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Rare Entries contest MSB78 begins
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Mark Brader
Feb 9, 2014, 8:33:04 PM2/9/14
to
It's been fun, for sure. But I think this 78th Rare Entries
contest in the MSB series will probably be the last one.
As always, reply ONLY BY EMAIL to m...@vex.net; do not post to
any newsgroup. Entries must reach here by Tuesday, March 4, 2014
(by Toronto time, zone -5). I intend to post three reminders
before then. See below the questions for a detailed explanation,
which is unchanged from last time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rules 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.3.2, and 4.4 are relevant to certain
questions.
0. Name a 4-letter English word that is the name of a type
of animal *and* whose basic score in Scrabble is at least
10 points. This scoring means to total the values indicated
for each letter in the word: any of AEILNORSTU = 1; DG = 2;
BCMP = 3; FHVWY = 4; K = 5; JX = 8; QZ = 10. For example,
the word DINGO scores 2+1+1+2+1 = 7.
1. Name a chemical element that forms triatomic molecules with
oxygen, consisting of 1 of its atoms and 2 oxygen atoms.
2. Name a city where the (summer or winter) Olympic games have
been held, or are now being held, during this century. This
means the main host city commonly referred to in connection
with each respective Olympics.
3. Name a city now existing in a country now existing, that was
the capital of that country for at least 8 years, but now
is not. In cases where there is/was an official capital
and a different de facto capital, the official capital is
what counts.
4. Give a single noun that may be used in English to indicate a
criminal action that damages property but does not necessarily
injure a person.
5. Name a country, still existing today, that has defeated, by
military combat, a serious attempt by part of itself to
secede.
Here "serious" means that the attempt (1) either had the
support of a large part of the population, or sufficient
military force that popular support was irrelevant; and
(2) the secessionists had de facto control of significant
territory for at least 5 days after military conflict began.
An "attempt to secede" must involve a declaration of
independence or actions clearly indicating such intent.
"Part of itself" does not include dependencies.
6. Name a person who has hosted "The Tonight Show" seen on
the American network NBC (as a regular host, not a temporary
substitute).
7. Name a commonwealth now existing. This means a country or
dependency, a state or province, or an organization of these,
that currently exists and has an official name that in its
English-language version refers to it as a "commonwealth".
8. Name a country now existing that is doubly landlocked.
That is, not only does it have no seacoast, but neither does
any country bordering it.
9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
to indicate that play is complete.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* 1. The Game
As usual, for each of the questions above, your objective is to give
an answer that (1) is correct, and (2) will be duplicated by as FEW
other people as possible. Feel free to use any reference material
you like to RESEARCH your answers; but when you have found enough
possible answers for your liking, you are expected to choose on your
own which one to submit, WITHOUT mechanical or computer assistance:
this is meant to be a game of wits.
* 2. Scoring
The scores on the different questions are MULTIPLIED to produce a
final score for each entrant. Low score wins; a perfect score is 1.
If your answer on a category is correct, then your score is the number
of people who gave that answer, or an answer I consider equivalent.
A wrong answer, or a skipped question, gets a high score as a penalty.
This is the median of:
- the number of entrants
- the square root of that number, rounded up to an integer
- double the highest score that anyone would have on this
question if all answers were deemed correct
* 2.1 Scoring Example
Say I ask for a color on the current Canadian flag. There are
27 entrants -- 20 say "red", 4 say "blue", and 1 each say "gules",
"white", and "blue square". After looking up gules I decide it's
the same color as red and should be treated as a duplicate answer;
then the 21 people who said either "red" or "gules" get 21 points
each. The person who said "white" gets a perfect score of 1 point.
"Blue square" is not a color and blue is not a color on the flag;
the 5 people who gave either of these answers each get the same
penalty score, which is the median of:
- number of entrants = 27
- sqrt(27) = 5.196+, rounded up = 6
- double the highest score = 21 x 2 = 42
or in this case, 27.
* 2.2 More Specific Variants
On some questions it's possible that one entrant will give an answer
that's a more specific variant of an answer given by someone else.
In that case the more specific variant will usually be scored as if
the two answers are different, but the other, less specific variant
will be scored as if they are the same.
In the above example, if I had decided (wrongly) to score gules as
a more specific variant of red, then "red" would still score 21,
but "gules" would now score 1.
If a wrong answer is clearly associated with a specific right
answer, I will score the right answer as if the wrong answer was a
more specific variant of it. In the above example, if there were
3 additional entrants who said "white square", then "white square"
would be scored as wrong, but the score for "white" would be 4, not 1.
"More specific" scoring will NOT apply if the question asks for an
answer "in general terms"; a more specific answer will then at best be
treated the same as the more general one, and may be considered wrong.
* 3. Entries
Entries must be emailed to the address given above. Please do not
quote the questions back to me, and do send only plain text in ASCII
or ISO 8859-1: no HTML, attachments, Micros--t character sets, etc.,
and no Unicode, please. (Entrants who fail to comply will be publicly
chastised in the results posting.)
Your message should preferably consist of just your 10 answers,
numbered from 0 to 9, along with any explanations required. Your
name should be in it somewhere -- a From: line or signature is fine.
(If I don't see both a first and a last name, or an explicit request
for a particular form of your name to be used, then your email address
will be posted in the results).
You can expect an acknowledgement when I read your entry. If this
bounces, it won't be sent again.
* 3.1 Where Leeway is Allowed
In general there is no penalty for errors of spelling, capitalization,
English usage, or other such matters of form, nor for accidentally
sending email in an unfinished state, so long as it's clear enough
what you intended. Sometimes a specific question may imply stricter
rules, though. And if you give an answer that properly refers to a
different thing related to the one you intended, I will normally take
it as written.
Once you intentionally submit an answer, no changes will be allowed,
unless I decide there was a problem with the question. Similarly,
alternate answers within an entry will not be accepted. Only the
first answer that you intentionally submit counts.
* 3.2 Clarifications
Questions are not intended to be hard to understand, but I may fail
in this intent. (For one thing, in many cases clarity could only be
provided by an example which would suggest one or another specific
answer, and I mustn't do that.)
In order to be fair to all entrants, I must insist that requests for
clarification must be emailed to me, NOT POSTED in any newsgroup.
But if you do ask for clarification, I'll probably say that the
question is clear enough as posted. If I do decide to clarify or
change a question, all entrants will be informed.
* 3.3 Supporting Information
It is your option whether or not to provide supporting information
to justify your answers. If you don't, I'll email you to ask for
it if I need to. If you supply it in the form of a URL, if at all
possible it should be a "deep link" to the specific relevant page.
There is no need to supply URLs for obvious, well-known reference
web sites, and there is no point in supplying URLs for pages that
don't actually support your answer.
If you provide any explanatory remarks along with your answers, you
are responsible for making it sufficiently clear that they are not
part of the answers. The particular format doesn't matter as long
as you're clear. In the scoring example above, "white square" was
wrong; "white (in the central square)" would have been taken as a
correct answer with an explanation.
* 4. Interpretation of questions
These are general rules that apply unless a question specifically
states otherwise.
* 4.1 Geography
* 4.1.1 Countries
"Country" means an independent country. Whether or not a place is
considered an independent country is determined by how it is listed
in reference sources.
For purposes of these contests, the Earth is considered to be divid-
ed into disjoint areas each of which is either (1) a country, (2) a
dependency, or (3) without national government. Their boundaries
are interpreted on a de facto basis. Any place with representatives
in a country's legislature is considered a part of that country rather
than a dependency of it.
The European Union is considered as an association of countries, not
a country itself.
Claims that are not enforced, or not generally recognized, don't count.
Places currently fighting a war of secession don't count. Embassies
don't count as special; they may have extraterritorial rights, but
they're still part of the host country (and city).
Countries existing at different historical times are normally
considered the same country if they have the same capital city.
* 4.1.2 States or provinces
Many countries or dependencies are divided into subsidiary political
entities, typically with their own subsidiary governments. At the
first level of division, these entities are most commonly called
states or provinces, but various other names are used; sometimes
varying even within the same country (e.g. to indicate unequal
political status).
Any reference to "states or provinces" in a question refers to
these entities at the first level of division, no matter what they
are called.
* 4.1.3 Distances
Distances between places on the Earth are measured along a great
circle path, and distance involving cities are based on the city
center (downtown).
* 4.2 Entertainment
A "movie" does not include any form of TV broadcast or video release;
it must have been shown in cinemas. "Oscar" and "Academy Award" are
AMPAS trademarks and refer to the awards given by that organization.
"Fiction" includes dramatizations of true stories.
* 4.3 Words and Numbers
* 4.3.1 Different Answers
Some questions specifically ask for a *word*, rather than the thing
that it names; this means that different words with the same meaning
will in general be treated as distinct answers. However, if two or
more inflectional variants, spelling variants, or other closely
related forms are correct answers, they will be treated as equivalent.
Similarly, if the question specifically asks for a name, different
things referred to by the same name will be treated as the same.
* 4.3.2 Permitted Words
On questions that specifically ask for a word, The word that you
give must be listed (or implied by a listing, as with inflected
forms) in a suitable dictionary. Generally this means a printed
dictionary published recently enough to show reasonably current
usage, or its online equivalent. Other reasonably authoritative
sources may be accepted on a case-by-case basis. Words listed
as obsolete or archaic usage don't count, and sources that would
list those words without distinguishing them are not acceptable
as dictionaries.
* 4.3.3 Permitted Numbers
Where the distinction is important, "number" refers to a specific
mathematical value, whereas "numeral" means a way of writing it.
Thus "4", "IV", and "four" are three different numerals representing
the same number. "Digit" means one of the characters "0", "1", "2",
etc. (These definitions represent one of several conflicting common
usages.)
* 4.3.4 "Contained in"
If a question asks for a word or numeral "contained" or "included"
in a phrase, title, or the like, this does not include substrings or
alternate meanings of words, unless explictly specified. For example,
if "Canada in 1967" is the title of a book, it contains the numeral
1967 and the preposition "in"; but it does not contain the word "an",
the adjective "in", or the numeral 96.
* 4.4 Tense and Time
When a question is worded in the present tense, the correctness of
your answer is determined by the facts at the moment you submit it.
(In a case where, in my judgement, people might reasonably be unaware
of the facts having changed, an out-of-date answer may be accepted as
correct.) Questions worded in the present perfect tense include the
present unless something states or implies otherwise. (For example,
Canada is a country that "has existed", as well as one that "exists".)
Different verbs in a sentence bear their usual tense relationship to
each other.
You are not allowed to change the facts yourself in order to make an
answer correct. For example, if a question asks for material on the
WWW, what you cite must already have existed before the contest was
first posted.
* 5. Judging
As moderator, I will be the sole judge of what answers are correct,
and whether two answers with similar meaning (like red and gules)
are considered the same, different, or more/less specific variants.
I will do my best to be fair on all such issues, but sometimes it is
necessary to be arbitrary. Those who disagree with my rulings are
welcome to complain (or to start a competing contest, or whatever).
I may rescore the contest if I agree that I made a serious error and
it affects the high finishers.
* 6. Results
Results will normally be posted within a few days of the contest
closing. They may be delayed if I'm unexpectedly busy or for
technical reasons. If I feel I need help evaluating one or more
answers, I may make a consultative posting in the newsgroups before
scoring the contest.
In the results posting, all entrants will be listed in order of score,
but high (bad) scores may be omitted. The top few entrants' full
answer slates will be posted. A table of answers and their scores
will be given for each question.
* 7. Fun
This contest is for fun. Please do have fun, and good luck to all.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "If it's on TV, it has to be true!
m...@vex.net (I read that on the Internet.)"
My text in this article is in the public domain.
contest in the MSB series will probably be the last one.
As always, reply ONLY BY EMAIL to m...@vex.net; do not post to
any newsgroup. Entries must reach here by Tuesday, March 4, 2014
(by Toronto time, zone -5). I intend to post three reminders
before then. See below the questions for a detailed explanation,
which is unchanged from last time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rules 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.3.2, and 4.4 are relevant to certain
questions.
0. Name a 4-letter English word that is the name of a type
of animal *and* whose basic score in Scrabble is at least
10 points. This scoring means to total the values indicated
for each letter in the word: any of AEILNORSTU = 1; DG = 2;
BCMP = 3; FHVWY = 4; K = 5; JX = 8; QZ = 10. For example,
the word DINGO scores 2+1+1+2+1 = 7.
1. Name a chemical element that forms triatomic molecules with
oxygen, consisting of 1 of its atoms and 2 oxygen atoms.
2. Name a city where the (summer or winter) Olympic games have
been held, or are now being held, during this century. This
means the main host city commonly referred to in connection
with each respective Olympics.
3. Name a city now existing in a country now existing, that was
the capital of that country for at least 8 years, but now
is not. In cases where there is/was an official capital
and a different de facto capital, the official capital is
what counts.
4. Give a single noun that may be used in English to indicate a
criminal action that damages property but does not necessarily
injure a person.
5. Name a country, still existing today, that has defeated, by
military combat, a serious attempt by part of itself to
secede.
Here "serious" means that the attempt (1) either had the
support of a large part of the population, or sufficient
military force that popular support was irrelevant; and
(2) the secessionists had de facto control of significant
territory for at least 5 days after military conflict began.
An "attempt to secede" must involve a declaration of
independence or actions clearly indicating such intent.
"Part of itself" does not include dependencies.
6. Name a person who has hosted "The Tonight Show" seen on
the American network NBC (as a regular host, not a temporary
substitute).
7. Name a commonwealth now existing. This means a country or
dependency, a state or province, or an organization of these,
that currently exists and has an official name that in its
English-language version refers to it as a "commonwealth".
8. Name a country now existing that is doubly landlocked.
That is, not only does it have no seacoast, but neither does
any country bordering it.
9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
to indicate that play is complete.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* 1. The Game
As usual, for each of the questions above, your objective is to give
an answer that (1) is correct, and (2) will be duplicated by as FEW
other people as possible. Feel free to use any reference material
you like to RESEARCH your answers; but when you have found enough
possible answers for your liking, you are expected to choose on your
own which one to submit, WITHOUT mechanical or computer assistance:
this is meant to be a game of wits.
* 2. Scoring
The scores on the different questions are MULTIPLIED to produce a
final score for each entrant. Low score wins; a perfect score is 1.
If your answer on a category is correct, then your score is the number
of people who gave that answer, or an answer I consider equivalent.
A wrong answer, or a skipped question, gets a high score as a penalty.
This is the median of:
- the number of entrants
- the square root of that number, rounded up to an integer
- double the highest score that anyone would have on this
question if all answers were deemed correct
* 2.1 Scoring Example
Say I ask for a color on the current Canadian flag. There are
27 entrants -- 20 say "red", 4 say "blue", and 1 each say "gules",
"white", and "blue square". After looking up gules I decide it's
the same color as red and should be treated as a duplicate answer;
then the 21 people who said either "red" or "gules" get 21 points
each. The person who said "white" gets a perfect score of 1 point.
"Blue square" is not a color and blue is not a color on the flag;
the 5 people who gave either of these answers each get the same
penalty score, which is the median of:
- number of entrants = 27
- sqrt(27) = 5.196+, rounded up = 6
- double the highest score = 21 x 2 = 42
or in this case, 27.
* 2.2 More Specific Variants
On some questions it's possible that one entrant will give an answer
that's a more specific variant of an answer given by someone else.
In that case the more specific variant will usually be scored as if
the two answers are different, but the other, less specific variant
will be scored as if they are the same.
In the above example, if I had decided (wrongly) to score gules as
a more specific variant of red, then "red" would still score 21,
but "gules" would now score 1.
If a wrong answer is clearly associated with a specific right
answer, I will score the right answer as if the wrong answer was a
more specific variant of it. In the above example, if there were
3 additional entrants who said "white square", then "white square"
would be scored as wrong, but the score for "white" would be 4, not 1.
"More specific" scoring will NOT apply if the question asks for an
answer "in general terms"; a more specific answer will then at best be
treated the same as the more general one, and may be considered wrong.
* 3. Entries
Entries must be emailed to the address given above. Please do not
quote the questions back to me, and do send only plain text in ASCII
or ISO 8859-1: no HTML, attachments, Micros--t character sets, etc.,
and no Unicode, please. (Entrants who fail to comply will be publicly
chastised in the results posting.)
Your message should preferably consist of just your 10 answers,
numbered from 0 to 9, along with any explanations required. Your
name should be in it somewhere -- a From: line or signature is fine.
(If I don't see both a first and a last name, or an explicit request
for a particular form of your name to be used, then your email address
will be posted in the results).
You can expect an acknowledgement when I read your entry. If this
bounces, it won't be sent again.
* 3.1 Where Leeway is Allowed
In general there is no penalty for errors of spelling, capitalization,
English usage, or other such matters of form, nor for accidentally
sending email in an unfinished state, so long as it's clear enough
what you intended. Sometimes a specific question may imply stricter
rules, though. And if you give an answer that properly refers to a
different thing related to the one you intended, I will normally take
it as written.
Once you intentionally submit an answer, no changes will be allowed,
unless I decide there was a problem with the question. Similarly,
alternate answers within an entry will not be accepted. Only the
first answer that you intentionally submit counts.
* 3.2 Clarifications
Questions are not intended to be hard to understand, but I may fail
in this intent. (For one thing, in many cases clarity could only be
provided by an example which would suggest one or another specific
answer, and I mustn't do that.)
In order to be fair to all entrants, I must insist that requests for
clarification must be emailed to me, NOT POSTED in any newsgroup.
But if you do ask for clarification, I'll probably say that the
question is clear enough as posted. If I do decide to clarify or
change a question, all entrants will be informed.
* 3.3 Supporting Information
It is your option whether or not to provide supporting information
to justify your answers. If you don't, I'll email you to ask for
it if I need to. If you supply it in the form of a URL, if at all
possible it should be a "deep link" to the specific relevant page.
There is no need to supply URLs for obvious, well-known reference
web sites, and there is no point in supplying URLs for pages that
don't actually support your answer.
If you provide any explanatory remarks along with your answers, you
are responsible for making it sufficiently clear that they are not
part of the answers. The particular format doesn't matter as long
as you're clear. In the scoring example above, "white square" was
wrong; "white (in the central square)" would have been taken as a
correct answer with an explanation.
* 4. Interpretation of questions
These are general rules that apply unless a question specifically
states otherwise.
* 4.1 Geography
* 4.1.1 Countries
"Country" means an independent country. Whether or not a place is
considered an independent country is determined by how it is listed
in reference sources.
For purposes of these contests, the Earth is considered to be divid-
ed into disjoint areas each of which is either (1) a country, (2) a
dependency, or (3) without national government. Their boundaries
are interpreted on a de facto basis. Any place with representatives
in a country's legislature is considered a part of that country rather
than a dependency of it.
The European Union is considered as an association of countries, not
a country itself.
Claims that are not enforced, or not generally recognized, don't count.
Places currently fighting a war of secession don't count. Embassies
don't count as special; they may have extraterritorial rights, but
they're still part of the host country (and city).
Countries existing at different historical times are normally
considered the same country if they have the same capital city.
* 4.1.2 States or provinces
Many countries or dependencies are divided into subsidiary political
entities, typically with their own subsidiary governments. At the
first level of division, these entities are most commonly called
states or provinces, but various other names are used; sometimes
varying even within the same country (e.g. to indicate unequal
political status).
Any reference to "states or provinces" in a question refers to
these entities at the first level of division, no matter what they
are called.
* 4.1.3 Distances
Distances between places on the Earth are measured along a great
circle path, and distance involving cities are based on the city
center (downtown).
* 4.2 Entertainment
A "movie" does not include any form of TV broadcast or video release;
it must have been shown in cinemas. "Oscar" and "Academy Award" are
AMPAS trademarks and refer to the awards given by that organization.
"Fiction" includes dramatizations of true stories.
* 4.3 Words and Numbers
* 4.3.1 Different Answers
Some questions specifically ask for a *word*, rather than the thing
that it names; this means that different words with the same meaning
will in general be treated as distinct answers. However, if two or
more inflectional variants, spelling variants, or other closely
related forms are correct answers, they will be treated as equivalent.
Similarly, if the question specifically asks for a name, different
things referred to by the same name will be treated as the same.
* 4.3.2 Permitted Words
On questions that specifically ask for a word, The word that you
give must be listed (or implied by a listing, as with inflected
forms) in a suitable dictionary. Generally this means a printed
dictionary published recently enough to show reasonably current
usage, or its online equivalent. Other reasonably authoritative
sources may be accepted on a case-by-case basis. Words listed
as obsolete or archaic usage don't count, and sources that would
list those words without distinguishing them are not acceptable
as dictionaries.
* 4.3.3 Permitted Numbers
Where the distinction is important, "number" refers to a specific
mathematical value, whereas "numeral" means a way of writing it.
Thus "4", "IV", and "four" are three different numerals representing
the same number. "Digit" means one of the characters "0", "1", "2",
etc. (These definitions represent one of several conflicting common
usages.)
* 4.3.4 "Contained in"
If a question asks for a word or numeral "contained" or "included"
in a phrase, title, or the like, this does not include substrings or
alternate meanings of words, unless explictly specified. For example,
if "Canada in 1967" is the title of a book, it contains the numeral
1967 and the preposition "in"; but it does not contain the word "an",
the adjective "in", or the numeral 96.
* 4.4 Tense and Time
When a question is worded in the present tense, the correctness of
your answer is determined by the facts at the moment you submit it.
(In a case where, in my judgement, people might reasonably be unaware
of the facts having changed, an out-of-date answer may be accepted as
correct.) Questions worded in the present perfect tense include the
present unless something states or implies otherwise. (For example,
Canada is a country that "has existed", as well as one that "exists".)
Different verbs in a sentence bear their usual tense relationship to
each other.
You are not allowed to change the facts yourself in order to make an
answer correct. For example, if a question asks for material on the
WWW, what you cite must already have existed before the contest was
first posted.
* 5. Judging
As moderator, I will be the sole judge of what answers are correct,
and whether two answers with similar meaning (like red and gules)
are considered the same, different, or more/less specific variants.
I will do my best to be fair on all such issues, but sometimes it is
necessary to be arbitrary. Those who disagree with my rulings are
welcome to complain (or to start a competing contest, or whatever).
I may rescore the contest if I agree that I made a serious error and
it affects the high finishers.
* 6. Results
Results will normally be posted within a few days of the contest
closing. They may be delayed if I'm unexpectedly busy or for
technical reasons. If I feel I need help evaluating one or more
answers, I may make a consultative posting in the newsgroups before
scoring the contest.
In the results posting, all entrants will be listed in order of score,
but high (bad) scores may be omitted. The top few entrants' full
answer slates will be posted. A table of answers and their scores
will be given for each question.
* 7. Fun
This contest is for fun. Please do have fun, and good luck to all.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "If it's on TV, it has to be true!
m...@vex.net (I read that on the Internet.)"
My text in this article is in the public domain.
Mark Brader
Feb 17, 2014, 2:44:02 AM2/17/14
to
This is the first reminder of the current, and probably my final,
Rare Entries contest. Everything below these two paragraphs is
the same as in the original contest posting.
As always, reply ONLY BY EMAIL to m...@vex.net; do not post to
any newsgroup. Entries must reach here by Tuesday, March 4, 2014
(by Toronto time, zone -5). I intend to post two more reminders
Rare Entries contest. Everything below these two paragraphs is
the same as in the original contest posting.
As always, reply ONLY BY EMAIL to m...@vex.net; do not post to
any newsgroup. Entries must reach here by Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Mark Brader
Feb 24, 2014, 1:57:13 PM2/24/14
to
This is another reminder of the current, and probably my final,
Rare Entries contest. Everything below these two paragraphs is
the same as in the original contest posting.
As always, reply ONLY BY EMAIL to m...@vex.net; do not post to
any newsgroup. Entries must reach here by Tuesday, March 4, 2014
(by Toronto time, zone -5). I intend to post one last reminder
the same as in the original contest posting.
As always, reply ONLY BY EMAIL to m...@vex.net; do not post to
any newsgroup. Entries must reach here by Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Mark Brader
Mar 1, 2014, 1:40:59 PM3/1/14
to
This is the last reminder of the current, and probably my final,
Rare Entries contest. If you have not already entered, you now
have 3 days and about 10.3 hours remaining. Everything below
Rare Entries contest. If you have not already entered, you now
have 3 days and about 10.3 hours remaining. Everything below
these two paragraphs is the same as in the original contest posting.
As always, reply ONLY BY EMAIL to m...@vex.net; do not post to
any newsgroup. Entries must reach here by Tuesday, March 4, 2014
(by Toronto time, zone -5). See below the questions for a detailed
As always, reply ONLY BY EMAIL to m...@vex.net; do not post to
any newsgroup. Entries must reach here by Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Mark Brader
Mar 6, 2014, 7:44:31 PM3/6/14
to
Rare Entries contest MSB78 drew 32 entries.
> * 6. Results
>
> Results will normally be posted within a few days of the contest
> closing... If I feel I need help evaluating one or more
> 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
> spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
> appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
> to indicate that play is complete.
Sports fans, please review what I say below and respond in the newsgroups
if you have anything to say about my making a wrong presumption, reaching
a wrong conclusion, or if I asked for an opinion or information. This
consultation will run until noon Saturday, by Toronto time, zone -5,
which means you have a bit over 40 hours. Please do not comment on your
own answer unless I said something factually wrong.
