Showdown Recap for 21 Nov 2017 at BWW Gibson in ABQ
Welcome to the first edition of the Showdown Recap written in the full knowledge that the Solar System has recently been visited by an interstellar object not of the Sun’s making. The somewhat cigar-shaped asteroid Oumuamua has passed through the Solar System and is on its outward journey from the Sun. There are a good many puzzles associated with the passage of this object, not least of which is when its name will appear in a future edition of Showdown.
The Ragged Rascals managed to scrape together 10 players for this week’s game. More importantly, we were NOT able to scrape together 10 Playmakers at our usual venue. Upon arrival our trusty, regular server informed us that so many of the boxes had been shipped back to BUZZHEAD HQ for repair, that only five boxes remained on-site. A quick thinking BLZBUB put out the alarm, and the group decided to reconvene at the Montgomery Blvd site for BWW.
Worn-up Round
1. Due to its location on a bend in the Mississippi River, New Orleans is called the ___ City. CRESCENT.
2. Which scientist would be classified as a primatologist? DIAN FOSSEY.
3. It is located on the northeastern extremity of the Iberian Peninsula: CATALONIA.
4. This ‘American Love-rock Musical’ debuted in 1967: HAIR, {Oddly none of the team members old enough to have seen the original production, nor movie of same, could remember ever hearing HAIR referred to thusly.}
5. A terse speech is one that is: SUCCINCT.
6. In which classic pirate story is Captain Flint a major character? TREASURE ISLAND.
7. The constellation Cygnus is also known as the: SWAN.
8. Slobodan Milosevic was a president of this defunct nation: YUGOSLAVIA.
9. In Spanish America, a presidio was a: FORTIFIED BASE.
10. A ___ mirror is a concave mirror used to direct or concentrate radiation. PARABOLIC.
Oumuamua is a name of Hawaiian origin meaning “messenger from the distant past.”
http://astronomy.com/news/2017/11/inter ... -red-beastAnd it is a strange object, but a fortuitous catch by the crew of Pan-STARRS, atop Haleakala in Maui (next-door neighbors to BLZBUB’s beloved AEOS Telescope.)
Ground-down Round
1. In the Harry Potter books, Aragog is a giant: SPIDER.
2. The ___ sculptural style emphasized large stone heads. OLMEC. {BLBZUB is curious to know why so many on the team glanced his way upon seeing the words “stone heads.”}
3. In Latin the word ‘ignoramus’ means: WE DON’T KNOW. {Again with the sideways glances. DUFF actually called the number corresponding to the correct answer. BLZBUB wondered what would have happened if instead he had called, “we don’t know!”}
4. This tiny critter is one of the fastest flying animals in horizontal position: MEXICAN FREE-TAILED BAT. {“one of the fastest” to elude us, too.}
5. In the middle ages, a Florin was a: GOLD COIN.
6. Which mythological figure escapes from the Labyrinth on the Island of Crete? THESEUS.
7. Needle, knotted, knitted, and chemical are types of: LACE.
8. It’s not Cinco de Mayo, but Mexico’s Independence Day is actually celebrated in: SEPTEMBER.
9. Petrossian, Beluga, and Royal Ossetra are prominent types of: CAVIAR.
10. In medicine, a contrecoup injury is a ___ injury. HEAD.
11. Before becoming U.S. President, he served as Governor of Ohio: RUTHERFORD HAYES.
12. Born in New York City in 1985, her music is described as ‘Hollywood Sadcore’” LANA DEL REY.
Other than the flub on GD 4, the team did a great job on this round, going 11 for 12 correct.
Imagine the following Oumuamua scenario*
*OK, BLZBUB plagiarized this from a Facebook post from Todd Masters, one of Cathy Zeringue’s friends…
“Hey dude, the timeline for you to move you and your family out to the country so that the U.S. government can send a representative to implore you that you're our only hope (probably Denzel in a helicopter that lands in your corn field or Morgan Freeman with a Marine escort to little league practice) to return to super-secret, space science and save humanity, has been accelerated
Scatology Round
S1. Ethnic food v SPORTING LEGENDS
Eddie Arcaro was one of America’s greatest ___ during the 20th Century. HORSE RACING JOCKEYS {Greek chorus}
S2. Ancient history v WORLD CAPITALS
Brazzaville is a capital city that sits on the ___ River. CONGO. {BLZBUB beats DUFF to the call; DUFF is working on the country in question, rather than the river.}
S3. Painters v THANKSGIVING
Which President made the fourth Thursday of November the official day for Thanksgiving? FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. {Greek chorus}
S4. WORLD CAPITALS v ethnic food
If you were in the city of Roseau, you would be on this island: DOMINICA. {DUFF, waving off Martinique as the answer.}
S5. Thanksgiving v ANCIENT HISTORY
The Hoplites were citizen-soldiers of the: GREEK CITY STATES. {DUFF, before the Greek Phalanx could form up.}
S6. SPORTING LEGENDS v painters
Old Tom Morris and young Tom Morris each won this sporting event four times: BRITISH OPEN. {SCOOTR was way out in front of the field coming into this eighteenth hole. This completes a 6 for 6 run by the Ragged Rascals for this round}
And as all of Washington is going into a panic about the coming of Oumuamua…speculation runs rampant. Is it coming to look for whales? Rama, coming to oversee childhood’s end? An alien vampire ship coming to allow an incredibly hot naked she-vamp to suck up human ‘lifeforce’? As we tune in to our hero…
“As you are aware, after you reluctantly agree, despite repeated assertions that "l haven't been that man for a long time," the end result will be that this object was sent to Earth by your 80 year-old son, William, from the future to teach mankind that Freon is NOT what plants crave, but that won't be fully revealed until you personally land on the flying death comet and attempt to drill into its core with me and Roy and discover that the secret to life is...the Oboe.”
