The Wagner Challenge #1

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

O.K., let’s see how smart you really are. This is a quiz with a total of 150 points. I’m going to wait until someone gets a perfect score or I get tired of waiting before I declare a winner. Post your answers to this thread. Prizes - huh, I’ve got to award a prize? You can’t just do it for the challenge? O.K., the first perfect score or the highest score before I get tired of waiting gets a box of random books from my pile of books that I was going to donate to charity anyway.

Food

  1. What grain is injera traditionally made from, and how does one use it in eating a meal? (Maximum score: 2 points)
  2. Of what country is feijoada the national dish?
  3. In what region of what country did balti restaurants originate, and from what country did the owners of those restaurants emigrate? (Maximum score: 3 points)
  4. In what region of what country does one use a spice that consists of celery salt, mustard, pepper, laurel leaves, cloves, pimento, ginger, mace, cardamon, cassia, and paprika (Hint: It typically comes in a yellow and blue one-pound can) and what kind of food does one usually put it on? (Maximum score: 3 points)
  5. In what region of what country would one most likely be served poutin, and what does it consist of? (Maximum score: 3 points)

Numbers
6. Put the following sixteen numbers in order from lowest to highest: Skewes’s number, the smallest number that is the sum of two fourth powers of integers in two different ways, 1000 factorial, Graham’s number, a googool, a googolplex, a centillion (in American English), the 23rd Mersenne prime, Feigenbaum’s constant, the factoring challenge number that R, S, and A gave in 1977 when they announced their cryptographic system, the 4th perfect number, Euler’s constant (sometimes known as Mascheroni’s constant), e ^ (i * pi), 9 ^ ( 9 ^ 9), aleph null, 5 choose 3. (The expression a * b means a times b and the expression a ^ b means a to the power b.)

Words and messages
7. Speaking of the RSA challenge number, what are the magic words?
8. In what movie are the magic words “Julie Andrews”?
9. Where do you need to say a word that means “friend” in order to open the door?
10. On what show would the duck come down if you said the secret word?
11. What was the message on the blackboard before the moose spun it?
12. What do the words “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin” mean?

Academic questions
In what field would one use the following technical concepts, and who is generally considered to be the person who introduced them? (Two points for each question)
13. Deep structure?
14. Negative capability?
15. The periodic table?
16. Statistical mechanics?
17. The syllogism?

Rocks of various sorts
18. In what country do the native peoples not like you to walk over their sacred rock, although many tourists hike all over it and many others only walk up as far as Chicken Rock?
19. In what country can you reach the most famous piece of rock only by laying face-up on the floor of a ruined castle and leaning back your head so that your lips touch it?
20. What are the names of the two rocks that for a long time were both kept in the capital of a country, although the one with a royal connection has now been returned to its place of origin. The other (a piece of a famous building) hasn’t yet been returned to the place it came from. (Maximum score: 2 points)
21. What’s the most expensive piece of rock in the Smithsonian?
22. What lead singer, born in 1948, in a still-existing rock group has a famous daughter, and who did she think her father was until she was about 12? (Maximum score: 2 points)
23. What singer/songwriter entered college at 16 and received an architecture degree?
24. What singer had one date with William Bennett?
25. What do Pete Best, Tipper Gore, and Karen Carpenter have in common?
26. What are the colorful names of the four children of a singer/songwriter who died of prostate cancer?
27. Why did the group Stone the Crows break up in 1972?

The other side of the pond
28. What does “Stone the crows!” mean?
29. What is a bed-sitter?
30. When is Hilary term, and what is it called at the other nearly-as-old university? (Maximum score: 2 points)
31. What is spotted Dick?
32. What is a Heath Robinson?
33. What kind of blue-collar worker could traditionally perform marriage ceremonies in Gretna Green?

Odd man out
34. Which two films don’t belong on this list of eleven: (Hint: the connection between the other nine films has something to do with the business side of film.) Night of the Living Dead, Dark Star, The Return of the Secaucus Seven, Ordinary People, She’s Gotta Have It, Hollywood Shuffle, El Mariachi, Slacker, Clerks, Pi, American Beauty? (Maximum score: 2 points)
35. Which one doesn’t fit in the following list of books: That Hideous Strength, The One-Armed Queen, Sign of the Unicorn, The Green Angel Tower, The Light Fantastic, Flight from Neveryon, High Deryni, The Darkest Road, Raphael, Ozma of Oz?
36. Which five of the following eight language families constitute a superfamily (according to a common hypothesis) and what is this superfamily called: Indo-European, Altaic, Kartvelian, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, Na-Dene, Dravidian, Uralic? (Maximum score: 2 points)

Connections
What do the following triples have in common?
37. Washoe, Koko, Nim Chimsky?
38. Hot Springs, Cheltenham, Baden-Baden?
39. New, Goddard, Antioch?
40. Volapuk, Klingon, Loglan?
41. Seppleltsfield Estate, Yaldera Chateau, Alcante Bouchet?
42. Philby, Burgess, Maclean?
43. Ghana, Mali, Songhai?
44. Urd, Verdandi, Skuld?
45. Macedonius, Pelagius, Sabellius?
46. Phygian, Mixolydian, Aeolian?
What do the following groups of people have in common?
47. Edith Piaf, Alexander Pope, Pat Benatar, Mae West, Robert Reich?
48. Oral Roberts, Nastassja Kinski, Mary Lou Retton, Gennifer Flowers, Edith Wharton?
49. Ezra Pound, Lana Turner, Sacajawea, Gutzon Borglum, Harmon Killibrew?
Where in fiction or real life are each of the following triples of places located?
50. Shaw, Adams-Morgan, Woodley Park?
51. Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius?
52. Broadway, Burford, Upper Slaughter?
53. Kings Cross, Darlinghurst, Ultimo?
54. Archland, Calormen, Cair Paravel?
55. Baconberg, Snark Street, Blueberry Park?

Multi-talented people
Name three fields that each of the following polymaths worked in.
56. Hildegard of Bingen?
57. Albert Schweitzer?
58. Jonathan Miller?
59. Leonardo da Vinci?
What sports are the following people skilled at?
60. Johnny Weissmuller?
61. Geena Davis?
62. Ken Kesey?
63. Princess Anne?

Origins
In what country were the following real or imaginary people born? (Give the current name of the country in which the person was born.)
64. Chris Gaines?
65. Nicole Kidman?
66. Liv Ullmann?
67. Bob Hope?
68. Eamon de Valera?
69. Freddie Mercury?
70. Peter Jennings?
71. Errol Flynn?
72. Nero Wolfe?
73. St. Patrick?

Games, rivers, eyes, dogs, and best friends
74. Of what basic game are the following variants: wari, oware, songo, adji-boto, mbangbi?
75. What game uses the terms seki, atari, joseki, and ko, and what do they mean? (Maximum score: 5 points)
76. After the chant “Red Rover, Red Rover, . . .”, what does a member of the opposite team do?
77. Who wrote a series in which everyone is reborn on the banks of a river?
78. What (real) river is the subject of “Down by the Old Mill Stream”?
79. What river did a popular song of 1965 tell us to take a ferry across?
80. Who wrote a novel that begins with the words “riverrun past Eve and Adam’s”?
81. Give an adjective that means “having to do with river banks”.
82. Who sang about Bette Davis’s eyes?
83. Whose early directing job concerned Joan Crawford’s eyes?
84. What was different about Jean Francois Champollion’s eyes?
85. Which eye was Sammy Davis missing?
What were or are the names of the dogs of the following real or imaginary people?

2

“Nim Chimsky” (Q#37)?! That is too damn funny!! (At least it is at this time of the night.) I think I would have preferred it as “Chimpsky”, though.

3

#31- What is spotted Dick?

It’s either a traditional English pudding, or an ailment that can usually be cleared up with a shot of Penicillin.

Am I winning?

4

No. 3) Balti…

It originated in Bermingham England,
and the originators were from India and Pacistan

No. 5) Are you talking about Potin? The Fire-water from the West of Ireland? Its made from Potatoes

  1. The one that Groucho , and later Bill Cosby, fronted, but I cant remember the name

  2. Ayres rock, Australia

  3. 1)the Greek Marbles, kept in London

  4. its a term of amazement

  5. a bed sit is a one room apartment with a bet abd a kitchen and a sittingroom all in one (small and cramped. a bed sitter is the one who lives in it

  6. christmas to easter
    31)a dish with Sausagemeat (I think)
    32)?

  7. a miner

  8. Racecources

  9. Languages you can study in American Universities. :slight_smile:

  10. Weapons Design, Art, Math

  11. Long Jump

  12. Horse trials

  13. Australia

  14. THe USA

  15. South Africa

  16. Wales, (Allegedly)

  17. Run over

  18. Mersy… scouse

  19. James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, about the strech of coastline that I live on!!(from swqerve of shore to bend of bay

  20. 91

  21. 289

  22. The Clash ( I fought the law)

  23. 16 (They played the drums slowly… are you irish???

  24. the 5 "Lines on a musical stave in the key of G

  25. Hindu

  26. Meng and Seng

John Larrigan

“Is there a chance that Our power plant was responsible for harming those Ducks, Smithers?”

“there’s no doubt about it, Sir”

“Excellent”

5

re: the duck question: “YOU BET YOUR LIFE”

John Larrigan

“Is there a chance that Our power plant was responsible for harming those Ducks, Smithers?”

