New Scaratings

Another cold day meant another cold night at the tables in the enclosed patio at the Buffalo Wild Wings on Gibson Blvd. in the hinterlands of this great nation. There was some extra warmth, however. It was provided by the FOUR guests that long-time regular Raoul brought to the show. Although it was a bit of a challenge bringing the newbies up to speed on the system we employ, they were a quick study. One of them would even finish this game in third place on the team.

Uncharacteristically, BLZBUB is playing this game with a song in his head. He’s hoping the newbies can lift us “Up Where We Belong”.

Worn-up Round

1. Approximately what percentage of our planet is covered in water? 71. 2. The Chevrolet ___ is a midsize pickup truck. COLORADO. 3. Hong Kong ___ Jimmy Lai is one of the big supporters of democracy in mainland China. ENTREPRENEUR. 4. A terracotta army of 8,000 soldiers was discovered by ___ farmers in 1974: CHINESE. 5. An adult heron with entirely white plumage is called a: GREAT EGRET. 6. In folklore, the flowering plant Aconite is known as: WOLF’S BANE. 7. On May 10, 2015, the Huffington Post will celebrate its ___ anniversary: 10TH. 8. An assistant to a foreman is often referred to as a/an ___ boss: STRAW. 9. Who co-founded Hole, the alternative rock band, in 1989? COURTNEY LOVE. 10. Which is a general programming language? C++.

The team had trouble with WU 3 and 7. The first was because no one recognized the individual named, and the second because most of the team thought it was older.

This round triggered the earworm, from the band Spandau Ballet, about the veracity of our answers; I know this much is “True.” Will the next round yield the same “Satisfaction”?

Ground-down Round

1. One of the signs of death, rigor mortis is caused by chemical changes in the: MUSCLES. 2. Anansi the spider is a mythical figure in the traditional stories of the people of: WEST AFRICA. 3. Heavy material placed on a ship to steady it is called: BALLAST. 4. An Otorhinolaryngologist is a/an ___ doctor. EAR, NOSE AND THROAT. 5. Portland, Oregon is divided into east and west sections by this river: WILLAMETTE. 6. This is the act of sorting according to quality: TRIAGE. 7. Sorel is a noted Canadian ___ company: BOOT. 8. This famous essay by George Orwell was first published in 1936: SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT. 9. The oud is a ___ widely used in Mediterranean countries: MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. 10. Park Geun-Hye is the first woman to be elected President of: SOUTH KOREA. 11. In layman’s terms, hypoglycemia is: LOW BLOOD SUGAR. 12. The tayra, a relative of the weasel, is native to: SOUTH AMERICA.

We did surprising well on this round, considering we usually miss 4-6 questions. The only stumper was the final query, GD 12. “Satisfaction” it was. But if the team ever sees question GD 12 again, we promise we “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.

Scatology Round

S1. EXPLORERS v Judaism
German explorer Johannes Rebmann became the first European to see Mt. Kilimanjaro in: 1848. {Stumbling, bumbling, mumbling scatological epithets in the direction of the Buzzies.}

S2. Satirists v MYTHICAL MONSTERS
Which monster from Greek mythology is a sea monster:
CHARYBDIS. {DUFF knew this.}

S3. The Soviet Union v CURRENT BUSINESS
After two disastrous years, this company is pulling out of Canada:
TARGET. {Greek chorus.}

S4. MYTHICAL MONSTERS v explorers
In Greek mythology, Chiron is the greatest of the:
CENTAURS. {DUFF was again the four-legged beast.}

S5. CURRENT BUSINESS v satirists
Ken Griffin is CEO and founder of this Chicago-based hedge fund:
CITADEL. {After of first guess was eliminated by the first clue, BLZBUB came up with the answer.}

S6. Judaism v THE SOVIET UNION
The word ‘pyatiletka’ refers to what U.S.S.R. reality?
FIVE-YEAR PLAN. {Damnation! BLZBUB forgot that ‘pyat’ was the Russian word for five. We were saved by the third clue.}

That round was shaky. We got S2, 3, and 4, but were late on the others. S1 was a “Long Train Running,” while on S5, we were “Working 9 to 5.” For S6, BLZBUB was definitely not “Back in the USSR.”

