DON'T Stump the Guy with Average Knowledge, Part II

[QUOTE=Liberal]
One of the best MPS threads ever! :slight_smile:

Difficulty: 3

Match the description with the philosophical tag. In no particular order:
[/QUOTE]

whoo man, I’m really not sure about Ontology and Metaphysics, but I think I got 'em right. I’m confident about the rest…

The nature of existence = Ontology
The nature of reality = Metaphysics
The nature of knowledge = Epistemology
The nature of human interactive behavior = Ethics
The nature of beauty and value = Aesthetics

(these are kinda fun)

[QUOTE=Sternvogel]
The shortstop certainly can be the fielder involved. Imagine the bases are loaded. All three runners are moving as a line drive is hit. The shortstop catches the line drive, steps on second to retire the runner going from second to third, then tags the runner who was on first and is sliding into second.

Let’s see how you are on automobile trivia.

What make and model of car was known as the “Tin Lizzie”? (1 point)

Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe at Any Speed concentrated on what make and model of car? (2 points)

In what country would you most likely be if you were driving a Holden? (3 points)
[/QUOTE]

  1. Damn! Cannot remember.

  2. Ugh. I seem to remember him picking on GM, but I cannot, for the life of me, remember the model if that’s right. As for make, I’ll go with Chevy.

  3. Sweden?

Ooof, prognosis looks bad on this one.

[QUOTE=Liberal]
An additional one, please.

Difficulty: 3

Match the planet with the moon. In no particular order:
[/QUOTE]

Oh god, I really thought I’d be able to ace this one as Mars & Jupiter were easy but then i got to Sat, Ur & Nep. Yikes! I’m pretty sure Despina belongs to Nep, so that leaves Saturn & Uranus as utter guesses! DAMN THESE MOONS! There’s too many now…

Mars = Deimos
Uranus = Cressida
Saturn = Calypso
Jupiter = Callisto
Neptune = Despina

[QUOTE=Knowed Out]
Lemme rephrase the 3 pt. I didn’t ask it right.

3 pt - Of the trigonometric functions Sine, Cosine, and Tangent, which one stands for the ratio of the opposite side of a NONright angle to the adjacent side?
[/QUOTE]

Like it matters to a shmuck like me :wink:

I’ll just stick with my original answer… Tangent? (I know what a tangent is, I’m just not sure I’m parsing your definition correctly)

[QUOTE=OtakuLoki]
Well, while that’s true, I don’t think one could call that a claim to fame. :wink:

Grace Hopper was a computer pioneer and was a key part of the team that invented/wrote one of the first computer languages: COBOL.

She also documented the first debugging in computers, going back to electrical/mechanical machines. A fly (IIRC) got fried on one of the relays, and crashed the machine, so when they found the cause she put it onto a card with the notation that it was the first computer bug to be caught for posterity. :wink:

And you’re a computer person. Sheesh. (grinning)
[/QUOTE]

Yeh, but… more on the user side, not the underpinnings. :smiley:

[QUOTE=OtakuLoki]
Okay, let’s try food science:

  1. What’s the difference between leavened and unleavened bread? (one point)

  2. Why do food science types suggest precautions for dealing with raw chicken that aren’t required when handling other common livestock meats. (two points)

For that matter, recently the FDA removed it’s ban on serving pork rare. The reason for the previous ban had been concerns about a parasitic infection that humans could get from poorly cooked pork. 3a) What is the parasite, or the name of the parasitic infection, that the FDA had been concerned about? (two points)
3b) Why did the FDA change it’s position on pork and this parasite? (a bit more esoteric, three points)
[/QUOTE]

  1. unleavened contains no yeast.

  2. I believe it’s the kind of bacteria (salmonella?) that can live on raw chicken, but cannot survive the environment in that of beef or pork?

3a) A tapeworm?

3b) I’m guessing that, after all, they found the temperatures needed to kill it off would render the meat “crunchy”. Therefore, what difference did it make? Either ban the meat all together, or lift the ban? That’s gotta be way off the mark.

