Mark Brader:
> These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2014-01-27,
> and should be interpreted accordingly... For further information...
> see my 2022-09-09 companion posting on "Reposted Questions from the
> Canadian Inquisition (RQFTCI*)".
> * Game 3, Round 7 - Science - Basic Electricity
> 1. What Greek letter is used to represent the unit of electrical
> resistance? (Give the name of the letter in English.)
Omega. 4 for everyone -- Dan Tilque, Joshua, Erland, Dan Blum,
and Pete.
> 2. A milliampere represents how many amperes (amps)?
1/1,000. 4 for everyone.
> 3. What is the voltage of a typical household AC current (as
> provided in a typical duplex receptacle)?
Accepting 110-120. "Typical", of course, means typical in Toronto.
4 for Dan Tilque, Joshua, and Dan Blum. 3 for Pete. 2 for Erland.
> 4. How many amperes is a typical household circuit designed
> to carry?
15. 4 for Dan Tilque.
In 2014 two different entrants misread the question as asking for
the electrical service to an entire house. Too bad. Nobody did
that this time.
> 5. What is the nominal voltage of a typical dry-cell battery (for
> example AA)?
1.5 V. 4 for Erland and Dan Blum.
> 6. How many volts is a megavolt?
1,000,000. 4 for Dan Tilque, Joshua, Erland, and Dan Blum.
> 7. The resistance of a conductor (that is, a specific piece of
> conducting material) is determined by four factors:
> the substance, the cross-sectional area, and two others.
> Name either one.
Length, temperature. 4 for Dan Tilque and Dan Blum.
> 8. At extremely low temperatures, electrical resistance in some
> materials falls to near zero. What is this effect called?
Superconductivity. 4 for Dan Tilque, Joshua, Erland, and Dan Blum.
> 9. The watt is the metric unit of power. Within 10% of the true
> number, how many watts are there in 1 horsepower?
746 (accepting 671-821). 4 for Dan Tilque and Erland.
Yes, the Cellar Rats did ask essentially the same question in
Game 7, Round 2, of the previous season that they wrote, a game
played originally on 2009-11-16 and posted here by me on 2010-03-03.
That time around you had to be within 50 W, though.
> 10. Watts (of power) are the product of which two electrical units?
Amperes (of current) times volts (of voltage, or potential difference
if you want to get fancy). 4 for Dan Tilque and Erland.
> * Game 3, Round 8 - Arts - Famous Architects
> For each of the architects described, please identify which picture
> on the handout
>
http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/msb/3-8/arc.jpg
> shows one of his works. (Yes, "his"; sorry, but they're all men.)
> Note: the work shown on the handout *may or may not* be mentioned in
> the question. If you want to show off for fun, but for no points
> (and with no risk), you can also try naming the work shown or
> telling where it's located.
This was the easiest round in the original game.
> 1. Moshe Safdie (1938-) -- this Canadian/Israeli/American is
> most identified with Habitat 67, but has produced a large body of
> international work. He apprenticed with Louis Khan and is known
> for the use of strong geometry. In Canada, notable projects
> would include the Museum of Civilization in Quebec City, the
> National Gallery of Canada, additions to the Montreal Museum
> of Fine Arts, and even the 45-story Pantages Tower in Toronto.
J (Habitat 67, Montreal, QC, Canada). 4 for Dan Blum and Pete.
2 for Joshua.
> 2. Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926) -- born in Catalonia, Spain. Gaudí's
> works reflect his highly individualistic, organic style, inspired
> by nature. He asserted that the straight line belonged to men
> and the curved one to God, and invented a system of hyperboloids.
> His masterpiece is the """still unfinished""" Sagrada Família.
> His designs were never purely geometrical and always preserved a
> close tie with familiar living shapes, such as bones and muscles.
C (Batlló house, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain). 4 for Joshua, Erland,
Dan Blum, and Pete.
As for the Sagrada Família, it should be more or less finished in
another 5-10 years. In 2019 they even got around to obtaining a
building permit -- they never had one for the first 137 years of work.
> 3. Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) -- he apprenticed under Louis
> Sullivan in Chicago, but soon became famous as the originator
> of the Prairie Style of architecture. He went on to produce an
> amazing number of works, including buildings, furniture, fabric,
> and stained glass. His constantly evolving style was always
> true to his core beliefs in honesty of materials, geometry,
> and structural innovation. His most famous projects include
> the residence Fallingwater, the Guggenheim Museum in New York,
> his Taliesin schools, buildings for the Johnson Wax Company,
> and numerous churches and synagogues.
A (Unity Temple, Oak Park, IL, US). 4 for Joshua, Erland, and Pete.
2 for Dan Blum.
