• QFTCIBSI23 Current Events Game 9 and Final

    From Mark Brader@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jul 27 04:09:24 2023
    These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on the dates
    indicated, and should be interpreted accordingly. If any answers
    have changed due to newer news, you are still expected to give
    the answers that were correct on that date.

    On each question you may give up to two answers, but if you give
    both a right answer and a wrong answer, there is a small penalty.
    Please post all your answers in a single followup to the newsgroup,
    based only on your own knowledge. (In your answer posting, quote
    the questions and place your answer below each one.) I will reveal
    the correct answers in about 3 days.

    All questions were written by members of Bloor St. Irregulars and
    are used here by permission, but have been reformatted and may have
    been retyped and/or edited by me. The posting and tabulation of
    current-events questions is independent of the concurrent posting
    of other rounds. For further information please see my 2023-05-24
    companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian Inquisition
    (QFTCI*)".


    * Game 9 (2023-07-17), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. On Sunday the 9th, the Calgary Stampede set the new world
    record for most pancakes served in an 8-hour period. Guinness
    World Records adjudicator Brittany Dunn observed the attempt,
    and she disqualified 15 pancakes. However, they made more
    than enough to beat the previous record of 14,208. Within 250,
    what is the new world record?

    2. At a press conference Thursday afternoon, it was announced
    that SAG-AFTRA, the entertainment industry's largest union,
    representing 160,000 actors and performers, would officially be
    on strike at midnight PST. What fine actress is the SAG-AFTRA
    president?

    3. According to the results of a 2-year study, the air quality
    in *what Ontario municipality* is like smoking a cigarette a
    day, when it comes to inhaling cancer-causing benzo(a)pyrene?
    U of T professor, and air contaminants researcher, Matthew
    Adams also said that in Dundas or on the West Mountain it's "not
    quite as bad -- maybe 1/3 of a cigarette or 1/2 a cigarette".

    4. A blockade at a Winnipeg landfill is still standing -- as of this
    writing -- in protest of the Province of Manitoba's announcement
    that it would not support the search of another landfill for
    the remains of two missing First Nations women. An injunction
    went into effect Friday at 6 pm authorizing the Winnipeg Police
    Service to remove the blockade. Name *either* landfill.

    5. On Saturday, Mark�ta Vondrousov� won the Ladies' Singles
    Wimbledon championship, and set a first in doing so. What makes
    her victory unique in the Open Era? Be sufficiently specific.

    6. Attributed to crop failures after heat waves and heavy rains,
    the price of what culinary staple has risen by 400% in India?
    It's a key ingredient in many dishes, including butter chicken
    and paneer makhni, and McDonald's has temporarily stopped
    serving it as a burger topping. What is it?

    7. Nothing sad about the news that Hillary Simms, from Torbay, NL,
    has been appointed as a professor at Juilliard, and its first
    female professor of her chosen brass instrument -- which is what?

    8. On Thursday, Google announced it is expanding access to its
    AI chatbot to 230 countries and territories, but not to such
    places as Russia, China, North Korea, Afghanistan, and, oh,
    Canada. What is Google's chatbot called?

    9. On Tuesday, a group of scientists announced the bottom of
    Crawford Lake in Ontario has been selected as the "golden spike"
    -- the marker of a new proposed geological epoch, which would
    start in the 1950s. What was considered our current epoch
    is the Holocene, which started at the end of the last ice age
    11,700 years ago. What is the name of new epoch?

    10. Last week, Lithuania was the host country for the 2023 NATO
    Summit, held in its capital -- which is what city?

    After completing the round, please decode the rot13: Vs lbh fnvq
    gur graavf cynlre jnf hafrrqrq, tb onpx naq or zber fcrpvsvp.


    * Final (2023-07-24), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. It's summer movie season (despite the strikes). Two dramatically
    different movies, which both opened Friday, have gone viral due
    to people planning to watch them back-to-back... and of course
    there are memes and a portmanteau word for this double-feature
    extravaganza. What is the portmanteau?

    2. The North American Indigenous Games is the largest Indigenous
    gathering and multi-sport event hosted in the history of
    Atlantic Canada. What two-word name, in English, is used by
    some Indigenous peoples -- such as many Algonquian and Iroquoian
    speakers -- to refer to the continent of North America?

    3. On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he
    had received *which official document* -- with a two-word name --
    indicating that he would soon be subject to new indictments from
    Special Counsel Jack Smith relating to the events of 2021-01-06?

    4. "Cheek to Cheek" (2014) and "Love For Sale" (2021) are
    collaborative albums between a woman born with the name Stefani
    Germanotta and a recently-deceased man born with the name
    Anthony Benedetto. By what better-known names are these two
    people credited on these albums? Two answers required.

