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Rotating Quiz #294 - Use sources and mail your answers!
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Erland Sommarskog
Jun 12, 2018, 4:30:57 PM6/12/18
to
Welcome to Rotating Quiz #294, and as it says in the subject line,
this is a very unusual RQ. You are permitted to use sources and as
a consequence of this you are requested to mail your answers.
All questions are designed to have a set of correct answers. (Originally,
I thought of these questions for a Rare Entries.) How big each set is, I
don't know myself. You are supposed to find up to find up to five correct
answers. That does not mean however, that all questions have that many
answers.
Your first correct answer is worth 10 points. The next is worth 7 points.
The next three are worth 5 points each. Any correct answers beyond that
reward you nothing but glory. Incorrect answers have a penalty of -5.
However, your score for a question cannot be negative, so you can always
afford a guess, if you don't care to do any research. (I may also set 0
points, if I find that an answer is not really correct but nor is fully
incorrect.)
I expect these questions to be difficult, so I will let this quiz run
longer than usual. I will score this no earlier than Friday 22nd; it could
be later depending on weather and World Cup football. :-) I plan to post a
reminder.
I appreciate if you retain the questions in your answer slate.
Here are the questions:
1) Give one or more independent states of which the name normally used for
the state coincides with the normally used name of an entity in a
neighbouring state. "Entity" here can be an existing administrative
division, or merely a historical region, but it cannot be a strictly
geographical feature like a river or a lake.
The names do not have to match exactly, as different forms
of the same name may be in use on different sides of the border.
However, none of the names may include further qualifying parts.
For instance, Lower Saxland would not be a correct answer, even
if there is an entity called Saxland in a neighbouring state.
The question relates to the official situation at the time the
quiz is posted.
2) Give one or more administrative entities (country, county, city etc)
with a population of at least 20000 people of which the name includes
an uppercase letter which is directly preceded and succeeded by a
lowercase letter. That is, there is no space or other punctuation in
this sequence of three letters.
3) Name a movie, or a series of movies, that has been the direct
source of inspiration of a pinball game.
4) Name or describe a situation where an independent state lost the
territory of its capital for a period of at least ten years, but
the state continued to exist (with a new capital elsewhere) for
at least fifteen years after the old capital had been lost. (You
can refer to this situation as you like, for instance by giving
name of the city or the states involved together with the approximate
year for the conquest. If I cannot recognize the scene, I may
request that you supply more information.)
5) Name a person born after AD1000 who was the head of state of
two different independent states at different points in time,
but not holding both positions simultaneously. In the case of
split of mergers of states, a person who was head of state at the
time of the split/merger qualifies only if he/she did not become
head of state of any of the new states created after at least one
year after the split/merge.
6) In which countries are the two largest cities adjacent to each other
or part of the same metropolitan area?
7) There are many cases of new states that have arisen because of
secession, liberation wars, amicable splits etc. But can you name an
independent state that was created after 1800 AD after having been more
or less involuntarily kicked out from a larger state? For the purpose
of this question, the states created as part of the break of the Soviet
Union do not qualify.
8) Name a person who have won the same sport title at least eleven
times. The title must be contested at most once per year, and
the contenders for the title must generally be professionals.
The title can be contested in a single tournament or similar, or
it can be contested in a series of competition, matches etc that
run for the better part of the year. In case of leagues or similar,
only the final title counts, not any regional titles achieved along
the way to the final game. In case of team sports, the person
may have achieved the title playing for different teams.
this is a very unusual RQ. You are permitted to use sources and as
a consequence of this you are requested to mail your answers.
All questions are designed to have a set of correct answers. (Originally,
I thought of these questions for a Rare Entries.) How big each set is, I
don't know myself. You are supposed to find up to find up to five correct
answers. That does not mean however, that all questions have that many
answers.
Your first correct answer is worth 10 points. The next is worth 7 points.
The next three are worth 5 points each. Any correct answers beyond that
reward you nothing but glory. Incorrect answers have a penalty of -5.
However, your score for a question cannot be negative, so you can always
afford a guess, if you don't care to do any research. (I may also set 0
points, if I find that an answer is not really correct but nor is fully
incorrect.)
I expect these questions to be difficult, so I will let this quiz run
longer than usual. I will score this no earlier than Friday 22nd; it could
be later depending on weather and World Cup football. :-) I plan to post a
reminder.
I appreciate if you retain the questions in your answer slate.
Here are the questions:
1) Give one or more independent states of which the name normally used for
the state coincides with the normally used name of an entity in a
neighbouring state. "Entity" here can be an existing administrative
division, or merely a historical region, but it cannot be a strictly
geographical feature like a river or a lake.
The names do not have to match exactly, as different forms
of the same name may be in use on different sides of the border.
However, none of the names may include further qualifying parts.
For instance, Lower Saxland would not be a correct answer, even
if there is an entity called Saxland in a neighbouring state.
The question relates to the official situation at the time the
quiz is posted.
2) Give one or more administrative entities (country, county, city etc)
with a population of at least 20000 people of which the name includes
an uppercase letter which is directly preceded and succeeded by a
lowercase letter. That is, there is no space or other punctuation in
this sequence of three letters.
3) Name a movie, or a series of movies, that has been the direct
source of inspiration of a pinball game.
4) Name or describe a situation where an independent state lost the
territory of its capital for a period of at least ten years, but
the state continued to exist (with a new capital elsewhere) for
at least fifteen years after the old capital had been lost. (You
can refer to this situation as you like, for instance by giving
name of the city or the states involved together with the approximate
year for the conquest. If I cannot recognize the scene, I may
request that you supply more information.)