> 4. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) -- born in Germany, he came
> to the US in 1937. Known for his minimalist, "less is more"
> architecture and the use of glass and structural steel in
> high-rise towers such as the Seagram building in New York and
> the Toronto-Dominion Centre. He also designed famous furniture.
> He taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he
> executed his first major designs.
I (Crown Building, Chicago, IL, US). 4 for Joshua, Dan Blum,
and Pete.
> 5. I.M. Pei (1917-) -- born in China, he came to the US to study
> architecture. His works incorporated a unique use of geometric
> forms and Chinese influences. He has worked around the world and
> his most famous projects include the JFK Library in Boston, the
> Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, and additions to the Louvre.
G (Louvre entrance pyramid -- it's in the foreground -- Paris,
France). 4 for everyone.
> 6. Philip Johnson (1906-2005) -- founder of the Department of
> Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
> He collaborated with Mies on the Seagram Building in New York,
> and his 1949 glass house in Connecticut has become iconic.
> Later he adopted Minimalist and Pop Art styles and his postmodern
> AT&T (Sony) building in New York shocked many in 1984. He is
> also credited with the design of the CBC building in Toronto.
M (glass house for himself, New Canaan, CT, US). 4 for Joshua,
Dan Blum, and Pete.
> 7. Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) -- Finnish architect and designer, as
> well as a sculptor and painter. His work includes architecture,
> furniture, glassware, and textiles. He became known for his
> "organic modernism", and his Finnish pavilion for the 1939
> World's Fair was declared a work of genius by Frank Lloyd
> Wright. Much of his work was in his native Finland, but he
> later branched out to Europe and the world. He is equally
> famous for the curved wood furniture and objects he designed.
N (a tea trolley). 4 for Erland. 3 for Dan Blum.
> 8. Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) -- Brazil's most famous architect,
> he was greatly influenced by Le Corbusier and made strong use of
> abstract forms and curves. He is best known for the design of
> all the main public buildings of Brasilia (the then-new capital
> of Brazil), as well as collaboration with other architects on
> the United Nations headquarters in New York.
E (Congress and ministry buildings, Brasilia). 3 for Dan Blum.
2 for Pete.
(Did you notice the artfully placed rainstorm in this photo?)
> 9. Le Corbusier (1887-1965) -- born Charles Édouard Jeanneret in
> Switzerland. From the 1920s on, he adopted the name Le Corbusier
> and became the dominant figure in architecture in the middle of
> the last century. Also a painter and famous for his furniture
> designs, he developed a system of proportions based on the Golden
> Section. His favorite building material was poured concrete.
> His most famous buildings are Villa Savoye, Unité d'Habitation
> (Marseille), the cathedral at Ronchamp, and government buildings
> in Chandigarh, India.
B (Unité d'Habitation). 2 for Joshua.
> 10. Frank Gehry (1929-) -- born in Toronto, he has been based
> in Los Angeles since 1947. He is able to manipulate forms
> and surfaces in a truly unique way, and was named by Vanity
> Fair as the most important architect of our age. His first
> building of note was his private residence; his best known
> works include the titanium-covered museum in Bilbao, Spain,
> the Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A., and the AGO in Toronto.
K (Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA, US). 4 for Joshua,
Dan Blum, and Pete.
The concave curved outer walls on this building originally had a
mirror-like finish, but this proved problematic for some positions
of the Sun, as they focused intense light on nearby locations.
After a couple of years of this, they sanded the panels to roughen
the surfaces.
> There were 5 decoys, two of which were buildings designed by firms
> rather than individual architects. If you like, for fun but for
> no points, decode the rot13 to see the remaining architects or
> firms and identify their work.
Nobody tried these.
> 11. Peder Jensen-Klint (1853-1930).
D (Grundtvig's Church, Copenhagen, Denmark).
> 12. Tom Wright (1957-).
L (Burj al Arab hotel, Dubai, UAE)
> 13. Zaha Hadid (1950-).
F (Mobile Art Chanel Contemporary Art Container [sic], photographed
after its final move to Paris, France).
> 14. Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Sise.
O (convention space at Place Bonaventure, Montreal, QC, Canada).
> 15. Diamond & Myers.
H (HUB [Housing Union Building] Mall, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton,
AB, Canada).
Scores, if there are no errors:
GAME 3 ROUNDS-> 2 3 4 6 7 8 BEST
TOPICS-> Can Art S+L His Sci Art FOUR
Dan Blum 4 12 12 36 28 32 108
Joshua Kreitzer 11 18 24 36 20 28 108
Dan Tilque 0 0 8 20 36 4 68
Erland Sommarskog -- -- 0 12 30 16 58
Pete Gayde 6 5 -- -- 11 30 52
--
Mark Brader | "Debugging had to be discovered. I can remember
Toronto | the exact instant when I realized that a large part
m...@vex.net | of my life... was going to be spent in finding
| mistakes in my own programs." -- Maurice Wilkes