• RQFTCIFFF12 Game 1, Rounds 9-10 answers: astronomy, challenge of firsts

    From Mark Brader@21:1/5 to All on Mon May 2 21:05:24 2022
    Mark Brader:
    These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2012-04-30,
    and should be interpreted accordingly... For further information...
    see my 2021-07-20 companion posting on "Reposted Questions from
    the Canadian Inquisition (RQFTCI*)".

    Game 1 is over and the winner is DAN BLUM. Hearty congratulations!


    ** Game 1, Round 9 - Science - Astronomical Terms

    1. What type of object has gravity so strong that the escape
    velocity exceeds the speed of light?

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

    2. What do we call a celestial object that emits radio waves with
    a high degree of regularity?

    Pulsar. 4 for everyone.

    3. What is a bolide?

    An exploding or exceptionally bright meteor. 4 for Dan Tilque.

    4. What term do we give to a sudden eruption of energy on the
    solar disk from which radiation and particles are emitted?

    Flare. 4 for Erland, Dan Blum, Pete, and Dan Tilque.

    5. What is a nebula made of?

    The answer originally expected was "dust and gas". A number
    of sources say this is correct, but others say "dust *or* gas".
    I'm accepting "dust", "gas", "hydrogen", or any combination of these.
    Since the dust comes from stars, I also accepted "star dust".
    4 for everyone.

    6. What term do we give a mass of stone or metal that has reached
    the earth from outer space?

    Meteorite. 4 for Dan Blum, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.

    It's only a meteor while it's passing through the atmosphere.

    7. What do we call the glow in a planet's ionosphere caused by
    the interaction between the magnetic field and particles that
    have been charged by the Sun?

    An aurora. 4 for Dan Blum and Dan Tilque.

    8. What is a parsec? Be specific.

    A unit of length, equal to about 3.26 light years, and defined as
    the distance from the Earth at which an object is seen to have a
    parallax of 1 second of arc due to the Earth's orbit around the sun.
    (Either the length or something resembling the correct definition was
    required, but in accordance with the original game, if the length is
    given then I am accepting an asymmetrical range of 3-4 light years.)
    4 for Erland and Dan Tilque.

    9. Hubble's Law states that the velocity of recession of distant
    galaxies from our own is proportional to what?

    Their distance from our galaxy. I accepted any reference to distance
    from here, and reluctantly accepted plain "distance" as well.
    4 for Dan Blum and Dan Tilque.

    10. What name do we give to celestial objects whose large red
    shift and apparent brightness imply extreme distance and huge
    energy output?

    Quasar. 4 for Dan Blum and Dan Tilque.


    ** Game 1, Round 10 - Challenge - Challenging Firsts

    * A. Literature: Debut Novels

    A1. Give the name of the 2004 first novel of Mark Haddon,
    the story of an autistic boy wrongfully accused of killing
    a neighbor's pet.

    "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time". 4 for Dan Blum.
    3 for Joshua.

    A2. Give the name of Sue Monk Kidd's 2003 debut novel. Set in
    South Carolina in 1964, it tells the story of Lily Owens
    trying to discover the truth about her mother's death.

    "The Secret Life of Bees". 4 for Joshua.


    * B. Science: Pioneers of Archaeology

    B1. Name the pioneering French archeologist who first deciphered
    the Rosetta Stone and realized the importance of the King
    List scroll to date early Egyptian times. His book "Pr�cis
    du Syst�me Hi�roglyphique" gave birth to the entire field
    of modern Egyptian study, and so he is referred to as the
    "Father of Egyptology".

    Jean-Fran�ois Champollion. I accepted "Champoillon". 4 for Dan Blum
    and Joshua.

    B2. Two men are often referred to as the "Father of Modern
    Archaeology". One is the German who discovered and excavated
    the remains of Troy, thus showing that ancient epics could
    reflect actual events. The other is the Englishman who
    developed many processes now in common use: painstaking
    recording of facts; non-destructive, non-intrusive gentle
    excavation techniques; etc. He developed pottery seriation
    to date civilizations, and discovered the important
    Merneptah stele. Name *either* man.

    Heinrich Schliemann, Flinders Petrie. "Schlichter" was not quite
    close enough to accept. 4 for Dan Blum and Dan Tilque.


    * C. Geography: 1st-Level National Divisions

    C1. Japan does not have states or provinces; name the divisions
    it has instead.

    Prefectures. 4 for everyone.

    C2. Barbados does not have states or provinces; it has these
    divisions instead, which were based on the locations of
    churches. What are they called?