5) Name a person born after AD1000 who was the head of state of
two different independent states at different points in time,
but not holding both positions simultaneously. In the case of
split of mergers of states, a person who was head of state at the
time of the split/merger qualifies only if he/she did not become
head of state of any of the new states created after at least one
year after the split/merge.
6) In which countries are the two largest cities adjacent to each other
or part of the same metropolitan area?
7) There are many cases of new states that have arisen because of
secession, liberation wars, amicable splits etc. But can you name an
independent state that was created after 1800 AD after having been more
or less involuntarily kicked out from a larger state? For the purpose
of this question, the states created as part of the break of the Soviet
Union do not qualify.
8) Name a person who have won the same sport title at least eleven
times. The title must be contested at most once per year, and
the contenders for the title must generally be professionals.
The title can be contested in a single tournament or similar, or
it can be contested in a series of competition, matches etc that
run for the better part of the year. In case of leagues or similar,
only the final title counts, not any regional titles achieved along
the way to the final game. In case of team sports, the person
may have achieved the title playing for different teams.
Erland Sommarskog
Jun 13, 2018, 2:20:23 PM6/13/18
to
I was adviced in mail that I shold clarify this question:
answer, you are free to change your answer after this clarification.
Assume two countries A and B. X is head of state A and Y is head of state B.
A and B merge to form a new state C (which may not be official at the time,
but generally in history C is said to have been formed at the time of the
merger). Assume that X becomes the head of state of C and 364 days later, Y
succeedes X on that position. In this example, neither X nor Y is a correct
answer. Assume instead that Y succeeds X on the 365th day of the merger. Y
is now correct answer, unless there was a Feb 29th in between. Would X later
re-enter in the position as the head of state of C, that would also be a
correct answer.
Assume now instead that A remains A, that is B is conquered or absorbed into
A. In this case, X can never be a correct answer, but Y would be a correct
answer on the same condition as above.
Assume now a country C which splits in A and B. X is the head of state C.
If X later became head of state of A or B, X is a valid answer, if X took
that position at least 365 days after the split (or 366 days for leap
years).
If C remains C, and A simply secedes from C, X is only a valid answer, if X
became head of state of A at least 365 days later.
> 5) Name a person born after AD1000 who was the head of state of
> two different independent states at different points in time,
> but not holding both positions simultaneously. In the case of
> split of mergers of states, a person who was head of state at the
> time of the split/merger qualifies only if he/she did not become
> head of state of any of the new states created after at least one
> year after the split/merge.
I will do so by providing a number of examples. If you have entered an
> two different independent states at different points in time,
> but not holding both positions simultaneously. In the case of
> split of mergers of states, a person who was head of state at the
> time of the split/merger qualifies only if he/she did not become
> head of state of any of the new states created after at least one
> year after the split/merge.
answer, you are free to change your answer after this clarification.
Assume two countries A and B. X is head of state A and Y is head of state B.
A and B merge to form a new state C (which may not be official at the time,
but generally in history C is said to have been formed at the time of the
merger). Assume that X becomes the head of state of C and 364 days later, Y
succeedes X on that position. In this example, neither X nor Y is a correct
answer. Assume instead that Y succeeds X on the 365th day of the merger. Y
is now correct answer, unless there was a Feb 29th in between. Would X later
re-enter in the position as the head of state of C, that would also be a
correct answer.
Assume now instead that A remains A, that is B is conquered or absorbed into
A. In this case, X can never be a correct answer, but Y would be a correct
answer on the same condition as above.
Assume now a country C which splits in A and B. X is the head of state C.
If X later became head of state of A or B, X is a valid answer, if X took
that position at least 365 days after the split (or 366 days for leap
years).
If C remains C, and A simply secedes from C, X is only a valid answer, if X
became head of state of A at least 365 days later.
Erland Sommarskog
Jun 17, 2018, 4:00:06 PM6/17/18
to
This a reminder for you to enter in RQ294. As it says in the subject line,
you are permitted to use sources and as a consequence of this you are
year after the split/merge. (See below for further clarification)
6) In which countries are the two largest cities adjacent to each other
or part of the same metropolitan area?
7) There are many cases of new states that have arisen because of
secession, liberation wars, amicable splits etc. But can you name an
independent state that was created after 1800 AD after having been more
or less involuntarily kicked out from a larger state? For the purpose
of this question, the states created as part of the break of the Soviet
Union do not qualify.
8) Name a person who have won the same sport title at least eleven
times. The title must be contested at most once per year, and
the contenders for the title must generally be professionals.
The title can be contested in a single tournament or similar, or
it can be contested in a series of competition, matches etc that
run for the better part of the year. In case of leagues or similar,
only the final title counts, not any regional titles achieved along
the way to the final game. In case of team sports, the person
may have achieved the title playing for different teams.
Further details on question 5:
you are permitted to use sources and as a consequence of this you are
requested to mail your answers.
This post includes the previously posted clarification to #5.
6) In which countries are the two largest cities adjacent to each other
or part of the same metropolitan area?
7) There are many cases of new states that have arisen because of
secession, liberation wars, amicable splits etc. But can you name an
independent state that was created after 1800 AD after having been more
or less involuntarily kicked out from a larger state? For the purpose
of this question, the states created as part of the break of the Soviet
Union do not qualify.
8) Name a person who have won the same sport title at least eleven
times. The title must be contested at most once per year, and
the contenders for the title must generally be professionals.
The title can be contested in a single tournament or similar, or
it can be contested in a series of competition, matches etc that
run for the better part of the year. In case of leagues or similar,
only the final title counts, not any regional titles achieved along
the way to the final game. In case of team sports, the person
may have achieved the title playing for different teams.
Erland Sommarskog
Jun 23, 2018, 5:24:12 PM6/23/18
to
Rotating Quiz 294 is over, and the winner is MARK BRADER! Mark, you
free to start RQ295 at any time.
