Technophobia 4: Massive Quizbowl Overdose
Boni by Occidental College (Wesley Mathews)

  1. For 10 points each--name these ancient philosophers:

    A. This 5th century B.C. philosopher first formulated the idea that everything in the universe is made up of the four elements earth, air, fire, and water, an idea that persisted for 2000 years.

    answer: Empedocles

    B. This Cyrenian preached the virtues of bodily hedonism, stressing that mental pleasures were only to be sought after the body's needs were gratified.

    answer: Aristippus

    C. The successor to Aristotle, this philosopher also focused on the natural world. Instead of studying biology, he developed the science of mineralogy through his study of crystals.

    answer: Theophrastus

  2. Answer these questions about families in decline in American literature, for 10 points each:

    A. Uprooted from their Sallisaw, Oklahoma home, this family travels along Route 66 on their way to a future of poverty in California.

    answer: the Joad family

    B. This family sells its retarded son's favorite field in order to send Quentin to Harvard while Caddy fights her brother Jason for rights to see her illegitimate child.

    anwer: the Compson family

    C. This Bohemian family settles at Red Cloud, Nebraska, watching their daughter Antonia's misfortune with men as they slowly starve in the High Plains winters.

    answer: the Shimerda family

  3. It sure is easy to start a war--just ask Germany! Name these fightin' words from a brief description for 15 points each:

    A. This document was based on a conversation between Comte Benedetti and Prince Wilhelm concerning Leopold's claim to the Spanish Throne. Edited to make it appear that the French Ambassador had been insulted, this dispatch provoked the Franco-Prussian War.

    answer: Ems dispatch or telegram

    B.This note was written to Oom Paul in 1896, congratulating him on the repulsion of the Jameson Raids. It implied that Germany had a right to interfere in the affairs of Transvaal, and thus heightened tensions in the period of the Boer Wars.

    answer: Kruger telegram

  4. For 10 points each--name the state from a list of counties. You'll get 5 if you need a list of cities.

    A. (10) Iron, Juab, Box Elder, San Juan, Weber.
    (5) Torrey, Nephi, Moab, Bryce.

    answer: Utah

    B. (10) Blue Earth, Crow Wing, Koochiching, Yellow Medicine.
    (5) Two Harbors, Thief River Falls, Mankato, St. Cloud

    answer: Minnesota

    C. (10) Jim Hogg, Deaf Smith, Throckmorton, Tom Green.
    (5) Palestine, Daingerfield, Vidor, Study Butte, Bridge City

    answer: Texas

  5. Identify these republics in the Russian federation for 10 points each.

    A. Former Soviet air force general Dzhozkhar Dudayev (doo-DYE-ehv) carried out a coup against the local communist government in 1991, and declared this nation's independence from Russia. After a few years of relative calm, fighting has recently intensified again.

    answer: Chechnya

    B. In summer 1999, fighting spilled over from Chechnya south and east to this republic, with capital Makhachkala.

    answer: Dagestan

    C. In September 1999, the conflict spread west to this neighboring Islamic republic with capital Nazran. Up to 200,000 refugees have fled here from Chechnya, and Russian troops have also clashed here against fleeing Chechen rebels.

    answer: Ingushetia

  6. 30-20-10, name the figure from Greek mythology.

    A. He was a grandson of Sisyphus who earned his name after slaying a Corinthian tyrant.

    B. His greatest task was the slaying of the fire breathing Chimaera as a favor to King Iobates.

    C. To accomplish this task, he tamed Pegasus with a golden bridle and launched an air attack with a lead tipped spear that did the monster in.

    answer: Bellerophon

  7. Given an American musician, identify his instrument for the stated number of points:

    A. (5) Louis Armstrong.

    answer: trumpet

    B. (5) Benny Goodman.

    answer: clarinet

    C. (10) Fletcher Henderson.

    answer: piano

    D. (10) Lester Young.

    answer: saxophone

  8. By the power of Grayskull! Identify the following from the Masters of the Universe for 10 points each:

    A. When he's not He-Man, the hero is this mild mannered prince.

    answer: Prince Adam

    B. When he's not BattleCat, He-Man's mighty animal friend is this timid tiger.

    answer: Cringer

    C. This goofy little sorcerer once saved Adam and Cringer from the Tar Pit. He was adopted by the Royal Family and made Court Jester for his bravery.

    answer: Orko

  9. For 10 points each--identify the following from the Old Testament:

    A. A leader among Jacob's children, he convinced his brothers not to kill Joseph, but to sell him into slavery with the Ishmaelites.

    answer: Reuben

    B. He promised that he would sacrifice to God the first living thing that walked out of his front door upon his return from battle if God would grant him victory. After a successful campaign, his daughter came out to greet him.

    answer: Jephthah

    C. Instead of traveling to Nineveh as God had commanded him, Jonah boarded a ship bound for this city on the Western side of the Mediterranean Sea.

    answer: Tarshish

  10. Name these William Butler Yeats poems from some lines for 10 points each:

    A. That is no country for old men. The young / in one another's arms, birds in the trees, / Those dying generations...

    answer: Sailing to Byzantium

    B. The nineteenth autumn has come upon me / since I first made my count; / I saw, before I had well finished, / All suddenly mount / and scatter wheeling in great broken rings / Upon their clamorous wings.

    answer: The Wild Swans at Coole

    For men were born to pray and save: / Romantic Ireland's dead and gone. / It's with O'Leary in the grave.

    answer: September, 1913

  11. Identify these modern artists on a 15-10 basis:

    A. (15) Near the end of the 1960's, he painted the Open series, which abandoned abstract expressionism in favour of the new style of Colour Field Theory.

