Potpourri Number Three Trivia Quiz

Answer: He was the first fish to receive chemotherapy

Nicknamed the Super Grouper by all who knew and loved him, Bubba weighed almost seventy kilograms when he was donated to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago in 1987. At that time in his life, Bubba was a female, but because these fish have the ability to change sex during their lifespan, he became a male during the 1990s. Fascinating, isn't it? At the beginning of the 2000s however, Bubba developed a malignant growth on his forehead. Fish have foreheads? He subsequently had surgery to have this removed, and then underwent a course of chemotherapy. The lump resurfaced in 2003 and Bubba had more chemotherapy, but in the meantime he was an inspiration to many cancer victims who regularly visited the trail blazing fish. At least he had no hair to fall out, the poor old boy. That is a sometimes all too negative side effect of chemotherapy treatment for humans. By 2006, Bubba was an old, worn out lad, and finally passed away, whereupon he went to that great spawning ground in the sky.

Groupers do, however, develop big bumps on their head following their gender reassignments. It would be horrifying indeed if that natural development of the fish was cut off and given chemotherapy unnecessarily.

Answer: Tracking ocean currents

In 1990, the container ship Hansa Carrier was en route from Korea to the United States when it encountered a violent storm near the Alaskan peninsula. It consequently lost twenty-one containers of goods, five of which contained between 60-80,000 Nike sports shoes, each with its own unique seal number. Never one to turn down an opportunity, scientist Curtis Ebbesmeyer consequently set up a network of people living along the shores of various sites throughout the globe and had these numbers reported back to him as the shoes washed ashore.

In doing so, the results contributed significantly to the world's knowledge of the workings of ocean currents. How appropriate that sports shoes were used in this form of "track" work.

Answer: To stop cut thread from fraying

Also known as cerumen, earwax is that orange coloured waxy substance in our ears that protects the ear canal from foreign objects, insects, bacteria and water, and also keeps the ear lubricated and oiled. In days gone by, however, earwax was also used by humans for at least four other things. One of these was when seamstresses used a bit of their own earwax to keep the ends of their sewing thread from fraying. If you've ever tried to push a piece of frayed thread through the eye of a needle, you'll understand that necessity. Spit also does the same job.

Two more uses for earwax were, unbelievably, as a lip balm, and for healing wounds. In the "American Frugal Housewife" edition of 1832, for example, it states that "nothing was better than earwax to prevent the painful effects resulting from a wound by a nail...". It also recommends in the same work that earwax was a "great remedy for cracked lips". Can you imagine kissing someone with earwax covered lips? Finally, in medieval times, earwax, when mixed with other products such as urine, was used to manufacture the pigments to illustrate those wonderful old manuscripts we often see in history books. Ohh, I feel quite ill - now where did I put my earwax pills?

Answer: A lazy slob

This word came to Australia from early British and Irish convicts and settlers who ended up in this part of the world. Today we understand it to mean a lazy good-for-nothing who will do just about anything to get out of work. The word's origins, though, are far more interesting than that. It was originally a form of the word "bludgeoner", or someone who carried around a bludgeon for protection or attack. It was in use in the mid 1800s in England in particular to describe "a low thief who does not hesitate to use violence" and elaborated further in an 1852 edition of "Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine" to refer to "...bludgeoners who go out in gangs". By the time the word migrated to Australia, bludger's meaning had evolved into meaning one particular type of thug - one who lived off the earnings of a prostitute in fact. The "Truth" paper on 23 June 1900, for example, describes "Girls of no more than 13 years of age (who) smoked their cigarettes and mopped up booze as freely as their bludgers..".

By 1915, in the same paper, politicians were likened to this trade and summed up with this hilarious description: "To enter Australian politics, to abide there, and to succeed therein, a man must have the instincts of a loafer, the aptitudes of a pickpocket, the conscience of a whore, and the honor of a bludger". Blimey. Its meaning of a lazy good-for-nothing in the 21st century is positively genteel by comparison.

Answer: True

Honey produced from the nectar of the flowers of plants belonging to the Ericaceae family, such as rhododendrons, does indeed have the ability to make people consuming same to become quite seriously ill from either honey intoxication, or grayanotoxin poisoning. Grayanotoxin is also known as andromedotoxin, acetylandromedol, rhodotoxin and asebotoxin and is found in the nectar of flowers from rhododendrons, blueberries, cranberries, huckleberries, azaleas, assorted heathers and others.

These are plants that can handle acidic and infertile soil conditions, because they have developed the ability to draw and convert substances in that soil as nutrients.

The negative results the nectar from these plants can cause in some people is very rare however, so keep right on enjoying your toast and honey for breakfast every morning.

Answer: The fire trucks blocked their planned exit

On 4th January 1988, that prison riot and its accompanying fire was started by a group of twelve prisoners, in order to allow for a mass break out of all prisoners in divisions 3 and 4 from the prison. Those two divisions housed violent inmates and murderers respectively. In the two weeks leading up to the planned escape, inmates amassed more than three litres of lawnmower fluid which they hid in soft drink bottles. On the day the attempted break took place, it was a scorching 126 degrees Fahrenheit, and tempers were short, with one or two scuffles taking place beforehand. When prisoners were subsequently put outside for their usual exercise period, and because of that earlier unrest, the guards decided to leave them out longer than usual, hoping that this would calm them down - but because of the heat that day, it had the opposite effect. It also allowed the leaders of the escape attempt out to set things in motion.

