Warm-up Round (10 Questions, 500 Points each, 14 seconds to answer after posting of Question & Choices; No Clues):1. It's a slang term for something that is extremely good:_______________________.
[Choices: Hocko, Bocko, Mocko, Socko, Wocko ]
2. Uranium-238 is an isotope known for its ability to produce:____________________.
[Choices: Neon, Plutonium, Boron, Argon, Silver ]
3. This country's second largest city, Porto, lies on the Atlantic coast:_______________________.
[Choices: Algeria, Paraguay, Portugal, Mongolia, New Zealand ]
4. Tatooine is a fictional ___________________ in the Star Wars movie franchise.
[Choices: Planet, Comet, Island, Spaceship, Underworld ]
5. Chablis is a popular wine that comes from:____________________.
[Choices: Italy, Argentina, Canada, Scotland, France ]
6. When first erected in 1923, it was intended to remain only a year and a half:_______________________.
[Choices: Las Vegas welcome sign, Hollywood sign, Route 66 sign, Citgo sign, Mount Rushmore ]
7. Odell Beckham Jr. caused a stir this year by wearing ______________________ during an NFL game.
[Choices: A watch, A face mask, Night vision goggles, Hoop earrings, Gold shoes ]
8. Sepia is a __________________color.
[Choices: Pinkish-silver, Bluish-gray, Greenish-white, Blackish-gold, Reddish-brown ]
9. Lenin Moreno is the current President of this South American nation:_______________________.
[Choices: Belize, Malaysia, Morocco, Ecuador, Panama ]
10. The stem of a mushroom is called a:_______________________.
[Choices: Brioche, Thrall, Jujube, Cruse, Stipe ]
Countdown Round (12 Questions, 1000 Points each, Points decrease rapidly from 4 to 16 seconds, and with 3 Clues): 11. In New England, the night before Halloween is called:____________________________.
[Choices: Pumpkin Night, Broccoli Night, Rhubarb Night, Carrot Night, Cabbage Night ]
12. Which work of classical music was written in protest of Russian censorship?_______________________
[Choices: Pathetique, Brandenburg concertos, Eroica, Peter and the Wolf, Finlandia ]
13. In British life, the Woolsack is a feature of:__________________________.
[Choices: Wimbledon, The House of Lords, The Ascot Races, The Church of England, Guy Fawkes Day ]
14. Very exclusive Fisher Island, once owned by the Vanderbilts, is off the coast of:____________________________.
[Choices: Massachusetts, Florida, Arkansas, Oregon, Michigan ]
15. "Big Little Lies" is a hugely successful novel by __________________________ author Liane Moriarty.
[Choices: Australian, Jamaican, Egyptian, Swedish, South African ]
16. This frozen dairy dessert is popular in India and neighboring nations:________________________.
[Choices: Channa, Tayboray, Vindaloo, Kulfi, Bhaja ]
17. "Armscye" is a term used in this activity:__________________________.
[Choices: Baking, Gardening, Gymnastics, Rock climbing, Sewing ]
18. Born in 1898, Sergei Eisenstein made his name as a famous:________________________.
[Choices: Mathematician, Movie director, Military general, Ballet dancer, Olympic athlete ]
19. Hijab, chador, burqa and niqab are terms referring to the dress of __________________ women.
[Choices: Hindu, Sikh, Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist ]
20. This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a:_________________________.
[Choices: Climate change activist, Crusading journalist, Religious leader, Prime Minister, Charitable group ]
21. Which word is closest in meaning to "connate"?_____________________
[Choices: Magnate, Folate, Decolate, Automate, Innate ]
22. This famous essay by Virginia Woolf was first published in 1929:______________________.
[Choices: Once More to the Lake, From Here to Eternity, Shooting an Elephant, A Room of One's Own, The Waves ]
Category Round (6 Questions, 1000 Points each, Points decrease from 4 to 20 seconds, and with 3 Clues; Category chosen by majority vote at each Site): 23.(a) CLASSICAL MUSIC v Explorers: "Danse macabre" is a tone poem composed in 1874 by:______________________________.
