Q 01/05

Which planet did Pluto slip back outside of on 11 February, ending 20 years as the nearer one to the Sun?

A) Neptune

B) Saturn

C) Jupiter

D) Uranus

Answer · why

A) Neptune

Neptune had been the more distant of the two since February 1979, because Pluto's stretched 248-year orbit dips inside Neptune's for about 20 years of...

Q 02/05

Which NASA spacecraft was lost on arrival in September because Lockheed Martin used US units where NASA expected metric?

A) Mars Polar Lander

B) Mars Climate Orbiter

C) Mars Global Surveyor

D) Mars Pathfinder

Answer · why

B) Mars Climate Orbiter

Mars Climate Orbiter was fed thruster figures in pound-seconds where newton-seconds were expected, so on 23 September it reached Mars far too low and ...

Q 03/05

Which country, whose king marked his silver jubilee that year, allowed television broadcasts for the first time in June?

A) Nepal

B) Tonga

C) Bhutan

D) Brunei

Answer · why

C) Bhutan

Bhutan became the last nation on earth to switch on television when its king lifted a long-standing ban on 2 June, announcing the change to a jubilee ...

Q 04/05

Which March email virus, written by David L. Smith, mailed itself to the first 50 names in a victim's Outlook contacts?

A) Michelangelo

B) Code Red

C) Anna Kournikova

D) Melissa

Answer · why

D) Melissa

Melissa, reportedly named after a Florida stripper, hid in Word documents; its author was arrested within a week and was later sentenced to 20 months ...

Q 05/05

Which author's wife had a lawyer buy the minivan that hit him near his Maine home, to keep it off eBay?

A) Stephen King

B) Tom Clancy

C) Dean Koontz

D) John Grisham

Answer · why

A) Stephen King

Stephen King was struck when the driver was distracted by a dog loose in the back; King dreamed of smashing the van up himself, but his wife had it qu...