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Rare Entries ES #1 Begins
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Erland Sommarskog
Mar 27, 2016, 5:53:53 PM3/27/16
to
It's my turn to run a Rare Entries contest, and this one has a novelty:
this quiz has a theme, meaning that all questions are designed to have
at least one correct answer that adheres to the theme. And if you pick
such an answer, there is a bonus of 0.8 multiplied to your score. That is,
by finding answer that matches the theme, you can improve your score -
unless everyone else does the same and collides.
The theme is.., ah, you will figure that out.
Compared to Mark's quizzes, I am also making some other changes. The penalty
for an incorrect answer is different: twice the highest score for a correct
answer for a minimum of 7. The penalty for not answering a question at all
is lower: 1.5 times the score for the most common correct answer for a
minimum of 5.
Please mail your answers to esq...@sommarskog.se. Deadline for entries
is 2016-04-15 12.00, Swedish time. I plan to post two reminders until
then. Beware that mails formatted in HTML only may be trapped by my spam
filter.
DO NOT post or discuss your answers publicly answer before that date!
Please delete everything before and after the questions, but retain
the questions, and put your answers after the question. Put any comments
or clarifications you make on a separate line with a blank line after
the answer.
----------------------------- Questions ----------------------------------
1. Name a person who has been King of Sweden.
2. Name a company with business in at least 28 countries and which is
commonly referred by a name or an abbreviation that includes one or more
of the initials of one or more of the founders. There may be a full name
of the company that includes a longer part of the names of the founders,
but there must be a common form that consists of only the initials.
Example: Say that there is a company of which the full name is
Abraham & Joseph Corporation. If this company is commonly referred to as
AJC, that is a correct answer. However, if the common short name is
AbeJoe, that would not be a correct answer.
3. Name a country where I have spent at least 24 hours. Country here refers
to a territory with an officially assigned country code in ISO 3166.
4. Give a city with a population of at least 400 000 that is located on the
sea, and which also has a border on a sweetwater lake with a surface of
at least 1 km². A lake which is entirely included within the city limits
does not count; the borders of the city must traverse the lake. "City"
here refers to the city proper, not metropolitan area.
5. Name a person who was born after AD 1000 outside any nobility, but who
reached a position as state ruler for which inheritance wss the norm,
or became the norm with this person.
6. Name a team that at least on one occasion reached the semi-finals in
FIFA World Cup in football, but which never has become World Champions.
7. Name a person who simultaneously was, or still is, the head of state of
two countries that for all other practical matters were entirely
independent from each other during the entire rule of this person.
8. Name a person who was assassinated while holding a position as head of
state, head of government or foreign minister, and who had reached that
position, directly or indirectly, as a result of democratic elections,
generally considered free and fair by today's standards.
9. Name a person who is generally considered to have been involved in
the discovery or the first isolation of one or more chemical element
with an atomic number <= 96.
10. Give a word used in English that is of Swedish origin, and which
entered the English language in the 19th century or later. The word
should be present in an online general dictionary for English. That is,
a dictionary for a certain field does not qualify.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rules for this quiz are basically the same as in Mark Brader's quizzes,
but I am introducing some changes. I am not repeating all of Mark's rules,
but instead I give a briefer version. Particularly note that the scoring is
somewhat different and that I use a different definition for countries.
1. The game as such
For each question you are supposed give one single answer that is correct.
(Typically, there is always more than one correct answer.) Your aim is
to find an answer that is given by as few entrants as possible.
For this particular quiz, there is a theme, meaning that all questions
have at least one correct answer that adheres to the theme. If you give
such an answer, there is a bonus for this answer, see further the scoring
below.
You are entitled to use all forms of sources to research the answer, but
you are not permitted to discuss the questions in public, nor are you
permitted to post your answers in public before the closing date of the
quiz.
When you have found a couple of possible answers, you are supposed to
make a conscious choice among the choices. That is, you must not use any
form of randomisation.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2. Scoring
a) Your score for a correct answer that does not adhere to the theme is
the number of entrants who gave that answer.
b) Your score for a correct answer that adheres to the theme is 0.8 times
the number of entrants who gave that answer.
c) Your score for an incorrect answer is twice the highest score given for
a for correct answer for a minimum of 7. Whether the answer adheres
to the theme is irrelevant; the penalty is the same.
d) If you don't answer a question at all, your score is 1½ the highest
score given for a correct answer for a minimum of 5.
As in Mark's quizzes a specific/generic rule a apply, meaning that if one
answer can somehow be considered to be a subset of an another answer,
the score for the subset answer will be the number of persons who gave that
more specific answer (multiplied with 0.8 if the answers adheres to the
theme), while the score for the entrants who gave the superset answer will
be number of entrants who gave either the superset or the subset answer
(again multiplied with 0.8 if the superset answer adheres to the theme).
2.1 Scoring example.
Say that the question is "Name a major battle that took place in Europe
after year 1000". The theme is the Swedish pop group ABBA. I have these
entries, the number before the entry is the number of entrants who gave
that answer:
9 Battle of Hastings
9 Battle of Waterloo
1 Napoleon's last battle
2 Battle of Kosovo
3 Battle of Kosovo in 1389
1 Battle of Kosovo in 1448
3 Battle of Fernando
1 Battle of Mandzikert
1 (no answer)
The score is as follows
Battle of Hastings -> 9 points, 9 persons gave that answer.
Battle of Waterloo &
Napoleon's last battle -> 8 points. "Waterloo" is an Abba tune, and the
bonus applies. Since the question was "name a
battle", I deem that the answer is equivalent
with "Battle of Waterloo".
Battle of Kosovo -> 6 points. There were two battles of Kosovo, but two
entrants did not specify which. Therefore, their score
is the total number of entries that mentioned any of
the battles of Kosovo.
