Bricker Challenge 2005, Edition # 2½

[Bricker]

Following, please find the questions for the Bricker Challenge 2005, Edition # 2½

The rules, as always, are simple: I have posted a list of ... stuff. You, the contest participant, must identify each item and/or answer each question. For example, if one item were: "Is the quality of mercy strained?" you might answer, “No. It falleth as gentle rains from the heavens,” which would show you recognize the classic speech from Portia in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Even better would be if you added that the speech came from Portia in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.

"What is NaCl?" Your answer might be, "The chemical symbols for sodium chloride, common table salt."

An answer that shows you get the reference is fine, as long as it explains every element in the question. If it’s a joke, explain the joke. Leave no stone unturned. Be the party know-it-all that explains why the malaprop is funny, and what the speaker MEANT to say. Some questions may contain deliberate errors of spelling, or of meaning. Correct the misapprehension or the mistake. "What's that movie where Shelley Duvall says 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning?'" needs to be answered with "Apocalypse Now" but ALSO a note that the actor was Robert Duvall, not Shelley Duvall.

I’m phrasing questions ambiguously in an effort to cut down on the help that search engines can provide, although there's no getting around it ... many will be answerable by search engine anyway. There is no rule against using search engines (or any other reference) although I would appreciate if, just for curiosity’s sake, you note that you got the answer by search engine as opposed to simply knowing it.

I am awarding a $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com as the prize to the winner. Alternatively, if the winner is not a subscribed member and wishes to become so, I am awarding a one-year paid subscription to the SDMB. A winner who is already subscribed may donate his subscription to another person of his choosing, but must identify the recipient within a reasonable period of time.

The winner is the person that answers the most questions correctly by post here dated on or before Saturday, July 16th, at 11:00 PM EST, or the first person to answer all questions correctly before that time. I reserve the right to substitute another prize of comparable value for any reason. My decisions are final as to the accuracy of all answers. I may, or may not, provide intermediate feedback as to the number of correct answers each entrant has, but if I make any errors in doing so, it’s your tough luck. I won't score posts with less than five correct answers. Only the single post with the most correct answers by the deadline qualifies you as a winner. In the unlikely event of a tie, which would occur if two or more posts have the same date/time stamp and both have the highest number of correct answers, the prize will be split amongst each tied contestant.

The next post has the questions. Good luck!

- Rick

[Bricker]

1. With this Bricker Challenge, I come to you to test you with hard questions, but don’t get me wrong – Solomon never seduced me and converted me to Christianity, and I’m not even royalty.
2. Janie tells the story to Phoebe on the steps of the back porch.
3. Phoebe didn’t know Travis shoots Old Yeller.
4. If you found a Kasper Hauser, would you start to believe in alien abduction?
5. If you found a Maxwell Hauser, would you support him for president of the student body?
6. If they could only have used a DNA test, Dimmesdale’s appeal would have been very different.
7. Do you trust Hank Reardon’s mettle?
8. Tell me about the night that was sans peur et sans reproche.
9. The Association sang to us that everyone knows it’s Windy, but what about flying with Michael and John? Who did that?
10. If your friend Crispis Atucks invites you to come protest with him, say you’ve got other plans.
11. Hold the pickles and the lettuce, because, really, we’re fine with special orders.
12. What’s the difference between a killer and an obliterator?
13. Although the novel never explicitly identifies him, what literary character engages Oscar Gordon in a swordfight for the Egg of Wisdom?
14. What was the name of that famous old Greek teacher who died from an overdose of wedlock?
15. The three types of columns: doorick, ironic, and … ?
16. Randolph and Mortimer were homeless bums until they got a sackful of money. Perhaps they can go back to making $1 bets.
17. It was Henry VI and Edward VI – why do flowers come into it?
18. Where might you be if you saw a magic show put on by illusionist Anthony Blake?
19. Nobody does that to Mrs. Russ Crane!
20. 197.14.24.3 and 197.14.24.7 are on the same network, but 197.14.24.10 is on a different network. What is the correct subnet mask for 197.14.24.5 ?
21. In Plato’s “Republic,” they keep blabbing about cave shadows – what’s up with that?
22. Hey, at least “Be all you can be,” is a little better approach than what caused the 1807 Embargo Act.
23. Capital of the Incas, or a David Spade voice.
24. Evaluate sin-1(sin(2p/3))
25. Susan Silverman’s fling with Russell Corrigan ended much worse than Meg Ryan’s fling with Russell Crowe.

[Ghanima]

14. What was the name of that famous old Greek teacher who died from an overdose of wedlock?

Socrates, and it was hemlock, not wedlock.


15. The three types of columns: doorick, ironic, and … ?

It's Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

[Cliffy]

Ghanima! You're supposed to give me the answers to questions I don't know!

--Cliffy

[Metacom]

I'll mark the ones I did "off the top of my head" with a *. If 14 is wrong someone needs to look for a Greek philosopher that died of VD on Wikipedia.

6. Dimmesdale impregnated the female protagonist in 'The Scarlet Letter' and denied doing so (until the end, at least)

7. I don't trust anything created by Ayn Rand. :D

14. Socrates *

15. Corinthian *

17. War of the Roses *

20. 197.14.24.248 *

22. Impressment *

24. 2pi/3 *


I need to read more 'literature'. :(

[Ghanima]

9. The Association sang to us that everyone knows it’s Windy, but what about flying with Michael and John? Who did that?

Wendy and Peter Pan

17. It was Henry VI and Edward VI – why do flowers come into it?

The War of the Roses, named for the badges of the two houses involved. Also its actually Edward IV.