[QUOTE=cmyk]

  1. unleavened contains no yeast.

  2. I believe it’s the kind of bacteria (salmonella?) that can live on raw chicken, but cannot survive the environment in that of beef or pork?

3a) A tapeworm?

3b) I’m guessing that, after all, they found the temperatures needed to kill it off would render the meat “crunchy”. Therefore, what difference did it make? Either ban the meat all together, or lift the ban? That’s gotta be way off the mark.
[/QUOTE]

  1. Close enough. Technically, leavened bread has been allowed to ferment (raise) with a yeast culture in the dough.

  2. Yes, it’s the salmonella contamination. A large fraction of birds have systemic salmonella populations in their bodies. For birds (and many reptiles) that’s not a problem because they’ve come to an evolutionary balance where the presence of the bug is asymptomatic in the birds.

Mammals, however, are not so well adapted to the bug, yet. So, while swine, cattle and sheep could all get the disease, they wouldn’t be healthy at the time of slaughter - which would be a downcheck for passing the meat on to market.

3a) I’m going to say you got this one close enough - the trichonosis roundworm is a parasite that’s known to have been found occaisionally in pork. But…

3b) And you missed this one. Because the trichonosis flatworm is a two or three stage parasite, that is there’s an intermediary host between pigs, it proved susceptible to modern sanitation methods to remove it from the population of US swine. So, while the flatworm is just as problematic as ever, and cooking did effectively prevent the transmission of the eggs, with the worm effectively removed from the US supply of pork, there’s no longer any concern for the bug.
Well, I’m starting to climb out of the hole, I’m only down 7 points, now.

Let’s try a few mathematics questions:

How many degrees are there in the sum total of the internal angles of a triangle? (one point)

How many degrees are there in the sum total of the internal angles of a four (or more) sided polygon? (one point)

Name at least one system for plotting points on a two dimensional graph. (two points, a bonus two points for each additional coordinate system named.)

[QUOTE=cmyk]
Like it matters to a shmuck like me :wink:

I’ll just stick with my original answer… Tangent? (I know what a tangent is, I’m just not sure I’m parsing your definition correctly)
[/QUOTE]

1 - correct
2 - Nope, it’s 19 × 7
3 - correct (reason why I rephrased it is because the side opposite a right angle is both an opposite and a hypotenuse)

So that puts me 2 points ahead! Yeehaw!

more math:

1 pt - what is the term for a four-sided object that has four right angles?
2 pt - what is the square root of 196?
3 pt - The first four odd numbers, 1, 3, 5, & 7, add up to 16, which is 4[sup]2[/sup]. What would be the sum of the first one hundred odd numbers?

[QUOTE=OtakuLoki]
1)Let’s try a few mathematics questions:

How many degrees are there in the sum total of the internal angles of a triangle? (one point)

How many degrees are there in the sum total of the internal angles of a four (or more) sided polygon? (one point)

Name at least one system for plotting points on a two dimensional graph. (two points, a bonus two points for each additional coordinate system named.)
[/QUOTE]

  1. 180º?

  2. 360º?

  3. Cartesian? (s’all I gots, sorry!)

[QUOTE=Knowed Out]
1 - correct
2 - Nope, it’s 19 × 7
3 - correct (reason why I rephrased it is because the side opposite a right angle is both an opposite and a hypotenuse)

So that puts me 2 points ahead! Yeehaw!

more math:

1 pt - what is the term for a four-sided object that has four right angles?
2 pt - what is the square root of 196?
3 pt - The first four odd numbers, 1, 3, 5, & 7, add up to 16, which is 4[sup]2[/sup]. What would be the sum of the first one hundred odd numbers?
[/QUOTE]

Uh-oh, I hope I don’t got you guys thinking I’m some math wiz! :eek:

  1. Quadrangle?
  2. WOW! I got this in one try (I’m so proud of myself!) = 14.
  3. 10,000? (If I got your premise right, I didn’t do this long hand… that is a cool trick).

