# Bricker Challenge #7 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 24, 2000, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-7/15172 "2000-03-24T22:01:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-7/15172/41 "2000-03-26T06:57:00Z")
AHEM!!! Arnold STOLE my answers to pull out the win! Yeah, yeah, the rules say it’s ok to do that. But still. Harumpf (cheater). Hehe - just kidding Arnold. Congratulations, again _sigh_. And I was sooooooooooo looking forward to collecting my prize in person. ☹ I guess Naked Twister & Full Contact Origami will just have to wait until the _real_ Bricker Challenge #7 (which IS my lucky number, btw). And thank you for the compliment, Arnold. You’re a fine-looking man yourself. But alas, you too are also spoken for. Why is it that all the good guys are always taken?? ::major big pout:: Thanks again for the fun challenge, Rick. I’m off to go sulk now… * * * “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” - Anne Frank ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-7/15172/42 "2000-03-26T08:19:00Z")
What? Just because I didn’t answer all the questions, I don’t get any points? _pouts_ * * * Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99. _Hey, I like that hat, man. They sell men’s clothes where you got that?_ ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-7/15172/43 "2000-03-26T11:20:00Z")
Sorry! Kat: 10 You slipped in between when I read the screen and when I posed. And then you were overlooked because I started checking from my first status post onwards. Mea culpa. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-7/15172/44 "2000-03-26T15:52:00Z")
Ok, after giving this some further thought I _would_ (of course) like to contest this ruling. Hehehe - Ok, maybe I’m pulling straws out here, but dadgummit I’ve worked SO hard on all these challenges and I haven’t won a single one yet! I understand that we left out what you consider to be a key part of the answer to #1. (Which, btw, I’m blaming Grace’s husband for, based on the following phone conversation we were having just prior to getting online to work on this thing)… Shayna: "I know the answer to #1. It’s “tell her that I love her.” Grace: "Hmmm. I’m not sure. [hollering across the room] Hey Brian, you know that song that goes, “If you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world…?” What does he say to tell her? Brian: Tell her I’m sorry. Shayna: Hmmm. That does sound familiar, but I was sure he also said, “tell her I love her.” I think I’ll look up the lyrics to be sure. Brian: [indignantly]You’re NOT going to look it up, because I’m right. He says, “Tell her I love her. Tell her I need my baby.” I’m right. Just go with it. Shayna: IIIIIIII dunno, Brian. Brian: Trust me. Have I ever steered you wrong? I can’t believe you aren’t gonna take my work for this. Shayna: Ok, Ok. I believe you. There’s already enough stuff I have to look up. We’ll go with that then. Bricker: Shayna (also starring Grace): 49 2/3 (And therefore, no Naked Twister and full-contact origami.) Shayna: [sarcasm on]THANKS, BRIAN[/sarcasm off] 😃 Alright, now for my contention on one of Arnold’s answers. Question #14 asks: _They say that motels off the highway are a bad risk. Guess I shouldn’t have built one in **that town** at the mouth of the Sarno river._ Now clearly you are implying that you want to know _why_ a hotel should not be built there. So any answer that does not provide this information isn’t complete. However, you have also clearly asked for _ **that town** _. Nowhere in either of Arnold’s answers does he demonstrate that he knows what _ **that town** _ is. > [@](#): > > A: Because the Sarno is the most polluted river in Italy? Or because of the 1998 mud slides? > > Because my motel would have been destroyed by the Vesuvius eruption. Arnold’s thought process could have gone something like this… "Oh, oh, oh, I know this one. That’s where they had some mud slides or something. Arrggghhh _what_ is the name of that city that was there? I KNOW this one. There’s a volcano there. Vesuvius. Yeah, that’s it - Vesuvius erupted. But what is the name of _that town_??? Starts with a P. Or a B. No, a P. Dang! I can’t think of it. Welllllllllll, maybe if I just show him I know why he shouldn’t build there and that I know it’s in Italy he’ll overlook the fact that I omitted the name of the city. Arnold: #14 A: Because mud slides happened there? Arnold: Ok, I change my answer to #14. Mt. Vesuvius erupted there. [thinking]Whew - maybe I can STEAL this win from Shayna & Grace now. Hehehehe Bricker: Shayna & Grace, you left out a key part of the answer to #1, because if we don’t know he also told her he loved her she might conclude he only wanted some nookie. Shayna: [thinking]Yeah, right. He tells her he’s sorry and he needs her, but she would never imagine that he loves her too based on that apology. Ok, ok, we _did_ leave out part of the lyrics. The reasoning doesn’t make sense, but the facts do, so we’ll take our 49 2/3 points. BUT… Arnold should only have **49 1/2** points because _he_ also left out a key part of the answer to #14. (And for the record, I also noticed that you skipped a number, but didn’t imagine that you were making that a _bonus question_. I merely didn’t want to point out your boo-boo and make you look bad. ;)) [Pure fantasy] Bricker: After further consideration, and the brilliant reasoning by Shayna, the scores now stand as: Shayna & Grace: 49 2/3 Arnold: 49 1/2 The official winners of (Fake) Bricker challenge #7 are Shayna & Grace. Where can I come deliver your prize, Shayna? * * * “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” - Anne Frank ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-7/15172/45 "2000-03-26T21:42:00Z")
