Friday, July 10, 2009

Friday Diversion

Last night, I adminstered a pub quiz at my favorite bar in Xi'an.

It was a lot of fun researching the questions and reading the quiz. I got a really good response from the teams that participated. Each team had four people on it. In total, six teams competed.

I'm going to post the quiz below. If you're bored at work or have nothing else better to do, this very well could take up a half hour of your day.

The quiz was designed for foreigners from North America or Britain living or traveling in China. You, of course, can't use the internet to help find the answers.

I'll post the answers in the comments section of this post.

Enjoy!

Mark's Pub Quiz: July 9, 2009

1. Thriller is the best-selling album of Michael Jackson's catalog. What is the second best-selling Michael Jackson album of all-time?

2. What are the three totalitarian super-states featured in the novel 1984?

3. Which southern Chinese "Special Economic Zone" city went from a population of 25,000 in 1979 to 8.6 million at the end of 2007?

4. Name 3 James Cameron-directed films that have grossed more than $100 million worldwide.

5. What is the freezing point of water, in Farenheit?

6. In terms of traffic, what is the most popular website in China?

7. Which country, on average, has the tallest people on Earth?

8. How many Paramount Leaders of the People's Republic of China have there been since the country was founded on October 1, 1949?

9. Cassius Clay is better known by what name?

10. Which corporation has the largest number of employees in the world?

11. What character did Robert Duvall play in the films The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II?

12. How often is Halley's Comet visible from Earth?

13. What make of car was Princess Diana riding in when she was killed in 1997?

14. How many bones are in the typical adult human body?

15. Name the three largest provinces and/or autonomous regions in China in terms of land size. Order doesn't matter.

16. Name three of the four sitting US presidents to be assassinated.

17. In what industry did the bin Laden family make its fortune in Saudi Arabia?

18. Which country has the largest AIDS population?

19. The oldest certified individual animal in recorded history was named Tui Malila. The animal was born in 1777 and died in 1965. What kind of animal was it?

20. In what year was China's one-child policy implemented?

21. What does the acronym "DVD" stand for?

22. On The Simpsons, what country is Groundskeeper Willy from?

23. What is the smallest planet in our solar system?

24. What is the deepest fresh water lake in the world?

25. Which prolific rock musician created the albums Joe's Garage, Sheik Yerbouti, and Wacka Jawaka in the 1970s?

26. In what year was the United Nations formed?

27. Which philosopher famously wrote, "I think, therefore I am?"

28. Which Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning novel is based on the Joad family during the Great Depression?

29. July 20th of this year marks the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the first manned-mission to the moon. Who was the first astronaut to exit the ship and walk on the moon?

30. In the poker game Texas Hold 'Em, what is the strongest starting hand?

Answers in the comments section.

7 comments:

Mark said...

Answers

Mark's Pub Quiz: July 9, 2009


1. Thriller is the best-selling album of Michael Jackson's catalog. What is the second best-selling Michael Jackson album of all-time?

Dangerous with 32 million copies sold

2. What are the three totalitarian super-states featured in the novel 1984?

Oceania, Eurasia, Eastasia

3. Which southern Chinese "Special Economic Zone" city went from a population of 25,000 in 1979 to 8.6 million at the end of 2007?

Shenzhen

4. Name 3 James Cameron-directed films that have grossed more than $100 million worldwide.

Rambo First Blood Part II, Aliens, Terminator II: Judgement Day, True Lies, Titanic ----

One's that didn't quite make it: Terminator 1 ($78 million), The Abyss ($89 million)

5. What is the freezing point of water, in Farenheit?

32 degrees

6. In terms of traffic, what is the most popular website in China?

Baidu.com

7. Which country, on average, has the tallest people on Earth?

The Netherlands

8. How many Paramount Leaders of the People's Republic of China have there been since the country was founded on October 1, 1949?

5 - Mao ZeDong, Hua GuoFeng, Deng Xiaoping, Zhang Zemin, Hu Jintao

9. Cassius Clay is better known by what name?

Muhammad Ali

10. Which corporation has the largest number of employees in the world?

Wal-Mart with 2.1 million employees

11. What character did Robert Duvall play in the films The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II?

Tom Hagen

12. How often is Halley's Comet visible from Earth?

Every 75 or 76 years

13. What make of car was Princess Diana riding in when she was killed in 1997?

Mercedes Benz

14. How many bones are in the typical adult human body?

Either 206 or 208 depending on whether you count the sternum as three separate bones

15. Name the three largest provinces and/or autonomous regions in China in terms of land size. Order doesn't matter.

Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia

16. Name three of the four sitting US presidents to be assassinated.

Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, John F. Kennedy

17. In what industry did the bin Laden family make its fortune in Saudi Arabia?

Construction. Specifically, the bin Laden family had exclusive rights to all mosque and religious building construction in Saudi Arabia

18. Which country has the largest AIDS population?

South Africa with 5.5 million people infected

19. The oldest certified individual animal in recorded history was named Tui Malila. The animal was born in 1777 and died in 1965. What kind of animal was it?

Tortoise or turtle

20. In what year was China's one-child policy implemented?

1979

21. What does the acronym "DVD" stand for?

Digital Versatile Disc

22. On The Simpsons, what country is Groundskeeper Willy from?

Scotland

23. What is the smallest planet in our solar system?

Mercury. Pluto was until 2006, but in that year was downgraded to a "dwarf-planet."

24. What is the deepest fresh water lake in the world?

Lake Baikal in Russia

25. Which prolific rock musician created the albums Joe's Garage, Sheik Yerbouti, and Wacka Jawaka in the 1970s?

Frank Zappa

26. In what year was the United Nations formed?

1945

27. Which philosopher famously wrote, "I think, therefore I am?"

Rene Desartes in his Meditations

28. Which Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning novel is based on the Joad family during the Great Depression?

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

29. July 20th of this year marks the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the first manned-mission to the moon. Who was the first astronaut to exit the ship and walk on the moon?

Neil Armstrong

30. In the poker game Texas Hold 'Em, what is the strongest starting hand?

Pocket Aces (two aces of any suit)

Mark said...

Last night, the winning team had 21 questions correct. Runner-up had 20. And third place had 17.

The lowest team (a group of Chinese guys... they never had a chance on a lot of these questions) had 12 correct.

I think that if you can 15 correct yourself, you're quite the knowledge guy or gal.

Ramesh said...

Hopeless. I fared worse than the Chinese team by a long way !

Mark said...

Don't worry, Ramesh. These kinds of quizzes, which are based on completely random knowldege, are best taken in teams of four. Trying to take it individually is really tough.

Dr Paul said...

Some good questions here which I will add to the collection on my site.

andy said...

nice quiz Markus!

Tian Tian said...

i got 13! Phew.
i have fond memories of these pub quizes