ETA: I’m sure there’s some formula for figuring out square roots, but I don’t know what that is, so I just multiplied the first number that came to mind. I think I’m an idiot-savant of some sort. :smiley:

  1. Yes

  2. Yes, again

  3. Yup, that’s the most common one. The other one I know off the top of my head was polar coordinates, and a quick look at wiki showed a few others.

So, I’m still climbing. 3 points, now.

  1. Now that we’ve agreed that Cartesian coordinates are the most familiar and common - can you tell me who that system is named for? (two points)

  2. What mathematician and natural philospher is usually credited with having invented/described Calculus first? (two points)

2a) Bonus question: Can you name the mathematician and natural philosopher who derived modern Calculus almost simultaneously with the gentleman from #2? (three points)

  1. Who was Mendeleev, and what was his contribution to science? (three points)

  2. A nucleus of the most common isotope of Helium consists of how many neutrons and how many protons? (three points)

  3. For that matter, can you explain the difference between an isotope and an element? (one point)

[QUOTE=OtakuLoki]

  1. Now that we’ve agreed that Cartesian coordinates are the most familiar and common - can you tell me who that system is named for? (two points)

  2. What mathematician and natural philospher is usually credited with having invented/described Calculus first? (two points)

2a) Bonus question: Can you name the mathematician and natural philosopher who derived modern Calculus almost simultaneously with the gentleman from #2? (three points)

  1. Who was Mendeleev, and what was his contribution to science? (three points)

  2. A nucleus of the most common isotope of Helium consists of how many neutrons and how many protons? (three points)

  3. For that matter, can you explain the difference between an isotope and an element? (one point)
    [/QUOTE]

  4. Definitely some old, french, dead dude. Cartes?

2a) Newton.

2b) I cannot.

  1. Oof. I haven’t the slightest clue.

  2. 2 protons, 1 neutron?

  3. My pleasure. An isotope is an element that has more or less neutrons that it’s elemental counterpart, thereby changing the atomic number of the atom/element.

[QUOTE=cmyk]
Hmmm… looks like you’re going television… maybe slightly before my time :wink:

  1. WKRP? correct

  2. It could be Military or Medical (or neither for all I know). But I’ll go with Medical?
    Mobile

  3. Alf?
    [/QUOTE]
    Mork, from Ork.

Brings me to zero.

SSG Schwartz

[QUOTE=cmyk]

  1. Definitely some old, french, dead dude. Cartes?

2a) Newton.

2b) I cannot.

  1. Oof. I haven’t the slightest clue.

  2. 2 protons, 1 neutron?

  3. My pleasure. An isotope is an element that has more or less neutrons that it’s elemental counterpart, thereby changing the atomic number of the atom/element.
    [/QUOTE]

  4. Well, yeah - he is an old, dead French dude: René Descartes. I can’t give you credit for this.

2a) Yup

2b) Gottfried Liebniz.

  1. He described the Periodic Table, and used it to predict the properties of several yet-to-be-discovered elements.

  2. Nope. The most common isotope of Helium is [sup]4[/sup]He. It consists of two protons and two neutrons. What you described would be an [sup]3[/sup]He nucleus.

  3. Oy. You’re on the right track, but your misuse of the term Atomic Number is what my instructors would have called “A Gross Concept Error.” You’re right that it’s based on variations in the numbers of neutrons in the nuclei of atoms of a given element, but the Atomic Number (aka the Proton Number) is a constant for any given element. What I think you were looking for was the term Atomic Weight, which is a measure of the number of nucleons in a given nucleus.

