Eiffel Towers

Can you tell which of these is the real Eiffel Tower? 

 

Boy, I hope so. One is the genuine article in Paris, France. The other is at Kings Island amusement park in Ohio.

Answer: I Am Oscar Wilde

Back of my tombstone at Pere Lachaise Cemeterie in Paris, France.

Okay, so I was flamboyant, eccentric, and more than a little misunderstood. I had enemies, to be sure, but loved many. My life may have been short, but not so short that I am not remembered. As I once said,

Life is too much important a thing ever to talk seriously about it. You may quote me on that.

 

OTHER QUOTES:

Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

 

It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.

 

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

 

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.

 

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.

 

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

 

The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written.

 

Ah! Don't say you agree with me. When people agree with me I always feel that I must be wrong.

 

I can believe anything as long as it is incredible.

 

It is very easy to endure the difficulties of one's enemies. It is the successes of one's friends that are hard to bear.

 

I often take exercise. Why only yesterday I had breakfast in bed.

 

A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.

 

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.

 

Who Am I?

I spent 2 years in prison doing hard labor after suing my lover's father. When I was released, I wrote a long poem about prison life.

My childhood sweetheart married Bram Stoker.

In 1887, I became the editor of The Lady's World magazine.

I am quoted as saying: Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

I converted to Catholicism on my deathbed.

My headstone is covered with lipstick kisses.

Answer: Richard Bach

The Anonymous guesser was right!

I am Richard Bach, best known for authoring Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a story about a seagull who flew for the love of flying rather than merely to catch food. The book, which included many photos of seagulls in flight, contained fewer than 10,000 words. It was a bestseller that broke all hardcover sales recorded since Gone with the Wind.

My other works include Illusions, One, and Out of My Mind. My books present my philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely appearances.

I am a pilot and most of my books involve flying in some way.

Who Am I?

As always, the pictures I post with quizzes are not to be taken too literally.
This is just another hint.



I wrote a script for the unproduced "Star Trek: Phase II" series that was cancelled in favor of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).

I was 63 when I married my third wife in 1999; she was only 29.

I am a descendant of the classic composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

I was a charter pilot, flight instructor, aviation mechanic, and barnstormer.

I was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force from 1956-1962.

One of my most famous books starts: It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea. A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water.  

I am credited with saying, “Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years."

Who Am I?

Can you guess who I'm talking about based on the picture and clues below? (The picture shouldn't be taken too literally. It's just imagery.) I'll post the answer tomorrow.

I was a champion wrestler in high school and college.

I took part in a CIA-sponsored study of the effects of psychoactive drugs, particularly LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, cocaine, AMT, and DMT on people.

My friends and I, the “Merry Pranksters,” took a cross-country trip in a school bus nicknamed “Further.”

I served time in California’s San Mateo County jail.

I delivered the eulogy at promoter Bill Graham’s funeral while the Grateful Dead played.

I wrote a book about an Oregon asylum.

I was diagnosed with diabetes in 1992 and died following liver surgery in 2001.

Answer: Ken Kesey



This straw basket for sale at a Kentucky rest stop looks like a nest to me.

Blogger went down today and I see that the comments from yesterday's post disappeared. But an Anonymous poster guessed correctly. The person I was referring to yesterday was Ken Kesey, best known for authoring One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Kesey was inspired to write the book based on his own experience working with patients under the influence of psychedelic drugs at Veterans Hospital. He felt he could relate to them because he'd participated in CIA-sponsored studies involving use of these drugs, and he felt that many of the patients were misunderstood or misdiagnosed.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was published in 1962. In 1963, it was made into a stage play starring Kirk Douglas. Following that success, it was produced as a movie in 1975. Kesey was not happy with the choice of Jack Nicholson in the lead, but everyone else was. The movie earned five Academy Awards including Best Actor and Best Picture.

We Missed Elephant Appreciation Day!

 

I think I took this picture at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.



We missed Elephant Appreciation Day! It was on September 22nd. But here's an elephant trivia quiz so we can all prepare to honor them this year, if those of us with memories like elephants can remember...

1.       Where would you find a “knuckle” on an elephant?

a.       Foot

b.      Mouth

c.       Ear

d.      Knee

2.       Elephants spend approximately how much time eating each day?

a.       2 hours

b.      16 hours              

c.       8 hours

d.      45 minutes

      
3.       How long is the gestation period for an elephant?

a.       22 months

b.      5 months

c.       9 months

d.      12 months

4.       To the Hindu way of thought, the elephant is found in the form of Ganesha who is the god of what?

a.       Eternal life         

b.      Weather

c.       Love

d.      Luck

5.       Which of these can an elephant do?

a.       Jump

b.      Swim

c.       Fly

d.      Run

Fun facts:

·         Elephant trainers use their feet to steer elephants via the knuckle at the back of the ears.

·         Elephants may eat as much as 300-495 pounds of food per day.

·         September 22nd is Elephant Appreciation Day

Answers:  1c, 2b, 3a, 4d, 5b

Texas Trivia

Mission San Antonio de Valero

Don't ask me how, but somehow I lucked into a job writing trivia questions. Over the course of my trivia stint I wrote questions on all sorts of topics including musical groups, TV shows, celebrities, cooking, NFL and Arena football, NBA teams, math, and more. I was given a topic, a number of questions to write, and a deadline. I did research online and at the library. At the time, I commuted to work, taking the bus a half hour each way every day. I’d read and jot down questions during the commute, then type them up when I got home.

A year passed and I didn’t write any trivia questions. Then suddenly, I got another assignment. This time I was to write 200 questions on Texas history. The San Antonio mission immediately sprang to mind since I’d recently travelled there. So I started re-reading my pamphlets and tour information, then got online and did some more research. Writing 200 questions wasn’t easy, and neither were the questions I wrote. But I enjoyed reliving my trip to San Antonio and some of the things I learned while I was there.

Here are a few sample questions. If you’re a history buff, you’ll know them. If not, good luck guessing!

1.   In the Battle of the Alamo, 189 defenders held the Alamo against 4,000 Mexican troops for how many days?

a.    99

b.    13

c.     3

d.     6

2.     Who established Mission San Antonio de Valero in 1718?

a.      Father  Antonio Oliveras

b.      Father Joseph San Pedro

c.      General Santa Anna

d.      William B. Travis

3.     The San Antonio River was named so by Spanish explorers for what holiday?

a.      Feast Day Of Saint Anthony

b.      All Saints Day

c.      Cinqo de Mayo

d.      Summer Solstice

4.       Texas outlaw Clyde Barrow and his brother were arrested for possession of what stolen items?

a.      Lanterns

b.      Horses

c.      Diamonds

d.      Turkeys

Answers:  1b, 2a, 3a, 4d

Halloween Candy Quiz

Happy Halloween!



Match each candy with its slogan:

Tootsie Pop, Almond Joy/Mounds, Kit Kat, Butterfinger, Skittles, York Peppermint Pattie, Smarties, Reese’s, Hershey’s Nuggets, M & M’s

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

1. Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don’t.
2. Taste the rainbow of flavor.
3. One of life’s little rewards.
4. Get the sensation.
5. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a ______ ______?
6. Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.
7. There’s no wrong way to eat a __________.
8. Give me a break! Give me a break. Break me off a piece of that _____ _____ bar.
9. Break out of the ordinary.
10. Only _________ have the answer.