This week’s questions:
1) When it comes to fish, what is unique about the Anableps anableps–other than its name?
2) How many games were played in the longest match in professional tennis history, the 11-hour, 5-minute 2010 Wimbledon epic between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut?
3) Why did witches in Romania throw poisonous mandrake into the Danube River in January 2011?
4) Who was the only former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to serve as president?
5) What are the two official languages of Israel?
This week’s answers:
1) The answer is in its more commonly used name, the four-eyed fish. Anableps anableps actually has only two eyes, but the pupils of both are divided horizontally so that the fish, when swimming along the water’s surface, can search below for food while simultaneously watching above for predators.
2) An incredible 183 games–138 of which were in the decisive fifth set, which Isner won 70-68 after 8 hours and 11 minutes.
3) To cast spells on their president and government for enacting a law requiring them to pay a 16 percent income tax–from which they previously had been exempt.
4) James K. Polk, who was speaker from 1835 to 1838 and president from 1845 to 1849.
5) Hebrew and Arabic. Under the Israeli constitution, all ordinances and official government forms and documents must be available in both languages.