New Scaratings

15 Questions, 1000 Points each, Points decrease rapidly from 4 to 20 seconds after appearance of Question & 5 Choices, and with 3 Clues:

1. It is the densest naturally occurring element:____________________.
[Choices: Osmium, Methanol, Borax, Tantalum, Strontium ]

2. The ________________ Panther, an endangered species, has only a few hundred cats in the wild.
[Choices: Florida, Colorado, Texas, Washington, Arizona ]

3. In 1651, this astronomer first designated the dark areas of the Moon as "seas":__________________.
[Choices: Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Giovanni Riccioli, Leonhard Euler, Gabriel Faure ]

4. The country of Guyana was once known as ________________ Guiana.
[Choices: Spanish, French, German, Dutch, British ]

5. "Gypsy Ballads" and "A Poet in New York" are major works of this poet and playwright:__________________.
[Choices: Oscar Wilde, Dylan Thomas, Langston Hughes, H.W. Longfellow, Garcia Lorca ]

6. This flower was named after its similarity to a Turkish turban:___________________.
[Choices: Dahlia, Tulip, Daisy, Poppy, Chrysanthemum ]

7. "The Kid" was the first feature length film made by:____________________.
[Choices: Buster Keaton, D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Erich von Stroheim ]

8. Born in 1835, Cesare Lombroso is known as The Father of: ___________________ .
[Choices: Criminology, Medicine, Journalism, Astronomy, History ]

9. Mildendo is the capital city of what fictional land?___________________
[Choices: Utopia, Wonderland, Erewon, Lilliput, Narnia ]

10. Imre Nagy was a 1950's __________________ politician who was convicted of treason and executed in 1958.
[Choices: Romanian, Hungarian, Yugoslavian, Ukrainian, Swedish ]

11. In which part of the U.S. will you find the Berkshire Hills?___________________
[Choices: Mid-Atlantic states, New England, Deep South, Southwest, Pacific Northwest ]

12. Born in 1835, this composer is best remembered for his many symphonic poems:___________________.
[Choices: Robert Schumann, Charles Ives, Camille Saint-Saens, Johnny Mercer, Johannes Brahms ]

13. Denisovans are a now extinct branch of:___________________.
[Choices: Conifers, Fish, Horses, Humans, Birds ]

14. Rabat is the capital city of:_____________________.
[Choices: Libya, South Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria ]

15. William Kemmler was the first person to:___________________.
[Choices: Die in an electric chair, Reach the South Pole, Use LSD, Build a motorcar, Vaccinate for malaria ]






Answers:

1. Osmium [Jean (LESTER) at Buster's Bar, Ottawa ON pre-called this; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmium . I held back to see the Choices because Iridium (density at 22.56 g/cm^3) is essentially tied with Osmium (density 22.59 g/cm^3); see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium ]

2. Florida [I (REACH) pre-called this, as I knew the NHL hockey team is named after this rare animal; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_panther ]

3. Giovanni Riccioli [I pre-called "Galileo", but as it was not one of the 5 Choices, had to quickly recognize Riccioli for 979 Points; see the section "work concerning the Moon" at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_ ... a_Riccioli and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maria_on_the_Moon ]

4. British [I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana ]

5. Garcia Lorca [I guessed wrong with Langston Hughes, so we all got less than 260 Points after 3 Clues; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_Ballads , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Garcia_Lorca and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poet_in_New_York ]

6. Tulip [I think Chris (CEEZED, KAYZED) pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip ]

7. Charlie Chaplin [I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kid_(1921_film) . In the movie, The Kid was played by Jackie Coogan who was unrecognizable as Uncle Fester in the 1960s TV series "The Addams Family"; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Coogan ]

8. Criminology [It took a little time, but the other Choices could be eliminated. Chris got 1000 Points on each of his 2 tablets. We don't see Lombroso's name much, perhaps because of his racism which was not uncommon at the time; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Lombroso ]

9. Lilliput [We needed Clues for this one, so scored less than 220 Points; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilliput_and_Blefuscu . Sue (SWIFT) and Richard (ACE) are vacationing in Thailand, Vietnam, etc., so we missed Sue's expertise on Swift, for whom she has named her handle. ]

10. Hungarian [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imre_Nagy ]

11. New England [I think Dave (YELDOR, TULADI) and Myfanwy (SPRAJO, DICKIE) called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Berkshires ]

12. Camille Saint-Saens [I was expecting "Franz Liszt", who composed 13 Symphonic Poems, but he wasn't one of the Choices. None of the Choices seemed identified with Symphonic Poems, so I called for Robert Schumann who was in the same era as Liszt, but this was wrong, so we all ended up with zero Points. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Saint-Saens who is most famous for his Organ Symphony (No. 3), his operas (including "Samson and Delilah" and "Proserpine"), "Carnival of the Animals", and various concerti. He composed only 4 symphonic poems, the most famous probably being "Danse macabre"; see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71fZhMXlGT4 .]

13. Humans [Chris pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denisovan ]

14. Morocco [I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabat ]

15. First to die in an electric chair [see the section "First execution" at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair ]