300 posts oldMy Blogger Dashboard tells me I have written 300 posts. And, verily, I sigh a imperceptible sigh of relief at keeping this blog alive for 18 months. And then I ponder the amount of hours lost in its maintenance and upkeep and consider all the paid freelance work I have either spurned or not pursued as a result. Another sigh.
However, numbers with zeroes and sometimes fives on the end deserve some sort of recognition; a change from the usual humdrum jottings don't they?
So, as a special treat for those who come here for the purpose of filleting the blog for primo quiz factage, I decided to write as many quiz questions as I could before reaching the magic mark of 300. It being an anniversary and all. As you can see below, I didn't quite make it, but I tried my hardest before the inevitable trifecta of mental and physical enemies - boredom, astonishing fatigue and a vague feeling of the crazy - finally took hold and forced me to give up. It's an exercise everyone should try in the future, though, obviously you and they won't because people like retaining a semblance of sanity. At least for the benefit of the viewing public.
BH1411 Introduced c. 1905 by US chemist Ellen H Richards, what is the study of the improvement of human living standards by control of the environment?
2 Evolved in the 1880s, the Harvard classification is a system for classifying what?
3 What term, describing the chromosomes of a cell, was coined in 1924 by Russian geneticist GA Levitsky?
4 Which Asian ruler lives in a gold-domed palace at Nurul Imam, a building larger than the Vatican and containing 1,788 rooms?
5 The architect Santiago Calatrava is suing the city of Bilbao for 3 million Euros because it plans to have Japanese architect Arata Isozaki extend which 10-year-old glass footbridge of his design that has become a distinctive feature of the Spanish city's skyline?
6 The 13th century St Mathias church is located in the old part of which European capital city?
7 Which dance act are named after the Clive Barker film they scored when they were in a band was called Freur?
8 Who wrote the lyrics to 10CC's
I'm Not in Love after his wife complained that he didn't tell her he loved her enough?
9 Which Hindu festival is celebrated at the end of the month of Ashwayuja (usually October/November)?
10 The largest known meteorite - 2.7m across, composed of an iron and nickel alloy and weighing nearly 60 tonnes - was found in Namibia in 1920. What name has it been given?
11 Which 390m wide asteroid is due to pass close to Earth in 2036?
12 The Horton Plains slender loris and the Western-purple faced langur have been declared two of the most endangered species. Which island country is their home?
13 Which elite division of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, a force of about 15,000, has become the first ever time a state's military has been put on America's terrorist list?
14 On which Baltic island was film-maker Ingmar Bergman recently buried?
15 The 19th century Karaite synagogue is located in which former Soviet republic's capital?
16 Which location in Atlantic was the site of a pipe bombing during the 1996 Olympics?
17 First performed in Rome in c.1631, the opera
Il Sant'Alessio (about St Alex, the son of a rich Roman household who may never have existed) was composed by whom?
18 Which film director was murdered by 26-year-old Mohammed Bouyeri?
19 Founded by French journalist Bernard Coutaz (who remains in charge), which independent classical music label began releasing records in 1958?
20 Which legendary Senegalese band, reformed in 2001 after a 16-year break and featuring musical director and guitarist Barthelemy Attisso, have released an album of new songs entitled
Made in Dakar?
21 In London in 1988, who became the first dancer in exile to guest with her home company, the Kirov?
22 Best known for producing the posters for Sarah Bernhardt in the rich curvilinear Art Nouveau style of the 1890s, which Czech artist and designer returned to Prague in 1914 where he painted a series of 20 monumental pictures,
The Slav Epic?
23 Which Italian patriot and revolutionary went to Paris in 1858 to try to assassinate Napoleon III, whom he believed to have betrayed the Italian cause, and killed ten people in his attempt, though the emperor survived and he was executed?
24 Which US trombonist and bandleader formed the Sunshine Orchestra in 1922 and wrote such songs as
Muskrat Ramble?
25 What sort of craftsman was the 16th century Frenchman, Bernard Palissy?
26 Into which aristocratic Athenian family was Pericles born in c.490BC?
27 Born in Lodz, Poland, in 1887, which pianist took US citizenship in 1946 and published his autobiographical
My Young Years in 1973 and
My Many Years in 1980?
28 Which American golfer, who took up the sport as a teenager on his doctor's recommendation to improve a lung condition, won the US Masters in its second year in 1935, helping establish the event worldwide?
29 What cup is contested for in the women's world team bridge championship?
30 How many squares are there on an Othello board?
31 Positioned in the front of the thigh, what is the longest muscle in the human body?
32 Mikhail Bulgakov based his play
A Cabal of Hypocrites on the life of which playwright?
33 Which author and illustrator has won the Caldecott award for children's literature twice: for
Jumanji in 1982 and
The Polar Express in 1986, both books since adapted into major Hollywood films?
34 Which European capital city is on the Daugava river?
35 Also known by the surname Castelli, which 17th century Italian-Swiss architect's buildings in Rome include the churches, San Carlo of the Four Fountains/alle Quattro Fontane and Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, as well as the basilica Sant'Agnese in Agone?