I note in passing that hockey supplies at least five different answers
all by itself, as there is both a visible and an audible signal
and different ones have been used at different arenas: green light,
blue light, bell, horn, siren. Three of these were given.
Here are all the answers I received, reworded in some cases:
* Bell
* Gong
Clearly correct (hockey, boxing), with "gong" (which implies a single
strike) a more specific version of "bell" (which doesn't).
* Siren
Correct.
* Throwing bag of rice
Sumo wrestling, I'm told. I presume this is correct.
* Gunshot
Clearly correct (football).
* Winning post
Wrong -- it's a marker, not a signal.
* Removing the bails
Clearly correct (cricket).
* Checkered flag
Clearly correct (car racing).
* Long-short-long whistle signal
* Whistle blown three times
* Whistle
I presume the long-short-long signal is correct; at least, several
people gave it (mentioning soccer). The entrant who said "whistle
blown three times" also had soccer in mind; I'm inclined to score
these as equivalent unless there is some other professionally played
sport where a different 3-whistle signal is used.
As the use of whistles is common I presume it's also true that in some
professional sports a simple whistle blast or some other signal is
used, so "whistle" is a correct answer but the other is a more specific
version.
* Horn
* Airhorn toot
"Airhorn toot" sounds like it means a handheld horn and I'm not
aware of this use in professional sports. Is it correct? If so,
I am inclined to count it as a more specific version of "horn".
And the rest are all hand signals:
* Baseball "safe" sign
* That one-handed thing an Australian rules football umpire does to signal
a "behind"
* Crossing arms in front of chest
* Raising both arms
* Raising one arm with hand open
* Waving both arms
* Waving one hand
The entrant who mentioned baseball had in mind a game that ends with
the home team scoring in the 9th or a later inning to take the lead.
I'm inclined to rule this as wrong; the fact that in this case the
signal coincides with the end of play does not mean that the signal
itself indicates the end of play.
What do people other than the entrant feel about this?
The "behind" signal is wrong in any case, as it does not indicate
the end of play -- unless the same reasoning can be applied to it.
I'm not familiar with Australian football: is it sometimes played
with a sudden-death overtime or something so that the scoring of
a behind could end the game? (Even if that's true, that answer is
still only correct if the baseball one was.)
The crossed arms are claimed to be for volleyball, which is played
professionally. I presume this is correct.
Raising both arms is in Australian football. I presume this is correct.
Raising one arm is in American football. I presume this is correct.
Waving both arms is in boxing. I presume this is correct.
For waving one hand, the entrant had in mind a signal in horse racing
indicating that the jockeys' weights have been checked and the winning
bets can now be paid. But this does not indicate the end of the
competition, so if this is the only use of the signal, it's a wrong
answer. The entrant could not name another professionally played
sport where this signal does indicate the end of play: can anyone?
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "I tried to hit Bjarne Stroustrup with a snowball,
m...@vex.net | but missed." --Clive Feather
> * 6. Results
>
> Results will normally be posted within a few days of the contest
> answers, I may make a consultative posting in the newsgroups before
> scoring the contest.
This is a consultative posting. One question asked:
> scoring the contest.
> 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
> spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
> appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
> to indicate that play is complete.
if you have anything to say about my making a wrong presumption, reaching
a wrong conclusion, or if I asked for an opinion or information. This
consultation will run until noon Saturday, by Toronto time, zone -5,
which means you have a bit over 40 hours. Please do not comment on your
own answer unless I said something factually wrong.
I note in passing that hockey supplies at least five different answers
all by itself, as there is both a visible and an audible signal
and different ones have been used at different arenas: green light,
blue light, bell, horn, siren. Three of these were given.
Here are all the answers I received, reworded in some cases:
* Bell
* Gong
Clearly correct (hockey, boxing), with "gong" (which implies a single
strike) a more specific version of "bell" (which doesn't).
* Siren
Correct.
* Throwing bag of rice
Sumo wrestling, I'm told. I presume this is correct.
* Gunshot
Clearly correct (football).
* Winning post
Wrong -- it's a marker, not a signal.
* Removing the bails
Clearly correct (cricket).
* Checkered flag
Clearly correct (car racing).
* Long-short-long whistle signal
* Whistle blown three times
* Whistle
I presume the long-short-long signal is correct; at least, several
people gave it (mentioning soccer). The entrant who said "whistle
blown three times" also had soccer in mind; I'm inclined to score
these as equivalent unless there is some other professionally played
sport where a different 3-whistle signal is used.
As the use of whistles is common I presume it's also true that in some
professional sports a simple whistle blast or some other signal is
used, so "whistle" is a correct answer but the other is a more specific
version.
* Horn
* Airhorn toot
"Airhorn toot" sounds like it means a handheld horn and I'm not
aware of this use in professional sports. Is it correct? If so,
I am inclined to count it as a more specific version of "horn".
And the rest are all hand signals:
* Baseball "safe" sign
* That one-handed thing an Australian rules football umpire does to signal
a "behind"
* Crossing arms in front of chest
* Raising both arms
* Raising one arm with hand open
* Waving both arms
* Waving one hand
The entrant who mentioned baseball had in mind a game that ends with
the home team scoring in the 9th or a later inning to take the lead.
I'm inclined to rule this as wrong; the fact that in this case the
signal coincides with the end of play does not mean that the signal
itself indicates the end of play.
What do people other than the entrant feel about this?
The "behind" signal is wrong in any case, as it does not indicate
the end of play -- unless the same reasoning can be applied to it.
I'm not familiar with Australian football: is it sometimes played
with a sudden-death overtime or something so that the scoring of
a behind could end the game? (Even if that's true, that answer is
still only correct if the baseball one was.)
The crossed arms are claimed to be for volleyball, which is played
professionally. I presume this is correct.
Raising both arms is in Australian football. I presume this is correct.
Raising one arm is in American football. I presume this is correct.
Waving both arms is in boxing. I presume this is correct.
For waving one hand, the entrant had in mind a signal in horse racing
indicating that the jockeys' weights have been checked and the winning
bets can now be paid. But this does not indicate the end of the
competition, so if this is the only use of the signal, it's a wrong
answer. The entrant could not name another professionally played
sport where this signal does indicate the end of play: can anyone?
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "I tried to hit Bjarne Stroustrup with a snowball,
m...@vex.net | but missed." --Clive Feather
Dan Tilque
Mar 6, 2014, 11:37:27 PM3/6/14
to
Mark Brader wrote:
>
> * Long-short-long whistle signal
> * Whistle blown three times
> * Whistle
>
> I presume the long-short-long signal is correct; at least, several
> people gave it (mentioning soccer). The entrant who said "whistle
> blown three times" also had soccer in mind; I'm inclined to score
> these as equivalent unless there is some other professionally played
> sport where a different 3-whistle signal is used.
In my researches about Aussie Rules Football, there was the requirement
>
> * Long-short-long whistle signal
> * Whistle blown three times
> * Whistle
>
> I presume the long-short-long signal is correct; at least, several
> people gave it (mentioning soccer). The entrant who said "whistle
> blown three times" also had soccer in mind; I'm inclined to score
> these as equivalent unless there is some other professionally played
> sport where a different 3-whistle signal is used.
that the umpire blow three short bursts on his whistle while raising
both hands above the head. But that's only when there is no siren.
When there is a timekeeper with a siren (as is most common) the
procedure is for the siren to sound until one of the referees signals he
heard it by raising his hands above his head.
Source: https://usafl.com/files/umpiring/AFL_IntlUmpiresGuide_v.3-1.pdf
"2. Quarter Time / End of Match
Signal: When time expires, at the end of each quarter, the timekeeper
will sound
the siren (if available). If no timekeeper or siren are available, you
will have to
keep time on the field and blow your whistle in 3 consecutive short
bursts, while
holding arms above your head at shoulder width."
>
> The entrant who mentioned baseball had in mind a game that ends with
> the home team scoring in the 9th or a later inning to take the lead.
> I'm inclined to rule this as wrong; the fact that in this case the
> signal coincides with the end of play does not mean that the signal
> itself indicates the end of play.
>
> What do people other than the entrant feel about this?
(or half-inning) in baseball.
>
> The crossed arms are claimed to be for volleyball, which is played
> professionally. I presume this is correct.
--
Dan Tilque
Calvin
Mar 7, 2014, 1:00:38 AM3/7/14
to
On Friday, March 7, 2014 10:44:31 AM UTC+10, Mark Brader wrote:
> Rare Entries contest MSB78 drew 32 entries.
You should retire more often :-)
> Rare Entries contest MSB78 drew 32 entries.
> The "behind" signal is wrong in any case, as it does not indicate
> the end of play -- unless the same reasoning can be applied to it.
> I'm not familiar with Australian football: is it sometimes played
> with a sudden-death overtime or something so that the scoring of
> a behind could end the game?
I've never heard of any sudden death option, certainly not at professional level.
> Raising both arms is in Australian football. I presume this is correct.
I don't feel qualified to comment on the other sports you mentioned.
cheers,
calvin
Gareth Owen
Mar 7, 2014, 2:12:32 AM3/7/14
to
Given your comments on the baseball safe signal...
In F1 and NASCAR racing the checkered f1ag is flown to signal that the
winner has won, but the competition for all the other places is still
ongoing.
Rugby League uses an airhorn to signal that the clock has expired, but
play continues until the ball next goes dead (unless there's a penalty
on the play).
In F1 and NASCAR racing the checkered f1ag is flown to signal that the
winner has won, but the competition for all the other places is still
ongoing.
Rugby League uses an airhorn to signal that the clock has expired, but
play continues until the ball next goes dead (unless there's a penalty
on the play).
Dan Tilque
Mar 7, 2014, 2:24:49 AM3/7/14
to
swp wrote:
> niece who is a former player about this. she did say that the there are a
> number of various minor rule variations with the numerous professional leagues.
> I would ask the entrant to provide a specific reference and rule based on that.
OK, I withdraw my flat statement in another post that this was correct.
I didn't think about the possibility that pro volleyball may do things
differently than amateur. I agree that the entrant should provide a
reference. But I'd be surprised if some pro league somewhere doesn't use
this signal.
>
>> Raising both arms is in Australian football. I presume this is correct.
>
> end of a single scoring play, not necessarily the game.
You're thinking of American football, Jack (addressing your friend who
is undoubtedly responsible for this part of your post). Aussie football
has different signals for scoring.
>
> I need more nyquil. and some Jack Daniels. much more Jack Daniels.
--
Dan Tilque
> On Thursday, March 6, 2014 7:44:31 PM UTC-5, Mark Brader wrote:
>
>> The crossed arms are claimed to be for volleyball, which is played
>> professionally. I presume this is correct.
>
> in ncaa rules this is true, not professional volleyball. I had to ask my
>
>> The crossed arms are claimed to be for volleyball, which is played
>> professionally. I presume this is correct.
>
> niece who is a former player about this. she did say that the there are a
> number of various minor rule variations with the numerous professional leagues.
> I would ask the entrant to provide a specific reference and rule based on that.
OK, I withdraw my flat statement in another post that this was correct.
I didn't think about the possibility that pro volleyball may do things
differently than amateur. I agree that the entrant should provide a
reference. But I'd be surprised if some pro league somewhere doesn't use
this signal.
>
>> Raising both arms is in Australian football. I presume this is correct.
>
You're thinking of American football, Jack (addressing your friend who
is undoubtedly responsible for this part of your post). Aussie football
has different signals for scoring.
>
> I need more nyquil. and some Jack Daniels. much more Jack Daniels.
--
Dan Tilque
Dan Tilque
Mar 7, 2014, 3:05:57 AM3/7/14
to
Gareth Owen wrote:
>
> Rugby League uses an airhorn to signal that the clock has expired, but
> play continues until the ball next goes dead (unless there's a penalty
> on the play).
American (and I expect, Canadian) football has the same rule. Which is
>
> Rugby League uses an airhorn to signal that the clock has expired, but
> play continues until the ball next goes dead (unless there's a penalty
> on the play).
not too surprising since they were derived from Rugby. Basketball has a
rule that a shot being in the air when the horn sounds will be counted
if it goes into the basket.
I'm not sure I'd consider these rules to mean the horn or whatever is
not a signal to the end of play. It's just not a signal of *immediate*
end of play.
--
Dan Tilque
Rob Parker
Mar 7, 2014, 3:24:51 AM3/7/14
to
"Mark Brader" <m...@vex.net> wrote in message
news:h8mdnV_NXfzyi4TO...@vex.net...
> This is a consultative posting. One question asked:
>
>> 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
>> spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
>> appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
>> to indicate that play is complete.
