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Rotating Quiz 129

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Mark Brader

unread,
Jan 28, 2014, 9:41:15 PM1/28/14
to
This is Rotating Quiz #129. The contest will run for 6 days
and 4 hours from the moment of posting, so you have until about
1:40 am Monday night (morning of Tuesday, February 4) by Toronto
time, zone -5.

Please answer based only on your own knowledge and, of course,
do not discuss the questions in the newsgroup before answering.

Please post your answers to all questions in a single followup in
the newsgroup, quoting the questions and placing your answer below
each one. This is not QFTCI -- you're only allowed one attempt
per question. The last two questions are tiebreakers.

1. In 1963, George Plimpton, a sportswriter who was not an
athlete, was given the chance to suit up with a professional
football game and play in an intra-squad practice game.
Name the book he wrote about his experiences.

2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
are sung for the first time, what line comes next?

3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
(the most common minor scale in our culture)?

4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
But what was one of these pieces called?

5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
Falcon".

6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
what venomous creature?

7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
Sutherland.

8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?

9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
won their third NBA championship in a row?

10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
horse racing. What is its name?

11. First tiebreaker: Identify the hidden theme.

12. Second tiebreaker: Write an interesting additional question
fitting the theme. (Please also provide the answer, in rot13.)

--
Mark Brader | "...it is happening a lot to me recently. almost
Toronto | as if my beliefs are no longer strong enough
m...@vex.net | to counter reality." --Stephen Perry

My text in this article is in the public domain.

johnada...@gmail.com

unread,
Jan 28, 2014, 11:10:43 PM1/28/14
to
On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 9:41:15 PM UTC-5, Mark Brader wrote:
> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?
Touched for the very first time

> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
>
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
>
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
>
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
>
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
>
> But what was one of these pieces called?
Copper magnetic "core" memory

> 5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
>
> Falcon".
Miles Archer

> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
>
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
>
> what venomous creature?
Scorpion

> 7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
>
> others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
>
> Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
>
> Sutherland.
They all have twin siblings

> 8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?
Zombies!

> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
>
> won their third NBA championship in a row?
1998

> 10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
>
> horse racing. What is its name?
Aquaduct

> 11. First tiebreaker: Identify the hidden theme.
FX TV shows


--
John

swp

unread,
Jan 28, 2014, 11:23:59 PM1/28/14
to
On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 9:41:15 PM UTC-5, Mark Brader wrote:
> This is Rotating Quiz #129. The contest will run for 6 days
> and 4 hours from the moment of posting, so you have until about
> 1:40 am Monday night (morning of Tuesday, February 4) by Toronto
> time, zone -5.
>
> Please answer based only on your own knowledge and, of course,
> do not discuss the questions in the newsgroup before answering.
>
> Please post your answers to all questions in a single followup in
> the newsgroup, quoting the questions and placing your answer below
> each one. This is not QFTCI -- you're only allowed one attempt
> per question. The last two questions are tiebreakers.
>
> 1. In 1963, George Plimpton, a sportswriter who was not an
> athlete, was given the chance to suit up with a professional
> football game and play in an intra-squad practice game.
> Name the book he wrote about his experiences.

paper lion

> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?

touched for the very first time

> 3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
> of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
> In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
> (the most common minor scale in our culture)?

whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole

> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
> But what was one of these pieces called?

if I understand what you are asking, that was refered to as a 'core' as in 'core memory'

> 5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
> Falcon".

mark brader

> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
> what venomous creature?

I have no idea what an f-89 fighter plane is, but the tank and machine gun are called scorpions

> 7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
> others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
> Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
> Sutherland.

they all have twins

> 8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?

fish

> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
> won their third NBA championship in a row?

1999

> 10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
> horse racing. What is its name?

aqueduct

> 11. First tiebreaker: Identify the hidden theme.

band names?

> 12. Second tiebreaker: Write an interesting additional question
> fitting the theme. (Please also provide the answer, in rot13.)

um ... no.