[Metacom]

Doh! I munged the netmask; the first 3 octets should have been all ones (it's not a broadcast address!). Revised, and incorporating new answers:

6. Dimmesdale impregnated the female protagonist in 'The Scarlet Letter' and denied doing so (until the end, at least)

7. I don't trust anything created by Ayn Rand. :D

9. Peter Pan

14. Socrates *

15. Corinthian *

17. War of the Roses *

20. 255.255.255.248 *

22. Impressment *

24. 2pi/3 *


I need to read more 'literature'. :([/QUOTE]

[August West]

7. I'll cross that bridge when I get there

10. Massacres are never pretty

11. Have it your way

21. If that's all you saw, your reality may be skewed

[August West]

I forgot

6. Poor Hester Prynne, I agree a PCR might have helped her case

[Frank]

4. If you found a Kasper Hauser, would you start to believe in alien abduction? Kaspar Hauser was the young man found wandering the streets who had been raised with no human contact. (Benjamin Bathurst would have been better for this question.)

8. Tell me about the night that was sans peur et sans reproche. The knight was Sir Galahad.

10. If your friend Crispis Atucks invites you to come protest with him, say you’ve got other plans. Crispus Attucks was killed in the Boston Massacre.

11. Hold the pickles and the lettuce, because, really, we’re fine with special orders. Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don't upset us, have it your way at Burger King.

13. Although the novel never explicitly identifies him, what literary character engages Oscar Gordon in a swordfight for the Egg of Wisdom? Cyrano de Bergerac.

14. What was the name of that famous old Greek teacher who died from an overdose of wedlock? Socrates. Hemlock.

15. The three types of columns: doorick, ironic, and … ? korintiun.

16. Randolph and Mortimer were homeless bums until they got a sackful of money. Perhaps they can go back to making $1 bets. They were the rich brothers who set up Eddie Murphy in Trading Places, then were given the money by Eddie Murphy in Coming to America.

17. It was Henry VI and Edward VI – why do flowers come into it? A white rose and a red rose were the symbols of the competing sides in the War of the Roses.

[Aangelica]

10. First casualty of the American Revolution. Black gentleman whose name is actually spelled "Crispus Attucks". Killed during the Boston Massacre in 1770.

11. Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce; special orders don't upset us. McDonald's jingle from when I was a wee lass.

13. That would be the Egg of the Phoenix, and I always thought it was Count Caligostro he was fighting, but it's been a while and I may be mistaken.

16. Trading Places. Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd. Fairly lame plot device (first popularized in the Prince and the Pauper) in which Dan Ackroyd's privileged character is orchestrated to change places with Eddie Murphy the low-rent hustler for the satifsaction of a bet between Randolph and Mortimer.

17. Wars of the Roses. Civil wars fought between the House of Lancaster (Henry) and the House of York (Edward) in the middle to late 15th Century in England. Ultimately ended up with Henry VII of the House of Tudor on the throne.

21. Apparently (according to Plato), man's rise to consciousness and an appreciation of his world and the philosophical underpinnings thereof can be appropriately analogized as a man raised in a cave rising out of the cave and into the light of reason and understanding. Or something. Plato fills me with the ultimately-futile urge to beat him with a brick therefore I can't be quoted on this particular viewpoint of his.

[Ghanima]

5. If you found a Maxwell Hauser, would you support him for president of the student body?

Why not, I like Jon Cryer.


13. Although the novel never explicitly identifies him, what literary character engages Oscar Gordon in a swordfight for the Egg of Wisdom?

Cyrano De Bergerac, for the Egg of the Phoenix.

[lno]

Best of luck on this, everyone.

[Rodd Hill]

1. Who's she, the Queen of Sheba? Got chucked in the Serpentine again, to avoid the summer heat, no doubt.

3. Pheobe's mom always stopped the Disney movie before Old Yeller gets it in the sweetbreads, as she had hydrophobia-phobia.

5. Y'know, I hated the 1980s. Even more than I hated high school, especially older guys who dated girls in high school that I liked.

10. Do you mean the first casualty of the American Revolution, Crispus Attucks?

11. Have it your way at Burger King...

16. Slam bang, I bin all them places. I was Agent Orange, man! "Trading Places."

17. The Wars of the Roses. York and Lancaster, white and red (don't ask me to recall which was which, though.)

22. This had a huge impact on Canada (or British North America, as it then was); Jefferson's Act basically had the intent of protesting British and French interference in US commerce on the high seas, but had the unintended effect of stopping all trade between the US and any other nation; it also helped stoke up anti-British feeling in the run-up to the War of 1812.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

1. With this Bricker Challenge, I come to you to test you with hard questions, but don’t get me wrong – Solomon never seduced me and converted me to Christianity, and I’m not even royalty.
So you're not the Queen of Sheba.
4. If you found a Kasper Hauser, would you start to believe in alien abduction?
No. It is a weird story, but I assume he was a victim of earthlings.
5. If you found a Maxwell Hauser, would you support him for president of the student body?
Sure. Any high school could use a stockbroker as its president (John Cryer character from the movie Hiding Out).
6. If they could only have used a DNA test, Dimmesdale’s appeal would have been very different.
It would have proven that he was genuine father-of-pearl (Dimmsedale was the priest in The Scarlet Letter)
7. Do you trust Hank Reardon’s mettle?
I don't know but I guess I would trust Reardon Metal (Reardon is a steel magnate in Ayn rand's Atlas Shrugged
9. The Association sang to us that everyone knows it’s Windy, but what about flying with Michael and John? Who did that?
Wendy (Peter Pan).
10. If your friend Crispis Atucks invites you to come protest with him, say you’ve got other plans.
Good advice. I'd rather not end up as the answer to a trivia question as the first guy killed in a revolution.
11. Hold the pickles and the lettuce, because, really, we’re fine with special orders.
You are Brger King.
13. Although the novel never explicitly identifies him, what literary character engages Oscar Gordon in a swordfight for the Egg of Wisdom?
Cyrano DeBergerac (in Heinlein's Glory Road. I believe it was the Egg of the Phoenix, by the way, not the Egg of wisdom.
14. What was the name of that famous old Greek teacher who died from an overdose of wedlock?
Socrates.
15. The three types of columns: doorick, ironic, and … ?
Corinthian. Both of the above to questions are allusions to real answers given on tests by school kids.
16. Randolph and Mortimer were homeless bums until they got a sackful of money. Perhaps they can go back to making $1 bets.
This is the ending of Trading Places.
17. It was Henry VI and Edward VI – why do flowers come into it?
They were on badges worn by royal houses during the War of the Roses.
18. Where might you be if you saw a magic show put on by illusionist Anthony Blake?
In the Magic Castle...as an extra...watching Bill Bixby in a 70's television show called The Magician.
21. In Plato’s “Republic,” they keep blabbing about cave shadows – what’s up with that?
Plato's cave is an exetnded metaphor in which characters are chained inside a cave and the only thing they can see is shadowplays on the wall from candles behind their heads. They believe that these shadowplays are all there is in the universe.
22. Hey, at least “Be all you can be,” is a little better approach than what caused the 1807 Embargo Act.
The Napoleonic wars?
23. Capital of the Incas, or a David Spade voice.
Cuzco.

