Cool Zooms, Part XX Trivia Quiz

Answer: Isaac Newton

Arguably one of the most influential scientists in human history, Sir Isaac Newton (1642 - 1726/7) made prodigious contributions in the fields of optics, gravity and mathematics. He was also well known for a keen interest in alchemy, was Warden, then Master of the Royal Mint from 1696 until his death and served as a Member of Parliament too. His quote about standing on the shoulders of giants was from a letter to fellow scientist Robert Hooke, but the sentiment can be traced back to the twelfth century CE.

As a scientist, PR member MikeMaster99 is constantly in awe at the insights and radical changes in understanding of the world brought about by these paramount figures in history.

Answer: I Got You Babe

The film "Groundhog Day" was released in 1993 and it starred Bill Murray as Phil Connors. Phil lives in the state of Pennsylvania where he works as a weather reporter on TV. Every year on February 2nd he begrudgingly covers the annual Groundhog Day festivities in the town of Punxsutawney.

Surprisingly, after Phil goes to sleep each night he wakes up and repeats February 2nd (Groundhog Day) again and again. His alarm is set for 6:00 am to the hit song "I Got You Babe" that was performed by Sonny & Cher and released in 1965. "I Got You Babe" held the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and its inclusion in the film "Groundhog Day" revitalized its popularity.

In the film Phil initially treats his repeating days with partying and immorality as he realizes there are no consequences but eventually he strives to help people and try to win the heart of his producer Rita Hanson (Andie MacDowell).

This question was started and rewritten several times (thankfully not at 6:00 am listening to "I Got You Babe") by Phoenix Rising team member Triviaballer who thinks it's unfortunate that groundhogs don't live in his home state of Florida.

Answer: Diego Maradona

Legendary Argentine footballer Diego Maradona scored the infamous goal in a quarterfinal match against England at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. As he jumped to head the ball, his fist clearly helped direct it into the back of the net. According to the laws of the game, the goal should have been disallowed and Maradona given a yellow card. However, the referee did not have a good view of the goal and there was at the time no video assistant referee.

It was a stunning blow, and in the context of an intense geopolitical rivalry, it meant so much more than just a goal. Argentina had suffered under English imperialism, and the Falklands War had played out just four years prior. Twenty years earlier, English manager Alf Ramsey had also insulted the Argentine players by characterizing them as "animals" after defeating Argentina 1-0 in the 1966 World Cup quarterfinals. The matchup in 1986 therefore represented a perfect entanglement of football and politics, and an opportunity for revenge.

If "the Hand of God" was dirty, Maradona's second goal in the game, dubbed "the goal of the century" was absolutely scintillating. This was arguably the game, this moment on the world stage, that would cement Maradona's legend. Argentina defeated England 2-1 and went on to win the tournament beating West Germany 3-2 in the final.

Phoenix Rising's JCSon dribbled a bit as he wrote this question.

Answer: Sardinia

Yep, that's cheese with maggots. Not something to be found in your local supermarket. Not even on Sardinia any more. Even though it is a long standing delicacy, the only way to get hold of this scrumptious snack is on the black market, as it was banned under E.U. food hygiene laws in 2002.

It starts life as a wheel of cheese similar to pecorino, this is left outside uncovered and attracts the Piophila casei fly who lays its eggs. When they hatch, the larva munch through the cheese secreting acid as they go, which breaks down the fats and creates a soft, gooey, maggot-infested, tasty snack.

If eaten, potentially not all the larvae will succumb to stomach acid, some may survive and lurk in the intestines causing a condition called pseudomyiasis.

Surprisingly, Sardinia is not the only place where cheese is produced with infestations; Corsica, Apulia, and Liguria, among others, boast similar delicacies.

Rumour also has it that the English cheese Stilton started production with a similar method. Hasten to add it isn't made like that now.

Phoenix Rising member smpdit, sits with a queasy, cheesy grin on her face, not quite fancying her cheese toastie now.

Answer: Chins

The chin is the forward pointy part of the anterior mandible below the lower lip. Geniophobia is from the Greek 'genio', meaning "chin" and/or "jaw". People can have this fear because they themselves have prominent chins, for example double chins. However most people with this phobia are obsessed with other people's chins, particularly when they are imperfect. Geniophobes can't stop staring at other people's chins. In the worst cases, they may even avoid interaction with people whose chins they consider as hideous or deformed, which in reality may be neither. Treatment, for severe cases, includes cognitive therapy and medication.

