Patchwork Quilt 8 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Potatoes

Using a potato growing method from China, combined with NASA's controlled laboratory environment, potatoes became the first vegetable to be successfully grown in space. This took place in 1995 on board the Space Shuttle Columbia. These potatoes are now known as Quantum Tubers and will enable man to venture further and further away from his planet while exploring brave new worlds. Using specific lighting, temperature and humidity controls, potatoes, which normally only produce one crop per year on earth, can now be grown all the year round - and this technique has now been utilised on earth to feed third world countries, and in countries with huge populations. Let's hear it for the humble little spud.

Answer: The Father of Spanish Aviation

Born in Coruna del Conde in the province of Burgos in 1757, Diego's early working life gave no indication of his later achievements. After the death of his father, he was left with seven younger siblings to care for, so spent long days working in the fields as a sheep farmer. There, with no other distractions, he had plenty of time to think and to study nature all around him, and he became fascinated with the idea of making a device which would enable him to fly. He accordingly collected all the feathers he found in the fields, then factored in his weight and the weight of the other materials he needed, and came up with the design of a flying machine. Diego then had the local blacksmith make up his device, complete with movable metal flaps that could be pushed up and down. On the night 15 May, 1793, they carried this machine to the highest part of a local castle, Diego strapped himself in - and off the heights he jumped. Amazingly, and flapping vigorously, he managed to fly a distance of some 400 metres before one of the metal joints on his machine broke and he crash landed, uninjured apart from a few scratches and not the slightest bit impressed with the blacksmith.

Diego never got a chance to fly his machine again, for the locals, once they heard of his achievement, declared that he was a heretic and burned his demonic device. Deeply depressed, he switched to creating other inventions instead. Today in Spain, Diego is recognised as that country's Father of Aviation, and the Spanish Air Force has installed a monument in his honour near the site where he made his heroic flight. That monument is a former defence plane, which, given the past nature of the locals in that area and their propensity to create bonfires, was probably a wise move.

Answer: The sculptor made Bess a stallion

John Hunt Morgan (1825-1864) was a Confederate General who fought in the American Civil War of 1861-1865. Particularly famous for his unauthorised and unsuccessful "Morgan's Raid" and others, he eventually lost his life when shot in the back by Union cavalrymen in 1864. His life makes fairly interesting reading, but this question is about his beloved horse, Black Bess, his constant companion during many engagements. Some fifty years later, after the Civil War was long over, the United Daughters of the Confederacy raised the money to have a monument erected in honour of General Morgan and Black Bess, and commissioned sculptor, Pompeo Coppini to create it.

However, that rigidly gender stereotypical sculptor, declaring that "No hero should bestride a mare!", added glaringly obvious stallion genitalia to the sculpture - proving once again that the many magnificent achievements of women throughout history have been erroneously attributed to men. This is an outrage, ladies! Another comical addition to the anatomy of "Bess" is that Coppini obviously wasn't too familiar with the behaviour of horses. He raised the horse's tail too high at the rear, a stance that a horse takes when it's about to enthusiastically drop a hearty load of fresh horse manure on anyone standing in the way. No genteel southern mare would ever dream of doing anything so unladylike, would they, Bess? Neighgggghhh, indeed.

Answer: Canada

The Carcross Desert is located in Yukon, Canada and is considered the smallest desert in the world. It measures only one square mile in size, but that area of land is filled with sand and has very little annual precipitation. Some shivering people insist that the Carcross isn't really a desert at all because of the humidity, but is merely a series of sand dunes instead. Well, hello?

Answer: An explosion associated with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605

Also known as Holbeach or Holbeache House, this building is a mansion once located in Staffordshire, England, but because of changes in land boundaries with Local Governments Acts, and though the mansion is still in the same place, is now classed as being in the Borough of Dudley instead. This establishment is famous for being the site where fugitives from the Gunpowder Plot fled in 1605 after their failed attempt to blow up England's House of Lords, and James I along with it.

When those dastardly villains arrived at Holbeche House seeking shelter, they brought their weapons, supplies and what remained of the gunpowder along with them as well. The gunpowder, however, had become wet in the rain - so what did the silly dills do? They spread the gunpowder out in front of the fire to dry out - the fire mind you - a spark landed in the middle of it and up it went, and part of the house with it. Those who weren't killed in the explosion, or by the Sheriff's posse who promptly arrived on the scene, were taken to London, put on trial, and executed. It doesn't say how the house fared initially, but it still exists today, slightly singed around the gables perhaps, as a nursing home. One wonders if the residents ever celebrate Guy Fawkes Day?

