Wednesday, March 9, 2011

A SherWords Quiz

This quiz has nothing to do with cats or anything else useful.

My students had to take a midterm exam today, so why should I give SherWords readers the day off?

This 10-question quiz is closed-book: no reference materials of any kind are allowed. Each question is followed by a link to its answer and, where I feel like it, some explanation thereof. Use these links only after you have answered the question. Ceiling Cat will know if you peeked, and what happens after that might not be pretty.

Ready? Okay, then, here we go!

======================================

1. Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a ton of lead? (Click here for the answer.)

2. What was U.S. President Truman's middle name? (Answer)

3. What was U.S. President Ford's first name? (Answer)

4. Where in the 48 contiguous states of the USA is it possible to drive southward on a paved road across the border into Canada? (Answer)

5. Which major object in our solar system requires the fastest launch of a spacecraft from Earth to reach on a direct trajectory? (Answer)

6. In a regulation, 9-inning baseball game (not one shortened by rain or other exigency), what is the smallest possible total number of plate appearances for one team's batters? (Answer)

7. If the presidents of San Jose State University, Stanford University, and the University of California at Berkeley stand in the middle of the football stadiums on their campuses, which of them is the farthest west? (Answer)

8. How many accelerators are there in a car? (Answer)

9. What large body of water does the Sun rise over as seen from the Panama Canal? (Answer)

10. If you push straight backward on the lower pedal of a tricycle's front wheel, which direction does the trike move (assuming good lubrication and that the wheel is prevented from turning left or right)? (Answer)

================================

In case you are thinking of disagreeing with any of the answers, keep in mind who gives the grades around here.

How'd you do?

15 comments:

Mike said...

Not very well. But I won't feel this stupid again for the rest of the day, so it's a good way to get things started.

Anonymous said...

I got eight right, but a couple of them were dumb guesses.

Nostalgic for the Pleistocene said...

The more scientific it got, the dumber i got!
But it was fun. Number 4 just ... just ... i need some caffeine now.

Anonymous said...

#3 *is* a trick question, because the answer doesn't apply to the full name he used when he was president. You should have qualified the name you were asking for (e.g. "birth name").

Sherwood Harrington said...

Oh, now, anonymous, of *course* it was a trick question! The whole point of the first two questions was to set you up for it. I'll pay for it in the afterlife, though, I'm sure.

Sherwood Harrington said...

Hi, Meg! I'm going to blame this quiz on you, right here in public. It got its start in comments on a Facebook post of yours -- question 8, specifically, as I'm sure you noticed.

Anonymous said...

I did wonder!

And I loved the "no trick questions" followed by trick questions. I believe I cackled out loud as I guessed "Leslie" and observed the absence of "birth name."

Xtreme English said...

i got the first three right, and I have to complain a bit about #4....you have to go over the bridge or under the lake/bay/river/whatevertheheyitis to get from detroit to canada. you can just drive there on land. can you?

hard test!! how did your students do??

Sherwood Harrington said...

It's a tunnel, I think, M.E. Never been to Detroit myself. And I would never, ever let my students take a test like this. The classroom lawyers would be all over me like my good cousin over on Facebook -- but they'd keep at it until next June.

ronnie said...

I was doing great until I got to the baseball question. I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no baseballs, Miz Scarlett.

Sherwood Harrington said...

False, ms. cat. One of my favourite baseballs in all the world is one I got from you.

Nostalgic for the Pleistocene said...

Ceiling Cat will vouch for my honesty in taking this quiz.

Sherwood Harrington said...

Love it, Ruth!

Xtreme English said...

Sherwood, you've NEVER BEEN TO DETROIT?! My goodness.

ronnie said...

Ah, Sherwood, I forgot!

I guess I know a little bit about *beisball*, after all. :)