[Choices: Camille Saint-Saens, Claude Debussy, Jean Sibelius, Johann Sebastian Bach, Maxim Gorky ]
24.(a) U.S. law v NFL 2019: This versatile NFL quarterback is one of the league's leading rushers this season:_________________________.
[Choices: Lamar Jackson, Julio Jones, Derek Carr, Joe Flacco, Aaron Donald ]
25.(a) Castle v HALLOWEEN TREATS: Founded in 1904, ____________________ Confections is best known for its Candy Corn.
[Choices: French's, Dinwiddie's, Brach's, Gorton's, Slade's ]
26.(a) NFL 2019 v CLASSICAL MUSIC: What is the genre of John Gay's 18th Century satire "The Beggar's Opera"?__________________________
[Choices: Restoration comedy, Grand Guignol, Minstrel show, Puppet show, Ballad opera ]
27.(a) HALLOWEEN TREATS v U.S. law: The iconic Snickers candy bar is named after a:_________________________.
[Choices: Baby's laugh, Boat, German town, Hollywood actress, Horse ]
28.(a) EXPLORERS v Castles: Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to reach the _______________________ by sea.
[Choices: Polynesian islands, Northwest Passage, South American coast, Indian Ocean, African interior ]
Lightning Round (7 Questions: 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000 Points, but time to read & answer decreases from 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5 to 4 seconds): 29. Which body of water lies between western Greenland and Baffin Island?______________________________
[Choices: Bering Sea, Northumberland Strait, Davis Strait, Hudson Bay, Gulf of St. Lawrence ]
30. The production of this car ended earlier this year:_____________________________.
[Choices: Volvo XC40, Kia Soul, Toyota Corolla, Ford Ranger, Chevy Volt ]
31. Charles Martel, a Frankish statesman born circa 688, was the grandfather of:________________________.
[Choices: Pope Leo III, Justinian, Robert the Bruce, Louis XIV, Charlemagne ]
32. "Sine prole" is a Latin term that means:____________________________.
[Choices: God willing, Against the law, From here on, Without offspring, For the meantime ]
33. "All for You" was a huge hit song for _________________________ in 2001.
[Choices: Conway Twitty, Janet Jackson, Hayley Wickenheiser, Mario Cuomo, Natalie Imbruglia ]
34. Which dog breed originated in Hungary?_________________________
[Choices: Vizsla, Akita, Shar pei, Boerboel, Pit bull ]
35. Google TV was succeeded in 2014 by ______________________ TV.
[Choices: Samsung, Instagram, Android, Chrome, Slack ]
Dreaded Pyramid Round (5 Questions: 12000, 7000, 4000, 2000, 1000 Points for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Right out of 5; Time from post of Question & Choices = 16 seconds; No Clues): 36. "Crooked House" and "Peril at End House" are among the many mystery stories by:_________________________.
[Choices: P.D. James, Ruth Rendall, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie ]
37. The Red Sea Urchin is one of the ________________________ creatures on Earth.
[Choices: Most toxic, Largest, Most intelligent, Longest living, Smelliest ]
38. Which candidate lost both the popular vote and the electoral vote but became President?_______________________
[Choices: John Quincy Adams, William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson, James Buchanan, Harry Truman ]
39. Galdhopiggen and Glittertind are Norway"s:______________________________.
[Choices: Largest islands, Major port cities, Deepest lakes, Highest mountains, Steepest fjords ]
40. Which famous philosopher was born first?____________________________
[Choices: John Stuart Mill, Voltaire, Immanuel Kant, Rene Descartes, Jeremy Bentham ]
Final Jeopardy Question on EARTH SCIENCE (50% Bonus if Right Immediately; Points decrease rapidly from 4 to 20 seconds, and with 3 Clues; 50% Deduction if Final Choice is Wrong): 41. It is currently moving southward at nearly 50 feet per year:_________________________________.
