# Bricker Challenge 2003 Edition #6

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 9, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334 "2003-07-09T22:26:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/1 "2003-07-09T22:26:58Z")

</div>

Following, please find the questions for the Bricker Challenge 2003, #6.

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.

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

Any answer that shows you get the reference is fine. If it’s a joke, explain the joke. Leave no stone unturned. 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](http://Amazon.com) as the prize to the winner.

The winner is the person that answers the most questions correctly by post here dated on or before Sunday, July 13th, 2003, 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. 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

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/2 "2003-07-09T22:28:16Z")

</div>

1. What’s the name of the physical law that talks about how things like light and gravity become weaker the farther away the source is? Is it reverse-something-or-other?

2. I’ve always wondered what might have happened. You see, when I was twenty-one, I was picked up near Mobile, Alabama by a nice traveling family, and got a ride all the way to Tennessee with them. Things got a little hot and heavy with their sixteen-year-old daughter, but I never followed up with her. Who am I?

3. Best translation of “Kyrie Elieson?”

4. Who is credited, in stories chock full of urban legendy-goodness, with paying for the island of Manhattan with trinkets worth less than $30?

5. If Nathan Brazil gets back to the Well, the Universe could end.

6. According to Giles, there’s another Hellmouth in what Buckeye State city?

7. What is it that Pam House, Kimberly Dugan, Georgia Thomas, and Alison Parker have in common?

8. What device permits the user to issue commands to the Winged Monkeys?

9. In Unix systems, ‘ls –l’ is the rough equivalent of what in the DOS world?

10. In addition to the many other social ills caused by incestuous relationships, we can add the possibility that your union may be opposed by Fricka and aided by a daughter of Wotan who herself ends up deep in magical sleep surrounded by magical fire. I hate it when that happens.

11. He killed the Butterflies – or had them killed – and it probably cost him his job and his life. Not that he was all that popular before.

12. Describe the character Janeane Garofalo played on “Seinfeld.”

13. In my still-to-be-written screenplay remake, Emma doesn’t die. She discovers her husband Charles is not a mere country doctor, but a spy for the French intelligence service. Rodolphe Boulanger is an enemy agent, and Léon Dupuis a well-meaning sap. She rediscovers her love for Charles when he has to prevent a French revolutionary group from blowing up a huge bomb in Yonville l’Abbaye. I hope to get Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Charles and Jamie Lee Curtis to play Emma. What should the title be?

14. What real-life burglar played a real-estate bad guy on _Miami Vice_?

15. 

```
05 For x=1 to 4

```

10 For y=4 to 1 step –1  
15 Print x,y  
20 next y  
25 next x  
30 end

How many numbers does this program produce?

1. Where should you be in order to watch Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Irving perform? How about Pinky, Inky, Blinky, and Clyde? Where do they work?

2. Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter.

3. Poor student thinks he’s in great moral shape, but despises his pawnbroker, and so decides to kill her.

4. No, no. You have got it completely wrong. John Savage was deer hunter, no legs; John Voight was coming home, couldn’t feel his legs.

5. How many terms did Amidala serve as the head of state of Naboo?

6. What radioactive gas is possibly seeping into your basement right now, a product of the breakdown of uranium in soil, water, and rocks?

7. Who is the owner and head chef at Mesa Grill and Bolo, in New York?

8. My ISP has just assigned me a whole subnet: 206.13.188.1 through 206.13.188.254. What subnet mask should I use if I have four different locations with fifty workstations each, and I wish to route IP to all of them?

9. Name three people that have read “Be Your Own Windkeeper.”

10. Do you have a personal guess about what was thrown off the Tallahatchee Bridge?

11. What unit of measure is equal to the distance to an object having a parallax of one second?

12. Who narrated the newsreel series that debuted in 1934 and whose title suggested the progression of history?

13. What actress played the character that marries Ulises on _Amigas y Rivales_?

14. What is the chemical formula for the amino acid that figured prominently in _Jurassic Park_?

15. Who was Steve Austin’s boss?

16. Flynn preceded Casey, and so did Jimmy Blake.

17. I’ve been invited to participate in a plan which will pay an ever-increasing annuity to surviving members of the plan, with the last surviving member receiving the windfall. My question is… what is this thing properly called?

18. What human led the first exploration of the Ringworld?

19. What word refers to the threaded fastener that holds a lampshade to the harp?

20. Why is this night different from all other nights?

21. What constellation should I try to locate if I wish to gaze rapturously at the Horsehead Nebula?

22. What is the name of the protagonist in _Where The Wild Things Are_?

23. You know – for kids.

24. I said over and over and over again, this dance …

25. What type of curve, mathematically speaking, is made by a cable hung between two poles?

26. I’m nobody – who are you?

27. The Warsaw Pact was the East’s answer to NATO, but what authority should I read if my international baggage is lost?

28. Name Jonny Quest’s dog.

29. It’s French, and it means a governmental “hands-off” policy – what is it?

30. I went back in time without using a machine and fell in love with Julia; we both escaped a terrible fire set by Andrew Carmody. I brought her forward to the 20th century but she couldn’t handle it, and we both decided to live in her era – the 1880s. Who am I?

31. Name the name that’s associated with great chocolate and riding naked through town.

32. Who was the Chief Justice of the United States before Rehnquist?

33. In _Into The Woods_, what items must be retrieved to reverse the curse of barrenness on the Baker’s Wife?

34. What Rush song signaled the despair and loss of abilities that is the natural result of aging?

35. How did Rosalind Shays die?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/3 "2003-07-09T22:54:40Z")

</div>

I’ll never win these things, and Googling feels like cheating to me, so, as a service to those who follow (and just in case I decide to fill in the gaps sometime), here are the ones I know off the top of my head:

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Bricker \*  
> \*\*3. Best translation of “Kyrie Elieson?”  
> \*\*
> 
> “God is with us,” I believe. Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten my high school chorus Latin already…
> 
> **6. According to Giles, there’s another Hellmouth in what Buckeye State city?**
> 
> Cleveland. Eww.
> 
> **7. What is it that Pam House, Kimberly Dugan, Georgia Thomas, and Alison Parker have in common?**
> 
> They all lived at an apartment building known as Melrose Place.
> 
> **8. What device permits the user to issue commands to the Winged Monkeys?**
> 
> Was it the broom?
> 
> **21. What radioactive gas is possibly seeping into your basement right now, a product of the breakdown of uranium in soil, water, and rocks?**
> 
> Radon! Aaaa!
> 
> **30. Who was Steve Austin’s boss?**
> 
> Oscar Goldman.
> 
> **31. Flynn preceded Casey, and so did Jimmy Blake.**
> 
> And I think that’s the lineup for the Mudville Nine today.
> 
> **32. I’ve been invited to participate in a plan which will pay an ever-increasing annuity to surviving members of the plan, with the last surviving member receiving the windfall. My question is… what is this thing properly called?**
> 
> It’s that murder mystery plot device known as the tontine.
> 
> **40. What type of curve, mathematically speaking, is made by a cable hung between two poles?**
> 
> A parabola?
> 
> **41. I’m nobody – who are you?**
> 
> “I’m Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Who the hell are you?”
> 
> **43. Name Jonny Quest’s dog.**
> 
> Same as my friend JTV’s new dog: Bandit.
> 
> **44. It’s French, and it means a governmental “hands-off” policy – what is it?**
> 
> It’s lassaiez-faire (or however you spell it).
> 
> **46. Name the name that’s associated with great chocolate and riding naked through town.**
> 
> Ah, Godiva, we hardly knew ye.
> 
> **47. Who was the Chief Justice of the United States before Rehnquist?**
> 
> Ummm… Earl Warren?
> 
> \*\*50. How did Rosalind Shays die? \*\*
> 
> She fell down an elevator shaft, which many people since have longed to do with their lawyers, especially ones in Los Angeles.

Pathetic performance, huh?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/4 "2003-07-09T23:18:18Z")

</div>

Well, without searching, I get nos.  
1.  
3.  
4.  
5.  
6.  
7.  
8.  
9.  
10.  
12  
14.  
15.  
16.  
20.  
21.  
25.  
26.  
27.  
31.  
32.  
35.  
36.  
38.  
40.  
41.  
43.  
44.  
46.  
47.  
…and I think 49.

Some of the others ring a faint bell of familiarity but most leave me stumped. I think I need to get out more…

I’m off to the library. I can’t help it: I am a bibliophiliac.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/5 "2003-07-09T23:18:19Z")

</div>

And we’re off!

Leaper: 9

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/6 "2003-07-09T23:35:25Z")

</div>

Trying not to repeat any of the ones already posted, except the first one:

1. Best translation of “Kyrie Elieson?”

Usually translated as “Lord, have mercy”. And it’s Greek, not Latin, although it’s part of the Latin Mass.

1. In addition to the many other social ills caused by incestuous relationships, we can add the possibility that your union may be opposed by Fricka and aided by a daughter of Wotan who herself ends up deep in magical sleep surrounded by magical fire. I hate it when that happens.

This is Wagner’s Ring Cycle, so this must be the union of Siegfried’s parents, Sieglinde and Siegmund. If you don’t want to sit through the operas, Anna Russell’s synopsis is a must-hear.

1. In my still-to-be-written screenplay remake, Emma doesn’t die. She discovers her husband Charles is not a mere country doctor, but a spy for the French intelligence service. Rodolphe Boulanger is an enemy agent, and Léon Dupuis a well-meaning sap. She rediscovers her love for Charles when he has to prevent a French revolutionary group from blowing up a huge bomb in Yonville l’Abbaye. I hope to get Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Charles and Jamie Lee Curtis to play Emma. What should the title be?

Umm…“True Lies” meets “Madame Bovary” so…“Faussetés Vraies”?

1. Where should you be in order to watch Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Irving perform? How about Pinky, Inky, Blinky, and Clyde? Where do they work?

Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde are the ghosts from the original Pac-Man. The fact that I remember that attests to my misspent youth. No idea on the others without resorting to Google.

1. Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter.

Heh. “What’s a Grecian Urn?” “About ten drachmas a day.” \<baDUMbum\>

1. Poor student thinks he’s in great moral shape, but despises his pawnbroker, and so decides to kill her.

If you’re gonna do the Crime, you gotta take the Punishment, say I (and Dostoevsky).

1. No, no. You have got it completely wrong. John Savage was deer hunter, no legs; John Voight was coming home, couldn’t feel his legs.

Shut up, Ross; at least you got to use the last condom.

1. Do you have a personal guess about what was thrown off the Tallahatchee Bridge?

Well, Billy Joe threw himself off, but I always suspected he and the girl threw an illegitimate baby off. Oh and she throw flowers off at the end.

1. What unit of measure is equal to the distance to an object having a parallax of one second?

Dunno – a parsec?

1. What human led the first exploration of the Ringworld?

Louis Wu.

1. Why is this night different from all other nights?

Um…this night is ours; it’s only you and I?

1. What is the name of the protagonist in _Where The Wild Things Are_?

Max

1. You know – for kids.

“It’s a Hoopsucker!” “It’s a Hudswinger!”

1. I said over and over and over again, this dance …

2. I’m nobody – who are you?

I’m nobody too! Or maybe I’m Emily Dickinson. [sub]And I’d like to thank Mr. Leininger, my tenth-grade English teacher for me knowing this answer.[/sub]

1. I went back in time without using a machine and fell in love with Julia; we both escaped a terrible fire set by Andrew Carmody. I brought her forward to the 20th century but she couldn’t handle it, and we both decided to live in her era – the 1880s. Who am I?

2. Who was the Chief Justice of the United States before Rehnquist?

I feel bad I don’t know this for sure. Was it Thurgood Marshall?

1. In _Into The Woods_, what items must be retrieved to reverse the curse of barrenness on the Baker’s Wife?

A cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as gold, and a slipper as pure as gold. And some corn silks, to feed the cow. The fact that I like Sondheim musicals should in no way reflect on your perception of my sexuality.  
\*\*  
[/QUOTE]

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/7 "2003-07-09T23:40:53Z")

</div>

1. Who is credited, in stories chock full of urban legendy-goodness, with paying for the island of Manhattan with trinkets worth less than $30?

PETER STUYVESANT

1. Describe the character Janeane Garofalo played on “Seinfeld.”  
JERRY’S PERFECT FEMALE COUNTERPART.
2. In my still-to-be-written screenplay remake, Emma doesn’t die. She discovers her husband Charles is not a mere country doctor, but a spy for the French intelligence service. Rodolphe Boulanger is an enemy agent, and Léon Dupuis a well-meaning sap. She rediscovers her love for Charles when he has to prevent a French revolutionary group from blowing up a huge bomb in Yonville l’Abbaye. I hope to get Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Charles and Jamie Lee Curtis to play Emma. What should the title be? MADMAN BOYARDEE
3. Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter.

KEATS, ODE ON A GRECIAN URN

1. Poor student thinks he’s in great moral shape, but despises his pawnbroker, and so decides to kill her.

BROS. K

1. Who narrated the newsreel series that debuted in 1934 and whose title suggested the progression of history?

MARCH O’ TIME  
31. Flynn preceded Casey, and so did Jimmy Blake.

CASEY AT THE BAT  
32. I’ve been invited to participate in a plan which will pay an ever-increasing annuity to surviving members of the plan, with the last surviving member receiving the windfall. My question is… what is this thing properly called?  
PONZI SCHEME

1. Why is this night different from all other nights?

MA NISHTA NA, HA 'L’AYLAI HA-ZEH?

1. I’m nobody – who are you?  
EMILY DICKINSON

2. It’s French, and it means a governmental “hands-off” policy – what is it?  
LAISSEZ FAIRE

3. I went back in time without using a machine and fell in love with Julia; we both escaped a terrible fire set by Andrew Carmody. I brought her forward to the 20th century but she couldn’t handle it, and we both decided to live in her era – the 1880s. Who am I? FINNEY’S PROTAGONIST IN TIME AFTER TIME

4. Name the name that’s associated with great chocolate and riding naked through town. GODIVA

5. Who was the Chief Justice of the United States before Rehnquist?  
BURGER

6. How did Rosalind Shays die?  
kILLED BY ELLA VADER-SHAFFT

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/8 "2003-07-09T23:43:04Z")

</div>

Sorry, that’s hair as yellow as _corn_. I was thinking about the slipper.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/9 "2003-07-10T00:17:01Z")

</div>

jr8: 13  
pseudotriton ruber ruber: 10

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/10 "2003-07-10T08:18:01Z")

</div>

Thanks, **Bricker** , for your hard work creating the questions!I’m going to try for all 50. I’ll admit I needed to Google a few. A few others I knew the reference but had to check (so didn’t use a search engine per se). I’ll own up to all my methods later if called upon, but don’t want to waste time adding them to theses answers and find myself pipped at the post.

Here goes ( **Bricker** ’s questions are limited to one-line capsules to improve clarity):

1. Q: Physical law for light and gravity drop-off?  
A: **The inverse-square law**

2. Q: Mobile, AL - Tennessee. Who are you?  
A: \*\*The boy picked up by the “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”. \*\*And papa _woulda_ shot me if he knew what I’d done. 😉

3. Q: Kyrie Eleison. Translate?  
A: **Lord, Have Mercy**.

4. Q: Manhattan for \< $30?  
A: **Peter Minuit**.

5. Q: Nathan Brazil and the Well?  
A: **The _Well of Souls_ series by Jack Chalker**.

6. Q: Giles says another Hellmouth is where?  
A: **Cleveland, OH** (Buffy series finale).

7. Q: Pam House, Kimberly Dugan, Georgia Thomas, and Alison Parker?  
A: **All characters played by _Courtney Thorne-Smith_**.

8. Q: What device controls the winged monkeys?  
A: **Golden cap** (in the _Wonderful Wizard of Oz_).

9. Q: UNIX is to "ls -l"as DOS is to?  
A: **dir /v** (v is for verbose).

10. Q: Incest / Fricka / Wotan?  
A: **We are Siegmund and Sieglinde, brother and sister, and Brunnhilde, yet another child of Wotan, helps us out but ends up in her fiery bed**. From “Die Walkure” (or as Sideshow Bob would say: _“Die, Walkure, Die!”_)

11. Q: Who had the Butterflies killed?  
A: **Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic.**

12. Q: Describe Janeane Garofalo’s character on “Seinfeld.”  
A: **The Female Equivalent of Jerry**.

13. Q: Emma / Ah-nold / Jamie Lee Curtis. Title?  
A: \*\* _Madame Beaux Vrais Mensonges_\*\*. (_Madame Bovary_ meets _True Lies_, or _Vrais Mensonges_ in French. If they are “Beautiful True Lies” in this version, it completes the pun with Emma’s last name.

14: Q: Real-life burglar on Miami Vice?  
A: \*\* G. Gordon Liddy\*\*, Watergate burglar.

