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 Post subject: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 12:14 am 
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Lotsa Posta

Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:33 am
Posts: 710
"Where is the terrorist group Boko Haram based?" So Buzztime inquired, or something to that effect.

This "Books Forbidden" group (please forgive my rough translation of West African patois) is chiefly based in Nigeria. ARKUAT thinks they seek refuge in Mali, and I think they run toward the Congo, but the third clue to this question, courtesy of Buzztime's content writers, was truly scatterfrastic: "Niamey is the capitol."

Niamey is the capitol of Niger, not of Nigeria. Niger was not in the five-item drop-down box, but still! I have no objection to allusive third clues, but equating Niger with Nigeria is to add a second order of interpretive confusion to what was already a very stiff quiz.

Congrats to BWW-Kent and Teasers, who finished 1-2.


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 Post subject: Re: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:46 am 
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King or Queen Postsalot
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Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:59 pm
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Thanks! It was a tough game, I thought, so we were surprised to finish so high.

Because that question was a precall, we didn’t even see the last clue. It seems, though, that there was another question with a confusing last clue last night, too. If I can pull it out of my increasingly addled mind at some point, I’ll try to post it.

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"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."


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 Post subject: Re: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:22 am 
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Lotsa Posta

Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:33 am
Posts: 710
GONE D wrote:
Congrats to BWW-Kent and Teasers, who finished 1-2.


Oops. The Tilted Kilt (2) in Scottsdale sneaked in between the Fellowship (1) and Teasers (3).

My apology.


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 Post subject: Re: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 12:32 pm 
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Lotsa Posta

Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:16 am
Posts: 769
Recount! Teasers was 2nd last night, then the cemetery votes come in. Wait, that's us in Chicago. Hail Clipper for being right on every split.

We precalled Nigeria as well and did not notice the Niamey clue. We were also pondering whether Boko Haram had bases in Chad.

Niger, Nigeria.....

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 Post subject: Re: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 1:32 pm 
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Lotsa Posta

Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:33 am
Posts: 710
Merkin wrote:
We were also pondering whether Boko Haram had bases in Chad.


Al Qaeda in the Mahgreb? According to my limited knowledge, AQIM has (at least temporarily) been pushed out of Mali.

It would be a dispiriting task to keep track of all the political gangs in the Islamic world, with their shifting identities and alliances.


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 Post subject: Re: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:45 pm 
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Lotsa Posta
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Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:31 am
Posts: 781
I also saw that BT blunder, but knew where the notorious group hung out. The other surrounding countries are indeed fighting Boko Harum. Most of the fighting seems to be in Nigeria, but attacks have occurred in the surrounding countries. Anyway, it is evident that many of us know more about the group and area than does BT.

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 Post subject: Re: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:57 pm 
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Lotsa Posta

Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:33 am
Posts: 710
Gogetem wrote:
Anyway, it is evident that many of us know more about the group and area than does BT.


I'm not sure about that, Gogetem. I suspect the quiz writer doubled down on the similarity, Niger/Nigeria, without any consideration for Abuja, the actual capitol of Nigeria, not because he didn't know the difference, but just as a pun.

What is distinctly unfunny is the pace of desertification, from a dry Sahara (yes, there are wet Sahara's), across the Arabian Peninsula, extending across Persia into Pakistan. It's a crying shame when food can be obtained only at gunpoint. Tossed in is the age-old conflict between the orthodox Sunni and the martyrology of the Shia group.

What you're looking at here are very minor theological distinctions, magnified by a major famine.


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 Post subject: Re: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:37 am 
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King or Queen Postsalot
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ANON wrote:
It seems, though, that there was another question with a confusing last clue last night, too. If I can pull it out of my increasingly addled mind at some point, I’ll try to post it.


Pulling it out of my addled mind didn't work, so I had to wait until BLZBUB's Showdown Recap. The question was in the Countdown Round:

"9. In the world of science, what is an alkane? HYDROCARBON."

One of the clues was something like "not fossil fuel." I'm not a chemist, but I was under the impression that a defining characteristic of fossil fuels is that they contain hydrocarbons.

I think "fossil" may have been one of the distractors, in which case perhaps either a new distractor should replace it, or the clue should be changed to something like "not fossil bed" or "not fossil bone."

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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."


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 Post subject: Re: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:42 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:37 am
Posts: 113
Quote:
Hail Clipper for being right on every split.

The rest of us will eventually produce the complete works of William Shakespeare.


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 Post subject: Re: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:53 pm 
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Lotsa Posta

Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:33 am
Posts: 710
Alas, SHAKES, you're confusing the rest of us with SPOTES, who has done it two or three times, each time starting from scratch.

There was a howler in this afternoon's Countdown quizzes, the 1:30 PST game, to this effect: What is the biggest agricultural crop in China? Corn, Wheat or Rice?

By weight, Corn. By area of cultivation, Rice. The government has provided wheat farmers a 12.4% subsidy on wheat the past decade or so. Wheat production is roughly identical to rice, but the subsidy has caused farmers in climates which can grow both spring wheat and rice to focus on wheat. China now has 240 million metric tonnes of wheat in storage. Buzztime no doubt thought it was slow-pitching, but I took wheat, and landed a 11.7 for the quiz.

Next Countdown I landed a 14.6, which was good enough for a #1.

Too bad there's neither the infrastructure nor diplomacy in place to put some of that Chinese wheat in the hands of those who most desperately need it.


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 Post subject: Re: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 9:06 am 
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Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:37 am
Posts: 113
Quote:
... you're confusing the rest of us with SPOTES, who has done it two or three times, each time starting from scratch.


Astounding.
Though I must make the assumption he also lucked out on the splits.


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 Post subject: Re: The Capitol of Nigeria
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 11:31 am 
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Lotsa Posta

Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:16 am
Posts: 769
Let me try:

Barnardo: Who's there?

Francisco: Nay answer me. Stand and unfold ghjk.

Dammit.

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