>
>
>> 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
>> spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
>> appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
>> to indicate that play is complete.
>
> * Removing the bails
>
> Clearly correct (cricket).
This one seems tricky to me. In fact, I considered it for my answer, but
>
> Clearly correct (cricket).
did not choose it because I wasn't sure how you would rule.
Removal of the bails (Law 16.3) is a signal which follows the Call of Time,
according to Law 16.2. It is the call of time which officially ends play
for the session (and possibly the match); but that is not necessarily
audible to everyone watching, whereas the removal of bails is. However,
this is not the only way in which play - the entire match - can end - see
Law 16.9. Many of those endings do not have any signal associated with
them.
Reference: the MCC Laws of Cricket:
https://www.lords.org/mcc/laws-of-cricket/laws/law-16-start-of-play-cessation-of-play/
I might post again on something else if it seems I can make a (hopefully)
useful contribution.
Rob
Stanley Daniel de Liver
Mar 7, 2014, 4:13:16 AM3/7/14
to
On Fri, 07 Mar 2014 00:44:31 -0000, Mark Brader <m...@vex.net> wrote:
> Rare Entries contest MSB78 drew 32 entries.
>
>> * 6. Results
>>
>> Results will normally be posted within a few days of the contest
>> closing... If I feel I need help evaluating one or more
>> answers, I may make a consultative posting in the newsgroups before
>> scoring the contest.
>
> This is a consultative posting. One question asked:
>
>> 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
>> spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
>> appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
>> to indicate that play is complete.
>
Possibly some of the difficulty is that the signal used at the end-of-play
> Rare Entries contest MSB78 drew 32 entries.
>
>> * 6. Results
>>
>> Results will normally be posted within a few days of the contest
>> closing... If I feel I need help evaluating one or more
>> answers, I may make a consultative posting in the newsgroups before
>> scoring the contest.
>
> This is a consultative posting. One question asked:
>
>> 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
>> spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
>> appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
>> to indicate that play is complete.
>
is also used as end-of-turn; you didn't specify an unique ending signal.
>
> * Checkered flag
>
> Clearly correct (car racing).
runner-up positions.
--
It's a money /life balance.
Phil Carmody
Mar 7, 2014, 5:08:17 PM3/7/14
to
> Please do not comment on your
> own answer unless I said something factually wrong.
One comment I wish to make concerns my own answer.
> own answer unless I said something factually wrong.
I've been having the occasional mail issue, as servers think that anything to
do with "asdf.org" can only be spam. Had I seen a mail from you asking what
sport I had in mind, I would have had a response.
I view the above as a comment on my wish to make a comment, and a comment
on my capability of making a comment, but not a comment on my own answer.
As I more global comment, I interpret "play is complete" to be very
different from "a play is complete", and the former was asked not the
latter.
Phil
--
Religion is too important a matter to its devotees to be a subject of
ridicule. If they indulge in absurdities, they are to be pitied rather
than ridiculed. -- Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), lecture at Konigsberg, 1775
gerson
Mar 7, 2014, 6:12:23 PM3/7/14
to
"Gareth Owen" <gwo...@gmail.com> wrote in message news:87y50me...@gmail.com...
Clearly correct, yes, but it doesn't necessarily mark completion, because the competition mightn't be thought to
be complete until the placings are decided, and it's up to the judge to decide that, and there may be protests
or disqualifications, and the expected placings may not turn out to be the eventual ones. There might be a
difference between the event being complete, and the competition being complete.
On the other hand, sometimes the official can be seen to be waving the flag *before* the leading car crosses the
line, and that might be thought to be before the event is complete, but it doesn't happen every time, and
the answer's still correct, because it's what the question asks for, that is a *signal* etc., and signals are
interpreted by whoever sees them.
In cricket it's traditionally the stumps coming out rather than the bails coming off, (bearing in mind that these
things can happen at any day in a five day test match), but both will do, being a "signal ... to indicate" etc.
In any case the match is over before the signal's given.
Mark Brader
Mar 7, 2014, 10:54:04 PM3/7/14
to
Mark Brader:
except to provide relevant factual information, including supporting
citations.
I am now extending this consultation by 14 hours beyond the previous
deadline -- that is, to 3 am Sunday by Toronto time, zone -4. And
I will post followups commenting on some of the responses already
posted.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "Mark is, as usual, correct."
m...@vex.net --John Lawler
> > 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
> > spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
> > appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
> > to indicate that play is complete.
> Sports fans, please review what I say below and respond in the newsgroups
> if you have anything to say about my making a wrong presumption, reaching
> a wrong conclusion, or if I asked for an opinion or information. This
> consultation will run until noon Saturday, by Toronto time, zone -5,
> which means you have a bit over 40 hours. Please do not comment on your
> own answer unless I said something factually wrong.
Let me now revise that to: please do not comment on your own answer
> > spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
> > appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
> > to indicate that play is complete.
> Sports fans, please review what I say below and respond in the newsgroups
> if you have anything to say about my making a wrong presumption, reaching
> a wrong conclusion, or if I asked for an opinion or information. This
> consultation will run until noon Saturday, by Toronto time, zone -5,
> which means you have a bit over 40 hours. Please do not comment on your
> own answer unless I said something factually wrong.
except to provide relevant factual information, including supporting
citations.
I am now extending this consultation by 14 hours beyond the previous
deadline -- that is, to 3 am Sunday by Toronto time, zone -4. And
I will post followups commenting on some of the responses already
posted.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "Mark is, as usual, correct."
m...@vex.net --John Lawler
Mark Brader
Mar 7, 2014, 11:06:34 PM3/7/14
to
Mark Brader:
or only the winner? If the former, I say it counts.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | I am a mathematician, sir. I never permit myself
m...@vex.net | to think. --Stuart Mills (Carr: The Three Coffins)
>> * Checkered flag
>>
>> Clearly correct (car racing).
Gareth Owen:
>>
>> Clearly correct (car racing).
> In F1 and NASCAR racing the checkered f1ag is flown to signal that the
> winner has won, but the competition for all the other places is still
> ongoing.
Does each competitor get a checkered flag at the end of their final lap,
> winner has won, but the competition for all the other places is still
> ongoing.
or only the winner? If the former, I say it counts.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | I am a mathematician, sir. I never permit myself
m...@vex.net | to think. --Stuart Mills (Carr: The Three Coffins)
Mark Brader
Mar 7, 2014, 11:13:34 PM3/7/14
to
Gareth Owen:
or about to be started continues until it ends; if there is a touchdown
then (normally) there is a convert attempt; if there is a penalty and
it's not declined, then there is another play; repeat as necessary.
Once all that's done and there isn't going to be another play, it used
to be that they fired a gun to indicate the end of play, but I haven't
heard that done in the last few games I've watched.
> Basketball has a
> rule that a shot being in the air when the horn sounds will be counted
> if it goes into the basket.
>
> I'm not sure I'd consider these rules to mean the horn or whatever is
> not a signal to the end of play. It's just not a signal of *immediate*
> end of play.
Hmm. I guess I'll buy that, if it matters.
What about "horn" vs. "air horn"?
--
Mark Brader | Peter Neumann on Y2K:
Toronto | This problem gives new meaning to "going out on
m...@vex.net | a date" (which many systems will do on 1/1/00).
>> Rugby League uses an airhorn to signal that the clock has expired, but
>> play continues until the ball next goes dead (unless there's a penalty
>> on the play).
Dan Tilque:
>> play continues until the ball next goes dead (unless there's a penalty
>> on the play).
> American (and I expect, Canadian) football has the same rule. Which is
> not too surprising since they were derived from Rugby.
In Canadian football, when the clock goes to zero, the play in progress
> not too surprising since they were derived from Rugby.
or about to be started continues until it ends; if there is a touchdown
then (normally) there is a convert attempt; if there is a penalty and
it's not declined, then there is another play; repeat as necessary.
Once all that's done and there isn't going to be another play, it used
to be that they fired a gun to indicate the end of play, but I haven't
heard that done in the last few games I've watched.
> Basketball has a
> rule that a shot being in the air when the horn sounds will be counted
> if it goes into the basket.
>
> I'm not sure I'd consider these rules to mean the horn or whatever is
> not a signal to the end of play. It's just not a signal of *immediate*
> end of play.
What about "horn" vs. "air horn"?
--
Mark Brader | Peter Neumann on Y2K:
Toronto | This problem gives new meaning to "going out on
m...@vex.net | a date" (which many systems will do on 1/1/00).
Mark Brader
Mar 7, 2014, 11:15:13 PM3/7/14
to
Rob Parker:
If that's the rule then I say both actions are signals indicating the
end of play.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "I can't tell from this... whether you're
m...@vex.net | a wise man or a wise guy." --Ted Schuerzinger
> Removal of the bails (Law 16.3) is a signal which follows the Call of Time,
> according to Law 16.2. It is the call of time which officially ends play
> for the session (and possibly the match); but that is not necessarily
> audible to everyone watching, whereas the removal of bails is.
Hmm, those bails must be noisier than I realized. :-)
> according to Law 16.2. It is the call of time which officially ends play
> for the session (and possibly the match); but that is not necessarily
> audible to everyone watching, whereas the removal of bails is.
If that's the rule then I say both actions are signals indicating the
end of play.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "I can't tell from this... whether you're
m...@vex.net | a wise man or a wise guy." --Ted Schuerzinger
Mark Brader
Mar 7, 2014, 11:16:22 PM3/7/14
to
> Possibly some of the difficulty is that the signal used at the end-of-play
> is also used as end-of-turn; you didn't specify an unique ending signal.
Deliberately; in many cases the same signal that indicates the completion
> is also used as end-of-turn; you didn't specify an unique ending signal.
of play is also used to indicate the end of a period, or the equivalent
in other sports.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto, m...@vex.net
MARTIANS BUILD TWO IMMENSE CANALS IN TWO YEARS.
Vast Engineering Works Accomplished in an Incredibly Short Time
by Our Planetary Neighbors. --N.Y.Times headline, August 27, 1911
Mark Brader
Mar 7, 2014, 11:18:57 PM3/7/14
to
Phil Carmody:
this question. If you want to provide factual information now, please do.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "Where is down special?" ... "Good."
m...@vex.net | "Do you refuse to answer my question?" "Don't know."
> I've been having the occasional mail issue, as servers think that anything to
> do with "asdf.org" can only be spam. Had I seen a mail from you asking what
> sport I had in mind, I would have had a response.
At one point during the contest period I decided not to check answers on
> do with "asdf.org" can only be spam. Had I seen a mail from you asking what
> sport I had in mind, I would have had a response.
this question. If you want to provide factual information now, please do.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "Where is down special?" ... "Good."
m...@vex.net | "Do you refuse to answer my question?" "Don't know."
Rob Parker
Mar 8, 2014, 12:51:22 AM3/8/14
to
news:AMCdnRBKcJzMBIfO...@vex.net...
not - but you knew that ;-)
> If that's the rule then I say both actions are signals indicating the
> end of play.
So it doesn't matter that it's not the ONLY way in which the end of play can
occur?
Rob
> Rob Parker:
>> Removal of the bails (Law 16.3) is a signal which follows the Call of
>> Time,
>> according to Law 16.2. It is the call of time which officially ends play
>> for the session (and possibly the match); but that is not necessarily
>> audible to everyone watching, whereas the removal of bails is.
>
> Hmm, those bails must be noisier than I realized. :-)
It's an action which can be seen from afar; the umpire's spoken "Time" is
>> Removal of the bails (Law 16.3) is a signal which follows the Call of
>> Time,
>> according to Law 16.2. It is the call of time which officially ends play
>> for the session (and possibly the match); but that is not necessarily
>> audible to everyone watching, whereas the removal of bails is.
>
> Hmm, those bails must be noisier than I realized. :-)
not - but you knew that ;-)
> If that's the rule then I say both actions are signals indicating the
> end of play.
occur?
Rob
Dan Tilque
Mar 8, 2014, 1:11:22 AM3/8/14
to
Dan Tilque wrote:
>
>
> Source: https://usafl.com/files/umpiring/AFL_IntlUmpiresGuide_v.3-1.pdf
I just want to note that this document, while produced by a professional
league, is aimed toward "international" play. That is, it's a guide
meant for umpires in countries other than Australia, which means amateur
play. So it's perhaps not applicable to this contest.
I apologize for any inconvenience.
>
> "2. Quarter Time / End of Match
> Signal: When time expires, at the end of each quarter, the timekeeper
> will sound
> the siren (if available). If no timekeeper or siren are available, you
> will have to
> keep time on the field and blow your whistle in 3 consecutive short
> bursts, while
> holding arms above your head at shoulder width."
--
Dan Tilque
>
>
> Source: https://usafl.com/files/umpiring/AFL_IntlUmpiresGuide_v.3-1.pdf
I just want to note that this document, while produced by a professional
league, is aimed toward "international" play. That is, it's a guide
meant for umpires in countries other than Australia, which means amateur
play. So it's perhaps not applicable to this contest.
I apologize for any inconvenience.
>
> "2. Quarter Time / End of Match
> Signal: When time expires, at the end of each quarter, the timekeeper
> will sound
> the siren (if available). If no timekeeper or siren are available, you
> will have to
> keep time on the field and blow your whistle in 3 consecutive short
> bursts, while
> holding arms above your head at shoulder width."
Dan Tilque
Erland Sommarskog
Mar 8, 2014, 4:40:29 AM3/8/14
to
Mark Brader (m...@vex.net) writes:
> Gareth Owen:
>> In F1 and NASCAR racing the checkered f1ag is flown to signal that the
>> winner has won, but the competition for all the other places is still
>> ongoing.
>
> Does each competitor get a checkered flag at the end of their final lap,
> or only the winner? If the former, I say it counts.
On http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/understanding_the_sport/5282.html
> Gareth Owen:
>> In F1 and NASCAR racing the checkered f1ag is flown to signal that the
>> winner has won, but the competition for all the other places is still
>> ongoing.
>
> Does each competitor get a checkered flag at the end of their final lap,
> or only the winner? If the former, I say it counts.
Chequered flag
Indicates to drivers that the session has ended. During practice and
qualifying sessions it is waved at the allotted time, during the race
it is shown first to the winner and then to every car that crosses
the line behind him.
For the record: this was my response. The objection that Gareth and
others have put forth occurred me at the time, but I thought that maybe
Mark would approve of it. I spent minimal time of my entry, and the only
other thing I could think of was the whistles that closes a football
game, which did not seem to be very original. I am not going argue if Mark
eventually decides to rule the checquered flag as incorrect.
--
Erland Sommarskog, Stockholm, esq...@sommarskog.se
Duncan Booth
Mar 8, 2014, 7:40:37 AM3/8/14
to
m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:
> Mark Brader:
>>> * Checkered flag
>>>
>>> Clearly correct (car racing).
>
> Gareth Owen:
>> In F1 and NASCAR racing the checkered f1ag is flown to signal that the
>> winner has won, but the competition for all the other places is still
>> ongoing.
>
> Does each competitor get a checkered flag at the end of their final lap,
> or only the winner? If the former, I say it counts.
> Mark Brader:
>>> * Checkered flag
>>>
>>> Clearly correct (car racing).
>
> Gareth Owen:
>> In F1 and NASCAR racing the checkered f1ag is flown to signal that the
>> winner has won, but the competition for all the other places is still
>> ongoing.
>
> Does each competitor get a checkered flag at the end of their final lap,
> or only the winner? If the former, I say it counts.
http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/understanding_the_sport/5282.html
> Chequered flag
> Indicates to drivers that the session has ended. During practice and
> qualifying sessions it is waved at the allotted time, during the race
> it is shown first to the winner and then to every car that crosses the
> line behind him.
Also if the race time exceeds 2 hours the chequered flag is shown to
> Chequered flag
> Indicates to drivers that the session has ended. During practice and
> qualifying sessions it is waved at the allotted time, during the race
> it is shown first to the winner and then to every car that crosses the
> line behind him.
indicate the end of the race even though none of the drivers may have
completed the set number of laps.
--
Duncan Booth
gerson
Mar 9, 2014, 4:11:35 AM3/9/14
to
Mark Brade wrote
>
> For waving one hand, the entrant had in mind a signal in horse racing
> indicating that the jockeys' weights have been checked and the winning
> bets can now be paid. But this does not indicate the end of the
> competition, so if this is the only use of the signal, it's a wrong
> answer. The entrant could not name another professionally played
> sport where this signal does indicate the end of play: can anyone?
Since I am allowed to comment as to facts, then:
the "correct weight" signal is not a signal to pay out bets, but a signal
to indicate that no competitor has been disqualified, that no formal
protest has been made, and that the judge's placings are finalised.
>
> For waving one hand, the entrant had in mind a signal in horse racing
> indicating that the jockeys' weights have been checked and the winning
> bets can now be paid. But this does not indicate the end of the
> competition, so if this is the only use of the signal, it's a wrong
> answer. The entrant could not name another professionally played
> sport where this signal does indicate the end of play: can anyone?
the "correct weight" signal is not a signal to pay out bets, but a signal
to indicate that no competitor has been disqualified, that no formal
protest has been made, and that the judge's placings are finalised.
Mark Brader
Mar 9, 2014, 4:12:24 AM3/9/14
to
Once again, I wrote:
| As usual, for each of the items above, your objective is to give a
| response that (1) is correct, and (2) will be duplicated by as FEW
| other people as possible. Feel free to use any reference material...
This, probably my final Rare Entries contest, drew a decent field of
32 entrants, and the winner by a factor of more than 2 is DAN TILQUE.
Hearty congratulations! In second place was Phil Carmody, and in third,
the entrant identified only as "Calvin".
These are their slates of answers (some abbreviated). As always, you
should be reading this in a monospaced font for proper tabular alignment.
DAN TILQUE PHIL CARMODY CALVIN
[0] Jynx Oryx Fowl
[1] Hafnium Vanadium Germanium
[2] Salt Lake City Athens Beijing
[3] Koror Al-Askar Dar es Salaam
[4] Mischief Hacking Graffito
[5] Brazil (wrong answer) Sri Lanka
[6] Steve Allen Steve Allen Steve Allen
[7] Northern Marianas C.I.S. Bahamas
[8] Uzbekistan Liechtenstein Uzbekistan
[9] Raising both arms Airhorn toot Removing bails
| Please do not quote the questions back to me, and do send only
| plain text in ASCII or ISO 8859-1: no HTML, attachments, Micros--t
| character sets, etc., and no Unicode, please. (Entrants who fail
| to comply will be publicly chastised in the results posting.)
Joshua Kreitzer, Marc Dashevsky, Stephen Perry, Mike Jones, Calvin,
Nate Paymer, Nick Selwyn, Duncan Booth, Erland Sommarskog, Peter
Smyth, Pete Gayde, and Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd are ALL chastised!
Naughty, naughty, naughty!
To review the scoring:
| Low score wins; a perfect score is 1.
|
| If your answer on a category is correct, then your score is the number
| of people who gave that answer or an answer I consider equivalent. If
| wrong, or if you skip the question, you get a high score as a penalty.
| The scores on the different questions are *multiplied* to produce a
| final score. ... It is also possible that I may consider one answer
| to be a more specific variant of another: in that case it will be
| scored as if they are different, but the other, less specific variant
Here is the complete table of scores.
RANK SCORE ENTRANT Q0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9
1. 7776 Dan Tilque 1 1 3 3 3 2 4 4 9 1
2. 22080 Phil Carmody 3 1 4 1 1 WR 4 1 23 1
3. 28800 Calvin 1 1 5 2 2 5 4 4 9 2
4. 30912 Peter Smyth 2 1 4 WR 1 1 7 2 23 2
5. 66240 Stephen Perry 1 2 2 WR 2 1 5 6 23 2
6. 119232 Rob Parker 2 2 3 2 4 1 9 3 23 2
7. 123648 Lieven Marchand 4 2 3 1 4 4 7 2 23 1
8. 138000 Orlando Quattro 1 1 10 1 1 WR 5 3 23 2
9. 178848 Nate Paymer 3 3 4 3 1 4 3 6 23 1
10. 252000 Erland Sommarskog 1 1 4 1 4 10 7 5 9 5
11. 680400 Dan Unger 2 1 5 3 3 10 7 6 9 2
12. 782460 Lejonel Norling 1 3 3 3 4 5 7 3 23 3
13. 874800 Nick Selwyn 3 3 3 1 8 10 9 1 9 5
14. 1192320 Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd 1 1 10 3 4 2 2 6 23 WR
=14. 1192320 Marc Dashevsky 1 2 10 1 2 4 WR 2 23 9
16. 1242000 Alan Curry 3 3 3 1 4 4 5 5 23 5
17. 1296000 Joshua Kreitzer 3 3 5 2 8 10 5 4 9 1
18. 1483776 Larry Colton 4 2 2 3 8 4 7 3 23 2
19. 1555200 Rob Pyle 1 3 10 1 8 10 9 4 9 2
20. 2384640 Kevin Stone 3 3 10 1 4 4 2 4 23 9
21. 2898000 Ted Schuerzinger 1 3 5 3 8 10 7 5 23 1
22. 2980800 Peter Chapman 3 2 10 1 8 5 9 6 23 1
23. 3353400 John Gerson 2 3 3 3 1 10 5 3 23 WR
24. 5248800 Pete Gayde 1 1 3 WR 8 5 9 5 9 WR
Bruce Bowler 4 2 10 1 8 4 9 4 23 5
Dave Filpus 3 2 3 3 WR 5 4 4 23 9
Duncan Booth 1 3 10 1 WR WR 9 4 23 5
Haran Pilpel 3 3 10 3 3 10 9 3 23 9
Duke Lefty 3 2 WR 3 2 10 9 5 9 WR
Gerhard Woeginger 3 WR 5 2 1 WR WR 6 23 9
Paul Townsend 3 1 WR 3 4 WR WR 2 23 9
Mike Jones 4 2 10 WR WR 10 3 WR 23 WR
Scores of 10,000,000 or worse are not shown.
And here is the complete list of answers given. Each list shows correct
answers in the order worst to best (most to least popular). The
notation ">>>" means that "more specific variant" scoring was used.
| 0. Name a 4-letter English word that is the name of a type
| of animal *and* whose basic score in Scrabble is at least
| 10 points. This scoring means to total the values indicated
| for each letter in the word: any of AEILNORSTU = 1; DG = 2;
| BCMP = 3; FHVWY = 4; K = 5; JX = 8; QZ = 10. For example,
| the word DINGO scores 2+1+1+2+1 = 7.
4 Lynx (14)
3 Mink (10)
3 Oryx (14)
3 Wolf (10)
3 Zebu (15)
2 Fawn (10)
2 Pike (10)
1 Cavy (12)
1 Fish (10)
1 Fowl (10)
1 Goby (10)
1 Hake (11)
1 Hawk (14)
1 Ibex (13)
1 Jird (12)
1 Jynx (21)
1 Kaka (12)
1 Pika (10)
1 Tick (10)
I learned a few words here.
This question was inspired by a Canadian Inquisition question that
I haven't posted here yet, in which we had to name a certain creature.
Two wrong answers that were guessed were 4-letter words, the correct
answer was also a 4-letter word, and each of the three included one
of the five highest-scoring Scrabble letters and was worth 9 points
or more.
I suspected that people would collide on the higher-scoring words
such as lynx and oryx, and to a considerable extent they did.
| 1. Name a chemical element that forms triatomic molecules with
| oxygen, consisting of 1 of its atoms and 2 oxygen atoms.
3 Chlorine
3 Selenium
3 Sulfur
3 Titanium
>>> 1 [WRONG] Titanium dioxide
2 Bromine
2 Carbon
2 Oxygen
2 Rhodium
2 Tin
1 Cerium
1 Cesium
1 Germanium
1 Hafnium
1 Manganese
1 Nitrogen
1 Plutonium
1 Silicon
1 Thorium
1 Vanadium
WRONG:
1 Titanium dioxide (asked to name element, not compound)
Because oxygen is so reactive, and because many elements will form
compounds with various valences, lots of correct answers are possible
here -- one entrant cited a reference that he said showed 55 of them.
But the question was carefully worded so that there would be one
tricky answer, namely oxygen (the triatomic compound, of course,
being ozone). So I was hoping for a collision on that, but it did
not happen; answers were well divided.
| 2. Name a city where the (summer or winter) Olympic games have
| been held, or are now being held, during this century. This
| means the main host city commonly referred to in connection
| with each respective Olympics.
10 Turin (2006)
5 Beijing (2008)
4 Athens (2004)
3 London (2012)
3 Salt Lake City (2002)
3 Vancouver (2010)
2 Sochi (2014)
WRONG:
1 Seoul (1998)
1 St. Louis (1904)
There were two intentional traps on this question: I was hoping some
people would still be thinking we were in the 20th century -- I know
*I* do sometimes -- and others would think that the year 2000 wasn't.
In fact nobody fell for the second trap, but I did catch a couple
with the first one.
All 7 correct answers were given, but entrants strongly preferred to
pick games near the middle of the chronological list -- especially
Turin, which I did not expect.
| 3. Name a city now existing in a country now existing, that was
| the capital of that country for at least 8 years, but now
| is not. In cases where there is/was an official capital
| and a different de facto capital, the official capital is
| what counts.
3 Koror (Palau, 1994-2006; Ngerulmud, Melekeok)
3 Lagos (Nigeria, 1960-91; Abuja)
3 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil, 1822-1960; Brasilia)
3 Zomba (Malawi, 1964-74; Lilongwe)
2 Dar es Salaam (Tanzania, 1964-74; Dodoma)
2 Quezon City (Philippines, 1948-76; Manila)
1 Abidjan (Ivory Coast, 1960-83; Yamassoukro)
1 Al-Askar (Egypt, 750-868; Cairo)
1 Alexandria (Egypt, c.300 BC - 651; Cairo)
1 Bonn ([West] Germany, 1949-90; Berlin) (see below)
1 Kaifeng (China, 960-1127; Beijing)
1 Kandahar (Afghanistan, 1747-76; Kabul)
1 Karachi (Pakistan, 1947-58; Islamabad)
1 Mandalay (Myanmar, 1859-85; Naypyidaw)
1 Philadelphia (US, 1790-1800; Washington)
1 Qazvin (Iran, 1555-98; Tehran)
1 St. Petersburg (1712-1918, Russia; Moscow)
1 Yangon (Myanmar, 1948-2006; Naypyidaw)
WRONG:
1 Auckland (New Zealand, 1841-65) (not a country then)
1 Bingerville (Ivory Coast, 1909-34) (not a country then)
1 Kolonia (Micronesia, 1986-89; Palikir) (not 8 years)
1 Saigon (never capital of Vietnam)
After the semicolon in each entry I show the current capitals of
the respective countries.
In designing this question, I should have thought about that fact
that some places have very long histories as an independent country,
though not always continuous histories. Several possible correct
answers are supplied by *each* of Egypt, China, and Iran. In order
to cut down the range of answers, I should either have restricted the
time period to the last 300 years or so, or else counted the country,
rather than the city, as the answer.
The specification of 8 years was chosen so as to make Philadelphia
a correct answer, and I was hoping that a large number of American
entrants would collide on that, but they didn't. In fact, it was
only given once.
There was one answer whose correctness was unclear to me. What we
once called West Germany is clearly the same country now called
Germany, and starting in 1949 its de facto capital was Bonn. But this
question is about official capitals. The reunification treaty of
1990 specified officially that Berlin would be the capital, but a few
sources (including at least one Wikipedia article when I checked it)
assert that Berlin was the official capital throughout the period
1949-90 -- even though West Berlin was not even officially part of
West Germany.
When I looked into this in detail, what I found was that when Bonn
was chosen it was designated as the "provisional capital", but I
found nothing about a separate official capital being designated.
So my best reading is that Bonn was the only capital there was,
and calling it "provisional" just meant that there was no promise
the capital would remain there indefinitely. Everyone knew that a
reunification with East Germany was likely and afterwards the capital
would likely be Berlin again, and in those days they thought it would
probably be only a few years away, not decades as it turned out.
Hence "provisional". And so this is a correct answer.
By the way, one *reason* some people backed the choice of Bonn was
that it seemed so unlike a typical capital city; and that was because
when reunification did happen they wanted to make sure the capital
did move back to Berlin. The chief alternative option was Frankfurt,
and Munich was also considered; but in either case it was felt that
too many people would want to keep the capital there permanently.
| 4. Give a single noun that may be used in English to indicate a
| criminal action that damages property but does not necessarily
| injure a person.
8 Arson
4 Sabotage
4 Vandalism
3 Mischief
2 Graffiti [= Graffito]
2 Tagging
1 Adulteration
1 Burglary
1 Defacement
1 Fire-raising
1 Hacking
1 Spoliation
WRONG:
1 Pyromania (motive, not crime)
1 Theft (not property damage)
1 Trespass (not property damage)
Since this question asked for a word ("a single noun"), not a crime,
different answers referring to the same crime were scored as distinct.
Since it said "*may* be used to indicate a criminal action that
damages property", I accepted answers that might either refer to a
crime or to a similar non-criminal action, or to a crime that may
or may not damage property. Theft, however, does not fall under
that description -- if the property being stolen is also damaged,
that's a separate event. Likewise trespass.
As to the preference for arson, I make no comment.
| 5. Name a country, still existing today, that has defeated, by
| military combat, a serious attempt by part of itself to
| secede.
|
| Here "serious" means that the attempt (1) either had the
| support of a large part of the population, or sufficient
| military force that popular support was irrelevant; and
| (2) the secessionists had de facto control of significant
| territory for at least 5 days after military conflict began.
| An "attempt to secede" must involve a declaration of
| independence or actions clearly indicating such intent.
| "Part of itself" does not include dependencies.
10 Nigeria (1967-70, Biafra)
5 Sri Lanka (1983-2009, Tamil Eelam)
4 United States (1861-65, Confederate States of America)
4 Yemen (1994, Democratic Republic of Yemen)
>>> 1 [WRONG] Yemen vs. Democratic Republic of Yemen
2 Brazil (1836-45, Riograndense Republic)
1 D.R. Congo (1960-63, Katanga)
1 India (1966, Mizo National Front)
1 Switzerland (1847, Sonderbund)
WRONG:
1 England (not a country as defined)
1 France (no attempt to make Corsica or Toulon independent)
1 Moldova (no military defeat of Transnistria)
1 United Kingdom (no attempt to make Northern Ireland independent)
1 Yemen vs. Democratic Republic of Yemen (asked to name country,
not conflict)
Yeah, I remember the Biafran War too.
Let's move on to the wrong answers. After the French Revolution threw
out the monarchy, there were revolts in several parts of France,
often involving some sort of alliance with the British. But as
far as I can see, none of these places were declaring independence.
Toulon declared its loyalty to the French royal family, for example;
but that's choosing sides in a civil war over France, not an attempt
to secede from France, just as Taiwan never attempted to secede from
China (or vice versa).
Corsica is an interesting case; it had earlier seceded from the
republic of Genoa, which was not yet part of something called Italy,
and declared independence before becoming part of France. After the
French revolution, the leader of the previous secession returned to
Corsica and after some debate the island declared its separation from
France -- but it did not declare independence this time. Rather,
it placed itself under the British crown.
Similarly, the purpose of any uprisings in Northern Ireland against
the UK has been to transfer Northern Ireland to Ireland, not to
make it independent. So it doesn't matter whether they meet the
other criteria.
As for Moldova, the fighting with Transnistria (aka Pridnestrovie)
may have ended, but it did not end with Moldova winning. Transnistria
is still a de facto independent country even if it is not generally
officially recognized as such.
| 6. Name a person who has hosted "The Tonight Show" seen on
| the American network NBC (as a regular host, not a temporary
| substitute).
9 Jack Paar (1957-62)
7 Jay Leno (1992-2009 and 2010-14)
5 Johnny Carson (1962-92)
4 Steve Allen (1954-57)
3 Jimmy Fallon (2014-)
>>> 1 [WRONG] Jimmy Fallon [submitted before 2014-02-17]
2 Conan O'Brien (2009-10)
WRONG:
1 (no answer)
1 Ernie Kovacs
1 Jimmy Fallon [submitted before 2014-02-17]
Jay Leno's last show as the regular host was just before the recent
Olympics; the original idea was that the show would not appear
during the Olympics and Jimmy Fallon would take over immediately
afterwards, but his start date was moved earlier, to 2014-02-17.
I timed the contest so that he would become a correct answer during
the contest period, but one entrant jumped the gun on that.
Most entrants either picked the show's second host or the one who
is now its second-most-recent.
| 7. Name a commonwealth now existing. This means a country or
| dependency, a state or province, or an organization of these,
| that currently exists and has an official name that in its
| English-language version refers to it as a "commonwealth".
6 Dominica (country)
5 Kentucky (US state)
4 Bahamas (country)
4 Northern Mariana Islands (US dependency)
3 Australia (country)
3 Virginia (US state)
2 Massachusetts (US state)
2 Pennsylvania (US state)
1 Commonwealth of Independent States (international association)
1 Commonwealth of Nations (international association)
WRONG:
1 India (official name is Republic of India)
Among US dependencies there are two correct answers. The well-known
one is Puerto Rico, which was named by nobody. The other is the
Northern Mariana Is., and that was one of the most popular answers.
Other answers were fairly well divided, with countries generally being
named more often than US states, while the international associations
that originated as the USSR and the British Empire were named only
once each. Besides Puerto Rico, I am not aware of any other correct
answers that were not given.
| 8. Name a country now existing that is doubly landlocked.
| That is, not only does it have no seacoast, but neither does
| any country bordering it.
23 Liechtenstein
9 Uzbekistan
There are, of course, only two correct answers here -- but they did
not score anything like equally well.
One entrant claimed that there was only one correct answer, but
this view depends on taking "seacoast" to include the shore of the
Caspian Sea. Sorry, but no matter what it's called, the Caspian
Sea is a lake.
| 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
| spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
| appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
| to indicate that play is complete.
9 Whistle
>>> 3 Whistle blown 3 times
>>> 2 Long-short-long whistle signal
5 Checkered flag
2 Bell
>>> 1 Gong
2 Gunshot
2 Horn
>>> 1 Airhorn toot
2 Removing bails from wicket
1 Crossing arms in front of chest
1 Raising both arms
1 Raising one arm with hand open
1 Siren
1 Waving both arms
WRONG:
1 Baseball "safe" sign (not end-of-play signal)
1 That one-handed thing an Australian rules football umpire does
to signal "behind" (not end-of-play signal)
1 Throwing bag of rice (no evidence this is correct)
1 Waving a hand (no evidence this is correct)
1 Winning post (a marker, not a signal)
I scored this on the basis that an end-of-play signal may have
other related meanings (such as end-of-period), but can't just mean
something that only coincides with the end of play in specific
circumstances (such as scoring). Also, if the end of play is
indicated by a succession of signals, they are all end-of-play
signals: for example, in Australian football the timekeeper sounds
a siren and the umpire raises both arms and blows a whistle.
I should have required the entrants to name an applicable sport.
There was at least one case of an answer that I learned was correct
but not for the sport the entrant had in mind.
For other issues, see the consultative subthread.
And we're done. Thank you all for playing.
<horn sounds and green light comes on>
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "The Dopeler effect: dumb ideas sound smarter
m...@vex.net | when they come at you in a hurry."
| As usual, for each of the items above, your objective is to give a
| response that (1) is correct, and (2) will be duplicated by as FEW
| other people as possible. Feel free to use any reference material...
This, probably my final Rare Entries contest, drew a decent field of
32 entrants, and the winner by a factor of more than 2 is DAN TILQUE.
Hearty congratulations! In second place was Phil Carmody, and in third,
the entrant identified only as "Calvin".
These are their slates of answers (some abbreviated). As always, you
should be reading this in a monospaced font for proper tabular alignment.
DAN TILQUE PHIL CARMODY CALVIN
[0] Jynx Oryx Fowl
[1] Hafnium Vanadium Germanium
[2] Salt Lake City Athens Beijing
[3] Koror Al-Askar Dar es Salaam
[4] Mischief Hacking Graffito
[5] Brazil (wrong answer) Sri Lanka
[6] Steve Allen Steve Allen Steve Allen
[7] Northern Marianas C.I.S. Bahamas
[8] Uzbekistan Liechtenstein Uzbekistan
[9] Raising both arms Airhorn toot Removing bails
| Please do not quote the questions back to me, and do send only
| plain text in ASCII or ISO 8859-1: no HTML, attachments, Micros--t
| character sets, etc., and no Unicode, please. (Entrants who fail
| to comply will be publicly chastised in the results posting.)
Nate Paymer, Nick Selwyn, Duncan Booth, Erland Sommarskog, Peter
Smyth, Pete Gayde, and Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd are ALL chastised!
Naughty, naughty, naughty!
To review the scoring:
| Low score wins; a perfect score is 1.
|
| If your answer on a category is correct, then your score is the number
| wrong, or if you skip the question, you get a high score as a penalty.
| The scores on the different questions are *multiplied* to produce a
| final score. ... It is also possible that I may consider one answer
| to be a more specific variant of another: in that case it will be
| scored as if they are different, but the other, less specific variant
| will be scored as if they are the same.
See the questions posting for the penalty score formula.
Here is the complete table of scores.
RANK SCORE ENTRANT Q0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9
1. 7776 Dan Tilque 1 1 3 3 3 2 4 4 9 1
2. 22080 Phil Carmody 3 1 4 1 1 WR 4 1 23 1
3. 28800 Calvin 1 1 5 2 2 5 4 4 9 2
4. 30912 Peter Smyth 2 1 4 WR 1 1 7 2 23 2
5. 66240 Stephen Perry 1 2 2 WR 2 1 5 6 23 2
6. 119232 Rob Parker 2 2 3 2 4 1 9 3 23 2
7. 123648 Lieven Marchand 4 2 3 1 4 4 7 2 23 1
8. 138000 Orlando Quattro 1 1 10 1 1 WR 5 3 23 2
9. 178848 Nate Paymer 3 3 4 3 1 4 3 6 23 1
10. 252000 Erland Sommarskog 1 1 4 1 4 10 7 5 9 5
11. 680400 Dan Unger 2 1 5 3 3 10 7 6 9 2
12. 782460 Lejonel Norling 1 3 3 3 4 5 7 3 23 3
13. 874800 Nick Selwyn 3 3 3 1 8 10 9 1 9 5
14. 1192320 Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd 1 1 10 3 4 2 2 6 23 WR
=14. 1192320 Marc Dashevsky 1 2 10 1 2 4 WR 2 23 9
16. 1242000 Alan Curry 3 3 3 1 4 4 5 5 23 5
17. 1296000 Joshua Kreitzer 3 3 5 2 8 10 5 4 9 1
18. 1483776 Larry Colton 4 2 2 3 8 4 7 3 23 2
19. 1555200 Rob Pyle 1 3 10 1 8 10 9 4 9 2
20. 2384640 Kevin Stone 3 3 10 1 4 4 2 4 23 9
21. 2898000 Ted Schuerzinger 1 3 5 3 8 10 7 5 23 1
22. 2980800 Peter Chapman 3 2 10 1 8 5 9 6 23 1
23. 3353400 John Gerson 2 3 3 3 1 10 5 3 23 WR
24. 5248800 Pete Gayde 1 1 3 WR 8 5 9 5 9 WR
Bruce Bowler 4 2 10 1 8 4 9 4 23 5
Dave Filpus 3 2 3 3 WR 5 4 4 23 9
Duncan Booth 1 3 10 1 WR WR 9 4 23 5
Haran Pilpel 3 3 10 3 3 10 9 3 23 9
Duke Lefty 3 2 WR 3 2 10 9 5 9 WR
Gerhard Woeginger 3 WR 5 2 1 WR WR 6 23 9
Paul Townsend 3 1 WR 3 4 WR WR 2 23 9
Mike Jones 4 2 10 WR WR 10 3 WR 23 WR
Scores of 10,000,000 or worse are not shown.
And here is the complete list of answers given. Each list shows correct
answers in the order worst to best (most to least popular). The
notation ">>>" means that "more specific variant" scoring was used.
| 0. Name a 4-letter English word that is the name of a type
| of animal *and* whose basic score in Scrabble is at least
| 10 points. This scoring means to total the values indicated
| for each letter in the word: any of AEILNORSTU = 1; DG = 2;
| BCMP = 3; FHVWY = 4; K = 5; JX = 8; QZ = 10. For example,
| the word DINGO scores 2+1+1+2+1 = 7.
3 Mink (10)
3 Oryx (14)
3 Wolf (10)
3 Zebu (15)
2 Fawn (10)
2 Pike (10)
1 Cavy (12)
1 Fish (10)
1 Fowl (10)
1 Goby (10)
1 Hake (11)
1 Hawk (14)
1 Ibex (13)
1 Jird (12)
1 Jynx (21)
1 Kaka (12)
1 Pika (10)
1 Tick (10)
I learned a few words here.
This question was inspired by a Canadian Inquisition question that
I haven't posted here yet, in which we had to name a certain creature.
Two wrong answers that were guessed were 4-letter words, the correct
answer was also a 4-letter word, and each of the three included one
of the five highest-scoring Scrabble letters and was worth 9 points
or more.
I suspected that people would collide on the higher-scoring words
such as lynx and oryx, and to a considerable extent they did.
| 1. Name a chemical element that forms triatomic molecules with
| oxygen, consisting of 1 of its atoms and 2 oxygen atoms.
3 Selenium
3 Sulfur
3 Titanium
>>> 1 [WRONG] Titanium dioxide
2 Bromine
2 Carbon
2 Oxygen
2 Rhodium
2 Tin
1 Cerium
1 Cesium
1 Germanium
1 Hafnium
1 Manganese
1 Nitrogen
1 Plutonium
1 Silicon
1 Thorium
1 Vanadium
WRONG:
1 Titanium dioxide (asked to name element, not compound)
Because oxygen is so reactive, and because many elements will form
compounds with various valences, lots of correct answers are possible
here -- one entrant cited a reference that he said showed 55 of them.
But the question was carefully worded so that there would be one
tricky answer, namely oxygen (the triatomic compound, of course,
being ozone). So I was hoping for a collision on that, but it did
not happen; answers were well divided.
| 2. Name a city where the (summer or winter) Olympic games have
| been held, or are now being held, during this century. This
| means the main host city commonly referred to in connection
| with each respective Olympics.
5 Beijing (2008)
4 Athens (2004)
3 London (2012)
3 Salt Lake City (2002)
3 Vancouver (2010)
2 Sochi (2014)
WRONG:
1 Seoul (1998)
1 St. Louis (1904)
There were two intentional traps on this question: I was hoping some
people would still be thinking we were in the 20th century -- I know
*I* do sometimes -- and others would think that the year 2000 wasn't.
In fact nobody fell for the second trap, but I did catch a couple
with the first one.
All 7 correct answers were given, but entrants strongly preferred to
pick games near the middle of the chronological list -- especially
Turin, which I did not expect.
| 3. Name a city now existing in a country now existing, that was
| the capital of that country for at least 8 years, but now
| is not. In cases where there is/was an official capital
| and a different de facto capital, the official capital is
| what counts.
3 Lagos (Nigeria, 1960-91; Abuja)
3 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil, 1822-1960; Brasilia)
3 Zomba (Malawi, 1964-74; Lilongwe)
2 Dar es Salaam (Tanzania, 1964-74; Dodoma)
2 Quezon City (Philippines, 1948-76; Manila)
1 Abidjan (Ivory Coast, 1960-83; Yamassoukro)
1 Al-Askar (Egypt, 750-868; Cairo)
1 Alexandria (Egypt, c.300 BC - 651; Cairo)
1 Bonn ([West] Germany, 1949-90; Berlin) (see below)
1 Kaifeng (China, 960-1127; Beijing)
1 Kandahar (Afghanistan, 1747-76; Kabul)
1 Karachi (Pakistan, 1947-58; Islamabad)
1 Mandalay (Myanmar, 1859-85; Naypyidaw)
1 Philadelphia (US, 1790-1800; Washington)
1 Qazvin (Iran, 1555-98; Tehran)
1 St. Petersburg (1712-1918, Russia; Moscow)
1 Yangon (Myanmar, 1948-2006; Naypyidaw)
WRONG:
1 Auckland (New Zealand, 1841-65) (not a country then)
1 Bingerville (Ivory Coast, 1909-34) (not a country then)
1 Kolonia (Micronesia, 1986-89; Palikir) (not 8 years)
1 Saigon (never capital of Vietnam)
After the semicolon in each entry I show the current capitals of
the respective countries.
In designing this question, I should have thought about that fact
that some places have very long histories as an independent country,
though not always continuous histories. Several possible correct
answers are supplied by *each* of Egypt, China, and Iran. In order
to cut down the range of answers, I should either have restricted the
time period to the last 300 years or so, or else counted the country,
rather than the city, as the answer.
The specification of 8 years was chosen so as to make Philadelphia
a correct answer, and I was hoping that a large number of American
entrants would collide on that, but they didn't. In fact, it was
only given once.
There was one answer whose correctness was unclear to me. What we
once called West Germany is clearly the same country now called
Germany, and starting in 1949 its de facto capital was Bonn. But this
question is about official capitals. The reunification treaty of
1990 specified officially that Berlin would be the capital, but a few
sources (including at least one Wikipedia article when I checked it)
assert that Berlin was the official capital throughout the period
1949-90 -- even though West Berlin was not even officially part of
West Germany.
When I looked into this in detail, what I found was that when Bonn
was chosen it was designated as the "provisional capital", but I
found nothing about a separate official capital being designated.
So my best reading is that Bonn was the only capital there was,
and calling it "provisional" just meant that there was no promise
the capital would remain there indefinitely. Everyone knew that a
reunification with East Germany was likely and afterwards the capital
would likely be Berlin again, and in those days they thought it would
probably be only a few years away, not decades as it turned out.
Hence "provisional". And so this is a correct answer.
By the way, one *reason* some people backed the choice of Bonn was
that it seemed so unlike a typical capital city; and that was because
when reunification did happen they wanted to make sure the capital
did move back to Berlin. The chief alternative option was Frankfurt,
and Munich was also considered; but in either case it was felt that
too many people would want to keep the capital there permanently.
| 4. Give a single noun that may be used in English to indicate a
| criminal action that damages property but does not necessarily
| injure a person.
4 Sabotage
4 Vandalism
3 Mischief
2 Graffiti [= Graffito]
2 Tagging
1 Adulteration
1 Burglary
1 Defacement
1 Fire-raising
1 Hacking
1 Spoliation
WRONG:
1 Pyromania (motive, not crime)
1 Theft (not property damage)
1 Trespass (not property damage)
Since this question asked for a word ("a single noun"), not a crime,
different answers referring to the same crime were scored as distinct.
Since it said "*may* be used to indicate a criminal action that
damages property", I accepted answers that might either refer to a
crime or to a similar non-criminal action, or to a crime that may
or may not damage property. Theft, however, does not fall under
that description -- if the property being stolen is also damaged,
that's a separate event. Likewise trespass.
As to the preference for arson, I make no comment.
| 5. Name a country, still existing today, that has defeated, by
| military combat, a serious attempt by part of itself to
| secede.
|
| Here "serious" means that the attempt (1) either had the
| support of a large part of the population, or sufficient
| military force that popular support was irrelevant; and
| (2) the secessionists had de facto control of significant
| territory for at least 5 days after military conflict began.
| An "attempt to secede" must involve a declaration of
| independence or actions clearly indicating such intent.
| "Part of itself" does not include dependencies.
5 Sri Lanka (1983-2009, Tamil Eelam)
4 United States (1861-65, Confederate States of America)
4 Yemen (1994, Democratic Republic of Yemen)
>>> 1 [WRONG] Yemen vs. Democratic Republic of Yemen
2 Brazil (1836-45, Riograndense Republic)
1 D.R. Congo (1960-63, Katanga)
1 India (1966, Mizo National Front)
1 Switzerland (1847, Sonderbund)
WRONG:
1 England (not a country as defined)
1 France (no attempt to make Corsica or Toulon independent)
1 Moldova (no military defeat of Transnistria)
1 United Kingdom (no attempt to make Northern Ireland independent)
1 Yemen vs. Democratic Republic of Yemen (asked to name country,
not conflict)
Yeah, I remember the Biafran War too.
Let's move on to the wrong answers. After the French Revolution threw
out the monarchy, there were revolts in several parts of France,
often involving some sort of alliance with the British. But as
far as I can see, none of these places were declaring independence.
Toulon declared its loyalty to the French royal family, for example;
but that's choosing sides in a civil war over France, not an attempt
to secede from France, just as Taiwan never attempted to secede from
China (or vice versa).
Corsica is an interesting case; it had earlier seceded from the
republic of Genoa, which was not yet part of something called Italy,
and declared independence before becoming part of France. After the
French revolution, the leader of the previous secession returned to
Corsica and after some debate the island declared its separation from
France -- but it did not declare independence this time. Rather,
it placed itself under the British crown.
Similarly, the purpose of any uprisings in Northern Ireland against
the UK has been to transfer Northern Ireland to Ireland, not to
make it independent. So it doesn't matter whether they meet the
other criteria.
As for Moldova, the fighting with Transnistria (aka Pridnestrovie)
may have ended, but it did not end with Moldova winning. Transnistria
is still a de facto independent country even if it is not generally
officially recognized as such.
| 6. Name a person who has hosted "The Tonight Show" seen on
| the American network NBC (as a regular host, not a temporary
| substitute).
7 Jay Leno (1992-2009 and 2010-14)
5 Johnny Carson (1962-92)
4 Steve Allen (1954-57)
3 Jimmy Fallon (2014-)
>>> 1 [WRONG] Jimmy Fallon [submitted before 2014-02-17]
2 Conan O'Brien (2009-10)
WRONG:
1 (no answer)
1 Ernie Kovacs
1 Jimmy Fallon [submitted before 2014-02-17]
Jay Leno's last show as the regular host was just before the recent
Olympics; the original idea was that the show would not appear
during the Olympics and Jimmy Fallon would take over immediately
afterwards, but his start date was moved earlier, to 2014-02-17.
I timed the contest so that he would become a correct answer during
the contest period, but one entrant jumped the gun on that.
Most entrants either picked the show's second host or the one who
is now its second-most-recent.
| 7. Name a commonwealth now existing. This means a country or
| dependency, a state or province, or an organization of these,
| that currently exists and has an official name that in its
| English-language version refers to it as a "commonwealth".