    5. On Wednesday, the South African government announced that Russian
    Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be attending the upcoming
    BRICS summit in place of President Vladimir Putin. Why was
    Putin's attendance at the summit a problem for the South
    African government?

    6. On Friday, four men were arrested after a video surfaced of a
    mob assaulting two naked women in which troubled Indian state?

    7. The FIFA Women's World Cup is under way. Canada's women's soccer
    team started the group stage with a 0-0 draw against Nigeria's
    Super Falcons. Name *either* of the other two teams who share
    Group B.

    8. Following a 17-month investigation into workplace harassment,
    the NFL levied a record $60,000,000 (US) fine against which
    former owner of the Washington Redskins -- er, Commanders?

    9. On Thursday, this country singer's video for "Try That in a
    Small Town" was pulled by Country Music Television after
    accusations that it called for racist violence. It didn't help
    that the video was filmed on the site of a 1927 lynching and
    a 1946 race riot. Name the artist, who denies any racist intent.

    10. Taylor Swift currently occupies 11 spaces on the Billboard
    200 Albums chart. While she is the first woman to dominate
    that many spots at once, two other acts have achieved this
    feat before. Name *either* of them.

    --
    Mark Brader, Toronto "It's kind of fun to do the impossible." [email protected] --Walt Disney

    My text in this article is in the public domain.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dan Blum@21:1/5 to Mark Brader on Thu Jul 27 04:26:41 2023
    Mark Brader <[email protected]> wrote:

    * Game 9 (2023-07-17), Round 1 - Current Events

    2. At a press conference Thursday afternoon, it was announced
    that SAG-AFTRA, the entertainment industry's largest union,
    representing 160,000 actors and performers, would officially be
    on strike at midnight PST. What fine actress is the SAG-AFTRA
    president?

    Fran Drescher

    7. Nothing sad about the news that Hillary Simms, from Torbay, NL,
    has been appointed as a professor at Juilliard, and its first
    female professor of her chosen brass instrument -- which is what?

    tuba; double bassoon

    8. On Thursday, Google announced it is expanding access to its
    AI chatbot to 230 countries and territories, but not to such
    places as Russia, China, North Korea, Afghanistan, and, oh,
    Canada. What is Google's chatbot called?

    Bard

    10. Last week, Lithuania was the host country for the 2023 NATO
    Summit, held in its capital -- which is what city?

    Vilnius

    * Final (2023-07-24), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. It's summer movie season (despite the strikes). Two dramatically
    different movies, which both opened Friday, have gone viral due
    to people planning to watch them back-to-back... and of course
    there are memes and a portmanteau word for this double-feature
    extravaganza. What is the portmanteau?

    Barbenheimer

    (I have seen multiple portmanteaus.)

    4. "Cheek to Cheek" (2014) and "Love For Sale" (2021) are
    collaborative albums between a woman born with the name Stefani
    Germanotta and a recently-deceased man born with the name
    Anthony Benedetto. By what better-known names are these two
    people credited on these albums? Two answers required.

    Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett

    6. On Friday, four men were arrested after a video surfaced of a
    mob assaulting two naked women in which troubled Indian state?

    Jammu and Kashmir

    --
    _______________________________________________________________________
    Dan Blum [email protected]
    "I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't just made it up."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Joshua Kreitzer@21:1/5 to Mark Brader on Thu Jul 27 21:15:16 2023
    On Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at 11:09:35 PM UTC-5, Mark Brader wrote:

    * Game 9 (2023-07-17), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. On Sunday the 9th, the Calgary Stampede set the new world
    record for most pancakes served in an 8-hour period. Guinness
    World Records adjudicator Brittany Dunn observed the attempt,
    and she disqualified 15 pancakes. However, they made more
    than enough to beat the previous record of 14,208. Within 250,
    what is the new world record?

    15,000; 15,501

    2. At a press conference Thursday afternoon, it was announced
    that SAG-AFTRA, the entertainment industry's largest union,
    representing 160,000 actors and performers, would officially be
    on strike at midnight PST. What fine actress is the SAG-AFTRA
    president?

    Drescher

    6. Attributed to crop failures after heat waves and heavy rains,
    the price of what culinary staple has risen by 400% in India?
    It's a key ingredient in many dishes, including butter chicken
    and paneer makhni, and McDonald's has temporarily stopped
    serving it as a burger topping. What is it?

    rice

    7. Nothing sad about the news that Hillary Simms, from Torbay, NL,
    has been appointed as a professor at Juilliard, and its first
    female professor of her chosen brass instrument -- which is what?

    trombone

    10. Last week, Lithuania was the host country for the 2023 NATO
    Summit, held in its capital -- which is what city?

    Vilnius

    * Final (2023-07-24), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. It's summer movie season (despite the strikes). Two dramatically different movies, which both opened Friday, have gone viral due
    to people planning to watch them back-to-back... and of course
    there are memes and a portmanteau word for this double-feature
    extravaganza. What is the portmanteau?

