Mix Me Up No 6 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Iran

Work began on this plant in 1974, but ground to a halt because of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It commenced again in 1995, but was held up constantly with financial and technical matters, and pressure from an alarmed West. By September 2011 however, it was finally adding electricity to the power grid.

The plant is located right on the juncture of three tectonic plates. Eek! Israel of course has a nuclear research centre as well, but this is used for military, and not civilian, purposes. Oh my goodness - on three tectonic plates.

Head for the hills!

Answer: A soup or stew

Found for the most part in southern America, this food usually consists of stock, meat or some sort of shellfish, thickener, onions, celery and peppers, and it is generally served with rice. One would hope it is also generally served with indigestion tablets.

Answer: Amazon basin of Brazil

Sadly this lovely bird's very existence is threatened by deforestation, flooding and the illegal trade of bird smuggling in the Amazon. It's heartbreaking. The Golden Parakeet's colouring is mostly all a lovely shade of yellow, but with green-tipped wings.

Its diet consists of fruit, wild maize, buds, seeds and flowers. A sociable little creature, the birds all live, sleep, feed and sleep together. Amazingly so, after their eggs are hatched, the parents are helped by other birds in the group in the rearing of the small chicks. How cute is that? They're little avian hippies.

Answer: A rules through wealth, B rules through power

Plutocracy is defined as rule by the wealthy with their power provided by their wealth. Examples of such were the city-states of ancient Greece and tsarist Russia. Another example of such could be that of contemporary society where the wealthy have a rather dangerous influence on politics. An autocracy is a form of government where one person possesses absolute power. We've all seen the sorrow that such despots, dictators or tyrants have brought to world throughout history - and still in some countries even today.

Answer: International Talk Like a Pirate Day

In 1995, John Baur and Mark Summers of Oregon decreed that September 19 each year should be a day when everyone had to talk like a pirate. It began as a joke, following a ball game, when one of the pair was injured and yelled "Aaarrr!" in pain, and it took off from there. Today Baur and Summers sell products from their website, no doubt accumulating many pieces o' eight along the way. Can you imagine how annoying it would be to have someone talk to you like a pirate all day long? The government already has that market well and truly cornered.

Answer: Otzi the Iceman

Otzi was discovered in the Otz Valley in the Italian Alps by two German tourists. Excellent way to spend a holiday to be sure - discovering mummified corpses. Otzi has been measured at 5' 5" tall, weighed in at 110 lbs and was thought to be about 45 years old when he died.

He is believed to have been murdered in some sort of scuffle, as he had a fractured skull and an arrow in his back. He was well equipped with state of the art weapons and his clothing was made from animal skins. From analysis of what was left, scientists believe that his diet was normally animal meat, bread, grain, and various roots and fruit.

Some of his tools were made of copper which surprised those analysing the equipment found with him, as copper was thought not to have been discovered for another 1,000 years. So the gallant little Otzi popsicle, single-handedly, has caused the world's body of scientists to put back the age of copper to that time.

Answer: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

American Siegel and Canadian Shuster, who were both living in Ohio at the time, developed this idea in 1932 and sold the idea to D.C. Comics. The character first appeared in Action Comics No. 1 in 1938. He hasn't stopped appearing since - in radio serials, television, film and comic strips. Writer Siegel modelled Superman on Douglas Fairbanks Sr, which makes me want to laugh somewhat.

He modelled Clark Kent on Harold Lloyd, a bespectacled, grinning, boater hat wearing silent movie actor with big teeth. That's even funnier. Cultural psychologists and literary critics have been trying to analyse Superman ever since, seeking to find deep mystical and psychological motivations for the character's actions. One writer even likened him to Moses. Oh, what piffle.

It's just a ripping good yarn.

Answer: To convey emotions and information

Early people believed the eyes conveyed emotions, including that of flirtatious behaviour and that they were an essential part of human communication. Animals, though, need their eyes to be hidden from prey and those who prey on them, so most don't have whites to their eyes.

Answer: Halfpenny

There were two farthings in a halfpenny or four farthings in a penny, or two halfpennies in a penny. Three of these pennies made up a threepence (pronounced thripence), and six pennies made up a sixpence. I'm starting to get confused here incidentally.

There were two sixpences in a shilling, or four x threepences, or twelve pennies, twenty-four halfpennies or forty-eight farthings. Twenty shillings made up a pound, and twenty-one shillings made up a guinea, quite a fortune in those days. You could buy quite a lot for just one shilling in that period of history - enough butter, soap, oil or insurance for one whole week for example.

Answer: Male eggs are long and pointed, female eggs more rounded

How very appropriate. Columella lived circa 4-70 AD and was considered the most important writer on agricultural methods in the Roman Empire. He published a total of twelve volumes on these techniques, all of which still exist today for history buffs to eagerly consume. This work makes interesting reading for those with a farming leaning in particular.