“there’s no doubt about it, Sir”

“Excellent”

6

Jesus kee-KRIST, Wagner, like I don’t feel stupid enough without you?

I’m one of those people who freeze up when asked a direct question, so I suck at these things (also at crossword puzzles and Trivial Pursuit). When the teacher asked “Who shot Lincoln?” I’d go, “I don’t know! It wasn’t me!”

7

There’s a word missing in one question. It should be:

  1. What’s the connection between the
    battle of South Mountain and a popular 1999
    American movie?

JohnLarrigan,

No, I mean “poutin”, not “potin” (and isn’t that usually spelled “poteen” anyway).

No, I’m not Irish, and the writer of that song was not born in Ireland, nor did he write that song while in Ireland.

You’ve got some right answers, but you’re clearly guessing on others.

8
  1. Bedazzled (one of my favorite movies, btw)
  2. Moria
  3. You Bet Your Life
9

3. In what region of what country did balti restaurants originate, and from what country did the owners of those restaurants emigrate? (Maximum score: 3 points): West Midlands, England, Bangaldesh.

28. What does “Stone the crows!” mean?: It is an exclamation of surprise or astonishment. Hardly ever used in real life, though its close counterpart, “Stone me!” was used extensively by the comedian Tony Hancock.

29. What is a bed-sitter?: “Bedsitter” or (more commonly) “bedsit” is a contraction of “bed-sitting room”, a one-room flat where bathroom and kitchen facilities are generally shared (or non-existent).

30. When is Hilary term, and what is it called at the other nearly-as-old university? (Maximum score: 2 points): The short answer is, “now”. Hilary is the second term, usually lasting from early January to early March. At the other place it is known as Lent. (The others are Michaelmas and Trinity)

31. What is spotted Dick?: A steamed pudding containing raisins and currants

32. What is a Heath Robinson?: Heath Robinson was a pre-war artist who specialised in drawings of absurd machines. Hence, an impractical or convoluted piece of machinery (N.B. It is not enough for it to be ineffective of complicated. It has to be ridiculously over-complicated).

33. What kind of blue-collar worker could traditionally perform marriage ceremonies in Gretna Green?: A blacksmith.

40. Volapuk, Klingon, Loglan?: All are invented languages.

42. Philby, Burgess, Maclean?: All Britons who spied for the KGB.

58. Jonathan Miller?: Medicine, opera, comedy.

10

Yeeouch. Well, I’ll give it a try. I’m skipping all the ones I don’t have a clue about.

  1. Galway, Ireland. Moonshine.
  2. You Bet Your Life.
  3. “To number, to number, to weigh, to divide” … or something like that.
  4. Literary criticism, John Keats.
  5. Logic, Aristotle.
  6. Australia?
  7. Ireland.
  8. The Hope Diamond.
  9. They all played the drums.
  10. Dweezil, Moon Unit, and … rats, I’m blanking on the other two.
  11. A combination bed / sitting room.
  12. Pudding with raisins.
  13. Apes who use sign language.
  14. Spas.
  15. Progressive colleges.
  16. Invented languages.
  17. They were all short?
  18. Washington, DC.
  19. London.
  20. Narnia.
  21. Music, literature, theology.
  22. Art, engineering, anatomy.
  23. Swimming.
  24. Ireland.
  25. Canada.
  26. Great Britain.
  27. Go?
  28. Runs over to the other side.
  29. The Mersey.
  30. James Joyce.
  31. The left (hey, it’s 50-50, right?)
  32. Asta.
  33. Sandy.
  34. Buddy.
  35. Ruff.
  36. Gilgamesh.
  37. Don Quixote.
  38. David.
  39. The Cisco Kid.
  40. The Lone Ranger.
  41. None.
  42. Bob Dylan.
  43. Types of stars.
  44. Musical notation.
  45. Islam.
  46. Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren.

Wow. I feel properly humbled.

I think apathy, depression, irony, and confusion are damned fine ways to view a world going to hell.
– Cynthia Heimel

11

Oops, didn’t read the responses until after I took the quiz, so I missed your note on poutin. Disregard my answer to #5.

12

Yes, I was guessing for most of these!!

if I knew my ascii, it would be able to
show you the correct spenning of potin,

Poteen is an Anglisized version of the word,
there should be a “fada” (as we call it over here, ) a small “/” over the eye, (iss an “agrave” in french, right?"

I can get you full information on Willie Mc Bride if you want it.

John Larrigan

“Is there a chance that Our power plant was responsible for harming those Ducks, Smithers?”