While I know you were on the right track, I still have to call this a miss, based on that error.
Well, so much for getting out of the hole. :wink: I’m down to 13 points.
I’m going to be heading offline for a bit, but I’ll be back later tonight. In the meantime here’s a few more for you to chew on:

  1. Describe the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. (One point)

  2. Does the word fission ever get used to describe things that are not involved with nuclear physics? (one point)

  3. How many amendments were included in the Bill of Rights? (one point)

  4. Who said, “I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical”? (three points)

  5. Name one of the authors of The Federalist Papers. (one point)

  6. With all the attention these days to the idea of a Clinton-Obama ticket: Had there ever been a canidacy for President of the United States with a female caucasian candidate for President, and a male african-american candidate for Vice President? (one point)

[QUOTE=OtakuLoki]

  1. Well, yeah - he is an old, dead French dude: René Descartes. I can’t give you credit for this.

2a) Yup

2b) Gottfried Liebniz.

  1. He described the Periodic Table, and used it to predict the properties of several yet-to-be-discovered elements.

  2. Nope. The most common isotope of Helium is [sup]4[/sup]He. It consists of two protons and two neutrons. What you described would be an [sup]3[/sup]He nucleus.

  3. Oy. You’re on the right track, but your misuse of the term Atomic Number is what my instructors would have called “A Gross Concept Error.” You’re right that it’s based on variations in the numbers of neutrons in the nuclei of atoms of a given element, but the Atomic Number (aka the Proton Number) is a constant for any given element. What I think you were looking for was the term Atomic Weight, which is a measure of the number of nucleons in a given nucleus.

While I know you were on the right track, I still have to call this a miss, based on that error.

[/QUOTE]

GAH! I meant atomic weight. Damn. That’s what I get for feeling over-confident and rushing a question. :smack:

And :smack: :smack: on Descarte. When I typed out Cartes, I thought to myself, man, that looks close to Decartes. :frowning:

any1) Explain the Infield Fly Rule (1 pt)

any2) How many hours difference between London (GMT) and NY (EST)? (1 pt)

[QUOTE=OtakuLoki]

  1. Describe the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. (One point)

  2. Does the word fission ever get used to describe things that are not involved with nuclear physics? (one point)

  3. How many amendments were included in the Bill of Rights? (one point)

  4. Who said, “I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical”? (three points)

  5. Name one of the authors of The Federalist Papers. (one point)

  6. With all the attention these days to the idea of a Clinton-Obama ticket: Had there ever been a canidacy for President of the United States with a female caucasian candidate for President, and a male african-american candidate for Vice President? (one point)
    [/QUOTE]

  7. Nuclear Fusion is when the nucleus of two atoms are slammed into one another. Big boom, and new heavier element (what keeps the sun going, in check with it’s own gravity, of course). Nuclear Fission is the process of undoing the nucleus of heavier atoms into lighter ones. How much energy is released due to each reaction is determined by E = mc2.

  8. Biology? Cell divisions?

  9. 10?

  10. Damn, don’t know. But I do agree. :slight_smile:

  11. Got nuthin’

  12. I’d say no, not that I can remember… but I wouldn’t be surprised if I got this wrong.

[QUOTE=anyrose]
any1) Explain the Infield Fly Rule (1 pt)

any2) How many hours difference between London (GMT) and NY (EST)? (1 pt)
[/QUOTE]

  1. No idea. :frowning:

  2. I believe it’s 5 hours.

[QUOTE=cmyk]

  1. No idea. :frowning:

  2. I believe it’s 5 hours.
    [/QUOTE]

heh, me either - and - correct (because I specified EST, not EDST)
so that evens out to 0 points for me. Wheee!

eta: fun thread. I’ll be back when I think up more questions

Infield fly rule: with less than two outs and a force play at third, a pop-up on the infield (more or less at the umpire’s discretion) is an automatic out, regardless of whether or not the ball is caught. This is to prevent infielders from deliberately dropping the ball in order to turn a double play (since the runners must stay near their bases to prevent being forced out in the event of a catch, it would be very easy for a fielder to drop the ball, pick it up and throw to third, the third baseman relays to second for an easy double play).

You know, George III was not actually King of England. There was no such position then or since. He was King of Great Britain.

[/nitpick]