Consider this to be one of those impossibly difficult situations with which we trail-blazing continent conquerers must on occasion contend. Today is Earth day, but tomorrow marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death. We therefore should offer a quiz about Earth, but, then again, we should also offer a quiz about William Shakespeare. After twelve hours of sleepless torment, we finally decided to split space-time and offer TWO quizzes. However, in order to maintain the time stream integrity (we don't know what that means, either), we have to post the quizzes separately and one quiz should have no knowledge of the other. It's like whenever Winston, the bald, puffy faced Brit, and Franklin Delano, his well bred assistant, visit every six months to check the fire extinguishers, they sense that we want to tell them something important, but we never do.

THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM

207-780-4249 www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N, 70.2667° W
Founded January 1970

"Out there...."

THE DAILY ASTRONOMER

Friday, April 22, 2016

Quiz: Day of the Earth!

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Celestial mythology is our topic today on "WMPG: Radio Astronomy"

Friday, April 22 at 1:00 p.m.

Kirk Rogers and Michele Cheung join the panel to discuss the sagas and legends of the stars.

WMPG 90.9 FM www.wmpg.org

If you miss the show, you can always listen to it later on the archive:

http://usm.maine.edu/planet/radio-astronomy-radio-program

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April 22! Earth Day!

Today, we celebrate our lives on the third rock: its dynamic oceans, shifting continents, towering summits, desiccated valleys, verdant vegetation, complex life forms, as well as the boundless elemental energy it exudes and the the copious stellar energies it absorbs. There is never a single dull moment on this turbulent world and we are delighted to be minuscule parts of it .

We commemorate Earth day with, appropriately, a little quiz about Earth!

1. We know that Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Which of the following statements about Earth is/are also true? (Could be more than one.)

a. It is also the third largest planet in the solar system

b. Its distance from the Sun constantly changes throughout the year

c. Its day is slowly growing longer

d. It is not perfectly spherical

2. True or false: All of Earth's land masses (those above the sea) could fit along the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

3. What is the southernmost country in Central America?

a. Panama

b. Costa Rica

c. Guatemala

d. Honduras

4. How many mountain peaks on Earth exceed 24,000 feet in elevation?

a. 13

b. 46

c. 65

d. 80

5. The Great Barrier Reef is located where?

a. Off the coast of Australia

b. Off the coast of Brazil

c. Off the coast of Madagascar

d. Off the coast of Vietnam

6. Imagine if someone could measure the energy released in an Earthquake by sand grains. If a magnitude 4 quake's released energy equals 4 grains of sand, how many grains of sand would a magnitude 8 quake equal?

a. 16

b. 1024

c. 2048

d. 3,125,000

7. What is an estuary?

a. a watery area where an ocean mixes with a fresh body of water

b. another name an ocean

c. a sea that is located above 66 degrees North latitude

d. a highly eroded beach

8. Which country has the longest coastline?

a. Canada

b. United States

c. Brazil

d. Indonesia

9. When is Earth closest to the Sun?

a. the first week of January

b. the middle of April

c. June 21st

d. September 21st

ANSWERS

1. All the following statements are true:

b. Its distance from the Sun constantly changes throughout the year

c. Its day is slowly growing longer

d. It is not perfectly spherical

2. True

3. a. Panama

4. d. 80

5. a. Off the coast of Australia

6. d. 3,125,000

7. a. a watery area where an ocean mixes with a fresh body of water

8. a. Canada

9. a. the first week of January

THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM

207-780-4249 www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N, 70.2667° W
Founded January 1970

"Where the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune are manufactured and shipped to all parts of the world."

THE DAILY ASTRONOMER

Friday, April 22, 2016

William's World

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Celestial mythology is our topic today on "WMPG: Radio Astronomy"

Friday, April 22 at 1:00 p.m.

Kirk Rogers and Michele Cheung join the panel to discuss the sagas and legends of the stars.

WMPG 90.9 FM www.wmpg.org

If you miss the show, you can always listen to it later on the archive:

http://usm.maine.edu/planet/radio-astronomy-radio-program

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Tomorrow, April 23rd, marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death. Commemorations are planned all around the world to honor the man often considered to be the world's greatest playwright.

As we did earlier this year, we are participating in these celebrations with a quick 10 question quiz. Not all of the questions will pertain to the plays, themselves. We'll include a couple questions about the time period in which William lived.

1. When William Shakespeare was born, Elizabeth I was the reigning monarch. Who was the reigning monarch when William Shakespeare died?

a. Elizabeth I

b. James I

c. Mary I

d. Charles I

2. In which play did Shylock attempt to exact a pound of flesh from a debtor?

a. Two Gentlemen of Verona

b. The Merchant of Venice

c. Romeo and Juliet

d. Titus Andronicus

3.______________ was the name of the court jester whose skull Hamlet encounters in a graveyard.

4. Whose last words prior to death were "I took by the throat the circumcised dog,/ And smote him, thus?"

a. Romeo

b. King Lear

c. Othello

d. Falstaff

5. In what year was the first movie based on a Shakespearean play produced?

a. 1899

b. 1911

c. 1916

d. 1920

6. Which of the following historical events occurred during Shakespeare's lifetime? (Could be more than one)

a. The Gunpowder Plot

b. The defeat of the Spanish Armada

c. Church of England established

d. The founding of the Jamestown colony in America

7. Believe it or not, Shakespeare wrote in Modern English, which followed Middle English. The period of Modern English is said to have begun around which year?

a. 1450

b. 1510

c. 1560

c. 1583

8. Which play featured the spirit Ariel and the grotesque creature Caliban?

a. A Mid Summer Night's Dream

b. The Tempest

c. Twelfth Night

d. The Winter's Tale

9. The entire time -by the play's time stream- between the first meeting of Romeo and Juliet and their deaths is how long?

a. three months

b. six weeks

c. 23 days

d. less than a week

10. How many characters in all did Shakespeare create?

a. 980

b. 1109

c. 1277

d. 1776

ANSWERS

1. b. James I

(1603-1625)

2. b. The Merchant of Venice

Of course the answer would be 2b Ha Ha!

3. Yorick

4. c. Othello

5. a. 1899 (The film was "King John," which is now one of the bard's lesser known plays.)

6. a. Gunpowder Plot (1605)

b. Spanish Armada (1588)

d. Founding of the Jamestown colony (1607)

The Church of England was established in 1531. (Shakespeare was born in 1564)

7. a. 1450

8. b. The Tempest

9. d. less than a week

10. c. 1277