Do not confuse geniophobia with genophobia, that is something entirely different.

This question was written by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1 whose only obsession with his chin is to retain it.

Answer: Zsa Zsa Gabor

Zsa Zsa lived on this Earth for 99 years and, in that time, managed to tie the knot a staggering nine times. Initially she was wed to a Turkish politician (Burhan Asaf Belge in 1937), whom she divorced in 1941 after moving to the United States. Her only child, Francesca, arrived with her union to Conrad Hilton Sr., whom she wed in 1942 and split from in 1944. Amongst her other husbands were George Sanders, the actor, Herbert Hutner, an investment banker, Jack Ryan, who designed "Barbie" dolls, and Michael O'Mara, ironically, a divorce lawyer. Her last marriage was to Frederic Prinz von Anhalt in 1986, with whom she remained until her passing.

It has been debated by critics as whether or not "Queen of Outer Space" is a parody or a serious film, but I struggle with the concept of Zsa Zsa (as an actress) and the words "serious film" in the same sentence. The film sees four astronauts, in 1985, crash land on Venus where the residents are all beautiful women (seriously) and their leader, the evil Queen Yllana, has set her sights on destroying Earth. However, the rank and file, led by Talleah (Gabor), are not happy and set about to thwart her plans.

Phoenix Rising's pollucci19, who zapped this question, once landed on a planet of beautiful women... then he woke up.

Answer: Greece

Alexander was the second son of King Constantine I and succeeded his father as king of Greece in 1917, during the First World War. Constantine and his eldest son had been pushed into exile by a combination of the Entente powers and the then Prime Minister of Greece, Eleftherios Venizelos. Alexander, being naïve in respect to politics, was essentially exiled in his own castle by Venizelos, making Alexander a king in name only and transferring the power to the Prime Minister.

Alexander then caused a stir when he wed Aspasia Manos in 1919, a woman who, as a commoner, was seen to be way outside of his standing. As a result of the uproar they fled from Greece and it was several months before they were able to return. Not long after, Alexander was bitten by the macaque and died of sepsis. This questioned the validity of the monarchy and begged the question "should Greece be a republic". It turned the election in 1920 into a battle between Venizelos and the returned Constantine. Venizelos was soundly defeated.

Despite pollucci19 contributing this question, there are many at Phoenix Rising who would claim that he'd gone ape well and truly beforehand.

Answer: Lord

David Dundas is the second son of Lawrence Dundas, the 3rd Marquess of Zetland and as such is allowed the courtesy title of Lord. David's older brother, Mark Dundas, became the 4th Marquess of Zetland following their father's death in 1989. David is best known for his 1976 hit "Jeans On" and later on as a television and film actor and musician.

Leith90, who is neither Lord nor Lady, penned and released this question.

Answer: Two- 1908 and 1912 under the name Australasia

After World War I, the countries competed separately, but prior to then, they sent combined teams to London (1908) and Stockholm (1912). Between them, they won a round dozen medals, including three golds - two for swimming and one for rugby union.

Australia as a country did not exist in 1896, as it did not declare Federation until 1901, but British-born athlete, Edwin Flack, won three gold medals representing the colony of Victoria.

There was no such thing as the Auckland Games. 1983 was not even an Olympiad year.

This question was submitted by ozzz2002, an Australian who has many New Zealander friends.

Answer: Anteros

The statue in question stands on top of the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain in London's Piccadilly Circus and depicts a winged figure with a bow and arrow who looks, on first glance, a lot like Eros (whose Roman equivalent was Cupid). However, the key clue that it is in fact a statue of Eros' lesser-known brother Anteros, is that the wings are shaped like those of a butterfly rather than a bird or an angel. The fountain and statue were first constructed in 1892-3 to commemorate the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury - a philanthropist and politician who was instrumental in reforming Britain's education and child labour laws in the mid-19th century.

Along with Eros, Anteros was one of the Erotes group of Greek deities who represented different forms of love. Anteros was known as the god of requited love or returned love.

