This day in May is notable for some major explorations and gadabouts, if you may like.
Welcome to the world of ‘Nutty’s Infotainment. YAYS!’
Back to 1498. Thalassophile or not, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut (now Kozhikode, India). Driven by formidable ambition and undaunted spirit and navigating uncharted and perilous waters, it took da Gama 10 whole months to finally hit India’s shores. His is a story full of dangerous adventures and gripping episodes. It brought the dawn of a great new epoch in human history and this pioneer knew he was standing at the very brink of greatness.
Spices and other oriental produce regularly reached the hungry capitals of Europe, but so much was the distance, cultural and geographic, that Asia became a sumptuous cocktail of myth and legend in Western imagination. Da Gama opened up the sea route from western Europe to the East by way of the Cape of Good Hope, thus restoring a link between Europe and the East that had existed many centuries before.
1927. Charles Lindbergh took off from New York on his way to become the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
In a custom-built airplane dubbed ‘Spirit of St. Louis’, Charles took off from Curtiss Field on Long Island, New York and, combating less-than-stellar weather conditions and sleep deprivation, he flew 3,610 miles in 33.5 hours, landing at Le Bourget Field in Paris, France. This landmark flight proved to people that air travel was safe and reliable. The interest in aviation skyrocketed.
Five years later and on its anniversary, Amelia Earhart flew out of Newfoundland in her bright red Lockheed Vega. Weather and technical troubles forced Earhart to land in Ireland instead of Paris, about 2447 miles and 14 hours into the journey. It was plenty far enough to make her the first woman and the second person in the history to make the journey by air.
Lindbergh was an explorer, excellent pilot and relatively reclusive. Earheart was supposedly a publicity hound and seeker of notoriety, and, in all fairness, courageous. Lindbergh flew to France to win a monetary prize; Earhart flew for fame.
More than Eighty years ago, Amelia Earhart took off from New Guinea in her bid to finish her trip around the world along an equatorial route. The trip started in Miami on June 1, 1937. Earhart and her navigator stopped in South America, Africa, India and Southeast Asia. From New Guinea, Earhart was headed for Howland Island, which was halfway to Hawaii. She never made it, and a mystery was born.
I can already see that resfeber in you. YAYS!
Your time starts NOW.
1. The second Monday of October is a holiday in US and commemorates one of his major achievements. Near the end of his life, he wrote a book called Book of Privileges that listed all the promises the Spanish crown had made to him over the years and the ways the crown hadn’t honoured those promises. He died this day in 1506 in Valladolid, Spain. Name him.
Christopher Columbus, the famous explorer.
2. It exits the iconic glass bottle at .028 miles per hour 35 miles per year. If its viscosity is greater than this speed, it is rejected for sale. What are we talking about?
Heinz Ketchup. To release ketchup faster from the glass bottle, apply a firm tap to the sweet spot on the neck of the bottle — the “57.” Only 11% of people know this secret. Now you’re “in-the-know.”
3. Name the father and son who both won Oscars in the 1948 film The Treasure of Sierra Madre.
John and Walter Houston.
4. With which profession is Harley Street in London associated?
Medical profession
5. Olympics tradition has it that the title ‘World’s Greatest Athlete’ is awarded to the gold medal winner of which event?
Decathlon. This began when King Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, “You, sir, are the world’s greatest athlete” after Thorpe won the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912.
6. Which American humourist and novelist wrote, “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man.”
Mark Twain.
7. What is measured on a scale of 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simson?
Intensity of hurricane.
8. What unusual thing was displayed on the stage during the 1979 Miss Universe pageant held at Perth?
A large debris of the Skylab. It had collapsed that year in parts of Australia.
9. What does famulus do?
Assists magicians during performance.
10. Name the two corporations/organisations whose logos have been mixed together in the image below.
(Answer next week. Last week answer to photoquiz: Walt Disney)
