January 25, 2007 - Rules of the Road Trivia

Tonight, we're talking about driving on the left or right side of the road. About 34% of the world (like the U.K. or Austrilia) drives on the left, and 66% (like the U.S. and Canada) keeps right.



TRIVIA QUESTION:

Is there any part of the United States where traffic always drives on the left? Yes or No.


TRIVIA ANSWER:

Yes! The only U.S. territory where driving is on the left is the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The U.S. Virgin Islands are particularly known for having a high accident rate caused by American tourists from the mainland who are unfamiliar with driving on the left in their rental cars - the confusion from which is obviously compounded by using a Left Hand Drive vehicle (since most are imported from the U.S.).

The United States Virgin Islands are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.



The U.S. Virgin Islands consist of the four main islands of St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, and Water Island, and many smaller islands. It is the only part of the United States where traffic drives on the left. The total land area of the territory is 346.36 km² (133.73 sq mi). As of the 2000 census the population was 108,612.


>>>>>>>>>>>> NET CHECK IN's <<<<<<<<<<<<

Well, all you smarty-pants out there got this one right! The ones that didn't, just said NO to be different. Oh well... I just let you off easy tonight. Wait 'till next week when the Trivia Question will be a hard one!

Here's the list of check-in's for tonight and their answers.

* WB6A - Pat - Yes
* WB6ATV - Ron - Yes
* KE6CZH - Robert - Yes
* W6DTS - Ted - Yes
* K6FCC - Khalil - Yes
* KF6GKR - Terry - Yes
* N6HY - Ernie
* KB6IS - Madeline - Yes
* KD6JEV - John - Yes
* KG6KTC - Leon - Yes
* NY6L - Jay - NO
* K6LMN - Roger - Yes
* W6NVY - Gary - Yes
* KG6NWJ - Barry - Yes
* KD6OBM - Jason - Yes
* KF6PIH - Scott - NO
* K6QVZ - Joe - Yes
* KG6RDA - Sidney - Yes
* AD6UP - Louie - Yes
* WA6USL - Murray - Yes
* KF6YBM - Henry - Yes
* KF6ZQM - Harry - Yes
* N6ZZK - Theo - Yes
* N6NGU - Lee - Yes
* KD6VAE - Bill - Yes


Yeah, Yeah, so just about everyone got this one right. Just wait 'till next week!

73,

de N6CIZ

January 18, 2007 - Old Computer Trivia

On January 19, 1983, Apple Computer announced the first commercial personal computer to have a Graphical User Interface and a mouse. It had a 12 inch black and white video monitor, 1 MB of RAM, a 5 MB hard drive and ran at 5 MHz. It sold for $9995.

The Apple Lisa turned out to be a commercial failure due to its high price and the release of the Apple Macintosh in 1984. The Lisa was discontinued in 1986.

TRIVIA QUESTION:

What did Apple do in 1989 with 2700 unsold Lisa computers?


TRIVIA ANSWER:

Buried them in a landfill in Logan, Utah and got a tax write-off on the land they rented for it.


Thanks to all who checked in to tonight's net (shown below with their answers) and a Gold Star to Ted, W6DTS and Louie, AD6UP for getting the correct answer!

- - = = - - NET CHECK IN's - - = = - -

* WB6A - Pat - Gave them to North Korea
* AC6AJ - Lee - Baked them in a pie - an Apple Pie!
* WB6ATV - Ron - Trashed them in a dumpster
* KE6CZH - Robert - Donated them to schools
* KG6DBL - Bill - Trashed them
* W6DTS - Ted - Buried them in a landfill
* K6FCC - Khalil - Took them apart to build Macs
* N6HY - Ernie - Scrapped them
* KB6IS - Madeline - Gave them to libraries
* KD6JEV - John - Gave them to schools
* KG6KTC - Leon - Gave them to schools
* NY6L - Jay - Gave them to schools
* K6LMN - Roger - Gave them to schools
* KD6NIW - Oliver - Gave them to Bill Gates
* W6NVY - Gary - Gave them to Bill Gates
* KG6NWJ - Barry - Gave them to schools
* KD6OBM - Jason - Threw them away
* KF6PIH - Scott - Gave them to schools
* K6QVZ - Joe - Gave them to China
* KG6RDA - Sidney -
* AD6UP - Louie - Put them in a landfill
* KF6YBM - Henry - ?
* KF6ZQM - Harry - Sent them to China
* N6NGU - Lee - Took my real first name!