36 Begun in 1386 under the Viscontis and not completed until a century ago, what is the world's largest Gothic cathedral (the only larger cathedral in any style is St Peter's in Rome)?
37 What annual event did John Steinbeck call
"an emotion, a turbulence, an explosion ... one of the most beautiful and violent and satisfying things I have ever experienced"?
38 Chateau d'Oex in the Swiss canton of Vaud is known for what kind of winter alpine festival?
39 Located in Gunung National Park on Borneo, what is said to be the world's largest cave system: comprised of 27 interconnecting caves and 64 miles of passages?
40 Which Spanish violin virtuoso composed the
Andalusian Romance and the
Jota Aragonesa, while Eduoard Lalo wrote a violin concerto especially for him?
41 Rio de Janeiro is located on which bay?
42 What name did Wilhelm Reich give to the primal force or energy in the atmosphere which he claimed to discover in 1939?
43 Which Bertolt Brecht play is based on the 13th century literary work
Hui Lan Ji?
44 The Truong Son Strategic Supply Route was better known by what name?
45 Inhabiting an area that stretched from New York to Ohio, which Native American group were the most numerous in the Iroquois Confederacy and also gave their name to a series of waterfalls?
46 The father of Obatala and Odudua, who is the Yoruba creator god?
47 In American football, who is given the Davey O'Brien Award?
48 Which famous naval battle is named for an island located near the Gulfs of Patra and Corinth?
49 Which Italian sculptor's most famous work is perhaps 1913's
Unique Forms of Continuity in Space: a depiction of a striding figure deformed by speed?
50 Which moon of Jupiter is named after a nymph Zeus loved and transformed into a bear?
51 Once known by the names Hughesovka and Stalino, which city in the eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius River was recently the site of a methane explosion that killed more than 80 miners?
52 In which Bangladeshi delta - the largest mangrove forest in the world - did Cyclone Sidr recently make landfall, killing more than 3,000?
53 What two-word name was given to the dozen or so British intelligence officers killed by the IRA on Bloody Sunday 1920; reprisals leading to the Auxiliaries of the Royal Irish Constabulary opening fire on spectators and players at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park?
54 Which conflict ended on November 21, 1962 after the Chinese People's Liberation Army declared a unilateral ceasefire and withdrew to the pre-war Line of Actual Control and returned all territory they had captured during the war?
55 The United Issarak Front declared which country independent on June 19, 1950?
56 In Paris in 1783, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, achieved what transport first?
57 November 21, 1775 saw the first performance of whose play,
The Duenna, at the Covent Garden Theatre?
58 Broadcast for the first time on November 21, 1941, what US radio programme would later become the longest running daily radio broadcast in history and the most famous live blues radio show?
59 Which Caribbean island nation was hit by the most destructive earthquake in its history on November 21, 2004; the northern half of the island receiving the most damage, especially the town of Portsmouth?
60 Which informal French-based group of financial officials from 19 of the world's richest countries agreed to write off 80 per cent ($100 billion) of Iraq's external debt on November 21, 2004?
61 Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909), the Spanish composer of such works as
Lagrima and
Recuerdos de la Alhambra, is often considered to be the father of the modern playing style of which musical instrument?
62 What papal name was taken by Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, the man who succeeded Pope Pius X in 1914?
63 The subject of a 1980 film, which American Old West lawman, outlaw and assassin was hanged in Cheyenne, Wyoming on the day before his 43rd birthday in November 20, 1903 for a murder he probably did not commit?
64 Nicknamed both "Killer" and "Deacon Jim", which American outlaw of the Wild West was lynched by a mob of enraged citizens over the assassination of former US Marshall Allen Augusts Bobbitt of Ada, Oklahoma on April 19, 1909?
65 Sigfrid Edstrom, one of the key organisers of the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, was elected the first president of which sporting body in the same year (a position he held until 1946)?
66 Known as "Sid", which American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears (in the National Football League) from 1939-50 led his team to four championships during that time, and was instrumental in his side's record-setting win of 73-0 vs. the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL title game?
67 One of the most famous 20th century Finnish composers after Sibelius, which Finn (1921-96) wrote the opera
The Last Temptations that has received over 500 performances worldwide and is considered by many to be his country's most distinguished national opera?
68 Based on Irish mythology, which JM Synge play - first performed at the Abbey Theatre in 1910 - was completed by WB Yeats and Synge's widow Molly Allgood, and centred on the titular ill-fated, beautiful heroine; her lover Naisi, son of Usna and Conchubor, the High King of Ulster?
69 A modern adaptation of Diderot's book
Jacques le fataliste et son maitre (published 1796), the 1945 film
Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne was directed by which movie-maker, whose second feature it was?
70 Considered the most important French playwright of the 18th century, who was the author of such comedies as
Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard (1730),
Le Triomphe de l'Amour (1732) and
Les Fausses Confidences, as well as two important albeit unfinished novels:
La Vie de Marianne and
Le Paysan parvenu?