[Bricker]

Metacom: 7
This Year's Model: 8
Rodd Hill: 6
Diogenes: 15

[Cliffy]

1. What are you, the Queen of Sheba? Guess not.

2. Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God is set as a story told from Janie to her friend Pheoby.

3. Friends -- Phoebe's mother always turned the movie off before the sad part.

4. No -- Kaspar, a boy who appeared mysteriously in Nurenberg, was possibly abducted by his uncle's family, but not aliens.

5. Maxwell Hauser is Andrew Morenski is Jon Cryer is Hiding Out.

6. Yes -- Dimmesdale managed to keep his indiscretion with Hester secret for quite a while. (The Scarlet Letter)

7. I don't trust anyone who is a protagonist in an Ayn Rand novel, but his metal is supposed to be the bees' knees.

8. The knight that was without fear and without reproach was Sir Galahad. Also Peter Bayard.

9. Wendy Darling (Peter Pan)

10. I'd rather not be the first casualty of the American Revolution

11. Hold the pickles/Hold the lettuce/Special orders don't upset us -- Have it your way at Burger King

12. A killer is any postmark or cancellation mark which makes a stamp unuseable. An obliterator is a device specifically designed to cancel stamps. (Obliterators -- or at least the marks they make -- are a subset of killers.)

13. Cyrano de Bergerac, in Glory Road.

14. Socrates, and it's hemlock. Indeed, given some of the things he was accused of, it's probably safe to say it was an underdose of wedlock.

15. Doric, ionic, and fine Corinthian leather. Er, uh, marble.

16. The Duke brothers from Trading Spaces (Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche).

17. War of the Roses, due to the devices of the Houses that fought it.

18. In my living room, watching an episode of The Magician, starring Bill Bixby.

19. Said by crime boss Lombino (Kurtwood Smith) regarding his wife in the film Quick Change. Russ Crane was his alias.

20. 255.255.255.248

21. The parable of the cave is Plato's metaphysics. He analogizes man's imperfect observations of the world as shadows in a cave where the occupants cannot see the actual thing casting the shadow.

22. Impressment of Americans by the British navy.

23. Kuzco was the voice. The incan capital is typically spelled Cusco or Cuzco.

24. 2/3 of pi, which is ~2.094....

25. In Robert B. Parker's Spenser novel iBackstory, Susan is the subject of a hitman's contract. Ryan and Crowe's shenanigans just took the focus off their movie (Proof of Life).

--Cliffy

[Siddhartha Vicious]

Regarding question #14, I keep thinking that "wedlock" was what Bricker meant. Hemlock and Socrates seems a bit too simple to me.

[Metacom]

24. 2/3 of pi, which is ~2.094....
With an engineering degree (not that I've done much math since I've left college...) I should have remembered that sin and friends are periodic. :smack:

[Bricker]

Cliffy: 22

[Antonius Block]

1. With this Bricker Challenge, I come to you to test you with hard questions, but don’t get me wrong - Solomon never seduced me and converted me to Christianity, and I’m not even royalty.
And yet they still call you the Queen of Sheba...

2. Janie tells the story to Phoebe on the steps of the back porch.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston), Janie is the protagonist and Phoeby her confidante.

3. Phoebe didn’t know Travis shoots Old Yeller.
Her mother always turned off the movie before the end to protect her, in Friends.

4. If you found a Kasper Hauser, would you start to believe in alien abduction?
Although he showed up in Nürnberg as a pre-teen with mysterious origins, there is most likely a more mundane explanantion to this Enigma.

5. If you found a Maxwell Hauser, would you support him for president of the student body?
No, because Jon Cryer as bond trader Andrew Morenski, aka "high schooler" Max Hauser in "Hiding Out", is a little too old for the job.

6. If they could only have used a DNA test, Dimmesdale’s appeal would have been very different.
Dimmesdale was the father of Hester Prynne's child in The Scarlet Letter, but refused to admit it. In the long run, he might have been better off going public and taking his chances.

7. Do you trust Hank Reardon’s mettle?
In Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Hank Rearden is Founder of Rearden Steel and inventor of Rearden Metal, an alloy that is stronger and cheaper than steel. Only those evil anticapitalist government types would mistrust it!

8. Tell me about the night that was sans peur et sans reproche.
Sir Galahad was that knight.

9. The Association sang to us that everyone knows it’s Windy, but what about flying with Michael and John? Who did that?
Wendy Darling, with Peter Pan.

10. If your friend Crispis Atucks invites you to come protest with him, say you’ve got other plans.
Crispus Attucks was killed at the Boston Massacre, and is popularly held to be the first casualty of the American Revolution.

11. Hold the pickles and the lettuce, because, really, we’re fine with special orders.
Burger King, "Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us".

12. What’s the difference between a killer and an obliterator?
A killer is any postmark or cancellation mark which makes a stamp unuseable. An obliterator is a device specifically designed to cancel stamps. (Obliterators -- or at least the marks they make -- are a subset of killers.)[Thanks, Cliffy!]

13. Although the novel never explicitly identifies him, what literary character engages Oscar Gordon in a swordfight for the Egg of Wisdom?
Cyrano de Bergerac, but it's the Egg of the Phoenix, in Heinlein's Glory Road.

14. What was the name of that famous old Greek teacher who died from an overdose of wedlock?
Socrates, but it was hemlock.