    Barbenheimer

    2. The North American Indigenous Games is the largest Indigenous
    gathering and multi-sport event hosted in the history of
    Atlantic Canada. What two-word name, in English, is used by
    some Indigenous peoples -- such as many Algonquian and Iroquoian
    speakers -- to refer to the continent of North America?

    Turtle Island

    4. "Cheek to Cheek" (2014) and "Love For Sale" (2021) are
    collaborative albums between a woman born with the name Stefani
    Germanotta and a recently-deceased man born with the name
    Anthony Benedetto. By what better-known names are these two
    people credited on these albums? Two answers required.

    Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett

    5. On Wednesday, the South African government announced that Russian
    Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be attending the upcoming
    BRICS summit in place of President Vladimir Putin. Why was
    Putin's attendance at the summit a problem for the South
    African government?

    the ongoing invasion of Ukraine (?)

    6. On Friday, four men were arrested after a video surfaced of a
    mob assaulting two naked women in which troubled Indian state?

    Punjab (?)

    8. Following a 17-month investigation into workplace harassment,
    the NFL levied a record $60,000,000 (US) fine against which
    former owner of the Washington Redskins -- er, Commanders?

    Snyder

    9. On Thursday, this country singer's video for "Try That in a
    Small Town" was pulled by Country Music Television after
    accusations that it called for racist violence. It didn't help
    that the video was filmed on the site of a 1927 lynching and
    a 1946 race riot. Name the artist, who denies any racist intent.

    Aldean

    10. Taylor Swift currently occupies 11 spaces on the Billboard
    200 Albums chart. While she is the first woman to dominate
    that many spots at once, two other acts have achieved this
    feat before. Name *either* of them.

    Prince

    --
    Joshua Kreitzer
    [email protected]

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dan Tilque@21:1/5 to Mark Brader on Fri Jul 28 01:13:43 2023
    On 7/26/23 21:09, Mark Brader wrote:


    * Game 9 (2023-07-17), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. On Sunday the 9th, the Calgary Stampede set the new world
    record for most pancakes served in an 8-hour period. Guinness
    World Records adjudicator Brittany Dunn observed the attempt,
    and she disqualified 15 pancakes. However, they made more
    than enough to beat the previous record of 14,208. Within 250,
    what is the new world record?

    2. At a press conference Thursday afternoon, it was announced
    that SAG-AFTRA, the entertainment industry's largest union,
    representing 160,000 actors and performers, would officially be
    on strike at midnight PST. What fine actress is the SAG-AFTRA
    president?

    Fran Drescher


    3. According to the results of a 2-year study, the air quality
    in *what Ontario municipality* is like smoking a cigarette a
    day, when it comes to inhaling cancer-causing benzo(a)pyrene?
    U of T professor, and air contaminants researcher, Matthew
    Adams also said that in Dundas or on the West Mountain it's "not
    quite as bad -- maybe 1/3 of a cigarette or 1/2 a cigarette".

    Toronto


    4. A blockade at a Winnipeg landfill is still standing -- as of this
    writing -- in protest of the Province of Manitoba's announcement
    that it would not support the search of another landfill for
    the remains of two missing First Nations women. An injunction
    went into effect Friday at 6 pm authorizing the Winnipeg Police
    Service to remove the blockade. Name *either* landfill.

    5. On Saturday, Markéta Vondrousová won the Ladies' Singles
    Wimbledon championship, and set a first in doing so. What makes
    her victory unique in the Open Era? Be sufficiently specific.

    first unseeded woman singles


    6. Attributed to crop failures after heat waves and heavy rains,
    the price of what culinary staple has risen by 400% in India?
    It's a key ingredient in many dishes, including butter chicken
    and paneer makhni, and McDonald's has temporarily stopped
    serving it as a burger topping. What is it?

    rice


    7. Nothing sad about the news that Hillary Simms, from Torbay, NL,
    has been appointed as a professor at Juilliard, and its first
    female professor of her chosen brass instrument -- which is what?

    trombone


    8. On Thursday, Google announced it is expanding access to its
    AI chatbot to 230 countries and territories, but not to such
    places as Russia, China, North Korea, Afghanistan, and, oh,
    Canada. What is Google's chatbot called?

