What do these birds have in common?
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All robins. L-R, top row: Siberian blue (Luscinia cyane), American (Turdus migratorius), and Cape (Cossypha caffra); bottom row: Scarlet (Petroica multicolor), Oriental magpie (Copsychus saularis), and Japanese (Erithacus akahige). |
Alan |
Smartarse bonus overload for Alan.
Robins are all year round visitors to the fields and gardens of Britain, their small size, attractive coloration and habit of turning up to eat soil pests whenever soil has been turned over make them very popular birds. Too small to bother to eat (only the size of a chicken nugget but an inconveniently low ratio of actual meat to wrapping and filling) too useful to shun. I remember my granddad pausing many times while digging in his garden to throw a grub to the waiting robin, better in the robin than in his potatoes.
British exiles and travellers had a tendency to call any remotely similar looking bird they came across a robin, that is why there are birds called robins across the world. Anything small and/or red breasted might become a robin.
Norsk blå What is it?
Customer: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.
(The owner does not respond.)
C: 'Ello, Miss?
Owner: What do you mean "miss"?
C: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!
O: We're closin' for lunch.
C: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
O: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?
C: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!
O: No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting.
C: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.
O: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!.......
Demar
Where on Earth is this?
Seattle, Washington.
Quite familiar to viewers of Frasier.
What is this exceptional object?
Europa. Moon of Jupiter.
Exceptional? According to HAL's last message it was.
It is the strongest local candidate for being the host of an extraterrestrial biological system, beneath its icy coating there is a huge ocean of liquid water energized by thermal currents generated by radioactive decay.
670,900 km from Jupiter orbit: diameter: 3138 km mass: 4.80e22 kg
After a successful day at the races where did the narcissistic antihero go to put himself in obscurity?
Well I hear you went up to Saratoga and your horse naturally won
Then you flew your lear jet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well you're where you should be all the time
And when you're not you're with
Some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend
Wife of a close friend, and...
You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you
You're So Vain, Carly Simon, verse three.
Who did little Vincent here grow up to be?
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Vincent Damon Fournier, born Detroit on February 4th 1948. Played his first gig as Alice Cooper in the Alice Cooper band in March 1968. |
Neil |
What links these women?
They are both subjects of famous photographs when they were younger. Kim Phuc is “the girl in the photo”, one of the most famous images of the twentieth century. Alice Liddell is simply Alice, the Alice, model for one of the most famous characters in fiction and many photographs.
Who fulfilled his quest and saved his ass without completing his to do list?
Shrek.
FIONA: You didn't slay the dragon?
SHREK: It's on my to-do list. Now come on. ...
Fiona: Where are you going?
Shrek: I have to save my ass.
Shrek the ogre had to save his companion, the dense irritating miniature beast of burden referred to only as Donkey.
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Shrek, who fulfills his "great and noble quest" of rescuing Bachelorette #3 (Princess Fiona) from the dragon's castle, saves Donkey, his ass, from the dragon's amorous clutches, but doesn't actually slay the dragon, even though (as he tells Fiona) "it's on my to-do list." |
Alan |
In what ways are these two people linked?
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Both were rap artists. They were both shot and killed. B.I.G - Biggie Smalls - Christopher Wallace Tupac - Tupac Amaru Shakur - Lesane Parish Crooks. |
Demar |
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Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur were rap artists (almost said singers there!) who were gunned down. |
3iff |
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They're both rap/hip-hop artistes who were murdered. On the left is Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. The Notorious BIG/Biggie Smalls & Smalls), born 21/5/72 in Brooklyn and died 9/3/97 in San Francisco. On the right is Tupac Amaru Shakur (a.k.a. 2Pac), born 16/6/71 in Brooklyn and died 13/9/96 in Las Vegas BIG was involved in a running feud with rapper 2Pac, who was convinced of B.I.G.'s involvement in a 1994 robbery in which he was injured. Their disagreement soon festered into a bitter feud between the east and west coast American rap scenes. When 2Pac was murdered, B.I.G.'s non-attendance at a rap peace summit in Harlem was widely criticized. He was gunned down after leaving a party in California in March 1997. Subsequent conjecture indicated that his murder may have been in retaliation for 2Pac's killing. 2Pac was gunned down in Las Vegas on 8 September after watching the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight at the MGM Grand, and died five days later. Various explanations were given, including the theory that the Notorious B.I.G. arranged the shooting after Shakur had bragged about sleeping with his wife, Faith Evans. The east coast/west coast rivalry continued after his death, leading to the Notorious B.I.G.'s murder in similar circumstances six months later. |
Neil |
Who was the most attractive of all Benjamin's parent's friends?
