Patchwork Quilt 9 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Married to a womb

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a military genius (initially) who rose to the top position in the land in France as Emperor of that nation from 1804-1814. During this period he took his country into a series of wars, most of which were successful, until the French Empire spanned a huge portion of Europe. As with all power-mad individuals however, his grab for glory ultimately came tumbling down. He was defeated by a coalition of allies in 1814, forced to unconditionally abdicate, and was exiled to Elba. Here he attempted suicide by swallowing a deadly pill he always carried with him, but when that failed, he attempted one last desperate grab for the glorious days he had once known. Escaping from Elba, he mustered up a small force of deeply loyal men and started to sweep through France for 100 days, until finally beaten at Waterloo in 1815 by the combined forces of the British and Prussian armies.

Today he is remembered not only for his defeat at Waterloo, for the heights of glory he once reached, for his concise and clearly written Napoleonic Code of Law which still influences over seventy countries well into the 21st century, and for his famous love for his first wife, Josephine de Beauharnais. Even though both cheerfully took other lovers during their marriage, even though Josephine drove Napoleon insane with her spendthrift ways, even though he divorced Josephine in order to remarry and beget an heir to his empire (a divorce to which Josephine agreed), that love still echoes down through history. Indeed, during their divorce ceremony, which was somewhat of a social event, both parties read out statements declaring their devotion for one another - and Napoleon insisted that Josephine retain the title of Empress. While exiled at Elba however, the news arrived for Napoleon of Josephine's death on 29 May, 1814. Although safely married to Marie-Louise of Austria by then (he described that match as "having married a womb") and with the duly produced heir in tow, Napoleon locked himself in his room for two days, refusing to emerge, eat or drink. His last words, upon his own death on 5 May, 1821, were recorded as "France, l'armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine" ("France, the Army, the Head of the Army, Joséphine).

Answer: Orientation purposes for early seafarers

And this encompasses the compass. Seafaring explorers, once they had lost sight of land, navigated solely by the stars, but the invention of the compass greatly enhanced their ability to travel further and further out into the great unknown oceans of the world. A compass, whose magnetised pointer is always aligned towards the earth's north magnetic pole, was vital for early mariners, in establishing position. The brilliant Chinese, as far back as 200 BC, were the first to take advantage of this knowledge when they realised that lodestone was a naturally magnetised rock, that, when suspended, would always position itself on a north-south alignment. By the 11th century, the Song Dynasty in that country was using an early form of a compass for navigation.

When this knowledge made its way into Europe some time later, it set the stage for the great Age of Exploration to begin and the boundaries of the world began to shrink. European seafarers, with their reliance on the north aligned compasses, drew their early maps accordingly, with north at the top of the charts, south at the bottom, and this conventional use of map design in the European world has been followed ever since. You may be interested to learn though, that some other earlier cultures, particularly religious ones, oriented their maps towards the east - and Jerusalem.

With thanks to FunTrivia member, davejacobs for this information following a question I'd asked in "Ask Fun Trivia", November, 2018.

Answer: The many possible paths of life

The language embedded on a delicate Japanese hand fan is very interesting. These fans were and are not just used for cooling purposes. Depending on its decoration, manner of use, positioning and colour, they also represent place in society, religious leanings, personal spiritual beliefs, and a reflection of family values. The small end of the fan, for example, represents the beginning of life, and the individual blades of the fan leading out from that section represent all the possible paths one may follow during that life. It is important then, when giving a fan to anyone, particularly a child, that positive images and colours are always included in the design.

Red and white are considered fortuitous colours; gold is said to bring wealth into one's life; any portrayed group of five is lucky; a closed fan held by someone when talking to another indicates the social status of the two individuals and which one is considered the superior; and images of chrysanthemums with many petals indicate a hope for a long life - as do tortoises and cranes. Cherry blossoms represent the love between parent and child; roses and pine trees represent yin and yang and all their particular symbolism; and plum blossoms stand for a new beginning. That would be a good gift from an errant husband to an indignant wife perhaps, or, because both men and women once carried fans as a matter of course, the opposite could also apply. A pair of similar birds stands for a happy relationship - but not if the birds are black; lions stand for strength and protection, but tigers mean war. A white horse is representative of mercy, which is probably an advisable return gift after having received a tiger engraved fan from anyone. One butterfly is an insult that represents a fickle conceited woman; two butterflies stand for a happy union; but it doesn't say how many butterflies are used to insult a man. The happiest symbols of all to have on a fan are little koi fish in various colours. They represent the triple wishes for wealth, luck and a long and happy life.