    9. On Tuesday, a group of scientists announced the bottom of
    Crawford Lake in Ontario has been selected as the "golden spike"
    -- the marker of a new proposed geological epoch, which would
    start in the 1950s. What was considered our current epoch
    is the Holocene, which started at the end of the last ice age
    11,700 years ago. What is the name of new epoch?

    Anthropocene


    10. Last week, Lithuania was the host country for the 2023 NATO
    Summit, held in its capital -- which is what city?

    Vilnius


    After completing the round, please decode the rot13: Vs lbh fnvq
    gur graavf cynlre jnf hafrrqrq, tb onpx naq or zber fcrpvsvp.


    * Final (2023-07-24), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. It's summer movie season (despite the strikes). Two dramatically
    different movies, which both opened Friday, have gone viral due
    to people planning to watch them back-to-back... and of course
    there are memes and a portmanteau word for this double-feature
    extravaganza. What is the portmanteau?

    Barbenheimer


    2. The North American Indigenous Games is the largest Indigenous
    gathering and multi-sport event hosted in the history of
    Atlantic Canada. What two-word name, in English, is used by
    some Indigenous peoples -- such as many Algonquian and Iroquoian
    speakers -- to refer to the continent of North America?

    3. On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he
    had received *which official document* -- with a two-word name --
    indicating that he would soon be subject to new indictments from
    Special Counsel Jack Smith relating to the events of 2021-01-06?

    4. "Cheek to Cheek" (2014) and "Love For Sale" (2021) are
    collaborative albums between a woman born with the name Stefani
    Germanotta and a recently-deceased man born with the name
    Anthony Benedetto. By what better-known names are these two
    people credited on these albums? Two answers required.

    5. On Wednesday, the South African government announced that Russian
    Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be attending the upcoming
    BRICS summit in place of President Vladimir Putin. Why was
    Putin's attendance at the summit a problem for the South
    African government?

    There's an international arrest warrant for Putin


    6. On Friday, four men were arrested after a video surfaced of a
    mob assaulting two naked women in which troubled Indian state?

    7. The FIFA Women's World Cup is under way. Canada's women's soccer
    team started the group stage with a 0-0 draw against Nigeria's
    Super Falcons. Name *either* of the other two teams who share
    Group B.

    8. Following a 17-month investigation into workplace harassment,
    the NFL levied a record $60,000,000 (US) fine against which
    former owner of the Washington Redskins -- er, Commanders?

    9. On Thursday, this country singer's video for "Try That in a
    Small Town" was pulled by Country Music Television after
    accusations that it called for racist violence. It didn't help
    that the video was filmed on the site of a 1927 lynching and
    a 1946 race riot. Name the artist, who denies any racist intent.

    10. Taylor Swift currently occupies 11 spaces on the Billboard
    200 Albums chart. While she is the first woman to dominate
    that many spots at once, two other acts have achieved this
    feat before. Name *either* of them.

    The Beatles


    --
    Dan Tilque

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Erland Sommarskog@21:1/5 to Mark Brader on Fri Jul 28 11:25:50 2023
    Mark Brader ([email protected]) writes:

    * Game 9 (2023-07-17), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. On Sunday the 9th, the Calgary Stampede set the new world
    record for most pancakes served in an 8-hour period. Guinness
    World Records adjudicator Brittany Dunn observed the attempt,
    and she disqualified 15 pancakes. However, they made more
    than enough to beat the previous record of 14,208. Within 250,
    what is the new world record?

    16350

    5. On Saturday, Mark�ta Vondrousov� won the Ladies' Singles
    Wimbledon championship, and set a first in doing so. What makes
    her victory unique in the Open Era? Be sufficiently specific.

    She was the first unseeded female player to win the tournament

    7. Nothing sad about the news that Hillary Simms, from Torbay, NL,
    has been appointed as a professor at Juilliard, and its first
    female professor of her chosen brass instrument -- which is what?

    Trombone

    9. On Tuesday, a group of scientists announced the bottom of
    Crawford Lake in Ontario has been selected as the "golden spike"
    -- the marker of a new proposed geological epoch, which would
    start in the 1950s. What was considered our current epoch
    is the Holocene, which started at the end of the last ice age
    11,700 years ago. What is the name of new epoch?

    Antropocene

    10. Last week, Lithuania was the host country for the 2023 NATO
    Summit, held in its capital -- which is what city?

    Vilnius

    * Final (2023-07-24), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. It's summer movie season (despite the strikes). Two dramatically
    different movies, which both opened Friday, have gone viral due
    to people planning to watch them back-to-back... and of course
    there are memes and a portmanteau word for this double-feature
    extravaganza. What is the portmanteau?

