- They were a late species of dromaeosaur, similar to Deinonychus
but not as big, only six feet long and weighing maybe one hundred
pounds. They probably had feathers and must have had a high
metabolism, since they were bipedal but agile enough to kill prey with
the large talons on their feet. For 10 points--identify these "speedy
plunderers" who were smaller and less scaly than they appear in the
movies.
answer: velociraptors
- In the century after its publication, it averaged an edition a year
and was translated into over thirty languages. The underlining in
surviving copies suggests that readers paid more attention to the jokes
and instructions on how to ride and dance with elegance than the
conversations of Duchess Elizabeth of Gonzaga and her lieutenant Emilia,
which dealt with philosophical questions of the necessity of noble birth
and the role of warfare in the life of the well-bred Italian. For 10
points--name this set of instructions on good behaviour and courtly love
written in 1513 by Baldassare Castiglione.
answer: The Book of the Courtier or Il
cortegiano
- She is not Joycelyn Elders, but she has advocated teaching children
about masturbation as a more realistic safe-sex alternative than
abstinence in her best-seller Promiscuities. Stances such as these
have been controversial since she has reportedly been paid $15,000 per
month by the Gore campaign for political strategy advice on how to appeal
to women voters, including how to make him be perceived as an "alpha
male." For 10 points--name this prominent feminist, author of The
Beauty Myth.
answer: Naomi Wolf
- They are like humans in that they have bodily needs, are mortal, can
do good or evil, and will eventually face salvation or damnation by
Allah. They were thought to inspire poets, and Muhammed originally
feared that his revelations were due to them. Christina Aguilera
claims to be one in a hit song. For 10 points--identify these
supernatural beings beneath angels and devils in Islamic mythology.
answer: jinni or jinn (accept ifrit before
"Christina")
- Its lobby features walls of Moroccan red marble, elevator doors
inlaid with Japanese ash, and a ceiling covered with an Edward
Trumbull mural entitled "Energy, Result, Workmanship and Transportation."
Its seven-story pinnacle was assembled inside the building and, at the
last minute, jockeyed into position, thwarting its competitors in the
contest to become the world's tallest building. For 10 points--name this
Art Deco masterpiece of William Van Alen, a 1,084-foot New York landmark
notable for its gargoyles made of radiator caps.
answer: Chrysler Building
- Despite saying such things as "Since God has given us the Papacy, let
us enjoy it," and "What profit has not that fable of Christ brought
us," he was considered more pious than his Borgia predecessors. He
formed the League of Mechlin to oppose France. A lavish supporter of
the arts, he re-affirmed the indulgences which had been authorized by
Julius II to finance the construction of St. Peter's, but these
indulgences were not popular in northern Europe. For 10 points--name
this pope who was driven to excommunicate Martin Luther.
answer: Leo X or Giovanni de Medici
- It was advertised with the tagline, "There is no future without it."
Ruby Rhod couldn't figure out if he was more like Prince or Arsenio Hall,
and Zorg was dumb enough to get blown up by his own bomb. It's a good
thing Plavalaguna had those stones inside her, or everyone on Earth would
have been crushed by a huge fireball of pure evil. These plot elements
appear in--for 10 points--what 1997 Luc Besson movie starring Milla
Jovovich and Bruce Willis?
answer : The Fifth Element
- His greatest memorial is his mortuary temple at Abydos, and his
tomb is the finest in the Valley of the Kings. During his reign, the
great hypostyle hall at Karnak was completed, and many public works
were restored after the troubled years of the 18th Dynasty. He
reclaimed Palestine and parts of Syria for the Egyptian empire and
pushed the Hittites under Muwatallis back to the Orontes River. For 10
points--identify this king of the 19th Dynasty, the son of
Ramses I and the father of Ramses II.
answer: Seti I
- His Bathroom had seamless germ-free surfaces, a mirror which didn't
steam up, a "Fog Gun" vapor shower that only required one cup of
water, and a toilet which neatly shrink-wrapped excrement for
composting. His House was heated and cooled by natural means, had
downdraft ventilation to reduce the need for vacuuming and dusting,
and had rotating closets to bring you your clothes. His Car got 30
miles to the gallon, went 120 miles an hour, and could do a 180 degree
turn in its own length. For 10 points--what inventor of the Dymaxion
House, Car, and Bathroom also invented the geodesic dome?
answer: R(ichard) Buckminster Fuller
- The name may have been derived from the Spanish for "flat country."
Formed by the confluence of the Tugaloo and Seneca rivers, it constitutes
the boundary between Georgia and South Carolina as it flows southeastward
past Augusta and its namesake city, which was the objective of Sherman's
march to the sea. For 10 points, give the name of this river and colonial
capital of Georgia, which has nothing to do with a terrain characterized
by an open tree canopy above a hot, dry grassland.
answer: Savannah
- His last words were, "Oh dear, I think I'm becoming a god."