Here is the scoreboard:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total
Mark Brader 32 32 32 5 17 22 0 22 162
Dan Tilque 27 17 32 10 0 32 10 12 140
Calvin 0 10 32 0 22 32 10 17 123
Joshua Kreitzer 0 0 0 10 32 0 10 27 79
Each answer is preceded by a sequence of letters detailing which
entrant who answered what. Text in parenthesis gives details about
the answer, while text in brackets explain why I ruled that answer
as inocrrect.
1) Give one or more independent states of which the name normally used for
the state coincides with the normally used name of an entity in a
neighbouring state. "Entity" here can be an existing administrative
division, or merely a historical region, but it cannot be a strictly
geographical feature like a river or a lake.
The names do not have to match exactly, as different forms
of the same name may be in use on different sides of the border.
However, none of the names may include further qualifying parts.
For instance, Lower Saxland would not be a correct answer, even
if there is an entity called Saxland in a neighbouring state.
The question relates to the official situation at the time the
quiz is posted.
Correct answers given:
M - Canada (unincorporated place in Kansas, USA);
M - Ecuador (place spelled Equador in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil);
D - Guyana (Region Guayana in Venzuela. I did not know about this one,
but research made it clear to me that they are variations
of the same name.)
MD - Luxembourg (province of Belgium);
MDC - Macedonia (province in Greece);
D - Mexico (Town in New York State, USA)
M - Uruguay (department in Entre Rios, Argentina).
Incorrect answers given:
C - Britain (also region in France)
[In English the name of the region is Brittany. In French the name
is Bretagne, but to my knowing the UK is never referred to as
only Bretagne in French, but always as Grande Bretagne.]
C - Bolivia (also state in Venezuela) [Not neighbouring states, and
name of state in Venezuela is Bolívar.]
Other correct answers I know of:
Moldova (Historic region Moldavia in Romania; Moldova is Romanian
for Moldavia.)
Azerbaijan (Region in Iran. Which for a short period in 1946 was
a correct answer to this question, when it was independent.)
Congo x 2
The question is of course inspired by the Greek bickering with
their norhtern neightbour. But as I was composing the quiz, I saw
a news flash that Macedonia will soon be an incorrect answer. To
wit, Macedonia has agreed to change the name to North Macedonia,
and Greece will then give up their veto against Macedonia in the
EU and NATO. That was when I added the last paragraph to the
question.
....................................................................
2) Give one or more administrative entities (country, county, city etc)
with a population of at least 20000 people of which the name includes
an uppercase letter which is directly preceded and succeeded by a
lowercase letter. That is, there is no space or other punctuation in
this sequence of three letters.
Correct answers given:
C - eSwatini (The country formerly known as Swaziland.)
D - MacArthur (Municipality, Leyte, Philippines)
M - McAllen (City, Texas)
M - McKinney (City, Texas).
M - McCurtain (County, Oklahoma),
M - McHenry (County, Illinois)
M - McLennan (County, Texas)
D - SeaTac (City, Washington state)
The place that inspired me to this question is SeaTac, a city that
I pass through a few times every year, as this is where the
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is located. For a long time
it was only the answer I could think of until I relaxed the rules
so that the South-African province KwaZulu-Natal could fit. When
I read about eSwatini in the news, I relaxed the rules further to
permit it. It was only recently that I realised that Mc would be
productive, but I decided not to make any special rule about that.
I recently visited Ireland, and I went to this very charming town
of which the name in Irish is Cionn tSáile (Kinsale in English).
However, it falls below the population limit in the question.
..................................................................
3) Name a movie, or a series of movies, that has been the direct
source of inspiration of a pinball game.
Correct answers given:
M - Barb Wire
M - Demolition Man
MC - Godzilla
M - Johnny Mnemonic
M - Stargate
D - Predator
D - Star Wars
D - Jaws
D - Back to the Future
D - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
C - The Big Lebowski
C - Terminator 3
C - Lost in Space
C - Dirty Harry
I was not surprised to see that were many of them. Of the above I
have encountered Star Wars and Dirty Harry. One that I have played
lot (because we used to have it our office), but not given is
Indiana Jones.
When checking the answers I found that Predator appears to have
been quite a scandal in the Pinball world, where people pre-ordered
and paid for the game, but the game was never delivered. But since
I had no restriction that the pinball game should be commercially
available and I did see a photo with a prototype from a exposition,
I approved it.
..............................................................
4) Name or describe a situation where an independent state lost the
territory of its capital for a period of at least ten years, but
the state continued to exist (with a new capital elsewhere) for
at least fifteen years after the old capital had been lost. (You
can refer to this situation as you like, for instance by giving
name of the city or the states involved together with the approximate
year for the conquest. If I cannot recognize the scene, I may
request that you supply more information.)
Correct answers given:
MDJ - Republic of China (Nanjing -> Taipei, 1949)
Incorrect answers given:
M - Roman Empire (Rome, Ravenna, etc. -> Constantinople)
C - Israel
C - Germany
Republic of China was an unexpected answer for me, because my idea
was that the territory was lost to another existing state, but I did
not say this in the question, so I had to approve it.
Roman Empire is incorrect, becuase the move to other captials was
before the territory of Rome was lost.
What Calvin had in mind with Israel I don't know, but modern Israel
has never lost any territory. Did something of the kind happen in
biblical times?
As for Germany, you could argue that this is similar to Republic of
China, but I don't think Bundesrepublik Deutschland is a direct
continuation of the Deutches Reich in the same manner. And BRD did
include a piece of Berlin.
Here are the cases I know of:
1127) The Jin dynasty of Jurchens captures Kaifeng, the capital
of the Song dynasty of China who sets up their new capital at
present-day Hangzhou.
