There was also a reference to guano being bat droppings in the film Young Guns II.
Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh: I've been to gold towns, silver towns, I've even been to turquoise towns. But I have never been to a bat sh*t town. Can't wait to see the women!
I always thought it was only from bats, but Wikipedia says not only does it come from seabirds, especially off the coast of Peru, but also seals. That's my new fact for the day, now I can veg out for the next 24 hours.
The importance of guano as a fertilizer also led to the passage of the Guano Islands Act of 1856, which states that U.S. citizens can claim previously unclaimed land as U.S. territory provided it has guano on it. This act is the basis for a number of U.S. territorial claims to this day.
great quiz however I think the Norman clue is a bit misleading, the Normans were descended from a viking group but they weren't called Normans when they were vikings.
Also, I think you should require the III or 3 after George - there have been 6 King Georges and only one was notably mad - I don't think it's too much to expect people to know which one, especially given the excellent film a few years back (though I think that may have have been renamed in the US).
The story is that when the producers brought the successful British movie "The Madness of George III," based on a play of the same name, to the U.S. they renamed it "The Madness of King George" so that moviegoers wouldn't wonder "How come I missed the first two installments in the series?"
of course I tried to get too technical with the 'brownshirt' question (after I finally managed to get off the Firefly theme), with sturmabteilung (the SA). Never thought of fascist :P
Yes, they are very, very different. SA was Hitler's paramilitary organisation before his coming to power, Gestapo was a secret police established after he became the chancellor. From a fashion point of view, Gestapo is well known for a black long leather coats, brown shirts are distinctly the SA's thing.
Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard fascists generally referred to as Brownshirts. Blackshirts were Mussolini's fascists. Brownshirts were Hitler's SA thugs.
King Henry VI was also mad - so mad that England went to war over who should take his throne. Please accept Henry VI as well as the more famous George III.
I hate the wording of the Molotov cocktail question. I know the historical context but as worded just about any country that the Soviet Union set foot in would be correct. Maybe reword it to "What country begot the Molotov cocktail after a Soviet invasion?" I've seen plenty of footage of from the late 40s to late 50s of Hungarians and Czechs lofting them at Soviet tanks.
Galileo and Galilei are absolutely fine as type-ins, but the actual name of the Astronomer was Galileo Galilei. Any chance you could make that the answer that shows up?
How do we quantify the "most" notorious member of the Ba'ath?
Bashar al-Assad is at least as famous as Saddam Hussein (arguably more famous today, because of the civil war), and, judging by the civil war in Syria, not less evil, so the hint seems as if it can equally apply to him.
Everyone seems to be thrown off by the "mad king" or "brownshirt" questions, but I should point that mustard gas wasn't yellow, it was colorless and odorless: that's what made it terrifying. Chlorine was the actual yellow-brown gas.
Tried all possible variations of "Anglo-American War", "British-American War", and so forth, before remembering what that war is actually called. What a stupid name, though. Informative, but stupid. /rant over
I feel like mentions of the SA should be acceptable for the "brownshirts" questions considering that the primary nickname of the SA was the "brownshirts."
Also, couldn't you argue that Assad is the most notorious Ba'ath Party member? I mean, the Syrian Civil War killed 400,000 people and displaced 5.6 million
Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh: I've been to gold towns, silver towns, I've even been to turquoise towns. But I have never been to a bat sh*t town. Can't wait to see the women!
Also, I think you should require the III or 3 after George - there have been 6 King Georges and only one was notably mad - I don't think it's too much to expect people to know which one, especially given the excellent film a few years back (though I think that may have have been renamed in the US).
Bashar al-Assad is at least as famous as Saddam Hussein (arguably more famous today, because of the civil war), and, judging by the civil war in Syria, not less evil, so the hint seems as if it can equally apply to him.