What's My Line? This week's E2MQ

We are forced to lower the bar for this week's E2MQ.
There has been a deluge of complaints that our questions are just too difficult.
In reply we quote last week's winner who suggests, "Early to bed. Early to rise. And you can out Google the other guys."


This week's E2MQ is offered in two parts with a total of six easy questions.

PART A

This woman...

...and this man...

...have a skill in common.
One could say they share a piece of working wisdom.

He was born in Arkansas in 1942 and died in 1999.

She was born in Germany in 1928 and is still alive.

Both are American citizens despite both being born outside the U.S.

(Okay, Arkansas's part of the Union again...) 

To my knowledge, the two have never met.

Part A questions are...

1. Who are these two people?  
2. What are their respective nicknames?  
3. What discipline do they both share?

PART B

These two gentlemen may have something in common.  

Questions of Part B are...

1. Who are they?
2. What do each of them do?  
3. What connects them?

The winner will be the first person to correctly answer all six questions.

As always one can respond by commenting below, click the button above, or send an email to e2mq@edisonet.org.

Good luck!

Recognition and Announcement

Now that we've gotten his permission, Edisonet is delighted to formally announce that William Owens of New York City was winner of the tough question in the Chick Flick E2MQ of March 13th .

Obviously, way too much time had been spent gazing at the Empire State Building and recording the color displays over the course of the year.

As recognition of his achievement, Will will be receiving a hard cover copy of Schott's Original Miscellany.

After ingesting this eclectic collection of working wisdom, Mr. Owens will know how to correctly tie a sari and also impress others with his knowledge regarding the makers of the Queen of England's pork sausages and which Burmese kings died "curious deaths".

Well done and congratulations, Mr William Owens.

Paraprosdokians* and Contrafibularity**

* Despite popular belief, the Lincoln Tunnel is not named after Abraham Tunnel.

Material for last week’s E2MQ is thanks to a highly amusing book that comes to us from across the pond.  John Lloyd, producer of the British comedy shows Not the Nine O’Clock News, Blackadder, and Spitting Image, collaborated with John Mitchinson, who writes for the brilliantly-funny comedy panel show, QI (Quite Interesting).

Their UK bestseller, The Book of General Ignorance – Everything You Think You Know is Wrong, published in 2006, has been one of our favourite [sic] finds in recent years and has been the source of much amusing and heated discussion.

But on to the proper answers:

• What shape did medieval scholars believe the Earth to be?  Nope, the answer isn’t FLAT.  The idea of a flat earth first appeared in the 19^th Century and may have been influenced by Washington Irving’s Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828).  Probably as a result of Irving’s fabrication, school children have been taught that Columbus’s mission was to prove the world is round.  The flat-earth gauntlet was picked up by Englishmen S.B. Rowbotham  (Zetetic Astronomy) and Samuel Shenton (Flat Earth Society).  The latter died in 1971 but not before he claimed that the Apollo landings were a Hollywood hoax and photos of the round earth were fabricated.  For those who thought or answered, "Flat," please click here.

• In what year did World War II officially end?  The answer is 1990.  Hostilities ended when Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, but the Cold War created something of a mess.  A number of interim peace treaties were signed in 1950 and again in 1955.  However, no peace treaty was ever signed with the GDR (East Germany).  So it was Germany’s reunification, October 2, 1990, that marked the official end of WW II.  As long as I’ve got your attention, what was the longest war fought by the United States?

• Why are flamingos pink?  Not because they eat shrimp!  It’s because they eat a lot of blue-green algae, which, despite its name, can be red, yellow, orange, or violet.  By the way, did you know that flamingos are 10 million years old, they are monogamous, and they lay only one egg per year?  They also feed their young with a bright red “milk” produced from their throats.  Flamingos are only one of two birds that produce milk.  The other is...   Give a guess!

• What is the world's strongest wood?  Most everyone got this right.  Balsa is the strongest wood  when measured by stiffness, bendability, and compressibility.  Balsa wood is also mothproof.

• What is the normal state of glass?  Pretty much everyone correctly said that glass is a solid.  Somehow in the past there developed an assertion that glass was a cooled, but not yet crystallized, liquid.  Ain’t true!  Scientists categorize solids as either crystalline or amorphous.  Glass is the latter. 

• What metal is the best conductor?  Most everyone also correctly said that silver is the best conductor.   You know what else is really cool about silver?  Since the 5^th Century BC it has been successfully used to sterilize water!  When travelling, King Cyrus the Great always kept his personal water supply in silver containers and the Greeks and Romans found that food stored in silver spoiled less quickly.

