# FactQuests
-
  question: Who was the first queen of Poland?
  clues:
    - In 1384 a woman was crowned **King** of Poland.
    - Her great grandfather, named "Elbow-high" was a King of Poland.
    - Poland was widely referred to as an unimportant kingdom in the 13th and 14th centuries.
  summary: "TIL that Jadwiga (r. 1384–1399) of Poland was crowned King and not Queen to signify that she ruled in her own right. Also, her great grandfather was named Władysław the Elbow-high, probably not because he was short, but because his kingdom was rather unimportant."
  references:
-
  question: How did the 16th President's favorite son die?
  clues:
    - "The 16th President of the US was Abraham Lincoln."
    - "Mary Lincoln was inconsolable in the loss of her favorite son."
    - "Lincoln called his favorite son Willie."
    - "Willie and his younger brother Tad were considered \"notorious hellions\" when they lived in Springfield."
  references:
    - "[Robert Todd Lincoln](https://www.biography.com/political-figure/robert-todd-lincoln): was the first-born son of President Abraham Lincoln, and the only one of Lincoln's four children to live to adulthood. Following his father's assassination, Lincoln worked as a lawyer, secretary of war and minister to Great Britain. He died on July 26, 1926, in Manchester, Vermont."
    - "[William Wallace Lincoln](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace_Lincoln): (December 21, 1850 – February 20, 1862) was the third son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln and died at the age of 12. He was named after Mary's brother-in-law Dr. William Wallace. Willie and his younger brother Tad were considered \"notorious hellions\" when they lived in Springfield."
    - "[Reddit TIL King jadwiga](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/jcax3n/til_that_jadwiga_r_13841399_of_poland_was_crowned/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)"
-
  question: "How did the 16th President's favorite son die?"
  clues:
    - "The 16th President of the US was Abraham Lincoln."
    - "Mary Lincoln was inconsolable in the loss of her favorite son."
    - "Lincoln called his favorite son Willie."
    - "Willie and his younger brother Tad were considered \"notorious hellions\" when they lived in Springfield."
  references:
    - "[Robert Todd Lincoln](https://www.biography.com/political-figure/robert-todd-lincoln): was the first-born son of President Abraham Lincoln, and the only one of Lincoln's four children to live to adulthood. Following his father's assassination, Lincoln worked as a lawyer, secretary of war and minister to Great Britain. He died on July 26, 1926, in Manchester, Vermont."
    - "[William Wallace Lincoln](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace_Lincoln): (December 21, 1850 – February 20, 1862) was the third son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln and died at the age of 12. He was named after Mary's brother-in-law Dr. William Wallace. Willie and his younger brother Tad were considered \"notorious hellions\" when they lived in Springfield."
    - "[The Death of Willie Lincoln](http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/education/williedeath.htm): When the president gazed at him, he mourned, \"My poor boy, he was too good for this earth. God has called him home. I know that he is much better off in heaven, but then we loved him so. It is hard, hard to have him die!\" She watched him bury his head in his hands, \"his tall frame convulsed with emotion.\" At the foot of the bed she stood 'in silent, awe-stricken wonder,\" marveling that so rugged a man could be so moved. \"I shall never forget those solemn moments -- genius and greatness weeping over love's idol lost.\" President Lincoln then walked down the hall to his secretary's office. He startled the half-dozing secretary with the news: \"Well, Nicolay, my boy is gone -- he is actually gone!\" John Nicolay recalled seeing his boss burst into tears before entering his own office."
    - "[Mr. Lincoln's Whitehouse](http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/washington): Edwin Stanton, President Lincoln's future secretary of war, wrote to General John A. Dix on June 11, 1861: \"No one can imagine the deplorable condition of this city, and the hazard of the Government who did not witness the weakness and panic of the Administration and the painful imbecility of Lincoln.\"[^5] ... An undertaker who was more contemporary observer said Washington was \"one of the worst pestholes. Well water was often contaminated by nearby latrines; Constitution Avenue was an open sewer filled with dead animals; and the Potomac River was already so polluted that President Abraham Lincoln had become ill from eating its fish. Garbage was eaten by pigs rooting openly in the streets. Hospitals had over-flowing bedpans in the wards, and there were piles of trash on the grounds outside – no wonder that typhoid, dysentery, and malaria spread everywhere.\"[^7]"
    - "[O Captain My Captain -- Abraham Lincoln and Walt Witman](http://www.davidjkent-writer.com/2020/08/12/o-captain-my-captain-abraham-lincoln-and-walt-whitman/) The Old Soldier's Home, now called President Lincoln's Cottage, was a respite from the mosquito-infested swamps abutting the Executive Mansion. The heat, humidity, and pestilence drove the Lincoln family about three miles north of the White House each summer beginning in 1862. Mary, despondent over the death of son Willie, likely from typhoid caused by well water polluted from the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses dumping waste upstream of the open sewer that was the Potomac River, desperately needed a change of locale."