1204) The Fourth Crusade captures Constatinople and sets up the
Latin Empire. Byzantine Empire moves its capital to Nicaea.
around 1460) The Teutonic Order loses their capital Marienburg to
Poland as the result of a longer war and Königsberg becomes
the new capital. It is disuputable, though, since they sold
the castle already fairly early in the war.
1922) Polish free troops takes Vilnius from Lithuania which has to
set up their capital in Kaunas.
I also had in mind the Mongols destruction of the Jurchens captial
in 1215, located the site of present-day Beijing, but looking it up
now, I see that the Jurchens had moved their captial to Kaifeng the
year before, and the destruction was in reaction to this move. In
1232, the Jurchens also lost Kaifeng and moved to yet a new capital,
but it only took five more years before the Mongols had conquered
them entirely, so that does not qualify.
...................................................................
5) Name a person born after AD1000 who was the head of state of
two different independent states at different points in time,
but not holding both positions simultaneously. In the case of
split of mergers of states, a person who was head of state at the
time of the split/merger qualifies only if he/she did not become
head of state of any of the new states created after at least one
year after the split/merge.
Correct answers given:
M - Adolphe (Nassau, 1839-1866, Luxembourg 1890-1905)
C - Simón Bolívar (Venezuela 1813-1814, Bolivia 1825)
J - Joseph Bonaparte (Naples 1806-1808, Spain, 1808-1813)
CJ - Elizabeth II (Pakistan 1953-1956, St Kitts and Nevis 1983-present)
J - Francis (Lorraine 1729-1737, Tuscany 1737-1765)
C - Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (Orange Free State 1860-1863,
Republic of South Africa 1864-1871)
J - Puyi (China 1908-1912, Manchukuo 1932-1945)
MJ - Stanislaus (Poland 1704-1709, 1733-1766, Lorraine, 1737-1736).
I did not of know or think of any of the above.
Simón Bolívar is tricky as he when he became president of Perú and
Bolivia, he was already president of Gran Colombia which was a direct
contiuation of his presidency in Venezuela before the creation of
Gran Colombia. But as he also was president of Venezuela in a disjunct
period a few years earlier, I decided that I could not rule it as
incorrect.
You can argue the independentness of some of the states above. Both
Bonaparte and Puyi in Manchukuo were puppet regimes. However, it was
my intention to approve of states of marginal recognition, and one of
my answers below is such a case. Tuscany and Lorraine were part of the
Holy Roman Empire, but in my opinion HRE at this stage in history was
a super-national body, somewhat akin to the European Union today.
In my Rare Entries quiz some year ago I had a similar question, but
then I asked about people who were head of state simultaneously in
two states, else independent from each other. Interesting enough, no
less that three persons above qualifies for that question as well.
I have already discussed Bolívar, and QEII needs no furhter presentation.
Pretorious was first president of South Africa and was then also
elected president of the Orange Free State, but that was impopular
in RSA, so he had to step down. But But once he had stepped down
from the Orange Free State, he was later re-elected in South Africa.
Myself, I had these three persons i mind:
Stipe Mesic (Jugoslavia 1991, Croatia 2000-2010)
Robert Kocharian (Nagorno-Karabach 1994-1997, Aremenia 1998-2008)
Christian Frederick (Norway 1814, Denmark 1839-1848)
N-K is very much a self-proclaimed state, but recognised as independent
by, well, Armenia. At least technically.
In 1814, Norway proclaimed indpendence, after having been cut off
from Denmark by the British navy for more than ten years. Being
in Christiana, Christian Frederick was a suitable person to be king.
However, Denmark had already the year before agree to cede Norway
to Sweden in exchange for Pommerania. Sweden wanted its bouty and
invaded. The young state did not have much to defend itself.
......................................................................
6) In which countries are the two largest cities adjacent to each other
or part of the same metropolitan area?
Correct answers given:
C - Benin (Cotonou, Porto Novo)
D - Finland (Helsinki, Esbo)
MD - Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama)
C - Liechtenstein (Schaan, Vaduz)
C - Malta (Birkirkara, Mosta)
C - Philippines (Quezon City, Manilla)
MD - Sri Lanka (Colombo, Kaduwela)
MC - Sudan (Khartoum, Omdurman)
D - Suriname (Paramaribo, Koewarsan)
D - Uganda (Kampala, Nansana)
Two more answers I know of are Iceland and Chile. I was also under
the impression that Monaco is a correct answer, but when investigating,
I find that it is a single city divided into quartiers.
...................................................................
7) There are many cases of new states that have arisen because of
secession, liberation wars, amicable splits etc. But can you name an
independent state that was created after 1800 AD after having been more
or less involuntarily kicked out from a larger state? For the purpose
of this question, the states created as part of the break of the Soviet
Union do not qualify.
Correct answers given:
DCJ - Singapore (Kicked out from the Malaysian Federation)
Incorrect answers given:
M - Somaliland [quoting Wikipedia "unilaterally declared independence
from Somalia"]
I don't know of any other correct answer, but I figured that there
might be some colony that was ejected by its colonial master.
Dan mentioned that the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire could
lead to a number of cases, but he argued that these states already
were de facto independent, and as I discussed above, I agree. He also
mentioned the possibilty of the Bantustans setup by the apartheid
regime of South Africa, but their actual independence can be questioned.
....................................................................
8) Name a person who have won the same sport title at least eleven
times. The title must be contested at most once per year, and
the contenders for the title must generally be professionals.
The title can be contested in a single tournament or similar, or
it can be contested in a series of competition, matches etc that
run for the better part of the year. In case of leagues or similar,
only the final title counts, not any regional titles achieved along
the way to the final game. In case of team sports, the person
may have achieved the title playing for different teams.