When they were finally let back in, they rushed the guards and absolute pandemonium followed. During the fighting and shouting and hostage taking that followed, a group of other prisoners tore about starting fires in several places, but because of the heat of the day, those fires soon grew completely out of control - and the escape route out of the prison was blocked by fire trucks trying to get in. During the negotiations that ensued over the next 24 hours, only one of the demands of the prisoners was met (a promise of no retribution - theoretically), but they agreed to exchange hostages, one at a time, for food and cigarettes. Plenty of fire to light those up, no doubt.

The aftermath of the riot was that several guards suffered post traumatic stress, the prisoners, in spite of the no retribution promise, were charged, and had to face court locked behind strong glass (during which one stripped naked in protest), they all had extended sentences added to their time in jail, the ringleaders each had another six years plonked on, the total of the damages caused to the prison was $1.8 million dollars - but the trial itself cost $3 million. You couldn't have written a better comedy if you tried.

Answer: Where fault lines slip periodically but cause no earthquakes

Aseismic creeps are fault lines where the movement of the surfaces on either side can be distinctly measured over a period of time - but which, thankfully, do not in themselves cause earthquakes. An example of this can be seen in Hollister, California, where some houses built many years ago on the site of these faults have become very twisted as a result of the fault movements below.

The San Andreas Fault running through California is broken down into three distinct segments, each with different earthquake producing characteristics. These are the northern segment, which features several sister faults running parallel to one another - all of which can cause earthquakes; the middle section, most of which exhibits the aseismic creep described above, and which do not create earthquakes; and the terrifying southern section stretching to the Salton Sea, which can create earthquakes of terrifying power. It passes just 35 miles to the north-eastern side of Los Angeles. Think of the horror that would result if a quake struck that section. Then again, if you live in that area, perhaps you better not.

Answer: King George V

The word "bugger" today, particularly so in Australia, can denote several things. Depending on the tone of voice used to express it, it can denote an affectionate noun such as "Oh you silly old bugger, you've put your underpants on back to front again". It can also be an angry verb - such "Bugger off, will you!" Or it can be just a general term for an annoying state of affairs - such as "I've had a bugger of a day at work today" - and so on. One version of this word used by the United Kingdom's King George V (1865-1936) is a real classic, and always raises a smile. Whether or not it actually happened is debatable, but towards the end of his life, the King suffered more and more from a deadly pulmonary disease. As he lay dying, surrounded by twittering medical staff and family, he was insincerely told by one of those present that he would soon be well enough to revisit the popular seaside resort of Bognor. Always curt at the best of the time, the King's response to this was said to be a terse "Bugger Bognor!"

Rather terribly so, it was revealed many years later in 1986, from the diary of the King's head physician, Lord Dawson, that, because the king had no hope of recovery, he had hastened the close of that life by giving the poor defenceless monarch "two consecutive lethal injections of morphine and cocaine". Dawson, without consulting either Queen Mary or the Prince of Wales regarding this, justified his act of regicide in his diary by writing that he did it to "preserve the King's dignity, to save further strain on the family" and - unbelievably - so that the announcement of the King's death would make the morning edition of "The Times" instead of the "less appropriate ... evening journals". Dawson also wrote that the King's last words were actually "God damn you" to a nurse who woke him up to give him a sedative, but, after bumping off His Majesty in order to make the morning papers, I wouldn't rely on anything that bugger said, would you?

Answer: A large swimming centre in Melbourne

Born in 1908, Harold Holt was the 17th Prime Minister of Australia from 1966 until he mysteriously disappeared twenty-two months later, while swimming off the coast near Portsea, Victoria in 1967. Although his body was never recovered, despite intensive air and sea searches, it was announced several days later that he was presumed dead. Mystery has surrounded that disappearance ever since, with various theories, conspiracy and otherwise, abounding. He was known to be unwell at the time, he had obtained morphine drugs from a doctor for a shoulder pain, he had a mistress on the side, he was known to be depressed (who wouldn't be in that job), he had collapsed in parliament recently, the tide was high and very fierce on that day, he was an accomplished swimmer, but had recently had two close encounters with drowning shortly beforehand. These were the own facts. Conspiracy theories included that he was in league with the Russians and they had drowned him when that went bottom up, and that, still in league with those Russians, he had defected to that country by being picked up by them in a mini-submarine on the day. Ho hum.

Highlights of his time leading up to the position of Prime Minister and his seat in that chair, included relaxing the White Australia Policy, major financial reforms including the establishment of the Reserve Bank, and expanding Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. And yet he drowned - or so it is believed. And one of most ridiculous and inconsiderate monuments constructed in his memory was the "Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre" in Melbourne. Could they have been any less thoughtless? Not only that, the large building surrounding that centre is considered a fine example of Brutalist architecture. That at least is appropriate. Truly, didn't they give this any thought at all? One might as well establish an automobile car yard selling Lincoln Continentals on the site where poor old President Kennedy was shot.

Answer: Love of my heart

The phrase "a ghra mo chroi" is an example of the lovely Gaelic lilt of the Irish language that once was spoken everywhere the Emerald Isle, but which went into a severe decline when the English took over the country in the 17th century and frowned on the cultural aspects of the people they tried to subdue. That the culture managed to survive is little short of miraculous. This of course includes the language. Today it is considered the first language of a small number of the population, a second language for far more of the population, and is recognised as the national tongue of the land of the green. The Irish Gaelic is a very old tongue, and as the people migrated to other areas of the world, particularly Scotland and the Isle of Man, they took the Gaelic with them. Today, both the Scottish and Manx languages can trace their roots back to the Irish Gaelic.

In closing, this reminds me of one of my Irish grannies who could speak Gaelic beautifully. She tried to teach it to me when I was a child, but all I can remember is a phrase about a young girl milking a cow. You have no idea how hard that is to work into a conversation.