71 Which Australian composer's pieces include the
Mass of Christ the King (his largest choral work written in 1977), an orchestral song cycle based on Irish Murdoch's
A Year of Birds that was premiered in 1995, the ballet
Sun Into Darkness and the opera
The Happy Prince?
72 Which American musician, born in 1940, has the real name Malcolm John Rebennack Jr.?
73 Born in 1935 with the name Nouhad Haddad, what is the stage name of the Lebanese singer nicknamed variously "Our [Lebanese] Ambassador to the Stars", "The Arabs' Ambassador", "Neighbour to the Moon" and "The Poet of the Voice"?
74 A type of epithet referring to the bearer's first born son or daughter, what honorific is widely used in place of given names through the Arabic world; where, for example,
Abu (father) or
umm (mother) precedes the son's name in a genitive construction (the
idafa)?
75 Known for such songs as
Enta Omri/You Are My Life, the recorded version of which lasts 60 minutes, which Egyptian singer, songwriter and actress born Fatima Ibrahim al-Baltagi in 1904 (died 1975) is known as the "Star of the East" and more than three decades after her death is still recognised as the Arab world's most famous and distinguished singer of the last century?
76 The location of the oldest and most known cultural event or international festival in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, which town in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, altitude 3850 feet/1170m, sited east of the Litani river is famous for its exquisitely detailed but monumentally scaled temple ruins of the Roman period when, then known as Heliopolis, it was one of the largest sanctuaries in the Empire?
77 Olympic gold winner in the individual sabre at the 1972 Munich games as well as winner in the team sabre in 1968, '72, '76 and 1980, which hugely successful left-handed sabreur of the Soviet era and pupil of Mark Rakita and David Tyshler was famed for his aggressive style and was one of the best known exponents of the "Russian preparation" or the "one-and-a-half tempo attack"?
78 What is the English translation of the name of Icelandic record label
Smekkleysa, one of the country's most important labels and former home of The Sugarcubes?
79 A genre of electronica derived from dance records of the 1980s and early 1990s, what do the initials in the name
IDM stand for?
80 Capital of the namesake "Province", which city in Tuscany situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plain near but not on the Tyrrhenian Sea is known for such sites as the Duomo di San Martino (St Martin's Cathedral), the Casa di Puccini, the Palazzo Pfanner, and is perhaps most famous for its intact Renaissance-era city walls, although the city has expanded beyond their boundaries?
81 In US history, what two-word name refers to the unprecedented wealth polarisation and wasteful displays of riches and excessive opulence displayed by America's upper-class post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction era (1870s-90s)?
82 Who produced his first surreal painting,
The Lost Jockey/Le Jockey Perdu, in 1926?
83 Which 6th century monk at the monastery on Mount Sinai composed
The Ladder of Divine Ascent/Ladder of Paradise/Scala Climax Paradisi, an important work for monasticism in Eastern Christianity, at the request of John, Abbot of Raithu?
84 Which Byzantine historian of the late 11th century's major work is the
Synopsis of Histories, covering the reigns of the Byzantine emperors from the death of Nicephorus I in 811 to deposition of Michael IV in 1057, thus continuing the chronicles of Theophanes Confessor?
85 Largely composed of the mineral talc and rich in magnesium, by what other name do we know "steatite" which is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism at the areas where tectonic plates are subducted and has been used in India for centuries as a soft medium for carving and by welders and fabricators as a marker because it remains visible when heat is applied due to its resistance to heat?
86 Issued by emperors Constantine I and Licinius in 313, which letter proclaimed religious toleration throughout the Roman Empire?
87 Probably made in Constantinople for the 10th anniversary in 388 of Emperor Theodosius I's reign and now preserved in Madrid's Real Academia de Historia, what sort of object is the 29 inch in diameter object, the
Missorium of Theodosius I?
88 Succeeding Justin I, who became the Eastern Roman Emperor on August 9, 527? And who was his consort?
89 Begun by Bishop Ecclesio in 527 under the rule of the Ostrogoths and completed by the city's 27th Bishop, Maximian, which church is the most famous monument of Ravenna and one of the most important examples of Byzantine Art and architecture in western Europe?
90 A UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997, the Euphrasian Basilica is a minor basilica in which Croatian city known in Italian as Parenzo?
91 Preserved at the Louvre, which Byzantine imperial diptych dating from Late Antiquity (first half 6th century) is a layer of ivory made up of four plates carved in the classical late Theodosian style representing the topic of the emperor victor and is a notable historical document because it is linked to queen Brunhilda of Austrasia which makes clear the relationships of Brunhilda with the Byzantine emperor in order to ransom her grandson Athanagild and has a list of names of Frankish kings (all relatives of the queen) on its back?
92 Rebuilt after a fire in the mid-7th century, the church of Hagios Demetrios is found in which city that has St Demetrius for its patron saint?
