Rotary Club of Wynberg
Vol:67 No: 3
PRESIDENT
A QUIZ FOR A CHANGE
Stephen Bredenkamp 082 570 4440
By Bev Bird
SECRETARY Rob Murphy 083 726 7060
TREASURER Mike Schreiber 021 689 4466
EDITORIAL BOARD Barry Cleveland 021 788 6781 Karen Overbosch 082 574 5952 String Smith 021 715 0838 Hugh Maunder 083 555 7335
Date: 23 July 2015
This is a quiz to test your knowledge of a whole range of totally arbitrary and useless facts, hand-selected to challenge your intellect to the maximum. Here’s your chance to discover how good your general knowledge is of some utterly inconsequential information and to rank your level of intellectual prowess, so you can show off to all your friends at your next dinner party. Here’s how it works. Below are 14 statements -some perfectly true, some complete nonsense. But which are which? Without cheating by first looking at the answers (or, worse still, consulting your all-knowing friend, Mr Google), see if you can decide which statements are TRUE and which are FALSE. The correct answers -and your Genius Rating- are given at the end of the quiz. Good luck and have fun! Here we go.
TRUE or FALSE?1. Humans have 7 neck-vertebrae; giraffes have 15. 2. Marco Polo was 17 years old when he left Italy with his father and uncle to explore China and the Far East. He was 25 years old when he eventually returned to Italy, and some of his relatives did not recognise him. 3. At the time of their deaths Eva Peron, James Dean, and Jesus Christ were all 33 years old. 4. When the Paris mob stormed the Bastille prison in July 1789 at the start of the French Revolution, they found 384 prisoners incarcerated there. .. And one more from the French Revolution: 5. When told that the peasants had no bread to eat, the French queen Marie Antoinette said, ‘Let them eat cake.’ 6. The middle name of the World War ll American president, President Harry S Truman, was Sherman. 7. Napoleon Bonaparte’s death in 1821, whilst in exile on the island of St Helena, was caused in part by the green wallpaper on his bedroom walls in the house where he was kept as prisoner. 8. Kangaroos normally hop at a rate of about 2 hops per second; if they want to move faster they increase this to 3 hops per second. 9. Caesarian births derive their name from the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar, born in July 100 B.C., the first infant known to have survived such a surgical birth. 10. The paint on the exterior of a Boeing 747 Jumbo aircraft weighs about 250 kgs.
11. At the time of Jeremy Clarkson’s sacking by the BBC in April 2015 the audience waiting-list for attending a live recording of the ‘Top Gear’ television show was 12 years. 12. The Great Wall of China is the only man-made structure that can be seen with the naked eye from the International Space Station, approximately 340 kms above the surface of the earth. 13. Polar bears do not ordinarily hunt penguins as prey; scientists have therefore concluded that penguin meat is distasteful to polar bears. … And one more, for luck14. Vincent van Gogh painted more than 900 paintings in the last few years of his life; however, he only succeeded in selling, at most, two paintings during his entire lifetime. To check your score, and your Genius Rating, please see the ANSWERS further down.
MEETING OF 16 July 2015 Attendance (incl Makeups) 21/29 = 72%
Visitors Mary Ta, Anneke Eichstedt (Annie)
Fellowship Announcements 20 July is the wedding anniversary of Graham and Valda – Congratulations!!!
Slots Mike – Rob went on community challenge in India and Caroline played WP u/16 hockey and won. Lina – Told us about a scam where she was phoned and told that her maid had died and if they could contribute money to the funeral. Karen – Officially without work and finding it difficult to adjust. Ruth - Send list around for help on 15 Aug. Keela – Reminded all about the Christmas in July on 30th
Jackpot Bruce was lucky enough to be able to draw but no luck on that one but then was again lucky enough to draw his own name for the attendance prize.
President’s quotes The best way to predict your future is to create it ― Abraham Lincoln
GUEST SPEAKER :
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Anneke Eichstedt talked about herself and the reason for her being an Ambassadorial Scholar in South Africa. She is doing her Masters in Criminology, Law and Society at UCT. Previously she studied at the University of Stellenbosch and enjoyed the hands on aspect of this university. Helping in the Community is also something she enjoys very much. She also worked with the youth in prison as part of her studies and learned a lot about life in prison. They help them through workshops on how to work on computers and compiling CV’s. She worked in Jakarta (Indonesia) with (ECPAT ) End Child Prostitution and Trafficking of Children for sexual purposes.