15. The three types of columns: doorick, ironic, and - ?
Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

16. Randolph and Mortimer were homeless bums until they got a sackful of money. Perhaps they can go back to making $1 bets.
They were the Duke Brothers whose $1 bets caused the Trading Places of Eddie Murphy's and Dan Aykroyd's characters, but they got their comeuppance in Florida OJ futures. They make a cameo appearance in the later Murphy vehicle Coming to America, in which they are the bums who pick up the bag of money that Murphy's African prince drops.

17. It was Henry VI and Edward VI - why do flowers come into it?
The Wars of the Roses - Red (Henry VI of Lancaster) vs White (Edward IV, not VI, of York), after the badges of the two Houses.

18. Where might you be if you saw a magic show put on by illusionist Anthony Blake?
On the set of The Magician, starring Bill Bixby.

19. Nobody does that to Mrs. Russ Crane!
Not unless they want to run afoul of Kurtwood Smith's gangster Lombino (aka Russ Crane) in Bill Murray's Quick Change.

20. 197.14.24.3 and 197.14.24.7 are on the same network, but 197.14.24.10 is on a different network. What is the correct subnet mask for 197.14.24.5 ?
255.255.255.248

21. In Plato’s "Republic", they keep blabbing about cave shadows - what’s up with that?
Plato's cave allegory imagines prisoners chained since childhood in a cave, constrained so as to only look at one wall. There is a fire behind them, and when people walk between the fire and the prisoners' backs, carrying various objects, the prisoners can only see the corresponding shadows on the wall that they face. Their entire world view is based on these shadows. If one prisoner is released to the outside world and "enlightened", then returned to the cave, he's going to have a hard time convincing his companions of his new-found world view.

22. Hey, at least "Be all you can be", is a little better approach than what caused the 1807 Embargo Act.
The former is the slogan of the current (all-volunteer) US Army, whereas the latter was passed in response to impressment of Americans into the British Navy. The Act had the effect of cutting off the US from European trade, which hurt exports but made the US more self-sufficient wrt manufacturing. It also was one of the causes of the War of 1812.

23. Capital of the Incas, or a David Spade voice.
Spade's character in The Emperor's New Groove is Kuzco, whereas the Incan capital in Peru is usually spelled Cusco or Cuzco.

24. Evaluate sin-1(sin(2p/3))
It's (2p/3), or about 2.094

25. Susan Silverman’s fling with Russell Corrigan ended much worse than Meg Ryan’s fling with Russell Crowe.
In Robert B. Parker's novel A Catskill Eagle, Spenser's sometime squeeze Susan is in the clutches of Russell "Rusty" Costigan, the son of an evil arms dealer (she thinks she's in love, but it's very manipulative). When Spenser tries to save her, the arms dealer puts a contract on him, and the bodies pile up before Spenser gets Susan back (although why he's want her is anyone's guess). Ms Ryan and Mr Crowe had an affair while filming Proof of Life, and although it probably helped to end Ryan's marriage to Dennis Quaid, nobody got whacked.

[Bricker]

Wow. If they were slain, 'twere best they be slain quickly?

Antonius Block: 25, and a winner!

[Antonius Block]

Woohoo!

I knew that as a West-Coaster, with Cliffy close to the goal as my evening was winding down, I had a one-shot / one-kill chance.

I just got out of bed to check e-mail, and am heading back thataways, so will give a breakdown of known / researched / stolen answers later today. Suffice to say for now, that your post #20: Cliffy: 22gave me the spur to even enter this time around.

Proceeds to charity, Bricker, please -- let's discuss details later today. Cliffy, are any charitable causes particularly close to your heart at the moment?

[Now, back to bed.]

[Cliffy]

I had absolutely no clue on #25 and I had to go home, so I figured I'd take a flyer and hope maybe nobody got it. What were the other two I missed? Failing to explain "Be all you can be," maybe?

--Cliffy

[Bricker]

I had absolutely no clue on #25 and I had to go home, so I figured I'd take a flyer and hope maybe nobody got it. What were the other two I missed? Failing to explain "Be all you can be," maybe?

--Cliffy

That was one -- you needed to explain that "Be all you can be" was an ARMY slogan as opposed to a Navy one, but it was Navy impressment that led to the Embargo Act of 1807.

You also needed to correct the error about the War of the Roses: Edward IV, not Edward VI, was the top guy of York.

[Frank]

Congrats, Antonius Block!

I knew I wasn't going to win, but since 8 right is about 8 better than I've ever thought I'd be able to do on one of these before, I figured I'd post anyways.

Bricker, after googling, I thought I had Sir Galahad wrong. Which one did you nick me on?

[Bricker]

Congrats, Antonius Block!

I knew I wasn't going to win, but since 8 right is about 8 better than I've ever thought I'd be able to do on one of these before, I figured I'd post anyways.

Bricker, after googling, I thought I had Sir Galahad wrong. Which one did you nick me on?

Same as Cliffy's -- Edward IV was at the head of the House of York.

[Frank]

Same as Cliffy's -- Edward IV was at the head of the House of York.
Ah. Thanks.

[Antonius Block]

Bricker, in the thrill of the chase I forgot to thank you for all of the hard work you put in each time you do one of these. Then, on top of that, to be generous enough to provide a reward.... 'tis truly a noble thing.

Speaking of rewards, I just thought of a SDMB Charter Member who hasn't posted in a few months and who seems to have gone to "Guest" status, which means that said dormant Doper presumably didn't renew back in April. On the offchance that this is a financial consideration, I'd like to try to make e-mail contact and offer a "Bricker scholarship". If I don't hear back, or if their decision not to renew was other than financial, we can discuss charitable donation.

I'll give a full autopsy of my responses later today, but I just want to say that one of the interesting aspects of the Bricker Challenge is the prcess of refinement of the Virtual Bricker Machine [I was going to call it Bricker Virtual Machine, but the initials might have been taken to be irreverent...] that I use to analyze previous answers and scores! I know that you no longer give half-marks, and I've concluded that you don't require that the "anti-Google traps" (i.e. misspellings of names in the clues) be corrected in the answers, but I still end up confused sometimes. That's what makes it so challenging!

