New Scaratings

Showdown Mar 06, 2018

WARMUP
1. The highest United States civilian award is the Presidential Medal of: FREEDOM
2. Opera singer Jenny Lind gained fame in the 19th century as the: SWEDISH NIGHTINGALE
3. The primary fuel used in oxy-fuel welding is: ACETYLENE
4. Created in 2009, ____ was the first decentralized cryptocurrency. BITCOIN
5. The peanut is often referred to as a: GOOBER
6. Ned Kelly is to Australia what ____ is to the United States. JESSE JAMES
7. Quitclaim and warranty are types of: DEEDS
8. Which of these would you most likely see in a casino? CROUPIER
9. Worsted is a high-quality type of ____ yarn and the fabric made from it. WOOL
10. Sally Hemings, a slave, is believed to have had six children with this president: THOMAS JEFFERSON


COUNTDOWN
1. Something described as rimose would be: FULL OF CRACKS
2. Which ingredient would you most likely find in the Italian dessert tiramisu? LADYFINGERS
3. "Melt-up' is a term belonging to this sector: WALL STREET
4. You use your sartorius muscle to help: BEND YOUR KNEE
5. English actress Lena Headey is best known for her role in HBO's: GAME OF THRONES
6. It's one of three nations that border Luxembourg: FRANCE
7. Fossorial animals are animals that live: UNDERGROUND
8. The Houyhnhnm are a race of ____ in 'Gulliver's Travels.' SMART HORSES
9. Garuda is a legendary ____ that figures in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. BIRD
10. Glyphosate, marketed by Monsanto as Roundup, is a: HERBICIDE
11. In 1929, he assumed the position of Reichsfuhrer-SS: HEINRICH HIMMLER
12. Born in 1821, Linus Yale Jr. is best known for inventing several types of: LOCKS

CATEGORY
1. SCIENCE EXAM over Popular Fiction
What is paregoric? MEDICATION
2. U.S. CITIES over A Night At The Opera
This city of some 250,000 people is in the state of Texas: LUBBOCK
3. WORLD HISTORY over Philosophy
Germany was ruled by the ____ Reich from 1933 to 1945. THIRD
4. POPULAR FICTION over A Night At The Opera
'The ____ series' is a popular series for young readers by Maile Meloy. APOTHECARY
5. U.S. CITIES over Philosophy
Which Florida city is closest to the geographical center of the state? ORLANDO
6. WORLD HISTORY over Science Exam
The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty laid the groundwork for the building of the: PANAMA CANAL

LIGHTNING
1. A 7.5 magnitude earthquake shook ____ last week. PAPUA NEW GUINEA
2. About 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, is ­­­­____ State Park. VALLEY OF FIRE
3. 'Man of the Woods' is the latest album by this native of Tennessee: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
4. The 2018 Super Bowl was Super Bowl: 52 (LII)
5. Which astrological sign is classified as a fire sign? SAGITTARIUS
6. He plays a foppish villain in the movie 'Paddington 2': HUGH GRANT
7. The House of Lords, the upper house of the U.K. bicameral parlament, has ____ members. 792

PYRAMID
1. Playwright and poet Ben Jonson was a contemporary of: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
2. Which river forms a boundary between two states? POTOMAC
3. Which discovery was made by Constantin Fahlberg in 1879? SACCHARINE
4. This country has two heads of state known as Captains Regent: SAN MARINO
5. Which 19th century literary character is carpenter? ADAM BEDE

FINAL SHOWDOWN
Category: BUSINESS ORIGINS
Q: This company was a wood pulp mill when it was founded in 1865:
1. THOMASVILLE
2. WELLS FARGO
3. CORNING
4. NOKIA
5. SAMSUNG

Takeaway order: 5, 1, 2, 3 (4)


BLUMAX

Q26: A NIGHT AT THE OPERA. What was the last opera by Rossini?
Answer: William Tell. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell_(opera) .

Q28: SCIENCE EXAM. What could be a polyamide?
Answer: Synthetic fibre. E.g. Nylon is a polyamide, Kevlar is a polyaramid.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyamide and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramid .

Thanks again to BLUMAX, for rising to the occasion.

I was looking for a drop-down box consisting of:
1. Say What?
2. By Jove!
3. Egads!
4. Tiefly
5. Nobody's Troubled To Count The Beggars

My intention was to press #5. When that option didn't appear, I opted for the number (348?) which was the largest number available which would be smaller than the number of members in the House of Commons. Oops! England's House of Lords is the only upper house in any bicameral legislature which has more members than the lower house. Various plans to limit life peers to fifteen years' participation, or to have them enroll based on their expressed intent to participate actively, never seem to come to fruition.

Not to worry. There will always be an England.

We blew this, but as two of our team are Brits and neither of them knew, I didn't feel as bad about missing it as I might have.

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

Thanks, REACH. After BLUMAX posted I couldn't recall whether the question referenced Rossini or Verdi (Falstaff). But you also have me shuddering at a memory which I thought I'd suppressed.

Some years back, in a Showdown long ago and far away, we were asked to identify Rossini's first opera. I think I hit every button, except of course for the correct one. The answer given was Demetrio e Publio, a thing of which I had never heard. The question came late in the quiz. It might have been Final Showdown. In any event, I couldn't strip the dropdown box at all. And I know as much about Rossini as your average opera season ticket holder, which I was at the time. (Then engaged to Catwoman, who enjoyed dressing up and flaunting her feline charms.)

So I went home to get to the bottom of this enigma. I have a wonderfully well-edited translation of Stenhal's "Life of Rossini", and sure enough, right there on P. 479, near the top of Appendix II, was "Demetrio e Publio". But get this: it was listed as a Student Work, and while written in 1806, DeP didn't receive its first public performance until 1812, when Rossini's career had already been launched on the strength of more mature operas.

If you wish, you may read this as a cautionary tale.