Frightening Round
1. To visit Lake Como you need to travel to the ___ region of Italy: LOMBARDY. {FRAK! BLZBUB put us all on Piedmont.}
2. A negroni is a cocktail made of one part gin, one part vermouth, and one part: CAMPARI. {JAX made a delicious call here.}
3. Something that is not easily managed would best be described as: BEELZEBUBIAN {joke} FROWARD was the correct answer. {DUFF called both of these.}
4. Who manufactures ‘Sauvage,’ a popular men’s cologne? DIOR. {JAX again had us all smelling sweet. To be fair the Buzzies put up outrageous alternate choices.}
5. The ___ make up a group of lizards. GALLIWASPS. {God-damned-pink-fuzzy-venomous-frakking LIZARDS ghost! Missed it.}
6. Which sport is featured in the films ‘Big Wednesday’ and ‘Point Break’? SURFING {Greek fraternity chorus.}
7. Who was named Most Valuable Player of this year’s World Series? GEORGE SPRINGER. {WALACE made a great pre-call here.}
The team finished with 5 for 7 correct, with the failures on F1 and F5 being of the “total” variety.
Oumuamua is currently escaping the Solar System and heading back out into Deep Space. The question remains, “Will it continue on an unaltered path, or will Art Bell be correct that it is under intelligent control?” In order to be trustworthy our fearless hero will need to heed this advice…
“Ok? So start packing. I'm thinking the hills of Virginia or Kansas plains. We don't have much time. This thing is moving fast and you need to have a rustic beard and full-blown alcoholism, or at least a broken down tractor you're constantly fixing ”
Py-Ram-It Round
P1. Pirate hero Jean Lafitte established a colony called Campeche in 1817 in what is now:
Choices: The Bahamas, Colombia, The Virgin Islands, Cuba, Texas
A: TEXAS. {The team played a safety on this one.}
P2. ‘Elementary Treatise of ___’ is a famous work of Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier.
Choices: Time travel, Supply and demand, Botany, Sociology, Chemistry
A: CHEMISTRY. {SCOOTR with an assist from BLZBUB.}
P3. Tamburerlaine, Dr. Faustus, and King Edward II are dramatic heroes of this playwright:
Choices: Edmund Spenser, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Christopher Marlowe, Richard Sheridan
A: CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. {DUFF with an assist from BLZBUB}
P4. In which document is the Appointments Clause?
Choices: The Book of Mormon, U.S. Constitution, 1964 Civil Rights Act, United Nations Charter, Geneva Accords
A: U.S. CONSTITUTION. {Several voices heard}
P5. Jacopo Peri wrote the music for what most music historians regard as the first:
Choices: Ballet, Opera, Choral symphony, Oratorio, Mass
A: OPERA. {DUFF sang out, before the five choices appeared, with the correct answer.}
The team finished this round with 4 of the 17 boxes on 5 for 5 correct, with the rest on 4 for 5 correct. We’ll need a good score on the Final Tragedy to get us into contention for Number One.
The team hopes this Number One comes before the end of the calendar year, just as Oumuamua was the first ever (Number One) extra-Solar object detected.
FINAL TRAGEDY
Topic: RELIGION
Theravada Buudhism developed in ___ and spread throughout Southeast Asia.
1. Japan
2. Bangladesh
3. Sri Lanka
4. Madagascar
5. Yemen
The order of the eliminations was 2, 5, 1, and 4, leaving #3, SRI LANKA, as the correct answer. Early calls for Bangladesh slowed people at arriving upon the correct answer. However, most of the team got about 70 to 80% of their wagered points.
The top individual scores for the night were 59031, 56094, 53668, 52960, 52179, and 51354 points. Only one of the boxes entering the Final Tragedy with 5 for 5 from Pyramid scored 100% on the final question. A few from the middle of the pack moved up into our top six because they scored 80% on the Final Tragedy.
The team’s average score for this game was 54,214 points.
The Ragged Rascals’ systemwide ranking was FIFTH Place.
In what has become an all-to-familiar event, The Fellowship from the BWW Kent, OH finished FIRST with a score of 59,407 points. Second Place went to the strong team at Houlihans Westbury, NY with their 57,425 points. They were followed by a Borg collective with a score just barely ahead of the wetware-only official Third Place team from the BWW in Blacksburg, VA with 54,394 points
That moves the Ragged Rascals up to FOURTH PLACE in the wetware-only division of Showdown with their score of 54214. That barely edged out the Big Guys of Winnipeg, MB @ 54101 points.
And a wink and a nudge to the team at Beef O Brady’s in Prattville, AL who were “noticed” at 32nd place this week. You guys beat Teaser’s of Chicago this week. That’s a pretty good showing.
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