[Cliffy]

I agree with that, Antonius. An answer that would be acceptable for Jeopardy, for instance, might not be accepted in the Bricker Challenge.

--Cliffy

[Orbifold]

24. Evaluate sin-1(sin(2p/3))
It's (2p/3), or about 2.094

This is incorrect: sin-1(sin(2p/3))=p/3, not 2p/3. The standard definition of sin-1 has a range that only goes from -p/2 to +p/2. The only number in that range whose sine is sqrt(3)/2 is p/3.

So sin-1(sin(2p/3)) = sin-1(sqrt(3)/2) = p/3.

Sorry to mention this after Bricker already declared a winner, but I wasn't expecting Bricker to give Antonius that one...

[Antonius Block]

1. With this Bricker Challenge, I come to you to test you with hard questions, but don’t get me wrong - Solomon never seduced me and converted me to Christianity, and I’m not even royalty.
And yet they still call you the Queen of Sheba...

2. Janie tells the story to Phoebe on the steps of the back porch.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston), Janie is the protagonist and Phoeby her confidante.

3. Phoebe didn’t know Travis shoots Old Yeller.
Her mother always turned off the movie before the end to protect her.

4. If you found a Kasper Hauser, would you start to believe in alien abduction?
Although he showed up in Nürnberg as a pre-teen with mysterious origins, there is most likely a more mundane explanantion to this Enigma.

5. If you found a Maxwell Hauser, would you support him for president of the student body?
No, because Jon Cryer as bond trader Andrew Morenski, aka "high schooler" Max Hauser in "Hiding Out", is a little too old for the job.

6. If they could only have used a DNA test, Dimmesdale’s appeal would have been very different.
Dimmesdale was the father of Hester Prynne's child in The Scarlet Letter.

7. Do you trust Hank Reardon’s mettle?
In Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Reardon's company invents an alloy that is stronger and cheaper than steel. Only those evil anticapitalist government types would mistrust it!

8. Tell me about the night that was sans peur et sans reproche.
Sir Galahad was that knight.

9. The Association sang to us that everyone knows it’s Windy, but what about flying with Michael and John? Who did that?
Wendy Darling, with Peter Pan.

10. If your friend Crispis Atucks invites you to come protest with him, say you’ve got other plans.
Crispus Attucks was killed at the Boston Massacre, and is popularly held to be the first casualty of the American Revolution.

11. Hold the pickles and the lettuce, because, really, we’re fine with special orders.
Burger King, "Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us".

12. What’s the difference between a killer and an obliterator?
A killer is any postmark or cancellation mark which makes a stamp unuseable. An obliterator is a device specifically designed to cancel stamps. (Obliterators -- or at least the marks they make -- are a subset of killers.)[Thanks, Cliffy!]

13. Although the novel never explicitly identifies him, what literary character engages Oscar Gordon in a swordfight for the Egg of Wisdom?
Cyrano de Bergerac, but it's the Egg of the Phoenix, in Heinlein's Glory Road.

14. What was the name of that famous old Greek teacher who died from an overdose of wedlock?
Socrates, but it was hemlock.

15. The three types of columns: doorick, ironic, and - ?
Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

16. Randolph and Mortimer were homeless bums until they got a sackful of money. Perhaps they can go back to making $1 bets.
They were the Duke Brothers whose $1 bets caused the Trading Places of Eddie Murphy's and Dan Aykroyd's characters, but they got their comeuppance in Florida OJ futures. They make a cameo appearance in the later Murphy vehicle Coming to America, in which they are the bums who pick up the bag of money that Murphy's African prince drops.

17. It was Henry VI and Edward VI - why do flowers come into it?
The Wars of the Roses - Red (Henry VI of Lancaster) vs White (Edward IV, not VI, of York), after the badges of the two Houses.

18. Where might you be if you saw a magic show put on by illusionist Anthony Blake?
On the set of The Magician, starring Bill Bixby.

19. Nobody does that to Mrs. Russ Crane!
Not unless they want to run afoul of Kurtwood Smith's gangster Lombino (aka Russ Crane) in Bill Murray's Quick Change.

20. 197.14.24.3 and 197.14.24.7 are on the same network, but 197.14.24.10 is on a different network. What is the correct subnet mask for 197.14.24.5 ?
255.255.255.248

21. In Plato’s "Republic", they keep blabbing about cave shadows - what’s up with that?
Plato's cave allegory imagines prisoners chained since childhood in a cave, constrained so as to only look at one wall. There is a fire behind them, and when people walk between the fire and the prisoners' backs, carrying various objects, the prisoners can only see the corresponding shadows on the wall that they face. Their entire world view is based on these shadows. If one prisoner is released to the outside world and "enlightened", then returned to the cave, he's going to have a hard time convincing his companions of his new-found world view.

22. Hey, at least "Be all you can be", is a little better approach than what caused the 1807 Embargo Act.
The former is the slogan of the current (all-olunteer) US Army, whereas the latter was passed in response to impressment of Americans into the British Navy. The Act had the effect of cutting off the US from European trade, which hurt exports but made the US more self-sufficient wrt manufacturing. It also was one of the causes of the War of 1812.

23. Capital of the Incas, or a David Spade voice.
Spade's character in The Emperor's New Groove is Kuzco, whereas the Incan capital in Peru is usually spelled Cusco or Cuzco.

24. Evaluate sin-1(sin(2p/3))
According to Orbifold, it's (2p/3), or about 1.047!

25. Susan Silverman’s fling with Russell Corrigan ended much worse than Meg Ryan’s fling with Russell Crowe.In Robert B. Parker's novel A Catskill Eagle, Spenser's sometime squeeze Susan is in the clutches of Russell "Rusty" Costigan, the son of an evil arms dealer (she thinks she's in love, but it's very manipulative). When Spenser tries to save her, the arms dealer puts a contract on him, and the bodies pile up before Spenser gets Susan back (although why he's want her is anyone's guess). Ms Ryan and Mr Crowe had an affair while filming Proof of Life, and although it probably helped to end Ryan's marriage to Dennis Quaid, nobody got whacked.

