Alice's Misadventures in Blunderland Quiz

Answer: Titanic

R.M.S. Titanic, which sank on its maiden voyage from England to the U.S., was specifically designed to make the Atlantic crossing with no possible chance of sinking. An unfortunately positioned iceberg dramatically dispelled that notion. Titanic's crew was warned by radio of icebergs in its area but Captain Smith chose to keep the ship running at an unsafe speed to keep to its arrival schedule. Aside from the tragic loss of 1,512 lives, the monetary cost in today's dollars would approach $168 million.

Answer: signal flare

This calamitous fire spread quickly and became the largest fire in California history. Fourteen dead, 2,322 homes lost, 300,000 acres burned and $1.2 billion in insured losses.

Answer: Ford Edsel

Named after Henry Ford's son, the Edsel was introduced in 1957. After two years of abysmal sales the car was discontinued in 1959. Due mostly to its clunky styling, it was the wrong car, at the wrong time, in the wrong market. Around $250 million in development costs went up in smoke.

Answer: The Tower of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was begun in 1178 and constructed in fits and starts over more than three hundred years. Only two of its levels had been completed when it started leaning. This was due to a foundation of a mere 3 meters sunk into unstable soil.

Answer: Gallipoli

The Battle of Gallipoli was a joint British, Commonwealth and French operation to capture the Ottoman seat of power, Constantinople. After eight months of heavy fighting with many casualties on both sides, the operation was abandoned. The campaign was one of the greatest victories for the Ottomans during the war and is considered a major failure by the Allies.

Answer: Chernobyl

During a test of one of Chernobyl's four reactors, the engineers turned off the backup cooling system and used only eight boron-carbide rods to control the fusion instead of the required fifteen. The result was a runaway chain reaction that blew the steel and concrete lid off the reactor and released 100 times more radiation than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.

Answer: John F. Kennedy

The Bay of Pigs was a C.I.A operation to overthrow Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. After months of planning (mainly during Eisenhower's presidency), word was somehow leaked to the press but no one in Washington seemed to care. On April 17, 1961 in the early morning, 1400 C.I.A-trained Cuban exiles waded onto the shore at the Bay of Pigs where Cuban military forces quickly put down the invasion.

Answer: The Beatles

Speaking to the Beatles' manager, Rowe said "Not to mince words Mr. Epstein, but we don't like your boys' sound. Groups are out; four piece groups with guitars are particularly finished."

Answer: prohibition

Prohibition was enacted by amendment into law on January 16, 1920. Almost immediately, illegal bars and bootleggers popped up all over the country. The lure of huge profits brought organized crime into the fray and shootouts in the streets of large cities were almost commonplace. America was dry and thirsty for years until prohibition was repealed in 1933.

Answer: Barbarossa

Beginning June 22, 1941, four million Axis troops invaded the Soviet Union in the biggest invasion in military history. The invasion caused 95 percent of all German army casualties during 1941-1944. Hard fighting, massive casualties and horrific winter weather conditions compelled General Friedrich Paulus to surrender at Stalingrad in 1943. Of the over 90,000 German prisoners taken, barely 5,000 survived.