Answers to Ian’s Trivialus 18 August 2024

Answers

1. a) – Water, suggesting that the planet once had lakes, rivers and oceans more than 3bn years ago.
2. Plutocracy
3. Douglas Adams
4. The US won 126 medals – China (91 medals) and the US both won 40 gold medals.  The best performing country per capita was (b) New Zealand,  40% better than Bahrain, and 80% better than Jamaica, the next two best countries in terms of population vs medals won.
5. The number Pi – 3.1415926.
6. Solomon
7. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.  (In the US and other markets, the word “Sorcerer” was used instead of “Philosopher”.)
8. Kursk region – in WWII it was the site of the largest tank battle in history.
9. Nena – German.
10. c) – 25 minutes and 37 seconds by a Croatian named Budimir Sobat.  In 2021, when he set the record he was 56 years old.
11. Donald Trump and Elon Musk on the X platform.  Like last year’s interview on X, with Ron DeSantis, this one was plagued with technical problems and the event started almost 45 minutes late.  Claims that it was hackers trying to undermine the talk were without evidence.  Other observers are saying that it is more likely a direct result of Musk’s actions in retrenching 80% of the company’s engineers.
12. Bossa Nova – Brazil.
13. b) – Zeekr, owned by Geely, issued a statement that its latest batteries can be charged from 10% to 80% capacity in less than 11 minutes.
14. The players wear the socks of their home clubs.
15. The Battle of Megiddo. Fought between the forces of the British Empire and allies against those of the Ottoman and German Empires.
16. c) – Ireland.
17. On the Moon – they are all lunar craters.
18. c) – Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine. The length is 2 197 miles.
19. b) – 3
20. Denmark