New Scaratings

15 Questions, 1000 Points each, Points decrease rapidly with time and 3 Clues:
1. South Dakota's two National Parks are Wind Cave and:_______________.
[Choices: Mount Rushmore, Grand Teton, Badlands, Niobara, Devils Tower]
2. "The Lone Eagle" is the byname of this icon of aviation:________________.
[Choices: Alberto Santos-Dumont, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, Chuck Yeager]
3. Assisted by his chemist brother, Hungary's Ladislao Biro invented:__________________.
[Choices: Ballpoint pens, Plaster of Paris, Adhesive tape, Oil-based paints, Holograms]
4. Which literary character has a great-aunt named Betsy Trotwood?__________________
[Choices: Ethan Frome, David Copperfield, Lemuel Gulliver, Miss Marple, Huckleberry Finn]
5. If it's 8:00 pm aboard a naval ship, you should hear exactly _________ bells.
[Choices: Two, Four, Eight, Six, Ten]
6. The national flag of Egypt has an emblem of the _________________ in the middle.
[Choices: Crown of ISIS, Cross of the Crusades, Wrath of Khan, Eagle of Saladin, Sceptre of Horus]
7. This well-known explorer of Africa took the name of a U.S. merchant who adopted him:________________.
[Choices: Richard Burton, Amerigo Vespucci, Henry Hudson, Henry Stanley, Mungo Park]
8. Parts of this country were devastated by the 1985 eruption of Nevada del Ruiz:________________.
[Choices: Portugal, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Mozambique]
9. What French artist was noted for his series of paintings of Mont St. Victoire?_________________.
[Choices: Edvard Munch, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse]
10. If something is said to be Aeolian, it must have to do with:______________.
[Choices: The wind, Sicily, Ancient Romans, Geometry, Mountains]
11. "The Life of __________________" is a noted play written by Bertolt Brecht.
[Choices: Columbus, Hercules, Galileo, Riley, Lohengrin]
12. Belinda Carlisle was the lead singer of this all-female rock group:______________.
[Choices: Bananarama, The Runaways, The Ronettes, The Bangles, The Go-Go's]
13. This famed astronomer was named Director of the Paris Observatory in 1671:__________________.
[Choices: Albrecht Durer, Giovanni Cassini, Johannes Kepler, Edmund Halley, Tycho Brahe]
14. In Daphne du Maurier's novel "Rebecca", the characters speak of "Manderley". What is it?________________.
[Choices: Precious gemstone, Sleepy rural town, Secret plan code name, Ancient Egyptian tomb, Palatial estate]
15. The Duke of Sidonia commanded this famous military force:_________________.
[Choices: Light Brigade, French Foreign Legion, Spanish Armada, Roughriders, Brown Shirts]


