Creation: questions for the idle mind

1. What is the height of the world's biggest tree? How long did it take to grow?
A: The tallest tree in the world is a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), named Hyperion after a person in Greek mythology. He is no less than 115.55 m (379.1 feet) tall. According to redwood standards, Hyperion is quite young and still growing vigorously. The tree is estimated to be around 600 years old, which is about 20 years in human time.
Plagiarised from here on 20/08/09

2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Madonna?
A: A fairly dodgy looking website called superior pics, which claims to provide the general public with contact addresses to their favourite celebrities, gave this address for Madonna:

Creative Artists Agency
9830 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, California 90212-1825
USA
Sourced from here on 20/08/09

Madonna's manager's name is Liz Rosenberg. Here are her apparent phone number and website.
Contact: Liz Rosenberg (212) 707-3256 liz.rosenberg@wbr.com
Sourced from here on 20/0/09

But if you really wanted to contact Madonna, your best bet would be a 'chance run-in'. I'd suggest stalking her house which is apparently somewhere in Manhattan... specific.

3. What is the age of the oldest ever captive elephant? Is this older than the average wild age?
A: On average, an elephant lives between 50 and 70 years although the oldest living elephant was recorded to have reached 82 years old. His name was 'Raja' and he lived in captivity in Sri Lanka.
Plagiarised from here on 20/08/09

4. How would you define the word ‘glycomics’? In your own words, what does it really mean? What does the term ‘seagull manager’ refer to?
A: i)The definition of glycomics has evolved to cover a range of scientific disciplines that are applied to study the structure and function of carbohydrates (sugars) in biological systems.
Plagiarised from here on 24/08/09

ii) A seagull manager refers to a manager who is brought in to deal with a project, makes a lot of fuss, achieves nothing, and then leaves.
Plagiarised from here on 24/08/09

5. What is David Cronenberg's most recent feature film? Which of his films had 'Blondie' in it?
A: i) Cronenberg's most recent feature film is Easter Promises (2007).
Sourced from here on 24/08/09

ii) Cronenberg's 1983 film 'Videodrome' starred Deborah Harry (Blondie).
Sourced from here on 24/08/09

6. When was the original 'Hackers' released?
A: The original Hackers was released in the following:
USA: 15th of September 1995
UK: 3rd of May 1996
Australia: 11th of July 1996
Sourced from here on 28/08/09

7. Why do phone numbers in Hollywood films star with ‘555’?
A: The phone companies began encouraging the producers of television shows and movies to use the 555 prefix
for fictional telephone numbers, roughly during the 1960s. This was done to try and prevent real telephone numbers
being used so that real people would not be prank called.
Sourced from here on 28/08/09

8. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Cairns?
A: Webjet suggests that flying is the cheapest form of travel. You can get a one way ticket for $189 with Jetstar.
Sourced from here on 28/08/09

9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1970?
A: In Wikipedia's ever expanding waste-land of knowledge, I successfully found the song that was top of the Australian pop charts during the third week of August.
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around the Bend/Run Through the Jungle. This week marked the end of its 6 week reign at top of the charts.
Sourced from here on 28/08/09

10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?
A: The Black Assassins