All shapes and sizes...

If you ever thought you were weird (I actually do, sometimes.. rather frequently even...), this story here would put it all into perspective..
As I was googling some stuff to annoy you with on Thursday, I happened upon the story of a woman who - some years ago - married ... THE BERLIN-BLEEDING-WALL!!!! She's some sort of objectophile or somet (smeggin' weirdo in my rather un-PC language..), lives in a small village in Sweden (that explains...the things you come up with in those loooooong cold winter nights in the sticks :) and fell in love with the Berlin Wall... went to see it, proposed & hey presto, got married to the thing... even took its (or "his" as she calls her "husband") last name...
The mind boggles at what might have happened had David "I've been looking for freedom and found it in a bottle" Hasselhoff not come along and helped bringing it down... just by his "singing"... bleedin' wall-murderer, robbing the poor woman of her faithful husband... was wondering what the kids might have looked like and - after a quick photoshop session - came up with something like this..



Anyroad, the full story - from the widow herself - can be found here....

Now, I'm not saying this could come up in the quiz.. but then again, you never know, do ya?!? :)

See yis Thursday...

POW - Prediction of the Week 240 - ZE REZULTS

yep, it's time for the annual Eurovision thingie ... and for a potential two points in week #240 you hade to predict two countries who will make it into the Top10 in the final.



At the time of writing, the deadline is almost up.. and the predictions so far are

Paris Paris: Ukraine+Bosnia-Herzegovina (PS. Hélène - même pas pour tous les CD des Inconnus :)
Dumbass Canucks: Hungary+Finland
Sausages: Finland+Serbia
HiFive: Turkey+Latvia
Pinkies: Russia+Germany
we'll see...well, I won't, I'll read it tomorrow :)

NS - as promised, I did... and look at that table - some of yis might want to use their psychic powers in the quiz :)

TOP TEN

1. Russia 272
2. Ukraine 230
3. Greece 218
4. Armenia 199
5. Norway 162
6. Serbia 160
7. TurkeiTurkey 137
8. Aserbaidjian 132
9. Israel 124
10. Bosnia-Herzegovina 110

And a quick check shows us that the following teams start with point(s) next week:
Paris Paris: 2
Sausages: 1
HiFive: 1
Pinkies: 1 (sorry, no extrapoint for picking the winner :)

Quiky 239 - Rankings

massive attendance it was... and - since some people must have slept through their maths classes instead of learning how to count properly (or just slept through my reminder that it was 1 point per in the music round) - we have a new 2nd-placed team!!! Belated round of applause for Hi Five!! You'll get your round next week, promised. Pinkies can keep theirs, obviously :)

Review & Preview

Here are a few questions from #238.. in case you missed it (or don't remeber them anymore :) .. answers upon request, as usual..

1. Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo is the protagonist of James Fenimore Cooper's pentalogy known as the “Leatherstocking Tales”. Name 3 of the 5 names by which he was known throughout the books.
2. In which country was Leon Trotsky assassinated in 1940? BQ: How?
3. In which body of water would you find the islands Mainau, Reichenau, and Lindau?
4. Robben Island and Seal Island belong to which country?
5. How old Louis XIV when he became King of France on 14 May 1643?
6. Marsh Fever is another term for which ailment?
7. What number does a black stripe on a bar code represent?
8. Which is the only mammal (other than primates) that has fingerprints so similar to human ones that, even with an electron microscope, it can be quite difficult to distinguish between the two?
9. Which animal was last week listed as an endagered species by the United States Department of the Interior?
10. Which dentist, gambler, gunfighter and legend of the American Old West frontier was played by - among others - Kirk Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Willie Nelson, Val Kilmer & Dennis Quaid?
11. Which cult TV character made the song "Bein' Green" popular in in 1970? (BQ: who was the real voice behind it?)
12. True or false: Curling is an Olympic sport?
13. Who played the title role in Robert Altmans’ 1980 live-action film “Popeye”?
14. With which team did Michael Schumacher win his first World Drivers Championship? BQ: In what year?
15. What is the term for a sailing boat with two hulls? Catamaran
16. What song from The Lion King won the Best Song Oscar in 1994?
17. Which 3 animals were the official mascots for the 2000 Summer Olympics?
18. In Stevenson’s novel, what was Nemo before he became Captain of the “Nautilus”?

As for #239 - keep in mind that it's Cannes Film Festival week, Eurovision Song Thingie week, .. and other weeks that have escaped my mind at the mo...
You sure know the Scouts' motto - Be Prepared!

