- Like the Romans with Romulus or the Britons with Brutus, this
dynasty had a founder and namesake who was said to have descended from
Trojan refugees. Nothing definite is known of the founder's life, but
legend claims he fought Attila the Hun at the Battle of the
Catalaunian Plains in 451, and that he was half man, half sea-serpent.
For 10 points--identify the dynasty named for this possibly mythical
king of the Salian Franks, the father of Childeric and grandfather of
Clovis, reckoned as the "first race" of the kings of France.
answer: Merovingian dynasty (accept Merovech or
Meroveus, Merowich, or Merowig)
- Because of their unique spectral characteristics, they are often
confused with quasars in preliminary surveys. Their nuclei show broad
emission lines, caused by the expansion of concentrated hot gas at thousands
of kilometers per second. For 10 points--identify these unusual galaxies,
first identified by an American astronomer in 1944, which are extremely
strong sources of infrared, radio, and X ray radiation and are characterized
by their active nuclei.
answer: Seyfert Galaxies (prompt on radio galaxies; Seyferts
are usually considered a subset of radio galaxies)
- Leonardo Da Vinci used this unit of measurement in his work: four
of them equaled a palm, and six palms a cubit. Today the unit is
still sometimes used while tending bar. It was derived from the
smallest Roman unit of length, the digitus, and evolved into the
English nail, which equaled 3/4 inch. For 10 points--identify this
ancient unit of measurement, whose name is shared with a useful body
part.
answer: finger
- Presented in its original preface as a newly rediscovered
manuscript penned by a medieval Italian monk, it was actually written
by a minor English nobleman. The idea sprang from a dream of a giant
armor-clad hand at the top of the stairs in the author's imitation
medieval house, Strawberry Hill. It describes how Count Manfred reacts
to his son Conrad's death by desperate attempts to produce an heir,
which are foiled by a giant whose disembodied limbs appear throughout
the book. For 10 points--what book, perhaps the first Gothic novel,
was written by Horace Walpole?
answer: The Castle of Otranto
- Its inventor called it strictly a "limiting case" of no practical
importance and it fell out of favor, but has experienced a
controversial rebirth as an explanation for the Japanese recession. An
implicit argument in favor of the aggressive use of fiscal policy, it
is thought to occur when interest rates are expected to rise, causing
an essentially infinite demand for money. For 10 points--what
scenario in which inflationary policy fails to stimulate the economy
was proposed by John Maynard Keynes?
answer: liquidity trap.
- In his native language, his Christian name meant "gift of the Lord."
After Jesus found him sitting by the customs house in Capernaum, this son
of Alphaeus invited Jesus to a meal at his home. The Pharisees criticized
Jesus for accepting his invitation, as he was a tax collector in the
service of Herod Antipas. For 10 points--name this apostle, who is
credited with writing the first book of the New Testament.
answer: Matthew (accept Levi before "apostle")
- There are no TV cameras at this event, but with software called
"Virtual Spectator" you can watch live via GPS data uploaded to the
Internet. Through the first of three round robins, Switzerland's FAST
2000 is in last place, while Italy's Prada is in first place. Dennis
Conner's Stars and Stripes is in the middle of the pack of--for 10
points--what contest to find an opponent for defending yachting
champions New Zealand in the America's Cup?
answer: Louis Vuitton Cup (prompt on America's Cup;
accept early America's Cup Challenger Series)
- In this city on November 5, 1999, 2,082 oarsmen rowed 52 gilded
barges to the Temple of the Dawn. Tens of thousands of spectators
crowded the banks of the Chao Phyra river, and millions more watched
on television, the flotilla procession which marked the opening of the
birthday celebration of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, ending in--for 10
points--what capital city of Thailand?
answer: Bangkok
- The author of this work described its creation in the critical
essay "The Philosophy of Composition," portraying it as a work of
careful planning, not artistic inspiration. The author decided that,
in order to hold the reader's attention, this poem must be short. He
decided that "a close circumscription of space", in this case the main
character's chamber, would provide an appropriate frame for the
narrative. The theme of a dead beloved woman was chosen as the most
beautiful possible. Throw in a haunting refrain for emphasis and you
have--for 10 points--the supposed original recipe for what poem by
Edgar Allen Poe?
answer: The Raven
- His parents, Arina and Vassily Ivanych, adore him despite his
cynical and often biting attitude toward life. "In these days, the
most useful thing we can do is repudiate," he says to his friend,
Arkady Kirsanov, who at first worships him, but by the end of the
novel begins to lose respect for him and his philosophy. For 10
points--identify this proponent of nihilism, the protagonist of Ivan
Turgenev's Fathers and Sons.
answer: Yevgeny Bazarov
- The northern terminus is Leggat, and the southern terminus is
Imperial Beach. Russian Gulch State Park, Samuel P. Taylor State Park,
the Ventana Wilderness, Los Padres National Forest, and Channel
Islands National Park are all natural attractions, and towns like
Gordia, Cambria, Nepenthe, and Carmel-by-the-Sea are popular sites for
tourists along this route. For 10 points--identify this road, which
also passes through major cities such as San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa
Barbara, and San Francisco.
answer: Highway 1 or Pacific Coast Highway
- He was born in Genoa in 1404, his family having been exiled from
Florence. His major works of architecture include Sant'Andrea in
Mantua, the facade of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, the Palazzo
Rucellai in Florence, and the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini. For 10
points--name this prototype of the Renaissance "universal man", whose
most important contributions were arguably his treatises on art, in
which he set forth rules of linear perspective.
