartboards have a regulated overall diameter of 17.75" (451 mm), but the Manchester board is smaller with a playing area of only 9.8 in (250mm) across.

Lancashire (UK) carpenter Brian Gamlin devised the standard numbered point system in 1896. It is claimed that he devised it to penalise inaccuracy but this has never been substantiated. Nevertheless, the numbering system is standardised worldwide. The number 20 is the topmost number on all dartboards.

Fun Fact: Of the 26 currencies that use the dollar as their currency, all but one have a $20 note the exception being Taiwan which has a $20 coin instead. (The smallest note is $100). Of the 26 currencies only Namibia has a $30 note. This note was printed as a one-off to celebrate 30 years of independence. Whilst it was a commemorative issue, it remains legal tender.

22

There are many versions of Monopoly, but most, including the original version, had 22 coloured properties. There are 40 spaces on the game board and 28 properties including 22 colour-coded streets, four railway stations and two utility spaces. On the classic Monopoly board, there are three Chance spaces, three Community Chest spaces, one Luxury Tax space, and one Income Tax space.

The original game had streets from Atlantic City, New Jersey but in the 20th century, the most popular version used the streets of London as its properties.

Charles Darrow was introduced to a homemade real-estate board game by a family friend. Darrow was so impressed with the game that his friend made him his own version. It had no name. no box but was referred to as the Monopoly game. Darrow took the game to Parker Brothers who initially rejected it but when Darrow started selling home-made versions locally, they changed their minds. The Parker Brothers' more professional version has now sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide. Darrow received royalties for every copy sold throughout his life.

However, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Magie invented the game in 1903 ... and patented it after making several improved versions in 1924. It was called the "Landlord's Game". It contained all the basic tenets of the game Darrow sold to Parker Brothers. Lizzie went to Parker Brothers after Monopoly had its commercial release. For the patent to the Landlord's Game and another two other game concepts, Lizzie received $500 - and not one dollar in royalties.

Fun Fact - Monopoly: The original metal tokens included an iron, purse, lantern, racing car, thimble, shoe, top hat, battleship, cannon and a rocking horse.

Fun Fact - 22: Adele may have had one of the world's biggest-selling albums of all time with "21" but Lilly Allen and Taylor Swift both have songs called "22". Ms Allen's song (2009) preceded Adele's behemoth but Ms Swift's song was released in 2012.

27

The flag of Brazil is unusual. It is the only national flag that is a combination of green, yellow, and blue, the prominent colours. The yellow lozenge on the green field is also unique. In the centre is a blue disc depicting a starry sky and spanned by a curved band inscribed with the national motto "Ordem e Progresso" ("Order and Progress"). [Author note: Also describes this quiz's creation timeline]. The blue sky features 27 stars in very specific positions: Each white five-pointed star's position in the flag reflects the sky over the city of Rio de Janeiro on 15 November 1889 (the day that Brazil was proclaimed a republic). Each star corresponds to a Brazilian Federal Unit and its size is in proportion to its geographic size. A new star is created when a new state is added (or extinguished). In 1889, it had 21 stars. Since then six more states have been added to Brasil so six more stars have been added to the flag up to 1992 when the last state was added.

'Fun' Fact: In 1969 and 1971, several prominent musicians such as Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison all died at age 27. When Kurt Cobain died at the same age, a myth about the "27 Club" was born (Amy Winehouse was added to the list in 2011). A further myth was perpetuated called the "white lighter myth" in which it is alleged that several 27 Club musicians died while in possession of a white disposable cigarette lighter, causing such items to become associated with bad luck. Despite the disproving of this theory (Bic was the only major producer of disposable lighters in 1969-71, but did not make a white one at the time), the myth persists.

30

According to the Gospel of Matthew, (26:15 KJV) Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests before the last supper. He agreed to identify Jesus for a sum of 30 silver coins. Jesus was then arrested in Gethsemane, where Judas subsequently identified Jesus to the soldiers by kissing him. (This is the origin of the idiom "Judas Kiss".)
Judas was reportedly filled with remorse and tried to return the money.

Fun Facts:
- Thirty is the minimum age one can be elected to the US Senate. Therefore such a candidate would need to wait a further five years if they wanted to be elected President of the United States.
- 30 is the number of uprights that formed the outer circle at Stonehenge.

36

A typical piano has 88 keys in total: 36 black keys and 52 white keys.

Each group of twelve keys on the piano (seven white and five black keys ) makes up one octave. The white keys are for the tones of the C major scale, C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. The black keys on a piano are for sharps and flats which have a tone that sounds higher than the white key to its left (sharp) or a tone that is lower than the white key to the right (flat). (Therefore F sharp is the same sound as G flat).

