Latest answers

Latest answers

Friday, March 21, 2008

67. The toddler who eluded the tax-collector....

His birth saved the family from certain ruin, as, according to an ancient law, creditors could not seize the bed of a pregnant woman or a mother with a newborn child. When bailiffs entered the family home, just as Eugenia (his mother) went into labor, the family protected their most valuable assets by piling them on top of the expectant mother!

Who was born thus?

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

66. Jack of all trades, master of one!

A doctor by training, and an intellectual magpie by inclination, his work on the persistence of vision would lead, eventually, to the invention of cinema. He studied Dante, water purification, dinosaur bones, phrenology and insects. He worked at the Pneumatic Institution for Inhalation Gas Therapy, where Coleridge came to breathe nitrous oxide. He helped to create the slide rule and London's sewerage system. He invented the first travel chess set.

But the guy is best remembered for something which he created. He was inspired by the great taxonomist Carl Linneaus, who codified and classified plants and animals.

Who is the great guy and his claim to fame?

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

65. Donkey's ears...

This literally means "little donkey" in Spanish. The name possibly derives from its vague resemblance to the ear of its namesake animal, or from bedrolls and packs that donkeys carried. What am I talking about?

Monday, March 17, 2008

64. Leading to the abattoir...

A X goat is a trained goat used at a slaughterhouse and in general animal herding. X is trained to associate with sheep or cattle, leading them to a specific destination. In stockyards, a X will lead sheep to slaughter, while its own life is spared. X goats are also used to lead other animals to specific pens and on to trucks.

What is such a goat called ?