93 What Greek name, literally "not-handmade", refers to a particular kind of icon alleged to have come into existence miraculously and not by a human painter?
94 Known to Orthodox Christians as the
Mandylion (a Byzantine Greek word not applied in any other context), which holy icon consisting of a square or rectangle of cloth according to Christian legend had the miraculous image of Jesus's face imprinted on it, making it the first icon? It is named after an ancient city now known as Urfa (in south-eastern Turkey) and disappeared during the French Revolution.
95 Since transformed into a museum, which former Eastern Orthodox Church located in the outer courtyard of Istanbul's Topkapi Palace ranks as the first church built in Constantinople and was rebuilt in the 760s following its destruction by earthquake in the 740s?
96 Acquired in 1870 and the first piece to enter the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection,
California is an allegorical sculpture by which artist?
97 Known for their carving 15-foot high memorial wooden poles, the Asmat people are an ethnic group of which island?
98 Named for a Dutch explorer who passed through the area on his 1909-10 expedition, which World Heritage Site in the Indonesian province of Papua is the largest national park in south-east Asia?
99 Renowned for his work in patterns and offset lithography, which US painter and printmaker (b.1936) produced the
Black Paintings series (1958-60), pieces characterised by regular bands of black paint separated by very thin pinstripes of unpainted canvas and including
Die Fahne Hoch! (1959) which takes its name from the first line of the
Horst-Wessel-Lied, as well as the
Irregular Polygon series (1965-7) and the
Protractor Series (1967-71)?
100 The Kiev-born Chudnovsky brothers - first names David and Gregory - are renowned academics in which field?
101 Spirometry is the most common of the PFTs or tests for measuring the function of what?
102 What sort of pulmonary disease is COPD? And what sort of disease is COAD?
103 What Greek-derived medical term describes the abnormal proliferation of cells in a tissue or organ?
104 Published in New York City 1942-44,
VVV was a journal devoted to disseminating which cultural movement?
105 Which German artist produced the 1921 painting
The Elephant Celebes?
106 Known in its native language as
Tenshi no Tamago, which 1985 Japanese anime Tokuma Shoten film production was a practically dialogue-less collaboration between artist Yoshitaka Amano and director Mamoru Oshii that followed the daily life of an unnamed young girl in a surreal world of darkness and shadows?
107 Martinique's airport at Le Lamentin was renamed in honour of which French poet, author, politician and former mayor of Fort de France on January 15, 2007, also known for writing
Discours sur le colonialisme/Discourse on Colonialism (1953) and a radical adaptation of
The Tempest for black audiences titled
Une Tempete (1968)?
108 One of Chile's best known painters, which artist (1911-2002), whose paintings include
Psychological Morphology (1938) and
Invasion of the Night (1941), is especially associated with the term "inscape", applied to artworks usually conveying some notion of representing the artist's psyche as a kind of interior landscape?
109 At which November 20, 1700 battle, named after the 3rd largest city of Estonia, did Charles XII of Sweden defeat Tsar Peter the Great?
110 In November 1789, what became the first US state to ratify the Bill of Rights?
111 The story of
Moby Dick was partly inspired by an 80-ton sperm whale ramming which whaling ship from Nantucket in 1820?
112 Named after the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSC), which series of Stalinist and anti-Semitic show trials began on November 20, 1952?
113 What 16-bit graphical operating environment, its producer's first attempt to implement a multi-tasking graphical user interfaced-based operating environment on the PC platform, was released on November 20, 1985?
114 A priest with conservative leanings imprisoned for his beliefs, which French entomologist (1762-1833), whose works describing insects assigning many of the insect taxa, published
Precis des caracteres generiques des insectes, disposes dans un ordre naturel in 1796?
115 A protopope (1620/21 to 1682) of Kazan Cathedral on Red Square who led opposition to Patriarch Nikon's reforms of the Russian Orthodox Church, which Russian priest and writer's autobiography and letters to the tsar, Boyarnya Morozova and other Old Believers are considered masterpieces of 17th century Russian literature?
116 The author of such highly symbolist poems as
Song After Harvest and translated English works like
Arcadia Borealis and
The North! To the North!, which Swedish poet won the Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously in 1931 having refused it in 1918?
117 Eventually completed in 1967 when it included two parts named
Krutoi marshrut I/Harsh Route and
Krutoi marshrut II/Steep Route,
Journey into the Whirlwind is the magnum opus memoir of which dissident Russian female historian and writer?
118 If "corps de ballet" is the lowest of the seven female ballet dancer ranks, what three-word term described the highest?
119 In modern day England, which ballerina was the only performer to attain such a rank, a status she still holds even in death?
120 Which French film director's works include
Le Corbeau (1943),
Quai des orfevres (1947),
Manon (1949) and
Le Mystere Picasso (1956)?
121 Which Japanese director, whose first film the 1946 puppet play
A Girl at Dojo Temple/Musume Dojoji was confiscated by the US Occupation authorities under the pretence it was too traditional, first gained Western recognition with such bleak anti-war films as
The Burmese Harp and
Fire on the Plains?
