Literature
What is the difference between a biography and an autobiography?
A biography is the life history of an individual, written by someone else. An autobiography is the story of a person's life, written by that person.
What’s a s’more?
chocolate and toasted marshmallows sandwiched between graham crackers.
What side of a bird has the most feathers?
The outside
Name one mnemonic that helps you remember the order of operations
PEDMAS – parentheses, exponents, division, multiplication, addition, subtraction
What is the “wall” that long distance runners hit? What’s going on physically with their bodies?
Hitting the wall refers to the point (around 18- or 20-mile mark of a marathon) where the runner experiences intense fatigue and negativity. Occurs at the point where the body has completely depleted all stored glycogen. Because we can store about 1,800 to 2,000 calories of glycogen in our muscles and liver, and we use about 100 calories per mile, hitting the wall would occur when predicted
Victorian era writers. Name 3.
Jane Austen, Anne Bronte, George Elliot, Charles Dickens
How does boiling water in a paper bag over a fire work?
The boiling happens because the water cools the bag enough so that it wont catch on fire, and the heat from the fire dries the bag enough so that the water won't soak through
Birds have 4 types of photoreceptors in their eyes compared to only 3 in humans. This allows them to see what colour (wavelength) that we do not
UV
What is the radical symbol?
(√) symbol. Mistakenly called a 'square root' symbol, but it can also be used to describe a cube root, a fourth root, or higher
What TV show proved that Robin Hood probably did split the 1st arrow with the 2nd?
Myth Busters
This man has been credited with co-authoring 3 of Shakespeare's plays
Christopher Marlowe. Henry VI, Parts One, Two and Three
What is the rainproof tarp-like cover that goes over tent called?
fly
Are wild turkeys native to N America?
Yes
Explain how calculus shows that displacement (distance), velocity and acceleration are all mathematically related.
Displacement/velocity/acceleration all related mathematically by differentiation or integration with respect to time. EG, differentiate acceleration to get velocity, integrate velocity to get acceleration
A typical kayak paddle has blades that are ‘feathered’ (blades are offset from each other). Why is this done?
Feathering is done so that the blade that is out of the water (and moving forward) presents the sharp edge to the wind. This reduces the aerodynamic drag and subsequently the energy required.
This style of literature, popular in the 18th and 19thth centuries, was meant to instruct or teach a moral lesson
Didactic literature. Example, Oliver Twist, Dickens wanted to dramatize the difficulties that poor people (conditions in workhouse) had in society, thereby making the reading public more sympathetic. He wanted to change popular opinion and encourage a more moral viewpoint on the part of citizens of Dickens’s day
What is a Dakota Fire Hole and why is it awesome?
Much better than a regular fire. Creates hotter fires using much less wood. Also, creates a kind of woodstove with a stable platform that is very convenient to cook over. Also, should you need to conceal your fire, the fire hole will limit the amount of visible smoke that rises from the fire, since the fuel wood is burning hotter and he pit will also help conceal the light emitted from your fire
Name 2 corvids
Crows, ravens, bluejays, magpies
60dB is twice as loud as 50bB. Not only 20% louder as you would think. What’s going on?
Our ears do not perceive loudness in a linear fashion. In order to show loudness in a linear relationship, a logarithmic scale is used. 40dB is twice as loud as 30dB, 50dB is twice as loud as 40dB, etc
The original 1966 batmobile had several cool features. Name 3
Jet engine, rocket launcher tubes behind cockpit, bat-parachutes for slowing down the car, bat-light flasher, mobile phone between seats, bat-scope radar screen, emergency bat-turn lever, bat-ray projector lever, oil slick sprayer, ejector seat, bing-bong warning bel
Who were the Inklings?
Inklings. A group of writers that met regularly in Oxford in the 1930s and ’40s. They would meet on Tuesdays at the Eagle and Child pub (commonly known as the “Bird and Baby”) for beer and reading of excerpts from their books. Group included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien
What is that rhyme about venomous snakes and their colour?
Red and yellow, you’re a dead fellow. Red and Black, you’re alright Jack!
Name two of the theories/suggestions of how birds migrate 1000s of miles and don’t get lost
Magnetic field: birds use the earth's magnetic field to obtain a map of its position. The earth's magnetic field becomes stronger as you travel away from the equator and toward the poles. Bird estimates its latitude based on the strength of the magnetic field
Sun:
Birds use sun position as reference witjh time compensation ability to make allowances for changes in the sun’s position over the course of the day.
Stars:
Many songbird species migrate only at night. They use a fixed star (North Star) in the sky and orient themselves in the appropriate southern direction
Landmarks:
Birds that migrate migrate during the day often follow natural landforms such as mountain ranges, rivers, and lakes
Name the mathematician of antiquity who did not know better than to argue with a Roman soldier. He invented the term ‘Eureka’
Archimedes
Name that popular yard game from the 1970’s that has quite rightly been banned
Lawn Darts