Phoenix Rising's Fifiona81 loved this question so much she volunteered to fly in and place it in this quiz.

Answer: The Tall Blacks

The Tall Blacks is the nickname of the New Zealand men's national basketball team. This name is derived from that of New Zealand's rugby union team, the All Blacks. Both teams normally compete in black uniforms. The Tall Ferns are the New Zealand women's basketball team and the Silver Ferns are a women's team who represent the country in Netball.

New Zealand joined FIBA (Fédération Internationale de Basketball / International Basketball Federation) in 1951. The Tall Blacks compete in FIBA championships and at Olympic Games. Like the All Blacks, the Tall Blacks perform a Haka (Maori Challenge) to their opponents at the start of every game, though basketball's version is quite different to the rugby union one.

Representing New Zealand and Phoenix Rising, psnz quickly centered on this question before powering forward and dunking it into the quiz.

Answer: Thai cave rescue of 11 boys and their soccer coach

In 2018 a 12-boy soccer team (the Wild Boars) and their coach entered the Tham Luang cave in the Chiang Rai province of Thailand. Soon after they entered, heavy rains flooded the cave leaving them no way out. Dive partners Harris and Challen were involved in the rescue operation.

Richard Harris SC, OAM, is an anaesthetist who began diving as an ocean diver but switched to caves in 1985. Harris's cave diving experiences include leading a team of Australian divers to record depths in 2011 and 2012 whilst searching for the source of New Zealand's Pearse River.

Craig Challen, SC, OAM, is an Australian technical diver and cave explorer. Challen is a veterinary surgeon by profession who, in 2010, made a record-setting 194-metre (636 ft) dive while caving in New Zealand.

Dr Harris and Dr Challen are members of the Wet Mules, a diving group dedicated to exploring some of Australia's deepest and most out-of-the-way underwater caves.

Phoenix Rising team member lg549 explored the internet for information on these two men and was flooded with information.

Answer: Growing rhubarb

Forcing of plants is an agricultural technique used to produce vegetables, fruits and flowers when they are not in season. Rhubarbs can be grown in winter by protecting their crowns from light. In a house garden this can be achieved simply by covering the rhubarb with an overturned pot. On a larger scale, forced rhubarb is cultivated in forcing sheds where the environment is kept dark and heated. Coal was used in olden days to heat the forcing sheds while diesel is used in modern times.

Forcing sheds are found in great concentration in Yorkshire in a 9-sq mi area dubbed the Rhubarb Triangle, or Tusky Triangle in local dialect; "tusky" is the Yorkshire word for "rhubarb". In its heyday, the Triangle covered 30 sq mi and supplied 90% of the world's supply of winter rhubarb. However, demand dropped after World War II when other exotic foods became available.

Forced rhubarb takes about three years to produce. Rhubarb is left in the field for two years during which time energy is stored as carbohydrates in roots. In November after the roots have been exposed to frost, cuttings are brought into the forcing sheds for growth. The warmth of the sheds stimulates growth and the stored carbohydrates are converted into glucose. Any light will inhibit growth; therefore the rhubarb is kept in complete darkness and harvested by candlelight. Forced rhubarb is more tender than its outdoor, summer counterpart, and has a characteristic sour-sweet flavour.

This question was forced out of Phoenix Rising team member purelyqing.

Answer: Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh was a favoured courtier of Elizabeth I. He travelled to the New World in search of riches for the Queen as one of her privateers. Unfortunately he never managed to find the City of Gold, El Dorado, that he sought but is credited for introducing potatoes and tobacco to England

Little wonder then that he is believed to have smoked a pipe of tobacco before his execution. His tobacco pouch, with the inscription 'Comes meus fuit in illo miserrimo tempore' ("It was my companion at that most miserable time") was found in his cell.

As to waxing lyrical; he told the executioner "Let us dispatch at this hour my ague comes upon me. I would not have my enemies think I quaked from fear." Upon seeing the axe he was quoted as saying; "This is a sharp medicine, but it is a physician for all diseases and miseries."

Charles I was beheaded in 1648, Cromwell in 1540 and Blount in 1601.

smpdit wonders if Raleigh would have spread his cloak for her to walk on, or was that just reserved for queens.