122 In which capital city did a failed ghetto uprising organised by the Fareinigte Partizaner Organizacje (United Partisan Organisation) - the first Jewish partisan unit in Nazi-occupied Europe - take place on September 1, 1943?
123 Which city of c.20,000 people, known in Turkish as Akcahisar, is famed as the hometown of Albania's national hero Skanderberg, from where the Ottomans were successfully resisted for nearly 35 years (1443-1478)?
124 Which indigenous group of Panama and Columbia, whose name in their native language is
Dule or
Tule meaning "people", are often mistakenly identified as being related to the extinct Cundara people and live in three politically autonomous comarcas or reservations in Panama and a few small villages in Colombia?
125 Winner of 33 singles titles, which Granada-born Spanish tennis player defeated the top-seeded Jimmy Connors in the finals of the US Open to win his only Grand Slam title in 1975?
126 Which Czech tennis player's greatest success happened on the clay courts of the French Open where he won the first of three Grand Slam titles in 1970 when he beat the Croatian-born Zeljko Franulovic in straight sets (retaining the title against Nastase the next year)?
127 Which left-handed Argentine clay court specialist won four Grand Slam events: the French Open and US Open in 1977 and the 1978 and 1979 Australian Open titles?
128 Meaning "interpretation" in Arabic, what term describes a Qur'anic exegesis or commentary? One who writes them is called a mufassir.
129 The first period of the Mesozoic Era, which geological period extending c.251 to 199 million years ago was named in 1834 by Friedrich Von Alberti from the three distinct layers - red beds, capped by chalk, followed by black shales - that are found throughout Germany and NW Europe?
130 The Egyptians, FD Amr Bey (during the 1930s) and Mahmoud Karim (in the 1940s), were stars of which sport?
131 Which sport derives its name from a Hindi word meaning "holding of breath"?
132 Given the acronym NAM, which international organisation of states (representing nearly 2/3 of the UN and 55 per cent of the world population) stated in the
Havana Declaration of 1979 that its purpose was to
"struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, Zionism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics"?
133 What thermoplastic material is a table tennis ball made of? And according to international rules, what must it weigh?
134 Which Austrian table tennis player was the last non-Chinese world men's singles champion in 2003?
135 Which Hungarian player became the first men's world table tennis champion in 1926?
136 Which memorably-named Danish writer's 1902 novel
Mikael was made into the film
The Wings/Vingarne by director Mauritz Stiller and adapted for the screen again eight years later by Carl Theodor Dreyer in his 1924 movie
Michael, now considered a landmark in gay silent cinema?
137 According to the writings of Roman Aulus Gellius, in c.400BC which Greek Pythagorean - arguably the founder of mechanical mathematics - carried out the first experiments in rocketry when he propelled a wooden bird along wires using steam?
138 In 1903, which Russian high school maths teacher published
The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices, the first serious scientific work on space travel?
139 Named after a key besieged Moroccan city located next to the Atlantic, which conflict is sometimes called the Forgotten War/la Guerra Olvidada in Spain and saw a series of armed incursions into Spanish West Africa by Moroccan insurgents and indigenous Sahwari rebels begin in October 1957 and end in June 1958?
140 Born on the island of Chios, which 82-year-old Greek composer is known internationally for scoring such films as
Zorba the Greek,
Z and
Serpico?
141 Which 11th century monastery and UNESCO World Heritage Site is located on Chios?
142 Known in Japan as
Justice Gakuen/Justice Academy, which Capcom video game series sees students and teachers fighting each other in the name of justice gave its name to a post-hardcore US band?
143 Marmaduke "Moose" Mason, a student at Riverdale High School, is a character from which comics series?
144 Which science-fiction rock opera by The Who, intended as the follow-up to
Tommy, was recorded in 1970 yet abandoned in favour of the traditional rock album
Who's Next?
145 Which Hollywood-based record label was co-founded by singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1942?
146 Striker Mario Gomez plays for which international football side?
147 The theologian Abdallah ibn Yasin (d.1059) formed which Berber dynasty alliance from the tribes of the Lamtuna, the Masufa and the Judala, with himself as spiritual leader and Yahya ibn Umar as military commander?
148 Sometimes cited as the Asian band most likely to crossover to North America, which Filipino alternative rock act - fronted by singer and keyboardist Armi Millare - produced the 2006 album
Fragmented and soundtracked the recent film
Ang Pamana/The Inheritance?
149 Manufactured by the Mott's Company, which trademark denotes a truly disgusting drink made mostly of reconstituted tomato juice concentrate and reconstituted dried clam broth and finished off with a dash of high fructose corn syrup?
150 "Melodeath" is a three-word contraction of which music genre's name?
151 Typically composed of 70-75% silicon dioxide and 12-15% aluminium oxide, which naturally occurring mineral is an amorphous volcanic glass with a relatively high water content typically formed by hydration of obsidian, and has the unusual property of greatly expanding when heated sufficiently?
