Questions from the Canadian Inquisition (QFTCI*)

[Mark Brader]

This is a repeat of my 2015-08-18 introductory posting with some
minor updates. If you were already familiar with the content and
with the way I'm scheduling current-events rounds now, then there's
no real need to reread it now.


* Introduction

As most of you will remember, the Canadian Inquisition is a team
trivia league that plays in Toronto pubs. It's a cooperative
league, whose teams take turns to write and ask the questions
that the others answer. In the September-December 2015 season,
the questions were written by the Bloor Street Irregulars. In the
current season, May-August 2016, they are being written by my team,
the Usual Suspects.

I have obtained both teams' permission to post to this newsgroup
the questions from these seasons, to be respectively tagged
QFTCIBSI and QFTCI16 in the subject line. Before posting them
here, I'm editing some of them for various reasons -- for brevity,
to clarify their intent, to avoid issues raised on protests, for
suitability in this medium, and so on.

As you may remember, the league's season consists of 10 regular
games and a Final. A regular game contains 102 questions. Most of
the game is in rounds of 10 questions on a specific topic within
a different general area. For example, one game in 2008 included
a geography round on former place names, an entertainment round
on Morgan Freeman movies, and a sports round on things that
happened during Toronto Blue Jays games. Round 1 is always
a current-events round; Round 5 is always an audio round; and
Round 10 (the "challenge round") normally contains 12 questions,
2 each on 6 different subjects.

I won't be posting audio questions (except if I think they can be
answered without the audio), nor will I post the video questions
that sometimes occur in the Final.


* Scheduling - Regular Games

My intent is that for each quiz you'll get about 3 days to answer,
plus or minus a few hours, but I'm not going to set exact deadlines;
I'll cut off entries at whatever time (after 2 days and about
21 hours) that it's convenient for me to do the scoring and post
the results.

One series of postings will include Rounds 2-4 and 6-10 for each
of Games 1-10. I will normally post the questions as four sets
of two rounds each: Rounds 2-3 in one posting, Rounds 4 and 6 in
the next, and so on. In the Final, most rounds have 15 questions,
and these I'll post one round at a time.

For each game, I'll keep a cumulative score over the group of
postings, counting your best 6 rounds out of 8 (or 5 out of 7,
etc.) -- that way if you miss a set, or if there's a subject you're
weak on, you still have a chance to finish well. Each game will
be totaled after the last round is posted and scored.

In a normal game usually one round is Canadiana (this may also
fall under another subject such as history or geography), which
those of you in distant places may have some trouble with, but I am
including them in the posting series anyway. This is your chance
to shine by displaying your knowledge of Canadiana. However, if
*nobody* in the newsgroup scores *any* points on a round, which
has happened with Canadiana occasionally, then I will score as if
that round had never existed.

Currently I am part way through posting the Final from the
Irregulars' season, and when that's finished I'll be starting
to post our season, starting with Game 1.


* Scheduling - Current Events

I will also do a separate series of postings consisting of
current-events rounds only, also to be posted two at a time. These
will all appear while they're still reasonably current -- normally
within a couple of days of the second of the two original games.
For this series I'm accumulating scores over all the games from the
Usual Suspects' season, similarly counting the best 9 out of 11.
So there will be an overall current-events winner for the season.

I'm posting current-events games independently of the posting
of other games, so there will normally be a regular game running
concurrently with each set of current-events questions. The first
pair of current-events rounds will be posted right after this
introduction.

Current-events rounds generally refer to events that took place the
week before the original game, sometimes also the week before that.
If answers have changed due to newer news, you are still expected
to give the answer that was correct as of the game date.


* Procedures and Scoring

The usual rule in our regular league games is that each question
goes to an individual who can answer for 2 points without assistance,
and if he misses, he can consult his team and try again for 1 point.
If the quizmaster judges that an answer is incomplete, she can ask
for more details before ruling the answer right or wrong.

To maintain the spirit of these rules, I will say that you can give
two answers on every question. But I will penalize you if you give
both a right answer and a wrong answer. My scoring is:

4 points - if you answer once and are right (or twice, both right)
3 points - if you guess twice and are right only the first time
2 points - if you guess twice and are right only the second time

Bonus points may occasionally be available and will be explained in
the relevant round.

If you give only one answer, but with only some sort of additional
comment, please make it clear that that's what you're doing.
If there is any doubt I'll assume that you are giving two answers.
If I see more than two answers, the third and any later ones will
be ignored.

Where it makes sense, I will accept answers that I think are almost
close enough (*more than half right*), with a 1-point penalty. But
I will reject answers that I do not think are sufficiently specific,
since there is no opportunity to ask for clarification when answers
are posted in the newsgroup.

You must, of course, answer based on your own knowledge and
nothing else. You must post all your answers in a single posting.
Where a person's name is asked for, *normally you need only give
the surname*. If you give another part of the name and you're
wrong, your answer is wrong.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | Keep out of eyes--if this occurs, rinse with water.
m...@vex.net | (Directions seen on shampoo bottle)

My text in this article is in the public domain.