> --
> Mark Brader | "...it is happening a lot to me recently. almost
> Toronto | as if my beliefs are no longer strong enough
> m...@vex.net | to counter reality." --Stephen Perry

and after that signature line how could I not enter.

swp

Marc Dashevsky

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Jan 28, 2014, 11:42:57 PM1/28/14
to
In article <zuidnXpVU_HW93XP...@vex.net>, m...@vex.net says...
>
> This is Rotating Quiz #129. The contest will run for 6 days
> and 4 hours from the moment of posting, so you have until about
> 1:40 am Monday night (morning of Tuesday, February 4) by Toronto
> time, zone -5.
>
> Please answer based only on your own knowledge and, of course,
> do not discuss the questions in the newsgroup before answering.
>
> Please post your answers to all questions in a single followup in
> the newsgroup, quoting the questions and placing your answer below
> each one. This is not QFTCI -- you're only allowed one attempt
> per question. The last two questions are tiebreakers.
>
> 1. In 1963, George Plimpton, a sportswriter who was not an
> athlete, was given the chance to suit up with a professional
> football game and play in an intra-squad practice game.
> Name the book he wrote about his experiences.
Paper Lion

> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?
>
> 3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
> of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
> In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
> (the most common minor scale in our culture)?
tone-semitone-tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone

> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
> But what was one of these pieces called?
core

> 5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
> Falcon".
>
> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
> what venomous creature?
viper

> 7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
> others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
> Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
> Sutherland.
>
> 8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?
>
> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
> won their third NBA championship in a row?
1998

> 10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
> horse racing. What is its name?
Pimlico (I have no idea where it is)

David B

unread,
Jan 29, 2014, 4:08:52 AM1/29/14
to
> 1. In 1963, George Plimpton, a sportswriter who was not an
> athlete, was given the chance to suit up with a professional
> football game and play in an intra-squad practice game.
> Name the book he wrote about his experiences.
>
> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?

Touched for the very first time.

> 3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
> of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
> In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
> (the most common minor scale in our culture)?

tone-semitone-tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone

> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
> But what was one of these pieces called?

Magnetic Core Memory.

> 5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
> Falcon".
>
> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
> what venomous creature?

Cobra?

> 7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
> others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
> Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
> Sutherland.

All twins?

> 8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?

A fish.

> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
> won their third NBA championship in a row?
>
> 10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
> horse racing. What is its name?
>
> 11. First tiebreaker: Identify the hidden theme.
>
> 12. Second tiebreaker: Write an interesting additional question
> fitting the theme. (Please also provide the answer, in rot13.)
>

D

Erland Sommarskog

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Jan 29, 2014, 4:04:20 PM1/29/14
to
Mark Brader (m...@vex.net) writes:
> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?

Now, Mark giving a music question! Unfortuntately, that is not a song
that I've paid attention to.

> 3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
> of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
> In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
> (the most common minor scale in our culture)?

tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone-tone

> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
> But what was one of these pieces called?

Segment

> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
> what venomous creature?

Cobra

> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
> won their third NBA championship in a row?

1992




--
Erland Sommarskog, Stockholm, esq...@sommarskog.se

Mark Brader

unread,
Jan 29, 2014, 5:08:53 PM1/29/14
to
Erland Sommarskog:
> Now, Mark giving a music question!

Two music questions, in fact! And two sports questions, too.
--
Mark Brader | "Don't get me wrong, perl is an OK operating system,
Toronto | but it lacks a lightweight scripting language."
m...@vex.net | -- Walter Dnes

Peter Smyth

unread,
Jan 29, 2014, 5:28:33 PM1/29/14
to
Mark Brader wrote:

