Question: Traditionally, 'flotsam' and 'jetsam' are words that describe goods of potential value that have been thrown into the ocean. What is the technical difference between the two?
Answer: 'Jetsam' has been voluntarily cast into the sea by the crew of a ship, usually in order to lighten it in an emergency; 'flotsam' describes goods that are floating on the water without having been thrown in deliberately, often after a shipwreck.

Question: If screw-driven steamships generally carry the prefix 'SS' before their names, what type of steamers carry the prefix 'PS'?
Answer: Paddle steamers

Question: Awarded to applicants annually since 1902, the Rhodes Scholarships are for study at what institution?
Answer: University of Oxford

Question: Famous for his first-hand account of the Bolshevik Revolution, who is the only American to be buried in the Kremlin?
Answer: John Reed (1887-1920), author of Ten Days that Shook the World

Question: What is the name of the military tactic that involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area?
Answer: Scorched earth policy

Question: 'Janjaweed', an Arabic word that literally translates to 'devil on a horse' has achieved infamy by its association with a dubious group in which current day crisis in Sudan?
Answer: Darfur conflict

Question: What paleontological hoax takes its name from a place in East Sussex, England where in 1912, discovered bone fragments were thought to be the remains of an unknown form of early man?
Answer: Piltdown Man

Question: Several feathers were ruffled when a 78-year-old Texas attorney named Harry Whittington was mistook for a quail in 2006. What happened?
Answer: US Vice-President Dick Cheney shot him while participating in a quail hunt

Question: What agency of the US government is the operator of the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world?
Answer: United States Postal Service (USPS)

Question: Speaking on the occasion of which organizations' 50th Anniversary in 1996 did one of it's founders, Dr. Ware say, "I do get disappointed that so many members spend so much time solving puzzles" and expressed his desire for the members to be solving the world's problems?
Answer: Mensa

Question: Deviating from standard practice, the US patent office has a policy of refusing to grant a patent without a working model for what type of device?
Answer: Perpetual motion machine

Question: Sharbat Gula, an Afghan woman of Pashtun ethnicity achieved world wide fame when her photograph was featured on the cover of which magazine in 1985?
Answer: National Geographic

Question: Conducted by Captain Joseph Kittinger of the US Air Force in 1959/1960 using a parachute, what was Project Excelsior?
Answer: Series of high-altitude jumps

Question: George Herbert, Earl of Carnarvon (1866-1923) was an English aristocrat best known as the financier for the excavation of what?
Answer: King Tut's tomb

Question: Which US agency has primary jurisdiction over the protection of the President, Vice President and other high ranking government officials?
Answer: Secret Service

Question: A form of government called by the Greek term 'thalassocracy' refers to a state with power in what realm?
Answer: Sea

Question: In his 2004 book The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, A. J. Jacobs describes his experiences in doing what?
Answer: Reading the entire Encyclopædia Britannica

Question: What paradox states that an entirely rational ass placed between two stacks of hay of equal quality will starve as it cannot make any rational decision to start eating one rather than the other?
Answer: Buridan's ass

Question: In 1991, two men in England named Doug Bower and Dave Chorley revealed that they had been making these 'Signs' using planks, rope, hats and wire and thus exposed what hitherto unexplained phenomenon as a hoax?
Answer: Crop circles

Question: The Great Pyramid of Cholula in Puebla, Mexico is the world's largest monument and largest Pre-Columbian pyramid by volume. If told that it was built from 3rd century BCE through the 9th century CE, can you name the 'feathered-serpent' deity to whom it was dedicated?
Answer: Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god

Question: When this scientist won the Nobel prize for Physics in 1956, he brought only one of his three children to the awards ceremony in Stockholm so as not to disrupt the other two sons' studies. King Gustav scolded him about leaving his family behind on such an important occasion. He assured the King that the next time he would bring all his children and kept his word when he won again in the same category in 1972.Who is this illustrious candidate?
Answer: John Bardeen (1908-1991)

Question: The name of what versatile product was coined by US soldiers as they couldn't pronounce its original name, 'Offiziersmesser'?
Answer: Swiss Army Knife

Question: """There was a footpath leading across fields to New Southgate, and I used to go there alone to watch the sunset and contemplate suicide. I did not, however, commit suicide, because I wished to know more of mathematics."" Which 20th century philosopher-mathematician wrote this in his autobiography?"
Answer: Bertrand Russell

Question: What word that is synonymous with African tourism is from the Swahili for 'journey'?
Answer: Safari

Question: Alexander Pope wrote this epitaph for Sir Isaac Newton: "Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night; God said 'Let Newton be' and all was light." To the above, Sir John Collings Squire added: "It did not last: the devil, shouting 'Ho. Let ___ be' restored the status quo." Whom did the devil add?
Answer: Einstein

Question: In international relations, what term is used to describe the use of a third party to serve as an intermediary between two parties who do not talk directly?
Answer: Shuttle diplomacy

Question: What institution in New Jersey best known as the academic home of Albert Einstein and John von Neumann was established to foster research without the complications of teaching or funding or sponsorship?
Answer: Institute for Advanced Study

Question: Just as The Lord of the Rings franchise gave a major fillip to New Zealand's tourism, the HBO hit Game of Thrones (predominantly) had a similar effect on what part of the world?
Answer: Northern Ireland

Question: In a journal entry of the 19th century, French naturalist Henri Mouhot who explored Southeast Asia compared what site to the pyramids?
Answer: Angkor Wat

Question: In the 2014 movie Godzilla, one of the two MUTOs, the creatures that feed on nuclear radiation, is shown to emerge from what Nevada location?
Answer: Yucca mountain

Question: A view of a forest in winter - with the blue sky, dark line of trees, and snow on the ground - has what metaphorical significance for the Baltic republic of Estonia?
Answer: Its flag (the bands are sometimes compared to the mentioned image)

Question: The clouds on a prominent landmark of which city are sometimes compared to a "table cloth" which legend says forms from a smoking contest between the Devil and a pirate?
Answer: Cape Town (Table Mountain)

Question: In the early days of Atlantic City in NJ, what was constructed to keep tourists from tracking beach sand all over town?
Answer: Boardwalk

Question: Because it switched possession several times between Britain and France over multiple wars, the Caribbean nation of Saint Lucia has been compared to what beautiful person of myth with the sobriquet '... of the West'?
Answer: Helen

Question: If a list is made of people who have the most area of earth named for them, Amerigo Vesupucci wins hands down as he has two continents in his name. Which person after whom two states in a country, two islands, a desert, a strait, and a lake have been named takes the next place?
Answer: Queen Victoria