[Choices: San Andreas Fault, Arctic Circle, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, International Date Line ]
Answers:1. Socko [Andrew (GRYFON) at Whispers Pub, Ottawa ON called this one; see
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socko ]
2. Plutonium [I (REACH) called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium-239 . The Hiroshima A-bomb used the rare isotope U-235 which is difficult to separate or concentrate from the more common U-238 isotope, since they chemically react the same, and had to be separated on the basis of mass (in cyclotrons at Oak Ridge TN); see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy . However, U-238 can be converted to Pu-239 in nuclear reactors and then separated from uranium due to differences in chemical properties. A sphere of plutonium can be crushed to twice its density using shaped explosive charges, and a chain nuclear reaction initiated in Fat Man A-bombs; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man . This article says that 32 tapered high-explosive pieces are used in Fat Man; I had previously read this fact, and recognized that this is the total number of hexagons and pentagons in a soccer ball.
In a trivia contest about 15 years ago, one Question asked "How many pentagons are in a soccer ball?"; I started drawing a soccer ball, and suddenly realized that it is a truncated icosahedron (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truncated_icosahedron ). To draw an icosahedron, first draw a regular hexagon inscribed in a circle, with vertices at the top and bottom, like the North-pole and South-pole of the Earth. Then draw an ellipse containing the 2 vertices of the hexagon in the Northern hemisphere, representing a latitude circle seen at an angle, and add 5 regularly spaced points representing a pentagon inscribed in the latitude circle. Do the same for the 2 vertices of the hexagon in the Southern hemisphere, but stagger the pentagon with respect to the pentagon in the Northern latitude circle. Now you have a total of 12 vertices which when joined with straight line segments form a total of 20 faces, each equilateral triangles. This is a regular icosahedron (20 faces, 12 vertices). Now slice this figure at each vertex, forming regular pentagon faces. Since there are 12 vertices, there will be 12 regular pentagons in a soccer ball. They will be separated by regular hexagons, a total of 20, the remnants of the original faces of the icosahedron. Therefore the total number of faces will be 12+20 = 32.
This symmetrical figure is made up of only 2 shapes: a regular pentagon, and a regular hexagon. So only 2 shapes of chemical explosives need be produced to implode the plutonium sphere (about the size of a grapefruit). Since many of the Manhattan Project scientists had been imported from Europe, they were soccer fans, so this particular geometry may have been obvious to them.]
3. Portugal [Myfanwy (SPRAJO) pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto ]
4. Planet [Pre-called by several, perhaps including Patrick (MRRED), Chris (CEEZED), and Andrew (GRYFON). See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatooine ]
5. France [Pre-called by Andrew; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chablis_wine ]
6. Hollywood sign [I pre-called this first; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Sign ]
7. A watch [some chose "Golden shoes", but I switched to "watch"; see
https://www.businessinsider.com/odell-b ... all-2019-9 ]
8. Reddish-brown [Myfanwy pre-called "red", I pre-called "brown" and then called "reddish-brown" when the Choices appeared; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepia_(color)_) ]
9. Ecuador [I called this one, noting that it was the only Choice in South America; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin_Moreno ]
10. Stipe [Called by me, once the Choices appeared; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stipe_(mycology)_) ]
11. Cabbage Night [never having heard of this, we lost most of the Points on this Question; see
https://wibx950.com/what-is-cabbage-night/ ]
12. Finlandia [ORNOIR got all 1000 Points for this one, Myfanwy and Richard (ACE) most of the Points; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandia . For the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing English words to the tune at the end, see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3cqNgcXWSc (3:27). If you prefer the original Finnish words, see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns2A5yUMZhU (2:32). For the full orchestral version without words (including the dark, brooding sounds at the start representing the threat from the Russians), see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6P3cIJHWjw (8:46).
I missed the Points and called a wrong answer because I anticipated Shostakovich's 5th Symphony; see the section "Reception, Official" at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_ ... ostakovich) which was described as "a Soviet artist's creative response to justified criticism". See also the introduction, and the Finale (at 41:30-47:14) at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeJPmIbiqp4 .]