There are only five black keys for every seven white keys as there is no room in our current system for another pitch between B and C, or E and F.

Fun Facts:
- The Australian basketball team in the National Basketball League, the Adelaide 36ers, is named after the year in which South Australia was founded in 1836.
- Most people answer 36 when asked how many numbers are on a roulette wheel. However, when taking into consideration "0" and "00", this makes it a 37 on a European wheel, or 38 on an American wheel.

39

Scottish author John Buchan wrote "The Thirty-Nine Steps". It was serialised in "All-Story Weekly" issues in June 1915, and in "Blackwood's Magazine" between July and September 1915, before being published as an entire book in October of the same year.

This is an adventure novel, the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an "all-action hero" loaded with stoicism and fortitude and a knack for a propensity to wriggle out of dire situations. The 39 steps are a key plot point in the novel where the protagonist needs to escape from a clifftop to a waiting boat below.

In the 1935 British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the plot is only loosely based on the novel. "The 39 Steps" in this adaptation is an organisation of spies intent on stealing British military secrets.

This was a major British film, and the British film industry was keen for British cinema to have a more global recognition, "The 39 Steps" was purposely geared to this end. This movie cost half as much again as Hitchcock's previous film, "The Man Who Knew Too Much", with most of the extra money needed to facilitate the salaries for leads Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. Both of them had already made films in the US and were well-known to American audiences. British cinema had very few international stars in the 30s, and this use of stars was considered central to the film's success.

Fun Fact - Jon Buchan: This Scottish author was the 15th Governor-General of Canada. While very effective he raised the ire of his 'colonial' masters by encouraging Canadians to have more of their own identity and promoted the King as the "King of Canada"

Fun Fact - 39 Steps: When John Buchan was writing the novel, his daughter counted the stairs on a staircase leading to the beach where Buchan was staying. She announced there were 39 down to the beach. Actually, there were 78, but Buchan halved the number to make a better title.

More Fun Facts - 39:
- The number of Old Testament books in the Bible according to the Protestant canon is 39.
- Japanese internet chat slang for "Thank You" is 39 as when written with numbers, 3=San, and 9=Kyuu.

47

The US and Australia, for example, are divided into states, Canada is divided into provinces and Japan is divided into prefectures.

Japan is divided into 47 prefectures: They include 43 prefectures proper (ken), two urban prefectures (Kyoto and Osaka), one regional prefecture (Hokkaido) and one metropolis (Tokyo). They range in size from Kagawa (one of three on the smallest major island of Shikoku) with 1,905 km2 to Hokkaido (the entire island - Japan's second largest) with 83,424 km2. The population varies from 539 190 (2023) in Tottori in north central Honshu to Tokyo with 14 063 564 (2023). Density is variable from Hokkaido with 67 people per square kilometre to 6402 people per square kilometre in Tokyo.

In 1868, the Meiji administration created the first prefectures to replace parts of the country previously controlled directly by the shogunate. By 1871, all remaining feudal domains (han) were consolidated into prefectures. This meant prefectures covered the entire country so prefectures subdivided the whole country. There were some rearrangements to arrive at 47 prefectures by the turn of the century. In most instances, these are contiguous with the ancient ritsuryo provinces of Japan. Compare this division along cultural groupings compared with the colonisation of Africa where the continent was carved up by European powers according to political need with little consideration for cultural similarities and differences.

The prefectures have little power as Japan is a unitary state. The central government sometimes delegates functions (eg education and police) to some of the prefectures but retains the overall control of these delegated powers.

Fun Fact: As the number of states increased in the US, the flag had to be changed each time a new state was added as an additional star needed to be added. The 47-star Stars and Stripes is very rare as only a month between New Mexico (47th) and Arizona (48th) joined the union in 1912.

60

All internal angles in a triangle always add up to 180 degrees. Therefore in an equilateral triangle where, by definition, all angles are equal, each angle must be 60 degrees and subsequently, all three sides must be the same length.

Fun fact: Triangles are strong! A rectangle can collapse into a parallelogram if pressure is applied to one of its points but a triangle will not change shape as each of the three sides supports the other two. So you ask why are buildings not made in triangular shapes? (Notable exception - Flatiron building in New York City). The answer is convenience. Rectangles are the most common geometric form for buildings as they can be stacked and organised easily and furniture and fittings will fit more easily inside rectangular shaped buildings. However in 1989, when Tokyo architects were trying to discover if 500-storey buildings were possible in a land-strapped city, computer simulations proved that such buildings were structurally possible but only if a triangular shape building was built.