• The air we breathe is mostly nitrogen (78%).  Can you explain why?  This was a tough question.  Scientists claim that the reason nitrogen is so much a part of our air comes as the result of volcanic eruptions during the earth’s formation.  Since nitrogen’s heavier that hydrogen and helium it stayed closer to the earth’s surface.  By the way, oxygen represents another 21% of our air, and there are other gases, but only one represents as much as 1%.   Do you know what it is?

• What African animal kills the most number of people each year?  Well, we should have clarified by saying, “Mammal,” but most everyone got it.  And those who didn’t give the orthodox answer, hippopotamus, answered equally correctly with mosquito.   Did you know that hippos were once thought to be related to pigs, but now are considered close relatives of whales?  Hippos are very irritable creatures who've been known to bite crocs in half and hold full-sized lions under water to drown them.  Humans mostly are victims when their boat is overturned or they are trampled by a startled hippo.  Nothing like these three beauties...

• What was Napoleon's most humiliating defeat?  This is our favorite, and some of you got it correctly.  Waterloo may have been, in the words of the Duke of Wellington, “The nearest run thing you ever saw in your life,” and a crushing defeat for the French, but Boney’s most humiliating defeat came in July 1807.  As part of a treaty to be signed in the Prussian village of Tilsit (now part of Russia and known as Sovetsk), they decided to have a rabbit shoot to entertain the dignitaries.  Someone screwed up and released, instead of wild rabbits for the hunt, domesticated ones.  These furry creatures collectively saw a little man, and mistaking him for the gamekeeper who fed them, charged Napoleon en masse at 35 mph.  Despite the dissuading efforts of the other attendees,  the bunny horde drove the emperor off the field and back to his carriage which sped off. 

• What was King Tut's curse? This was NOT a trick question, but the answer is, “There was no such thing.”  The whole curse story was made up by the newspapers just after Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.  Seems the Cairo correspondent for the Daily Express started a story of an inscription, a pharaoh’s curse, which read, “They who enter this sacred tomb shall swiftly be visited by wings of death.”  There is no such inscription, and, in fact, no curse has been found in any  Egyptian tomb to date.  One interesting discovery was made in 2005 when the mummy-in-question was run through a CAT scan.  He was 5 feet 6 inches tall, skinny with a severe overbite.  And it looks like he died from an infected knee.

This concludes our official posting of last week's E2MQ answers.  But, what about the WINNER?  From the dark recesses of my past emerged a dark horse contestant.  He was my prep school roommate 45 years ago and remains a true friend today.  This week's winner, Mr. Frank E. Masland, IV, will be receiving a copy of  Lloyd and Mitchinson's General Ignorance because, despite his winning the contest, he scored only 80% on the quiz and needs further study.

________________________

** For those diligent few who have waded this far, we offer, as a recessional, a bit on wisdom from one of the shows written and produced by the above-referenced authors.

Games People Play

Researcher Dr. Jane McGonigal believes that in the future games will become a immensely important tool used to solve real-world problems and boost global happiness.

McGonigal's first book related to this subject, Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make us Better and How they Can Change the World, was published this January and received mixed reviews.   LA Times and Wired magazine both like it, but others, like the NY Times Book Review asked, "Where's the reliable evidence that this data translates to people's doing more real work?"  There were also some downright unfavorable reviews, notably from a reviewer for UK's The Independent newspaper who said, "Reality is Broken could be an hour-long comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival."

We've got a copy of the book, and you can get your own here.  Alternatively, a glimpse of what Dr. Jane has to say can be learned from her TED talk given last year.

How important are games?  If you listen to McGonigal or Tom Chatfield, author of Fun, Inc., a book assessing the growth and future of games, we are witnessing a paradigm shift.  Playing games on line, in the opinion of these two authors, will be one of the 21st century's dominant social activities.

Right now Edisonet continues to investigate and learn more on this subject, but we are not entirely convinced that the hype supports games being more important in the future than they've been in the past.  Haven't we always used games to learn and develop our skills?

At any rate, we recently discovered something fun we'd like to offer.  Instead of a quiz, how about a challenging game for you to all to try?  

This is NOT the kind of game referenced by McGonigal and Chatfield.  This is just an ordinary amusing annoyance and time waster for a snowy Wednesday morning.

Click here to play.

Welcome Vernal Equinox, whatever that means. The E2MQ

We've always called it, "The First Day of Spring," but did you know that's not a universal concept?  According to Wikipedia some places refer to the vernal equinox as, "Mid Spring."

Some East Asian cultures claim that spring begins on February 4th and ends on May 5th. Similarly, according to certain Celtic traditions, based solely on daylight and the strength of the noon sun, spring begins in early February (Ground Hog Day?) and continues until early May.