1. Q: (computer program)  
A: **Thirty-two**. Sixteen rows with two numbers in each row.

2. Q: a) Bingo, Bango, Bongo, Irving. Where?  
b) Pinky, Inky, Blinky, Clyde. Whree do they work?  
A: **a) Gilligan’s Island. They are “The Mosquitos”  
b) Pac-Man video game, They are the ghosts.**

3. Q: Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter.  
A: **_Ode on a Grecian Urn_, Keats.**

4. Q: Poor student kills pawnbroker.  
A: **_Crime and Punishment_, Dostoyevsky**.

5. Q: John Savage, Deerhunter. Jon Voight, Coming Home  
A: **_Seinfeld_, where George buys a car that “used to belong to Jon Voight”**.

6. Q: How many terms did Amidala serve as the head of state of Naboo?  
A: **Two terms**.

7. Q: Radioactive gas in basement?  
A: **Radon**. If you’re in Uganda, it’s _Radon Entebbe_.

8. Q: Who is the owner and head chef at Mesa Grill and Bolo, in NYC?  
A: **Bobby Flay**.

9. Q: Subnet masks?  
A: **206.13.188.255**

10. Q: 3 people that have read “Be Your Own Windkeeper.”?  
A: **Rachel Green, Monica Geller, and Phoebe Buffay** (Friends).

11. Q: Do you have a personal guess about what was thrown off the Tallahatchee Bridge?  
A: **Why yes, I do.** Oh, you want to know what it is? An aborted baby. Not original, I know.

12. Q: What unit of measure is equal to the distance to an object having a parallax of one second?  
A: **A _parsec_**.

13. Q: Newsreel narrator 1934–??  
A: **Westbrook van Voorhis (_The March of time_)**.

14. Q: What actress played the character that marries Ulises on Amigas y Rivales?  
A: **Adamari Lopez, playing the lovely Ofelia**.

15. Q: What is the chemical formula for the amino acid that figured prominently in Jurassic Park?  
A: **C6 H14 N2 O2 (it’s lysine)**.

16. Q: Who was Steve Austin’s boss?  
A: **Oscar Goldman, from _the Six Million Dollar Man_**.

17. Q: Flynn preceded Casey, and so did Jimmy Blake.  
A: **Casey at the Bat**. Mudville Nine members.

18. Q: Plan, last member alive wins big.  
A: \*\* A tontine\*\* (as even Ox from _The Simpsons_ knows).

19. Q: What human led the first exploration of the Ringworld?  
A: **Louis Wu**.

20. Q: Threaded fastener that holds a lampshade to the harp?  
A: **A finial**.

21. Q: Why is this night different from all other nights?  
A: (short) **It’s Passover** (Longer answer): this is from the Seder. We eat only matzoh – we eat mainly bitter herbs-- we dip twice – we all recline.

22. Q: Horse Nebula constellation?  
A: **Orion**.

23. Q: _Where The Wild Things Are_ protagonist?  
A: **Max**.

24. Q: You know – for kids  
A: _ **The Hudsucker Proxy** _. Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) says this.

25. Q: I said over and over and over again, this dance …  
A: **… Is Gonna Be a Drag**. (Dave Clark Five).

26. Q: Curve of cable hung between two poles?  
A: **Hyperbolic cosine** (aka catenary).

27. Q: I’m nobody – who are you?  
A: **I’m somebody who’s reading an Emily Dickinson poem**.

28. Q: Warsaw Pact / NATO / Lost Luggage?  
A: **The Warsaw _Convention_**.

29. Q: Name Jonny Quest’s dog.  
A: **Bandit**.

30. Q: French, governmental “hands-off” policy?  
A: _ **Laissez-faire** _.

31. Q: Time machine / Julia / 1880s?  
A: **Si Morley** , from Jack Finney’s _Time and Again_.

32. Q: Chocolate & ridong naked. Name?  
A: **Godiva**.

33. Q: Chief Justice of the US before Rehnquist?  
A: **Warren Burger**.

34. Q: Into the Woods – to fetch what?  
A: **One, the Cow as White as Milk. Two, the Cape as Red as Blood. Three, the Hair as Yellow as Corn. Four, the Slipper sa Pure as Gold.**

35. Q: Rush song, despair and loss of abilities due to aging?  
A: **Losing It** (from _Signals_). There are many others that sort of fit, but that’s the best.

36. Q: How did Rosalind Shays die?  
A: **She fell down an elevator shaft** (LA Law).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/11 "2003-07-10T08:28:49Z")

</div>

Typo corrections for my post immediately above:

1. Q: Horse_head_ Nebula

2. A: **One, the Cow as White as Milk. Two, the Cape as Red as Blood. Three, the Hair as Yellow as Corn. Four, the Slipper _as_ Pure as Gold.**

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/12 "2003-07-10T11:51:34Z")

</div>

Antonius Block: 48, and an early breakaway!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/13 "2003-07-10T12:03:03Z")

</div>

This is a strange contest, given that late entries benefit from the information provided by earlier ones.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/14 "2003-07-10T13:09:08Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jr8 \*  
> \*\*This is a strange contest, given that late entries benefit from the information provided by earlier ones. \*\*

True. And it means that there’s a strategy involved: you can hold your correct answers until the last minute, risking that an earlier poster may get the jump and win. Or you can post early, risking that you may not be 100% complete, and a later poster may steal your answers, add one or two of his own, and win. Or you could deliberately post incorrect answers, in an effort to lure posters into stealing some of your answers, and then post last-minute corrections to win.

Or you could do something else I haven’t thought of.

- Rick

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/15 "2003-07-10T13:43:18Z")

</div>

_1. What’s the name of the physical law that talks about how things like light and gravity become weaker the farther away the source is? Is it reverse-something-or-other?_  
The inverse square law.

