h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think you will find that "eternity" is longer.


Judging from my score I'm probably the wrong kind of nerd.
On the other hand, I know the answers to these questions now.

I must admit I did think 'Abbey Road was released'...
I also knew about the Hollywood blacklist, but with the question 'How many 'Planet of the Apes' films have there been?' surely the answer is 'nine'?:
Planet of the Apes
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
The Planet of the Apes Goes for a Burton
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
War of the Planet of the Apes

<BB<

Aha. Then you should update the Guide Entry. All I knew about was six.

Dear Aunt Dmitri,

I have recently failed a nerd quiz, the only answer I knew was about a Canadian rock band!

Does this make me a social outcast?

Do I need to drink more Red Bull?

Do I need to learn French as well as Klingon?

Does this mean I can talk to real life girls now?

Can I move out of mom's basement?

When will Netflicks screen all ten of the Planet of the Apes movies?

And YES, I wish to claim my absolutely free pair of amazing x-ray spex!

The entry is fine as it is as it is titled 'The original 'Planet of the Apes' films'. Potentially I could write an additional entry on the 21st Century 'Planet of the Apes' films, but I don't plan to. Especially as Disney have just bought 20th Century Fox and are rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of all the film rights they've acquired and what they can churn out remakes and sequels to. And according to the rumour mill, top of the list along with 'Home Alone' is 'Planet of the Apes'. Maybe in the Mickey Mouse version the Planet of the Apes will be Pluto after all…

I knew Ungoliant, floccinaucinihilipilification and antidisestablishmentarianism, Klaatu (after all, there were rumours that they were the Beatles in disguise when they released their first album) and that Klaatu, Barada and Nikto are all characters in 'Return of the Jedi' and in 'Army of Darkness' are the words used to summon the Necronomicon.

And as for Woodstock Festival, that came about because Bob Dylan had gone into seclusion since his motorcycle accident; the seriousness of the injury is unclear with reports ranging from 'but a scratch' to 'near death' – what is clear is that before he was burning the candle at all ends and after the crash he stopped performing for three years. Though he kept writing songs, including many considered among his best, he didn't release them. Dylan lived in Woodstock after which the festival was named, and the organisers felt that if they held a musical event as close to his home as they could and named it 'Woodstock' in his honour, he'd be bound to perform.
Sensibly, Dylan left town and went to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival instead.
Funnily enough Dylan said he went to the Isle of Wight Festival because he wanted to see Farringford, the home of Alfred Lord Tennyson (Dylan often included Tennyson references, among many others, in his lyrics). When he got to the Island he went to have a look around but the then owner wouldn't let him in. Guess where I had my wedding reception and spent my wedding night.

And now for the 'How many dinosaurs can you name' challenge. By 'name dinosaurs' obviously other prehistoric reptiles such as pterosaurs, marine reptiles, giant crocodilians, cynodonts and synapsids such as Dimetrodon are excluded. You've also not stated whether you can name different species of dinosaur of the same genus or not.

1. Polacanthus foxii
2. Neovenator
3. Eotyrannus lengii
4. Hypsilophodon foxii
5. Mantellisaurus
6. Vectisaurus
7. Yaverlandia
8. Baryonyx
9. Iguanodon
10. Valdosaurus
11. Megalosaurus
12. Hylaeosaurus
13. Brontosaurus
14. Allosaurus
15. Troodon
16. Camarasaurus
17. Maiasaura
18. Irritator
19. Dracorex hogwartsia <- Do I get extra points for this one?
20. Carnotaurus
21. Kentrosaurus
22. Diplodocus
23. Stegosaurus
24. Brachiosaurus
25. Pachycephalosaurus
26. Argentinosaurus
27. Dreadnoughtus
28. Spinosaurus
29. Tyrannosaurus rex
30. Triceratops
31. Protoceratops
32. Styracosaurus
33. Pentaceratops
34. Archaeopteryx
35. Ankylosaurus
36. Deinonychus
37. Hadrosaurus
38. Gallimimus
39. Compsognathus
40. Therizinosaurus
41. Paralophosaurus
42. Centrosaurus
43. Monoclonius
44. Torvosaurus
45. Wiehenvenator
46. Ornithopsis
47. Apatosaurus
48. Oviraptor
49. Utahraptor
50. Velociraptor
51. Scrotum Humanum

Good job it wasn't 'how many dinosaurs can you spell'...

<BB<

Can we have a 'what motorcycle did Bob ride?' question....

A two-wheeled one.

<BB<

Number 51 is probably the most dangerous of them all. As far as I know, that one is still alive.

T100 probably means something to do with Cyberdyne for you!

Oh, lord, what has this quiz done?

People trying to exhibit their nerdship despite low scores in this quiz?

Dinosaur name 51 comes from 'Natural History of Oxfordshire' by Robert Plot, published in 1677. It contained an illustration of a fossilised dinosaur bone, however as dinosaurs hadn't been discovered, Plot thought it might be a thigh bone from one of the elephants that Claudius used in the Roman Invasion of Britain, or possibly a giant like Goliath. A century later Richard Brookes used this illustration in his 'A System of Natural History' (1763), labelling it 'Scrotum Humanum' based on what the bone looked like. It is the first ever dinosaur bone to be given a scientific name, albeit a daft one, although the bone itself has since been lost. Palaeontologists guess it was possibly from a Megalosaurus, but there's no way to know for certain.

<BB<

I do not want to see a Megalosaurus, given how big the rest of 'em are.

Unless it's a joke, like Megalopoli in Greece, population 5,779.

Tune: Theme from 'The Adventures of Lancelot'

Oh, listen to my story, yes, listen while I sing
About the prehistoric times when dinosaurs were king.
The mighty Allosaurus, who stood thirty feet tall,
And of Tyrannosaurus Rex, the fiercest of them all.

CHORUS: In days of yo-ore,
The dinoso-ore
Was heard to ro-ar
Across the land!

I'm glad there are no dinosaurs,
They are extinct today.
I'm glad I never see one when I go out to play.
For they were even fiercer than the tigers in the zoo,
And I would be afraid that one would come and eat me, too.

Written and taught by me to my ESL primary school students about the time 'Jurassic Park' first came out.

Well done Bluebottle - I didn't score highly on this quiz, so I am in awe (I did manage to somehow score 70 on the other nerdiness quiz, though )

Yes, I learned from <BB< that Dreadnoughtus is the biggest, and that is my favourite as I like its shape, but I wouldn't want to meet a live one as it is herbivorous but it mightn't see me

I found this at the BBC site and I figured all you nerds and dino fans would enjoy it:


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/nxVbFidDbs/mission-jurassic

Sorry that should be:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/nxVbFidDbs/mission-jurassic