-
  question: Which President served 3 terms?
  begged_questions:
    - Do you mean the 16th President of the United States or of any country in the world?
    - Do you mean president of a country or president of a multinational corporation?
    - What is the term limit of a US president?
    - When was the US President's term limit reduced to two terms?
    - Can a US President serve more than 2 terms (8 years)?
    - How many years did LBJ serve?
  clues:
    -
-
  question: What is the safest way to board a moving train?
  answer: Find an overpass near a curve in the tracks or a train station where the train is moving slowly. Jump down to the roof from a squatting position (don't hang), keeping your legs and arms close to your body like a frog. Grab onty anything you can find to avoid falling from the top of the train.
  tags:
    - dangerous
    - adult
    - ddtah
    - don't do this at home
  references:
    - _How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe_ a novel by Charles Yu
    - XKCD by Randal Munroe
    - How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, might be his most practical science guide yet.
-
  question: null
  references:
    - "_How To_, is a quasi-sequel to Randal Munroe's book _What_If?:_Serious_Scientific_Answers_to_Absurd_Hypothetical_Questions_, which was based on a series of blog posts"
-
  question: How many bricks would it take to build a tower to the moon?
-
  question: How do we know that the Earth rotates around the sun instead of the Sun rotating around the Earth?
  clues:
    - Does the moon rotate around the Earth or does the Earth rotate around the Moon?
    - Do the stars rotate around the Earth?
    - Why do stars appear to rotate around the north star?
    - Why do some lights in the sky trace an arc across the sky every 12 hours, others are brighter and trace a spiral across the sky every year, others arc across the sky in a minute or two, and others last only a few seconds before fading away?
    - meteorites, planets, moon, stars, galaxies, meteorites, satelites, commets
    - photos
    - Occam's Razor
-
  question: How do we know that the Earth is round?
-
  question: Can you see the Great Wall from space?
  begged_questions:
    - "What does \"from space\" mean?"
    - "How big is the Great Wall of China?"
    - "What is the resolution of the human eye?"
    - "What is the number of pixels in the retina of the human eye?"
    - "What is the smallest angular size of an object they human eye can detect?"
    - "What is the size of an object that can be seen from low earth orbit?"
-
  question: "How far away can you see power lines?"
-
  question: "Why are there big orange balls on power lines?"
-
  question: "Why do some wind turbines have one of their 3 blades painted black?"
-
  question: "Why do wind turbines have 3 blades"
-
  question: "Who was the first queen of Poland?"
  clues:
    - "Depends on what you mean by king."
    - "Women are sometimes crowned king in some European cultures."
  references:
    - "[King Jadwiga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadwiga_of_Poland) was crowned king of Poland because she came to the thrown in her own right, rather than by marriage to a king."
    - "[^2]: [Anne of Austria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Austria,_Queen_of_Poland) was crowned queen of Poland in May 1592"
  contexts:
    - "Anne became the first wife of Sigismund of Poland on 31 May 1592. This marriage was opposed by many nobles (szlachta) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, who were opposed to the alliance with the Austrian Habsburgs that Sigismund pursued. When Sigismund sent a diplomatic mission, led by Cardinal Radziwill, to Prague for his bride, the anti-Habsburg party with chancellor Jan Zamoyski guarded the borders to prevent the Archduchess from entering the country. Anne evaded the guards, arrived in Kraków and was crowned in May 1592 by Primas Karnkowski as the Queen of Poland. Later, during her lifetime, the capital of the Commonwealth was moved from Kraków to Warsaw.[^2]"
-
  question: "In his own home, a man watches as a woman dies. He cries, but does nothing to save her. Why?"
  answer: "He's watching a sad movie."
  references:
    - "[Brain Teaser Mysteries](https://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/43858/the-intruder.html)"
    - "[mystery puzzles](https://puzzlefry.com/tag/mystery-puzzles/)"
    - "[story puzzles](https://gpuzzles.com/brain-questions/story-puzzles-riddles-teasers/)"
    - "[logic word problems](http://www.mysterymaster.com/puzzles/index.php)"
    - "[mystery activities](https://enjoy-teaching.com/fun-mystery-activities-kids/)"
-
  question: "Acting on an anonymous phone call, the police raid a house to arrest a suspected murderer. They don't know what he looks like but they know his name is John and that he is inside the house. The police bust in on a {carpenter}, a {lorry driver}, a {mechanic} and a {fireman} playing cards. Without hesitation or communication of any kind, they immediately arrest the {fireman}. How do they know they've got their man?"
