Mark Brader:
> These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2006-01-09,
> and should be interpreted accordingly. All questions were written
> by members of the Usual Suspects, but have been reformatted and may
> have been retyped and/or edited by me. For further information
> see my recent companion posting on "Reposted Questions from the
> Canadian Inquisition (RQFTCI*)".
And this special game is over and by a large margin the winner is
JOSHUA KREITZER -- who finished last of 10 entrants when these
questions were posted in 2008. Nice improvement!
> 81. If you're wiring a house, you might need to buy a single-pole,
> double-throw switch. What would you expect them to call this
> switch at the hardware store?
Two-way or three-way switch.
An ordinary light switch is single-pole, single-throw.
The single-pole, double-throw switch is the type that you use to
control the same light from two places, like both ends of a flight
of a stairs. In hardware-store language in Canada it's a two-way
switch because it has two "on" positions, or a three-way switch
because it has three connections.
> 82. Anglophone Riverview and francophone Dieppe """are""" suburbs
> of which linguistically divided Canadian city?
Moncton. New Brunswick is Canada's only officially bilingual
province. (All still true.) 6 for Dan Tilque.
> 83. The Literary Review of Canada list of the 100 most influential
> Canadian Books, published in 2006, """includes""" one book
> about hockey. Give either the book's title or its author.
"Hockey Basics" (1973) by Howie Meeker.
For an analysis of their decision, see:
http://www.hockeybookreviews.com/2008/06/howie-meekers-hockey-basics.html
The first half of the list is posted here, with a link to the
second half at the bottom:
http://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2006/01/the-lrc-100-part-one/
Scanning it, I find that of the 100 books there are only about 20 that
I've even heard of, and of those, about 5 that I've actually read
(or bought and used, in the case of a reference book).
> 84. What Soviet ambassador to Canada inspired Mikhail Gorbachev
> to implement his reform policies and later became his close
> adviser?
Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev.
> 85. What name is given to the American form of whiskey that is made
> from at least 51% (typically about 70%) corn with the remainder
> being wheat, rye, and malted barley? It is predominantly,
> though not exclusively, distilled in Kentucky.
Bourbon. 6 for Joshua, Dan Blum, Pete, and Dan Tilque.
> 86. Name the rookie driver who placed fourth in the 2005 Indy 500,
> becoming a media sensation in the process.
Danica Patrick -- a (gasp) woman! 6 for Joshua, Pete, and Dan Tilque.
Nicaragua. (Still true.) 6 for Dan Tilque. 3 for Pete.
Cf.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/americas/nicaragua_pol_97.jpg
> 88. What """is""" the name of the passenger train from here to
> Vancouver?
The Canadian. (Still true.)
> 89. The Gregorian calendar was adopted by much of Europe in 1582.
> Within 15 years, when was it adopted in England?
1752 (accepting 1737-1767). The exact date was September 14, which,
of course, followed September 2. 6 for Joshua, Erland, Dan Blum,
and Dan Tilque.
> 90. Which community was renamed Iqaluit on 1987-01-01?
Frobisher Bay -- then in the NWT, """now""" (and still true) the
capital of Nunavut. 6 for Dan Tilque.
> 91. Conrad Black's "noble" title """is""" Lord Black of... where?
Crossharbour. 6 for Joshua.
Still true. He abandoned his Canadian citizenship in order to be
able to accept the title, and retains it to this day (he's now 75)
despite his criminal conviction.
> 92. What is the name for the quality or state of being that is
> the supposed goal of members of the satirical pseudo-religion
> "Church of the SubGenius"? Or, name the Church's pipe-smoking
> prophet.
Slack; J.R. "Bob" Dobbs. 6 for Joshua (the hard way), Dan Blum,
and Dan Tilque.
> 93. Of countries in Africa, which one """contains""" the longest
> section of the equator?
DR Congo. Still true. 6 for Joshua, Erland, and Dan Blum.
> 94. Time magazine named three people as Persons of the Year
> for 2005. Name *all* of them. (If you make multiple guesses,
> please list three people in each one.)
Bono (Paul Hewson) and Bill and Melinda Gates. 6 for Joshua.
We originally required first names for the Gateses, but I didn't
insist on it here.
> 95. Who recorded the jazz album "A Love Supreme"?
John Coltrane. 6 for Joshua, Erland, and Pete.
> 96. Who or what is Ötzi?
The late Neolithic-Chalcolithic "iceman" mummy (anything like this
was acceptable) found in a glacier near the Italian-Austrian border.
6 for Joshua, Erland, Dan Blum, and Dan Tilque.
> 97. In which *city* did the Dada movement originate in 1916,
> through the activities of writers such as Hugo Ball and Tristan
> Tzara, and artists such as Hans Arp?
Zürich. 6 for Joshua.
> 98. On May 13, 1940, the new Prime Minister of the UK spoke in the
> House of Commons. He said: "I have nothing to offer but
> blood..." Finish the sentence. Exact wording required.
"...toil, tears and sweat." 6 for Joshua.
Churchill had used other variations on of this phrase before,
including "blood, sweat and tears", but not in this famous speech.
Unfortunately, the American edition of a book containing the speech
used the other version of the phrase as its title, which started it
on its way to being widely misremembered.
> 99. What member of the Presidium of the USSR, formerly Stalin's
> secret police chief, was purged and executed in 1953, shortly
> after Stalin's death?
Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria. On the original posting I accepted "Biera".
6 for Joshua, Erland, Dan Blum, and Dan Tilque.
> 100. Who invented Esperanto?
Ludwik Zamenhof. I accepted "Zamehof". 6 for Joshua and Erland.
> 101. Which musician and exponent of so-called "Cowboy Psychedelia"
> wrote the Nancy Sinatra hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"
> and collaborated with Nancy in singing "Some Velvet Morning"?
Lee Hazlewood. 6 for Joshua.
In this game I'm pretty sure I wrote questions #1, #2, #8, #9, #10,
#12, #17, #20, #21, #23, #24, #27, #36, #37, #38, #49, #52, #53, #59,
#60, #63, #68, #69, #79, #81, #87, #88, #89, and #98; and I may also
have written some of #4, #13, #14, #19, #33, #43, #56, #90, and #91.
Scores, if there are no errors:
QUESTIONS-> #1-20 #21-40 #41-60 #61-80 #81-101 TOTALS
Joshua Kreitzer 90 54 66 36 84 240
Dan Blum 60 42 48 48 36 156
Dan Tilque 24 30 24 34 54 118
Pete Gayde 30 36 41 24 21 107
Erland Sommarskog 0 18 24 30 36 90
"Calvin" 47 -- 18 0 -- 65
These scores may be compared, if you like, with the results from my
original posting of these questions in 2008:
Stephen Perry 72 50 72 41 44 279
Keith Willoughby 24 18 66 24 41 173
Dan Tilque -- 30 36 36 48 150
Peter Smyth 35 19 48 24 24 150
Marc Dashevsky 33 36 21 6 42 138
Rob Parker 18 30 39 22 24 133
Barbara Bailey 24 24 18 30 24 120
Erland Sommarskog -- 12 34 18 41 105
Jeff Turner 11 12 30 18 24 95
Joshua Kreitzer 6 -- -- -- -- 6
--
Mark Brader "Male got pregnant -- on the first try."
Toronto Newsweek article on high-tech conception
m...@vex.net November 30, 1987