answer: Leon Battista Alberti
- He wrote two treatises, De temporibus and De temporum
ratione, which were primarily concerned with the calculation of
the date of Easter. Ancient letters, oral traditions, and his
knowledge of contemporary events in Northumbria and surrounding
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms formed the basis for his most famous work, which
chronicled events from raids by Julius Caesar to the arrival of
St. Augustine in Kent in AD 597. For 10 points--identify this monk,
the author of the 731 work Historia ecclesiastica.
answer: St. Bede the Venerable
- Obligations to the Monroe Doctrine, the League Covenant,
self-defense, or other treaties of alliance were exempt from its
dictates. First proposed by the French foreign minister in 1927 as a
bilateral nonaggression pact between the US and France, it was revised
by the US secretary of state and ultimately became a multilateral pact
that was agreed to by nearly all the nations of the world. For 10
points--identify this 1928 agreement, also known as the Pact of Paris,
that attempted to outlaw war.
answer: Kellogg-Briand Pact
- He moved to Los Angeles in 1942 and began studying with Lester
Horton, eventually replacing Horton upon his death in 1953. Studying
under Stella Adler in New York, he founded his own company and began
creating his own works. In 1965 he hired Judith Jamison, who starred
in many of his most famous pieces, as well as in works by Martha
Graham and other contemporary choreographers featured by his
company. For 10 points--what African-American choreographer created
"Revelations" and "Cry" for his American Dance Theater?
answer: Alvin Ailey
- Its existence was suggested by the experiments of Stern and
Gerlach, who found that a beam of silver atoms passing through a
nonuniform magnetic field is split into an even number of peaks, in
contradiction to contemporary quantum physics. It escaped early
attention because there is no classical analog for it, but Dirac was
able to derive it by making the Schroedinger equation relativistically
invariant. For photons, it has magnitude one, while for electrons, it
has magnitude one half. For 10 points--what is this fourth atomic
quantum number?
answer: spin or m-sub-s or s.
- On Friday, November 5, 1999, a 54-7 vote in favor of a
Russia-sponsored resolution regarding this treaty was passed, with
nearly all of the European Union nations voting with Russia. The
resolution dealt with American actions that, according to Russia,
"attempt to undermine or circumvent" this treaty that disallowed the
large-scale systems that the United States is currently testing and
planning to deploy to a site in Alaska. For 10 points--identify this
1972 treaty that bars the US and Russia from building nationwide "star
wars"-like systems.
answer: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty or ABM Treaty
- Mispickel is the most common mineral from which heating
causes this element to sublime, leaving ferrous sulfide. It is a steel
gray, very brittle, semimetallic solid that, when heated, rapidly
oxidizes producing the odor of garlic. It is useful as a dopant for
semiconductors, although Albertus Magnus didn't know that when he
isolated it in 1250 AD. For 10 points--identify this element, whose
compounds are often used in insecticides and poisons and which has
atomic number 33.
answer: arsenic
- They were discovered in 1869 by a German physician, and their
study led to a 1921 breakthrough and a 1923 Nobel Prize for
Medicine. A normal human being has about one million of them,
consisting of four types of cells, three of which produce hormones. Delta
cells produce somatostatin, a hormone that regulates the metabolic
system, and alpha cells produce glucagon. For ten points, what
pancreatic enclaves also contain beta cells, from which Banting, Best,
and MacLeod extracted insulin?
answer: the islets of Langerhans (accept variations like islands or
isles)
- Raised mainly by Stumpy and Kentuck, with help from local toughs
like the gambler Oakhurst, this son of Cherokee Sal is usually known
as just "The Kid" or "The Coyote." True to his other name, he proves
a blessing, as the men stop swearing, begin washing twice a day, and
plant vines and flowers around their houses. At last, however, a
disastrous flood sweeps through the small mining town and drowns--for
10 points--what title character of a short story by Bret Harte?
answer: The Luck of Roaring Camp (prompt on Tommy)
- This doctor from Stagirus was a member of the Asclepiads, or
"sons of Asclepius." He had the prestige of being the court physician
to Amyntas III of Macedonia, father of Philip II, which helped his
more famous son begin his career. For 10 points--identify this Greek,
now best known for being in the title of his son's philosophical work
Ethics.
answer: Nicomachus
- Except for relatively short missions to the Americas and to the
Turkish coast, he spent most of his early career in the blockade of
France. After his capture and daring escape from France, he married
Barbara Wellesley, the sister of the Duke of Wellington. For 10
points--name this fictional naval hero, played on screen by Gregory
Peck and Ioan Gruffudd, and created by C.S. Forester.
answer: Horatio Hornblower
Tiebreaker question
- The skies as far west as Great Britain were illuminated through
the night, supposedly bright enough to read by, due to the ice and
dust thrown up into the atmosphere. The site was first investigated in
1927 by Russian scientist Leonid Aleksyevich Kulik, who found
splintered trees lying radially for 9 to 19 miles from the
epicenter. For 10 points--identify this event, occurring on June 30,
1908 in central Siberia, in which it is believed the Earth was struck
by a comet or asteroid fragment that exploded in the air with energy
equivalent to 10 to 15 megatons of TNT.
answer: Tunguska Event