Battle of Kosovo 1389 -> 3 points. Three persons gave this answer. The other
Kosovo entries do not matter here.
Battle of Kosovo 1448 -> 1 point. One person gave this answer.
Battle of Fernando
Battle of Mandzikert -> Both these gets 18 points, twice the highest score
awarded for a correct answer. There was a battle at
Mandzikert in 1071, but that site is in Asia. And
while "Fernando" is an ABBA tune, I can't find any
battle with this name. There is no bonus for
incorrect answers adhering to the theme.
(no answer) -> 13.5 points, 1½ times the highest score.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Judging of answers
I will solely judge whether answer is correct or not. To be able to that
I may mail you for information supporting your answer, for instance a
reference.
Rare Entries questions often lend themselves to bending, and you are
welcome to try to bend the questions. However, be careful that you don't
bend yourself out of shape. I reserve to rule an answer as incorrect if I
find that strays too far from my original intention. By bending the
question, I am assuming that are you making a gamble for a top score
with the risk to lose it all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Entries
Entries should be submitted by mail only to the address given on the top
of the posting, and they should arrive no later than the time given.
The preferred format is plain text. Please include the questions in the
response, but delete the introduction and the rules after the introduction.
If you give multiple answers, I will take the first answer and ignore the
rest, no matter whether I judge the first answer correct or not.
If you wish to include supporting information or comments, please separate
these clearly from the answers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Specific terms of questions
In his rules, Marks gives some general definitions of countries, words,
movies etc. These rules may not apply exactly to my quiz(zes). For this
particular quiz there are deviations to Mark's rules for "country"
and "word".
--
Erland Sommarskog, Stockholm, esq...@sommarskog.se
this quiz has a theme, meaning that all questions are designed to have
at least one correct answer that adheres to the theme. And if you pick
such an answer, there is a bonus of 0.8 multiplied to your score. That is,
by finding answer that matches the theme, you can improve your score -
unless everyone else does the same and collides.
The theme is.., ah, you will figure that out.
Compared to Mark's quizzes, I am also making some other changes. The penalty
for an incorrect answer is different: twice the highest score for a correct
answer for a minimum of 7. The penalty for not answering a question at all
is lower: 1.5 times the score for the most common correct answer for a
minimum of 5.
Please mail your answers to esq...@sommarskog.se. Deadline for entries
is 2016-04-15 12.00, Swedish time. I plan to post two reminders until
then. Beware that mails formatted in HTML only may be trapped by my spam
filter.
DO NOT post or discuss your answers publicly answer before that date!
Please delete everything before and after the questions, but retain
the questions, and put your answers after the question. Put any comments
or clarifications you make on a separate line with a blank line after
the answer.
----------------------------- Questions ----------------------------------
1. Name a person who has been King of Sweden.
2. Name a company with business in at least 28 countries and which is
commonly referred by a name or an abbreviation that includes one or more
of the initials of one or more of the founders. There may be a full name
of the company that includes a longer part of the names of the founders,
but there must be a common form that consists of only the initials.
Example: Say that there is a company of which the full name is
Abraham & Joseph Corporation. If this company is commonly referred to as
AJC, that is a correct answer. However, if the common short name is
AbeJoe, that would not be a correct answer.
3. Name a country where I have spent at least 24 hours. Country here refers
to a territory with an officially assigned country code in ISO 3166.
4. Give a city with a population of at least 400 000 that is located on the
sea, and which also has a border on a sweetwater lake with a surface of
at least 1 km². A lake which is entirely included within the city limits
does not count; the borders of the city must traverse the lake. "City"
here refers to the city proper, not metropolitan area.
5. Name a person who was born after AD 1000 outside any nobility, but who
reached a position as state ruler for which inheritance wss the norm,
or became the norm with this person.
6. Name a team that at least on one occasion reached the semi-finals in
FIFA World Cup in football, but which never has become World Champions.
7. Name a person who simultaneously was, or still is, the head of state of
two countries that for all other practical matters were entirely
independent from each other during the entire rule of this person.
8. Name a person who was assassinated while holding a position as head of
state, head of government or foreign minister, and who had reached that
position, directly or indirectly, as a result of democratic elections,
generally considered free and fair by today's standards.
9. Name a person who is generally considered to have been involved in
the discovery or the first isolation of one or more chemical element
with an atomic number <= 96.
10. Give a word used in English that is of Swedish origin, and which
entered the English language in the 19th century or later. The word
should be present in an online general dictionary for English. That is,
a dictionary for a certain field does not qualify.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rules for this quiz are basically the same as in Mark Brader's quizzes,
but I am introducing some changes. I am not repeating all of Mark's rules,
but instead I give a briefer version. Particularly note that the scoring is
somewhat different and that I use a different definition for countries.
1. The game as such
For each question you are supposed give one single answer that is correct.
(Typically, there is always more than one correct answer.) Your aim is
to find an answer that is given by as few entrants as possible.
For this particular quiz, there is a theme, meaning that all questions
have at least one correct answer that adheres to the theme. If you give
such an answer, there is a bonus for this answer, see further the scoring
below.
You are entitled to use all forms of sources to research the answer, but
you are not permitted to discuss the questions in public, nor are you
permitted to post your answers in public before the closing date of the
quiz.
When you have found a couple of possible answers, you are supposed to
make a conscious choice among the choices. That is, you must not use any
form of randomisation.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2. Scoring
a) Your score for a correct answer that does not adhere to the theme is
the number of entrants who gave that answer.
b) Your score for a correct answer that adheres to the theme is 0.8 times
the number of entrants who gave that answer.
c) Your score for an incorrect answer is twice the highest score given for
a for correct answer for a minimum of 7. Whether the answer adheres
to the theme is irrelevant; the penalty is the same.
d) If you don't answer a question at all, your score is 1½ the highest
score given for a correct answer for a minimum of 5.