    Barbenheimer

    5. On Wednesday, the South African government announced that Russian
    Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be attending the upcoming
    BRICS summit in place of President Vladimir Putin. Why was
    Putin's attendance at the summit a problem for the South
    African government?

    They would have to arrest him in accordance with their obligations
    to the ICC.

    6. On Friday, four men were arrested after a video surfaced of a
    mob assaulting two naked women in which troubled Indian state?

    Manipur

    7. The FIFA Women's World Cup is under way. Canada's women's soccer
    team started the group stage with a 0-0 draw against Nigeria's
    Super Falcons. Name *either* of the other two teams who share
    Group B.

    Australia and Ireland

    10. Taylor Swift currently occupies 11 spaces on the Billboard
    200 Albums chart. While she is the first woman to dominate
    that many spots at once, two other acts have achieved this
    feat before. Name *either* of them.


    The Rolling Stones

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Pete Gayde@21:1/5 to Mark Brader on Fri Jul 28 21:46:36 2023
    Mark Brader wrote:
    These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on the dates
    indicated, and should be interpreted accordingly. If any answers
    have changed due to newer news, you are still expected to give
    the answers that were correct on that date.

    On each question you may give up to two answers, but if you give
    both a right answer and a wrong answer, there is a small penalty.
    Please post all your answers in a single followup to the newsgroup,
    based only on your own knowledge. (In your answer posting, quote
    the questions and place your answer below each one.) I will reveal
    the correct answers in about 3 days.

    All questions were written by members of Bloor St. Irregulars and
    are used here by permission, but have been reformatted and may have
    been retyped and/or edited by me. The posting and tabulation of current-events questions is independent of the concurrent posting
    of other rounds. For further information please see my 2023-05-24
    companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian Inquisition
    (QFTCI*)".


    * Game 9 (2023-07-17), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. On Sunday the 9th, the Calgary Stampede set the new world
    record for most pancakes served in an 8-hour period. Guinness
    World Records adjudicator Brittany Dunn observed the attempt,
    and she disqualified 15 pancakes. However, they made more
    than enough to beat the previous record of 14,208. Within 250,
    what is the new world record?

    20,000; 22,000


    2. At a press conference Thursday afternoon, it was announced
    that SAG-AFTRA, the entertainment industry's largest union,
    representing 160,000 actors and performers, would officially be
    on strike at midnight PST. What fine actress is the SAG-AFTRA
    president?

    Fran Drescher


    3. According to the results of a 2-year study, the air quality
    in *what Ontario municipality* is like smoking a cigarette a
    day, when it comes to inhaling cancer-causing benzo(a)pyrene?
    U of T professor, and air contaminants researcher, Matthew
    Adams also said that in Dundas or on the West Mountain it's "not
    quite as bad -- maybe 1/3 of a cigarette or 1/2 a cigarette".

    Hamilton


    4. A blockade at a Winnipeg landfill is still standing -- as of this
    writing -- in protest of the Province of Manitoba's announcement
    that it would not support the search of another landfill for
    the remains of two missing First Nations women. An injunction
    went into effect Friday at 6 pm authorizing the Winnipeg Police
    Service to remove the blockade. Name *either* landfill.

    5. On Saturday, Markéta Vondrousová won the Ladies' Singles
    Wimbledon championship, and set a first in doing so. What makes
    her victory unique in the Open Era? Be sufficiently specific.

    First non-seeded woman to win.


    6. Attributed to crop failures after heat waves and heavy rains,
    the price of what culinary staple has risen by 400% in India?
    It's a key ingredient in many dishes, including butter chicken
    and paneer makhni, and McDonald's has temporarily stopped
    serving it as a burger topping. What is it?

    7. Nothing sad about the news that Hillary Simms, from Torbay, NL,
    has been appointed as a professor at Juilliard, and its first
    female professor of her chosen brass instrument -- which is what?

    Trombone


    8. On Thursday, Google announced it is expanding access to its
    AI chatbot to 230 countries and territories, but not to such
    places as Russia, China, North Korea, Afghanistan, and, oh,
    Canada. What is Google's chatbot called?

    9. On Tuesday, a group of scientists announced the bottom of
    Crawford Lake in Ontario has been selected as the "golden spike"
    -- the marker of a new proposed geological epoch, which would
    start in the 1950s. What was considered our current epoch
    is the Holocene, which started at the end of the last ice age
    11,700 years ago. What is the name of new epoch?

    10. Last week, Lithuania was the host country for the 2023 NATO
    Summit, held in its capital -- which is what city?

    Vilnius


    After completing the round, please decode the rot13: Vs lbh fnvq
    gur graavf cynlre jnf hafrrqrq, tb onpx naq or zber fcrpvsvp.