Answer: Chimney sweeps

There are several theories put forward as to the origin of the expression "As daft as a brush", an expression we use today to describe anyone who acts foolishly, rashly or downright stupidly. One theory is that the word "soft" is a term used in Northern England to describe anyone who is stupid, and that "brush" is a term for a fox's tail, but "As stupid as a fox's tail" doesn't particularly make sense. "Daft" itself is a word that has been used since the 1300s in England. It originally meant awkward or uncouth at that time, but by the 1530s it had evolved to mean stupid or half-witted.

Another theory, a little more logical and coupled with "Daft", is that "Brush" was a word used to describe any boy who was employed as a chimney sweep back in the bad old days when children were used to either climb up chimneys to remove all the accumulated soot, or were lowered down from the top, head first, for the same purpose. Many of them were often dropped on their heads during this procedure and suffered brain damage as a result. More than likely, though, their perceived lack of intelligence, leading to the cruel description of being daft, was a result of poor nourishment, lack of schooling, lack of care, and very harsh treatment from their masters.

Answer: The Great Fire of London

After the Great Fire of London in 1666 which completely gutted the central, medieval parts of London, destroying "13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St Paul's Cathedral, and most of the buildings of the City authorities" (Wikipedia), 70,000 residents lost their congested old wooden fire traps of homes. Those homes, the result of urban sprawl, had risen over the centuries when city planning was basically unheard of, and were, for the most part, unregulated and unmonitored. The city was a gigantic bonfire waiting to be lit. The resulting devastation of the Great Fire saw the immediate enactment of building regulations put in place - with some of those regulations focussed on the design of chimneys. The placement of flues in new chimney were therefore far more narrow and steeply angled than the older style ones, with 14 x 9 inches being a standard size. The flood of people to the cities during the later Industrial Age and the resulting rise of new accommodation worsened this problem.

What this all meant, however, was that adult males were now unable to access chimneys to clean them, so the use of more and more children to perform the work was the answer - and the smaller and younger the better. Usually these were boys, but girls were sometimes used as well, and the poor little things were often as young as four years of age - harvested from orphanages or from where they had been abandoned in workhouses. Some children were even sold to the sweeps by their parents, and that sweep for the next seven years had total, complete control over each child. So utterly dreadful. Not only did the children have to do this work wearing little clothing, or completely naked, they often got trapped in the flues, where they died from either suffocation or being burned to death. They constantly breathed in soot, they were seldom cleaned, their "blankets" when they were allowed to sleep, were soot sacks, and many of the boys suffocated from a disease known as Chimney Sweeps Carcinoma. There is so much more horror to the life of a little chimney sweep that it makes unbearable reading. Finally, though, the conscience of the public was awakened, and by 1875, led by Lord Shaftesbury, Acts of Parliament were passed to restrict this terrible, terrible form of child abuse.

Answer: An artificial moon

Holy gas lighting, Batman! Impossible as it may seem, the astonishingly creative Chinese were, in 2018, in the process of building an artificial moon bright enough to not only light up all the streets in the city of Chengdu in the southwest of the country, but one that would be bright enough to light up an entire area of 80 kilometres. Two other artificial moons were also on the drawing board as well. Said to be eight times brighter than the light given off by earth's natural moon, these artificial moons, manufactured from a mirror type reflective material, are expected to eventually be in orbit 500 kilometres above the earth. The lighting is said to be adjustable to allow for demand, and it is anticipated this will save the city of Chengdu some 240 million dollars a year in electricity cost for street lighting. The moons will also have the potential to be manoeuvred to areas experiencing power blackouts or earthquake damage.

Based on a French artist's idea from some time earlier of stringing mirror necklaces in the sky to light up Paris in the evening, the main issue people seem to be having with the idea of China's man made moon is whether the light will disturb their sleep at night or not. Russia, incidentally, attempted to launch a similar mirror moon in 1999, but the project never eventuated. "That's no moon, comrade, it's a space station!"

Answer: Grandpa's beard

Spanish Moss is a plant that attaches itself to many trees in the Americas and West Indies and hangs down spookily, brushing up eerily against your face if you walk by it late at night. It flourishes particularly well in Louisiana, so just add an image in your mind of those huge old above ground cemeteries in that state and swathes of Spanish Moss dangling from the trees there - and zombies waiting to pounce.