GOING FORWARD Duty Roster JULY 23
AUGUST 30
6 (Business)
13
20
27
van Eeden
Hovstad
Murphy
Overbosch
Danckwerts
Dietrich
Gavin
Gowdy
Cleveland
Smith
Howard
Cleveland
Dietrich
Gowdy
Howard
Jackson
Todd
Van Niekerk S
Van Wyk
Vivian
Klotz- Gleave
Lidgely
Munday
Murphy
Sergeant
Barnard
Wynpress Editorial
Bird
Minutes for Wynpress Door Duty
Smith Dessington
Grace
Smith
Loyal Toast
James
International Toast
Howard
Jackson
James
Klotz- Gleave
Lidgely
Speaker Introduction Speaker Thanks
Dietrich
N/A
Dankwerts
Dessington
Dietrich
Todd
N/A
Van Eeden
Van Niekerk (K)
Van Wyk
Christmas
in
July
Find Speakers
Bredenkamp, Cleveland, Munday, Howard, van Eeden
Programme Thur Jul 23 Normal meeting: Speaker: Johnny Hanley, Permaculture, SEED. Thur Jul 30 Social: Christmas in July: Partners & Friends welcome (- Keela) Sat Aug 1 Rotaract Conference (July 31 – Aug 2) : Misverstand: (- Alan) Thur Aug 6 Business Meeting Thur Aug 13 Normal meeting: DG Geraldine Nicol visit Sat Aug 15: Interact Conference: SACS : (- Justin) Thur Aug 20 Normal meeting : Dr Melvin Moodley – CEO of Victoria Hospital Thur Aug 27 Normal meeting : tbc Sat Sep 12 Social / weekend visit to Renosterveld: (- Alan) Wynpress
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Thur Sep 17 Quiz Evening @ Tangos! (- Justin) Wed – Fri 7-9 Oct: Rotary Family Health Days Sat Oct 24 : District Mini-conference - Worcester
See the WRC calendar (http://wynbergrotary.org.za/calendar/ ) for full details.
Like us on
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(@wynbergrotary) and visit the Rotary Club Wynberg website to keep up to date
QUIZ ANSWERS:
- FALSE. Humans and giraffes have the same number of neck vertebrae, namely seven.
- FALSE. It took four years for the three Polo men to trek to China; they remained in Asia for seventeen years, and the return journey to Italy took a further three years. By that stage Marco Polo was 41 years old. No wonder his relatives did not recognize him.
- FALSE. James Dean was 24 years old when he died; the other two were indeed 33 years old at the time of their deaths.
- FALSE. The Bastille held only 7 prisoners when it was liberated by the Parisian mob in 1789.
- FALSE. A well-known folk-tale about an ignorant princess who said ‘Let them eat cake’ was already around a hundred years before Marie Antoinette was even born. There is no evidence to suggest that she ever uttered those words; on the contrary, she appears to have shown some sympathy towards the poor suffering Parisians.
- FALSE. President Truman did not have a middle name. The ‘S’ was merely an initial and did not stand for anything.
- TRUE. The green dye used in the wallpaper in Napoleon’s bedroom at Longwood House on St Helena island gave off poisonous arsenic fumes which are believed to have hastened his death.
- Generally FALSE. When a kangaroo wants to increase its speed it does not hop faster, it simply extends its stride length (up to 7 meters per hop at very high speed); the frequency of hops remains the same, at about 2 per second, over many kilometers regardless of conditions. Only in extreme circumstances, when fleeing for its life from a hunter or a fire (at speeds upwards of 35 kph), does the frequency of hopping increase slightly.
- FALSE. There are no records of any woman having survived a surgical birth until the Middle Ages and since Julius Caesar’s mother, Aurelia, did not die in childbirth but was still alive to hear of her son’s invasion of Britain, it is highly unlikely that Julius Caesar was born this way. The word ‘caesar’ may have derived from the Latin word ‘caedare’ meaning to cut.
- TRUE. According to the Boeing company, the paint on a 747-400 aircraft, where both the upper and lower parts of the fuselage and tail are painted, weighs 252 kgs. Although the weight of the paint increases fuel consumption, Boeing states that the polished steel bodies of unpainted aircraft are more expensive to maintain, making painted aircraft generally more cost-effective.
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11. FALSE. The waiting list for ‘Top Gear’ recordings was, in fact, 18 years. This was down from 2006, when the waiting list was 21 years (300 000 people). 12. FALSE. Firstly, the Great Wall of China is NOT, in fact, visible with the naked eye from the International Space Station. Secondly, certain other man-made structures, such as the Great Pyramids at Giza, some large highways, and a few long bridges over ocean straits ARE visible. So the statement is doubly false. 13. FALSE. Polar bears live in the Arctic regions; penguins live principally in Antarctica. Fortunately for penguins, the two are never naturally found in the same geographical location. 14. TRUE. Sad, but true.
YOUR GENIUS RATING: GROUP 1: Scores of 0-5 correct answersOh, dear: you guys are not very good at this, are you? Maybe your folks were right, after all, when they said you’d never make it to the top. Best we don’t mention this little exercise to anyone else. GROUP 2: Scores of 6-10 correct answersWell done! You guys obviously paid attention in class and read textbooks during break whilst the other kids were smoking behind the school wall. You’ve earned some decent bragging rights. GROUP 3: Scores of 11-14 correct answersNo doubt about it, you guys are sheer geniuses. The people at Mensa are waiting for your calls. Feel free to brag any time you please: you’ve earned your superior status as intellectual giants.
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