|
Stump
Me Questions Answered in May 2003
|
|
|
Q.: 1)
What is the longest word possibly created using only one row on a keyboard?
2) What came first: the match or the lighter?
- Jesse M.
|
|
|
|
A.: 1)
Typewriter.
2) The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
In 1816, a German chemist named J.W. Dobereiner devised a way of automatically igniting a jet of hydrogen.
|
|
Q.: What were the dates of the War of 1812 and who were the participants?
- Matt L.
|
|
|
|
A.: It officially began on June 18, 1812, when Congress declared war against Great Britain.
It officially ended on February 17, 1815, when the United States and Great Britain exchanged ratifications of the Treaty of
Ghent. Canada was also involved.
|
|
Q.: Has there ever been a blue moon?
- No Name Given
|
|
|
|
A.: Yes.
A blue moon, by definition, is the second full moon to occur during the
same calendar month. The average time between full moons is about 29.5 days,
making it a rarity that a given month will have two full moons
(but it does happen). On average, there will be 41
calendar months in every century that have blue moons, which
amounts to once every two-and-a-half years.
|
|
Q.: What is the total gross national product of all the countries in the world?
- Keith G.
|
|
|
|
A.: The most recent and reliable data for worldwide GNP comes from 2000, and at that time it was $46.8 trillion.
|
|
Q.: Which TY Beanie Baby is worth the most money?
- Zach A.
|
|
|
|
A.: Peanut the
elephant that was released and retired in 1995. Peanut was changed
to a light blue fabric, but because of a manufacturing mistake,
it was produced in royal-blue for 3 months before Ty corrected it.
This color change made Peanut in royal-blue the most valuable Beanie Baby
ever, with some price guide quoting as high as $5,200.
|
|
Q.: Who wrote the music for the Real American Heroes and Real Men of Genius ads?
- Frank G.
|
|
|
|
A.: A
man by the name of Sam
Stryke.
|
|
Q.: Where
did Christmas originate?
- Chris D.
|
|
|
|
A.: The
following is from Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Every Day
Things:
Christmas is a hodgepodge of the traditions from a half dozen
cultures, accumulated over the centuries, that's celebrated on a
day that no one is certain Jesus Christ was really born
on. The idea to celebrate the Nativity on December 25th
was first suggested in the early fourth century by a group of
church fathers wishing to eclipse the December 25th festivities
of a rival religion that threatened the existence of
Christianity.
What finally compelled the Church to legitimize the December
25th date, was the growing popularity of Christianty's major
rival religion, Mithraism. On December 25th, pagan Romans
- still in the majority - celebrated Natalis Solis Invicti,
"Birthday of the Invincible Sun God," Mithras.
Mithraism was so popular with the masses that Emperor Aurelian
proclaimed it the official state religion.
To offer converts an occasion in which to celebrate, the
Church officially recognized Christ's birth. The mode of
observance was characteristically prayerful - a mass that came
to be known as Christ's Mass. The celebration of Christmas
took permanent hold in the Western world in 337 A.D. when the
Roman Emperor Constantine was baptized and made Christianity the
official state religion.
|
|
Q.: Also, is it true that the average size penis is 3 inches?
- Venus C.
|
|
|
|
A.: According
to Useless Sexual Trivia, the average-sized penis is 4
inches long when flaccid. It's 6 inches long and 3.7
inches in circumference when hard.
|