What a marvelous segue into this week's E2MQ, which is all about commonly-held misconceptions.

But before going to our quiz, we'd like to mention Snopes.com, an urban legends reference website launched in 1995.   These folks have collected a large store of rumors, popular myths, and stories of questionable integrity and investigate the validity of each.  For those unfamiliar with this treasure trove of debunking and authenticating, we heartily recommend it.  Obviously, a very healthy group of skeptics regularly use this resource because Snopes.com gets some 300,000 visitors every day!

Here are 5 of the more-intriguing items found on Snopes.com that have circulated in recent years:

• President Obama canceled May's National Day of Prayer in order to not offend anyone.
• Bacteria found in cut onions and potatoes are responsible for more food poisoning than from spoiled mayonnaise.
• There is to be a Congressional vote to grant Social Security benefits to illegal aliens, and a petition is being circulated to thwart this action.
• Asparagus has miraculous cancer-fighting properties.
• There is a risk that failing to press the "clear" button on self-service pumps can lead to additional charges on customers' credit or debit cards.

Four of these five are absolutely false.  One is somewhat true with reservations.  

You can guess or simply go to Snopes.com to discover which is which.

Over the years every one of us gathers a host of common knowledge "facts" supposedly supported by academic studies, scientific experiments, or sophisticated observation.  As we age, some of these become indelibly fused in our minds.  Do you harbor some totally fallacious knowledge?

Here's this week's E2MQ, a collection of 10 pieces of UFI* to amuse and annoy you on Monday morning:

1. What shape did medieval scholars believe the Earth to be?
2. In what year did World War II officially end?
3. Why are flamingos pink?
4. What is the world's strongest wood?
5. What is the normal state of glass?
6. What metal is the best conductor?
7. The air we breathe is mostly nitrogen (78%).  Can you explain why?
8. What African animal kills the most number of people each year?
9. What was Napoleon's most humiliating defeat?
10. What was King Tut's curse?

First person with 10 correct answers automatically wins.
If there is no clear winner by week's end, the individual offering the most correct answers is the winner.

As always you can respond in the blog's comment block below or send an email to E2MQ@edisonet.org.

Good luck!



* Useless Frigging Information

The Empire Building Strikes Back! Answers to this week's E2MQ

Well, the contest results are in, and there was one clear winner.  However, to date we have not received incidentals, so we are not yet at liberty to share his name. 

Nonetheless, he provided the following very comprehensive list of Empire State Building lighting schemes:

	Red / White / Blue	President's Day
February 16 - 17	White / White / White
February 15	Purple / Purple / Yellow	Westminster Kennel Club, 135th Annual Westminster Kennel Club All-Breed Dog Show
February 14	Red / Pink / White	Valentine's Day
February 8 - 13	White / White / White
February 7	Green / Yellow / Green	Green Bay Packers Super Bowl Win
February 5 - 6	Split Lights North & South Sides: Green/Yellow/Green West & East Sides: Yellow/Black/Yellow	Super Bowl Lighting Green Bay Packers Pittsburgh Steelers
February 4	Blue / Orange / Blue	American Cancer Society, World Cancer Day 2011
February 2 - 3	Red / Yellow / Red	Lunar New Year
February 1	Orange / Orange / White	34th Annual Empire State Building Run-Up Powered by the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
January 24 - 31	White / White / White
January 21 - 23	Green / White / Green	New York Jets, AFC Championship Against the Pittsburgh Steelers
January 18 - 20	White / White / White
January 17	Red / Black / Green	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 14 - 16	Green / White / Green	New York Jets, Divisional Playoff Game Against the New England Patriots
January 13	Red / Red / Red	Cunard Royal Rendezvous and Maiden Voyage of "Queen Elizabeth"
January 7 - 12	White / White / White
January 6	Green / Green / Green	Empire State Building Becomes Largest New York City Commercial User of 100% Clean Energy
2010
December 30 - January 5	Red / Green / Green	Christmas
December 29	Split Lights North & South Sides: Orange/Orange/White West & East Sides: Purple/Purple/White	Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium Syracuse University Kansas State
December 23 - 28	Red / Green / Green	Christmas
December 18 - 22	White / White / White
December 16 - 17	Red / Green / Green	Filming
December 10 - 15	White / White / White
December 8 - 9	Blue / White / Blue	Chanukah
December 7	Orange / Orange / White	Food Bank for New York City
December 2 - 6	Blue / White / Blue	Chanukah
December 1	Red / Red / Red	(RED), World AIDS Day
November 29 - 30	White / White / White
November 24 - 28	Red / Orange / Yellow	Thanksgiving
November 23	White / White / White
November 22	Orange / Orange / White	S.L.E. Lupus Foundation, Life Without Lupus Gala
November 18 - 21	Private Lighting
November 17	Purple / Purple / White	March of Dimes, Prematurity Awareness Day
November 15 - 16	White / White / White
November 12 - 14	Blue / Blue / White	Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, World Diabetes Day
November 11	Red / White / Blue	Veteran's Day
November 10	White / White / White
November 9	Blue / Pink / Yellow	The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, Urban Visionaries Benefit
November 8	Green / White / Red	Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Opening Night of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular
November 7	Orange / White / Blue	New York Road Runners, 2010 ING NYC Marathon
November 5 - 6	White / Red / Yellow	Jersey Boys, 5th Anniversary
November 4	Green / Green / Green	New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, National Runaway Prevention Month
November 3	White / White / White
November 2	Red / White / Blue	Election Day
November 1	Purple / Blue / Yellow	Only Make Believe, 11th Annual Gala
October 30 - 31	White / White / White
October 29	Green / Green / Green	Palisades Interstate Park Commission, 100th Anniversary of The Harriman Gift
October 28	Blue / Blue / Blue	The Doe Fund, The Doe Fund Annual Gala
October 25 - 27	White / White / White
October 24	Purple / Purple / White	Alzheimer's Association, 2010 Memory Walk
October 22 - 23	Red / Red / Red	Scholastic, 90th Anniversary Celebration and "Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life." Campaign
October 21	Yellow / Yellow / Yellow	The Afterschool Alliance, Lights on Afterschool
October 12 - 20	White / White / White
October 11	Red / White / Green	Columbus Day
October 8 - 10	Orange / Yellow / Red	Publicolor, 15th Anniversary of Publicolor Day
October 7	Orange / Orange / White	Jumpstart, Read for the Record
September 28 - October 6	White / White / White
September 27	Blue / Red / Blue	The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 10th Anniversary of Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children
September 25 - 26	Yellow / Red / Black	German Consulate in New York, 53rd Annual Steuben Day Parade
September 24	Blue / Blue / Green	Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC, RBC Race for the Kids
September 16 - 23	White / White / White
September 15	Red / White / Green	Mexican Consulate in New York and the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York, Mexico's Independence Bicentennial
September 14	White / White / White
September 12 - 13	Yellow / Yellow / Yellow	United States Tennis Association, US Open Finals Weekend
September 11	Red / White / Blue	In Memory of September 11
September 10	Green / Green / Green	Eid-al-Fitr
September 7 - 9	White / White / White
September 3 - 6	Blue / White / Blue	Muscular Dystrophy Association, The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
September 2	Yellow / Yellow / Yellow	New York City Office of Emergency Management, National Preparedness Month
August 31 - September 1	White / White / White
August 30	Yellow / Yellow / Yellow	United States Tennis Association, U.S. Open Opening Day
August 27 - 29	White / White / White
August 26	Red / White / Blue	Women's Equality Day, 90th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment
August 16 - 25	White / White / White
August 13 - 15	Green / White / Orange	Federation of Indian Associations, 30th Annual India Day Parade
August 9 - 12	White / White / White
August 6 - 8	Green / Red / Red	Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, 20th Annual Festival Kick-Off and Celebration
August 2 - 5	White / White / White