    * Final (2023-07-24), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. It's summer movie season (despite the strikes). Two dramatically
    different movies, which both opened Friday, have gone viral due
    to people planning to watch them back-to-back... and of course
    there are memes and a portmanteau word for this double-feature
    extravaganza. What is the portmanteau?

    Barbenheimer


    2. The North American Indigenous Games is the largest Indigenous
    gathering and multi-sport event hosted in the history of
    Atlantic Canada. What two-word name, in English, is used by
    some Indigenous peoples -- such as many Algonquian and Iroquoian
    speakers -- to refer to the continent of North America?

    3. On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he
    had received *which official document* -- with a two-word name --
    indicating that he would soon be subject to new indictments from
    Special Counsel Jack Smith relating to the events of 2021-01-06?

    Target letter


    4. "Cheek to Cheek" (2014) and "Love For Sale" (2021) are
    collaborative albums between a woman born with the name Stefani
    Germanotta and a recently-deceased man born with the name
    Anthony Benedetto. By what better-known names are these two
    people credited on these albums? Two answers required.

    Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett


    5. On Wednesday, the South African government announced that Russian
    Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be attending the upcoming
    BRICS summit in place of President Vladimir Putin. Why was
    Putin's attendance at the summit a problem for the South
    African government?

    There is an arrest warrant out for Putin


    6. On Friday, four men were arrested after a video surfaced of a
    mob assaulting two naked women in which troubled Indian state?

    7. The FIFA Women's World Cup is under way. Canada's women's soccer
    team started the group stage with a 0-0 draw against Nigeria's
    Super Falcons. Name *either* of the other two teams who share
    Group B.

    Australia


    8. Following a 17-month investigation into workplace harassment,
    the NFL levied a record $60,000,000 (US) fine against which
    former owner of the Washington Redskins -- er, Commanders?

    Snyder


    9. On Thursday, this country singer's video for "Try That in a
    Small Town" was pulled by Country Music Television after
    accusations that it called for racist violence. It didn't help
    that the video was filmed on the site of a 1927 lynching and
    a 1946 race riot. Name the artist, who denies any racist intent.

    Jason Aldean


    10. Taylor Swift currently occupies 11 spaces on the Billboard
    200 Albums chart. While she is the first woman to dominate
    that many spots at once, two other acts have achieved this
    feat before. Name *either* of them.

    The Beatles



    Pete Gayde

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark Brader@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jul 30 05:34:59 2023
    Mark Brader:
    These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on the dates
    indicated, and should be interpreted accordingly. If any answers
    have changed due to newer news, you are still expected to give the
    answers that were correct on that date... For further information
    please see my 2023-05-24 companion posting on "Questions from the
    Canadian Inquisition (QFTCI*)".

    The Summer 2023 season is over, so this completes the Current Events
    game for it. And the winner is STEPHEN PERRY in a walk -- he only
    responded to 4 of the 10 rounds, but beat everyone else's totals
    based on their 8 best scores.

    *Hearty* congratulations, sir! Well done indeed!


    * Game 9 (2023-07-17), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. On Sunday the 9th, the Calgary Stampede set the new world
    record for most pancakes served in an 8-hour period. Guinness
    World Records adjudicator Brittany Dunn observed the attempt,
    and she disqualified 15 pancakes. However, they made more
    than enough to beat the previous record of 14,208. Within 250,
    what is the new world record?

    17,182 (accepting 16,932-17,432).

    2. At a press conference Thursday afternoon, it was announced
    that SAG-AFTRA, the entertainment industry's largest union,
    representing 160,000 actors and performers, would officially be
    on strike at midnight PST. What fine actress is the SAG-AFTRA
    president?

    Fran Drescher (from "The Nanny", and "Fran Fine"). 4 for Dan Blum,
    Joshua, Dan Tilque, and Pete.

    3. According to the results of a 2-year study, the air quality
    in *what Ontario municipality* is like smoking a cigarette a
    day, when it comes to inhaling cancer-causing benzo(a)pyrene?
    U of T professor, and air contaminants researcher, Matthew
    Adams also said that in Dundas or on the West Mountain it's "not
    quite as bad -- maybe 1/3 of a cigarette or 1/2 a cigarette".

    Hamilton. 4 for Pete.

    4. A blockade at a Winnipeg landfill is still standing -- as of this
    writing -- in protest of the Province of Manitoba's announcement
    that it would not support the search of another landfill for
    the remains of two missing First Nations women. An injunction
    went into effect Friday at 6 pm authorizing the Winnipeg Police
    Service to remove the blockade. Name *either* landfill.

