Category: News

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Internet News

Approximately what percentage of Costa Rica’s land area is in protected areas?

Today’s question on Marriott World of Rewards:

Approximately what percentage of Costa Rica’s land area is in protected areas?

Answer:

23 percent

(Obtained from Wikipedia)

A little about Costa Rica and its protected areas

Costa Rica lies in that little strip below Mexico between the two continents – North America and South America. Surrounded by the Pacific ocean and Carribean sea on either sides, Costa Rica has plenty of beaches and the weather every holiday maker dreams of.

A fantastic place to live, Costa Rica was ranked 4th among Latin American in terms of HDI (Human Development Index) and 1st in all Americas and 5th world-wide in terms of Environmental Performance Index with 23% of its area preserved in protected areas.

No wonder the question about Costa Rica had to do with its protected areas.

Good luck to everyone! Have received almost 50,000 participants on this site, and never once has anyone claimed winning a prize. Hope we hear something today. Tomorrow is the last day of the quiz 🙂

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Internet News

What word is used to describe the Mumbai based, Hindi language film industry?

Welcome everyone to Marriott World of Rewards day 23, question 23. Today’s destination – India, today’s question:

What word is used to describe the Mumbai-based, Hindi-language film industry?

Answer:

Bollywood

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai
Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai

Probably the largest film industry after Hollywood, Bollywood referes to Hindustani Langauge Indian cinema and is often misunderstood to stand for all Indian cinema. There are others like Tollywood, Kollywood, Mollywood for regional language cinema within India. No prizes for guessing that these words are synonyms of Hollywood and thus, their origin.

Bollywood, unlike Hollywood is not a place or physical entity.

Read more about the history of Bollywood at Wikipedia – here.

Related Stories:

Aamir Khan’s Ghajini to rock Bollywood

Mumbai University to launch new website.

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Internet News

What is the largest Chinese community in South America?

Wow! This one’s really a killer ain’t it? Marriott World of Rewards – Today’s destination is Lima, Peru and the question is:

What is the largest Chinese community in South America?

Answer (this will really surprise everyone)

Barrio Chino

Barrio Chino is the China town in Lima, also called Barrio Chino de Lima.

Peru has the largest Chinese community in South America.

Gorgeous Peru - Largest Chinese population in South America
Gorgeous Peru - Largest Chinese population in South America

Here’s a bit about Chinese population overseas (people either born in China or of Chinese descent)

During the colonial 19th century, there was a strong demand for workers and labourers in South America, South-east Asia and other parts of the world. The Chinese, then under the Qing Dynasty, were forced to move with these colonial powers. Most Chinese preferred South east Asia (No wonder Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia have the highest Chinese populations) and the some moved to Peru, United States and Canada.

Except for China, Singapore is the only country with a majority Chinese population.

Chinese overseas population:

1. Singapore
2. Indonesia
3. Thailand
4. Malaysia
5. USA
6. Canada
7. Peru
8. Vietnam
9. Philippines
10. Burma

Much more at Wikipedia – here

All the best everyone! Winners please come back and share.

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Internet News

What Thai Buddhist temple was featured in the CBS reality show Amazing Race 9?

Welcome back contestants. Marriott World of Rewards have given me a whole new reason to blog – Looking up answers and related information, but only when the answers are hard to find.

Today’s question is:

What Thai Buddhist Temple was featured in the CBS reality show Amazing Race 9?

And the answer is:

Marble Temple

(locally known as Wat Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram)

Sideview - Marble Temple, Bangkok, Thailand
Sideview - Marble Temple, Bangkok, Thailand

It is one of the most beautiful temples in Bangkok (Capital city of Thailand) and was constructed by the 5th king in 1899.

What does Wat Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram mean? Wat means a religious school or temple and Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram means fifth King. Thus – Temple of the 5th King.

Made of Italian marble, with a built in Museum and shrines of the King and his wife, Marble temple is also one of the most popular attractions in Bangkok Thailand.

Amazing race 9 featured this temple in 2006 as the 10th elimination.

Related stories:
Buddha reincarnation Ram Bahadur Bamjan – 18 year old miracle boy!

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Achievement India News

India conquers the Moon. Indian Moon Impact Probe creates history!

India, today became the 4th nation to reach Moon via the MIP bearing Chandrayaan 1.

Indian Space Research Organisation (the Indian version of NASA) today fulfilled what they had promised. India’s first Moon impact probe today landed on Moon’s surface at 8:31pm (Indian standard time) creating history. Chandrayaan 1 ejected the MIP 100 kms from Moon’s surface.

Image of Lunar surface taken by India's Moon Impact Probe
Image of Lunar surface taken by India

“It was during Jawaharlal Nehru’s (India’s first prime minister) time that the nucleus for a space programme started. It is befitting that on children’s day (Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday) , celebrated in his honour, that India should plant its flag on the lunar surface,” Said Mr Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO in the company of APJ Abdul Kalam (ex Indian president) and other scientists.

The MIP detached itself from Chandrayaan and took 25 mins to land on Moon’s surface (because of lower gravitational pull as compared to earth).

APJ Abdul kalam with Nair on India's Moon mission
APJ Abdul kalam with Nair on India

“India may send a manned mission with an Indian astronaut in as less as 7 years”, APJ Adul Kalam said today.

Congratulations India!

