This is Rotating Quiz 218. Entries must be posted by Thursday, April
28th, 2016 at 11 PM (Eastern Daylight Time).
Usual rules: no looking anything up, no discussion, etc. The winner
gets to create the next RQ.
Please post your answers to all questions in a single followup in the
newsgroup, quoting the questions and placing your answer below each
one. Only one answer is allowed per question.
The first letters of each answer form an acrostic. Getting the
acrostic scores no points but is the first tiebreaker. The second
tiebreaker will be whoever scored on the hardest questions (defined
post-facto as the ones which the fewest people got right). The third
tiebreaker will be posting order.
1. One of the daughters of Asclepius and Epione in Greek mythology,
she was the goddess of universal health.
2. The second of the four great Islamic caliphates, this lasted from
661-750 CE and expanded the Islamic world considerably. After the fall
of the caliphate part of the ruling family established the caliphate
of Cordoba.
3. Now the fourth-largest city in Bavaria, it was the capital in the
area's early years as a duchy. It was later a major trade center due
in part to the construction of a stone bridge over the Danube in the
mid-12th century (the oldest extant Danube bridge as far as I can
tell), and still later the home of the Perpetual Diet of the Holy
Roman Empire.
4. This metallic element is the lightest and least dense of its group.
It is used extensively in catalytic converters and fuel cells, but
also appears in jewelry, particularly in white gold alloys.
5. "<answer 5> credit" is credit given against pledged collateral; the
recipients are often banks (the American Federal Reserve lends money
to banks on this basis) but not always. <answer 5> also refers to an
inhabitant of a region of northern Italy; enough people from this
region became pawnbrokers and bankers in the medieval period to
associate the name with these activities in many countries.
6. This Theban general is remembered for his tactics at the Battle of
Leuctra, where he was the first person in recorded history to use
oblique order (or refusing a flank), concentrating his left flank much
more than normal in order to crush the elite Spartan right flank.
7. This Varangian prince ruled Novgorod and his descendants ruled
Kievan Rus and became the first tsars of Russia. His eponymous dynasty
lasted until the Time of Troubles began in 1598.
8. This American military aviation pioneer commanded the U.S. Army Air
Forces in World War II. He eventually received the rank of General of
the Army (aka "five-star general") and also became General of the Air
Force, the only person to hold that rank. He is also known for
starting Project RAND (which became the RAND Corporation) and for
being one of the founders of Pan Am in 1927.
9. This Scottish city is the administrative center for the Highlands
council area and the largest city in the Highlands, despite having far
fewer than 100K inhabitants (the Highlands are sparsely populated).
It is located where a river flowing from a large loch enters the Moray
Firth.
10. This African country has the second-lowest population density of
all sovereign nations, beating out only Mongolia. This is not too
surprising when one considers that large parts of the country are
taken up the Kalahari (not a true desert, but close enough) and the
desert that gives its name to the country; this is a coastal desert
that may be the oldest desert in the world, having been in this state
for 55 million years or more.
11. Acrostic (for tie-breaking purposes)
--
_______________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum
to...@panix.com
"I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't just made it up."