Mark Brader:
> These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2015-06-15,
> and should be interpreted accordingly... For further information
> see my 2015-08-18 companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian
> Inquisition (QFTCI*)".
> * Game 8, Round 7 - Geography - Extreme Weather
> As we head into summer with hope for pleasant weather, and with
> relief at another winter left behind, here are 10 questions on
> places with weather to grumble about.
This was the hardest round in the original game and the fourth-hardest
of the entire season.
> 1. Quillagua, the driest place on Earth, receives only 0.2 mm
> (0.01 inch) of rainfall per year. Which country is it in?
Chile. 4 for Joshua, Dan Blum, Dan Tilque, Peter, Erland, Gareth,
and Calvin.
> 2. Mawsynram, the wettest place on Earth, averages over 11.8 m
> (465 inches) of rainfall per year. Which country is it in?
India. 4 for Dan Blum and Erland. 2 for Joshua.
> 3. The lowest-ever temperature was recorded at the Soviet Vostok
> Station in Antarctica in July 1983. In degrees Celsius, within
> 10% of the actual number, what is this lowest temperature?
-89.2°C (that's -128.6°F; accepting -80.3 to -98.1°C). 4 for Erland
and Björn. 2 for Peter and Calvin.
> 4. Which geographical area, located in North America, recorded
> the highest-ever air temperature of 56.7°C (134°F) in July 1913?
> Be sufficiently specific.
Furnace Creek Ranch, Death Valley, California, USA. "Death Valley"
was sufficient. 4 for Joshua, Dan Blum, Marc, Dan Tilque, Peter,
Pete, Erland, Gareth, Calvin, and Björn.
> 5. Chicago may be called the Windy City, but which
> midwestern/southern US city recorded the fastest-ever
> wind gusts of about 480 km per hour (300 mph)?
Oklahoma City (on 1999-05-03). 4 for Peter and Erland. 3 for
Dan Blum and Marc. 2 for Calvin.
> 6. The record for most snowfall in any one-year period is 31.5 m
> (103 feet), recorded from 1971-02-19 to 1972-02-18. In which
> US *state* is the record-setting place located?
Washington. (Almost appropriately, it was Mt. *Rainier*.)
4 for Dan Tilque.
> 7. The deadliest tornado in history killed approximately 1,300
> people on 1989-04-26. Which country did it strike?
Bangladesh. (Manikganj district.) 4 for Dan Tilque.
> 8. The heaviest hailstone ever reported fell in the Gopalganj
> district of Bangladesh. Within 10%, how much did it weigh,
> in grams or kilograms?
1.02 kg (accepting 0.918 to 1.122 kg). 92 people were killed in
the 1986 hailstorm. 3 for Marc.
> 9. Please answer the previous question before decoding the rot13.
> The diameter of that Gopalganj hailstone doesn't seem to have
> been recorded, so the record for largest diameter goes to an
> 8-inch (20 cm) hailstone... in which midwestern US state?
South Dakota. (At Vician in 2010. It weighed 1 lb. 15 oz. or
about 0.88 kg.)
See:
http://www.noaa.gov/features/02_monitoring/images/hail2.jpg
> 10. Which continent gets the most lightning strikes per year?
Africa. 2 for Joshua.
> * Game 8, Round 8 - Sports - National Basketball Association Finals MVPs
> In each case, name the Most Valuable Player award-winner for the
> NBA Finals.
> 1. He was the first player to win the award, and the only player
> to win it even though his team lost. His Lakers lost 4-3 to
> the Boston Celtics in the 1969 NBA finals. He averaged 30.9
> points, 3.9 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in 18 playoff games.
Jerry West. 4 for Marc, Dan Tilque, and Pete.
> 2. He averaged 27 points and 18.5 rebounds as his Bucks swept the
> Baltimore Bullets in the 1971 NBA finals. He won the award
> again as a member of the Lakers in 1985.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (formerly Lew Alcindor). 4 for Joshua, Marc,
Dan Tilque, Pete, and Gareth. 3 for Calvin.
> 3. He has won the award a record 6 times.
Michael Jordan. 4 for Joshua, Dan Blum, Marc, Dan Tilque, Peter,
and Gareth. 3 for Calvin.
> 4. Name the Los Angeles Lakers centre who won the award in 2000,
> 2001 and 2002.
Shaquille O'Neal. ("Shaq" was sufficient.) 4 for Joshua, Dan Blum,
Marc, Dan Tilque, Peter, Pete, Gareth, and Calvin.
> 5. Name the Houston Rockets center who won the award in 1994
> and again in 1995. He was the first foreign-born player to
> win the award.
Hakeem Olajuwon. 4 for Joshua, Marc, Pete, Gareth, and Calvin.
> 6. In 1999 he averaged 27.4 points, 14 rebounds, 2.4 assists,
> and 2.2 blocks to lead his San Antonio Spurs to a 4-1 victory
> over the New York Knicks. He won the award again in 2003
> and 2004.
Tim Duncan. 4 for Marc, Dan Tilque, Pete, and Gareth.
> 7. He went 42-for-74 from the field and averaged 24.5 points in the
> San Antonio Spurs' 4-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers
> in 2007. He was the first European-born winner of this award.
Tony Parker. 4 for Joshua, Gareth, and Calvin.
> 8. He led the Dallas Mavericks to their first NBA title in franchise
> history over the Miami Heat in 2011. He averaged 26 points
> and 9.6 rebounds per game.
Dirk Nowitzki. 4 for Dan Tilque, Peter, Pete, and Gareth.
> 9. Name the Los Angeles Lakers' star guard who averaged 32.4 points
> and 7.4 assists a game, and played 43.8 minutes a game during
> the 2009 finals as Los Angeles beat the Orlando Magic in 5 games.
> He won the award again in 2010.
Kobe Bryant. 4 for Joshua, Dan Blum, Marc, Dan Tilque, Peter, Pete,
Gareth, and Calvin.
> 10. His Miami Heat lost the first two games of the 2006 finals to
> the Dallas Mavericks, but he then scored 42, 36, and 43 points
> in the next three games, respectively, and led Miami to a
> 4-2 victory.
Dwayne Wade. 4 for Pete and Gareth.
Scores, if there are no errors:
GAME 8 ROUNDS-> 2 3 4 6 7 8 BEST
TOPICS-> His Sci Art Ent Geo Spo FOUR
Joshua Kreitzer 26 12 20 40 12 24 110
Gareth Owen -- -- 24 36 8 36 104
Dan Tilque 24 32 0 4 16 28 100
Pete Gayde -- -- 36 24 4 32 96
Marc Dashevsky 8 20 16 24 10 28 88
Dan Blum 17 24 7 16 15 12 72
Erland Sommarskog 16 8 8 28 20 0 72
"Calvin" 11 19 11 16 12 22 69
Jason Kreitzer 12 4 8 40 0 0 64
Peter Smyth -- -- 16 12 14 16 58
Björn Lundin 8 24 -- -- 8 0 40
Bruce Bowler 0 32 -- -- -- -- 32
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "Why, I make more money than Calvin Coolidge,
m...@vex.net | put together!" -- SINGIN' IN THE RAIN