Answers:
1. Badlands [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badlands_National_Park . I (REACH) called/pre-called "Mount Rushmore", but it is a National Memorial, not a National Park (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore ). The Quizmaster, correctly anticipating that listing "Mount Rushmore" as Choice #1 would suck in Players like me, taunted us with the Comment "MOUNT RUSHMORE IS A NATIONAL MONUMENT, NOT A NATIONAL PARK", after the Correct Answer was revealed. However, this statement is WRONG, for Mount Rushmore is NOT listed at https://en.wikpedia.org/wiki/List_of_Na ... ted_States . National Monuments, unlike National Parks, do not have to be created by an act of Congress, but can be simply proclaimed as such by the President; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_ ... ted_States) . Mount Rushmore is[b] listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... ted_States . It could be argued that these are mostly buildings, with very small areas; according to https://www.npca.org/articles/471-small ... park-sites , these occupy areas from 0.02 to 0.76 acres (note, however, the usage of the term "national park" ).
However, the Wikipedia article on Mount Rushmore says the "memorial [b]park covers 1,278.45 acres (2.00 sq. mi., 5.17 km^2), and there is a green forested area and nice trail (park) which I walked at the base of the statues in 2009. This is much larger than the area of the smallest National Park, the Gateway Arch (192.83 acres, or 0.8 km^2); see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_n ... ted_States .
Luckily, others (Dave?) at Buster's Bar, Ottawa ON read the other Choices, and called for Badlands National Park, so Wendy (as ANIL K), Dai (BLADOR), Dave (YELDOR, TULADI) and Sue (SWIFT) got all 1000 Points for this Question. In 2009, I also visited Wind Cave National Park and Badlands National Park (and the nearby Minuteman Missile Site; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minuteman ... toric_Site ), so should have recognized Badlands as the right answer. But it is difficult to change your mind in a few seconds if you think your first choice is also right.]
2. Lindbergh [I pre-called this gimme; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh ]
3. Ballpoint pen [I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laszlo_Biro ; in French, the word "biro"="ballpoint pen"]
4. David Copperfield [I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Copperfield ]
5. Eight [Dai (BLADOR) called this one, and 1000 Points were earned by Wendy (as ANIL K), Sue, Dai, Richard (ACE), Myfanwy (SPRAJO), Chris (CEEZED, KAYZED), Jean (LESTER), and Andrew F (KVETA, DR LUV). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship's_bell (Eight bells at 4&8 am, 12 noon & midnight, 4&8 pm).]
6. Eagle of Saladin [Dai pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Egypt ]
7. Henry Stanley [1000 Points were earned by Dai, Sue, & Richard; Wendy earned 981 Points as EKWTSM, and 964 Points as ANIL K. I was unaware of the deprived, abused childhood of Stanley; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morton_Stanley .]
8. Colombia [See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armero_tragedy . We guessed right on this one, so 1000 Points were earned by Dai, Wendy (EKWTSM), Chris (CEEZED, KAYZED), & Andrew F (KVETA). Other high scores were by Sue (979 Points), Wendy (as ANIL K, 994), Richard (941), Myfanwy (938), Jean (955), and REACH (867). ]
9. Cezanne [I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Sain ... e_(Cezanne) ]
10. The wind [Dai and I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolian ]
11. Galileo [I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Galileo ]
12. Go-Go's [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Go-Go's and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belinda_Carlisle . For a video of "We Got the Beat", see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f55KlPe81Yw , and for the original recording, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD1BWcf8vhE ]
13. Cassini [I called this one, for full 1000 Points for me, Sue and Chris (as CEEZED). Other good scores were for KAYZED (999), DR LUV (991), TULADI (969), ANIL K (959), YELDOR (956), EKWTSM (947), KVETA (947), BSLXPN (931), LESTER (895), ACE (892), SPRAJO (873), & BLADOR (843). 1671 was too late for Kepler (1571-1630) and Brahe (1546-1601), and Halley was British and later (1656-1742). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Domenico_Cassini , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe , and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_Halley (note: "Edmond", not "Edmund").]
14. Palatial estate [I pre-called "house" or "mansion", because the opening line of the novel is "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_(novel) .]
15. Spanish Armada [I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada ]

I have recorded some individual Player scores, as we had guest appearances by Dai and Wendy (regulars when we were at the New Edinburgh Pub in Ottawa ON), and were missing only Andrew C (GRYFON, GRZLDA), and everyone could make a difference, depending on the Question. The Site score (average of the best 5 Player scores) was 14,881 Points out of 15,000 max., enough to edge out Mad River, New York NY (14,604) by 277 Points for #1 Site in Canada & the USA.

Mad River turned the table on us in the SHOWDOWN Game, edging us out by a measly 275 Points, to move on to the Championship Game next week in the Sandbag Tournament. Best of luck to them!

In the Answer to Q1, this link for list of National Memorials might work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... ted_States .

In the answer to Q1, this link for list of National Monuments might work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... ted_States .

For all you do to present these recaps, REACH, not to mention the insightful commentary, I was very happy to see you record such a stellar site score.

Keep up the good work.

To GONE D: Thanks for the kind words. Intelligence may be overrated in the real world, but it's nice to know that there are smart people everywhere who compete by the rules and respect others' abilities. When we were at the New Edinburgh Pub, we enjoyed annual visits from AKBAR from Delaware, a nice woman visitor from Texas, and American regulars Joe & Debbie and Wally (Joe and Wally were posted in Canada for a multinational corporation), as well as guests Alex (MADMAN, DUMLUK) and Dorothy (RADFEM) from Big Guys in Winnipeg, an excellent group that I visited in 2010.