As in Mark's quizzes a specific/generic rule a apply, meaning that if one
answer can somehow be considered to be a subset of an another answer,
the score for the subset answer will be the number of persons who gave that
more specific answer (multiplied with 0.8 if the answers adheres to the
theme), while the score for the entrants who gave the superset answer will
be number of entrants who gave either the superset or the subset answer
(again multiplied with 0.8 if the superset answer adheres to the theme).
2.1 Scoring example.
Say that the question is "Name a major battle that took place in Europe
after year 1000". The theme is the Swedish pop group ABBA. I have these
entries, the number before the entry is the number of entrants who gave
that answer:
9 Battle of Hastings
9 Battle of Waterloo
1 Napoleon's last battle
2 Battle of Kosovo
3 Battle of Kosovo in 1389
1 Battle of Kosovo in 1448
3 Battle of Fernando
1 Battle of Mandzikert
1 (no answer)
The score is as follows
Battle of Hastings -> 9 points, 9 persons gave that answer.
Battle of Waterloo &
Napoleon's last battle -> 8 points. "Waterloo" is an Abba tune, and the
bonus applies. Since the question was "name a
battle", I deem that the answer is equivalent
with "Battle of Waterloo".
Battle of Kosovo -> 6 points. There were two battles of Kosovo, but two
entrants did not specify which. Therefore, their score
is the total number of entries that mentioned any of
the battles of Kosovo.
Battle of Kosovo 1389 -> 3 points. Three persons gave this answer. The other
Kosovo entries do not matter here.
Battle of Kosovo 1448 -> 1 point. One person gave this answer.
Battle of Fernando
Battle of Mandzikert -> Both these gets 18 points, twice the highest score
awarded for a correct answer. There was a battle at
Mandzikert in 1071, but that site is in Asia. And
while "Fernando" is an ABBA tune, I can't find any
battle with this name. There is no bonus for
incorrect answers adhering to the theme.
(no answer) -> 13.5 points, 1½ times the highest score.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Judging of answers
I will solely judge whether answer is correct or not. To be able to that
I may mail you for information supporting your answer, for instance a
reference.
Rare Entries questions often lend themselves to bending, and you are
welcome to try to bend the questions. However, be careful that you don't
bend yourself out of shape. I reserve to rule an answer as incorrect if I
find that strays too far from my original intention. By bending the
question, I am assuming that are you making a gamble for a top score
with the risk to lose it all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Entries
Entries should be submitted by mail only to the address given on the top
of the posting, and they should arrive no later than the time given.
The preferred format is plain text. Please include the questions in the
response, but delete the introduction and the rules after the introduction.
If you give multiple answers, I will take the first answer and ignore the
rest, no matter whether I judge the first answer correct or not.
If you wish to include supporting information or comments, please separate
these clearly from the answers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Specific terms of questions
In his rules, Marks gives some general definitions of countries, words,
movies etc. These rules may not apply exactly to my quiz(zes). For this
particular quiz there are deviations to Mark's rules for "country"
and "word".
--
Erland Sommarskog, Stockholm, esq...@sommarskog.se
Erland Sommarskog
Apr 3, 2016, 8:13:54 AM4/3/16
to
Erland Sommarskog
Apr 5, 2016, 4:18:28 PM4/5/16
to
[This message has also been mailed to those who have entered so far.]
I realised that the way I had phrased question 4 in the quiz, differents
parts of the question were partly in contradiction with each other. Here
is a clarified version of the question:
4. Give a city with a population of at least 400 000 that is located on
the sea, and which also has a border on a sweetwater lake with a
surface of at least 1 km². A lake which is entirely included within
the city limits does not count; the borders of the city must
traverse the lake or be on the shores of the lake. (Since it can be
difficult to deduce whether the limits is on border exactly, I will
permit for a leeway fitting a path or a road, but generally not any
buildings.) "City" here refers to the city proper, not metropolitan
area.
If any entrant want to change their answer after seeing this correction,
I will accept that.
I realised that the way I had phrased question 4 in the quiz, differents
parts of the question were partly in contradiction with each other. Here
is a clarified version of the question:
4. Give a city with a population of at least 400 000 that is located on
the sea, and which also has a border on a sweetwater lake with a
surface of at least 1 km². A lake which is entirely included within
the city limits does not count; the borders of the city must
difficult to deduce whether the limits is on border exactly, I will
permit for a leeway fitting a path or a road, but generally not any
buildings.) "City" here refers to the city proper, not metropolitan
area.
If any entrant want to change their answer after seeing this correction,
I will accept that.
Erland Sommarskog
Apr 10, 2016, 1:26:34 PM4/10/16
to
Contest closes on Friday 15th, 12:00 Swedish time!
It's my turn to run a Rare Entries contest, and this one has a novelty:
this quiz has a theme, meaning that all questions are designed to have
at least one correct answer that adheres to the theme. And if you pick
such an answer, there is a bonus of 0.8 multiplied to your score. That is,
by finding answer that matches the theme, you can improve your score -
unless everyone else does the same and collides.
The theme is.., ah, you will figure that out.
Compared to Mark's quizzes, I am also making some other changes. The penalty
for an incorrect answer is different: twice the highest score for a correct
answer for a minimum of 7. The penalty for not answering a question at all
is lower: 1.5 times the score for the most common correct answer for a
minimum of 5.
Please mail your answers to esq...@sommarskog.se. Deadline for entries
is 2016-04-15 12.00, Swedish time.
It's my turn to run a Rare Entries contest, and this one has a novelty:
this quiz has a theme, meaning that all questions are designed to have
at least one correct answer that adheres to the theme. And if you pick
such an answer, there is a bonus of 0.8 multiplied to your score. That is,
by finding answer that matches the theme, you can improve your score -
unless everyone else does the same and collides.
The theme is.., ah, you will figure that out.
Compared to Mark's quizzes, I am also making some other changes. The penalty
for an incorrect answer is different: twice the highest score for a correct
answer for a minimum of 7. The penalty for not answering a question at all
is lower: 1.5 times the score for the most common correct answer for a
minimum of 5.
Please mail your answers to esq...@sommarskog.se. Deadline for entries
is 2016-04-15 12.00, Swedish time.
DO NOT post or discuss your answers publicly answer before that date!
Please delete everything before and after the questions, but retain
the questions, and put your answers after the question. Put any comments
or clarifications you make on a separate line with a blank line after
the answer.
----------------------------- Questions ----------------------------------
1. Name a person who has been King of Sweden.
2. Name a company with business in at least 28 countries and which is
commonly referred by a name or an abbreviation that includes one or more
of the initials of one or more of the founders. There may be a full name
of the company that includes a longer part of the names of the founders,
but there must be a common form that consists of only the initials.
Example: Say that there is a company of which the full name is
Abraham & Joseph Corporation. If this company is commonly referred to as
AJC, that is a correct answer. However, if the common short name is
AbeJoe, that would not be a correct answer.
3. Name a country where I have spent at least 24 hours. Country here refers
to a territory with an officially assigned country code in ISO 3166.
Please delete everything before and after the questions, but retain
the questions, and put your answers after the question. Put any comments
or clarifications you make on a separate line with a blank line after
the answer.
----------------------------- Questions ----------------------------------
1. Name a person who has been King of Sweden.
2. Name a company with business in at least 28 countries and which is
commonly referred by a name or an abbreviation that includes one or more
of the initials of one or more of the founders. There may be a full name
of the company that includes a longer part of the names of the founders,
but there must be a common form that consists of only the initials.
Example: Say that there is a company of which the full name is
Abraham & Joseph Corporation. If this company is commonly referred to as
AJC, that is a correct answer. However, if the common short name is
AbeJoe, that would not be a correct answer.
3. Name a country where I have spent at least 24 hours. Country here refers
to a territory with an officially assigned country code in ISO 3166.
4. Give a city with a population of at least 400 000 that is located on the
sea, and which also has a border on a sweetwater lake with a surface of
at least 1 km². A lake which is entirely included within the city limits
does not count; the borders of the city must traverse the lake or be
on the shores of the lake. (Since it can be difficult to deduce whether
the limits is on border exactly, I will permit for a leeway fitting
a path or a road, but generally not any buildings.) "City" here refers
to the city proper, not metropolitan area.
sea, and which also has a border on a sweetwater lake with a surface of
at least 1 km². A lake which is entirely included within the city limits
does not count; the borders of the city must traverse the lake or be
on the shores of the lake. (Since it can be difficult to deduce whether
the limits is on border exactly, I will permit for a leeway fitting
a path or a road, but generally not any buildings.) "City" here refers
to the city proper, not metropolitan area.
Erland Sommarskog
Apr 15, 2016, 4:53:45 PM4/15/16
to
My attempts to a Rare Entries contest is over, and it was not a stunning
success. Rather it was a bit of a fiasco with only eight entrants. One
possible reason for this might be that the questions were more difficult
than I thought: no entrant was able to produce a fully correct slate.
Nevertheless, congratulations to the winner: PETER SMYTH!
Here is the total result list:
1) Peter Smyth 28.672
2) Mark Brader 39.2
3) Lieven Marchand 46.9762048
4) John Gerson 62.72
5) Björn Lundin 75.16192768
6) Bruce Bowler 200.704
7) Calvin 280.9856
Stephen W. Perry 280.9856
The not so secret theme for the quiz was Sweden, and answers relating to
Sweden and things Swedish gave the 0.8 multiplier bonus. Swedish
answers are indicated with (SW) in the list below. (WR) means that I
have score that answer as wrong.
> 1. Name a person who has been King of Sweden.
1 Adolf Fredrik (SW)
1 Gustav III (SW)
1 Gustav V (SW)
1 Hans / Johan II (SW)
1 Karl X Gustav (SW)
1 Karl XIV Johan (SW)
1 Kristian I (SW)
1 Ragnvald Knaphövde (SW)
I've listed the names here with the common Swedish spelling.
All entrants found a unique correct answer to the question. Not so
surprising since there are a few to choose from, but the question does
actually have some traps. Around 1500 there were some heads of state
that were only regents ("riksföreståndare") and not kings. And I thought
that someone might just enter Karl or Erik with a low number - Karl
starts at VII and Erik at VIII.
> 2. Name a company with business in at least 28 countries and which is
> commonly referred by a name or an abbreviation that includes one or
> more of the initials of one or more of the founders. There may be a
> full name of the company that includes a longer part of the names of
> the founders, but there must be a common form that consists of only
> the initials. Example: Say that there is a company of which the full
> name is Abraham & Joseph Corporation. If this company is commonly
> referred to as AJC, that is a correct answer. However, if the common
> short name is AbeJoe, that would not be a correct answer.
2 IKEA (SW)
1 DHL
1 Hewlett-Packard (HP)
1 JCB
1 LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE)
1 RSA Security
............................................
1 A&W Root Beer (WR)
The examples I had in mind when wrote the question were IKEA and Hewlett-
Packard - and WalMart which I phrased the question to keep out.
A&W Root Beer is only a brand; it's not a company.
> 3. Name a country where I have spent at least 24 hours. Country here
> refers to a territory with an officially assigned country code in ISO
> 3166.