[Antonius Block]

[Sorry, I hit Post rather than Preview just now]
1. With this Bricker Challenge, I come to you to test you with hard questions, but don’t get me wrong - Solomon never seduced me and converted me to Christianity, and I’m not even royalty.
And yet they still call you the Queen of Sheba...

2. Janie tells the story to Phoebe on the steps of the back porch.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston), Janie is the protagonist and Phoeby her confidante.

3. Phoebe didn’t know Travis shoots Old Yeller.
Her mother always turned off the movie before the end to protect her.

4. If you found a Kasper Hauser, would you start to believe in alien abduction?
Although he showed up in Nürnberg as a pre-teen with mysterious origins, there is most likely a more mundane explanantion to this Enigma.

5. If you found a Maxwell Hauser, would you support him for president of the student body?
No, because Jon Cryer as bond trader Andrew Morenski, aka "high schooler" Max Hauser in "Hiding Out", is a little too old for the job.

6. If they could only have used a DNA test, Dimmesdale’s appeal would have been very different.
Dimmesdale was the father of Hester Prynne's child in The Scarlet Letter.

7. Do you trust Hank Reardon’s mettle?
In Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Reardon's company invents an alloy that is stronger and cheaper than steel. Only those evil anticapitalist government types would mistrust it!

8. Tell me about the night that was sans peur et sans reproche.
Sir Galahad was that knight.

9. The Association sang to us that everyone knows it’s Windy, but what about flying with Michael and John? Who did that?
Wendy Darling, with Peter Pan.

10. If your friend Crispis Atucks invites you to come protest with him, say you’ve got other plans.
Crispus Attucks was killed at the Boston Massacre, and is popularly held to be the first casualty of the American Revolution.

11. Hold the pickles and the lettuce, because, really, we’re fine with special orders.
Burger King, "Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us".

12. What’s the difference between a killer and an obliterator?
A killer is any postmark or cancellation mark which makes a stamp unuseable. An obliterator is a device specifically designed to cancel stamps. (Obliterators -- or at least the marks they make -- are a subset of killers.)[Thanks, Cliffy!]

13. Although the novel never explicitly identifies him, what literary character engages Oscar Gordon in a swordfight for the Egg of Wisdom?
Cyrano de Bergerac, but it's the Egg of the Phoenix, in Heinlein's Glory Road.

14. What was the name of that famous old Greek teacher who died from an overdose of wedlock?
Socrates, but it was hemlock.

15. The three types of columns: doorick, ironic, and - ?
Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

16. Randolph and Mortimer were homeless bums until they got a sackful of money. Perhaps they can go back to making $1 bets.
They were the Duke Brothers whose $1 bets caused the Trading Places of Eddie Murphy's and Dan Aykroyd's characters, but they got their comeuppance in Florida OJ futures. They make a cameo appearance in the later Murphy vehicle Coming to America, in which they are the bums who pick up the bag of money that Murphy's African prince drops.

17. It was Henry VI and Edward VI - why do flowers come into it?
The Wars of the Roses - Red (Henry VI of Lancaster) vs White (Edward IV, not VI, of York), after the badges of the two Houses.

18. Where might you be if you saw a magic show put on by illusionist Anthony Blake?
On the set of The Magician, starring Bill Bixby.

19. Nobody does that to Mrs. Russ Crane!
Not unless they want to run afoul of Kurtwood Smith's gangster Lombino (aka Russ Crane) in Bill Murray's Quick Change.

20. 197.14.24.3 and 197.14.24.7 are on the same network, but 197.14.24.10 is on a different network. What is the correct subnet mask for 197.14.24.5 ?
255.255.255.248

21. In Plato’s "Republic", they keep blabbing about cave shadows - what’s up with that?
Plato's cave allegory imagines prisoners chained since childhood in a cave, constrained so as to only look at one wall. There is a fire behind them, and when people walk between the fire and the prisoners' backs, carrying various objects, the prisoners can only see the corresponding shadows on the wall that they face. Their entire world view is based on these shadows. If one prisoner is released to the outside world and "enlightened", then returned to the cave, he's going to have a hard time convincing his companions of his new-found world view.

22. Hey, at least "Be all you can be", is a little better approach than what caused the 1807 Embargo Act.
The former is the slogan of the current (all-olunteer) US Army, whereas the latter was passed in response to impressment of Americans into the British Navy. The Act had the effect of cutting off the US from European trade, which hurt exports but made the US more self-sufficient wrt manufacturing. It also was one of the causes of the War of 1812.

23. Capital of the Incas, or a David Spade voice.
Spade's character in The Emperor's New Groove is Kuzco, whereas the Incan capital in Peru is usually spelled Cusco or Cuzco.

24. Evaluate sin-1(sin(2p/3))
According to Orbifold, it's (p/3), or about 1.047!

25. Susan Silverman’s fling with Russell Corrigan ended much worse than Meg Ryan’s fling with Russell Crowe.In Robert B. Parker's novel A Catskill Eagle, Spenser's sometime squeeze Susan is in the clutches of Russell "Rusty" Costigan, the son of an evil arms dealer (she thinks she's in love, but it's very manipulative). When Spenser tries to save her, the arms dealer puts a contract on him, and the bodies pile up before Spenser gets Susan back (although why he's want her is anyone's guess). Ms Ryan and Mr Crowe had an affair while filming Proof of Life, and although it probably helped to end Ryan's marriage to Dennis Quaid, nobody got whacked.

[Antonius Block]

Okay, I got that out of the way!

I don't have time right now to think about Orbifold's point, although I think he might be right.

Still, I've already sent an e-mail to my Bricker SDMB Scholarship candidate, so I need this win!

By my thinking:

If it's 2p/3, then I won with post #21, case closed.
If it's p/3, then I've just won with post #33
If it's something else entirely, then we have a loose ball, and the game's afoot!