_2. I’ve always wondered what might have happened. You see, when I was twenty-one, I was picked up near Mobile, Alabama by a nice traveling family, and got a ride all the way to Tennessee with them. Things got a little hot and heavy with their sixteen-year-old daughter, but I never followed up with her. Who am I?_  
Well, I’ve got smooth Southern style, and her papa woulda shot me if he knew what I done. Of course, messing around with Cher is always a bad idea.

_3. Best translation of ‘Kyrie Elieson?’_  
Lord, Have Mercy. Assuming you mean Eleison … maybe you’re talking about Elie Wiesel’s son?

_4. Who is credited, in stories chock full of urban legendy-goodness, with paying for the island of Manhattan with trinkets worth less than $30?_  
Peter Minuit.

_5. If Nathan Brazil gets back to the Well, the Universe could end._  
According to Peter Chalker’s Well of Souls series, at least.

_6. According to Giles, there’s another Hellmouth in what Buckeye State city?_  
Cleveland.

_7. What is it that Pam House, Kimberly Dugan, Georgia Thomas, and Alison Parker have in common?_  
They’ve all been portrayed by Courtney Thorne-Smith.

_8. What device permits the user to issue commands to the Winged Monkeys?_  
The golden cap.

_9. In Unix systems, ‘ls -l’ is the rough equivalent of what in the DOS world?_  
dir /v

_10. In addition to the many other social ills caused by incestuous relationships, we can add the possibility that your union may be opposed by Fricka and aided by a daughter of Wotan who herself ends up deep in magical sleep surrounded by magical fire. I hate it when that happens._  
Hi, we’re Siegmund and Sieglinde this week on Jerry Springer.

_11. He killed the Butterflies - or had them killed - and it probably cost him his job and his life. Not that he was all that popular before._  
Rafael L. Trujillo.

_12. Describe the character Janeane Garofalo played on ‘Seinfeld.’_  
Jeannie Steinman, Jerry’s perfect opposite-sex match.

_13. In my still-to-be-written screenplay remake, Emma doesn’t die. She discovers her husband Charles is not a mere country doctor, but a spy for the French intelligence service. Rodolphe Boulanger is an enemy agent, and Léon Dupuis a well-meaning sap. She rediscovers her love for Charles when he has to prevent a French revolutionary group from blowing up a huge bomb in Yonville l’Abbaye. I hope to get Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Charles and Jamie Lee Curtis to play Emma. What should the title be?_  
True Bovary. Or Madame Lies. Or Madame Bovary 2: Judgment Day. Or … hell, this is why I don’t work in Hollywood.

_14. What real-life burglar played a real-estate bad guy on Miami Vice?_  
G. Gordon Liddy.

\*15. 05 For x=1 to 4  
10 For y=4 to 1 step -1  
15 Print x,y  
20 next y  
25 next x  
30 end

How many numbers does this program produce?\*  
32, in two columns of 16.

_16. Where should you be in order to watch Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Irving perform? How about Pinky, Inky, Blinky, and Clyde? Where do they work?_  
Gilligan’s Island, and in Pac-Land. Probably powered by coconuts.

_17. Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter._  
So says John Keats.

_18. Poor student thinks he’s in great moral shape, but despises his pawnbroker, and so decides to kill her._  
Ah, Raskolnikov, you rascal.

_19. No, no. You have got it completely wrong. John Savage was deer hunter, no legs; John Voight was coming home, couldn’t feel his legs._  
John Savage played Steven in _The Deer Hunter_ and lost the use of his legs from the fall into the river. John Voight played Luke in _Coming Home_ who was paralyzed from the waist down from his tour in Vietnam.

_20. How many terms did Amidala serve as the head of state of Naboo?_  
Two four-year terms.

_21. What radioactive gas is possibly seeping into your basement right now, a product of the breakdown of uranium in soil, water, and rocks?_  
Radon.

_22. Who is the owner and head chef at Mesa Grill and Bolo, in New York?_  
Bobby Flay.

_23. My ISP has just assigned me a whole subnet: 206.13.188.1 through 206.13.188.254. What subnet mask should I use if I have four different locations with fifty workstations each, and I wish to route IP to all of them?_  
206.13.188.255.

_24. Name three people that have read “Be Your Own Windkeeper.”_  
Rachel, Monica, Phoebe from _Friends_.

_25. Do you have a personal guess about what was thrown off the Tallahatchee Bridge?_  
A rag doll.

_26. What unit of measure is equal to the distance to an object having a parallax of one second?_  
Parsec.

_27. Who narrated the newsreel series that debuted in 1934 and whose title suggested the progression of history?_  
Westbrook van Voorhis.

_28. What actress played the character that marries Ulises on Amigas y Rivales?_  
Adamari Lopez.

_29. What is the chemical formula for the amino acid that figured prominently in Jurassic Park?_  
C6H14N2O2.

_30. Who was Steve Austin’s boss?_  
Oscar Goldman, but we all know Jaime Sommers told him what to do.

_31. Flynn preceded Casey, and so did Jimmy Blake._  
The former was a lulu and the latter was a cake.

_32. I’ve been invited to participate in a plan which will pay an ever-increasing annuity to surviving members of the plan, with the last surviving member receiving the windfall. My question is: what is this thing properly called?_  
A tontine. And then we’ll be rich; rich as Nazis!

_33. What human led the first exploration of the Ringworld?_  
Louis Wu.

_34. What word refers to the threaded fastener that holds a lampshade to the harp?_  
Finial.

_35. Why is this night different from all other nights?_  
The beginning of the recitation at the Passover Seder.

