Yorrike

Every day of the nation-wide Aotearoa quarantine, I’m posting a quiz as something for people to look forward to. Here’s today’s (Aotearoa Rāhui Day 45). There’s a meta puzzle too, see if you can piece it together from the 3rd to the 22nd of April. All previous quizzes can be found here.

1. Which of the following companies has never produced a home game console: Apple, Panasonic or Samsung?
2. Gwen Stefani’s ex husband fronts which British rock band?
3. Which day in November is the earliest an American Presidential election can be held?
4. A black hole is theorised to emit what kind of radiation?
5. Which German rock band had a breakthrough hit with the song Du Hast?
6. The flag of Saudi Arabia features what weapon?
7. Mount Everest is on the boarder of which two countries?
8. Who succeeded the Roman Emperor Claudius?
9. What caused the collapse of the Whangaehu River bridge at Tangiwai on Christmas eve 1953?
10. Which member of the Kardashian/Jenner family has a daughter called Stormi?

Answers for 9 May 2020

1. Samsung (Apple - Pippin, Panasonic - 3DO and Q - look up the Panasonic Q online it’s mad)
2. Bush (Gavin Rossdale)
3. The 2nd - The first Tuesday after the first Monday every quadrennial November.
4. Hawking radiation
5. Rammstein
6. A sword
7. Nepal and China (Tibet)
8. Nero
9. A Lahar from the Mount Ruapehu crater lake.
10. Kylie Jenner

Every day of the nation-wide Aotearoa quarantine, I’m posting a quiz as something for people to look forward to. Here’s today’s (Aotearoa Rāhui Day 44). There’s a meta puzzle too, see if you can piece it together from the 3rd to the 22nd of April. All previous quizzes can be found here.

1. Which is the odd one out of: cougar, puma, leopard and mountain lion?
2. Which continent did potatoes originate on?
3. Who, in the 1780s, composed the melody we use in the nursery rhymes Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Alphabet Song?
4. Speaking of the alphabet, English use to have a letter called thorn - þ. What sound did it make?
5. Who wrote the Novel Animal Farm?
6. Billie Joe Armstrong is the frontman of which American rock band?
7. Who is New Zealand’s Associate Minister of Transport?
8. In which year did the New Zealand Supreme Court first sit? 1996, 2000 or 2004?
9. Uruwhenua is the Te Reo Māori word for which kind of official document?
10. Estonia and what other European nation are the only two, in Europe, to feature a black horizontal band on their flag?

Answers for 8 May 2020

1. Leopard. Cougar, puma and mountain lion are different names for the same animal
2. South America
3. Mozart
4. The “th” sound.
5. George Orwell
6. Greenday
7. Julie Anne Genter
8. 2004
9. Passport
10. Germany

Every day of the nation-wide Aotearoa quarantine, I’m posting a quiz as something for people to look forward to. Here’s today’s (Aotearoa Rāhui Day 43). There’s a meta puzzle too, see if you can piece it together from the 3rd to the 22nd of April. All previous quizzes can be found here.

1. Wheat, corn and sugar cane are all types of what kind of plant?
2. What is the most eastern state of the USA?
3. Which BBC children’s TV show, running from 1965 to 1977, featured characters Dougal, Zebedee and Dylan, and was an english dubbed version of the French show Le Manège enchanté?
4. Who is the author of The Martian and Artemis
5. Speaking of Artemis, in Greek mythology Artemis is the is goddess of what body in the solar system?
6. Vicente Fox was the president of which country from 2000–2006
7. Tik Tok is a popular video app, but the 2009 pop song of the same name was the debut single of which American musician?
8. The Lumberjack song is by which British comedy troupe?
9. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone wrote which Broadway musical?
10. What is the fifth element of the periodic table?

Answers for 7 May 2020

1. They’re all types of grass
2. Alaska
3. The Magic Roundabout
4. Andy Weir
5. The Moon
6. Mexico
7. Kesha or Ke$ha
8. Monty Python
9. The Book of Mormon (it won 9 Tony awards)
10. Boron

If you’ve ever taken lessons in a second language you will have come across recordings of native speakers. Normally there’s a short conversation and you’re supposed to be able to either translate it or hear words you’ve just learnt in context.

If you’re employed doing these recordings, I implore you: slow down. The people listening can’t speak the language yet, let alone at full speed while they’re trying to translate words in their head.

Half speed lets people hear words they haven’t learnt yet being pronounced slowly and correctly. It also lets them pick the words they know, translate them if required and put them into context of the conversation.

I’m not a bad student. My French is coming along in leaps and bounds. I can have conversations with my natively speaking mum about everyday things and I rarely miss a beat.

But with professionally recorded French language resources, they may as well be saying

« c’estunegrandpapillonblancsurlavoiturenoire »

Va lentement s’il vous plaît.

Every day of the nation-wide Aotearoa quarantine, I’m posting a quiz as something for people to look forward to. Here’s today’s (Aotearoa Rāhui Day 41). There’s a meta puzzle too, see if you can piece it together from the 3rd to the 22nd of April. All previous quizzes can be found here.

