Friday, August 12, 2005

Set Five

Though still not balanced, this set features some interesting information - in fact, for a couple of Qs, the question is probably more interesting than the answer! I have an exam to prepare for, so things will slow down for a few days. Enjoy these in the meanwhile. Don't forget to try the bonus.

But first, a message from our sponsors:
"Hello, and welcome to XQZ. If you're new to this blog, please see the first posting Ground Zero in order to learn the basic rules of this quiz blog. Remember to use rot13."

En avant!

Set Five

5.1
Who held all these posts? The mayor of Palermo, the assistant governor general of Malta, the vice-shah of Oran, the caliph of Baghdad, the imam of Damascus, and the sheik of Araby.

5.2
Hershey (of Hershey's Chocolates) had a partner called William Murrie. His (William's) son Bruce, was briefly the partner of another businessman, and their names (those of Bruce and his business partner) were together immortalised how?

5.3
This band Van Halen pioneered the way for the modern "Rock and Roll Show" with their extensive use of the concert technical contract rider. Although contract riders had existed before, Van Halen's use of them to specify the band's "wish list" (stage, production, transportation, personal requirements, etc.) was new and established a standard practice that is now used routinely throughout the music industry. As one of the first major bands with a full stage show to appear in many smaller cities, Van Halen had an extensive set of technical and logistical requirements including power availability and stage construction details that a venue had to comply with. Many venues in these markets had not previously dealt with such a large-scale show, and were not equipped to handle Van Halen's massive stage and light show, sometimes resulting in damage to the band's equipment and the venue. The band's demands were not limited to technical issues: their now infamous contract rider specified that, among other personal needs, a bowl of M&M candies, with all of the brown ones removed was to be available in the band's dressing room. This requirement was listed with the technical portion of the contract. Why?

5.4
The founder and CEO of this UK company, Stephen Marks, hired Trevor Beattie to make the brand 'front of mind' with customers. Beattie saw an acronym used by the company while sending faxes between their UK and Hong Kong offices, and this inspired one of the most controversial (and famous, and successful) advertising campaigns of the nineties. Which company?

5.5
On July 20 1941 a BBC campaign (around the V for victory and freedom idea) was launched with a message from Churchill for occupied Europe. Douglas Ritchie of the BBC European Service, suggested an audible V using the morse code rhythm - three dots and a dash. What was used? It was used as the call-sign by the BBC in its foreign language programmes to occupied Europe for the rest of the war.

5.6
Extract from a letter in 1861 from Secretary Chase to James Pollock:

"... You will cause a device to be prepared without unnecessary delay with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest words possible this national recognition."

Pollock submitted some designs, and in another letter in 1863, Secretary Chase replied:

"I approve your mottoes, only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse the motto should begin with the word OUR, so as to read OUR GOD AND OUR COUNTRY. And on that with the shield, it should be changed so as to read: __ ___ __ _____."


Fill in the final famous phrase.

5.7
The original example of this was Honduras, where the United Fruit and Standard Fruit companies dominated the country's key banana export sector and support sectors such as railways. The United Fruit Company was nicknamed 'The Octopus', for its willingness to involve itself in politics, sometimes violently. For example, in 1910 the company hired a gang of armed toughs from New Orleans to install a new president when the incumbent failed to grant the company tax breaks. The newly installed Honduran president waived the company's taxes for the next 25 years. The company's dominance in Honduras, as well as other Central American countries like Guatemala, led Pablo Neruda to write a poem titled La United Fruit Co. in Spanish. This political situation led to a phrase used to describe Honduras, but now used to describe a country with a non-democratic or unstable government, especially where there is widespread political corruption and strong foreign influence. What phrase?

5.8
In Hindu mythology, the devas are the good gods, while the asuras are the evil demons. Where would you find the daevas as demonic, and the ahuras as good?

5.9
The earliest known reference is from the Life of St. Columba; it describes how in 565 Columba saved the life of a Pict who was being attacked by a strange wild animal. In 1975, Sir Peter Scott, one of Britain’s best-known naturalists, announced that the scientific name of the animal would henceforth be Nessiteras rhombopteryx. What am I talking about?

5.10
In a certain mythology, the dwarfs forge the chain Gleipnir ("deceiver" or "entangler"). It appeared to be only a silken ribbon but was made of six wondrous ingredients: the sound of a cat's footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, bear's sinews (meaning nerves, sensibility), fish's breath, and bird's spittle (which explains why these things are not found today). This chain is then used to bind the wolf Fenrir (Note: inspiration for Fenrir Greyback in HP6?). However, it is preordained that Fenrir will escape during the battle at the end of the world. Who will Fenrir devour at that time?