> This is Rotating Quiz #129. The contest will run for 6 days
> and 4 hours from the moment of posting, so you have until about
> 1:40 am Monday night (morning of Tuesday, February 4) by Toronto
> time, zone -5.
>
> Please answer based only on your own knowledge and, of course,
> do not discuss the questions in the newsgroup before answering.
>
> Please post your answers to all questions in a single followup in
> the newsgroup, quoting the questions and placing your answer below
> each one. This is not QFTCI -- you're only allowed one attempt
> per question. The last two questions are tiebreakers.
>
> 1. In 1963, George Plimpton, a sportswriter who was not an
> athlete, was given the chance to suit up with a professional
> football game and play in an intra-squad practice game.
> Name the book he wrote about his experiences.
>
> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?
Touched for the very first time
> 3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
> of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
> In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
> (the most common minor scale in our culture)?
tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone-tone
> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
> But what was one of these pieces called?
>
> 5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
> Falcon".
>
> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
> what venomous creature?
>
> 7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
> others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
> Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
> Sutherland.
>
> 8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?
>
> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
> won their third NBA championship in a row?
>
> 10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
> horse racing. What is its name?
Aqueduct
> 11. First tiebreaker: Identify the hidden theme.
>
> 12. Second tiebreaker: Write an interesting additional question
> fitting the theme. (Please also provide the answer, in rot13.)

Peter Smyth

calvin

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Jan 29, 2014, 6:53:22 PM1/29/14
to
On Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:41:15 +1000, Mark Brader <m...@vex.net> wrote:


> 1. In 1963, George Plimpton, a sportswriter who was not an
> athlete, was given the chance to suit up with a professional
> football game and play in an intra-squad practice game.
> Name the book he wrote about his experiences.
>
> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?

Touched for the very first time

> 3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
> of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
> In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
> (the most common minor scale in our culture)?
>
> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
> But what was one of these pieces called?

Bit?

> 5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
> Falcon".
>
> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
> what venomous creature?

Hornet?

> 7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
> others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
> Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
> Sutherland.

All are twins

> 8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?

A fish. I just re-read The Hobbit as it happens.

> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
> won their third NBA championship in a row?

1991

> 10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
> horse racing. What is its name?

Belmont

> 11. First tiebreaker: Identify the hidden theme.
>
> 12. Second tiebreaker: Write an interesting additional question
> fitting the theme. (Please also provide the answer, in rot13.)



--
cheers,
calvin

Jeffrey Turner

unread,
Jan 30, 2014, 12:14:04 AM1/30/14
to
On 1/28/2014 9:41 PM, Mark Brader wrote:
> This is Rotating Quiz #129. The contest will run for 6 days
> and 4 hours from the moment of posting, so you have until about
> 1:40 am Monday night (morning of Tuesday, February 4) by Toronto
> time, zone -5.
>
> Please answer based only on your own knowledge and, of course,
> do not discuss the questions in the newsgroup before answering.
>
> Please post your answers to all questions in a single followup in
> the newsgroup, quoting the questions and placing your answer below
> each one. This is not QFTCI -- you're only allowed one attempt
> per question. The last two questions are tiebreakers.
>
> 1. In 1963, George Plimpton, a sportswriter who was not an
> athlete, was given the chance to suit up with a professional
> football game and play in an intra-squad practice game.
> Name the book he wrote about his experiences.

> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?

In love for the very first time.

> 3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
> of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
> In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
> (the most common minor scale in our culture)?
>
> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
> But what was one of these pieces called?

Torus

> 5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
> Falcon".

Archer

> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
> what venomous creature?

Scorpion

> 7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
> others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
> Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
> Sutherland.

They have twins.

> 8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?

A fish

> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
> won their third NBA championship in a row?

2002

> 10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
> horse racing. What is its name?

Acqueduct

> 11. First tiebreaker: Identify the hidden theme.

The Zodiac

> 12. Second tiebreaker: Write an interesting additional question
> fitting the theme. (Please also provide the answer, in rot13.)

Who said, "What makes a muskrat defend his musk?"

Gur Pbjneqyl Yvba

--Jeff

Gareth Owen

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Jan 30, 2014, 2:38:12 AM1/30/14
to
m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) writes:

> 1. In 1963, George Plimpton, a sportswriter who was not an
> athlete, was given the chance to suit up with a professional
> football game and play in an intra-squad practice game.
> Name the book he wrote about his experiences.

