Slips, Trips, and Falls!
Friday Quiz - Questions from the Mnemonist
Another 10 from the master!
I’ve decided if he’s going to hand-pick the best questions he has each week - the least I can do is research the heck outta them. So after you finish the quiz, have a bonus fact about the question from me that I found particularly interesting!
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Friday Quiz - Questions from The Mnemonist
Which country was for many years the only one in the world without mosquitoes, until male and females of the species Culiseta annulata were found in a glacial valley southwest of the nation's capital in October 2025? It is one of the few species of mosquito that can survive winter.
Derived from the Spanish for "manliness", what is the name of the vow of silence that is associated with organised crime in Sicily?
Later developing into the front crawl, which swimming stroke - sometimes called the racing or East Indian stroke - was named after a 19th century English swimmer?
Harald V of Norway and Frederik X of Denmark both belong to which royal house, the senior surviving branch of the German House of Oldenburg, and named for a small town in Schleswig-Holstein?
What event was founded by French wrangler Thierry Sabine, after he got lost in the Libyan Desert in 1977? (Pictured is Jutta Kleinschmidt, the first and so far only female winner of the event)
Considered a contrast to the Gaia hypothesis, which other hypothesis views life on Earth as inherently self-destructive? It is named after a woman in Greek mythology who murdered the children she bore Jason.
What word links the following - the son of Peter Abelard and Heloise, a ship that formed part of La Perouse's scientific expedition, a bay off northern Papua New Guinea, and an instrument used in astronomy?
"I hope I won't let the occasion down too badly" - so spoke which knighted actor, immediately before announcing Amadeus as the Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards held in 1985, without reading the nominees?
Which country's national flag was changed on at least 20 occasions throughout the 20th century? The most recent change was in August 2021.
Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!" upon seeing which waterfalls - situated on the Brazil/Argentina border and named from the Guarani or Tupi words for "big" and "water"?
Time for the Answers!
Which country was for many years the only one in the world without mosquitoes, until male and females of the species Culiseta annulata were found in a glacial valley southwest of the nation’s capital in October 2025? It is one of the few species of mosquito that can survive winter.
ICELAND - "Get this - they weren't even looking for them! The naturalist who found those historic mosquitoes in October 2025, Björn Hjaltason, actually stumbled across them while using ropes soaked in red wine to attract moths! Which is also a super normal thing to do. Now Antarctica is the only true mosquito-free-zone.Derived from the Spanish for “manliness”, what is the name of the vow of silence that is associated with organised crime in Sicily?
OMERTA. In old folklore, a man proving he could keep a secret was considered the ultimate sign of maturity and honour long before organized crime ever co-opted the word!Later developing into the front crawl, which swimming stroke - sometimes called the racing or East Indian stroke - was named after a 19th century English swimmer?
TRUDGEN. When he introduced the stroke to England in 1873, he successfully copied the overhead arm movements he saw Native Americans using in South America. But he completely missed how they kicked their legs under the water, so he paired this fast, modern upper-body stroke with a clunky, old-fashioned breaststroke kickHarald V of Norway and Frederik X of Denmark both belong to which royal house, the senior surviving branch of the German House of Oldenburg, and named for a small town in Schleswig-Holstein?
GLUCKSBERG. The House of Glücksburg doesn't just sit on the thrones of Norway and Denmark. Through family ties, the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was born a Prince of Greece and Denmark as a member of this exact same house! That means King Charles III and the entire current British royal family are direct paternal descendants of this tiny, obscure town in Schleswig-Holstein! And I’m sure that has nothing to do with their many genetic diseases cough haemophilia B cough.What event was founded by French wrangler Thierry Sabine, after he got lost in the Libyan Desert in 1977? (Pictured is Jutta Kleinschmidt, the first and so far only female winner of the event)
The PARIS - DAKAR Rally. To be fair… he actually got lost during the Abidjan-Nice Rally… so not too inventive there Thierry.Considered a contrast to the Gaia hypothesis, which other hypothesis views life on Earth as inherently self-destructive? It is named after a woman in Greek mythology who murdered the children she bore Jason.
MEDEA Hypothesis. Peter Ward, the brilliant paleontologist who came up with the Medea hypothesis, points out that the single greatest mass extinction in Earth's history - the Great Oxidation Event 2.4 billion years ago was caused by microscopic life itself! He immediately harkened to Medea, the sorceress wife of Jason (of his Argonauts) who killed her two sons to destroy Jason’s legacy. Ancient microbes pumped out so much oxygen that they literally poisoned their own atmosphere and wiped out 99% of all living things. Thank god nothing like that could ever happen nowadays…What word links the following - the son of Peter Abelard and Heloise, a ship that formed part of La Perouse’s scientific expedition, a bay off northern Papua New Guinea, and an instrument used in astronomy?
ASTROLABE. That French ship, L'Astrolabe, vanished entirely during its scientific expedition in 1788. It wasn't until decades later that searchers found the wreckage in Vanikoro. Local oral histories revealed that the islanders actually used the salvaged iron from the ship to forge tools, meaning a tragic maritime disaster accidentally kicked off a mini technological revolution“I hope I won’t let the occasion down too badly” - so spoke which knighted actor, immediately before announcing Amadeus as the Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards held in 1985, without reading the nominees?
Sir Laurence OLIVIER. The best fact I know about him was while filming Marathon Man, a sleep-deprived and exhausted method actor Dustin Hoffman stayed awake for days to look authentically haggard for a torture scene. Olivier famously quipped to him, "my dear boy… try acting”.Which country’s national flag was changed on at least 20 occasions throughout the 20th century? The most recent change was in August 2021.
AFGHANISTAN. In fact, during one chaotic stretch between 1919 and 1929, the country changed its national flag five different times in just ten years!Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed “Poor Niagara!” upon seeing which waterfalls - situated on the Brazil/Argentina border and named from the Guarani or Tupi words for “big” and “water”?
These are the IGUAZU Falls. She wasn't kidding either - the Iguazu Falls are a geological titan! 275 individual waterfalls stretching nearly three kilometres across, and the 'Devil’s Throat' section when flowing at peak capacity during the rainy season dumps enough water to fill an entire Olympic-sized swimming pool every single second! I’m not sure why we measure things in Olympic-Sized swimming pools… so… it’s about 4 billion, 125 million bananas per second for scale.
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