I thought Question 24 seemed too easy (plus Bricker had already called it as correct, according to my Virtual Bricker Machine)!

[Antonius Block]

I agree with that, Antonius. An answer that would be acceptable for Jeopardy, for instance, might not be accepted in the Bricker Challenge.

--CliffyAnd sometimes, a question is counted as correct in the BC even if it doesn't seem to touch all of the bases. For instance, you were given full credit for Trading Spaces (sic!) in Q16, without mentioning Coming to America, which would seem to be necessary for the "Dukes as two bums picking up sackful of money" idea, which doesn't occur in Trading Places. In Q13, did we need to correct Egg of Wisdom to Egg of the Phoenix? Those who didn't still got full credit, yet Edward VI --> IV was considered a necessary correction in Q17....

My Virtual Bricker Machine seems to have quite a quirky algorithm. One might almost say..... human in nature, and fallible! :p That's why my strategy henceforth is to throw every reference imaginable into the pot, even if the result ends up as an essay!

[Bricker]

My Virtual Bricker Machine seems to have quite a quirky algorithm. One might almost say..... human in nature, and fallible! :p That's why my strategy henceforth is to throw every reference imaginable into the pot, even if the result ends up as an essay!

That's the wisest approach. When I write a question, I highlight the elements that must be answered for the question to be correct. It's not consistent -- for example, I didn't require that someone explain that both a Bricker Challenge and the Queen of Sheba's approach to Solomon were tests with hard questions.

Now to p/3 vs. 2p/3.

Originally, I was going to require p/3. But after the first couple of people to attempt it answered 2p/3, I thought I should try running it through a scientific calculator; I did, and it returned 2p/3. I thought I could make a strong case that p/3 was the only right answer, but, notwithstanding, if people were being led astray with every desktop tool, maybe it wasn't fair.

[Orbifold]

Originally, I was going to require p/3. But after the first couple of people to attempt it answered 2p/3, I thought I should try running it through a scientific calculator; I did, and it returned 2p/3. I thought I could make a strong case that p/3 was the only right answer, but, notwithstanding, if people were being led astray with every desktop tool, maybe it wasn't fair.

Your calculator's wrong, or at the very least it's using a non-standard definition of sin-1(x).

(shrugs) Not that it matters much. I'm not trying to begrudge Antonius a well-earned victory (I think my score would have been about 6), I'm just nitpicking the math.

[Antonius Block]

I've just e-mailed Bricker with the username of the "lapsed Doper" whom I nominate for the Bricker Challenge SDMB Scholarship for the next year. The nominee is looking forward to returning to full Doper status!

Here's the autopsy on my answers:

Background:
I'd done two previous Bricker Challenges (I think they were each 50 questions?), and found them very addicting. Did a lot of "heavy lifting" (i.e. added lots of new correct answers, getting up to ~48/50) in both; pipped at the post once, won once. Added up the amount of time taken, and decided not to participate again. I'm weak on older US TV (I've never seen a single episode of Gilligan's Island or Green Acres, for instance!). It's enjoyable, since I'm just plain interested in the kind of questions that are asked, so enjoy doing the research (with some exceptions). Ignorance is fought, and that's a worthy goal.

Current Challenge:
Saw this thread early on (with few answers submitted), decided to give it a pass just for the time involved. Later on, checked back and saw that Cliffy had been awarded 22 out of 25. Now this was tempting, especially since I'm a Left-Coaster and it was getting late! Glanced at his answers, saw a few places where he might have erred, figured I could crank the whole thing out in about 30 minutes, and then of course I was hooked. If it hadn't been for previous responses, especially Cliffy's which was my "Rosetta Stone" into the mind of Bricker, I wouldn't have even started this time.

Breakdown:
In the following, VBM refers to my Virtual Bricker Machine, which tries to parse Bricker's feedback to earlier submissions to determine which responses have already been allowed as correct. If I'd known how far my model was from the real Bricker, I might not have started! :p

1. Queen of Sheba-type stuff.
Knew it.

2. Janie tells the story to Phoebe on the steps of the back porch.
I'd read Their Eyes Were Watching God, so knew it, but Googled it to check and to get the author's name.

3. Phoebe didn’t know Travis shoots Old Yeller.
I've never seen Old Yeller! I'm aware of the sad part, however. I must have seen that epsiode of Friends.

4. Kasper Hauser, alien abduction?
I saw The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, (I'm a Herzog fan), but Wikipedia'd it to get that it was Nürnberg.

5. Maxwell Hauser, president of the student body?
Didn't know it. Stole from previous posters, IMDB'd to check and get background to be sure that previous posters hadn't missed anything.

6. Dimmesdale, DNA test.
Knew this.

7. Do you trust Hank Reardon’s mettle?
Thought this might be Atlas Shrugged, previous posters confirmed this, Wikipedia'd it to get details

8. The night that was sans peur et sans reproche.
Knew this.

9. The Association, Windy, flying with Michael and John?
Knew this.

10. Crispis Atucks protest.
Knew Crispus Attucks was killed at the Boston Massacre, Wikipedia'd to check his "first death" status (apparently there's some question).

11. Pickles, lettuce, special orders.
Didn't know this (although obviously knew it was US Fast Food); previous posters had offered BK and McD's but I figured the rhyme was the key, and Googled to check.

12. What’s the difference between a killer and an obliterator?
I had no idea. To be honest, my philately-interest module must have been in the shop, because I wasn't even interested (and that's the only question for which that's true--- sorry, philatelists!). So, I stole it from Cliffy word for word, with attribution. If you'd but known, Cliffy, you could have booby-trapped it for me by making a deliberate mistake here and letting me get to 24 correct, then swept in for the win!

13. Non-explicitly- identified lit. char., Oscar Gordon, swordfight, Egg
Did not know this. Stole, and Googled. My VBM told me that this was one of Cliffy's three errors, since he didn't correct the Egg's name.

14. Greek teacher who died from an overdose of wedlock?
Knew it. My cat knew it :p . Not surprised that Siddhartha Vicious thought it was a trick!