Paper Lion. Great book, as are "Open Net" (George Plimpton in goal for
the Bruins) and "Out Of My League" (often overlooked - George Plimpton
attempts to pitch through the American League All-Star team)

> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?

"touched for the very first time"

> 3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
> of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
> In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
> (the most common minor scale in our culture)?

[Hold on ... going to show my working
A-B-C-D-E-F-G
T S T T S T T]

tone-semitone-tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone

> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
> But what was one of these pieces called?

Core memory (RAM [via link])

> 5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
> Falcon".

Miles Archer

> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
> what venomous creature?

Scorpion [via link]

> 7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
> others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
> Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
> Sutherland.

They are twins [via link]

> 8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?

Fissshes, yes, *gollum*

> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
> won their third NBA championship in a row?

1996??

> 10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
> horse racing. What is its name?

Aqueduct ([link an aide-memoire])

> 11. First tiebreaker: Identify the hidden theme.

Signs of the zodiac

> 12. Second tiebreaker: Write an interesting additional question
> fitting the theme. (Please also provide the answer, in rot13.)

In the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling, who along with Gregory Goyle,
was Draco Malfoy's tubby lackey? (Ivaprag PENOOR)

Rob Parker

unread,
Feb 1, 2014, 11:47:56 PM2/1/14
to
> 1. In 1963, George Plimpton, a sportswriter who was not an
> athlete, was given the chance to suit up with a professional
> football game and play in an intra-squad practice game.
> Name the book he wrote about his experiences.
>
> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?

touched for the very first time

> 3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
> of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
> In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
> (the most common minor scale in our culture)?

tone-semitone-tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone

> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
> But what was one of these pieces called?

core

> 5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
> Falcon".
>
> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
> what venomous creature?

scorpion (?)

> 7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
> others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
> Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
> Sutherland.
>
> 8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?

fish

> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
> won their third NBA championship in a row?

1984

> 10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
> horse racing. What is its name?
>
> 11. First tiebreaker: Identify the hidden theme.
>
> 12. Second tiebreaker: Write an interesting additional question
> fitting the theme. (Please also provide the answer, in rot13.)


Rob

Dan Tilque

unread,
Feb 3, 2014, 11:55:55 PM2/3/14
to
Mark Brader wrote:
> This is Rotating Quiz #129. The contest will run for 6 days
> and 4 hours from the moment of posting, so you have until about
> 1:40 am Monday night (morning of Tuesday, February 4) by Toronto
> time, zone -5.
>
> Please answer based only on your own knowledge and, of course,
> do not discuss the questions in the newsgroup before answering.
>
> Please post your answers to all questions in a single followup in
> the newsgroup, quoting the questions and placing your answer below
> each one. This is not QFTCI -- you're only allowed one attempt
> per question. The last two questions are tiebreakers.
>
> 1. In 1963, George Plimpton, a sportswriter who was not an
> athlete, was given the chance to suit up with a professional
> football game and play in an intra-squad practice game.
> Name the book he wrote about his experiences.
>
> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?

it feels like the very first time

>
> 3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
> of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
> In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
> (the most common minor scale in our culture)?
>
> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
> But what was one of these pieces called?

core

>
> 5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
> Falcon".
>
> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
> what venomous creature?

scorpion

>
> 7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
> others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
> Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
> Sutherland.
>
> 8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?
>
> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
> won their third NBA championship in a row?

1994

>
> 10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
> horse racing. What is its name?
>
> 11. First tiebreaker: Identify the hidden theme.

too few answers to see a pattern

>
> 12. Second tiebreaker: Write an interesting additional question
> fitting the theme. (Please also provide the answer, in rot13.)
>


--
Dan Tilque

Helix, if everything goes according to plan, the plan has been
compromised. -- Sam Starfall in "Freefall"

Mark Brader

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Feb 4, 2014, 2:50:40 AM2/4/14
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Mark Brader:
> This is Rotating Quiz #129. The contest will run for 6 days
> and 4 hours from the moment of posting, so you have until about
> 1:40 am Monday night (morning of Tuesday, February 4) by Toronto
> time, zone -5.