That's it for this week. Thanks, again, to all who checked in!

73, de N6CIZ

January 11, 2007 - Corn Trivia

Well, after last week's question which some folks found a little off-putting, I decided to go with something totally non-controversial. So, here goes...

TRIVIA QUESTION:

How many kernels does the average ear of corn have?


TRIVIA ANSWER:

800 kernels in 16 rows.
Also,

There is one piece of silk for each kernel.

Corn always has an even number of rows on each ear.


Source: http://www.foodreference.com/html/fcorn.html


>>>>>>>>>> Net Check-In's <<<<<<<<<<

Here's the list of folks who checked in to tonight's net and their answers. Congrats go to KE6MSS and KF6YBM who got the answer right.

* WB6A - Pat - 1500
* WB6ATV - Ron - 438
* KE6CZH - Robert - 700
* KG6DBL - Bill - 756
* W6DTS - Ted - 480
* K6FCC - Khalil - 440
* N6GXS - Ralph - 644
* KB6IS - Madeline - 523
* KD6JEV - John - 790
* KG6KTC - Leon - 1000
* NY6L - Jay - 498
* KE6MSS - Thomas - 800
* W6NVY - Gary - 640
* KG6NWJ - Barry - 525
* KD6OBM - Jason - 750
* KF6PIH - Scott - 950
* K6QVZ - Joe - 500
* KG6RDA - Sidney - "A Lot"
* AD6UP - Louie - 672
* KF6YBM - Henry - 800
* KF6ZQM - Harry - Checked in by KG6RDA
* N6ZZK - Theo - Checked in by KG6RDA
* KG6WRY - Howard - 1250
* KG6TRR - Bob - 320

That's it for this week. 73 and stay warm!

de N6CIZ

January 4, 2007 - Shocking Trivia!

Oh, man! I should have come up with a better trivia question to start out the new year. I'm sorry to be kind of morbid, but here's the question I came up with tonight...

At the beginning of the 20th century, Thomas Edison was battling George Westinghouse for control of America's electric infrastructure. It was Edison's direct current system versus Westinghouse's alternating current.


Trivia Question:

To prove that AC was a deadly menace, on January 4th 1903, Edison publicly electrocuted who or what with 6,600 volts of alternating current?


Trivia Answer:

An elephant named Topsy.

Topsy, an attraction at Coney Island, was being destroyed by its owners because she had killed 3 people in 3 years. The event was a public spectacle to a paying audience of 1500 people. Edison was the consultant chosen to arrange the electrocution which he had a movie crew film.



He showed the film around the country as part of his unsuccessful effort to discredit the "dangerous" alternating current of George Westinghouse, and promote Edison's direct current electricity system. Eventually, A.C. was universally adopted, however, as more practical for long-distance transmission.

For more about Topsy, visit

http://www.todayinsci.com/cgi-bin/indexpage.pl?http://www.todayinsci.com/1/1_04.htm



* * * * * * * * * * NET CHECK-In's * * * * * * * * * *

The following folks checked in to tonight's net, along with their answers to tonight's trivia question.

* WB6A - Pat - No Answer
* WB6ATV - Ron - A Convict
* KE6CZH - Robert - No Answer
* KG6DBL - Bill - No Answer
* K6FCC - Khalil - Niagra Falls
* N6GXS - Ralph - A Frog
* N6HY - Ernie - A Cat
* KB6IS - Madeline - No Answer
* KD6JEV - John - No Answer
* KG6KTC - Leon - A Dog
* NY6L - Jay - No Answer
* K6LMN - Roger - Cow
* KE6MSS - Thomas - No Answer
* KD6NIW - Oliver - The Neighbor's Dog
* W6NVY - Gary - The Neighbor!
* KG6NWJ - Barry - A Pidgeon
* KD6OBM - Jason - A Dog
* KF6PIH - Scott - A Pig
* K6QVZ - Joe - No Answer
* KG6RDA - Sidney - Checked in by KF6ZQM
* AD6UP - Louie - A House
* KF6YBM - Henry - No Answer
* KF6ZQM - Harry - No Answer
* N6ZZK - Theo - A Turkey
* AC6AJ - Lee - Dogs
* N6NGU - Lee - CEO of Westinghouse
* KG6TRR - Bob - Bull or Cow
* KE6HER - Justin - Cow
* KD6DKH - Too noisy from Riverside to hear more

I'll try to come up with a more "upbeat" question next week!

73!

de N6CIZ