152 Derived from the Greek for "to boil" and "stone", the term for which minerals with a micro-porous structure was originally coined in the 18th century by Swedish mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who observed, upon rapidly heating a natural mineral, that the stones began to dance about as the water evaporated?
153 The name for which field of scientific study was first used by Jean-Andre Deluc in 1778 and introduced as a fixed term by Horace-Benedict de Saussure the following year?
154 Supposed by some to have received his surname from a town in Cilicia, Asia Minor and by others from a Roman family, which biographer of the Greek philosophers is best remembered for his work
Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, written in Greek, perhaps during the first half of the 3rd century AD?
155 What was the surname of the French entrepreneur brothers, Rene, Aime and Marius, who set up the first bicycle manufacturing company in 1864?
156 Known in Italy as
alici when they are fresh, the
Engraulis encrasicolus is the European and commercial variety of which fish?
157 An amino acid phycotoxin associated with certain algal blooms, domoic acid ingestion causes ASP. What does ASP stand for?
158 Which name comes from the Gaelic for "little king"?
159 Nicknamed "The Red Army", which rugby union team plays at Thomond Park and Musgrave Park?
160 Which Galician football side plays at the Estadio Municipal de Riazor?
161 The Jaffna Peninsula is an area in the north of which country?
162 Which rock band made their album debut with 1980's
On Through The Night?
163 Developed to explain sedimentary glacial deposits at tropical latitudes during the Cryogenian period (850-630 million years ago) and other enigmatic features of the Cryogenian geological record, which controversial hypothesis proposes that the Earth was entirely covered by ice in part of the said period of the Proterozoic eon, and perhaps at other times in our planet's history?
164 Which prominent architect of the 1840s, sometimes described as the first native born American to become a professional architect, designed the Washington Monument, although it was not completed until 1884, almost 30 years after his death?
165 The 555-feet high Washington Monument took the title of the world's tallest structure from which German building?
166 Founded in the early 1980s by Jerry Miner as Hi-Toro, which computer company is most famous for developing a namesake computer that was code-named
Lorraine?
167 Given the Maori name
Heretaunga, which region of New Zealand on the east coast of North Island is home to the cities of Napier and Hastings and is recognised worldwide for its award-winning wines?
168 On April 15, 1997, whose no. 42 jersey was retired by Major League Baseball meaning that no future player on any major league team could wear it?
169 Which mixed synod was called by Pope Urban II in November 1095 to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land?
170 Which French naturalist (1727-73), best known for accompanying Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his 1766-69 voyage of circumnavigation, gave his name to a particular kind of dolphin, whose other common names include the Skunk Dolphin and Piebald Dolphin, that he observed in the Strait of Magellan?
171 Acknowledged by Stravinsky as the model for his
Capriccio for piano and orchestra, which German Romantic composer (1786-1826) produced such works as the opera
Euryanthe, the
Konzertstuck (Concert Piece) in F minor, the unfinished comic opera
Die drei Pintos and one of the earliest song cycles,
Die Temperamente beim Verluste der Geliebten?
172 Which 19th century composer's lost works include
Estelle et Nemorin and
Le Passage de la mer Rouge/The Crossing of the Red Sea?
173 Who composed the popular 1943 orchestral work,
Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Weber?
174 The term "cladoptosis" refers to what phenomenon in botany?
175 Belonging to the order
Siluriformes,
Driftwood,
Mekong giant (the heaviest), the
wels (the longest) and the
Striped Raphael (capable of producing sounds) are types of which fish?
176 Worn by Spanish women almost a century ago and the current national costume of Panama (woman use two during their entire lifetime: one before aged 16 and one at adulthood), what item of clothing is a
Pollera?
177 Which 131-mile long, 20-mile wide range in the south-eastern section of the Appalachian Mountains has its highest point at Black Mountain (1263 metres above sea level) near Lynch in Harlan County, Kentucky?
178 One of the five local and principal Protestant churches or
Hauptkirchen, the base of the spire of St Katharinen or St Catherine's church dates from 13th century and is the oldest building preserved in which German city?
179 The Dark-mantled and the Light-mantled are two species of which small albatross belonging to the genus
Phoebetria?
180 Spitamen, Kulob, Matchin, Asht, Norak, Jomi, Sarband, Panj, Rushon, Moskva and Vanj are some of the 59 districts of which country?
181 On his death in 434, which ruler of the Hunnic Empire left his nephews, Attila and Bleda (sons of his brother Mundzuk), in control over all the united Hun tribes?
182 Who succeeded Attila on the latter's death in 453, though his reign lasted only two years?
183 The Burswood Dome, aka the Burswood Entertainment Complex, is located near which Australian city?
184 Harness racing can be conducted in which two differing gaits?
185 Possibly dating from the 11th centuryy and partly the work of Arab scientist and mathematician al-Zarqali (aka Arzachel), the Tables of Toledo was a compilation of what sort of data of then unprecedented accuracy?