The reason for the extra 4 hours was so that the contest wouldn't
end in the middle of a Canadian Inquisition game, when I knew
I wouldn't be around to score it.

I allowed half points for answers that incorporated the relevant
information but were not in the required form.

> 1. In 1963, George Plimpton, a sportswriter who was not an
> athlete, was given the chance to suit up with a professional
> football game and play in an intra-squad practice game.
> Name the book he wrote about his experiences.

"Paper Lion". 1 for Stephen, Marc, and Gareth. As Gareth noted,
he also wrote about similar experiences in several other sports.

> 2. In Madonna's song "Like a Virgin", after the title words
> are sung for the first time, what line comes next?

"Touched for the very first time." 1 for John, Stephen, David,
Peter, Calvin, Gareth, and Rob.

> 3. In playing the major scale, after the tonic note the sequence
> of intervals is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.
> In the same notation, what is it for the natural minor scale
> (the most common minor scale in our culture)?

Tone-semitone-tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone. 1 for Marc, David,
Gareth, and Rob. ½ for Stephen.

The white keys of a piano produce the major scale if C is the tonic
note, but they produce the minor scale if A is.

> 4. In the era of the IBM 360 series, the memory of a large
> computer around 1970 consisted of a 3-dimensional array
> of wires threaded through ring-shaped pieces of ferrite
> at their intersections. Each piece of ferrite represented
> either a 0 or a 1 bit depending on how it was magnetized.
> But what was one of these pieces called?

A core. 1 for Stephen, Marc, Rob, and Dan. ½ for David and Gareth.
John did himself in by adding "copper" to his answer.

> 5. Name Sam Spade's partner who is killed in "The Maltese
> Falcon".

Miles Archer. 1 for John, Jeff, and Gareth.

> 6. The American F-89 fighter plane, the British FV101 tank,
> and the Czech vz.61 machine gun were all given the name of
> what venomous creature?

Scorpion. 1 for John, Stephen, Jeff, Gareth, Rob, and Dan.

> 7. What do the following celebrities have in common (that most
> others do not)? Joseph Fiennes, Linda Hamilton, Jill
> Hennessy, Scarlett Johanssen, Isabella Rossellini, Keifer
> Sutherland.

Twins. 1 for John, Stephen, David, Calvin, Jeff, and Gareth.

The second and third on the list are identical twins, the others
fraternal. As far as I can tell from the Internet, Jacob Fiennes
is a gamekeeper, Leslie Hamilton Gearren is a nurse, Jacqueline
Hennessy is a writer, Hunter Johansson works in politics, Isotta
Rossellini is a university professor, and Rachel Sutherland works
in TV production; several of them have appeared with their twins in
movies or on TV at one time or another.

> 8. What is "alive without breath, as cold as death"?

A fish. 1 for Stephen, David, Calvin, Jeff, Gareth, and Rob.

The quotation is the start of a riddle-like poem recited by Gollum
in Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". It continues:

Alive without breath;
as cold as death;
never thirsting, ever drinking;
clad in mail, never clinking.
Drowns on dry land,
thinks an island
is a mountain,
thinks a fountain
is a puff of air.

So sleek, so fair!
What a joy to meet!
We only wish
to catch a fish,
so juicy-sweet!

> 9. Within 1, when was the last year that a team -- Chicago --
> won their third NBA championship in a row?

1998 (accepting 1997-99). 1 for John, Stephen, and Marc.

> 10. Within the city limits of New York there is one track for
> horse racing. What is its name?

Aqueduct. 1 for John, Stephen, Peter, Jeff, and Gareth.

Belmont is in the NYC metropolitan area but outside the city limits.
Pimlico is in Baltimore.


And, hey look, at this point we have a tie!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 TOTALS

Stephen Perry 1 1 ½ 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 8½
Gareth Owen 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 0 1 8½
John Adams 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 6
Rob Parker 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 5
Jeff Turner 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 5
Marc Dashevsky 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4
David B. 0 1 1 ½ 0 0 1 1 0 0 4½
"Calvin" 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 3
Dan Tilque 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2
Peter Smyth 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
Erland Sommarskog 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

3 7 4½ 5 3 6 6 6 3 5


> 11. First tiebreaker: Identify the hidden theme.

