General Knowledge Trivia

English has two articles: the definite article 'the' and the indefinite article 'a/an'. Articles are classified as definite (the) or indefinite (a, an) based on whether they refer to a specific or general noun.

The Prime Minister of India has traditionally served as the ex-officio Chairman of the Planning Commission, which was established in 1950 to formulate five-year plans for economic development.

Several Indian states have two capitals - a summer capital and a winter capital. For example, Maharashtra has Mumbai (summer) and Nagpur (winter), while the former state of Jammu and Kashmir had Srinagar (summer) and Jammu (winter).

Bulgakov's satirical masterpiece influenced Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses' thematically and structurally, particularly in its use of the Devil as a narrator and its blend of political satire with magical realism.

G.K. Chesterton, the English writer and Christian apologist, composed this quote emphasizing that fairy stories teach moral courage and hope - that evil, represented metaphorically as dragons, can be overcome through human virtue.

Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road (1961) was adapted into a critically acclaimed 2008 film starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio that received multiple Oscar nominations. Yates himself was a finalist for the 1962 National Book Award.

'The Pelican Brief' (1992), Grisham's second novel, was adapted into a 1993 thriller film starring Julia Roberts as a law student and Denzel Washington as a journalist investigating political conspiracy and murder.

Becky Sharp is the clever and ambitious anti-heroine of Thackeray's 1848 novel 'Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero' - a title later adopted by the famous American lifestyle and fashion magazine founded in 1913.

'The Prince' (1532) is Machiavelli's most influential treatise on political power, advocating pragmatic and often ruthless strategies that leaders must employ. Its realistic approach to statecraft fundamentally changed Renaissance political thought.

Singapore is sometimes said to be in the 'wrong' time zone because it uses UTC+8 despite being at longitude 103°E, which would typically correspond to UTC+7. Singapore moved from UTC+7.5 to UTC+8 in 1982 for economic reasons, primarily to align with Malaysian and Chinese business hours.

Chicago, Toronto, and Montreal are all major North American cities, whereas Michigan is a US state rather than a single city.

Among San Jose, Milan, Baku, and Sofia, Milan is the odd one out. San Jose, Baku, and Sofia are all national capitals (of Costa Rica, Azerbaijan, and Bulgaria respectively), while Milan is a major city but not the capital of Italy (Rome is).

The Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica) is officially declared the national mammal of Bangladesh. While the dolphin is also found in India and Nepal, Bangladesh specifically granted it this national status in recognition of its conservation importance. India declared the Ganges River Dolphin its national aquatic animal in 2009, not national mammal.

The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth, -89.2°C (-128.6°F), was measured at Vostok Station in Antarctica on July 21, 1983. Vostok Station is a Russian research facility located near the geomagnetic South Pole at an elevation of 3,488 meters, which contributes to its extreme cold temperatures.

All four are major greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuels, water vapor (the most abundant), nitrous oxide (N2O) from agriculture, and methane (CH4) from livestock and waste all trap heat in Earth's atmosphere.

All these household activities consume electricity, which is often generated from fossil fuel power plants that emit pollutants. Watching TV, washing/drying clothes (high energy draw), using a hair dryer, and microwaving all indirectly contribute to air pollution through their energy consumption.

The Sun's surface temperature (photosphere) is approximately 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (about 5,500 degrees Celsius or 5,800 Kelvin). This is the temperature of the visible surface we see. The core is much hotter (~27 million°F), and the corona exceeds 1 million°F.

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest species of cat in the world. Adult male tigers can weigh up to 300 kg (660 lbs), exceeding lions and other big cats in both size and weight. Bengal and Siberian tigers are the largest subspecies.