Correct answers given:
MJ - Ken Climo (12 PDGA Pro World Championship, disc golf)
MC - Rafael Nadal (11 French Open, tennis)
MDJ - Henry Richard (11 Stanley Cup, ice hockey)
MDJ - Bill Russell (11 NBA championships, basketball)
DJ - Martina Navratilova (11 WTA Finals doubles, tennis)
C - Heather McKay (16 British open, squash)
C - Gary Player (13 South Africa Open, golf)
Incorrect answers given:
D - Louise Brough (12 US Open, double, Tennis)
C - Roy Chipolina (11 Gibraltar Premier Division, football)
M - Margaret Court (11 Austrialian Open, tennis)
D - Margaret Osborne duPont (13 US Open, doubles, Tennis)
The problem with all these persons is that they all disqualify on
the rule that the title is to be contested by professionals. Until
1967, the Grand Slam tournaments were not open to professionals
and Brough and Osborne duPont won all their titles before 1968
when the open era began. Court did win a few titles in the open
era but not 11.
I did not research it vigorously, but I doubt that small Gibraltar
is able to sustain its own professional league. According to
Wikipedia, Chipolina works as a customs officer.
This was a question I added in the last minute, inspired by Rafael
Nadal's recent victory in French Open.
................................................................
Thanks to everyone for playing!
free to start RQ295 at any time.
Here is the scoreboard:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total
Mark Brader 32 32 32 5 17 22 0 22 162
Dan Tilque 27 17 32 10 0 32 10 12 140
Calvin 0 10 32 0 22 32 10 17 123
Joshua Kreitzer 0 0 0 10 32 0 10 27 79
Each answer is preceded by a sequence of letters detailing which
entrant who answered what. Text in parenthesis gives details about
the answer, while text in brackets explain why I ruled that answer
as inocrrect.
1) Give one or more independent states of which the name normally used for
the state coincides with the normally used name of an entity in a
neighbouring state. "Entity" here can be an existing administrative
division, or merely a historical region, but it cannot be a strictly
geographical feature like a river or a lake.
The names do not have to match exactly, as different forms
of the same name may be in use on different sides of the border.
However, none of the names may include further qualifying parts.
For instance, Lower Saxland would not be a correct answer, even
if there is an entity called Saxland in a neighbouring state.
The question relates to the official situation at the time the
quiz is posted.
M - Canada (unincorporated place in Kansas, USA);
M - Ecuador (place spelled Equador in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil);
D - Guyana (Region Guayana in Venzuela. I did not know about this one,
but research made it clear to me that they are variations
of the same name.)
MD - Luxembourg (province of Belgium);
MDC - Macedonia (province in Greece);
D - Mexico (Town in New York State, USA)
M - Uruguay (department in Entre Rios, Argentina).
Incorrect answers given:
C - Britain (also region in France)
[In English the name of the region is Brittany. In French the name
is Bretagne, but to my knowing the UK is never referred to as
only Bretagne in French, but always as Grande Bretagne.]
C - Bolivia (also state in Venezuela) [Not neighbouring states, and
name of state in Venezuela is Bolívar.]
Other correct answers I know of:
Moldova (Historic region Moldavia in Romania; Moldova is Romanian
for Moldavia.)
Azerbaijan (Region in Iran. Which for a short period in 1946 was
a correct answer to this question, when it was independent.)
Congo x 2
The question is of course inspired by the Greek bickering with
their norhtern neightbour. But as I was composing the quiz, I saw
a news flash that Macedonia will soon be an incorrect answer. To
wit, Macedonia has agreed to change the name to North Macedonia,
and Greece will then give up their veto against Macedonia in the
EU and NATO. That was when I added the last paragraph to the
question.
....................................................................
2) Give one or more administrative entities (country, county, city etc)
with a population of at least 20000 people of which the name includes
an uppercase letter which is directly preceded and succeeded by a
lowercase letter. That is, there is no space or other punctuation in
this sequence of three letters.
C - eSwatini (The country formerly known as Swaziland.)
D - MacArthur (Municipality, Leyte, Philippines)
M - McAllen (City, Texas)
M - McKinney (City, Texas).
M - McCurtain (County, Oklahoma),
M - McHenry (County, Illinois)
M - McLennan (County, Texas)
D - SeaTac (City, Washington state)
The place that inspired me to this question is SeaTac, a city that
I pass through a few times every year, as this is where the
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is located. For a long time
it was only the answer I could think of until I relaxed the rules
so that the South-African province KwaZulu-Natal could fit. When
I read about eSwatini in the news, I relaxed the rules further to
permit it. It was only recently that I realised that Mc would be
productive, but I decided not to make any special rule about that.
I recently visited Ireland, and I went to this very charming town
of which the name in Irish is Cionn tSáile (Kinsale in English).
However, it falls below the population limit in the question.
..................................................................
3) Name a movie, or a series of movies, that has been the direct
source of inspiration of a pinball game.
M - Barb Wire
M - Demolition Man
MC - Godzilla
M - Johnny Mnemonic
M - Stargate
D - Predator
D - Star Wars
D - Jaws
D - Back to the Future
D - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
C - The Big Lebowski
C - Terminator 3
C - Lost in Space
C - Dirty Harry
I was not surprised to see that were many of them. Of the above I
have encountered Star Wars and Dirty Harry. One that I have played
lot (because we used to have it our office), but not given is
Indiana Jones.
When checking the answers I found that Predator appears to have
been quite a scandal in the Pinball world, where people pre-ordered
and paid for the game, but the game was never delivered. But since
I had no restriction that the pinball game should be commercially
available and I did see a photo with a prototype from a exposition,
I approved it.
