ortsz

Questions:

1. Which Soviet leader said the following upon being removed from power: “Now everything is different. The fear is gone, and we can talk as equals. That’s my contribution. I won’t put up a fight.”
2. With which grain was that Soviet leader somewhat obsessed?
3. Which American president created the office whose head became known as the “energy czar” and compared the intended result to Albert Speer’s role in Nazi Germany?
4. What kind of wood was the largest flying boat ever built, the Hughes H-4 Hercules or “Spruce Goose”, made from?
5. Name one of the two spices that are major flavour components of cola drinks.
6. Heptane defines the 0 point of what scale?
7. The front crawl swimming stroke now ubiquitous in freestyle competition originated in which continent?

Answers:

1. Nikita Khrushchev.
2. Corn. (Khrushchev was passionate about corn and advocated its widespread cultivation, even in Siberia; once, on a visit a kolkhoz, he stated that some in his audience were probably wondering, “will Khrushchev say something about corn or won’t he?”—and he did, rebuking the farmers for not planting more corn.)
3. Richard Nixon. (The energy czar in question, William E. Simon, understandably found both the term ‘czar’ and the Speer comparison unsettling.)
4. Birch. (Not spruce.)
5. Vanilla or cinnamon.
6. Octane ratings. (The 100 point is defined by iso-octane; some fuels, such as propane and methanol, have research octane numbers above 100.)
7. America. (The stroke was imported to Europe during the nineteenth century from Native Americans.)