2 Ukraine
1 Canada
1 France
1 Italy
1 Sweden (SW)
1 USA
1 Czechoslovakia (WR)
For those who found the question silly: my web site is not difficult to
find and there is a photo gallery which should give some hints. Else
most countries in Europe would have done. However, it was a little too
brave to enter one of the countries no longer existing. I have been to
both the Czech and Slovak Republics, but I never visited Czechoslovakia
before the split.
> 4. Give a city with a population of at least 400 000 that is located on
> the sea, and which also has a border on a sweetwater lake with a >
> surface of at least 1 km². A lake which is entirely included within
> the city limits does not count; the borders of the city must traverse
> the lake or be on the shores of the lake. (Since it can be difficult
> to deduce whether the limits is on border exactly, I will permit for
> a leeway fitting a path or a road, but generally not any buildings.)
> "City" here refers to the city proper, not metropolitan area.
4 Stockholm (SW)
1 San José
1 Shanghai
1 Gdansk (WR)
1 Port Said (WR)
When I first thought of the question, the two cities I had mind were
Stockholm and Seattle. Unfortunately, the original phrasing of the question
was poor. In Sweden all we have is "communes" or municipalities; formally
there are no cities. Thus, if two communes border the same lake, the
border between the two will run in the lake. So that was my predisposition.
That is, in my mental map, there was a border in Lake Washington between
Seattle and Bellevue and the other cities across the lake from Seattle.
However, in the US and many other countries there is a concept of being
"incorporated" and there are areas that are not incorporated. And
in these case, the border lake is simply not incorporated anywhere,
and no border traverse the lake. The original question said one thing
in the beginning and another at the end, and it appears that entrants
made different interpretations. Possibly this explains the collision on
Stockholm - it was a safe answer.
There is a second Swedish answer: Gothenburg, the second biggest city in
Sweden. The lake in that case is only 1.2 km², which explains the low
limit for the size of the lake. Alas, it was very difficult for
international entrants to find this answer, as neither Google nor Bing
maps show the municipality borders in Sweden. Swedish Eniro does, but
how would you know about it?
Gdansk is wrong because the lake in question is too small - only 35-37 ha
according to Polish Wikipedia. (And it can also be easily computed from
Google maps that the lake cannot be big enough.)
I do feel sad for the entrant who put down Port Said. Here is a case where
the border does traverse the lake. However, this is a lake that is part of
the Nile estuary and with decently wide openings to the Mediterranean and
Wikipedia confirmed that the water is brackish, and thus it is not a
sweetwater lake.
> 5. Name a person who was born after AD 1000 outside any nobility, but who
> reached a position as state ruler for which inheritance was the norm,
1 Anastasio Somoza Garcia (Nicaragua)
1 Richard Cromwell (England etc)
1 Sverker I (SW)
1 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (WR) (Iran)
1 Muammar Gaddafi (WR) (Libya)
1 Rama I (WR) (Thailand)
When I composed the question, I thought that there was a well-known
answer that everyone could fall back on - but when I looked it up
as the contest was running, I found that I was wrong!
Then again, there are still well-known answers if you are only able to
think a little outside the box - and several entrants did.
I purposely wrote the question to not talk about royalties, as one of the
most fascinating persons in this group is Hideyoshi Toyotomi, Japanese
Shogun at the end of the 16th century, who played a key role in the
reunification of Japan. I would have been very impressed if someone
had entered him.
Other persons I had in mind were Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. No
one named them, but Kim Il Sung is not the only president to have started
a dynasty, and one entrant though of the Somozas in Nicaragua. Another
entrant though of Ghaddafi, and suggested that he had planned for one
of his son take over after him. However, while there is some evidence
for this, it does not seem to have been official or in some other
way been constituted as the norm, why I ruled this as wrong.
Karl XIV Johan of Sweden was born as Jean Baptise Bernadotte in Pau
in the province of Béarn (and that's why like bearnaise sauce so much
in Sweden :-). He first became a general and a marshal in Napoleon's
army. He quit, and later he was appointed as heir to the Swedish throne.
His son Oscar I would also have been a correct answer, as he was
born before Jean Baptiste became Prince of Montecorvo and thus entered
the nobility.
And speaking of Napoleon, he was the person I had mind as the well-known
answer. But while he came from very humble origins financially, his
family was of Tuscan nobility. So I was wrong.
Richard Cromwell inherited the job as Lord Protector from his father,
but his father was not noble when he was born, so that's a correct
answer. I'm glad to see that entrant found this possibility.
Sverker I of Sweden was an answer that was very difficult to assess,
simply because very little is known about this person who was king of
Sweden in the middle of the 12th century. I looked at different sources
who pointed in different directions, but one suggested that had been
a farmer, and I decided to give the entrant the benefit of the doubt.
Khomeini succeeded the Shah as the leader of Iran, but he never had the
position as Shah. First he was only the informal leader after his return.
With the new constitution he entered a new position as Supreme Leader,
and this position is not inherited.
The case of Rama I is similar to Napoleon. It was his military skills that
permitted him to become King, but his family was noble.
> 6. Name a team that at least on one occasion reached the semi-finals in
> FIFA World Cup in football, but which never has become World Champions.
1 Croatia
1 Czechoslovakia
1 Hungary
1 Netherlands
1 Portugal
1 South Korea
1 Sweden (SW)
1 China (WR)
One would that this is a question where you cannot go wrong, but one
entrant tried to bend the question and bent himself out of shape. China
has reached the semi-finals in FIFA Women's World Cup, but the question
was about another competition.
> 7. Name a person who simultaneously was, or still is, the head of state of
> two countries that for all other practical matters were entirely
> independent from each other during the entire rule of this person.
1 Elizabeth II (UK, Canada, Australia, etc)
1 George VI (UK, Canada, Australia, etc)
1 Henri III (France and Poland)
1 Jacques Chirac (France and Andorra)
1 James II/VII (England and Scotland)
1 Sigismund (SW) (Sweden and Poland)
1 Gustav V (WR) (Sweden)
1 Karl XIV Johan (WR) (Sweden-Norway)
The most well-known answers here are probably the Commonwealth monarchs.
The second best-known group, at least in the English-speaking world,
is likely to be the 17th century monarchs in the personal union between
England and Scotland. However, the biggest pool of name to choose from
are all French heads of state (starting with Henri IV or so) who also
have been co-heads of state of Andorra (together with the bishop of
La Seu de Urgell).
A second Swedish correct answer is Magnus Eriksson who was king of
Sweden and Norway from 1319 to 1340 when he ceded the Norwegian crown
to one of his sons.
Karl XIV Johan was also king of Sweden and Norway, but that was a union
which was forced on the Norwegians by war. While they enjoyed autonomy
in many areas, defence and foreign policy was controlled from Stockholm.
Thus, Norway was not independent. And when Gustav V entered the throne,
the union was abolished since two years.
> 8. Name a person who was assassinated while holding a position as head of
> state, head of government or foreign minister, and who had reached that
> position, directly or indirectly, as a result of democratic elections,
> generally considered free and fair by today's standards.
2 Olof Palme (SW) (Prime Minister, died 1986)
1 Anna Lindh (SW) (Foreign Minister, 2003)
1 Walther Rathenau (Germany, Foreign Minister, 1922)
1 Abraham Lincoln (WR)
1 Hendrik Verwoerd (WR) (South Africa, Prime Minister, 1966)
1 James Garfield (WR)
1 William McKinley (WR)
No less than three entrants entered US presidents that were elected by
men only. That was the standards in those days, but it is not good
enough in AD 2016. And being elected only by people with a certain
skin colour was a contestable standard already when Lincoln was
elected, and Verwoerd was elected that way 100 years later.
Correct answers that were not given that I can think of are: JFK,
Indira Gandhi and Yitzhak Rabin.
> 9. Name a person who is generally considered to have been involved in
> the discovery or the first isolation of one or more chemical element
> with an atomic number <= 96.
1 Albertus Magnus
1 Carl Gustaf Mosander (SW)
1 Daniel Rutherford
1 Jöns Jacob Berzelius (SW)
1 Marie Curie
1 Pierre Curie
1 Ernest Rutherford
1 Theodore Richter
There are plenty of people to choose from. Two more Swedish persons
I know are Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Per Teodor Cleve.
> 10. Give a word used in English that is of Swedish origin, and which
> entered the English language in the 19th century or later. The word
> should be present in an online general dictionary for English. That
> is, a dictionary for a certain field does not qualify.
2 gravlax (SW)
2 ombudsman (SW)
1 ombudsmen (SW)
1 snus (SW)
1 ångström (SW)
1 tungsten (WR)
"Tungsten" is of Swedish origin, but Merriam-Webster Online says that
first known use is 1796.
It was not my intention to handle inflexions as different words, but
I did not account for it in the question, so I saw but no choice to
accept "ombudsmen" as a separate entry.
The case for "snus" is weak; I can only find it in the wiktionary at
yourdictionary.com, but I never asked the entrant for a better reference.
Two words that were not given are "smorgasbord" and "moped".
Thanks to everyone who played!
success. Rather it was a bit of a fiasco with only eight entrants. One
possible reason for this might be that the questions were more difficult
than I thought: no entrant was able to produce a fully correct slate.
Nevertheless, congratulations to the winner: PETER SMYTH!
Here is the total result list:
1) Peter Smyth 28.672
2) Mark Brader 39.2
3) Lieven Marchand 46.9762048
4) John Gerson 62.72
5) Björn Lundin 75.16192768
6) Bruce Bowler 200.704
7) Calvin 280.9856
Stephen W. Perry 280.9856
The not so secret theme for the quiz was Sweden, and answers relating to
Sweden and things Swedish gave the 0.8 multiplier bonus. Swedish
answers are indicated with (SW) in the list below. (WR) means that I
have score that answer as wrong.
> 1. Name a person who has been King of Sweden.
1 Gustav III (SW)
1 Gustav V (SW)
1 Hans / Johan II (SW)
1 Karl X Gustav (SW)
1 Karl XIV Johan (SW)
1 Kristian I (SW)
1 Ragnvald Knaphövde (SW)
I've listed the names here with the common Swedish spelling.
All entrants found a unique correct answer to the question. Not so
surprising since there are a few to choose from, but the question does
actually have some traps. Around 1500 there were some heads of state
that were only regents ("riksföreståndare") and not kings. And I thought
that someone might just enter Karl or Erik with a low number - Karl
starts at VII and Erik at VIII.
> 2. Name a company with business in at least 28 countries and which is
> commonly referred by a name or an abbreviation that includes one or
> more of the initials of one or more of the founders. There may be a
> full name of the company that includes a longer part of the names of
> the founders, but there must be a common form that consists of only
> the initials. Example: Say that there is a company of which the full
> name is Abraham & Joseph Corporation. If this company is commonly
> referred to as AJC, that is a correct answer. However, if the common
> short name is AbeJoe, that would not be a correct answer.
1 DHL
1 Hewlett-Packard (HP)
1 JCB
1 LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE)
1 RSA Security
............................................
1 A&W Root Beer (WR)
The examples I had in mind when wrote the question were IKEA and Hewlett-
Packard - and WalMart which I phrased the question to keep out.
A&W Root Beer is only a brand; it's not a company.
> 3. Name a country where I have spent at least 24 hours. Country here
> refers to a territory with an officially assigned country code in ISO
> 3166.