..............................................................
4) Name or describe a situation where an independent state lost the
territory of its capital for a period of at least ten years, but
the state continued to exist (with a new capital elsewhere) for
at least fifteen years after the old capital had been lost. (You
can refer to this situation as you like, for instance by giving
name of the city or the states involved together with the approximate
year for the conquest. If I cannot recognize the scene, I may
request that you supply more information.)
MDJ - Republic of China (Nanjing -> Taipei, 1949)
Incorrect answers given:
M - Roman Empire (Rome, Ravenna, etc. -> Constantinople)
C - Israel
C - Germany
Republic of China was an unexpected answer for me, because my idea
was that the territory was lost to another existing state, but I did
not say this in the question, so I had to approve it.
Roman Empire is incorrect, becuase the move to other captials was
before the territory of Rome was lost.
What Calvin had in mind with Israel I don't know, but modern Israel
has never lost any territory. Did something of the kind happen in
biblical times?
As for Germany, you could argue that this is similar to Republic of
China, but I don't think Bundesrepublik Deutschland is a direct
continuation of the Deutches Reich in the same manner. And BRD did
include a piece of Berlin.
Here are the cases I know of:
1127) The Jin dynasty of Jurchens captures Kaifeng, the capital
of the Song dynasty of China who sets up their new capital at
present-day Hangzhou.
1204) The Fourth Crusade captures Constatinople and sets up the
Latin Empire. Byzantine Empire moves its capital to Nicaea.
around 1460) The Teutonic Order loses their capital Marienburg to
Poland as the result of a longer war and Königsberg becomes
the new capital. It is disuputable, though, since they sold
the castle already fairly early in the war.
1922) Polish free troops takes Vilnius from Lithuania which has to
set up their capital in Kaunas.
I also had in mind the Mongols destruction of the Jurchens captial
in 1215, located the site of present-day Beijing, but looking it up
now, I see that the Jurchens had moved their captial to Kaifeng the
year before, and the destruction was in reaction to this move. In
1232, the Jurchens also lost Kaifeng and moved to yet a new capital,
but it only took five more years before the Mongols had conquered
them entirely, so that does not qualify.
...................................................................
5) Name a person born after AD1000 who was the head of state of
two different independent states at different points in time,
but not holding both positions simultaneously. In the case of
split of mergers of states, a person who was head of state at the
time of the split/merger qualifies only if he/she did not become
head of state of any of the new states created after at least one
year after the split/merge.
M - Adolphe (Nassau, 1839-1866, Luxembourg 1890-1905)
C - Simón Bolívar (Venezuela 1813-1814, Bolivia 1825)
J - Joseph Bonaparte (Naples 1806-1808, Spain, 1808-1813)
CJ - Elizabeth II (Pakistan 1953-1956, St Kitts and Nevis 1983-present)
J - Francis (Lorraine 1729-1737, Tuscany 1737-1765)
C - Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (Orange Free State 1860-1863,
Republic of South Africa 1864-1871)
J - Puyi (China 1908-1912, Manchukuo 1932-1945)
MJ - Stanislaus (Poland 1704-1709, 1733-1766, Lorraine, 1737-1736).
I did not of know or think of any of the above.
Simón Bolívar is tricky as he when he became president of Perú and
Bolivia, he was already president of Gran Colombia which was a direct
contiuation of his presidency in Venezuela before the creation of
Gran Colombia. But as he also was president of Venezuela in a disjunct
period a few years earlier, I decided that I could not rule it as
incorrect.
You can argue the independentness of some of the states above. Both
Bonaparte and Puyi in Manchukuo were puppet regimes. However, it was
my intention to approve of states of marginal recognition, and one of
my answers below is such a case. Tuscany and Lorraine were part of the
Holy Roman Empire, but in my opinion HRE at this stage in history was
a super-national body, somewhat akin to the European Union today.
In my Rare Entries quiz some year ago I had a similar question, but
then I asked about people who were head of state simultaneously in
two states, else independent from each other. Interesting enough, no
less that three persons above qualifies for that question as well.
I have already discussed Bolívar, and QEII needs no furhter presentation.
Pretorious was first president of South Africa and was then also
elected president of the Orange Free State, but that was impopular
in RSA, so he had to step down. But But once he had stepped down
from the Orange Free State, he was later re-elected in South Africa.
Myself, I had these three persons i mind:
Stipe Mesic (Jugoslavia 1991, Croatia 2000-2010)
Robert Kocharian (Nagorno-Karabach 1994-1997, Aremenia 1998-2008)
Christian Frederick (Norway 1814, Denmark 1839-1848)
N-K is very much a self-proclaimed state, but recognised as independent
by, well, Armenia. At least technically.
In 1814, Norway proclaimed indpendence, after having been cut off
from Denmark by the British navy for more than ten years. Being
in Christiana, Christian Frederick was a suitable person to be king.
However, Denmark had already the year before agree to cede Norway
to Sweden in exchange for Pommerania. Sweden wanted its bouty and
invaded. The young state did not have much to defend itself.
......................................................................
6) In which countries are the two largest cities adjacent to each other
or part of the same metropolitan area?
C - Benin (Cotonou, Porto Novo)
D - Finland (Helsinki, Esbo)
MD - Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama)
C - Liechtenstein (Schaan, Vaduz)
C - Malta (Birkirkara, Mosta)
C - Philippines (Quezon City, Manilla)
MD - Sri Lanka (Colombo, Kaduwela)
MC - Sudan (Khartoum, Omdurman)
D - Suriname (Paramaribo, Koewarsan)
D - Uganda (Kampala, Nansana)
Two more answers I know of are Iceland and Chile. I was also under
the impression that Monaco is a correct answer, but when investigating,
I find that it is a single city divided into quartiers.