    (10) This husband of painter Helen Frankenthaler is most famous for 150 paintings collectively titled Elegy for the Spanish Republic.

    answer: Robert Motherwell

    B. (15) In addition to teaching at the Dresden academy of Art in the 1920's, he wrote several plays, including Murderer, the Woman's Hope. His landscapes include View of Prague and Jerusalem.

    (10)His most famous painting, The Tempest, depicts himself and his lover, Alma Mahler, resting in a huge cockleshell in the midst of an angry sea.

    answer: Oskar Kokoschka

  12. Answer the following about a 1999 coup in Pakistan for 10 points each:

    A. In what coastal city did the recent coup begin?

    answer: Karachi

    B. The prime minister of Pakistan was overthrown by a general he had just fired. For 10 points each--name the former prime minister and the general.

    answer: Nawaz Sharif (PM) and Pervez Musharraf (general)

  13. Identify the following two rivers on a 15-10 basis:

    A. (15)It is formed by the junction of the Biya and Katun Rivers, which rise in the Altai Mountains. With the Irtysh, its main tributary, it is the world's seventh-longest river.

    (10) The waters of this Siberian river, which empties into the Arctic Ocean, support the city of Novosibirsk.

    answer: Ob River

    B. (15) Its source is in the Snowy Mountains, 15 kilometers southwest of Mount Coberras. It receives its main tributary at Wentworth.

    (10) Along with that tributary, the Darling, this river forms the major river system of Australia.

    answer: Murray River

  14. Answer the following about battles in Africa for 10 points each:

    A. Emperor Menelik II defeated an invading Italian army, driving the Europeans out of Ethiopia, at this March 1, 1896 battle. answer: Battle of Adwa

    B. At the 1591 Battle of Tondibi, the Almoravid Moroccans used firearms to crush the forces of this great Niger River empire, led by Issihak II.

    answer: Songhai

    C. In this battle of the Boer Wars, the British decisively defeated the Zulu, forcing them to settle in Ciskei.

    answer: Battle of Rorke's Drift

  15. For 10 points each--given a few songs, identify the strangely-named 1960's or 1970's bands who recorded them:

    A. "Incense and Peppermints," "Wake Up, It's Tomorrow," "Good Morning, Starshine."

    answer: Strawberry Alarm Clock

    B. "Live at the Fillmore East," "Flight Log, 1966-76."

    answer: Jefferson Airplane

    C. "Simon Says," "1-2-3 Green Light."

    answer: The 1910 Fruit Gum Company

  16. Given the chemical formula of a mineral, name it for 10 points each:

    A. CaSO4.2H2O (read: calcium sulfate dihydrate)

    answer: gypsum

    B. TiO2 (read: titanium dioxide)

    answer: rutile

    C. As2S3 (read: arsenous sulfide)

    answer: orpiment

  17. Given some rulers, identify the dynasty or ruling house to which they belonged for 10 points each:

    A. Frederick Barbarossa, Philip of Swabia, Conrad IV

    answer: Hohenstaufen or Staufer dynasty

    B. Philip II, Louis IX, John I

    answer: Capetian or Capet dynasty

    C. Mieszko I, Boleslaw I, Casimir II

    answer: Piast dynasty

  18. Answer these related questions for 10 points each:

    A. This botanical affliction was the first to be linked to a virus. It was discovered in 1892 and named for the pattern produced on the leaves of the infected plant.

    answer: tobacco mosaic virus (prompt on TMV)

    B. What American virologist captured the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for crystallizing and analyzing the Tobacco Mosaic Virus via X-Ray Diffraction?

    answer: Wendell Meredith Stanley

    C. In 1953, this author of The Double Helix determined the structure of the protein coat of the tobacco mosaic virus just before postulating his structure for DNA.

    answer: James Dewey Watson

  19. 30-20-10, name the city.

    A. It is located on the edge of a marsh at the junction of the Logone and Chari Rivers, and serves as the capital of the prefecture of Chari Baguirmi, south of Kanem.

    B. Originally named Fort-Lamy after a French major killed in a battle with the Sudanese in 1900, its name was changed in 1973, 13 years after its country's independence.

    C. This capital lies 150 kilometers southeast of Lake Chad, across the river from Cameroon.

    answer: N'Djamena

  20. 30-20-10, name the man:

    A. He predicted the existance and nature of antiparticles before any had been detected, and contributed to Max Born's molecular quantum theory.

    B. Although he sided with the Republic in the Spanish Civil War and used his father's fortune to support anti-Fascist organizations, he never joined the Communist party because he disapproved of Stalin's treatment of Russian scientists.

    C. This organizer of the Manhattan Project lost his security clearance and his position as advisor to the Atomic Energy Commission because of accusations by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

    answer: J(ulius) Robert Oppenheimer

  21. Know thy dictators: given the dictator, name the country with which he is associated for 10 points each:

    A. Antonio de Oliveira Salazar

    answer: Portugal

    B. Juan Vicente Gomez

    answer: Venezuela

    C. Jean-Bedel Bokassa

    answer: Central African Republic or Central African Empire

  22. Given a work of philosophy, name its author for 10 points each:

    A. Walden II

    answer: B(urrhus) F(rederick) Skinner

    B. Man's Search for Meaning

    answer: Viktor Frankl

    C. Love in the Western World

    answer: Denis de Rougemont