1 Canada
1 France
1 Italy
1 Sweden (SW)
1 USA
1 Czechoslovakia (WR)
For those who found the question silly: my web site is not difficult to
find and there is a photo gallery which should give some hints. Else
most countries in Europe would have done. However, it was a little too
brave to enter one of the countries no longer existing. I have been to
both the Czech and Slovak Republics, but I never visited Czechoslovakia
before the split.
> 4. Give a city with a population of at least 400 000 that is located on
> the sea, and which also has a border on a sweetwater lake with a >
> surface of at least 1 km². A lake which is entirely included within
> the city limits does not count; the borders of the city must traverse
> the lake or be on the shores of the lake. (Since it can be difficult
> to deduce whether the limits is on border exactly, I will permit for
> a leeway fitting a path or a road, but generally not any buildings.)
> "City" here refers to the city proper, not metropolitan area.
1 San José
1 Shanghai
1 Gdansk (WR)
1 Port Said (WR)
When I first thought of the question, the two cities I had mind were
Stockholm and Seattle. Unfortunately, the original phrasing of the question
was poor. In Sweden all we have is "communes" or municipalities; formally
there are no cities. Thus, if two communes border the same lake, the
border between the two will run in the lake. So that was my predisposition.
That is, in my mental map, there was a border in Lake Washington between
Seattle and Bellevue and the other cities across the lake from Seattle.
However, in the US and many other countries there is a concept of being
"incorporated" and there are areas that are not incorporated. And
in these case, the border lake is simply not incorporated anywhere,
and no border traverse the lake. The original question said one thing
in the beginning and another at the end, and it appears that entrants
made different interpretations. Possibly this explains the collision on
Stockholm - it was a safe answer.
There is a second Swedish answer: Gothenburg, the second biggest city in
Sweden. The lake in that case is only 1.2 km², which explains the low
limit for the size of the lake. Alas, it was very difficult for
international entrants to find this answer, as neither Google nor Bing
maps show the municipality borders in Sweden. Swedish Eniro does, but
how would you know about it?
Gdansk is wrong because the lake in question is too small - only 35-37 ha
according to Polish Wikipedia. (And it can also be easily computed from
Google maps that the lake cannot be big enough.)
I do feel sad for the entrant who put down Port Said. Here is a case where
the border does traverse the lake. However, this is a lake that is part of
the Nile estuary and with decently wide openings to the Mediterranean and
Wikipedia confirmed that the water is brackish, and thus it is not a
sweetwater lake.
> 5. Name a person who was born after AD 1000 outside any nobility, but who
> or became the norm with this person.
2 Karl XIV Johan (SW)
1 Anastasio Somoza Garcia (Nicaragua)
1 Richard Cromwell (England etc)
1 Sverker I (SW)
1 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (WR) (Iran)
1 Muammar Gaddafi (WR) (Libya)
1 Rama I (WR) (Thailand)
When I composed the question, I thought that there was a well-known
answer that everyone could fall back on - but when I looked it up
as the contest was running, I found that I was wrong!
Then again, there are still well-known answers if you are only able to
think a little outside the box - and several entrants did.
I purposely wrote the question to not talk about royalties, as one of the
most fascinating persons in this group is Hideyoshi Toyotomi, Japanese
Shogun at the end of the 16th century, who played a key role in the
reunification of Japan. I would have been very impressed if someone
had entered him.
Other persons I had in mind were Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. No
one named them, but Kim Il Sung is not the only president to have started
a dynasty, and one entrant though of the Somozas in Nicaragua. Another
entrant though of Ghaddafi, and suggested that he had planned for one
of his son take over after him. However, while there is some evidence
for this, it does not seem to have been official or in some other
way been constituted as the norm, why I ruled this as wrong.
Karl XIV Johan of Sweden was born as Jean Baptise Bernadotte in Pau
in the province of Béarn (and that's why like bearnaise sauce so much
in Sweden :-). He first became a general and a marshal in Napoleon's
army. He quit, and later he was appointed as heir to the Swedish throne.
His son Oscar I would also have been a correct answer, as he was
born before Jean Baptiste became Prince of Montecorvo and thus entered
the nobility.
And speaking of Napoleon, he was the person I had mind as the well-known
answer. But while he came from very humble origins financially, his
family was of Tuscan nobility. So I was wrong.
Richard Cromwell inherited the job as Lord Protector from his father,
but his father was not noble when he was born, so that's a correct
answer. I'm glad to see that entrant found this possibility.
Sverker I of Sweden was an answer that was very difficult to assess,
simply because very little is known about this person who was king of
Sweden in the middle of the 12th century. I looked at different sources
who pointed in different directions, but one suggested that had been
a farmer, and I decided to give the entrant the benefit of the doubt.
Khomeini succeeded the Shah as the leader of Iran, but he never had the
position as Shah. First he was only the informal leader after his return.
With the new constitution he entered a new position as Supreme Leader,
and this position is not inherited.
The case of Rama I is similar to Napoleon. It was his military skills that
permitted him to become King, but his family was noble.
> 6. Name a team that at least on one occasion reached the semi-finals in
> FIFA World Cup in football, but which never has become World Champions.
1 Czechoslovakia
1 Hungary
1 Netherlands
1 Portugal
1 South Korea
1 Sweden (SW)
1 China (WR)
One would that this is a question where you cannot go wrong, but one
entrant tried to bend the question and bent himself out of shape. China
has reached the semi-finals in FIFA Women's World Cup, but the question
was about another competition.
> 7. Name a person who simultaneously was, or still is, the head of state of
> two countries that for all other practical matters were entirely
> independent from each other during the entire rule of this person.