POW - Prediction of the Week 239

This is what you have to predict to earn 2 (!) points for week #239:

Who is going to score the first goal on Wednesday, ManYoo or Chelski?
In what minute (+/- 5 min)?

This time you can leave your predictions here or mail them to the usual address by Wednesday 21 May, 20:00 CET at the very latest ... or change your unedumacated guesses :)

Predictions so far

Pinkies: Chelski (25th)
Mighty Eddy: ManYoo (35th)
Paris Paris: ManYoo (24th) .. even tho expert Hélène says 4th :)
Marisienne: ManYoo (26th)
Tigerente: ManYoo (24th)

Quiky 238 - Rankings & Champions League

bit late as usual :) - here's last week's table


Seems as if it's always the same teams winning, iinit??! (time Leninskij returned?? LOL :)

Which brings me back to the question of a "Champions League" or "Mini League" for the regular teams... we've discussed that a few times and it seems like a good idea.. per se.
It wouldn't work tho if we did it over 10 weeks, every week.. just wouldn't be fair towards the "semi" regulars (i.e. teams like Super Nova, Muttis or Bembelboys, who play regularly.. every 2 weeks..)

It might work tho if we said best 10 over 20 weeks, which means tho that regulars have to wait 20 weeks instead of just 10.. or we could use the arithmetic mean, i.e. after 10 rounds points are added up and divided by number of rounds played... or... you suggest something better :)

Give it some thought and let me know - comment here or mail to the quiz_miz address or.. just tell me on Thursday...

Animal art & beheaded poultry celebs

Every time I eat chicken now I keep thinking of poor Mikey, the headless Hahn :)
for those of you who thought I made that one up - here's the link to Mike's website.. check it out yourselves... unless you're chicken ...
and here's the very own personal page(s) of Tillamook Cheddar, the painting pooch ..
and pachyderm Picasso at work... elephantastic .. all 8.30 mins

...more fun from & with our four-legged or feathered friends next Thursday

Any questions?

well, as promised - here are some of the question from #237 - more to come if/when I have the time.. answers.. do your homework :) (or drop me a line..) That was round 1 - geography, history, assorted science & assorted BS

• By what name is the “patent medicine”, invented by pharmacist John Styth Pemberton on 8 May 1886, and intended to cure depressions, stomach bugs & other ailments, better known today?
• On 8 May 1429, French troops led by Joan of Arc ended the English siege of Orléans and turned the tide of the which war?
  
• George Dubya lives in the White House. The president of which country resides in the Blue House?
• In what year did George Washington take the oath of office as the first President of the United States of America? (+/- 5 years)
• What was the name of the supercontinent that existed about 250 million years ago, before each of the component continents were separated into their current configuration?

• How tall can a male giraffe may be? (+/- 50cm)?
• In which country would you find the world’s most leaning or lopsided tower?
• From which two years are these two newpaper headlines? (+/- 5 years)

• Name the 5 European countries.

• What colour is hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in its liquid form?

POW - Prediction of the Week 238

Hindsight - a wonderful thing : prediction of the week for #238:

Pinkies & Paris Paris correctly guessed (?) that ManYoo would not slip up and instead give Roman's hordes the blues - both start with a point on 15th...

Quiky 237 - Rankings

A bit late, but I took the liberty of not doing any work over the holiday weekend... :)

Great expectations?

..well, tough! I'm still not up to much computer / graphs work so we might have fewer pictures than usual.. and still no French music, as I haven't had a chance yet.. (that CD, Hélène, d'you remember? :)

We have reservations for some 35-40 peops so far, meaning we'll be too many for a games round. but I've been thinking about doing a "creativity round".. or some funny caption thingie.. we'll see, might improvise something...

see youse tomorrow, bright and EARLY, or at least on time(ish)....

POW - Prediction of the Week 237

this was the prediction of the week for #237:

Who is going to win the Snooker World Championship?

Eedjits, Pinkies & French Sausages reckoned it'd be Ronny the Rocket...

and since he did the biz, at least Pinkies & Sausages start with a point.. Eedjits are back in England methinks :)

Quiky 236 - Rankings

Alreet - I know some of yis love reading their names here, along with their points.. 'specially when they've won (n'est-ce pas?? :)

So here's last week's rankings proper, with nice graph. .well, maybe not nice but typing & photoshopping still is a bi... female dog...