5 Kentucky (US state)
4 Bahamas (country)
4 Northern Mariana Islands (US dependency)
3 Australia (country)
3 Virginia (US state)
2 Massachusetts (US state)
2 Pennsylvania (US state)
1 Commonwealth of Independent States (international association)
1 Commonwealth of Nations (international association)
WRONG:
1 India (official name is Republic of India)
Among US dependencies there are two correct answers. The well-known
one is Puerto Rico, which was named by nobody. The other is the
Northern Mariana Is., and that was one of the most popular answers.
Other answers were fairly well divided, with countries generally being
named more often than US states, while the international associations
that originated as the USSR and the British Empire were named only
once each. Besides Puerto Rico, I am not aware of any other correct
answers that were not given.
| 8. Name a country now existing that is doubly landlocked.
| That is, not only does it have no seacoast, but neither does
| any country bordering it.
9 Uzbekistan
There are, of course, only two correct answers here -- but they did
not score anything like equally well.
One entrant claimed that there was only one correct answer, but
this view depends on taking "seacoast" to include the shore of the
Caspian Sea. Sorry, but no matter what it's called, the Caspian
Sea is a lake.
| 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
| spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
| appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
| to indicate that play is complete.
>>> 3 Whistle blown 3 times
>>> 2 Long-short-long whistle signal
5 Checkered flag
2 Bell
>>> 1 Gong
2 Gunshot
2 Horn
>>> 1 Airhorn toot
2 Removing bails from wicket
1 Crossing arms in front of chest
1 Raising both arms
1 Raising one arm with hand open
1 Siren
1 Waving both arms
WRONG:
1 Baseball "safe" sign (not end-of-play signal)
1 That one-handed thing an Australian rules football umpire does
to signal "behind" (not end-of-play signal)
1 Throwing bag of rice (no evidence this is correct)
1 Waving a hand (no evidence this is correct)
1 Winning post (a marker, not a signal)
I scored this on the basis that an end-of-play signal may have
other related meanings (such as end-of-period), but can't just mean
something that only coincides with the end of play in specific
circumstances (such as scoring). Also, if the end of play is
indicated by a succession of signals, they are all end-of-play
signals: for example, in Australian football the timekeeper sounds
a siren and the umpire raises both arms and blows a whistle.
I should have required the entrants to name an applicable sport.
There was at least one case of an answer that I learned was correct
but not for the sport the entrant had in mind.
For other issues, see the consultative subthread.
And we're done. Thank you all for playing.
<horn sounds and green light comes on>
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "The Dopeler effect: dumb ideas sound smarter
m...@vex.net | when they come at you in a hurry."
Erland Sommarskog
Mar 9, 2014, 6:46:29 AM3/9/14
to
Mark Brader (m...@vex.net) writes:
> As for Moldova, the fighting with Transnistria (aka Pridnestrovie)
> may have ended, but it did not end with Moldova winning. Transnistria
> is still a de facto independent country even if it is not generally
> officially recognized as such.
Moldova has been more successful with the Gagauz in the south. However,
> As for Moldova, the fighting with Transnistria (aka Pridnestrovie)
> may have ended, but it did not end with Moldova winning. Transnistria
> is still a de facto independent country even if it is not generally
> officially recognized as such.
in that case there 1) was never really any military conflict 2) and
Gagauzia did not seek independence; it only declared itself an auto-
nomous region. So Moldova is still an incorrect answer. (Unless there
is some uprising in the middle ages that qualifies.)
However, Gagauzia could possibly still be part of a correct answer, if one
is to believe Wikipedia which says: "With the exception of a five-day de
facto independence in the winter of 1906, when a peasant uprising declared
an autonomous Republic of Comrat". That fits the minimum requirement
given by Mark. I think he is quite grateful that no one entered Russia
and cited this incident so he had to investigate the circumstances further.
Garmt de Vries
Mar 9, 2014, 8:09:39 AM3/9/14
to
On Sunday, 9 March 2014 09:12:24 UTC+1, Mark Brader wrote:
> Once again, I wrote:
And once again, thanks for running the contest. A pity it was probably the last one.
> | 1. Name a chemical element that forms triatomic molecules with
> | oxygen, consisting of 1 of its atoms and 2 oxygen atoms.
>
>
>
> 3 Chlorine
>
> 3 Selenium
>
> 3 Sulfur
>
> 3 Titanium
>
> >>> 1 [WRONG] Titanium dioxide
>
> 2 Bromine
>
> 2 Carbon
>
> 2 Oxygen
>
> 2 Rhodium
>
> 2 Tin
>
> 1 Cerium
>
> 1 Cesium
>
> 1 Germanium
>
> 1 Hafnium
>
> 1 Manganese
>
> 1 Nitrogen
>
> 1 Plutonium
>
> 1 Silicon
>
> 1 Thorium
>
> 1 Vanadium
Are all these compounds really molecular, rather than crystalline?
> | 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
> | spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
> | appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
> | to indicate that play is complete.
>
> WRONG:
See for example www.eujjs.nl/images/technieken.doc (p. 7)
Or http://www.judosportoost.nl/Wedstrijden/Wedstrijdreglement/Wedstrijdreglement/ (p. 5)
(Dutch "zakje" means "bag")
Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd
> Once again, I wrote:
And once again, thanks for running the contest. A pity it was probably the last one.
> | 1. Name a chemical element that forms triatomic molecules with
> | oxygen, consisting of 1 of its atoms and 2 oxygen atoms.
>
>
>
> 3 Chlorine
>
> 3 Selenium
>
> 3 Sulfur
>
> 3 Titanium
>
> >>> 1 [WRONG] Titanium dioxide
>
> 2 Bromine
>
> 2 Carbon
>
> 2 Oxygen
>
> 2 Rhodium
>
> 2 Tin
>
> 1 Cerium
>
> 1 Cesium
>
> 1 Germanium
>
> 1 Hafnium
>
> 1 Manganese
>
> 1 Nitrogen
>
> 1 Plutonium
>
> 1 Silicon
>
> 1 Thorium
>
> 1 Vanadium
> | 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
> | spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
> | appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
> | to indicate that play is complete.
>
>
> 1 Throwing bag of rice (no evidence this is correct)
This signal is used in judo.
> 1 Throwing bag of rice (no evidence this is correct)
See for example www.eujjs.nl/images/technieken.doc (p. 7)
Or http://www.judosportoost.nl/Wedstrijden/Wedstrijdreglement/Wedstrijdreglement/ (p. 5)
(Dutch "zakje" means "bag")
Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd
Mark Brader
Mar 9, 2014, 2:03:32 PM3/9/14
to
Erland Sommarskog:
#define MSB(type) (~(((unsigned type)-1)>>1))
> However, Gagauzia could possibly still be part of a correct answer, if one
> is to believe Wikipedia which says: "With the exception of a five-day de
> facto independence in the winter of 1906, when a peasant uprising declared
> an autonomous Republic of Comrat". That fits the minimum requirement
> given by Mark. I think he is quite grateful that no one entered Russia
> and cited this incident so he had to investigate the circumstances further.
Chechnya would've sufficed.
> is to believe Wikipedia which says: "With the exception of a five-day de
> facto independence in the winter of 1906, when a peasant uprising declared
> an autonomous Republic of Comrat". That fits the minimum requirement
> given by Mark. I think he is quite grateful that no one entered Russia
> and cited this incident so he had to investigate the circumstances further.
#define MSB(type) (~(((unsigned type)-1)>>1))
Mark Brader
Mar 9, 2014, 2:18:08 PM3/9/14
to
Mark Brader:
>>| 1. Name a chemical element that forms triatomic molecules with
>>| oxygen, consisting of 1 of its atoms and 2 oxygen atoms.
Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd:
>>| oxygen, consisting of 1 of its atoms and 2 oxygen atoms.
> Are all these compounds really molecular, rather than crystalline?
I'm just going to let that one slide right by.
> > | 9. (The end.) Describe a visible or audible signal, other than
> > | spoken words, that is or has been routinely used by the
> > | appropriate official at a professional sporting competition
> > | to indicate that play is complete.
> >
> > WRONG:
> >
> > 1 Throwing bag of rice (no evidence this is correct)
>
> This signal is used in judo.
>
> See for example www.eujjs.nl/images/technieken.doc (p. 7)
> Or
> http://www.judosportoost.nl/Wedstrijden/Wedstrijdreglement/Wedstrijdreglement/
> (p. 5)
> (Dutch "zakje" means "bag")
it as a Netherlands thing. Are there professional judo competitions in
the Netherlands?
Even if yes, the ruling stands (but you get to feel aggrieved), because
you had an opportunity to respond during the public consultation.
--
Mark Brader | Many "business-oriented" packagings of these
Toronto | [UNIXes] ... omit the games section. Those
m...@vex.net | responsible will doubtless be reincarnated
| as worker insects of some sort. -- "J. E. Lapin"
Erland Sommarskog
Mar 9, 2014, 2:24:43 PM3/9/14
to
Mark Brader (m...@vex.net) writes:
> Erland Sommarskog:
>> However, Gagauzia could possibly still be part of a correct answer, if
>> one is to believe Wikipedia which says: "With the exception of a
>> five-day de facto independence in the winter of 1906, when a peasant
>> uprising declared an autonomous Republic of Comrat". That fits the
>> minimum requirement given by Mark. I think he is quite grateful that no
>> one entered Russia and cited this incident so he had to investigate the
>> circumstances further.
>
> Chechnya would've sufficed.
Yup, that occurred to me later.
> Erland Sommarskog:
>> However, Gagauzia could possibly still be part of a correct answer, if
>> one is to believe Wikipedia which says: "With the exception of a
>> five-day de facto independence in the winter of 1906, when a peasant
>> uprising declared an autonomous Republic of Comrat". That fits the
>> minimum requirement given by Mark. I think he is quite grateful that no
>> one entered Russia and cited this incident so he had to investigate the
>> circumstances further.
>
> Chechnya would've sufficed.
Interesting enough, Russia does not seem to be the only correct answer
not given. Croatia would have to be counted as a correct answer I think,
and also Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Phil Carmody
Mar 9, 2014, 3:44:36 PM3/9/14
to
m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) writes:
> Once again, I wrote:
> | As usual, for each of the items above, your objective is to give a
> | response that (1) is correct, and (2) will be duplicated by as FEW
> | other people as possible. Feel free to use any reference material...
>
> This, probably my final Rare Entries contest, drew a decent field of
> 32 entrants, and the winner by a factor of more than 2 is DAN TILQUE.
> Hearty congratulations! In second place was Phil Carmody, and in third,
> the entrant identified only as "Calvin".
> Once again, I wrote:
> | As usual, for each of the items above, your objective is to give a
> | response that (1) is correct, and (2) will be duplicated by as FEW
> | other people as possible. Feel free to use any reference material...
>
> This, probably my final Rare Entries contest, drew a decent field of
> 32 entrants, and the winner by a factor of more than 2 is DAN TILQUE.
> Hearty congratulations! In second place was Phil Carmody, and in third,
> the entrant identified only as "Calvin".
> RANK SCORE ENTRANT Q0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9
>
> 1. 7776 Dan Tilque 1 1 3 3 3 2 4 4 9 1
> 2. 22080 Phil Carmody 3 1 4 1 1 WR 4 1 23 1
Awesome! 2nd with a wrong answer. I think that's the best I've ever placed
>
> 1. 7776 Dan Tilque 1 1 3 3 3 2 4 4 9 1
> 2. 22080 Phil Carmody 3 1 4 1 1 WR 4 1 23 1
(and equal best by number of wrong answers, I always fluff something)!
Thanks for running this, and the whole series, Mark.
No more please, I want to end on a second place! ;-)
Phil, lying
Dan Tilque
Mar 11, 2014, 7:20:10 AM3/11/14
to
I'm surprised I won this contest. I usually have to do lots of research
for obscure valid answers to get a high placement. For this, I just did
a moderate amount of research.
Congratualtions to Phil Carmody and Calvin for their high placements.
Mark Brader wrote:
> And we're done. Thank you all for playing.
And thank you for the many Rare Entries contests you've moderated.
>
> <horn sounds and green light comes on>
Referee waves checkered flag, crosses arms over chest, blows whistle 3
times, etc.
I'm considering moderating another one. Not sure when, so don't get too
excited, sports fans.
--
Dan Tilque
for obscure valid answers to get a high placement. For this, I just did
a moderate amount of research.
Congratualtions to Phil Carmody and Calvin for their high placements.
Mark Brader wrote:
> And we're done. Thank you all for playing.
>
> <horn sounds and green light comes on>
times, etc.
I'm considering moderating another one. Not sure when, so don't get too
excited, sports fans.
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Dan Tilque
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