Sometimes diversionary tactics are necessary

To take your minds off tragedies at home and abroad and all enemies foreign and domestic, see how well you do on the following test. There are ten questions. You need only four correct answers to pass:

1. How long did the Hundred Years’ War last?

2. Which country makes Panama hats?

3. From which animal do we get cat gut?

4. In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?

5. What is a camel’s hair brush made of?

6. The Canary Islands are named after what animal?

7. What was King George VI’s first name?

8. What color is a purple finch?

9. Where are Chinese gooseberries from?

10. What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?


And now, here are the answers.

1. 116 years; 2. Ecuador; 3. Sheep and horses; 4. November;
5. Squirrel fur; 6. Dogs; 7. Albert; 8. Crimson; 9. New Zealand; 10. Orange.

What do you mean, you failed?

Me, too. I got exactly one answer right. I knew King George VI’s first name, and that was it.

My thanks go out to Linda H., my sister-in-law in Texas, for sending me this test.