13. House of Lords [Andrew called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolsack ]
14. Florida [we missed this one, going with Massachusetts; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_Island,_Florida ]
15. Australian [I guessed this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liane_Moriarty ]
16. Kulfi [Deb(GRZLDA) called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulfi ]
17. Sewing [we missed this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armscye ]
18. Movie director [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Eisenstein ]
19. Muslim [my pre-call; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijab and also the section "Burqa and niqab" in this article ]
20. Prime Minister [I pre-called "Ethiopia", and Jean (LESTER) called this when the Choices appeared; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Nobel_Peace_Prize ]
21. Innate [I, Myfanwy, and Sue (SWIFT) guessed this, as did possibly others; see
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/connate . I guessed this from "con"="together", and "nate" from "natal" and the French "naitre"="to be born"; see
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/natal and
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/naitre ]
22. A Room of One's Own [Andrew called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Room_of_One's_Own ]
Round winner: CRAXER
23.(a) Camille Saint-Saens [I called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danse_mac ... aint-Saens) and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71fZhMXlGT4 and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyknBTm_YyM . I had to delay my call because I was originally thinking of Liszt's "Totentanz"; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totentanz_(Liszt) and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXtS9eOOuuY ]
24.(a) Lamar Jackson [I called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_Jackson ]
25.(a) Brach's [Chris called this one, a brand not known to most of us Canadians; see
https://www.brachs.com/products/others/candy-corn.html ]
26.(a) Ballad opera [I called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beggar's_Opera ]
27.(a) Horse [Chris pre-called this one! See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snickers ]
28.(a) Indian Ocean [Dave (YELDOR) pre-called "Pacific Ocean", Andrew pre-called "Indian Sub-continent", & then Dave pre-called "Indian Ocean"; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomeu_Dias ]
Round Winner: GRZLDA
29. Davis Strait [Andrew pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Strait ]
30. Chevy Volt ["Volkswagen Beetle" was pre-called, and when it did not appear as a Choice, I called "Chevy Volt"; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt ]
31. Charlemagne [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martel ]
32. Without offspring [Andrew pre-called "without something", and then Myfanwy called "offspring" once the Choices appeared; see
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sine-prole . I mentioned "sine qua non"; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sine_qua_non ]
33. Janet Jackson [I guessed this one; see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfK5QhZ9u7o ]
34. Vizsla [Dave pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vizsla ]
35. Android [never having heard of Android TV, we went with Chrome; but see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_TV ]
36. Agatha Christie [Andrew suggested "Agatha"; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crooked_House and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peril_at_End_House ]
37. Longest-living [most of us guessed wrong (going with Most poisonous); see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_sea_urchin and
https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/ ... st-animals ]
38. John Quincy Adams [most of us missed this one, except for Jean and Andrew; if Phil (BSLXPN) had been able to attend, he probably would have got this (in 1980-81, when he was in the Grade 9 Math class I was teaching, he knew President Warren Harding's middle name). See the section "1824 presidential election" at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1824_Unit ... l_election .]
39. Highest mountains [we missed this one, going with "steepest fjords"; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_m ... _by_height ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galdhopiggen and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glittertind ]
40. Rene Descartes [I called this after estimating the birth dates of all 5 Choices; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rene_Descartes (1596-1650),
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire (1694-1778),
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill (1806-1873),
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant (1724-1804), and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham (1748-1832) ]
Round Winners (with 3-out-of-5 Right): LESTER, GRYFON, BGHAWK
41. Tropic of Cancer [almost all of us guessed wrong (I guessed Arctic Circle). See the section "Movement of the Tropical and Polar Circles" at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_latitude (the Tropical Circles are drifting towards the Equator by 15 m per year (and the Polar circles are drifting towards the poles by 15 m per year). Therefore only the Tropic of Cancer is drifting South (the Tropic of Capricorn and the Arctic Circle are drifting North). See also
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_tilt ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_of_Cancer , and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Circle . Another hard Question producing loud wailings and gnashing of teeth, to no avail. But see my revised arguments that the Buzztime Answer is wrong, in my later post below. ]
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