Look! An Easy Quiz With "Obscure" in the Title!

Answer: Leif Ericson

No, not Christopher Columbus -- he didn't even reach the main continent! Leif Ericson is generally credited with being the first European to "discover" America, doing so in approximately 1000 CE, nearly 500 years before Columbus.

Leif's father, Eric the Red, founded a settlement in Greenland, which Leif used as a base to reach North America. Two Icelandic sagas describing Leif's explorations and achievements were passed down through oral history for hundreds of years before being written down, but it was unclear how reliable they were. However, in the 1960s, archaeologists discovered ruins of a Norse settlement from that time in Newfoundland, Canada, conclusively proving that the stories were not just an old wives' tale.

Columbus was far more influential than Ericson -- after Columbus, many other explorers such as Cabot and Vespucci followed. But he was not the first.

Answer: United States

Although it's unclear who exactly invented the fortune cookie, all the people who claimed to do so are Japanese-American. The original fortune cookies were based on a type of cookie served in Japanese temples. Even though fortune cookies are extremely popular in Chinese restaurants in America, restaurants in China don't serve them as they are considered "too American".

Answer: the Great Pyramid

It's a common misconception that the Great Wall of China is easy to see from space. At a certain distance (such as from the moon), no man-made object can be seen. At 400 km up (the orbiting distance of the ISS), many man-made structures such as roads and bridges are quite easy to see, but the Great Wall is particularly difficult to see because it's narrow and blends in with the hills it's built on. According to astronauts, the easiest structure to see of the four listed is the Great Pyramid because of its mass, and its distance from other structures on the plains of Giza.

Answer: red

Both oxygenated blood (the blood in arteries) and deoxygenated blood (the blood in veins) are red, due to the hemoglobin inside. Blood in the veins may "look" blue when inside your skin, but that's because the skin scatters the light rays to make it appear blue. That illusion, plus textbooks that use blue for veins to provide contrast to the red arteries, has led to the (false) idea that deoxygenated blood is blue.

Answer: Play it, Sam. Play "As Time Goes By".

The line is commonly known as "Play it again, Sam", but nowhere in the screenplay is that exact wording ever used! Ilsa (played by Ingrid Bergman) says "Play it, Sam. Play "As Time Goes By"." Later, her ex-lover Rick (played by Humphrey Bogart) says to Sam: "If she can stand it, I can. Play it!"

The reason the song is so important in the film is that it reminds Rick and Ilsa of their doomed relationship in Paris shortly before the Germans took over, a relationship they are trying to suppress for the sake of a great cause. "Casablanca" won Best Picture in 1942 and is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.

Answer: July 2nd

Even though July 4th is the holiday that Americans celebrate, the actual vote for independence was on July 2nd! John Adams himself thought that July 2nd would be celebrated in history as the date of a new nation. However, once the vote had passed, the Congress assigned Thomas Jefferson the task of writing a formal explanation why. His written Declaration of Independence was so eloquent that its approval on July 4th is the day that is commemorated today.

July 14th is Bastille Day, the date celebrated by France for its independence. August 2nd is the day that the Declaration of Independence was actually signed.

Answer: The paws

It's common to see dogs panting after brisk exercise, so one might think they release sweat through their saliva from the tongue area. While they do have sweat glands on the tongue, most dog sweat goes through the paws. Dogs regulate their body temperature by panting (which moves cool air into the body and hot air from the dog outside), and not sweat.

Answer: Karl Benz

Karl Benz, known today as the co-founder of Mercedes-Benz, is regarded as the father of the internal combustion automobile. He patented the first reliable petrol two-stroke engine, the spark plug, the carburetor, the water radiator, and many other essential common automotive components.

Henry Ford is famed for pioneering the assembly line which allowed for mass production of automobiles, but didn't invent the automobile. Chrysler was an automotive executive who founded the Chrysler Corporation, and Chevrolet was more of a race car driver who founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company.

Answer: Mauna Kea

The summit of Mount Everest is furthest from sea level (8848 m), and thus it is the *highest* mountain in the world. But Mount Everest is not the *tallest* in the world, as its base lies high in the Himalayas. Hawaii's Mauna Kea, whose base lies on the oceanbed floor, rises over 10000 meters from base to summit, but tops out at only 4205 m.

Despite its height, the summit of Mount Everest is also not the furthest from the Earth's center -- that honor belongs to Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador, because the Earth bulges out slightly further at the equator.

Answer: Evelyn Beatrice Hall

This sentiment, often used in support of free speech, was NOT said by Voltaire. Rather, it was Evelyn Beatrice Hall, who coined the phrase in her biography of Voltaire "The Friends of Voltaire", in an attempt to summarize his position. The sentence captured the spirit of the man so well that it's often attributed to him. The other two wrong answers are also philosophers.