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Mrs. Robinson. The Graduate 1967 Benjamin Braddock: Mrs. Robinson, I can't do this. It's all terribly wrong. Mrs. Robinson: Do you find me undesirable? Benjamin Braddock: Oh no, Mrs. Robinson, I think you're the most attractive of all my parent's friends, I mean that. |
Demar |
An old school dictionary falls open. On this two page spread I find: a river in Hades; a sea monster; frivolity, want of thought; a Roman official bearing a Fascist symbol; a tie or bandage. What great mystery does this page also solve?
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It explains the meaning of life. The other words, in alphabetical order, are Lethe, Leviathan, levity, lictor, and ligature. |
Alan |
Who is this?
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Gwen Stefani from No Doubt, Backstage at the Fillmore Age: 27 Birthdate: October 3, 1969 Favorite Food: Sushi Favorite Phrase: "High Postin'"-living large and working it Hometown: Anaheim, Califorina College: California State Fullerton Musical Influence: Older Brother Eric Stefani Favorite Songs to Perform: "End it on This" and "Don't Speak". |
Neal |
Gwen Renee Stefani of No Doubt, adds 3iff.
When Joe was teaching me how to play snooker he knocked the white ball in the pocket by accident and he gave me some points, ten minutes later I did the same and he gave himself almost twice as many. Is he cheating?
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Not necessarily. The penalty for causing the cue ball to enter a pocket is the higher of four points and the value of the ball on. If Joe sank the white while a red was on, I would receive four points. If I sank the white when the black was on, Joe would receive seven points. |
Alan |
Complete and explain the following sequence:
4
12
20
38
56
??
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88. The atomic numbers of the alkaline earths: beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium, radium. |
Alan |
The newspaper had been messed with, the crossword page was missing. Joe had pulled out one whole sheet, four pages in all. The back page was 28. The crossword page was always page 21. I couldn't find the letters to the editor page either, which is usually near the front, on the left. What page number is the missing letters page?
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The paper is made of large sheets then folded in two. Page 1/2 are paired with pages 27/28...and so on. Pages 7, 8, 21, 22 are on one sheet. If page 21 is missing then the letters page must be on page 7 or 8. As it's on the left, it must be page 8. |
3iff |
In 1974, these men warned off their enemies with a cowboy cliché. Did I say men? Well they sound like males.
Sparks, comprising Ron and Russel Mael, released This Town Ain't Big Enough for The Both of Us. A thoroughly weird song.
3iff
Who wrote the first novel featuring reverse time travel as a plot device?
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I knew the answer would not be the obvious HG Wells (The Time Machine (1895) How about Mark Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889)? |
Neal |
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/time/through.html http://www.towson.edu/~flynn/timetv.html Seven years before 22-year-old Wells wrote the first version of The Time Machine, Edward Page Mitchell, an editor of the New York Sun, published "The Clock That Went Backward." Edward Page Mitchell sketched out plans for a device to travel into the past. In his "Clock That Went Backward" (1881), two boys discover a broken clock which, when wound backwards, transports them to sixteenth-century Holland.) |
Neil |
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This question is very open to different interpretations, as I'm sure you're realizing by now. If it means a novel about a character travelling back in time, then probably Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889). If it means a novel in which time itself travels backwards, so that effect precedes cause and characters start on their deathbed and advance to their birth, then I would argue strongly that no novel successfully did that until Martin Amis' wonderful Time's Arrow (1991). |
Alan |
Julian
Who painted this?
Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael), 1483-1520: The Three Graces.
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Raphael, "The Three Graces" sometimes called Splendor, Mirth, and Good Cheer, or Beauty, Gentleness, and Friendship. They were often shown with Venus, the nine Muses, and Apollo. The three graces is a very popular art motif, with involved iconography, but might have been just an excuse for artists to portray nude women. |
Neil |
I don't know about Raphael's motives but that last bit sums up mine rather neatly.
Which symbol completes the sequence?
The sequence goes Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa Laa, Po. The correct answer is number three.
Mike
What Reverend was “reduced” to a layperson when he crossed the Atlantic from east to west?
The Reverend Green, character in Cluedo, shows up as merely Mr Green in the American version of the game: Clue.