...................................................................
7) There are many cases of new states that have arisen because of
secession, liberation wars, amicable splits etc. But can you name an
independent state that was created after 1800 AD after having been more
or less involuntarily kicked out from a larger state? For the purpose
of this question, the states created as part of the break of the Soviet
Union do not qualify.
DCJ - Singapore (Kicked out from the Malaysian Federation)
Incorrect answers given:
M - Somaliland [quoting Wikipedia "unilaterally declared independence
from Somalia"]
I don't know of any other correct answer, but I figured that there
might be some colony that was ejected by its colonial master.
Dan mentioned that the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire could
lead to a number of cases, but he argued that these states already
were de facto independent, and as I discussed above, I agree. He also
mentioned the possibilty of the Bantustans setup by the apartheid
regime of South Africa, but their actual independence can be questioned.
....................................................................
8) Name a person who have won the same sport title at least eleven
times. The title must be contested at most once per year, and
the contenders for the title must generally be professionals.
The title can be contested in a single tournament or similar, or
it can be contested in a series of competition, matches etc that
run for the better part of the year. In case of leagues or similar,
only the final title counts, not any regional titles achieved along
the way to the final game. In case of team sports, the person
may have achieved the title playing for different teams.
MJ - Ken Climo (12 PDGA Pro World Championship, disc golf)
MC - Rafael Nadal (11 French Open, tennis)
MDJ - Henry Richard (11 Stanley Cup, ice hockey)
MDJ - Bill Russell (11 NBA championships, basketball)
DJ - Martina Navratilova (11 WTA Finals doubles, tennis)
C - Heather McKay (16 British open, squash)
C - Gary Player (13 South Africa Open, golf)
Incorrect answers given:
D - Louise Brough (12 US Open, double, Tennis)
C - Roy Chipolina (11 Gibraltar Premier Division, football)
M - Margaret Court (11 Austrialian Open, tennis)
D - Margaret Osborne duPont (13 US Open, doubles, Tennis)
The problem with all these persons is that they all disqualify on
the rule that the title is to be contested by professionals. Until
1967, the Grand Slam tournaments were not open to professionals
and Brough and Osborne duPont won all their titles before 1968
when the open era began. Court did win a few titles in the open
era but not 11.
I did not research it vigorously, but I doubt that small Gibraltar
is able to sustain its own professional league. According to
Wikipedia, Chipolina works as a customs officer.
This was a question I added in the last minute, inspired by Rafael
Nadal's recent victory in French Open.
................................................................
Thanks to everyone for playing!
Mark Brader
Jun 23, 2018, 5:57:01 PM6/23/18
to
Erland Sommarskog:
(Grumble. I could've given that answer but didn't think it qualified.)
> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total
> Mark Brader 32 32 32 5 17 22 0 22 162
> Dan Tilque 27 17 32 10 0 32 10 12 140
> Calvin 0 10 32 0 22 32 10 17 123
> Joshua Kreitzer 0 0 0 10 32 0 10 27 79
Oh, well that's all right, then!
--
Mark Brader | "Every year this part of our job gets easier.
Toronto | Between Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr, people are
m...@vex.net | surveilling *themselves*." --Phil Coulson (Jeffrey Bell)
> J - Joseph Bonaparte (Naples 1806-1808, Spain, 1808-1813)
...
> You can argue the independentness of some of the states above. Both
> Bonaparte and Puyi in Manchukuo were puppet regimes...
(Grumble. I could've given that answer but didn't think it qualified.)
> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total
> Mark Brader 32 32 32 5 17 22 0 22 162
> Dan Tilque 27 17 32 10 0 32 10 12 140
> Calvin 0 10 32 0 22 32 10 17 123
> Joshua Kreitzer 0 0 0 10 32 0 10 27 79
--
Mark Brader | "Every year this part of our job gets easier.
Toronto | Between Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr, people are
m...@vex.net | surveilling *themselves*." --Phil Coulson (Jeffrey Bell)
Dan Blum
Jun 24, 2018, 10:55:50 AM6/24/18
to
Sorry I didn't enter - I knew very few answers offhand and simply
didn't end up having time to do the research.
--
_______________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum to...@panix.com
"I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't just made it up."
didn't end up having time to do the research.
--
_______________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum to...@panix.com
"I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't just made it up."
Erland Sommarskog
Jun 24, 2018, 4:21:22 PM6/24/18
to
Dan Blum (to...@panix.com) writes:
> Sorry I didn't enter - I knew very few answers offhand and simply
> didn't end up having time to do the research.
>
Understandable. I've been very busy myself recently with the World Cup in
> Sorry I didn't enter - I knew very few answers offhand and simply
> didn't end up having time to do the research.
>
football.
And if you did not know many answers beforehand... My idea was that the
questions were of the kind that you had to some idea of an answer, and you
would use sources to verify you ideas.
Dan Blum
Jun 24, 2018, 9:03:51 PM6/24/18
to
several. (I knew some of the pinball games and could have guessed at others.)
Dan Tilque
Jun 25, 2018, 2:22:33 AM6/25/18
to
Dan Blum wrote:
>
> For a few questions that was the case but I didn't really have any ideas for
> several. (I knew some of the pinball games and could have guessed at others.)
The pinball question was by far the easiest. Just think of an
>
> For a few questions that was the case but I didn't really have any ideas for
> several. (I knew some of the pinball games and could have guessed at others.)
action/adventure movie and google the name plus the word "pinball" and
chances are it would come up.
The hardest question was the double Head of State. I had absolutely no
idea of any answers and could not think of how to google it.
As for the idea these would be good rare entries questions, I would
never put them in my contests. I have two requirements that they don't
satisfy.