“there’s no doubt about it, Sir”

“Excellent”

13

Food
1. What grain is injera traditionally made from, and how does one use it in eating a meal? (Maximum score: 2 points)

Ah, Ethiopian food. Injera is the flatbread that is served with every Ethopian meal, and it’s made from teff, which is in the grain family. One uses it in lieu of flatware, tearing off a piece and using it to scoop up food from common central containers. One must be careful to use one’s right hand; it is (for some unknown reason) a terrible breah of protocol to use your left hand when eating this way.

2. Of what country is feijoada the national dish?
Brazil. It’s a spicy bean and meat dish, with chorizo, beef, or whatever else is at hand.

3. In what region of what country did balti restaurants originate, and from what country did the owners of those restaurants emigrate? (Maximum score: 3 points)

Um… I associate the phrase with India, but beyond that I don’t know.

4. In what region of what country does one use a spice that consists of celery salt, mustard, pepper, laurel leaves, cloves, pimento, ginger, mace, cardamon, cassia, and paprika (Hint: It typically comes in a yellow and blue one-pound can) and what kind of food does one usually put it on? (Maximum score: 3 points)

Don’t know.

  1. In what region of what country would one most likely be served poutin, and what does it consist of? (Maximum score: 3 points) Well, I think I had it (or something that sounded like “poutin”; who can tell with the French accents) in Quebec, so I will guess that it’s French Canadian. It was steak (thick) fries, cottage cheese, and gravy.

Numbers
**6. Put the following sixteen numbers in order from lowest to highest: Skewes’s number, the smallest number that is the sum of two fourth powers of integers in two different ways, 1000 factorial, Graham’s number, a googool, a googolplex, a centillion (in American English), the 23rd Mersenne prime, Feigenbaum’s constant, the factoring challenge number that R, S, and A gave in 1977 when they announced their cryptographic system, the 4th perfect number, Euler’s constant (sometimes known as Mascheroni’s constant), e ^ (i * pi), 9 ^ ( 9 ^ 9), aleph null, 5 choose 3. (The expression a * b means a times b and the expression a ^ b means a to the power b.) **

Good Lord! I’ll come back to this one. For points now, I’ll not that a googol is 10 to the hundredth, and a googolplex is a googol to the googoleth power.

Words and messages
7. Speaking of the RSA challenge number, what are the magic words?
8. In what movie are the magic words “Julie Andrews”?
9. Where do you need to say a word that means “friend” in order to open the door?

Don’t know.
10. On what show would the duck come down if you said the secret word?

You Bet Your Life.

11. What was the message on the blackboard before the moose spun it?
12. What do the words “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin” mean?

Don’t know.

Academic questions
In what field would one use the following technical concepts, and who is generally considered to be the person who introduced them? (Two points for each question)
13. Deep structure?
14. Negative capability?
15. The periodic table?
Chemistry. Don’t know the person.

16. Statistical mechanics?
17. The syllogism?
Logic. Don’t know the person.

Rocks of various sorts
18. In what country do the native peoples not like you to walk over their sacred rock, although many tourists hike all over it and many others only walk up as far as Chicken Rock?

Hmm. There was a lighthouse on the Isle of Man in the UK called Chicken Rock. But I doubt that’s it.

19. In what country can you reach the most famous piece of rock only by laying face-up on the floor of a ruined castle and leaning back your head so that your lips touch it?

This has got to be Ireland’s Blarney Stone.

**20. What are the names of the two rocks that for a long time were both kept in the capital of a country, although the one with a royal connection has now been returned to its place of origin. The other (a piece of a famous building) hasn’t yet been returned to the place it came from. (Maximum score: 2 points)

  1. What’s the most expensive piece of rock in the Smithsonian?**

The Moon rock?

22. What lead singer, born in 1948, in a still-existing rock group has a famous daughter, and who did she think her father was until she was about 12? (Maximum score: 2 points)
23. What singer/songwriter entered college at 16 and received an architecture degree?
24. What singer had one date with William Bennett?
25. What do Pete Best, Tipper Gore, and Karen Carpenter have in common?
26. What are the colorful names of the four children of a singer/songwriter who died of prostate cancer?
27. Why did the group Stone the Crows break up in 1972?

No idea.

The other side of the pond
28. What does “Stone the crows!” mean?
29. What is a bed-sitter?
30. When is Hilary term, and what is it called at the other nearly-as-old university? (Maximum score: 2 points)

  1. What is spotted Dick?

A cake and custard dish, with raisens or currants being the “spots”. Or a reason to call the clinic and the lady you met last week.

32. What is a Heath Robinson?
33. What kind of blue-collar worker could traditionally perform marriage ceremonies in Gretna Green?

Anvil Marriages, so I guess a blacksmith?

**Odd man out
34. Which two films don’t belong on this list of eleven: (Hint: the connection between the other nine films has something to do with the business side of film.) Night of the Living Dead, Dark Star, The Return of the Secaucus Seven, Ordinary People, She’s Gotta Have It, Hollywood Shuffle, El Mariachi, Slacker, Clerks, Pi, American Beauty? (Maximum score: 2 points)
35. Which one doesn’t fit in the following list of books: That Hideous Strength, The One-Armed Queen, Sign of the Unicorn, The Green Angel Tower, The Light Fantastic, Flight from Neveryon, High Deryni, The Darkest Road, Raphael, Ozma of Oz?
36. Which five of the following eight language families constitute a superfamily (according to a common hypothesis) and what is this superfamily called: Indo-European, Altaic, Kartvelian, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, Na-Dene, Dravidian, Uralic? (Maximum score: 2 points)

Connections
What do the following triples have in common?
37. Washoe, Koko, Nim Chimsky?**

Non-human primates that learned sign language.

38. Hot Springs, Cheltenham, Baden-Baden?
39. New, Goddard, Antioch?
40. Volapuk, Klingon, Loglan?

Spoken languages that were artifically created rather than naturally developed?

41. Seppleltsfield Estate, Yaldera Chateau, Alcante Bouchet?
42. Philby, Burgess, Maclean?

Spies.

**43. Ghana, Mali, Songhai?
44. Urd, Verdandi, Skuld?
45. Macedonius, Pelagius, Sabellius?
46. Phygian, Mixolydian, Aeolian?
What do the following groups of people have in common?
47. Edith Piaf, Alexander Pope, Pat Benatar, Mae West, Robert Reich?
48. Oral Roberts, Nastassja Kinski, Mary Lou Retton, Gennifer Flowers, Edith Wharton?
49. Ezra Pound, Lana Turner, Sacajawea, Gutzon Borglum, Harmon Killibrew?
Where in fiction or real life are each of the following triples of places located?
50. Shaw, Adams-Morgan, Woodley Park?
51. Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius?
52. Broadway, Burford, Upper Slaughter?
53. Kings Cross, Darlinghurst, Ultimo?
54. Archland, Calormen, Cair Paravel?
55. Baconberg, Snark Street, Blueberry Park?

Multi-talented people
Name three fields that each of the following polymaths worked in.
56. Hildegard of Bingen?
57. Albert Schweitzer?
58. Jonathan Miller?
59. Leonardo da Vinci?
What sports are the following people skilled at?
60. Johnny Weissmuller?**

Swimming.

61. Geena Davis?

Archery.

**62. Ken Kesey?
63. Princess Anne?

Origins
In what country were the following real or imaginary people born? (Give the current name of the country in which the person was born.)
64. Chris Gaine

14

Dammit. Enkidu is, of course, for Gilgamesh.

How I missed typing that is beyond me.

  • Rick
15

Wendell, all of my answers above were my own, sans research.

I assume research is permitted?

  • Rick
16

Okay, I’ll take the Nero Wolfe one - he was born in Montenegro.

But Archie Goodwin was born in Ohio, as all really great people are.

17

WOW! Now those are some questions. All my own answers, no research involved.

Food

  1. What grain is injera traditionally made from, and how does one use it in eating a meal? (Maximum score: 2 points)

  2. Of what country is feijoada the national dish?
    Portugal

  3. In what region of what country did balti restaurants originate, and from what country did the owners of those restaurants emigrate? (Maximum score: 3 points)

  4. In what region of what country does one use a spice that consists of celery salt, mustard, pepper, laurel leaves, cloves, pimento, ginger, mace, cardamon, cassia, and paprika (Hint: It typically comes in a yellow and blue one-pound can) and what kind of food does one usually put it on? (Maximum score: 3 points)

  5. In what region of what country would one most likely be served poutin, and what does it consist of? (Maximum score: 3 points)
    Canada

Numbers
6. Put the following sixteen numbers in order from lowest to highest: Skewes’s number, the smallest number that is the sum of two fourth powers of integers in two different ways, 1000 factorial, Graham’s number, a googool, a googolplex, a centillion (in American English), the 23rd Mersenne prime, Feigenbaum’s constant, the factoring challenge number that R, S, and A gave in 1977 when they announced their cryptographic system, the 4th perfect number, Euler’s constant (sometimes known as Mascheroni’s constant), e ^ (i * pi), 9 ^ ( 9 ^ 9), aleph null, 5 choose 3. (The expression a * b means a times b and the expression a ^ b means a to the power b.)
Googleplex is the largest

Words and messages
7. Speaking of the RSA challenge number, what are the magic words?
8. In what movie are the magic words “Julie Andrews”?
9. Where do you need to say a word that means “friend” in order to open the door?
Moria, in Middle Earth

  1. On what show would the duck come down if you said the secret word?
    You Bet Your Life

  2. What was the message on the blackboard before the moose spun it?

  3. What do the words “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin” mean?
    Biblical – words Daniel interpreted for King Nebucanezzar

Academic questions
In what field would one use the following technical concepts, and who is generally considered to be the person who introduced them? (Two points for each question)
13. Deep structure?
Linguistics/Noam Chomsky

  1. Negative capability?

  2. The periodic table?
    Chemistry

  3. Statistical mechanics?

  4. The syllogism?
    Rocks of various sorts

  5. In what country do the native peoples not like you to walk over their sacred rock, although many tourists hike all over it and many others only walk up as far as Chicken Rock?
    Australia

  6. In what country can you reach the most famous piece of rock only by laying face-up on the floor of a ruined castle and leaning back your head so that your lips touch it?
    Ireland

  7. What are the names of the two rocks that for a long time were both kept in the capital of a country, although the one with a royal connection has now been returned to its place of origin. The other (a piece of a famous building) hasn’t yet been returned to the place it came from. (Maximum score: 2 points)

  8. What’s the most expensive piece of rock in the Smithsonian?
    Moon Rocks

  9. What lead singer, born in 1948, in a still-existing rock group has a famous daughter, and who did she think her father was until she was about 12? (Maximum score: 2 points)
    Steven Tyler, Mick Jagger

  10. What singer/songwriter entered college at 16 and received an architecture degree?
    Roger Waters

  11. What singer had one date with William Bennett?
    Neil Sedaka

  12. What do Pete Best, Tipper Gore, and Karen Carpenter have in common?

  13. What are the colorful names of the four children of a singer/songwriter who died of prostate cancer?

  14. Why did the group Stone the Crows break up in 1972?

The other side of the pond
28. What does “Stone the crows!” mean?
29. What is a bed-sitter?
Studio apartment

  1. When is Hilary term, and what is it called at the other nearly-as-old university? (Maximum score: 2 points)
  2. What is spotted Dick?
  3. What is a Heath Robinson?
  4. What kind of blue-collar worker could traditionally perform marriage ceremonies in Gretna Green?

Odd man out
34. Which two films don’t belong on this list of eleven: (Hint: the connection between the other nine films has something to do with the business side of film.) Night of the Living Dead, Dark Star, The Return of the Secaucus Seven, Ordinary People, She’s Gotta Have It, Hollywood Shuffle, El Mariachi, Slacker, Clerks, Pi, American Beauty? (Maximum score: 2 points)
All independent films except American Beauty and Ordinary People

  1. Which one doesn’t fit in the following list of books: That Hideous Strength, The One-Armed Queen, Sign of the Unicorn, The Green Angel Tower, The Light Fantastic, Flight from Neveryon, High Deryni, The Darkest Road, Raphael, Ozma of Oz?
    Commonality is all are books in a series. Not sure which are stand alone

  2. Which five of the following eight language families constitute a superfamily (according to a common hypothesis) and what is this superfamily called: Indo-European, Altaic, Kartvelian, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, Na-Dene, Dravidian, Uralic? (Maximum score: 2 points)
    Indo-european, Altaic, Dravidian, Uralic, Nilo-Saharan – Proto Indo-European

Connections
What do the following triples have in common?
37. Washoe, Koko, Nim Chimsky?
Non-humans taught to use sign-language

  1. Hot Springs, Cheltenham, Baden-Baden?
    Mineral springs (baths)

  2. New, Goddard, Antioch?

  3. Volapuk, Klingon, Loglan?
    Invented languages in works of fiction

  4. Seppleltsfield Estate, Yaldera Chateau, Alcante Bouchet?

  5. Philby, Burgess, Maclean?
    British spies for the USSR

  6. Ghana, Mali, Songhai?

  7. Urd, Verdandi, Skuld?

  8. Macedonius, Pelagius, Sabellius?

  9. Phygian, Mixolydian, Aeolian?
    modes

What do the following groups of people have in common?
47. Edith Piaf, Alexander Pope, Pat Benatar, Mae West, Robert Reich?
very short

  1. Oral Roberts, Nastassja Kinski, Mary Lou Retton, Gennifer Flowers, Edith Wharton?

  2. Ezra Pound, Lana Turner, Sacajawea, Gutzon Borglum, Harmon Killibrew?
    Where in fiction or real life are each of the following triples of places located?

  3. Shaw, Adams-Morgan, Woodley Park?

  4. Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius?

