Question 1: How long does the Chinese New Year festival typically last?
Question 2: What 20th century art movement was pioneered by artists like Marcel Duchamp and was known for incorporating everyday objects into works of art?
Dada emerged in Europe in the early 20th century as a reaction to the horrors of World War I. The movement sought to reject logic and embrace irrationality and absurdity in art. Marcel Duchamp's famous readymade sculpture "Fountain," consisting of a porcelain urinal, is an iconic example of Dada art.
Question 3: What was the name of the world's first mass-produced programmable computer?
The UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) was the first mass-produced programmable computer, released in 1951. It was designed for the U.S. Census Bureau and used magnetic tape to store data. The UNIVAC I could perform about 1,905 operations per second.
Question 4: Who wrote the famous dystopian novel "1984"?
George Orwell, whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair, published "1984" in 1949. The novel introduced several terms and concepts that are still widely referenced today, such as "Big Brother", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime".
Question 5: In meteorology, what is the name for a line of thunderstorms that can span hundreds of miles?
A squall line is a line of thunderstorms that forms along or ahead of a cold front. It can produce severe straight-line winds, hail, and even tornadoes. Squall lines can travel for hundreds of miles and persist for many hours.
Question 6: In what French town was Vincent van Gogh living when he painted his famous work "Starry Night"?
Van Gogh painted "Starry Night" in June 1889 while he was a self-admitted patient at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. He painted the view from the east-facing window of his room just before sunrise.
Question 7: Who is believed to have written the poem that the song "Auld Lang Syne" is based on?
The poem was written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788. "Auld Lang Syne" is traditionally sung to celebrate the start of the New Year at midnight. The phrase "auld lang syne" roughly translates to "times gone by."
Question 8: Who founded the fast food chain McDonald's?
The McDonald brothers started the first McDonald's restaurant in 1940 in San Bernardino, California. Ray Kroc later partnered with the brothers to franchise the restaurants, eventually buying them out in 1961 for $2.7 million.
Question 9: Why was Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa painting attacked with a rock in 1956?
On 30 December 1956, a vandal threw a rock at the painting, damaging a speck of pigment near the left elbow. The mentally ill man claimed he did it out of love for the painting. The damage is not visible to the naked eye today.
Question 10: When was the Eiffel Tower in Paris officially opened to the public?
The Eiffel Tower was constructed for the 1889 Paris Exposition (World's Fair) celebrating the centennial of the French Revolution. It opened on March 31, 1889 and was the tallest man-made structure in the world at the time at 1,063 feet (324 meters) tall.
The Chinese New Year festival begins on the first day of the lunar calendar and ends with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day. It is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar.