Generally Irrelephant Trivia Quiz

Answer: Thailand

Surprisingly, while the orchid isn't the national flower of Thailand (that would be the golden shower tree), the country is the world's largest supplier of the plant. It is, however, the national flower of more than half a dozen other nations (including the nearby Singapore and several Central and South American countries). Orchids are grown almost worldwide-- everywhere except polar regions-- though they have a tendency to be more plentiful in tropical, equatorial locales. Asia has the widest variety. For many years, Thailand was also a leading supplier of rice.

Answer: Hula

The hula, of course, is a Polynesian dance from Hawai'i characterized by flowers and grass skirts, hip movements, and hand formations used to evoke song, meaning, and flow. The dance epitomizes Pacific Island entertainment, zen, and relaxation, but it's also popularized in other forms; a hula hoop, for instance, is a toy invented in the 1950s to mimic the dance (albeit with a large ring around your body).

The Haka is a Maori dance performed by New Zealand's native warriors. Generally seen at a war cry it's practiced in modern times during rugby union games (and, of course, by traditional Maori). Poi is also a Maori dance from New Zealand performed by a dancer swinging strung weights in front of and around themselves in a pattern. Perhaps a bit more dangerous than a regular dance, the intensity is enhanced with fire (of course).
Tamure is a dance from Tahiti performed mainly by men (though both men and women are involved). This dance can be highly sexualized.

Answer: Peacocking

Although the term 'peacocking' wasn't around a couple of decades ago, its origins can be traced to pickup artists and alleged dating specialists near the turn of the century. What this involves is wearing something noticeable, much like a peacock preens and fleshes out its feathers, to appear more memorable and attractive to someone else (because what's more interesting than a man wearing a horse outfit to a bar?).

The term was popularized by Mystery (also known as Erik von Markovik), on the TV show "The Pickup Artist", a reality program involving a group of men who inevitably attempted to get a date with a stripper.

It aired on VH1. Peacocks-- the actual birds-- originated in Southeast Asia and it doesn't seem absurd when they go around 'peacocking', but they're birds, so whatever.

A female peacock is a 'peahen'; their standards are complicated.

Answer: They share similar logos

While these three things otherwise have little in common, all three feature umbrellas in their logos. Citigroup, for instance, a chain of American-based banks and financial organizations, used a red umbrella logo for decades after being founded in 1812. Morton's Salt, an American food and industrial product company (talk about a salt empire) uses a logo of a small girl with an umbrella (and they have since the 1910s.

The "Resident Evil" series, better known as "BioHazard" in Japan, features an evil organization known as Umbrella-- their logo is a red and white umbrella.

They also created zombies and brought on an apocalypse so y'know...it rains it pours.

Answer: Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro is an Italian term originally created for visual art (paintings, specifically) and is demonstrated when a viewer witnesses very stark contrasts between light and dark in an image. The same thing applies to film, usually in the film noir and neo-noir genres, and it's used to illuminate only small parts of the screen-- important bits, or specific characters, or otherwise. Aside from creating enhanced visual effects, it also hides meaning in different characters or motifs-- someone bathed in shadow might have shady motives, for instance.

Some films to note are "Out of the Past" and "The Big Sleep" or, if you're looking for a neo-noir possibility, "Shutter Island". The other options are also artistic terms. Effets de soir give a sunset effect to an image; Mise en abyme, French for 'into an abyss', shows people deep into an image, almost sealed in by the overbearing foreground; Trompe-l'oeil is a visual trick to make something appear a larger size than it actually is.

Answer: Acacia

Acacia trees are thorny plants which mainly grow in African savannah and desert areas, but which have several variations elsewhere in the world. One of the few providers of shade from the hot, African sun, it's also a typical food of the giraffe since their long necks allow them to eat the leaves and pods throughout.

The acacia has many species in the Southern United States and Central America, Australia, and South Asia; the usually grow in hotter climates near the Equator. Some are poisonous; some are not; most have thorns.

Answer: Lion Rock

Found in almost the geographical center of Sri Lanka, an island nation sitting just south of India's southern tip, Sigiriya is a major historical monument. At one point, the top of the rock was adorned with a palace fit for a king. After falling out of use, however, it became a monastery for nearly one millennium before being razed. Lion Rock was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982.

It's possible to climb to the top (there are stairs) for a fee. Contrary to the name, there are no existing species of lion in Sri Lanka.

Answer: False

Rear-view mirrors are convex, meaning that they bulge outward at a slight point to reflect the image back towards you. Doing so does make the phrase 'objects in mirror are closer than they appear' ring true, but this is because the convexity of the device improves driver safety by letting one see without blind spots. If the rear-view mirror were concave, however, it would bend inward and invert the image, making driving much tougher.

Answer: Mount Kilimanjaro

Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest peak, is situated on the edge of Tanzania overlooking the African plains. Five and a half kilometers high, there are no other major mountains in the vicinity-- it literally stands alone as Africa's contribution to the Seven Summits; it's the fourth highest of that list.

Many fear that Kilimanjaro is threatened by global warming as its once prominent glaciers have been melting away. In addition, while two of its peaks are the cones of extinct volcanoes, the third rests dormant.

It's the second tallest of the Volcanic Seven Summits (beaten only by Ojos del Salado in South America).

Answer: Digital camera

An SD Card is one of many types of digital camera cards used to store pictures and videos on your device. The SD stands for Secure Digital. Although many years ago you would be hard-pressed to find a 64MB card, the advancement of technology has resulted in larger and larger storage spaces to accommodate higher and higher quality pictures and videos. Nowadays you can get an SD Card for your camera, and Mini and Micro SD Cards for your mobile devices. Nintendo Wiis also use SD Cards as storage devices, mainly due to their ease of use, affordability, and portability.