186 In electronics, telecommunications and computer networks, what term is used to refer to a process where more than one analogue message signal or digital data stream are combined into one signal; the aim being to share an expensive resource?
187 The capital and seat of government until 1955 when it was transported to Thimphu, which city of Bhutan was ravaged by fire in 1827; an event that resulted in much of the country's historical records being destroyed?
188 Named for the mammal that is the main constituent of its diet, which bird of prey native to sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia and New Guinea has the scientific name
Macheiramphus alcinus?
189 Featuring an RAF war dog named Laddie, what was the 1945 sequel to the original Lassie film,
Lassie Come Home?
190 A ten-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, which Chinese-born poker player won the WSOP championship event in 1987 and 1988 and is nicknamed the "Orient Express"?
191 What is the largest stadium in the world with every seat under cover?
192 Survarnabhumi Airport and Don Mueang Airport are international airports serving which capital city?
193 Born Huben Hubenov in 1973 in Postnik, Bulgaria, which 4 feet, 11 inch-tall Turkish sportsman is one of only four weightlifters to win three consecutive gold medals at the Olympics (1996 54 kg, 2000 56 kg, 2004 56 kg) and also won five world championships, nine European championships and broke more than 20 world records at 52 kg, 54 kg and 56 kg combined?
194 J Michael Straczynski was the creator, executive producer and head writer (penning 91 of the 110 episodes) for which TV series, and also created its spin-off
Crusade?
195 Which AC Sparta Praha striker top scored at the 1934 World Cup with five goals for the Czechoslovakia team?
196 Also the heaviest of the halogens, what is the rarest naturally-occurring element?
197 Lt. Horatio Caine is the lead character in which US TV series?
198 First seen in the August 1997 issue of
Akamaru Jump, which manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto centres on a loud, hyperactive, unpredictable titular adolescent ninja (whose surname is Uzumaki) who constantly searches for recognition and seeks to become Hokage, acknowledged as the leader and strongest of all ninja in his village?
199 Which squash fruit is used in the Middle East in such sweet delicacies as
halawa yaqtin, and in south Asia where it is cooked with butter, sugar and spices in the dish
kadu ka halwa?
200 The site of the final battle between Bulgarian rebels led by Hadji Dimitar and Stefan Karadzha and the Turks in 1868, which historical peak in the Central Stara Planina, Bulgaria, stands 1441 metres high?
201 Also known under such pseudonyms as Walery Tomicki, Jozef Maskoff and Omega, what is the most familiar name of the Polish writer, Krakow drama school founder and stage actress (1857-1921) who wrote over 30 plays, of which the tragic-farce
Moralnosc pani Dulskiej/The Morality of Mrs Dulska is her best known work and is regarded as a landmark of early modernist Polish drama?
202 The Forest tube-nosed bat is only found in which country?
203 Now held by David Laws, what was Paddy Ashdown's old seat when he was an MP?
204 An important figure in the development of the modern woodcut, which Swiss painter, graphic artist and sometime author (1865-1925) produced such early conventional works as 1885's
Portrait of Monsieur Ursenbach before progressing on to the series of ten graphic art interiors dealing with tension between men and women,
Intimites/Intimacies, published in
Revue Blanche in 1898, and completing his last woodcut series,
This is War, in 1915?
205 Known in Pashto as
Abasin ("Father of Rivers") and in Tibetan as
Sengge Chu ("Lion River"), which 2000-mile long river originates in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar, its source being the confluence of the Sengge and Gar rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri and Gangdise Shan mountain ranges?
206 Its name referring to a small bite presented before a large meal, what term describes a bridge treatment that refers to a system of bidding where the second suit bid is always longer, or at least as long, as the first?
207 Which country gained independence from France on November 22, 1943, a date commemorated every year as Independence Day?
208 The traditional Ukrainian musical instrument, the Kobza, belongs to which family?
209 Born in Rouen in 1643, which French explorer claimed the entire Mississippi basin for his country and was slain by mutineer Pierre Duhaut during another search for the aforementioned river in 1687?
210 Which English writer's lesser known works include the 1859 novella
The Lifted Veil and
Impressions of Theophrastus (1879), as well as such poems as
The Spanish Gypsy (1868),
Stradivarius (1873,
A College Breakfast Party (1879) and
The Death of Moses (1879)?
211 Which man, said to have died at the age of 152 in 1653 after seeing ten monarchs on the throne, is buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey?