Frightening Round

1. It recently became the first state to require high school graduates to pass a civics test: ARIZONA. 2. Ralph Abernathy was a close associate of: MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. 3. Paddington Bear is named after a London: RAILWAY STATION. 4. In which classic Southern-American novel do you find a family headed by Jeeter Lester? TOBACCO ROAD. 5. Who founded The National Review, a magazine of conservatism: WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY. 6. It is generally agreed that pretzels were created by: GERMAN MONKS. 7. This country’s capital and largest city is Juba: SOUTH SUDAN.

A spirited discussion revealed the team liked three choices for F1, but few wound up on the correct one. The same happened on F4. In that round, F1 reminded BLZBUB of Lee Oskar’s “Haunted House”. Others of the team were feeling “Monster Mash”ed by F4. Better luck prevailed on the other five questions.

Py-Ram-It Round

P1. By consensus, the historical St. Valentine was a ___ Century Roman saint:
THIRD. {Good old DUFF, with his good old head for history, got this one.}

P2. The William Schuman Award is one of the largest grants given to a:
COMPOSER. {Nothing but random guesses here.}

P3. Which composer left an unfinished opera based on Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’?
CLAUDE DEBUSSY. {Another composers question in the same round? Damn you Buzzie.}

P4. Born in 1792, George Cruikshank was the original illustrator of this famous novel:
OLIVER TWIST. {Prior to the five choices appearing, DUFF suggested “a Dickens novel”. Fortunately, only one such was on the list.}

P5. Staronova Synagogue, Europe’s oldest active synagogue, is located in this city:
PRAGUE. {It was a contest between Hungarian and Slavic, and most people went with the correct choice, Slavic.}

Nearly all of the team finished this round with four of five correct. This time, “We Almost Made It” to a perfect round.

FINAL TRAGEDY, on the Topic of: EUROPEAN HISTORY

Spain reached the peak of its power under ___, the husband of Mary I of England.

1. Carlos II
2. Ferdinand V
3. Alfonso XII
4. Philip II
5. Amadeo I

The order of the eliminations was 2, 5, 1, and 3, leaving #4, PHILIP II, as the correct answer. After the tension of the Pyramid Round, hearing DUFF call the correct answer before the five choices were shown was a huge relief. This was certainly a “Hey Ya” moment.

The top six scores, while a bit spread out, were better than our team average for the last three months. They were 53434, 53412, 52831, 50470, 49978, and 49866. This finally put us over the 50,000 point bar at a gratifying 51,665 points.

The regional result was a THIRD place for the Mt/Pac zone of play. A check of the system-wide rankings shows us in SEVENTH Place for this game. As always, congrats to the wetware-only teams that bested the group on Gibson Blvd. in Albuquerque.

_________________
}}}--( (x) (x) )--->
Oh my gawd, they killed
Ken Z.
You bastards!

The first Judaism question was
What is another term for Haredi Judaism?
A: Ultra-Orthodox

Second Judaism Question was
What does the term Mizrachi Jew mean?
A: A Jew from the Middle East

First Soviet Union question was
Which of these was a prominent Soviet politician of the 1920s?
A: Alexei Rykov

We also took the first Satirist question, which was something like
What kind of satirist was Thomas Nast?
A: Cartoonist

My notes got lost, so I'm reconstructing from people's memories. We had a good night, due in part to questions which were in our bailwicks. Two of our players are Orthodox Jews. Two others are classical music fans (hence we enjoyed having two composer questions in Pyramid). Too bad the tournament doesn't start for two more weeks. And it looks like our bar may not have room for trivia on March 17.
XT

2nd Satirist Question
Who wrote "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court?"

Mark Twain

Q4 - Explorers = This place was given its name by English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602?

Cape Cod