July 30 - August 1	Red / White / Blue	Boys Scouts of America , 100th Anniversary Celebrations and the National Scout Jamboree
July 21 - 29	White / White / White
July 20	Red / Blue / Yellow	Consulate General of Colombia in New York, Independence Bicentennial
July 13 - 19	White / White / White
July 11 - 12	Red / Yellow / Red	Spain's World Cup Victory
July 9 - 10	Purple / Pink / Yellow	Broadway Barks Cat and Dog Adopt-a-Thon
July 7 - 8	White / White / White
July 6	Red / White / Blue	British Consulate General in New York , New York Visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh
July 2 - 5	Red / White / Blue	Independence Day
July 1	Red / White / Red	Consulate General of Canada in New York, Canada Day
June 29 - 30	White / White / White
June 28	Blue / White / Blue	Crain's New York Business, 25th Anniversary
June 25 - 27	Lavendar / Lavendar / White	Heritage of Pride, 2010 NYC Pride Week
June 22 - 24	White / White / White
June 21	Blue / White / Blue	Mets and Yankees "Subway Series", Team colors of Subway Series winner (Yankees)
June 20	Blue / Blue / Blue	United Nations Refugee Agency, World Refugee Day
June 18 - 19	North/South sides Yankees colors Blue/White/Blue; East/West sides Mets colors Blue/Orange/Blue	Mets and Yankees "Subway Series" lighting
June 17	White / White / White
June 16	White / Red / White	Consulate General of Japan in New York , Japan -NYC 1860-2010 and the 150th Anniversary of Japan - New York City Ties
June 15	White / White / White
June 14	Red / White / Blue	Flag Day
June 11 - 13	Blue / Green / Yellow	Caribbean Tourism Organization, Caribbean Week
June 10	White / White / White
June 9	Yellow / Yellow / Yellow	Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
June 8	Purple / Blue / White	National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the United Nations, United Nations World Oceans Day
June 7	White / White / White
June 4 - 6	Green / White / Green	New York Racing Association, Belmont Stakes
June 3	Orange / Orange / White	iMentor, 10th Anniversary Dinner
June 1 - 2	White / White / White
May 27 - 31	Red / White / Blue	Memorial Day/New York City Fleet Week
May 26	White / White / White
May 25	Blue / White / Blue	Consulate General of Argentina, 200th Anniversary of Argentina
May 24	Blue / Orange / Blue	Mets and Yankees "Subway Series", Team colors of Subway Series winner (Mets)
May 23	Blue / White / Blue	Jewish Community Relations Council of NYC, 2010 Salute to Israel Parade
May 21 - 22	North/South sides Yankees colors Blue/White/Blue; East/West sides Mets colors Blue/Orange/Blue	Mets and Yankees "Subway Series" lighting
May 20	Orange / Purple / White	Neuropathy Association, 15th Anniversary and Neuropathy Awareness Week
May 19	White / White / White
May 18	Blue / White / Blue	Columbia University, 2010 Commencement
May 17	Blue / Yellow / White	F.E.G.S. Health and Human Service System, 75th Anniversary and Benefit Dinner
May 14 - 16	Yellow / White / Blue	Fire Department of New York, National EMS Week
May 13	Green / Green / Green	Rainforest Foundation, Rainforest Foundation Benefit Concert and Rainforest Awareness Week
May 12	Green / White / Green	City Harvest; Skip Lunch, Fight Hunger
May 11	Purple / Purple / White	New York University, 2010 Commencement
May 10	White / White / White
May 8 - 9	Blue / Yellow / Blue	European Union, E.U. Day
May 7	Blue / Blue / Blue	Police Memorial Week Kick-Off
May 6	White / White / White
May 5	Yellow / Yellow / Yellow	Project Sunshine, Project Sunshine Week
April 30 - May 4	White / White / White
April 29	Red / Red / White	Coty Inc., 4th Annual DKMS Linked Against Leukemia Gala
April 23 - 28	White / White / White
April 22	Green / Green / Green	Earth Day
April 20 - 21	White / White / White
April 19	Purple / White / Yellow	New York Women in Communications, 2010 Matrix Awards
April 16 - 18	Orange / Orange / White	American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month
April 15	Green / Green / Green	Natural Resources Defense Council, Forces for Nature Honorary Dinner
April 8 - 14	White / White / White
April 7	Blue / Yellow / Red	The White House Project, Annual EPIC Awards
April 5 - 6	White / White / White
April 2 - 4	Green / Pink / Yellow	Easter
April 1	Blue / Blue / Blue	Autism Speaks, Autism Awareness Month
March 28 - 31	White / White / White
March 27	Lights off	Lights off from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. – World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour 2010
March 22 - 26	White / White / White
March 19 - 21	White / Red / White	New York Red Bulls, Grand Opening of Red Bull Arena
March 18	White / White / White
March 17	Green / Green / Green	St. Patrick's Day, Annual New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade on Fifth Avenue
March 5 - 16	White / White / White

Note: Colors are listed from bottom to top as they appear from the street.
The Empire State Building celebrates many cultures and causes in the world community  

We were impressed that our winner even presented White-White-White, the non-committal in-between colors!

This list was so comprehensive that our own list of 18 schemes paled by comparison.  

How could any one person ever find such a list? 

Click here to learn our winner's secret information cache. 

So, it’s not how smart you are.  It’s knowing where to look.

Now, for all you guys who couldn’t figure out the Chick Flick quiz, ask any woman.  

She’ll tell you the answers are:

• The Empire State Building (duh!) built in 1931.
• The first movie is King Kong.
• The 3 chick flicks where the ESB was a backdrop are

1.       Love Affair

2.       An Affair to Remember

3.       Sleepless in Seattle

• The 2 additional referenced films are:

1.       Love Affair (2)

2.   Mann

Congratulations to our winners and better luck next time to the rest of you!

See you next Monday!