    Parishes. 4 for everyone.


    * D. History: First in Space

    D1. The Soviet Union and the United States were the first
    two countries to have citizens in space. In 1978 Vladimir
    Remek became the first citizen of a third country into space.
    What country?

    Czechoslovakia. 4 for Erland. 3 for Dan Blum and Joshua.

    D2. Please decode the rot13 only after you have finished with
    the previous question. Name the year that the first Canadian
    went into space, within 1.

    1984 (accepting 1983-85). (Marc Garneau.) 4 for Dan Blum.
    3 for Pete and Joshua.


    * E. Entertainment: One-Named Female Singers

    E1. Name the one-named Colombian singer whose song "Whenever,
    Wherever" was the global #1 best-selling single in 2002.
    She sang to open both the 2006 and 2010 World Cup Final
    games.

    Shakira. 4 for Erland and Joshua.

    E2. Name the one-named Irish singer who had a best-selling album
    with "Watermark" in 1998, featuring the single "Orinoco
    Flow".

    Enya. 4 for Erland, Dan Blum, Pete, and Joshua.


    * F. Sports: NCAA Division 1 Football Team Names

    *Note*: Since NCAA's own web site doesn't list team names,
    this question has been updated with information from Wikipedia.
    The answers now are the same as in 2012 anyway.

    F1. The most common name among Division 1 football teams is
    used by such teams as Yale, Louisiana Tech, Mississippi
    State, and South Carolina State. What is it?

    Bulldogs. 4 for Dan Blum, Pete, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.

    There are 12 -- the others are Alabama A&M, Bryant, Butler, the Citadel,
    Drake, Fresno State, Georgia, and Samford.

    F2. The next most popular name among Division 1 football teams
    is used by 11 of them, including Memphis, Clemson, and
    Princeton. What is it?

    Tigers. 4 for Dan Blum, Pete, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.

    The others are Auburn, Grambling, Jackson State, Louisiana State,
    Missouri, Tennessee State, Texas Southern, and Towson.

    Third most common is Wildcats with 10 teams, then Bears with 7,
    then Panthers and Eagles with 6 each. The most common non-animal
    name is Aggies with 5 teams.


    Scores, if there are no errors:

    GAME 1 ROUNDS-> 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 BEST
    TOPICS-> Can Lit Geo Spo Ent Mis Sci Cha SIX
    Dan Blum 4 40 32 40 32 28 32 39 215
    Joshua Kreitzer 9 32 28 32 32 32 16 41 197
    Dan Tilque 0 28 28 16 8 12 40 20 144
    Pete Gayde 3 12 20 28 20 28 16 23 135
    Erland Sommarskog 0 4 16 8 0 8 20 20 76

    --
    Mark Brader | "This is a moral that runs at large;
    Toronto | Take it. -- You're welcome. -- No extra charge." [email protected] | -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

    My text in this article is in the public domain.

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  • From Mark Brader@21:1/5 to All on Wed May 4 20:35:51 2022
    Mark Brader:
    D1. The Soviet Union and the United States were the first
    two countries to have citizens in space. In 1978 Vladimir
    Remek became the first citizen of a third country into space.
    What country?

    Czechoslovakia. 4 for Erland. 3 for Dan Blum and Joshua.

    Incidentally, a multiple-choice version of this question came up
    on yesterday's episode of ABC's version of "The Chase". Both the
    contestant and the chaser correctly picked Czech from the choices,
    although one of them assumed the country was the Czech Republic.
    --
    Mark Brader | "Perl is a minimalist language at heart.
    Toronto | It's just minimalistic about weird things
    [email protected] | compared to your average language." -- Larry Wall

    My text in this article is in the public domain.

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  • From Erland Sommarskog@21:1/5 to Mark Brader on Thu May 5 21:18:52 2022
    Mark Brader ([email protected]) writes:
    Mark Brader:
    D1. The Soviet Union and the United States were the first
    two countries to have citizens in space. In 1978 Vladimir
    Remek became the first citizen of a third country into space.
    What country?

    Czechoslovakia. 4 for Erland. 3 for Dan Blum and Joshua.

    Incidentally, a multiple-choice version of this question came up
    on yesterday's episode of ABC's version of "The Chase". Both the
    contestant and the chaser correctly picked Czech from the choices,
    although one of them assumed the country was the Czech Republic.

    Oh-oh, a small brainfart there. Actually, I think my first thought
    was the same, but an internal alarm fired and corrected me.

    By the way, I did not know the answer, but Remek sounds like a very
    Czech name to me. Or for that matter a Slovak.

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