Answer: Sweet and tender creature

Surely they were kidding? A sweet and tender alligator? Although, to be sure, Cabulitis wasn't very aggressive. He was known to have only bitten another alligator once - on the tail - but that's about it. He arrived at the zoo in the early 1930s when he was aged between one to three and spent the rest of his long life there until his death in 2007. At the time of his demise he was almost ten feet long and weighed in at 310 pounds.

Some other interesting facts about Cabulitis are that he normally consumed three pounds of beef twice a week and a chicken or two, but would never eat any live or furry animals. Most considerate of him. Although he proved he could mate with the female alligators in the zoo, their eggs were infertile ("It wasn't MY fault!" roared Cabulitis). He spent the last thirty years of his life on his own; he roared loudly whenever he heard the music of the German band, Modern Talking, being played; and he liked having his back rubbed - presumably with a very long-handled brush. For the last ten years of his life, and now with hardly any teeth left, his movements were so slow that the keepers often thought he was dead. When this sweet and tender creature finally died of lung disease and heart failure in 2007, there were plans to stuff him and keep him as an exhibit at the zoo, but it is unknown whether this eventuated. The poor old fellow probably really died from loneliness.

Answer: The ugliest woman in the world

How unutterably cruel society can be to those who are different. Mary Ann was born in London in 1874 and grew up with an ordinary appearance. She became a nurse, married in 1903, and had four children. However, around the age of 32, her appearance began to alter as she fell victim to the condition known as acromegaly. This is a growth disorder in which the hands, feet, forehead, jaw and nose begin to grow bigger, the voice begins to grow deeper, and headaches, vision problems and joint pain are daily companions. Mary Ann's husband died in 1914, and because of her appearance, she was left with no means by which to feed her children, so she entered a prize winning content called "The Ugliest Woman in the World". So very cruel.

From her hands-down win, Mary Ann then took up an offer to appear in a Coney Island "freak show", a job she held down for the rest of her life - gawked at, laughed at, jeered at, insulted and humiliated. This "ugliest woman in the world" with the most beautiful soul in the world, who chose to voluntarily humiliate herself for the sake of her children, died in 1933. It's enough to break your heart, isn't it? When are we ever going to learn to look beyond the externals, and into the heart, soul and worth of the person within?

Answer: Law

A law university in Kolkata, India, is offering courses based on Harry Potter to enable students to explore legal aspects of the Harry Potter world and their relationship to real life situations. This course is called "An interface between Fantasy Fiction Literature and Law: Special focus on Rowling's Potterverse". It is available to 4th and 5th year students doing Honours in a Bachelor of Law degree at the National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata, the capital of the state of West Bengal, India.

Can you believe that? It's crazy. No way of course does this tempt this writer to say the law is an ass. Hee Haw, it doesn't. Assistant Professor of the course, Shouvik Kumar Guha, states that this "...will take both me and the students out of our comfort zones...". Perhaps one of the subjects covered will be on the illegality of having your enemies killed by Death Eaters and giant serpents.

Those poor students. More quizzes.

Answer: They had faked their disabilities

What a disgraceful thing to do. As if people with disabilities don't have a tough enough time competing in all categories of a non-disabled world as it is, those Spanish cheats stole their chance at competing on a level playing field by claiming disabilities they did not have and playing in their stead. They're probably the same sort of people who keep stealing parking spaces for people with disabilities as well.

Spain has competed in all but the first two Paralympic Olympics however, and hosted the 1992 Paralympics, so they have a worthy reputation. Ten rotten apples in a disabled barrel don't make the rest rotten. Interestingly, Spain has sent three times the number of male sportsmen to those games as women competitors, but the women have taken home 48.39% of all medals won. Paralympic basketball is a deadly game to play. Players get hurled out of their chairs, they ram each other at full speed, the chairs get barrelled over, and wheels and players fly all over the courts, but still they come back for more. They're remarkable athletes - but never get in their way on a basketball court!

Answer: Yes

A living Buddha, known as a Tulku, is a custodian of Tibetan Buddhist teaching who has been reincarnated, and then trained by students of himself when he was in a previous existence to prepare him for his current incarnation. An example of a living Tulku of course is Tibet's Dalai Lama. In China, however, any Tulku who is planning ahead to reincarnate into another life after he passes away in the current one cannot do this unless he first submits a number five Reincarnation Application to the State Religion Affairs Bureau.

The official name of order number five is "Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas". The State Religious Affairs Bureau of China is a department "charged with keeping religion under state control" in China, and the Buddha planning on coming back in a new life has to have his application approved by several departments within the government before he can go ahead and die. The idea behind this application process is to "maintain national unity and solidarity" within the nation. There are fourteen articles that must be approved during the process and failure to meet these steps, or any violation of the regulations, will be met with punishment. Is the bill for all this red tape sent to the existing living Buddha or the existing living Buddha's next existing living Buddha to pay?