General Knowledge Quiz

[DaleCooper]

Bismarck?

 

[ComUtoR]

Yep.

BrewDog have a drink called "Sink the Bismarck" and Yo Gabba Gabba has the Rapper "Biz Markie"

 

[DaleCooper]

Next question:

An actor, theatrical agent and engineer with a very famous brother manufactured clamps which have been used in aircraft fuel systems, spaceflight and for transporting atomic bombs, he also built motorcycles and invented a watch for monitoring the pulse of heart patients. Who was he?

 

[Darren R]

Would that be Herbert Manfred Marx, better known as Zeppo?


(Open Floor if correct - I'll forget otherwise!)

 

[DaleCooper]

Would that be Herbert Manfred Marx, better known as Zeppo?


(Open Floor if correct - I'll forget otherwise!)

It was Zeppo Marx, when I found out I just had to share it. If you google Zeppo Marx or "Marman Clamp" you can find out more.

Darren R has declared open floor.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

It was on QI recently...

What has the crew of Apollo 13 done that no other man has done?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I can think of a lot of things that are unique to that crew, the biggest being they are the only crew to survive a catastrophic failure in space - but I suspect the answer you need is one of the many things they did towards that?

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

I can think of a lot of things that are unique to that crew, the biggest being they are the only crew to survive a catastrophic failure in space - but I suspect the answer you need is one of the many things they did towards that?

Actually, other space crews have suffered catastrophic failure and lived - the last few MIR crews spring to mind.

Yes, something that this crew has done and no other

 

[Peter Mugridge]

This could take a while to get through, so to start with the more obvious points:

Using the LM as the habitable module when it was not designed as such and was only intended for short term use?

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

This could take a while to get through, so to start with the more obvious points:

Using the LM as the habitable module when it was not designed as such and was only intended for short term use?

Short term use indicates it was habitable

Try again

 

[theageofthetra]

They have travelled the furthest distance from Earth than any other humans- because they orbited the moon at a higher altitude than any other Apollo mission.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

They have travelled the furthest distance from Earth than any other humans- because they orbited the moon at a higher altitude than any other Apollo mission.

Close enough...

Your spacesuit, sir

 

[DaleCooper]

Close enough...

Your spacesuit, sir

What do you mean "close enough"? It would be nice if you shared your knowledge.

Obviously theageofthetra didn't give the full answer you required as to travel further isn't a "first".

I for one would like to know what they did that no man had done before.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

What do you mean "close enough"? It would be nice if you shared your knowledge.

Obviously theageofthetra didn't give the full answer you required as to travel further isn't a "first".

I for one would like to know what they did that no man had done before.

They went further away from the Earth then any other persons, but an orbit is a full circle - Apollo 13 merely flipped around in a hairpin move - close enough though for the win

Therefore theageofthetra's is correct and accepted as the valid answer

 

[theageofthetra]

Keeping the Apollo theme. If you went back to the various Apollo landing sites- what would you expect to see there but is missing?

 

[DaleCooper]

They went further away from the Earth then any other persons, but an orbit is a full circle - Apollo 13 merely flipped around in a hairpin move - close enough though for the win

Therefore theageofthetra's is correct and accepted as the valid answer

Very interesting but please tell me what they did that no man had done before. To go further is not a first just as breaking the land speed record is not a first unless it involves exceeding some significant figure such as the speed of sound or 1000mph. Did you perhaps mean to ask who has travelled furthest from the Earth?

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

Very interesting but please tell me what they did that no man had done before. To go further is not a first just as breaking the land speed record is not a first unless it involves exceeding some significant figure such as the speed of sound or 1000mph. Did you perhaps mean to ask who has travelled furthest from the Earth?

The first to go beyond the moon's normal orbit - theta's answer was sufficient enough for me

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The first to go beyond the moon's normal orbit - theta's answer was sufficient enough for me

On a point of order: does this take into account whether the Moon was at apogee or perigee at the time and how that distance compares to where it was in orbit while the other Apollo missions were there?

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

On a point of order: does this take into account whether the Moon was at apogee or perigee at the time and how that distance compares to where it was in orbit while the other Apollo missions were there?

I would have to dig out the mission book (I happen to have one), but I believe it was at apogee. Official mission notes and NASA records indicate this was achieved at 254 km (158 miles) from the lunar surface, on the far side of the Moon, and 400,171 km (248,655 miles) above the Earths surface, at 1:21a.m. BST on 15 Apr 1970

 

[krus_aragon]

Keeping the Apollo theme. If you went back to the various Apollo landing sites- what would you expect to see there but is missing?

I would expect to see a Saturn V as a museum piece. Is there one there?

 

[theageofthetra]

Ha ha no. Something smaller.

 

[DaleCooper]

Footprints?

 

[theageofthetra]

No they are still there I believe.

 

[ComUtoR]

Was the flag removed at a later date ?
Or a Golf ball maybe ?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The top half ( the rounded bit ) of the Lunar Module - it was used to return the astronauts to the Command Module that was orbiting the Moon.

 

[theageofthetra]

No not that. Think of something that was left behind and changed due to the passage of time.

 

[Springs Branch]

Are you thinking of the various Star & Stripes flags planted on the moon?

I've seen speculation that the nylon polymer flags will have been totally degraded by intense UV radiation and extreme hot & cold temperature cycling on the moon. The flag material may be physically there on the lunar surface, just quite probably crumbled to dust (volatile degradation products would presumably diffuse into space). Presumably the flagpoles and horizontal struts which made the flags "fly" were metal and are still intact.

My source comments this is an educated guess and no-one actually knows the true situation with those flags.

 

[theageofthetra]

Correct- They also would have sustained considerable damage from the blast of the departing Lunar module top section. Your floor

 

[Peter Mugridge]

CumUtoR mentioned the flags earlier...

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

CumUtoR mentioned the flags earlier...

He said that they were removed later