[Nitpick]
This is where it was first published, but you can’t know that he invented it unless you have Expanded Universe where (in The Happy Days Ahead) he says “Some joker tried to patent the water bed to shut out competition, and discovered that he could not because it was in the public domain, haveing been described in detail in STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND. It had been mentioned in stories of mine as far back as 1941 and several times after that”…
So while your answer is correct, your attribution is not, really.
[/Nitpick]
Sorry, all of those answers previously given are wrong. These are the correct answers:
01 What is the name of the Many-Colored Death? Fnord
02 What was the surname of the Kings and Queens of Cair Paravel? Who cairs? Get it? Har!
03 What can penetrate a General Products hull? A General Products Hull Penetrator
04 Who started his naval career by fighting a fair duel with unloaded pistols? Fnord
05 What nationality was Alladin? Fnord
06 What are the names of the planets interior to Barsoom? Gin, Scotch, and Whiskey
07 What was Charles Ingals’ pet name for his second daughter? Neener-neener-pumkin-head
08 Where may one see a painting of a woman from off the street, so shameless but oh so fair? Fnord
09 What is the most remarkable property of the Island of Laputa? Fnord
10 How might the corpse of Pap Finn be recognized? It’ll be dead
11 What former slave has a tree on her back? Fnord
12 Who is credited with inventing the waterbed? Ron Jeremy
13 Which Valar are mentioned by name in The Lord of the Rings? Fnord
14 What was the name of the swordsmith through whom Domingo Montoya did business? Fnord
15 Who speaks for the trees? The Piggys
16 How does the Dragon of Grindly Grun like his damsels? Grindly
17 As precisely as possible, when did Pollux and Castor Stone first set foot on Mars? Fnord
18 Our next item up for bids, what is Lot 666? Lot’s not gonna take it anymore, and becomes Lot 666, Champion of Hell
19 How might one cuss another out, in Lapin? Yipee-kai-ae, motherfucker
20 By what name is Artanis better known? Fnord
21 What is great for destruction, and would also suffice for the end of the world? The Death Star
22 By what name was Le Noir Faineant better known? Fnord
23 Where does the moon-bird rest in the peppermint wind? Fnord
24 What color is Petunia Dursley’s hair? Argyle
25 Night turn to noon, and rivers burn with frozen fire, ere what? Fnord
26 How does one seriously cramp a wizard’s style? With a Wizard Style Cramper
27 By what name was Hawkeye called (incorrectly, he might add) by his enemies? Fnord
28 His name is Mudd. In whose tent were his belongings left after his demise? Fnord
29 How would the Story of Henry Sugar have ended, were it fiction? Fnord
30 What did the catepillar eat on Saturday? Fnord
31 By what element is the Nautilus powered? I know naut.
32 How much does it cost to whitewash a fence? Fnord
33 Who had dogs named Fortinbras and Ananda? Fnord
34 Everyone knows that the Rolling Stone gathers no moss. What does it accumulate on its hull instead? Astroturf
35 Which two of Asimov’s stories feature positronic robots built without regard for the Three Laws? The Terminator and The Matrix
36 What is Jon Arbuckle’s profession? He didn’t qualify for swashbuckler, so he became an arbuckler instead.
37 Against whom was Hephestos matched in the Trojan War? Xena
38 What sport was invented by Bandobras Took? Fnord
39 What is the Lenni-Lenape word for “big serpent”? Holy shit, that’s a big serpent!
40 How is The Last Question to be answered? A sphincter says what?
41 What are Laughs Brightly and Golden Voice called by their closest companions? Fnord
42 Upon whose globular figure, her name and three quarters from hip to hip, may one find countries? Fnord
43 What is located at Star’s End? Has-been actors, mucisians, writers, etc.
44 Why are the Seven Stars no more than seven? There are eight stars!
45 With whom does Time amble? An ambulance driver
46 What instrument did Opus the Penguin play? Fnord
47 In what base should pi be expressed, to find an image of a circle drawn in the digits? All your base
48 Who or what is Edwin Frazier’s muse? Fnord
49 What element did the Skylark use for fuel? On a lark I’m gonna say… Fnord
50 If the only surviving output from the most powerful computer ever built is to be trusted, what do you get when you multiply six by nine? Sixty-nine, dude!
The original Skylark (of Space) was powered by copper, but Skylark Three was powered by uranium.
From Chapter 14–Interstellar Extermination
Seaton: “…we can and will use uranium, and that will give us something like four times the acceleration possible with copper.”
And the baby has been at my collection again, so I can’t find Skylark of Valeron, but I’m sure Doc Smith thought up something new and fantastic for the power source on that puppy.
Oh, ok, as long as we’re nitpicking… Question 13: Which Valar are mentioned by name in LOTR?: Elbereth (i.e. Varda), Morgoth, Oromë.
I didn’t mention Morgoth/Melkor because, quoting Valaquenta, “Melkor is counted no longer among the Valar, and his name is not spoken upon Earth”. So I don’t think Morgoth should be counted among the Valar. I still think all three of my answers were absolutely right :p.
I’ll accept the nitpick on Melkor (I was mostly wondering if anyone else noticed the reference to Oromë), but that doesn’t change the final outcome, anyway. A note to all students: If you’re giving an answer that you think might be different than what was intended, explain your reasoning. Had sc913 said in his answer that he was excluding Melkor and why, he would have immediately gotten full credit.
And Skylark Three is a different vessel than Skylark, and besides that, nobody answered “uranium” for that question, anyway.
As for another one, well, to give you ann idea of how long this took me, I was figuring out the answer to question 17 over Christmas break.
As to the Skylark question, I was just nipicking for the sake of nits. I wasn’t expecting any credit–unless…could I get a prize for the most nits picked?
My first thought when I opened this thread was “How long must this have taken him??”. Great work. Effort is appreciated.
This was fun… Maybe (if you haven’t exhausted your trivia store) we can have smaller versions of this in the future? 10 questions, a couple of days to answer them, no prizes except bragging rights?
Correct answer: Light visible to any of the races who are customers of the Puppeteers. This includes ultraviolet (and maybe Chronos). Also, anit-matter can penetrate the hull, not to mention dissolving it.