The first requirement is that there should be at least one answer to
each question that virtually everyone would be able to think of without
research. I figure some people don't want to or can't spend a lot of
time researching, so I make sure they can answer all questions without it.
The second requirement is that there is a limited number of valid
answers, generally between 5 and 12, and I know all of those beforehand.
Occasionally, someone will find a valid answer I didn't know but I don't
worry about those. I do make an exception to this requirement for one
question on each contest, an open question where I don't know all the
answers, but I know there's at least 5. I don't like questions with
fewer than 5 answers.
--
Dan Tilque
Mark Brader
Jun 25, 2018, 5:59:24 AM6/25/18
to
Dan Blum wrote:
> > For a few questions that was the case but I didn't really have any ideas for
> > several. (I knew some of the pinball games and could have guessed at others.)
Dan Tilque:
> > For a few questions that was the case but I didn't really have any ideas for
> > several. (I knew some of the pinball games and could have guessed at others.)
> The pinball question was by far the easiest. Just think of an
> action/adventure movie and google the name plus the word "pinball" and
> chances are it would come up.
I did a simple google search for pinball games based on movies -- I don't
> action/adventure movie and google the name plus the word "pinball" and
> chances are it would come up.
remember the exact search I did -- and one of the first hits was a page
listing 7 or 10 of them, which I picked my ansswers from.
> The hardest question was the double Head of State. I had absolutely no
> idea of any answers and could not think of how to google it.
-- again, I don't remember the exact words I used. There were a lot of
irrelevant hits due to people like our Queen who hold or have held both
positions at the same time -- it certainly didn't occur to me that she
might still be a correct answer -- but the two answers I submitted came
from other hits. And I also found Joseph Bonaparte, but was I said,
I decided not to submit him.
Question 7, the country kicked out of another country, seemed the hardest
to me. I tried Somaliland on the grounds that if Somalia was no longer a
functioning country then they were forced into independence, but this was
denied, and I didn't know how to look for others.
--
Mark Brader | Caution
m...@vex.net | Do not run on the stairs
Toronto | Use the hand rail
-- notice at British train station
My text in this article is in the public domain.
Erland Sommarskog
Jun 25, 2018, 4:28:41 PM6/25/18
to
Dan Tilque (dti...@frontier.com) writes:
> The pinball question was by far the easiest. Just think of an
> action/adventure movie and google the name plus the word "pinball" and
> chances are it would come up.
Yeah. The reason I put it in is that I wanted something that did not
> The pinball question was by far the easiest. Just think of an
> action/adventure movie and google the name plus the word "pinball" and
> chances are it would come up.
have the word "country" in it - there certainly was an overdose of them.
It might be that it easier to find questions of this kind in this
area, but it may of course reflect my interest. The likelihood I would
find a suitable question in the realm of TV shows is about nil.
> The hardest question was the double Head of State. I had absolutely no
> idea of any answers and could not think of how to google it.
of it myself, but it is an obvious one to try.
Then it may help how much you follow the news. You may note that two
of my own names was from recent times.
> As for the idea these would be good rare entries questions, I would
> never put them in my contests. I have two requirements that they don't
> satisfy.
>
that in the one Rare Entries that I did run that I got incorrect answers
for the major part of the question. Partly that may be due to eagerness
to find an edge case, which puts the entrant themselves of the edge.
Anyway, I did say that the questions were difficult, didn't I?
> The first requirement is that there should be at least one answer to
> each question that virtually everyone would be able to think of without
> research. I figure some people don't want to or can't spend a lot of
> time researching, so I make sure they can answer all questions without it.
> The second requirement is that there is a limited number of valid
> answers, generally between 5 and 12, and I know all of those beforehand.
learn some new trivia bits through this quiz.
And, yeah, the Singapore question may require that you know it beforehand. I
was quite impressed that three out of four got it. I only learnt this
myself recently, as I read the history in my guide book in conjunction to
by visit to Singapore in the beginning of the year.
Dan Tilque
Jun 26, 2018, 12:37:17 PM6/26/18
to
Erland Sommarskog wrote:
> Dan Tilque (dti...@frontier.com) writes:
>
>> The second requirement is that there is a limited number of valid
>> answers, generally between 5 and 12, and I know all of those beforehand.
>
> Oh, the latter I would not care about. I found it very enlightening to
> learn some new trivia bits through this quiz.
Learning new trivia should be less important than setting a challenging
> Dan Tilque (dti...@frontier.com) writes:
>
>> The second requirement is that there is a limited number of valid
>> answers, generally between 5 and 12, and I know all of those beforehand.
>
> Oh, the latter I would not care about. I found it very enlightening to
> learn some new trivia bits through this quiz.
contest. The number of valid answers should, for most items, be
significantly less than the number of expected entrants. But in order to
say how many valid answers there are, one usually must first know what
the valid answers are. Or at least know most of them and be reasonably
sure there aren't a lot of others.
For example, in one of my contests, there was a item about naming a body
of water with a name in the form of Sea of Xxxx. Just asking for the
name of any sea would not be a good question, since there's somewhere
around 50 of them. Far fewer than that many people enter the contests.
But I noticed that there are very few of them whose name is of the form
above. In fact, I only knew of these:
Sea of Japan
Sea of Galilee
Sea of Azov
Sea of Marmara
Sea of Crete
Sea of Okhotsk
This made it a perfect item. I expect everyone could get the first two
without a lot of thought and the others could be found with varying
amount of research by those willing to undertake the effort.
It turned out that someone found a valid answer not in the above list, a
sea near Chile whose name I can't remember off-hand, but that was OK. I
knew most of the answers; one more didn't make any difference.
--
Dan Tilque
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