_36. What constellation should I try to locate if I wish to gaze rapturously at the Horsehead Nebula?_  
Orion.

_37. What is the name of the protagonist in Where The Wild Things Are?_  
Max.

_38. You know - for kids._  
Those wacky Coen Brothers and their Hudsucker Proxy.

_39. I said over and over and over again, this dance …_  
Is gonna be a drag.

_40. What type of curve, mathematically speaking, is made by a cable hung between two poles?_  
A catenary.

_41. I’m nobody - who are you?_  
I’m nobody too! And there’s a pair of us!

_42. The Warsaw Pact was the East’s answer to NATO, but what authority should I read if my international baggage is lost?_  
The Warsaw Convention.

_43. Name Jonny Quest’s dog._  
Bandit.

_44. It’s French, and it means a governmental ‘hands-off’ policy - what is it?_  
Laissez-faire.

_45. I went back in time without using a machine and fell in love with Julia; we both escaped a terrible fire set by Andrew Carmody. I brought her forward to the 20th century but she couldn’t handle it, and we both decided to live in her era – the 1880s. Who am I?_  
Si Morley.

_46. Name the name that’s associated with great chocolate and riding naked through town._  
Godiva.

_47. Who was the Chief Justice of the United States before Rehnquist?_  
Warren Burger. Mmm, burger.

_48. In Into The Woods, what items must be retrieved to reverse the curse of barrenness on the Baker’s Wife?_  
One: the cow as white as milk, two: the cape as red as blood, three: the hair as yellow as corn, four: the slipper as pure as gold.

_49. What Rush song signaled the despair and loss of abilities that is the natural result of aging?_  
Losing It.

_50. How did Rosalind Shays die?_  
Fell down the elevator shaft.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/16 "2003-07-10T14:29:42Z")

</div>

lno: 48

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/17 "2003-07-10T15:36:50Z")

</div>

Most of this stolen, of course, from **Antonious Block** , though I knew a good third on my own. I feel ashamed of my theft, but not so ashamed that I won’t take the prize if I win.

1. Q: Physical law for light and gravity drop-off?  
A: **The inverse-square law**

2. Q: Mobile, AL - Tennessee. Who are you?  
A: \*\*The boy picked up by the “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”. \*\*And papa _woulda_ shot me if he knew what I’d done. 😉

3. Q: Kyrie Eleison. Translate?  
A: **Lord, Have Mercy**.

4. Q: Manhattan for \< $30?  
A: **Peter Minuit**.

5. Q: Nathan Brazil and the Well?  
A: **The _Well of Souls_ series by Jack Chalker**.

6. Q: Giles says another Hellmouth is where?  
A: **Cleveland, OH (Mentioned or alluded to in a couple Buffy episodes, including the finale).**

7. Q: Pam House, Kimberly Dugan, Georgia Thomas, and Alison Parker?  
A: **All characters played by _Courtney Thorne-Smith_**.

8. Q: What device controls the winged monkeys?  
A: **Golden cap** (in the _Wonderful Wizard of Oz_).

9. Q: UNIX is to "ls -l"as DOS is to?  
A: **dir /v** (v is for verbose).

10. Q: Incest / Fricka / Wotan?  
A: **We are Siegmund and Sieglinde, brother and sister, and Brunnhilde, yet another child of Wotan, helps us out but ends up in her fiery bed. From Wagner’s Ring Cycle, specifically Die Walküre.**

11. Q: Who had the Butterflies killed?  
A: **Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic.**

12. Q: Describe Janeane Garofalo’s character on “Seinfeld.”  
A: **The Female Equivalent of Jerry; they were breifly engaged until Jerry’s epiphany (“I hate myself!”).**

13. Q: Emma / Ah-nold / Jamie Lee Curtis. Title?  
A: \*\* _Madame Beaux Vrais Mensonges_. (_Madame Bovary_ meets _True Lies_, or _Vrais Mensonges_ in French. If they are “Beautiful True Lies” in this version, it completes the pun with Emma’s last name.\*\*

14: Q: Real-life burglar on Miami Vice?  
A: \*\* G. Gordon Liddy\*\*, Watergate burglar.

1. Q: (computer program)  
A: **Thirty-two**. Sixteen rows with two numbers in each row.

2. Q: a) Bingo, Bango, Bongo, Irving. Where?  
b) Pinky, Inky, Blinky, Clyde. Whree do they work?  
A: **a) Gilligan’s Island. They are “The Mosquitos”  
b) Pac-Man video game, They are the ghosts.**

3. Q: Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter.  
A: **_Ode on a Grecian Urn_, Keats.**

4. Q: Poor student kills pawnbroker.  
A: **_Crime and Punishment_, Dostoyevsky**.

5. Q: John Savage, Deerhunter. Jon Voight, Coming Home  
A: **John Savage played Steven in The Deer Hunter and lost the use of his legs from the fall into the river. John Voight played Luke in Coming Home who was paralyzed from the waist down from his tour in Vietnam. On _Friends_, Ross and Monica’s then-boyfriend Richard (Tom Selleck) argued about which was which while Monica and Rachel decided who’d get to use the last condom.**.

6. Q: How many terms did Amidala serve as the head of state of Naboo?  
A: **Two terms**.

7. Q: Radioactive gas in basement?  
A: **Radon**

8. Q: Who is the owner and head chef at Mesa Grill and Bolo, in NYC?  
A: **Bobby Flay**.

9. Q: Subnet masks?  
A: **206.13.188.255**

10. Q: 3 people that have read “Be Your Own Windkeeper.”?  
A: **Rachel Green, Monica Geller, and Phoebe Buffay** (Friends).