  answer: "The fireman is the only man in the room. The rest of them are women."
  references:
    - "[detective riddles](https://riddles.guru/riddles/anonymous-phone-call/162/)"
-
  question: "Some months have thirty days, some months have thirty one, but how many have twenty eight days?"
  answer: "All the months of the year have twenty eight days!"
  references:
    - "[yes/no puzzle stories](https://busyteacher.org/24997-10-puzzle-stories-for-your-language-class.html)"
-
  question: "If you had only {one match} and went into a dark room where there was an {oil lamp}, {some paper} and {some wood}, which one of these items would you light first?"
  answer: "You would light the match first!"
  references:
    "[yes/no puzzle stories](https://busyteacher.org/24997-10-puzzle-stories-for-your-language-class.html)"
-
  question: "A man builds a square house with four sides. Each side faces south. A big bear comes past his house. What colour is the bear?"
  answer: "It's white. It's a polar bear. The only place where all the walls can face south is in the centre of the North Pole."
  references:
    - "[yes/no puzzle stories](https://busyteacher.org/24997-10-puzzle-stories-for-your-language-class.html)"
-
  question: "If you drove a bus with 42 people on it from Paris and stopped at Berlin, you picked up 12 more people and drove to Rome, dropped off 6 people and then drove to Moscow and arrived back in France 24 hours later, what is the driver's name?"
  answer: "What's your name again?"
  references:
    - "[yes/no puzzle stories](https://busyteacher.org/24997-10-puzzle-stories-for-your-language-class.html)"
-

  question: "A man went into a field with a pack on his back and died. What happened?"
  answer: "He fell out of an aeroplane. The pack on his back is a parachute. It didn't work."
  references:
    - "[yes/no puzzle stories](https://busyteacher.org/24997-10-puzzle-stories-for-your-language-class.html)"
-
  question: "A man walked into a bar in America. He asked for a glass of water. The barman took a shotgun out from under the counter and pointed it at the man. After a few seconds the man said ‘thank you' and walked out. Why?"
  answer: "He wasn't thirsty. The man had hiccups. The shock made his hiccups go away."
  references:
    - "[yes/no puzzle stories](https://busyteacher.org/24997-10-puzzle-stories-for-your-language-class.html)"
-
  question: "A dark skinned man, dressed in a black suit and dark glasses walks down a country road with no streetlights. A black car with no lights on comes racing down the road. Why doesn't the car hit the man?"
  answer: "It's daylight."
  references:
    - "[yes/no puzzle stories](https://busyteacher.org/24997-10-puzzle-stories-for-your-language-class.html)"
-
  question: "In the middle of the desert there is a naked, dead body with a small stick in its hand. It's 200km to the nearest house in all directions. Next to the body are two pairs of shoes, two shirts, two pairs of shorts. There is also a bag of sand. What happened?"
  answer: "The body fell out of a hot air balloon. The balloon must have been losing height. So, the two inside dropped the sandbags over the side. It didn't work and they were still losing height. They took off their clothes but the balloon was still falling. They decided to draw straws. The person with the smallest straw would jump out. That's why the body was naked and had a stick in thehand."
  references:
    - "[yes/no puzzle stories](https://busyteacher.org/24997-10-puzzle-stories-for-your-language-class.html)"
-
  question: "A man lives on the seventh floor of a highrise apartment that fills the city block. Every day he takes the lift down to the ground floor and walks to work. He works in a circus school. Every evening he comes back, takes the lift to the fourth floor and then walks the rest of the way. Oh...except if it's raining, then he goes all the way to the seventh floor. Why?"
  answer: "He's a little person, someone who has dwarfism. He works as a clown teacher at the circus school. He can only reach the fourth button in the lift, except if it's raining and he has his umbrella, then he can use the umbrella to press the seventh floor button."
  references:
    - "[yes/no puzzle stories](https://busyteacher.org/24997-10-puzzle-stories-for-your-language-class.html)"
-
  question: "In the middle of the ocean there is a deserted, luxury yacht filled with food and drink. Around it, are dead bodies floating in the water. What happened?"
  answer: "The people on the yacht decided to have a swim so they jumped off the boat. Someone forgot to put the ladder down!"
  references:
    - "[yes/no puzzle stories](https://busyteacher.org/24997-10-puzzle-stories-for-your-language-class.html)"
