1.In 1680, this Dutch East Indies ship set sail from Amsterdam to Batavia. It was commanded by Capt.

Hendrick Van der Drecken and was battered by a sudden wind off the Cape of Good Hope. This ship was immortalized by Wagner in one of his operas. Name the ship. ** The Flying Dutchman. You know, that spectral ship which is supposed to haunt the cape of good hope and has come in a lot of scooby doo type cartoons. Wagner's opera was titled Der Flyinghollander or something to that effect. 2.In 1890, King Melenik II of Abyssinia, now Ethiopia, adopted a new imperial throne. Not only was the throne unique, it also had a cute history. So what was unique and what was the reason for the king's eccentric action?(Hint: the King was inspired by an event which took place the same year in a prison in America.) **Old Melenik's throne was an electric chair. In 1890, the electric chair was first put to use in some prison in America. The king, who wanted to modernize his rather backward country, commissioned for two electric chairs. This was before he realized that Abyssinia had no electricity. A shrewd man, he decided to cut his losses by adopting one of them for his throne. I don't think he could complain of much comfort though. As someone answered commode, I can only say had the good king chosen a commode for a throne he should have been much relieved. 3.Hard to believe, but the Loch-ness monster had an insurance policy to its name. It was insured for $56000 with Lloyd's of London. What was it insured against? **Against capture and delivery alive. As far as I know the insurance was never put to test. 4.Alexander the Great forbade his soldiers from wearing beards, and for a very practical reason too. If it had nothing to do with a surplus of razor blades, what was the reason? **Alex felt that beards provided excellent handholds for the enemy during battle. He sure was great. I'd never have thought of anything as trivial as that. Any more hits and this one would have been sunk. 5. By far the easiest one that I have ever framed: In Scotland, its called a 'fetch'. By what other German sounding name do we know this ghostly apparition?(hint: think of Drew Barrymore) **Doppelganger. Its also the name of a Drew Barrymore flick, never seen it though. Forgive me for giving a slightly misleading question. A doppelganger is actually a ghostly double. But I hoped that the Drew Barrymore hint would take care of that. But Poison Ivy has nothing to do with any ghosts and is not at all German sounding. ____________________________________________________________________ And the Farinacci question: Castor oil.