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. In what part of the United States can you drive across the Seven Mile Bridge?__________________________
[Choices: Gulf of California, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, Florida Keys, Lake Superior ]

2. The movie "Cross Creek" is based on the life of this children's writer:________________________.
[Choices: Margaret Mitchell, Judy Blume, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Harper Lee, Louisa May Alcott ]

3. The Kavli Prizes, first awarded in 2008, are given in neuroscience, astrophysics and:_________________________.
[Choices: Geomorphology, Nanoscience, Economics, Marine biology, Anthropology ]

4. Actaeon and Orion are two mythological heroes killed by a:______________________.
[Choices: Fire-breathing dragon, Evil uncle, Wrathful goddess, Jealous wife, Thunderbolt from Zeus ]

5. Abraham Jacobi is recognized as the Father of American:__________________________.
[Choices: Technology, Pediatrics, Vaudeville, Baseball, Architecture ]

6. The characters in this opera frequent a Paris restaurant called the "Café Momus":________________________.
[Choices: La Boheme, Cosi Fan Tutte, Cinderella, L'Africaine, Parsifal ]

7. In India, ground ___________________ are a main ingredient of a popular beverage called Thandai.
[Choices: Walnuts, Almonds, Pecans, Peanuts, Macadamias ]

8. What part of the body is responsible for hiccups?_______________________
[Choices: Esophagus, Diaphragm, Lungs, Windpipe, Brain ]

9. The Peace of Lodi, signed in 1454, was a treaty between ___________________ and ___________________ .
[Choices: Bordeaux-Saxony, Aragon-Castile, Venice-Milan, Prussia-Gaul, Belarus-Latvia ]

10. A familiar or shortened version of a person's name is a:________________________.
[Choices: Sobriquet, Smallage, Sinciput, Spikenard, Saeculum ]

11. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Maricopa Indians flourished here:________________________.
[Choices: Great Lakes Region, Amazon River basin, Guatemala, Quebec, Colorado and Arizona ]

12. Clifford, Connie and Oliver make up the love triangle in this classic novel:_________________________.
[Choices: Fifty Shades of Grey, Madame Bovary, Nightwood, Lady Chatterley's Lover, The Satanic Verses ]

13. What ancient city lies near the modern village of Mit Ruhaynah?____________________
[Choices: Carthage, Memphis, Timbuktu, Rangoon, Babel ]

14. Deadly ricin is a lectin produced in the seeds of the ______________________ plant.
[Choices: Oleander, Castor oil, Cedar, Eucalyptus, Forsythia ]

15. In which country are the Ghegs and the Tosks the two primary ethnic groups?_____________________
[Choices: Iceland, Belgium, Albania, Cambodia, Guyana ]






Answers:

1. Florida Keys [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mile_Bridge ]

2. Marjorie Rawlings [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Creek_(film) , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Kinnan_Rawlings , and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Creek,_Florida ]

3. Nanoscience [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavli_Prize ]

4. Wrathful goddesses [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actaeon and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(mythology) ]

5. Pediatrics [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Jacobi ]

6. La Boheme [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_boheme ]

7. Almonds [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thandai ]

8. Diaphragm [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiccup ]

9. Venice-Milan [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Lodi ]

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

11. Colorado & Arizona [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maricopa_people ]

12. Lady Chatterley's Lover [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Chatterley's_Lover ]

13. Memphis [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis,_Egypt ]

14. Castor oil [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricin ]

15. Albania [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gheg_Albanian ]

Castor Bean, thank you. Yes, yes, REACH, Wikipedia endorses Castor Oil Plant as an alternative name for the source of Ricin, much as Glucose Syrup is refined from the Corn Oil Plant. (The seed of the Corn Oil Plant is tastiest when roasted, slathered with butter, and gnawed off the cob.)

REVE recently underwent a procedure which required of him to fast, and then to swallow a really nasty beverage.

"Castor oil?" I speculated. After all, he's from Green Bay.

"No, it was named after some reptile."

"Gatorade," Auva corrected.

"That was it!" REVE exclaimed. "Gawd, that was some nasty stuff. I could scarcely hold it down. When I called the doctor's office, I was told that water would be an adequate substitute."

An aspiring gourmet, REVE reminds us that aspirants to any proficiency are often the worst snobs.

My reply to REACH as a whole is an unadorned litany of first world complaint. Mind if I continue?

To GONE D: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricinus .

Oh good grief. I might be senile, but I'm not deaf.

This exchange puts me in mind of a story told by Baudelaire, which I don't have in front of me.

Baudelaire was walking down a commercial street when he found a man of incredibly ugly aspect admiring himself in a sidewalk mirror.

"How can you stand to look at yourself?" Baudelaire asked.

"According to the immortal principles of the Revolution of 1848," the Ugly man explained, "I can gaze at myself whether I enjoy it or not."

From the standpoint of the law, the Ugly Man was undoubtedly right. But from the standpoint of common sense, Baudelaire was not wrong.