    Brady Road Landfill, Prairie Green Landfill (respectively).

    The blockade was forcibly removed the day after the original game.

    5. On Saturday, Mark�ta Vondrousov� won the Ladies' Singles
    Wimbledon championship, and set a first in doing so. What makes
    her victory unique in the Open Era? Be sufficiently specific.

    First *unseeded woman* to become champion (both key words needed).
    4 for Dan Tilque, Erland, and Pete.

    Boris Becker was the first unseeded player to become Wimbledon champion.
    in 1985.

    6. Attributed to crop failures after heat waves and heavy rains,
    the price of what culinary staple has risen by 400% in India?
    It's a key ingredient in many dishes, including butter chicken
    and paneer makhni, and McDonald's has temporarily stopped
    serving it as a burger topping. What is it?

    Tomatoes.

    7. Nothing sad about the news that Hillary Simms, from Torbay, NL,
    has been appointed as a professor at Juilliard, and its first
    female professor of her chosen brass instrument -- which is what?

    Trombone. 4 for Joshua, Dan Tilque, Erland, and Pete.

    8. On Thursday, Google announced it is expanding access to its
    AI chatbot to 230 countries and territories, but not to such
    places as Russia, China, North Korea, Afghanistan, and, oh,
    Canada. What is Google's chatbot called?

    Bard (AI). 4 for Dan Blum.

    9. On Tuesday, a group of scientists announced the bottom of
    Crawford Lake in Ontario has been selected as the "golden spike"
    -- the marker of a new proposed geological epoch, which would
    start in the 1950s. What was considered our current epoch
    is the Holocene, which started at the end of the last ice age
    11,700 years ago. What is the name of new epoch?

    Anthropocene. 4 for Dan Tilque and Erland.

    10. Last week, Lithuania was the host country for the 2023 NATO
    Summit, held in its capital -- which is what city?

    Vilnius. 4 for everyone -- Dan Blum, Joshua, Dan Tilque, Erland,
    and Pete.


    * Final (2023-07-24), Round 1 - Current Events

    1. It's summer movie season (despite the strikes). Two dramatically
    different movies, which both opened Friday, have gone viral due
    to people planning to watch them back-to-back... and of course
    there are memes and a portmanteau word for this double-feature
    extravaganza. What is the portmanteau?

    Barbenheimer or Barbieheimer. 4 for everyone.

    And, of course, there's a Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbenheimer

    2. The North American Indigenous Games is the largest Indigenous
    gathering and multi-sport event hosted in the history of
    Atlantic Canada. What two-word name, in English, is used by
    some Indigenous peoples -- such as many Algonquian and Iroquoian
    speakers -- to refer to the continent of North America?

    Turtle Island. 4 for Joshua.

    3. On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he
    had received *which official document* -- with a two-word name --
    indicating that he would soon be subject to new indictments from
    Special Counsel Jack Smith relating to the events of 2021-01-06?

    Target letter. 4 for Pete.

    4. "Cheek to Cheek" (2014) and "Love For Sale" (2021) are
    collaborative albums between a woman born with the name Stefani
    Germanotta and a recently-deceased man born with the name
    Anthony Benedetto. By what better-known names are these two
    people credited on these albums? Two answers required.

    Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett. 4 for Dan Blum, Joshua, and Pete.

    5. On Wednesday, the South African government announced that Russian
    Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be attending the upcoming
    BRICS summit in place of President Vladimir Putin. Why was
    Putin's attendance at the summit a problem for the South
    African government?

    As signatories to the Rome Statute establishing the International
    Criminal Court, South Africa would be required to arrest Putin.
    4 for Dan Tilque, Erland, and Pete.

    6. On Friday, four men were arrested after a video surfaced of a
    mob assaulting two naked women in which troubled Indian state?

    Manipur. 4 for Erland.

    7. The FIFA Women's World Cup is under way. Canada's women's soccer
    team started the group stage with a 0-0 draw against Nigeria's
    Super Falcons. Name *either* of the other two teams who share
    Group B.

    Australia, Ireland. 4 for Erland (the hard way) and Pete.

    8. Following a 17-month investigation into workplace harassment,
    the NFL levied a record $60,000,000 (US) fine against which
    former owner of the Washington Redskins -- er, Commanders?

    Daniel Snyder. 4 for Joshua and Pete.

    9. On Thursday, this country singer's video for "Try That in a
    Small Town" was pulled by Country Music Television after
    accusations that it called for racist violence. It didn't help
    that the video was filmed on the site of a 1927 lynching and
    a 1946 race riot. Name the artist, who denies any racist intent.