5.11
Here's an extra bonus: there are connections between questiosn 5.1 and 5.2, and also between 5.3 and 5.4, and you could say that in fact 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 are connected and that 5.3, 5.4 and 5.5 are vaguely connected. Try and figure out the connections!

Don't forget to write in and rate the previous Q&As!

Auf Wiedersehen, Kameraden.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

The Key of Three

The Truth is Out There. The Answers are Right Here. Welcome to another answer session at XQZ. Don't forget to rate the questions after you've read the answers - see the posting Ground Zero to understand the rating system. Now see What Lies Beneath.

3.1
Gung Ho is indeed the answer... giving the Mandarin words made it easier, but it's funny, isn't it, how such a typical American phrase came from China? Of course, come to think of it, chopsuey came from the States....

Kaushik and Shrey figured this out.

3.2
Lance Armstrong is correct - these are some of the teams he has cycled with and won prizes with - however, he won the Tour de France only with the US Postal Service and the Discovery Channel.

Kaushik dredged the murky depths of his memory to get the answer with a great guess. Shrey and Corpsed got this too. And we have a tentative but correct answer from Einsteinophile.

3.3
Heheh... this is Elbonia from Dilbert. Incidentally, Scott Adams has another comic (currently shelved) called Plop, which is all about Elbonians.

Kaushik knew this one, and Shrey remembered the Dilbert connection, and Corpsed just couldn't rest without knowing the answer, so he took a little help, but yeah, they got it.

3.4
E.T. the Extra Terrestrial!

Kaushik got this in one, as did Corpsed.

3.5
Well, if the President's plane is called Air Force One, then his helicopter would be called.... Marine One.

Heheh, nice name, Kaushik. "Mr. President" is pretty cool. Shrey got this but wasn't sure. Corpsed tried Air Force Two - right idea, but wrong kind of military.

3.6
The company is Raytheon (light of the gods), and their inventive employee created the microwave.

Kaushik figured the microwave, but not the company. Corpsed got this, though very modestly admits to having some help. Good going though.

3.7
These highly incestuous companies belonged to the aeronautics/aerospace industry.

The original list is given below:

1912 Glenn L. Martin forms the Glenn L. Martin Company, and the Loughead brothers form the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company.
1915 William Boeing takes lessons from Mr. Martin.
1916 The Loughead brothers form the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company. Martin merges with the Wright company to form the Wright-Martin Aircraft Company. Jack Northrop works for Loughead. William Boeing starts the Pacific Aero Products Company.
1917 Martin splits off from Wright-Martin to become the Glenn L. Martin company again. William Boeing starts the Boeing Airplane Company.
At some point D.W. Douglas works as chief engineer at the Glenn L. Martin company.
1920 D.W. Douglas starts the Davis-Douglas company (which became the Douglas company in 1921, and in 1928, the Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc.). At some point Loughead closes.
1923-26 Jack Northrop works for Douglas.
1926 Loughead is restarted with the new name Lockheed, which is pronounced the same way, but is spelt in a simpler manner. Nothrop returns to work for Lockheed.
1929 Northrop leaves Lockheed to start a company which is subsidiary to another, but which is named after himself.
1930 L. R. Grumman starts Grumman Aeronautical Engineering Co. .
1932 Jack Northrop returns to Douglas, runs a subsidiary.
1933-38 J.S. McDonnell is chief engineer at the Glenn L. Martin company.
1938 Jack Northrop starts his own company Northrop Aircraft, Inc. .
1939 J.S. McDonnell starts McDonnell Aircraft Corp..
1961 Martin merges with another company (the American-Marietta Company), changes name to Martin-Marietta.
1967 McDonnell merges with Douglas to form the McDonnell Douglas Corporation
1994 Northrop merges with Grumman to form Northrop-Grumman
1995 Lockheed merges with Martin-Marietta to form a company called Lockheed-Martin
1996 Boeing merges with McDonnell-Douglas
1998 Lockheed-Martin abandons attempt to merge with Northrop-Grumman.

Nobody got this (though Corpsed gave a pretty good answer using car companies), but you can bet that not many people know this.... I had to dig a lot to get the entire timeline - so go ahead and use it in your quizzes :)

3.8
In the game Pac-Man, the Pac-Man has to run from the monsters.... unless he eats the special stuff, in which case he can eat the monsters. In the Pac-Man defense, the company which is under threat of a hostile takeover starts a hostile takeover of the company that is trying to buy it.