Milestones on the way to immortality included his proconsulship in Africa,
where he was so miserly that the people pelted him with turnips, and
his successful military campaign in Judaea, which was interrupted by
the death of Nero. For 10 points--identify this Roman general who,
after the brief reigns of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, ended a civil
war by becoming emperor and founding the Flavian dynasty.
answer: Vespasian
- Dedicated to the Biblical command of Exodus 22:18, it was first
published in 1486 by Johann Sprenger and Heinrich Kraemer, and it
would go through 28 editions over the next century. Sprenger and
Kraemer had received a papal bull from Innocent VIII two years
earlier, which gave the book an aura of papal authority as it
advocated the use of torture in securing confessions. For 10
points--identify this handbook on how to hunt witches.
answer: Malleus maleficarum or The Witches' Hammer
- Their first recording was in the Virtual Earth sound studio around
February, 1977, and their first live performance was in Paris on May 28,
1977. They only recorded one album, which contains the songs "Visions of
the Night," "New World Blues," and "Lady of Delight." The band that
followed them reworked their song "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic"
and made it famous. For 10 points--identify this rock group, the precursor
to The Police, which also shares its name with a highly radioactive
isotope of element 38 which has a 28-year half-life and is the product of
nuclear fallout.
answer: Strontium-90
- "When at the first I took my pen in hand/ Thus for to write, I did not
understand/ That I at all should make a little book/ In such a mode: nay I
had undertook/ To make another, which when almost done,/ Before I was
aware, I this begun." begins the author's apology for this book. The
story proper begins, "As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I
lighted on a certain place where there was a den (the gaol), and I laid me
down in that place to sleep: and as I slept, I dreamed a dream." For 10
points--name this 1678 book about the adventures of Christian, written by
John Bunyan.
answer: Pilgrim's Progress
- He was not Jesus, but he was murdered on an Easter Friday. He was not
the Archangel Michael, but the army that he commanded was described as
"the glory of the coming of the Lord." He was not Moses, but he is
famous for delivering a people from bondage. He was not the patriarch
Abraham, but you might say that he was a patriarch Abraham. He
still was not Jesus, but he is well-known for saying that "a house
divided against itself cannot stand." For 10 points--identify this
sixteenth President of the United States.
answer: Abraham Lincoln
- Its creators admitted that their intent was to design a product for a
company that would be bought out quickly. Internet users are now starting
to auction off their numbers on eBay and attracting bids if the numbers
are small enough. The numbers identify users of this service that allows
instant communication through the internet via a protocol first created by
the Mirabilis company. The UINs in question are--for 10 points--used by
what instant-messaging program now owned by America Online?
answer: ICQ
- In his 1903 tone poem Symphonia Domestica, a huge orchestra
describes 24 hours in the life of his family, including bathing the baby,
quarreling, and having make-up sex. He and his wife appear again as the
protagonists of the 1918 opera Die Frau ohne
Schatten, a bizarre Wagnerian version of Mozart's The Magic
Flute. For 10 points--name this composer more famous for the opera
Der Rosenkavalier and the tone poem Also Sprach Zarathustra.
answer: Richard Georg Strauss
- His grandnephew, who was named for him, had the last name Pickard and
developed the crystal detector radio receiver, a point-contact rectifier
which was the forerunner of the transistor. He himself wrote antislavery
pamphlets for William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator, as well as church
hymns which are still sung today, but he is better known for sentimental
poetry about nature and incidents in rural life. For 10 points--name this
Quaker poet, influenced by Robert Burns, whose works include "Maud Muller"
and "Snowbound."
answer: John Greenleaf Whittier
[note: his grandnephew was named Greenleaf Whittier Pickard, and
probably got beat up a lot at school.]
- The Interrotron, which allows persons to look directly into the camera
while maintaining eye contact with the interviewer, was used to speak to
mole-rat specialist Ray Mendez, lion-tamer Dave Hoover, topiary gardener
George Mendonca, and designer of bug-like robots Rodney Brooks. For 10
points--these men appear in what 1997 Errol Morris documentary, whose
title comes from a paper by Brooks subtitled "A Robot Invasion of the
Solar System"?
answer: Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control
- The Wiedemann-Franz law shows that, for this class of materials, the
ratio of the thermal conductivity to the electrical conductivity is
directly proportional to the temperature. The constant of proportionality,
called the Lorenz number, is independent of the particular material, a
result which supports the theory of the free electron gas used to describe
the properties of--for 10 points--which materials which include rubidium,
cesium and sodium and are useful for body piercings and chain link fences?
answer: metals
- Her death at the age of 34 tormented her father, who had found great
comfort in their correspondence, until his own death nine years later. The
daughter of Maria Gamba, she was considered unfit for marriage because of
her illegitimacy and was placed into a convent. There she took vows as
Sister Maria Celeste, a name she chose out of respect for her father's
fascination with the stars. For 10 points--identify this Venetian nun,
whose 124 letters to her father, the discoverer of four moons of Jupiter,
form the basis of a 1999 book by Dava Sobel.
answer: Galileo's Daughter (accept Virginia)
- Called hamestagan by Zoroastrians, it is inhabited by the
faithful who have fallen off the Bridge of the Requiter and are doomed to
suffer extreme heat and cold. In Laetentur Caeli, Pope Eugenius IV
authoritatively defined it according to Second Maccabees 12:45, which
states, "...If he was looking to the splendid reward laid up for those who
fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he
made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin."
For 10 points--name this haven for souls which can be purified by
indulgences bought on their behalf by the faithful on earth.
answer: purgatory (do not accept: limbo)