1. What is the tallest building in the world?
2. Laphroaig, Monkey Shoulder and The Macallan are all brands of what?
3. What is the national animal of Canada?
4. What are the three colours of the Jamaican flag?
5. How many AA batteries did the original Gameboy console require?
6. Who authored the book The Power of One?
7. Marjory the Trash Heap, Uncle Traveling Matt and the Doozers were characters in which 1980s Jim Henson TV show?
8. Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Rose Byrne starred in which 2011 movie?
9. What country has the third largest economy by GDP in the world?
10. The white cliffs of Dover in England owe their white colour to what mineral?

Answers for 6 May 2020

1. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai
2. Whiskey
3. The North American beaver
4. Yellow, black and green
5. 4
6. Bryce Courtenay
7. Fraggle Rock
8. Bridesmaids
9. Japan
10. Chalk

Every day of the nation-wide Aotearoa quarantine, I’m posting a quiz as something for people to look forward to. Here’s today’s (Aotearoa Rāhui Day 41). There’s a meta puzzle too, see if you can piece it together from the 3rd to the 22nd of April. All previous quizzes can be found here.

1. Liechtenstein is double-landlocked. Which 2 landlocked countries does it border?
2. George R R Martin’s A Game of Thrones is the first book in which series of novels?
3. Which country has the most cases of COVID-19?
4. According to legend, shortly after being abandoned, twins Romulus and Remus were suckle by what animal?
5. According to the 2020 World Press Freedom ranking of Reporters Without Borders, which country ranks highest in press freedom: Norway, New Zealand or Australia?
6. In which acclaimed TV series did the late James Gandolfini play a man called Tony?
7. The Brooklyn Wind Turbine was installed in 1993. What year was it replaced with the current newer, bigger turbine: 2014, 2015 or 2016?
8. How many average weeks worth of takeaways did New Zealand eat in the first week of Level 3 lockdown?
9. What is the stage name of Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor?
10. The robot Johnny-Five was the main character in which two 1980s movies?

Answers for 5 May 2020

1. Austria and Switzerland
2. A Song of Ice and Fire
3. The USA - with over 1.2 million
4. A wolf
5. Norway (1st, 9th to NZ and 26th to Australia)
6. The Sopranos
7. 2016 - at twice the size it produces 4x the electricity
8. 5
9. Lorde
10. Short Circuit and Short Circuit 2

Every day of the nation-wide Aotearoa quarantine, I’m posting a quiz as something for people to look forward to. Here’s today’s (Aotearoa Rāhui Day 40). There’s a meta puzzle too, see if you can piece it together from the 3rd to the 22nd of April. All previous quizzes can be found here.

1. Which film did George Lucas direct immediately prior to Star Wars?
2. Who is the Eternal President of North Korea (DPRK)?
3. Which aircraft manufacturer makes the A380 double-decker passenger plane? (remember air travel? good times…)
4. “Maybe she’s born with it” is the advertising slogan of which cosmetics company?
5. How many stars are there on the Australian flag?
6. Which branch of Mathematics did Isaac Newton invent while sheltering in place to avoid the plague?
7. What breed of dog does Queen Elizabeth II keep as pets?
8. How many District Health Boards are there in New Zealand? 14, 17 or 20?
9. Tunisia was used as a setting for Tatooine in many of the Star Wars films. What is the capital of Tunisia?
10. Which New Zealand actor played the roll of Jango Fett in the Star Wars film Attack of the Clones?

Answers for 4 May 2020

1. American Graffiti
2. Kim Il-Sung
3. Airbus
4. Maybelline
5. Six
6. Calculus
7. Corgis
8. 20
9. Tunis
10. Temuera Morrison

Every day of the nation-wide Aotearoa quarantine, I’m posting a quiz as something for people to look forward to. Here’s today’s (Aotearoa Rāhui Day 39). There’s a meta puzzle too, see if you can piece it together from the 3rd to the 22nd of April. All previous quizzes can be found here. Today is Sunday, so there’s a theme: Johnnys and Donnies.

1. Which industrial designer Johnny is credited with creating the iconic look of the iPod ?
2. Which 1991 film starred Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah and Patrick Swayze as Bodhi?
3. The novel Don Quixote was written by who?
4. Mark Wahlberg was the Mark in Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, but what boy band was his brother Donnie Wahlberg a member of?
5. Which Donald played a young Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars spin off movie Solo?
6. The USA has only had one Donald as president, how many Johns has it had? 4, 6 or 8?
7. What don was a giant shark that lived several million years ago and featured in a 2018 straight to TV movie?
8. Which Johnny was the stage name of stuntman and actor Philip John Clapp, the front man of the TV series Jackass?
9. Which Johnny breached Australian quartile rules by smuggling his dogs into the country without permission?
10. What does the J in Donald J Trump stand for?

Answers for 3 May 2020

1. Johnny Ive
2. Point Break
3. Miguel de Cervantes
4. New Kids on the Block
5. Donald Glover
6. 4 - John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John Tyler and John F Kennedy.
7. Megaladon
8. Johnny Knoxville
9. Johnny Depp
10. John

Every day of the nation-wide Aotearoa quarantine, I’m posting a quiz as something for people to look forward to. Here’s today’s (Aotearoa Rāhui Day 38). There’s a meta puzzle too, see if you can piece it together from the 3rd to the 22nd of April. All previous quizzes can be found here.

1. Which Greek letter is a mathematical constant used, among other things, to calculate the properties of circles?
2. On a standard English language keyboard, what key is directly left of the backspace key?
3. How many Catholic popes were there in total in 1978?
4. Which part of Washington State can only be reached by driving for 40 km through Canada?
5. How many floors does the tallest building in Taipei, Taiwan have?
6. In golf, what does one traditionally yell to warn people on the green that they are hitting the ball?
7. Niall, Liam, Harry, Louis and formerly Zayn are or were members of which British boy band?
8. Speaking of British pop groups, which had hits including “When the Lights Go Out?” and “Everybody Get Up”?
9. In the Star Trek series Voyager and Picard, Jeri Ryan plays a character called Seven of what?
10. What is the only even prime number?

Answers for 2 May 2020

1. Pi (π)
2. Equals and plus
3. 3 - Paul VI, John Paul I (d. 28 Sep), John Paul II
4. Point Roberts
5. One Hundred and One
6. Fore!
7. One Direction
8. Five
9. Nine
10. Two

Every day of the nation-wide Aotearoa quarantine, I’m posting a quiz as something for people to look forward to. Here’s today’s (Aotearoa Rāhui Day 37). There’s a meta puzzle too, see if you can piece it together from the 3rd to the 22nd of April. All previous quizzes can be found here.

1. Robert Fitzroy captained HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin’s famous expedition, but he also held which governmental office in New Zealand?
2. John Pemberton invented what popular drink to substitute his addiction to morphine?
3. Covering 55 acres, the Centennial Exhibition buildings were built to celebrate New Zealand’s centennial in which Wellington suburb?
4. Canadian-New Zealander Anna Paquin starred in which vampire-themed TV series?
5. Speaking of Anna Paquin, for what movie did she earn the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award at age 11?
6. What is Sagittarius A*?
7. Which has a bigger population, Oamaru, Timaru or Waiouru?
8. Who are the four horsemen of the apocalypse?
9. Your smartphone uses what type of battery?
10. Is a pallasite an animal, plant or rock?

Answers for 1 May 2020

1. He was the second Governor General of NZ
2. Coca Cola
3. Lyall Bay - it was enormous, look it up!
4. True Blood
5. The Piano
6. The super-massive black hole at the core of the Milky Way galaxy
7. Timaru (28,300, Oamaru 13,150, Waiouru 760)
8. Death, Famine, War, and Conquest
9. Lithium-Ion
10. Rock - it’s a type of meteorite and they’re absolutely beautiful

Every day of the nation-wide Aotearoa quarantine, I’m posting a quiz as something for people to look forward to. Here’s today’s (Aotearoa Rāhui Day 36). There’s a meta puzzle too, see if you can piece it together from the 3rd to the 22nd of April. All previous quizzes can be found here.

1. With a population of ~400,000, what is the smallest member state of the EU?
2. Traditionally, a gift made of what is given on a couple’s 15th wedding anniversary?
3. Which German car company owns Lamborghini?
4. Which day of the year is International Talk Like a Pirate Day?
5. Who is New Zealand’s current Governor General?
6. Once thought to be extinct, and now described as a living fossil, the Coelacanth is a type of what animal?
7. In geology, what forms during an orogeny?
8. In which year did the Wellington Cable Car open? 1902, 1912 or 1922?
9. Diane Lockhart is a character is which two legal drama series?
10. Due to a trademark dispute, the name of Burger King in Australia had to be changed. What do Australians call the fast food we call Burger King?

Answers for 30 April 2020

1. Malta
2. Crystal
3. Volkswagon (as part of Audi)
4. 19th of September
5. Dame Patsy Reddy
6. A fish
7. Mountains
8. 1902
9. The Good Wife and The Good Fight
10. Hungry Jack’s

Every day of the nation-wide Aotearoa quarantine, I’m posting a quiz as something for people to look forward to. Here’s today’s (Aotearoa Rāhui Day 35). There’s a meta puzzle too, see if you can piece it together from the 3rd to the 22nd of April. All previous quizzes can be found here.

1. Dieter Rams is best known for his work in which field of design?
2. What was New Zealand’s first capital?
3. Who played the titular character in the movie Donnie Pneumonic?
4. Americans call it cilantro, what do we call it?
5. In what part of the world does the dried meat biltong originate?
6. What is the capital city of California?
7. Is a scorpion a type of insect, arachnid or crab?
8. Who authored the horror novel The Call of Cthulhu?
9. What major quadrennial international sporting event did Auckland host in 1990?
10. Which cafe did the characters on the TV show Friends frequent?

Answers for 29 April 2020

1. Industrial Design
2. Okiato / Russel
3. Keanu Reeves (yes, I know it’s Johnny Pneumonic, don’t we laugh? Give yourself a bonus point for free.)
4. Coriander
5. South or southern Africa
6. Sacramento
7. Arachnid, like a spider
8. H. P. Lovecraft
9. The Commonwealth Games
10. Central Perk