  5. Broadway, Burford, Upper Slaughter?

  6. Kings Cross, Darlinghurst, Ultimo?
    London

  7. Archland, Calormen, Cair Paravel?
    Narnia

  8. Baconberg, Snark Street, Blueberry Park?

Multi-talented people
Name three fields that each of the following polymaths worked in.
56. Hildegard of Bingen?
57. Albert Schweitzer?
Medecine
Music
Philanthropy

  1. Jonathan Miller?
  2. Leonardo da Vinci?
    painting
    sculpture
    architecture
    engineering

What sports are the following people skilled at?
60. Johnny Weissmuller?
swimming

  1. Geena Davis?
    archery

  2. Ken Kesey?
    football

  3. Princess Anne?
    equestrian

Origins
In what country were the following real or imaginary people born? (Give the current name of the country in which the person was born.)
64. Chris Gaines?
US

  1. Nicole Kidman?
    Australia

  2. Liv Ullmann?
    Sweden

  3. Bob Hope?
    GB

  4. Eamon de Valera?

  5. Freddie Mercury?
    Madagascar

  6. Peter Jennings?
    Canada

  7. Errol Flynn?

  8. Nero Wolfe?

  9. St. Patrick?

Games, rivers, eyes, dogs, and best friends
74. Of what basic game are the following variants: wari, oware, songo, adji-boto, mbangbi?
75. What game uses the terms seki, atari, joseki, and ko, and what do they mean?
(Maximum score: 5 points)
go

  1. After the chant “Red Rover, Red Rover, . . .”, what does a member of the opposite team do?
    Come over and attempt to break the chanting team’s linked arms.

  2. Who wrote a series in which everyone is reborn on the banks of a river?
    Phillip Jose Farmer

  3. What (real) riv

18

#26 is an incorrect question. I’m assuming it refers to Frank Zappa, but he had five kids : Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet, Rodan and Diva.

Saint Eutychus H.M.S.H.
“Vanity of vanities” says the preacher, “all is vanity and a chasing after the wind …”
Disney Shorts
The Eutychus Papers

19

Actually, I believe Ahmet Rodan is the name of one person.

20

Food

  1. What grain is injera traditionally made from, and how does one use it in eating a meal? (Maximum score: 2 points) Teff is the staple grain of Ethiopia.
  2. Of what country is feijoada the national dish? Brazilian Black Beans
  3. In what region of what country did balti restaurants originate, and from what country did the owners of those restaurants emigrate? (Maximum score: 3 points) Balti is a type of Kashmiri curry from Baltistan. It became popular in Birmingham, England in the 1970’s
  4. In what region of what country does one use a spice that consists of celery salt, mustard, pepper, laurel leaves, cloves, pimento, ginger, mace, cardamon, cassia, and paprika (Hint: It typically comes in a yellow and blue one-pound can) and what kind of food does one usually put it on? (Maximum score: 3 points) Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA, you can put it on crabs, if you don’t mind ruining them.
  5. In what region of what country would one most likely be served poutin, and what does it consist of? (Maximum score: 3 points) You mean Poutine? Only in Quebec, Canada would anyone serve french fries with gravy and cheese!
    Numbers
  6. Put the following sixteen numbers in order from lowest to highest: e ^ (i * pi) {0}, Euler’s constant (sometimes known as Mascheroni’s constant) {0.5772156649015329 }, the smallest number that is the sum of two fourth powers of integers in two different ways { (-1^4 + 0^4 = 1^4 + 0^4=1}, Feigenbaum’s constant, { 4.66920160910299067185320382047}, Graham’s number {6?}, 5 choose 3 {60}. the 4th perfect number {8128}, 9 ^ ( 9 ^ 9) {1.966 * 10^77}, a googool {10^100}, the factoring challenge number that R, S, and A gave in 1977 when they announced their cryptographic system {~10^155}, a centillion (in American English), {10600 }, Skewes’s number{101167}, the 23rd Mersenne prime {~10^3376}, 1000 factorial, googolplex, aleph null

Words and messages
7. Speaking of the RSA challenge number, what are the magic words? Bzzzzzzzzzt time’s up!
8. In what movie are the magic words “Julie Andrews”? Bzzzzzzzzzt time’s up!
9. Where do you need to say a word that means “friend” in order to open the door? At the Western Gate to Khazad Dum.
10. On what show would the duck come down if you said the secret word? You Bet Your Life.
11. What was the message on the blackboard before the moose spun it? E=MC^2
12. What do the words “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin” mean? Daniel 5:25-28 “[God has] numbered [your kingdom], weighed [it and found it wanting], [and] divided [it among the Medians and the Persians],” mene and tekel are Aramaic renderings of the Hebrew weight units mina and shekel; but upharsin could well refer to a yet smaller unit and also serve as a pun on the name “Persia” which to a native at the time was “Parsa.”