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Internet News

What is the primary language spoken in Montreal?

Today’s Marriott world of rewards question:

What is the primary language spoken in Montreal?

(0r What is the official language of Montreal?)

The answer is:

French

Montreal on a beautiful, sunny day
Montreal on a beautiful, sunny day

Some really interesting stuff (Good for your GK)

  • Montreal is second largest city in Canada and in the top 5 french speaking cities of the world.
  • Montreal is the 10th most clean city in the world according to a 2007 Forbes study.
  • Montreal is one of the 25 most livable places on earth.

So why French?

The three greatest colonial empires – Britain, Spain and France shaped the demographics of earth between 15th and 19th centuries. Whatever these powers controlled, still bears their influence. Have a look at the French colonial map and you’ll know why French is the dominant language in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

French colonial map and influence of French on Canada
French colonial map and influence of French on Canada

I’ve written this article for today’s quiz participants. Finger crossed! Hope you win! 🙂

Categories
Internet News

Which arrondissement in Paris holds the park named after the Campus Martius of Rome?

Welcome contestants! Today’s Marriott World of Rewards question is:

Which arrondissement in Paris holds the park named after the Campus Martius of Rome?

The answer is:

7th Arrondissement

This one wasn’t very easy to find, but didn’t take too long either.

What is an Arrondissement? Just like we have districts, boroughs or other regions that divide administrative block in a city, Paris has 20 arrondisements that define 20 different administrative blocks. Arrondisement literally means administrative block.

Which park in Paris is named after Campus Martius of Rome, Italy? Answer is Champ de Mars. For those who’ve been to Paris, this is the part that extends beautifully from the south-east of Eiffle Tower to Ecole Militaire. If you’ve been on the Eiffel tower, you couldn’t have missed it! Here’s a pic reminder:

Champ de Marsor or field of Mars (in English)
Champ de Mars or field of Mars (in English)

Well, after I found that it was Champ de Mars – the park named after Campus Martius of Rome, all I needed to do was search that on Google, and voila! Wikipedia said it’s the 7th arrondissement!

Best of luck people! Haven’t won anything yet.. but I hope someone benefits.

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News

ACT Scores out today!! ACT Students click here!

ACT Scores are out Today!!!!

ACT scores were published today for the national and international ACT tests conducted on 25 October 2008.

If your result is not out today , do not panic. The results are released in batches and you should check back every few days at the following website:

https://services.actstudent.org/OA_HTML/actibeCAcdLogin.jsp

or

http://www.actstudent.org and navigate from there.

You will need to sign up in order to check your score on this site.

All the best!! What’s your score eh?

What is ACT?

The ACT is the college entrance examination taken by high school students in America. The ACT tests Science, Maths, English and reading.

The ACT score can be any number between 1 (which is the lowest) to 36 (which is the highest) for each of the four subjects tested. A “Composite” score is also given, which is the average of the scores in the four individual tests.

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Hollywood News

Jennifer Aniston blasts Angelina Jolie for a 2006 Vogue interview!

Jennifer Aniston gets back at Angelina Jolie with her Vogue interview opportunity

Old Vogue covers with Aniston
Old Vogue covers with Aniston

The former F.R.I.E.N.D.S. star Jennifer Aniston said Angelina Jolie shouldn’t have revealed details of her romance with Brad Pitt during shooting of the movie “Mr and Mrs Smith” as Pitt and Aniston were married at that time.

Jolie on Vogue cover 2006
Jolie on Vogue cover 2006

In an interview with Vogue magazine in 2006, Angeline Jolie mentioned details of her romance with Brad Pitt who was then married to Jennifer Aniston. And Jennifer has

“There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time I was unaware it was happening,” Jennifer was quoted saying.

Pitt and Aniston divorced after 5 years of marriage in Oct, 2005.

“I felt those details were a little inappropriate to discuss, that stuff about how she couldn’t wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool.” Jennifer Aniston had said in her interview for Vogue magazine’s December 2008 issue, about to come out soon.

Jennifer also commented on her and Brad Pitt’s current status:

We have exchanged a few very kind hellos and wishing you wells and sending you love and congratulations on your babies. I have nothing but absolute admiration for him, and I’m proud of him! I think he’s really done some amazing things!”Aniston said

Categories
Internet News

Las Vegas is the brightest city in the world as seen from?

These Marriott World of Rewards questions are becoming simpler and simpler and I’m losing the whole “what’s the next challenge” feeling. Yesterday they asked where Mozart was born, the day before what are people from Beunos Aires called. I mean c’mon, an online quiz has gotta be ridiculously tough to look up. Dunno what you guys feel. Anyway,

Today’s Question:

Las Vegas is the brightest city in the world as seen from?

Answer:

Space

It had to be either space or moon. It can’t be moon, because it’s too far away and the only man made structure seen from the moon is Great wall of China. Wikipedia confirms this. For those who thought about airplanes, there’s a rating of brightest cities as seen from airplanes and even in that listing, Las Vegas closely follows London.

Because Las Vegas is situated in the middle of nowhere, when aircrafts fly over Las Vegas, the pilots see a big blob of light in the middle of darkness. It’s not the same from space. Generally infrared or other technology is used to find which is the brightest city.

Las Vegas has heavy external lighting all through the strip and this Sin City is thus the brightest city in the World, when seen from space!