The Snowman's 23rd Dream Quiz

Answer: Dodo

The Dodo most likely became extinct sometime in the latter half of the seventeenth century and is the archetype of modern extinctions. Living exclusively on the island of Mauritius, its extinction is believed to have been caused by the introduction of non-native species such as pigs and macaques to the island.

Its distant relative in the pigeon family, the passenger pigeon, is one of the most remarkable extinction stories. The last known member of the species, a bird called 'Martha", died in 1914, an extraordinary decline for a species that had been the most common bird in North America at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

he last known Carolina Parakeet, the only native parrot in the Eastern United States, died in Cincinnati zoo in 1918. The Guadalupe Caracara was deliberately hunted to extinction on the Mexican island of Guadalupe because it was such a menace to domestic livestock. The last confirmed sighting was in 1903.

Answer: William S Burroughs

The "Fortean Times" mention Burroughs as the first person to notice the 23 Enigma. Burroughs first became aware of the power of the number in Tangiers, Morocco in 1960 when he encountered a Captain Clark, a sailor who bragged of never having had an accident in 23 years of sailing. The very next day, Clark was involved in an accident that killed him and everyone on board his vessel.

That very night, Burroughs heard on the radio of an airplane crash in Florida. The captain of the aircraft was apparently also called Clark and the flight number was, of course, 23.

Answer: River Phoenix

One report of his death says Phoenix was partying at The Viper Room and was reportedly taking drugs in the club's bathroom with some friends. He was offered some crystal meth and immediately had a violent reaction to the drug. He returned to the table where his brother Joaquin, sister Rain and some friends were sitting, and complained of feeling unwell.

He was helped outside, whereupon he collapsed on the sidewalk and began to have seizures. Paramedics were called to the scene but despite their valiant efforts, Phoenix died in hospital less than an hour later.

Answer: Hawaiian draw

Texas hold 'em is currently the most popular game played in casinos in the US. Each player is dealt two cards of their own, face down (the pocket cards) and then five cards (the community cards) are dealt face up in the centre of the table in three rounds; firstly "the flop" of three cards, after which a round of betting ensues, then the fourth card (the turn) and another round of betting and finally the fifth card (the river) and further betting. Each player makes the best hand of five cards that they can from the seven cards at their disposal.

Omaha hold 'em is similar to Texas hold 'em. Each player is dealt four cards and there are again five community cards. However in this version each player must make his best hand using two of the pocket cards, plus three of the community cards.

Caribbean Stud is a form of five-card stud that, in the US, is played against the casino rather than against other players. The player has to bet on whether their cards better the dealer's hand.

Answer: Winnie the Pooh

The character of Winnie the Pooh was created by A.A. Milne in 1925 for a Christmas story published in the "London Evening News". Milne took the name for Pooh from the teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin, and also created other characters based on other toys Christopher Robin owned; Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger.

Answer: Kurt Cobain

Cobain was the lead singer and guitarist in grunge band, Nirvana who achieved massive worldwide success with the release of single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the subsequent album "Nevermind". The success continued with follow-up album "In Utero".

Success, however, never sat comfortably with Cobain. In his suicide note, he complained of not enjoying the experience of writing or even listening to music and that he got no joy from performing. He also suffered from a chronic undiagnosed stomach complaint which he used to explain his use of heroin as a painkiller. A week before his death, Cobain was reluctantly enrolled into a detox programme but left it after a few days by vaulting a fence.

Four days later he was reported as a missing person by his mother. It was another four days before his body was discovered in a room above the garage in his home in Seattle. The death certificate stated that the cause of death was a "self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head".

Answer: Europe

The Tropic of Capricorn passes through South America and Australia/Oceania and the Tropic of Cancer through North America and Asia. Africa is the only continent through which both tropics pass; The Tropic of Cancer passes through Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya, Chad and Egypt and the Tropic of Capricorn through Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.

The position of the tropics is equal to the earth's axial tilt and varies between 22.1° and 24.5° as part of a 41,000 year cycle. At the time of writing the earth has an axial tilt of about 23.44° and is decreasing. It will be approximately 10,000 years before the minimum value in the cycle is next reached.

Answer: He was stabbed 23 times

Julius Caesar proclaimed himself consul and dictator of the Roman Republic in 49 B.C. after defeating the republican forces of Pompey in a civil war. In February 44 B.C. he was named as 'dictator perpetuus"; dictator for life. This declaration led many to believe that he wished to become King of Rome. Certain members of the Senate agreed that Caesar's position of power was a problem and the best way to resolve the problem was to assassinate him.

Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March (March 15th) 44 B.C., falling at the foot of Pompey's statue on the steps of the forum. According to the 4th century historian Eutropius, there had been 60 assailants, including Gaius Cassius and Marcus Junius Brutus.

The death of Caesar led to further civil war and the ending of the Roman Republic. In 27 B.C. Augustus, adopted son of Julius Caesar, became the first Emperor of the Roman Empire.

Answer: Dr. Pepper

Dr. Pepper was formulated and first served in Waco, Texas in 1885, receiving its patent in December of that year. It beat Coca-Cola to the patent office by just one year. Dr. Pepper began to be sold nationally after it was showcased at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

Whilst the drink is not to my taste, there are millions that disagree with me; Dr Pepper has been the top non-cola carbonated soft drink in terms of sales in the US.

Answer: Nissan

"Ni" is the Japanese word for two and "san" the Japanese word for "three". However this is not where the name of the car marque derives from. The name "Nissan" was first used in the 1930s on the Tokyo stock market as an abbreviation of "Nippon Sangyo" (English translation: Japan Industries), the holding company of which Nissan motors was later to become a part.

Answer: William Shakespeare

Shakespeare had a further connection to the number 23, or more specifically 46 (which is of course 23 doubled). In the King James Bible, published five years before Shakespeare's death, the translation of Psalm 46 has the 46th word as "shake" and the 46th word from the end being "spear". Spooky!

Answer: Jim Carrey

I won't spoil the film for those who have yet to see it but Sparrow, like the character in the novel he reads, begins to see the number 23 in every aspect of his life. His wife Agatha (played by Virginia Madsen) discovers the book when she enters a bookstore to kill time waiting for Walter to come and pick her up. Walter is late because he has been bitten by a dog for the first time in his career.

The dog is called Ned. Taking the position of each of the name's letters in the alphabet (n=14, e=5, d=4) and adding them together makes 23!

Answer: Helter Skelter

Manson developed his obsession with The Beatles during a spell in prison, informing fellow inmates that he would become more famous than them. After his release from prison, Manson began to form his "family" at the home of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson in San Francisco in 1968. When Wilson evicted them, the family set up at a pair of ranches in Death Valley. It was during this time that Manson first heard "The White Album" and saw a message in the track "Helter Skelter".

Manson believed that the US would soon become embroiled in a race war, when the black population would rise up in rebellion. "Helter Skelter" to Manson's ears was a sign that The Beatles agreed with this view and the album was written specifically to encourage the Family to act to precipitate this uprising and take advantage of it.

The Family committed the murders of the heavily pregnant Sharon Tate and her companions in August 1969, the attacks launched on the pronouncement by Manson that "now is the time for Helter Skelter". The next night, the Family committed the LaBianca murders where the song title was scrawled in blood on the refrigerator of the LaBianca house.

In 1971, Manson was sentenced to death for the murders and conspiracy to murder, a sentence that was reduced to life imprisonment in 1972.

Answer: Dutch Schultz

Schultz himself was also assassinated on October 23, 1935. One of the men convicted of his murder, Charles Workman - a hitman in the notorious Murder Inc. crew - served 23 years for the crime before being paroled.

Answer: Discordianism

The Latin counterpart of Eris is Discordia from where the religion takes its name. Eris's opposite in Greek mythology is Harmonia, the goddess of harmony and concord, known as Concordia in Latin.

Discordianism is described by some followers as "a joke disguised as a religion disguised as a joke". Whereas the major religions celebrate the ordered nature of the world and creation by a God or gods, Discordianism celebrates the chaos of the universe.

Malaclypse the Younger, also known as Greg Hill, wrote the founding document, the "Principia Discordia", in the late 1950s. One of the laws stated in the "Principia" is the Law of Fives which claims that "all phenomena are directly or indirectly related to the number five". As the two digits in the number 23 add up to five, then this number is party to this Law.

Answer: Each parent passes on 23 chromosomes to their children

There is no fixed time for the blood to circulate through the human body. There are many variables involved that will determine exactly how long it will take; the rate at which the heart beats, the size of the heart, the age and size of the person.

An average heart rate at rest is in the range of 65 to 75 beats per minute. With each beat the average heart will pump between 60 and 70 millilitres of blood giving a range of between 3.9 litres and 5.25 litres per minute. The average body contains approximately 5.6 litres of blood so the calculated time for circulation would be between 60 and 90 seconds.

The human arm has just 3 joints--the shoulder, the elbow and the wrist--and then only if you count the forearm as part of the arm.

There are 24 vertebrae in the human spine.

However, parents do pass on 23 chromosomes to their children--22 autosomes and one sex chromosome. Combined, these make the 23 pairs of chromosomes that make up a human cell.

Answer: Marc-Vivien Foe

Foé died with 18 minutes left of the match, which was a semi-final against Colombia. As Cameroon were attacking, Foé was holding a defensive position in the centre of the pitch. With no-one near him, Foé collapsed as he looked to move forwards. Resuscitation attempts were made on the pitch before he was transferred to the stadium's medical centre. Unfortunately, the medics were unable to revive him and he died 45 minutes later. The cause of death was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle which is a common factor in unexpected cardiac deaths.

Manchester City retired the number 23 shirt after his death in tribute to Foé who was a very popular figure at the club and indeed every club he had played for.

Answer: All of these

The full sequence of numbers is 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42. Note that eight and fifteen also add up to 23. All six numbers occur on numerous occasions throughout all the series of the show. Other appearances of the number 23 are as one of the numbers in Hurley's winning Lotto ticket, the temperature in Hurley's car when it breaks down and the number of the floor in a Sydney hotel in which Hurley stays prior to the flight.

Answer: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

I'll freely admit that I am not particularly knowledgeable about the Zelda series of games (or video games in general) but apparently "Ocarina" is considered one of the finest games of all-time. The fifth installment in a still-continuing series that began in 1986, "Ocarina of Time" was the first 3D game of the series.

Answer: Hotel Chelsea

The Hotel Chelsea was built in 1883 and has for much of its life been associated with the artistic world. Sadly, for many in the UK the name is synonymous with Vicious, born Simon John Ritchie, and the death of Spungen. Both were heavy heroin users and on October 12, 1978 following a night of drug abuse, Vicious woke to find Spungen dead in the bathroom of room 100 from a stab wound. Vicious claimed no recollection of the events of that night but he was arrested for her murder.

Whilst on remand for the murder, Vicious's addiction was treated and when he was granted bail he was deemed to be clean. However, at the party to celebrate his release he lapsed and injected heroin that was far stronger than that normally found on the streets. He overdosed and although he was revived at the time, he died in his sleep later that night.