Academic questions
In what field would one use the following technical concepts, and who is generally considered to be the person who introduced them? (Two points for each question)

  1. The periodic table? Mendeleev, Chemistry

Rocks of various sorts
18. In what country do the native peoples not like you to walk over their sacred rock, although many tourists hike all over it and many others only walk up as far as Chicken Rock? Chicken Rock Lighthouse off the Isle of Calf, in Scotland?
19. In what country can you reach the most famous piece of rock only by laying face-up on the floor of a ruined castle and leaning back your head so that your lips touch it? The Blarney Stone, Ireland
20. What are the names of the two rocks that for a long time were both kept in the capital of a country, although the one with a royal connection has now been returned to its place of origin. The other (a piece of a famous building) hasn’t yet been returned to the place it came from. (Maximum score: 2 points)
21. What’s the most expensive piece of rock in the Smithsonian? The moon rock, in front of the Air and Space museum.

  1. What do Pete Best, Tipper Gore, and Karen Carpenter have in common? Anorexia Nervosa

  2. What are the colorful names of the four children of a singer/songwriter who died of prostate cancer? Moon Unit, Dweezle, ah, I forget.

  3. What is a bed-sitter? A flat so small you have to sit on the bed.

  4. When is Hilary term, and what is it called at the other nearly-as-old university? (Maximum score: 2 points)

  5. What is spotted Dick? An English desert.

  6. What is a Heath Robinson? A machine for manipulating a cipher tape, and the wheels of a Lorenz cipher machine. An immediate predecessor to Colossus.

  7. What kind of blue-collar worker could traditionally perform marriage ceremonies in Gretna Green? The Anvil Priests, of folk legend were blacksmiths.
    Odd man out

  8. Which five of the following eight language families constitute a superfamily (according to a common hypothesis) and what is this superfamily called: Indo-European, Altaic, Kartvelian, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, Na-Dene, Dravidian, Uralic? (Maximum score: 2 points) Nostratic includes Afro-Asiatic, Altaic, Dravidian, Indo-European, Kartvelian and Uralic-Yukaghir. Some include Chukchi-Kamchatkan, Gilyak (Nivkh) and Eskimo-Aleut. That includes six of your examples, not five. Na-Dene is a separate family from the Western hemisphere, and Nilo-Saharan another from Africa.

  9. Washoe, Koko, Nim Chimsky? All animal subjects of experiments in human language

  10. Volapuk, Klingon, Loglan? They are artificial or planned languages.

  11. Philby, Burgess, Maclean? British Intelligence Officers working as double agents for the Russians.

  12. Ghana, Mali, Songhai? Successive empires in region of Ghana, Mali, and central Africa, during the middle ages. Traded with Timbuktu, the fabled far away place of American legend.

  13. Urd, Verdandi, Skuld? They are the Norns

  14. Macedonius, Pelagius, Sabellius? Authors of the Apocrypha, or heretics, depending on you viewpoint.

  15. Phygian, Mixolydian, Aeolian? Modes Of The Major Scale Key Of G

What do the following groups of people have in common?
Where in fiction or real life are each of the following triples of places located?
50. Shaw, Adams-Morgan, Woodley Park? Neighborhoods in Washington DC
51. Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius? Originally elements of a short story by the Argentinean writer, Jorge Luis Borges, which grew into the subject matter of cult scholarship.
52. Broadway, Burford, Upper Slaughter? Uh, they are all in the Cotswolds? Is this a trick question?
53. Kings Cross, Darlinghurst, Ultimo? They are all near Sidney Australia.
54. Archland, Calormen, Cair Paravel? All places mentioned in The Chronicles of Narnia

Multi-talented people
Name three fields that each of the following polymaths worked in.
56. Hildegard of Bingen? Composer, Theologian, Writer, Physician, and a Nun.
57. Albert Schweitzer? Physician, Philanthropist, Historian, Musician, Writer, Missionary, Nobel Laureate.
58.? Jonathan Miller Doctor of Medicine, author; lecturer; television producer and presenter; theater, film, and operatic director,.
59. Leonardo da Vinci? Painter, sculpor, inventor, singer, engineer, and (dare I say it?) cryptographer.

What sports are the following people skilled at?
60. Johnny Weissmuller? Swimming
61. Geena Davis? Archery
62. Ken Kesey? Kesey played football in high school and in 1960 he competed in a wrestling tournament for a spot on the Olympic team.
63. Princess Anne? Equestrian
Origins
In what country were the following real or imaginary people born? (Give the current name of the country in which the person was born.)

  1. Of what basic game are the following variants: wari, oware, songo, adji-boto, mbangbi? Awale
  2. What game {Go} uses the terms seki {stalemate from repeated capture}, atari{immediate threat}, joseki {well established corner moves}, and ko {perpetual exchange}, and what do they mean? (Maximum score: 5 points)
  3. After the chant “Red Rover, Red Rover, . . .”, what does a member of the opposite team do? One member tries to run through the clasp