Signs of the zodiac, sometimes in punny allusion -- 6 in the answers
(Lion, Archer, scorpion, twins, fish, water-bearer) and 4 in the
questions (virgin, scales, RAM, Bulls).

As the entries were posted with nobody spotting the theme, I began
to worry that the tiebreaker would be unusable if it was needed --
I hadn't considered the possibility that two entrants would tie but
neither of them be able to answer #11. And, of course, if they didn't,
then the second tiebreaker would also be unusable.

But thankfully that didn't happen. Jeff and Gareth got #11, and so,
hearty congratulations to GARETH OWEN as the winner of this contest!

> 12. Second tiebreaker: Write an interesting additional question
> fitting the theme. (Please also provide the answer, in rot13.)

The two signs I didn't use were the goat (Capricorn) and the crab
(Cancer), so my intent was that the additional question should use
one of those; but I couldn't think of a way to make that explicit
without revealing something about the theme. In fact one entrant
wrote an additional question relating to one of those two signs and
and the other duplicated a sign I'd used in the contest. In random
order, their questions were:

12A. Who said, "What makes a muskrat defend his musk?"
12B. In the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling, who along with
Gregory Goyle, was Draco Malfoy's tubby lackey?

And the answers in rot13:

12A. Gur Pbjneqyl Yvba
12B. Ivaprag Penoor

I would have gotten the latter but not the former.


Thank you all for playing, and now it's over to Gareth for RQ 130.

--
Mark Brader, Toronto "Argh! Hoist by my own canard :-) !"
m...@vex.net -- Steve Summit

Mark Brader

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Feb 4, 2014, 2:53:23 AM2/4/14
to
Oops, I just posted the results of RQ 129 without changing the
subject line. I hate it when that happens. I'll repeat them
in full (and cancel the previous message, which doesn't work).

Gareth Owen

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Feb 4, 2014, 12:45:58 PM2/4/14
to
m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) writes:

> A fish. 1 for Stephen, David, Calvin, Jeff, Gareth, and Rob.
>
> The quotation is the start of a riddle-like poem recited by Gollum
> in Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings".

*cough* The Hobbit. But you knew that.

Mark Brader

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Feb 4, 2014, 1:35:38 PM2/4/14
to
Mark Brader:
>> The quotation is the start of a riddle-like poem recited by Gollum
>> in Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings".

Gareth Owen:
> *cough* The Hobbit. But you knew that.

*Cough* "The Lord of the Rings", book 4 (second half of "The Two Towers"),
chapter 2, probably the 2nd page of the chapter in most editions -- p.607
in the 1995 HarperCollins one-volume edition. But you knew that.

The preceding line, though, is "Baggins guessed it", so presumably it
first appeared in "The Hobbit" and he's talking about Bilbo. I'm afraid
I've only read "The Hobbit" once, but LOTR about 5 times.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "This is what customers do: they invent everything
m...@vex.net | you haven't thought of." -- David Slocombe

Gareth Owen

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Feb 4, 2014, 2:46:50 PM2/4/14
to
m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) writes:

> Mark Brader:
>>> The quotation is the start of a riddle-like poem recited by Gollum
>>> in Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings".
>
> Gareth Owen:
>> *cough* The Hobbit. But you knew that.
>
> *Cough* "The Lord of the Rings", book 4 (second half of "The Two Towers"),
> chapter 2, probably the 2nd page of the chapter in most editions -- p.607
> in the 1995 HarperCollins one-volume edition. But you knew that.

No, I didn't.

Mark Brader

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Feb 4, 2014, 4:00:46 PM2/4/14
to
Gareth Owen:
> No, I didn't.

Fixed!
--
Mark Brader Summary of issue: Fix FORTRAN-8x.
Toronto Committee Response: This proposal contains
m...@vex.net insurmountable technical errors.
-- X3J11 responses to 2nd public review
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