    Jason Aldean. 4 for Joshua and Pete.

    10. Taylor Swift currently occupies 11 spaces on the Billboard
    200 Albums chart. While she is the first woman to dominate
    that many spots at once, two other acts have achieved this
    feat before. Name *either* of them.

    The Beatles, Prince. 4 for Joshua, Dan Tilque, and Pete.


    Scores, if there are no errors:

    GAME 6 ROUNDS-> 2 3 TOTALS
    TOPICS-> Geo Sci
    Joshua Kreitzer 40 40 80
    Dan Blum 36 40 76
    Dan Tilque 40 24 64
    Erland Sommarskog 40 4 44
    Pete Gayde 28 8 36

    --
    Mark Brader | No programming language is Perfect. Perl comes very close. [email protected] | P! e! r! *l?* :-( Not quite "Perfect".
    Toronto | -- Brian Ingerson

    My text in this article is in the public domain.

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  • From Dan Tilque@21:1/5 to Mark Brader on Sat Jul 29 23:16:44 2023
    On 7/29/23 22:34, Mark Brader wrote:
    Mark Brader:

    The Summer 2023 season is over, so this completes the Current Events
    game for it. And the winner is STEPHEN PERRY in a walk -- he only
    responded to 4 of the 10 rounds, but beat everyone else's totals
    based on their 8 best scores.




    Scores, if there are no errors:

    GAME 6 ROUNDS-> 2 3 TOTALS
    TOPICS-> Geo Sci
    Joshua Kreitzer 40 40 80
    Dan Blum 36 40 76
    Dan Tilque 40 24 64
    Erland Sommarskog 40 4 44
    Pete Gayde 28 8 36


    I believe you have the wrong scoring table here. This is the table for
    the other game that was going on at the same time.

    --
    Dan Tilque

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  • From Mark Brader@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jul 30 22:39:37 2023
    Mark Brader:
    The Summer 2023 season is over, so this completes the Current Events
    game for it. And the winner is STEPHEN PERRY in a walk -- he only responded to 4 of the 10 rounds, but beat everyone else's totals
    based on their 8 best scores.
    ...
    Scores, if there are no errors:

    Dan Tilque:
    I believe you have the wrong scoring table here.

    Oops, I guess that would be an error. A failed optimization, in fact.

    Scores, if there are *now* no errors:

    GAMES-> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 F BEST EIGHT Stephen Perry 40 40 -- -- 36 36 -- -- -- -- 152
    Dan Tilque 16 4 20 20 4 16 20 20 20 12 144
    Joshua Kreitzer 8 12 16 16 4 12 20 16 12 24 128
    Pete Gayde 16 4 -- -- 4 16 24 8 20 32 124
    Erland Sommarskog 8 4 4 8 12 12 19 8 16 16 99
    Dan Blum 11 8 16 16 0 12 15 8 12 8 98

    --
    Mark Brader | "And don't forget there were five separate computers [email protected] | in those days."
    Toronto | -- Bob NE20G3018 (Ira Levin, "This Perfect Day")

    My text in this article is in the public domain.

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  • From swp@21:1/5 to Mark Brader on Mon Jul 31 17:41:34 2023
    On Sunday, July 30, 2023 at 6:39:48 PM UTC-4, Mark Brader wrote:
    Mark Brader:
    The Summer 2023 season is over, so this completes the Current Events game for it. And the winner is STEPHEN PERRY in a walk -- he only responded to 4 of the 10 rounds, but beat everyone else's totals
    based on their 8 best scores.

    thank you. I did not intend to miss any but life seemed to keep getting in the way.

    I do play along at home for fun each game, however late I am.
    ...
    Scores, if there are no errors:
    Dan Tilque:
    I believe you have the wrong scoring table here.
    Oops, I guess that would be an error. A failed optimization, in fact.

    Scores, if there are *now* no errors:

    GAMES-> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 F BEST EIGHT
    Stephen Perry 40 40 -- -- 36 36 -- -- -- -- 152
    Dan Tilque 16 4 20 20 4 16 20 20 20 12 144
    Joshua Kreitzer 8 12 16 16 4 12 20 16 12 24 128
    Pete Gayde 16 4 -- -- 4 16 24 8 20 32 124
    Erland Sommarskog 8 4 4 8 12 12 19 8 16 16 99
    Dan Blum 11 8 16 16 0 12 15 8 12 8 98

    --
    Mark Brader | "And don't forget there were five separate computers [email protected] | in those days."
    Toronto | -- Bob NE20G3018 (Ira Levin, "This Perfect Day")
    My text in this article is in the public domain.

    swp

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