11. Q: Do you have a personal guess about what was thrown off the Tallahatchee Bridge?  
A: **I just looked up the lyrics; sounds like an aborted baby to me, maybe miscarried.**

12. Q: What unit of measure is equal to the distance to an object having a parallax of one second?  
A: **A _parsec_**.

13. Q: Newsreel narrator 1934–??  
A: **Westbrook van Voorhis (_The March of time_)**.

14. Q: What actress played the character that marries Ulises on Amigas y Rivales?  
A: **Adamari Lopez, playing the lovely Ofelia**.

15. Q: What is the chemical formula for the amino acid that figured prominently in Jurassic Park?  
A: **C6 H14 N2 O2 (it’s lysine)**.

16. Q: Who was Steve Austin’s boss?  
A: **Oscar Goldman, from _the Six Million Dollar Man_, or Vince McMahon of the WWE**.

17. Q: Flynn preceded Casey, and so did Jimmy Blake.  
A: **Casey at the Bat**. Mudville Nine members.

18. Q: Plan, last member alive wins big.  
A: \*\* A tontine\*\*

19. Q: What human led the first exploration of the Ringworld?  
A: **Louis Wu**.

20. Q: Threaded fastener that holds a lampshade to the harp?  
A: **A finial**.

21. Q: Why is this night different from all other nights?  
A: **We eat only matzoh – we eat mainly bitter herbs-- we dip twice – we all recline. It’s Passover, and the festival meal commemorates our release from bondage and our flight from Egypt. The matzoh is to remind us that the bread didn’t have time to rise, the herbs are to remind us how bitterly Pharoh treated us, we dip twice to remind us how hard we toiled on and of our tears, and we recline comfortably to remind us that, though once we were slaves, now we are free. Next year in Jerusalem!**

22. Q: Horsehead Nebula constellation?  
A: **Orion**.

23. Q: _Where The Wild Things Are_ protagonist?  
A: **Max**.

24. Q: You know – for kids  
A: _ **The Hudsucker Proxy** _. Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) says this about his invention, the hula hoop.

25. Q: I said over and over and over again, this dance …  
A: **… Is Gonna Be a Drag**. (Dave Clark Five).

26. Q: Curve of cable hung between two poles?  
A: **Hyperbolic cosine** (aka catenary).

27. Q: I’m nobody – who are you?  
A: **I’m somebody who’s reading an Emily Dickinson poem**.

28. Q: Warsaw Pact / NATO / Lost Luggage?  
A: **The Warsaw _Convention_**.

29. Q: Name Jonny Quest’s dog.  
A: **Bandit**.

30. Q: French, governmental “hands-off” policy?  
A: _ **Laissez-faire** _.

31. Q: Time machine / Julia / 1880s?  
A: **Si Morley** , from Jack Finney’s _Time and Again_.

32. Q: Chocolate & riding naked. Name?  
A: **Godiva**.

33. Q: Chief Justice of the US before Rehnquist?  
A: **Warren Burger**.

34. Q: Into the Woods – to fetch what?  
A: **One, the Cow as White as Milk. Two, the Cape as Red as Blood. Three, the Hair as Yellow as Corn. Four, the Slipper as Pure as Gold.**

35. Q: Rush song, despair and loss of abilities due to aging?  
A: **Losing It**

36. Q: How did Rosalind Shays die?  
A: **She fell down an elevator shaft** (LA Law). \*\*

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/18 "2003-07-10T15:58:15Z")

</div>

Cliffy: 49

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/19 "2003-07-10T16:05:34Z")

</div>

Shamelessly copied from those that have gone before. I have bolded the two changes I made to **lno’s** list. No resources were used beyond my fellow dopers.

_1. What’s the name of the physical law that talks about how things like light and gravity become weaker the farther away the source is? Is it reverse-something-or-other?_  
The inverse square law.

_2. I’ve always wondered what might have happened. You see, when I was twenty-one, I was picked up near Mobile, Alabama by a nice traveling family, and got a ride all the way to Tennessee with them. Things got a little hot and heavy with their sixteen-year-old daughter, but I never followed up with her. Who am I?_  
Well, I’ve got smooth Southern style, and her papa woulda shot me if he knew what I done. Of course, messing around with Cher is always a bad idea.

_3. Best translation of ‘Kyrie Elieson?’_  
Lord, Have Mercy. Assuming you mean Eleison … maybe you’re talking about Elie Wiesel’s son?

_4. Who is credited, in stories chock full of urban legendy-goodness, with paying for the island of Manhattan with trinkets worth less than $30?_  
Peter Minuit.

_5. If Nathan Brazil gets back to the Well, the Universe could end._  
According to Peter Chalker’s Well of Souls series, at least.

_6. According to Giles, there’s another Hellmouth in what Buckeye State city?_  
Cleveland.

_7. What is it that Pam House, Kimberly Dugan, Georgia Thomas, and Alison Parker have in common?_  
They’ve all been portrayed by Courtney Thorne-Smith.

_8. What device permits the user to issue commands to the Winged Monkeys?_  
The golden cap.

_9. In Unix systems, ‘ls -l’ is the rough equivalent of what in the DOS world?_  
dir /v

_10. In addition to the many other social ills caused by incestuous relationships, we can add the possibility that your union may be opposed by Fricka and aided by a daughter of Wotan who herself ends up deep in magical sleep surrounded by magical fire. I hate it when that happens._  
Hi, we’re Siegmund and Sieglinde this week on Jerry Springer.

_11. He killed the Butterflies - or had them killed - and it probably cost him his job and his life. Not that he was all that popular before._  
Rafael L. Trujillo.

_12. Describe the character Janeane Garofalo played on ‘Seinfeld.’_  
Jeannie Steinman, Jerry’s perfect opposite-sex match.

_13. In my still-to-be-written screenplay remake, Emma doesn’t die. She discovers her husband Charles is not a mere country doctor, but a spy for the French intelligence service. Rodolphe Boulanger is an enemy agent, and Léon Dupuis a well-meaning sap. She rediscovers her love for Charles when he has to prevent a French revolutionary group from blowing up a huge bomb in Yonville l’Abbaye. I hope to get Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Charles and Jamie Lee Curtis to play Emma. What should the title be?_  
True Bovary. Or Madame Lies. Or Madame Bovary 2: Judgment Day. Or … hell, this is why I don’t work in Hollywood.

_14. What real-life burglar played a real-estate bad guy on Miami Vice?_  
G. Gordon Liddy.

\*15. 05 For x=1 to 4  
10 For y=4 to 1 step -1  
15 Print x,y  
20 next y  
25 next x  
30 end

How many numbers does this program produce?\*  
**16 two digit numbers.  
14  
13  
12  
11  
24  
23  
22  
21  
34  
33  
32  
31  
44  
43  
42  
41**  
_16. Where should you be in order to watch Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Irving perform? How about Pinky, Inky, Blinky, and Clyde? Where do they work?_  
Gilligan’s Island, and in Pac-Land. Probably powered by coconuts.

_17. Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter._  
So says John Keats.

_18. Poor student thinks he’s in great moral shape, but despises his pawnbroker, and so decides to kill her._  
Ah, Raskolnikov, you rascal.

_19. No, no. You have got it completely wrong. John Savage was deer hunter, no legs; John Voight was coming home, couldn’t feel his legs._  
John Savage played Steven in _The Deer Hunter_ and lost the use of his legs from the fall into the river. John Voight played Luke in _Coming Home_ who was paralyzed from the waist down from his tour in Vietnam.

_20. How many terms did Amidala serve as the head of state of Naboo?_  
Two four-year terms.

_21. What radioactive gas is possibly seeping into your basement right now, a product of the breakdown of uranium in soil, water, and rocks?_  
Radon.

_22. Who is the owner and head chef at Mesa Grill and Bolo, in New York?_  
Bobby Flay.

_23. My ISP has just assigned me a whole subnet: 206.13.188.1 through 206.13.188.254. What subnet mask should I use if I have four different locations with fifty workstations each, and I wish to route IP to all of them?_  
**255.255.255.0**  
_24. Name three people that have read “Be Your Own Windkeeper.”_  
Rachel, Monica, Phoebe from _Friends_.

_25. Do you have a personal guess about what was thrown off the Tallahatchee Bridge?_  
A rag doll.

_26. What unit of measure is equal to the distance to an object having a parallax of one second?_  
Parsec.

_27. Who narrated the newsreel series that debuted in 1934 and whose title suggested the progression of history?_  
Westbrook van Voorhis.

_28. What actress played the character that marries Ulises on Amigas y Rivales?_  
Adamari Lopez.

_29. What is the chemical formula for the amino acid that figured prominently in Jurassic Park?_  
C6H14N2O2.

_30. Who was Steve Austin’s boss?_  
Oscar Goldman, but we all know Jaime Sommers told him what to do.

_31. Flynn preceded Casey, and so did Jimmy Blake._  
The former was a lulu and the latter was a cake.

_32. I’ve been invited to participate in a plan which will pay an ever-increasing annuity to surviving members of the plan, with the last surviving member receiving the windfall. My question is: what is this thing properly called?_  
A tontine. And then we’ll be rich; rich as Nazis!

_33. What human led the first exploration of the Ringworld?_  
Louis Wu.

_34. What word refers to the threaded fastener that holds a lampshade to the harp?_  
Finial.

_35. Why is this night different from all other nights?_  
The beginning of the recitation at the Passover Seder.

_36. What constellation should I try to locate if I wish to gaze rapturously at the Horsehead Nebula?_  
Orion.

_37. What is the name of the protagonist in Where The Wild Things Are?_  
Max.

_38. You know - for kids._  
Those wacky Coen Brothers and their Hudsucker Proxy.

_39. I said over and over and over again, this dance …_  
Is gonna be a drag.

_40. What type of curve, mathematically speaking, is made by a cable hung between two poles?_  
A catenary.

_41. I’m nobody - who are you?_  
I’m nobody too! And there’s a pair of us!

_42. The Warsaw Pact was the East’s answer to NATO, but what authority should I read if my international baggage is lost?_  
The Warsaw Convention.

_43. Name Jonny Quest’s dog._  
Bandit.

_44. It’s French, and it means a governmental ‘hands-off’ policy - what is it?_  
Laissez-faire.

_45. I went back in time without using a machine and fell in love with Julia; we both escaped a terrible fire set by Andrew Carmody. I brought her forward to the 20th century but she couldn’t handle it, and we both decided to live in her era – the 1880s. Who am I?_  
Si Morley.

_46. Name the name that’s associated with great chocolate and riding naked through town._  
Godiva.

_47. Who was the Chief Justice of the United States before Rehnquist?_  
Warren Burger. Mmm, burger.

_48. In Into The Woods, what items must be retrieved to reverse the curse of barrenness on the Baker’s Wife?_  
One: the cow as white as milk, two: the cape as red as blood, three: the hair as yellow as corn, four: the slipper as pure as gold.

_49. What Rush song signaled the despair and loss of abilities that is the natural result of aging?_  
Losing It.

_50. How did Rosalind Shays die?_  
Fell down the elevator shaft. \*\*  
[/QUOTE]

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-2003-edition-6/187334/20 "2003-07-10T16:10:36Z")

</div>

Well, if Cliffy’s is 49 then I guess you really do mean 32 numbers, so I will ammend my list to be his except forthe subnet mask, which is definitely 255.255.255.0

C&P to follow.

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