A beautifully short and sweet answer by Shrey.

3.9
This was the first time that the famous Moore's Law (which deals with the further miniaturization and large scale integration of computer chips) was mentioned in print. Intel had lost their own copy of the magazine and offered this reward to get another. For a few days, librarians in America had to lock their cupboards very securely to prevent the theft of copies!

Kaushik got this, we had a great guess by Shrey, and an extremely confident reply from Einsteinophile.

3.10
Heh.... Corpsed thought it might have something to do with the DPS MMS clip (heheh), but no.... I have no idea how you guys figured it out... anyhow, this lens was used to film the segments of 2001: A Space Odyssey that were supposed to be from HAL 9000's point of view.... also, this lens was shown as HAL's lens (remember that glowing red light?).

Shrey and Einsteinophile figured Kubrick, I don't know how.... and Einsteinophile even managed to pinpoint Space Odyssey.... amazing.

Nice going, guys.... remember, there's no buzzer, no time limit (well, kinda) and no negative points, so go ahead and guess! Till next time. I had better start work on Set Five!

Sayanora.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Set Four

My first posting from the States! Woo! The Fall term has not started yet, so the place is relatively quiet, I have not yet started classes, and I do not yet know the quizzing scene. However, I have you, my devoted readers, so here are the latest set of questions. Just a reminder first -

"Hello, and welcome to XQZ. If you're new to this blog, please see the first posting Ground Zero in order to learn the basic rules of this quiz blog. Remember to use rot13."

On to the queries! Excelsior!

Set Four

4.1
Al-Yemen means right hand. Why did the country get this name?
(Courtesy the American Museum of Natural History)

4.2
Robert Klark Graham (1907-1997) was an American businessman who made a lot of money by developing shatter-proof plastic eyeglass lenses, and who later founded the Repository for Germinal Choice. What did the Repository do/hold?

4.3
This race is organised by the New York Road Runners Club, and in 2004 it held its 27th edition. From 1999 to 2003 it was dominated by Australian Paul Crake, who still holds the record, being the only one to have run the race in less than 10 minutes. In 2004 the winner was Rudolf Reitberger from Austria. It is an invitational race. What is the race course/path?

Paul Crake is shown below.



4.4
After X achieved national stardom, he offered to produce Waylon's first records. Though neither of the first two recordings had much success, it was the beginning of a short but influential friendship with the rockabilly legend. X asked Waylon to join his touring band playing bass guitar, an offer Waylon accepted despite the fact that he did not know how to play bass. They embarked on a nationwide tour riddled with difficulties, including a tour bus without heat that repeatedly stalled in the cold weather.

X, Y, and Waylon were supposed to take a plane ride from Iowa. Waylon gave his seat to Z, who had a cold and desperately needed rest. After Waylon gave up his seat, X had jokingly told him that he hoped the tour bus would stall. What was Waylon Jenning's reply?

4.5
Identify and connect. I'm hoping this connection is the only one that exists between the following people, but I can't guarantee it. The list is NOT exhaustive.










4.6
Connect Feyd Rautha from Dune, and



4.7
Comic question! Hardcore comic book question. Captain America's indestructible shield was created in an unknown hither-to unreplicated process. What did Dr. Myron MacLain create when he unsuccessfully tried to replicate the process?

4.8
Connect the following terms/what do they have in common?
Back-end, Bankmail, Bon-voyage Bonus, Golden Parachute, Goodbye kiss, Gray Knight, Greenmail, Killer Bees, Lobster Trap, Pension Parachute, Poison Pill, Safe Harbor, Scorched-earth Defense, Selling the Crown Jewels, Shark Repellent, Standstill Agreement, Trigger.

4.9
In front, the shoes bear her name. On the back, one pair has 5.01, 5.02, 5.03 and 5.04 inscribed on the side of heel. Whose shoes are we talking about?

4.10
It is one of the most bizarre and improbable organisms on the planet. It produces no leaves, stems or roots but lives as a parasite on the Tetrastigma vine, which grows only in primary (undisturbed) rainforest. Only the flower or bud can be seen; the rest of the plant exists only as filaments within its unfortunate host. The blossom is pollinated by flies attracted by its scent, which resembles that of carrion. Which plant?

I'm sorry if the distribution is a little unbalanced. Hopefully once I get into a rhythm here both the frequency and the balance of questions will improve.

See ya later, alligators!