Shayna, I give you high marks for creativity and your novel approach to a challenge. Unfortunately, I must decide this one against you. The Sarno river question was intended to elicit either Vesuvius or Pompeii - indeed, even a reference to a volcano would have won the point. The gravamen of the question was, “What was disastrous about living at the mouth of the Sarno river?” The name of the town - indeed, even the name of the volcano - was not as critical as demonstrating the understanding that there was avolcano, and bad things happened to those who lived in the path of destruction thereof. I very much appreciate the work that you’ve put into these, and I think that the only thing against you has been timing – you do deserve to have won one. _sigh_ But not, alas, this one. Cheers, Rick ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-7/15172/46 "2000-03-27T00:01:00Z")
OK, my revised answer to question 14: _14. They say that motels off the highway are a bad risk. Guess I shouldn’t have built one in that town at the mouth of the Sarno river._ A:Because my motel would have been destroyed by the Vesuvius eruption of AD 79 Mount Vesuvius erupted on Aug. 24, AD 79. A vivid eyewitness report is preserved in two letters written by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus, who had inquired about the death of Pliny the Elder, commander of the Roman fleet at Misenum. Pliny the Elder had rushed from Misenum to help the stricken population and to get a close view of the volcanic phenomena, and he died at Stabiae. Site excavations and volcanological studies, notably in the late 20th century, have brought out further details. Just after midday on August 24, fragments of ash, pumice, and other volcanic debris began pouring down on Pompeii, quickly covering the city to a depth of more than 9 feet (3 metres) and causing the roofs of many houses to fall in. Surges of pyroclastic material and heated gas, known as nuées ardentes, reached the city walls on the morning of August 25 and soon asphyxiated those residents who had not been killed by falling debris. Additional pyroclastic flows and rains of ash followed, adding at least another 9 feet of debris and preserving in a pall of ash the bodies of the inhabitants who perished while taking shelter in their houses or trying to escape toward the coast or by the roads leading to Stabiae or Nuceria. Thus Pompeii remained buried under a layer of pumice stones and ash 19 to 23 feet (6 to 7 metres) deep. The city’s sudden burial served to protect it for the next 17 centuries from vandalism, looting, and the destructive effects of climate and weather. Therefore, my score is 50, and Shayna’s is still 49 and 2/3. I will point out that Shayna never **officially** posted a corrected answer to question 1, and since there was no deadline for Bricker Challenge #7, I am still within my rights to correct an answer. Old age and treachery wins over youth, beauty and skill, once again! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-7/15172/47 "2000-03-27T00:07:00Z")
Sorry, I meant :p. Also I was going to way that I have been to Pompeii in person! (one of the few places I’ve visited in Italy), and was kicking myself for missing the answer. Also for missing the last line when I did a copy/paste for my original answer, which is why I didn’t have the answer for question 50 in my first post. (I know Oklahoma!) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-7/15172/48 "2000-03-27T00:16:00Z")
And **tracer** , 3 pi radians = 540° ---
**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:** [March 27, 2000, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-7/15172/49 "2000-03-27T06:15:00Z")
I have to know! I cannot find my copy of Catch-22 anywhere (and _shame_ i have to admit that though I own the book I have neer read it). Was that web reference I found just full of garbage? Does the book say on page 85 that Major Major owes his rank to an IBM computer? Was he promoted more than once in the book? Have I been caught in a catch 21.5? Will no one end my suffering? What if I don’t really want it to end? What if I do? What if I can’t stop asking questions? What if I can? * * * - The best lack all conviction The worst are full of passionate intensity. \* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-challenge-7/15172.md?page=2)