1 George VI (UK, Canada, Australia, etc)
1 Henri III (France and Poland)
1 Jacques Chirac (France and Andorra)
1 James II/VII (England and Scotland)
1 Sigismund (SW) (Sweden and Poland)
1 Gustav V (WR) (Sweden)
1 Karl XIV Johan (WR) (Sweden-Norway)
The most well-known answers here are probably the Commonwealth monarchs.
The second best-known group, at least in the English-speaking world,
is likely to be the 17th century monarchs in the personal union between
England and Scotland. However, the biggest pool of name to choose from
are all French heads of state (starting with Henri IV or so) who also
have been co-heads of state of Andorra (together with the bishop of
La Seu de Urgell).
A second Swedish correct answer is Magnus Eriksson who was king of
Sweden and Norway from 1319 to 1340 when he ceded the Norwegian crown
to one of his sons.
Karl XIV Johan was also king of Sweden and Norway, but that was a union
which was forced on the Norwegians by war. While they enjoyed autonomy
in many areas, defence and foreign policy was controlled from Stockholm.
Thus, Norway was not independent. And when Gustav V entered the throne,
the union was abolished since two years.
> 8. Name a person who was assassinated while holding a position as head of
> state, head of government or foreign minister, and who had reached that
> position, directly or indirectly, as a result of democratic elections,
> generally considered free and fair by today's standards.
1 Anna Lindh (SW) (Foreign Minister, 2003)
1 Walther Rathenau (Germany, Foreign Minister, 1922)
1 Abraham Lincoln (WR)
1 Hendrik Verwoerd (WR) (South Africa, Prime Minister, 1966)
1 James Garfield (WR)
1 William McKinley (WR)
No less than three entrants entered US presidents that were elected by
men only. That was the standards in those days, but it is not good
enough in AD 2016. And being elected only by people with a certain
skin colour was a contestable standard already when Lincoln was
elected, and Verwoerd was elected that way 100 years later.
Correct answers that were not given that I can think of are: JFK,
Indira Gandhi and Yitzhak Rabin.
> 9. Name a person who is generally considered to have been involved in
> the discovery or the first isolation of one or more chemical element
> with an atomic number <= 96.
1 Carl Gustaf Mosander (SW)
1 Daniel Rutherford
1 Jöns Jacob Berzelius (SW)
1 Marie Curie
1 Pierre Curie
1 Ernest Rutherford
1 Theodore Richter
There are plenty of people to choose from. Two more Swedish persons
I know are Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Per Teodor Cleve.
> 10. Give a word used in English that is of Swedish origin, and which
> entered the English language in the 19th century or later. The word
> should be present in an online general dictionary for English. That
> is, a dictionary for a certain field does not qualify.
2 ombudsman (SW)
1 ombudsmen (SW)
1 snus (SW)
1 ångström (SW)
1 tungsten (WR)
"Tungsten" is of Swedish origin, but Merriam-Webster Online says that
first known use is 1796.
It was not my intention to handle inflexions as different words, but
I did not account for it in the question, so I saw but no choice to
accept "ombudsmen" as a separate entry.
The case for "snus" is weak; I can only find it in the wiktionary at
yourdictionary.com, but I never asked the entrant for a better reference.
Two words that were not given are "smorgasbord" and "moped".
Thanks to everyone who played!
Mark Brader
Apr 15, 2016, 5:38:16 PM4/15/16
to
Erland Sommarskog:
> 4 Stockholm (SW)
> 1 San José...
No, the city I named is San Jose. They just sometimes pretend it's
spelled San José. At least, that's what Wikipedia says; I couldn't
find any other sources on the point.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "We did not try to keep writing until
m...@vex.net | things got full." --Dennis Ritchie
> 4 Stockholm (SW)
> 1 San José...
No, the city I named is San Jose. They just sometimes pretend it's
spelled San José. At least, that's what Wikipedia says; I couldn't
find any other sources on the point.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "We did not try to keep writing until
m...@vex.net | things got full." --Dennis Ritchie
Calvin
Apr 15, 2016, 9:14:56 PM4/15/16
to
On Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 6:53:45 AM UTC+10, Erland Sommarskog wrote:
> My attempts to a Rare Entries contest is over, and it was not a stunning
> success.
I enjoyed so tanks for trying. The questions are the fun- the scores are almost irrelevant. Especially when you come last ;-)
> My attempts to a Rare Entries contest is over, and it was not a stunning
> success.
> 7) Calvin 280.9856
> Stephen W. Perry 280.9856
cheers,
calvin
swp
Apr 16, 2016, 12:45:08 PM4/16/16
to
swp
Björn Lundin
Apr 18, 2016, 4:22:38 AM4/18/16
to
On 2016-04-15 22:53, Erland Sommarskog wrote:
> My attempts to a Rare Entries contest is over, and it was not a stunning
> success. Rather it was a bit of a fiasco with only eight entrants
Does not matter.
> My attempts to a Rare Entries contest is over, and it was not a stunning
> success. Rather it was a bit of a fiasco with only eight entrants
Thanks for the contest.
--
--
Björn
Mark Brader
Apr 18, 2016, 4:49:18 AM4/18/16
to
Erland Sommarskog:
Björn Lundin:
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "Everyone generalizes from insufficient data.
m...@vex.net | I know I do."
> > My attempts to a Rare Entries contest is over, and it was not a stunning
> > success...
Björn Lundin:
> Does not matter.
> Thanks for the contest.
Hear, hear.
> Thanks for the contest.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "Everyone generalizes from insufficient data.
m...@vex.net | I know I do."
Erland Sommarskog
Apr 18, 2016, 4:55:29 AM4/18/16
to
a bit on the number of contestants to be really interesting.
I have been thinking of number of questions for future contents, but at
least some of them are even more difficult than the ones in this quiz, so
I doubt that I will use them in a Rare Entries format.
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