15. The three types of columns: doorick, ironic, and - ?
Knew it. Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Once upon a time, I even knew the differences!

16. R+M, homeless bums, sackful of money, back to making $1 bets.
Knew it. My VBM told me that this was one of Cliffy's errors, because you have to include the second movie to get the "bums pick up the bag of money" idea. My VBM is -- apparently -- broken!

17. It was Henry VI and Edward VI - why do flowers come into it?
Knew it (UK born and raised). My VBM told me that "Edward VI" was a deliberate mistake on the level of "Crispis Atucks", so Cliffy's answer was deemed OK. Stupid VBM! :smack: Threw in the VI-> IV change anyway.

18. Magic show put on by illusionist Anthony Blake?
Didn't know it -- never saw the show. Previous responders seemed to get it scored OK. Didn't even bother IMDB'ing.

19. Nobody does that to Mrs. Russ Crane!
Didn't know it. Googled, IMDB'd.

20. [Subnet masks]
Figured it out, saw other people had the same, VBM told me it checked out.

21. [Plato, cave shadows]
I knew this, but Wikipedia'd it because I wanted to be sure of the details. I'm glad I know this again!

22. "Be all you can be", > what caused the 1807 Embargo Act.
Knew it. My VBM told me that Cliffy's answer was deemed OK without the ["Be All You Can Be" = Army], but threw it in anyway. Can't hurt, right? (Phew!)

23. Capital of the Incas, or a David Spade voice.
I knew the Incan capital was Cuzco. Never saw the David Spade movie, but know who he is so IMDB'd him and recognized the movie name.

24. Evaluate sin-1(sin(2p/3))
Looked at it. Seemed simple, almost too simple, Watson! However, the VBM showed that it had passed muster, so went ahead. Looking at it properly, I agree with Orbifold 100%. If he'd put his answer with the other 24 answers in a single post, he'd have the glory now, not me. But he didn't! Bwahahahah!

25. Susan Silverman + Russell Corrigan << Meg Ryan+ Russell Crowe.
Knew the Ryan/Crowe scandal, IMDB'd the movie to check. Recognized Susan Silverman's name, hence Spenser, thought Cliffy might have it but a few minutes on a Spenser fan site got me to Costigan's real name, and the correct book fell out complete with plot.

[Bricker]

It interests me greatly to learn the thought processes that go into solving these Challenges - for a couple of reasons. That was a great post, Antonious Block - thanks!

I'm especially interested in the gamesmanship of holding back an answer or deliberately placing an error in your own answers. From a strategy standpoint, that seems like an obvious play, but I think a lot of folks that answer these questions do it in a collaborative mode, not a competitive one -- in other words, they answer what they know, not in the hopes of winning, but in helping someone else get over the top. I've theorized that this might change if the prize were REALLY BIG, but thus far Mrs. Bricker has vetoed a REALLY BIG prize.

If anyone cares to answer, though, strictly in the hypothetical: if the contest were 50 questions, and the prize $250, would it change the way you play? If the prize were $1000, would THAT change things?

[Cliffy]

I don't think a really big prize would change the way I play (except I played this one differently), but it would change the way others play, making them hold back their answers. Since I typically swipe about a third of my answers from others, I think the really big prize would make it more difficult for me, and everyone else.

I also think that it would be a less interesting game. First because of the above-mentioned close-to-vestness, there'd be less ebb and flow to the thread. Part of the excitement is doing half an hour of research, refreshing the thread, and then finding that is 10 point ahead of you.

Also it would just be less fun to play -- serious money would mean serious effort, and serious hard feelings when someone won on the back of 22 of your answers. Whereas neither I nor, as far as I can tell, anyone else really cares that much to lose a $25 game well played in a manner like I lost this one to [b]Antonius. The prize is nice, but it's not as nice as the satisfaction of winning, but both of those are less important than the thrill of the chase.

I haven't played many of the challenges for a while -- I decided to take a break after my threepeat, and also I don't read MPSIMS every day, so I've missed one or two. I have posted junk once or twice in the past, and it didn't get picked up very much. This time I was totally at a loss on #25 and I had to go home, so I made up an answer which I knew was wrong but hoped someone might fall for, assuming if I had any hope, I wouldn't have any chance to return to the game until the next morning.

In hindsight, I should have put the made up answers in ones I knew, but by that point I was just hoping that no one would ever get #25.

--Cliffy

[Zakalwe]

Sorry for the hijack, but...

Antonius Block, are you a traveling man?

[Antonius Block]

Antonius Block, are you a traveling man?Kids these days and their code words!

I don't get your reference, Zakalwe, I'm afraid. I'm not a "Fellow Traveler" (http://www.bartleby.com/59/14/fellowtravel.html) as in Communist sympathizer, I'm neither a Friend of Dorothy nor of Bill W., and I'm not a salesman (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098510/).

If all you mean is "do I travel" then, well, I'm reasonably well-traveled over a couple of regions of the world, but have of late been quite the opposite of a traveler, due to physical problems.

Do you have a reason for asking? :)

[I've just had a thought. In WW2, the Bletchley Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bletchley_Park) codebreakers planted crosswords in the UK papers, then recruited people who sent in correct answers. Is the Bricker Challenge an updated version of this? Are you the next-level handler, Zakalwe? Have I just blown any chances of being recruited due to blurting this out? Now, of course, you'll deny it, and I'll know that I've uncovered the truth.]

[Captain Amazing]

That's the wisest approach. When I write a question, I highlight the elements that must be answered for the question to be correct. It's not consistent -- for example, I didn't require that someone explain that both a Bricker Challenge and the Queen of Sheba's approach to Solomon were tests with hard questions.

And you didn't make them point out that Solomon converted the Queen of Sheba to Judaism, instead of Christianity, either. :)

[Zakalwe]

Kids these days and their code words!Nothing like that. There was a question in the Challenge that (based on your knowledge of the answer with needing a reference) indicated you might be a member of an organization to which I belong. That's all.

Of course, the Bricker Challenge may still be a recruiting tool for some secret organization, but I haven't managed to win one yet, so I wouldn't know. ;)