Also known as Grandpa's Beard, Spanish Moss is the parasitic plant which isn't a parasite at all. It does no damage to the trees on which it lives, but draws its nutrients and moisture from the air and the rain instead. Oh this is really delightful now: In addition to being a plant that looks as though it belongs in a horror movie, Spanish Moss is home to terrifying looking rat snakes, bats and jumping spiders! Humans, as humans are wont to do, have found several uses for this creepy plant. It's used in insulating buildings, various other building materials, mattress stuffing, padding of car seats, and in the manufacture of evaporative coolers - also known as swamp coolers. If you ever purchase a mattress stuffed with this plant, given the denizens which inhabit it in its natural state, just be sure it isn't wriggling before going to sleep on it.

Answer: Yes

There appears to be no known reason for why Americans date their documents in the way they do, in the month-day-year format. The majority of other countries in the world follow the traditional day-month-format. Some other countries follow the format in reverse, as in year-month-day, or use either, but no other country - except occasionally Kenya - uses that confusing month-day-year format. Even then, Kenya, keeping its bets hedged, switches between the two formats. It's all very confusing, ESPECIALLY when done in numerical format using 1 to 12 for the months. That 1 to 12 numerical system for months in the US dating system, when read by occupants of many other countries, is taken to mean days instead of months.

One theory argues that it comes from computer science where bytes are input according to size. As computers are a relatively new invention in the history of the world, however, this is a very dubious argument indeed. Other argue, with tongue firmly implanted in cheek, that America's dating system dates back to Jonathan Swift's 1726 "Gulliver's Travels", where, in the kingdoms of Lilliput or Blefuscu respectively, soft-boiled eggs had to be either opened at the soft or big ends first. Either way, the US Month-Day-Year system is most confusing for Australians, who almost always use Day-Month-Year formatting when dating anything - and Australia almost always follows where America leads when it comes to military engagements. What if, for example, the US army required the Australian army to be at such and such a site on 6/12/2021, or June 12th, 2021? The Australian army could very well turn up on the 6th of December, 2021 instead. To make matters worse over such a very serious issue, I don't even like boiled eggs.

Answer: Yes

The scientists tried it on the pandas, that is, not on themselves. The lack of interest in mating by giant pandas in captivity is so unsuccessful that the females can only be impregnated by artificial insemination. (Well, really, could you mate with thousands of people watching your every move? So indelicate). In 2002, scientists at the Wolong Nature Reserve Sichuan in China were so desperate to breed their captive Pandas in order to save this beautiful animal from dying out that they tried giving Viagra to their most likely male Panda there. That was Zhuang Zhuang, whose name translates to Strong Strong, but alas, Zhuang Zhuang just rolled over and continued munching bamboo. Some scientists there think they should have tried the Viagra on a younger male because, after all, Zhuang, in human years, was middle-aged, and well, you know. The project was abandoned, however.

Then in 2006, where two giant pandas were on loan from China, scientists were so keen to try to get a pair to reproduce naturally, that they even showed them videos of pandas mating in a kind of scientific panda pornography experiment, but still no luck. Although the pair mated eventually, no babies eventuated. So, unfortunately it's back to using artificial insemination instead. There are only one thousand giant pandas in the wild left in the world, so it is vitally important that this beautiful creature is saved from extinction - one way or another.

Answer: Roman

Wedding cakes today in western societies are beautifully decorated, heavily calorie laden taste treats served up to guests at the customary reception meals following a marriage ceremony. This tradition, which dates right back to Roman times, has had several variations over the centuries. Originally the cake was looked upon as a sign of social status, so the bigger and more ornate the better. Then, by the medieval age in England, wedding cakes had to made so high that the brides and grooms had to stretch to kiss one another over the top. A successfully kiss without knocking the cake flying was a sign of a fruitful and prosperous marriage.

Later years saw brides placing a ring inside their portion of the cake to symbolise their acceptance of the proposal, which seems just a little bit odd when they'd already tied the knot. Another tradition which followed was to place a glass ring inside a slice of dessert, and the maiden who was lucky enough to find it in her slice - and didn't accidentally choke to death swallowing same - would be the next to marry. Fruit cakes, incidentally, represented fertility and the hope that the couple would produce many children. The tradition that takes the cake (pardon the pun) however, occurred back in very early Roman times, where, instead of the cake being consumed at the wedding feast, the groom would break the cake over the bride's head in the belief that good fortune would follow for the happy couple. Hmmm. Just as well this isn't a modern tradition today, or mine would be a childless marriage.