Answer: Hexagon

Found on Saturn's north pole is a hexagon shape, caused by a jet stream of atmospheric winds. Scientists determined that sudden differences in the velocity of neighbouring wind streams caused the shape, because scientific experiments in the laboratory were able to replicate the phenomenon.

The sides of the hexagon are about 14,500km long (about 2000km longer than Earth's diameter), and more than 29,000km wide. The hexagon has also been observed to change colour from blue to gold, and it is thought that the sunlight haze in different seasons is responsible for the change.

This question was discovered by Phoenix Rising's resident square, leith90.

Answer: West Side Story

"West Side Story" is based on William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy "Romeo and Juliet". The rival "families" are two ethnic gangs: the Jets and the Sharks. Tony from the Jets falls in love with Maria whose brother is the leader of the Sharks. The gangs fight and one of the lovers is killed.

The musical opened on Broadway in 1957, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents. It was nominated for six Tony awards, winning Best Choreography and Best Scenic Design.

"West Side Story", the 1961 movie starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer, won 10 Oscars from 11 nominations. These included Best Picture (Robert Wise), Best Supporting Actor (George Chakiris) and Actress (Rita Moreno), Best Music Scoring and Best Director (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins).

The answers are all musicals that were later produced as movies in the 1960s.

This question was brought to you by Phoenix Rising's psnz who ain't no delinquent but is misunderstood, though deep down inside him there is good. (There is good!)

Answer: New Zealand

New Zealand's All Whites were eliminated in the Group Stage having drawn all their matches (1-1 vs Slovakia, 1-1 vs Italy, and 0-0 vs Paraguay). It was a remarkable performance for one of the tournament's biggest underdog teams, especially considering they finished a point ahead of the defending champion Italians in Group F.

Spain lost their opener against Switzerland 0-1, then defeated Honduras and Chile to finish first in Group H. La Roja went undefeated in the Knockout stage, winning each of their games against Portugal, Paraguay, Germany, and Netherlands by a score of 1-0 to finish as first time World Cup champions.

The Swiss team lost their second game 0-1 to Chile and drew 0-0 in their third against Honduras on their way to elimination. Iceland did not qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

Phoenix Rising's JCSon, a diehard World Cup fan who loves the "beautiful game" and a good underdog story, fielded this question.

Answer: Question mark

The question mark is a note of interrogation that, in the English language, usually appears at the end of a sentence. However, it may also appear in the middle of a statement, still asking questions but taking the place of commas. For example; "Showing off for him, for all of them, not out of hubris-hubris? him? what did he have to be hubrid about?-but from mood and nervousness." (from Stanley Elkin's "The MacGuffin", 1991).

My research shows that the origins and the claims of the first use of the question mark are various and too lengthy to include here. A cardiotocograph is the term for a foetal monitor, a seesaw pivot is just that, a pivot, though it can also be referred to as a fulcrum and that little dent at the bottom of a wine bottle is called a punt.

This question (?) was brought to you by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who now knows that an eroteme is not an egg laying mammal.

Answer: Africa

The Equator passes through seven African countries: Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, six of which are on the mainland with Sao Tome & Principe, an island archipelago located off the Atlantic coast. The Equator passes through only one country in Asia, Indonesia but on five separate islands, and three countries in South America: Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil. The Equator does not pass through Australia but it does bisect the island nation of Kiribati without crossing land. Similarly it bisects the island nation of the Maldives in the Indian ocean, without crossing land.

This question was divided into two by Phoenix Rising Team member 1nn1 who has crossed the Equator many times but has never, unfortunately been able to visit any of the countries on this list.

Answer: Snowman

First discovered in 2014 and officially designated as 486958 Arrokoth, the bilobate planetesimal was nicknamed Ultima Thule in 2018. The two lobes of Arrokoth were once separate objects in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune that had a spiral orbit around each other, eventually touching and fusing into a single object. Ultima is the larger of the two lobes and is flattened like a pancake, while Thule is smaller and slightly more rounded. It is thought that the flattening of the lobes was caused by its rapid rotation and high centrifugal forces. Images from the Hubble telescope and the New Horizons spacecraft reveal the shape to resemble a snowman or lopsided peanut.

This question was lobbed into the quiz by leith90 who, because she lives in Australia, has never seen snow but loves peanuts.