212
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Answers to BH1411 Euthenics 2 Stars based on their spectral type 3 Karyotype 4 Sultan of Brunei 5 Campo Volantin 6 Budapest (Buda being the old bit) 7 Underworld 8 Eric Stewart 9 Diwali (the festival of lights) 10 The Hoba 11 Apophis 12 Sri Lanka 13 Quds 14 Faro 15 Kiev 16 Centennial Park 17 Stefano Landi 18 Theo van Gogh 19 Harmonia Mundi 20 Orchestra Baobab 21 Natalia Makarova 22 Alphonse Mucha 23 Felice Orsini 24 Kid Ory 25 Potter 26 Alcmaeonid 27 Artur Rubinstein 28 Gene Sarazen 29 Venice Trophy 30 64 31 Sartorius 32 Moliere 33 Chris van Allsburg 34 Riga 35 Francesco Borromini 36 Il Duomo 37 Kentucky Derby 38 Hot air ballooning 39 The Sarawak Chamber 40 Pablo de Sarasate 41 Guanabara Bay 42 Orgone 43 The Good Woman of Setzuan 44 Ho Chi Minh Trail 45 Seneca 46 Olurun 47 Best college quarterback 48 Lepanto 49 Umberto Boccioni 50 Callisto 51 Donetsk 52 Sundarbans 53 Cairo Gang 54 Sino-Indian War 55 Cambodia (led by Son Ngoc Minh) 56 First untethered hot air balloon flight (in a Montgolfier brother constructed balloon) 57 RB Sheridan 58 King Biscuit Time 59 Dominica 60 Paris Club 61 Classical guitar 62 Benedict XV 63 Tom Horn 64 Jim Miller 65 International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) 66 Sidney Luckman 67 Joonas Kokkonen 68 Deirdre of the Sorrows 69 Robert Bresson 70 Pierre de Marivuax 71 Malcolm Williamson 72 Dr. John 73 Fairuz 74 Kunya 75 Umm Kulthum 76 Baalbeck 77 Viktor Sidyak 78 Bad Taste 79 Intelligent Dance Music 80 Lucca 81 Gilded Age 82 Rene Magritte 83 John Climacus or John of the Ladder 84 John Skylitzes 85 Soapstone or soaprock 86 Edict of Milan 87 Ceremonial silver dish 88 Justinian I or Justinian the Great, Theodora 89 Basilica of San Vitale 90 Porec 91 Barberini ivory 92 Thessaloniki 93 Acheiropoieta 94 Image of Edessa 95 Hagia Eirene 96 Hiram Powers 97 New Guinea 98 Lorentz National Park 99 Frank Stella 100 Maths (but they've also built super computers) 101 Lungs (Pulmonary Function Tests) 102 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic obstructive airway disease 103 Neoplasia ("new growth") 104 Surrealism 105 Max Ernst 106 Angel's Egg 107 Aime Cesaire 108 Roberto Matta 109 Narva 110 New Jersey 111 Essex 112 Slansky trials 113 Microsoft Windows 1.0 114 Pierre Andre Latreille 115 Avvakum or Avvankum Petrov 116 Erik Axel Karlfeldt 117 Yevgenia Ginzburg 118 Prima ballerina assoluta 119 Margot Fonteyn 120 Henri-Georges Clouzot 121 Kon Ichikawa 122 Vilnius 123 Kruje 124 Kuna people 125 Manuel Orantes 126 Jan Kodes 127 Guillermo Vilas 128 Tafsir 129 Triassic 130 Squash 131 Kabaddi 132 Non-Aligned Movement 133 Celluloid, 2.7 grams 134 Werner Schlager 135 Roland Jacobi 136 Herman Bang 137 Archytas 138 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky 139 Ifni War 140 Mikis Theodorakis 141 Nea Moni 142 Rival Schools 143 Archie 144 Lifehouse 145 Capitol Records 146 Germany 147 Almoravid 148 Up Dharma Down 149 Clamato 150 Melodic death metal 151 Perlite 152 Zeolites 153 Geology 154 Diogenes Laertius 155 Olivier 156 Anchovy 157 Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning 158 Ryan 159 Munster 160 Deportivo de La Coruna 161 Sri Lanka 162 Def Leppard 163 The Snowball Earth hypothesis 164 Robert Mills 165 Cologne Cathedral 166 Amiga 167 Hawke's Bay 168 Jackie Robinson 169 Council of Clermont 170 Philbert Commercon (Commerson's Dolphin) 171 Carl Maria von Weber 172 Berlioz 173 Paul Hindemith 174 Shedding of branches 175 Catfish 176 Big skirt 177 Cumberland Mountains 178 Hamburg 179 Sooty albatross 180 Tajikistan 181 Rugila 182 Ellac 183 Perth 184 Trotting and pacing 185 Astronomical data 186 Multiplexing or muxing 187 Punakha 188 Bat Hawk 189 Son of Lassie 190 Johnny Chan 191 Wembley Stadium 192 Bangkok 193 Halil Mutlu (which means "happy" in Turkish) 194 Babylon 5 195 Oldrich Nejedly 196 Astatine 197 CSI: Miami 198 Naruto 199 Pumpkin 200 Budzludzha 201 Gabriela Zapolska 202 Japan 203 Yeovil 204 Felix Vallotton 205 Indus 206 Canape 207 Lebanon 208 Kobza 209 Robert Cavalier de La Salle 210 George Eliot 211 Thomas Parr
