- "Lawful" means "compatible with the will of a judge having
jurisdiction." "Belledonna" is "in Italian a beautiful lady; in
English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity
of the two tongues." The book, which appeared in parts in a weekly
paper from 1881 to 1906, is a study in cynicism, addressed to
"enlightened souls who prefer sense to sentiment, wit to humor and
clean English to slang." For 10 points, name this book which defines
others of its kind as "Malevolent literary devices for cramping the
growth of a language," written by Ambrose Bierce.
Answer: The _Devil's Dictionary_
- Her name means "the most noble of women" and after the death of her
husband in the mid-16th century BC, she replaced him as Pharaoh,
becoming the first woman to rule over Egypt. For 10 points, name this
queen who oversaw the building of the Temple of Karnak, and whose
reign was usurped by her son, Thutmose III.
Answer: _Hatshepsut_
- The composer himself described the piece as "a kaleidoscope of
fairy tale images and designs of Islamic character." The first
movement, entitled "The Sea and Sinbad's Ship" sets the stage with the
powerful motif that is repeated in the thunderous final movement, "The
Festival at Baghdad." For 10 points, name this 1888 symphonic suite by
Rimsky-Korsakov, based on the famous narrator of the 1,001 Arabian
Nights.
Answer: _Scheherazade_
- A set S is this if there exists either a surjective mapping from
the natural numbers to S or an injective mapping from S to the natural
numbers. The power set P of any infinite set is not, nor are the real
numbers, however the integers and rational numbers are. For 10 points,
give this term which describes any finite set and any infinite set
whose elements can be discretely numbered.
Answer: _countable_, or _denumerable_
- He began to receive attention as a youth player from his home in
Middletown, Pennsylvania. His dynamic scoring prowess led him to the
University of Virginia, where he made the all-ACC team by his
sophomore year, as well as being a finalist for the National Player of
the Year Award. In 1997 he won that too, even if he couldn't lead
Virginia all the way to another NCAA soccer title. His old coach,
Bruce Arena, quickly selected him as a Project 40 player after he
signed with MLS last December. For 10 points, identify #10 when he
played for the Cavaliers and #14 as he presently does for DC United,
the 1998 MLS Rookie of the Year.
Answer: Ben _Olsen_
- Its existence was rendered unnecessary when general relativity
introduced a term into Newton's theory of gravity dependent on the
distance to the fourth, which when added to the standard one over
r-squared potential explained the 43 arcsecond-per-century perihelion
shift of Mercury. Its life therefore parallels Pluto's -- searched for
because of a problem in Newtonian gravity that eventually was
explained away. The difference is, of course, that this planet doesn't
exist. For 10 points, name this fictitious planet inside Mercury's
orbit, named after the Roman god of the forge.
Answer: _Vulcan _
- This nation has five airports, nine provinces, and a surprisingly
low 1.46% population growth rate. Its main ethnic groups include
Fang, Bandzabi, and Pygmies. Longtime leader El Hadj Omar Bongo was
reelected in 1993 in his nation's first multipary elections. For 10
points, name this stable African country, a former French colony,
whose three largest cities are Franceville, Port-Gentil, and its
capital of Libreville.
Answer: _Gabon_
- He got into a public relations fiasco when he gave the finger to a
large group of protestors from his train car in Calgary. He earned his
law degree from the University of Montreal in 1943 and became a law
professor there before being elected to parliament in 1965. His
greatest achievement may be the repatriation of the Canadian
constitution in 1982. For 10 points, name this flamboyant prime
minister of Canada from 1968-1979 and 1980-1983.
Answer: Pierre Elliot _Trudeau_
- He is known as a great poet, though he prefers poverty to
accepting patronage. As captain of the Cadets of Gascoyne he is one
of the best swordsmen in France, though his skill is used most often
against those who offend him. He also has a brilliant wit, though he
uses it to help his rival win the girl he loves. For ten points, name
this Edmond Rostand title character who combines all three in
extemporizing a ballad as he duels a man who has dared to say, "Your
nose is rather large."
Answer: _Cyrano de Bergerac_
- To avoid excessive disk accesses in linked allocation file
systems, the first few blocks of the disk are used to store a
reference containing an entry for each disk block, indexed by block
number. The starting block of a file is indicated, and each entry
shows the next block where the file is stored. For 10 points, name
this table, abbreviated FAT.
Answer: _File Allocation_ Table (prompt on FAT on early buzz)
- All of the characters volunteered for the war and all survive the
madness until the last chapter. Berger is killed by English artillery
while trying to rescue a messenger dog. Katczinsky falls to an
American airman. Muller is shot by a French infantryman. When the
narrator, Paul Baumer, is killed in October of 1918, it is on a day so
uneventful that the army report confined itself to a single sentence,
the book's title. For 10 points, name this book by Erich Maria
Remarque.
Answer: _All Quiet on the Western Front_ or _Im Western Nichts Neues_
- Discovered in 190 A.D. in China, it was not until 1710 that this
invention was discovered in Europe. Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Bottger
perfected a method in Meissen, Germany, in which the mixture of kaolin
and pentuntse created the hard-paste necessary for this material. It
wasn't until the mid-18th Century that England and France found a way
to produce this material, developing a soft-paste combination of white
clay and glass or bone ash. For 10 points, name this high-fired clay
material, made into dinnerware, sculptures, and false teeth.
Answer: _porcelain_
- Named for the woolen robes they wear, practitioners wish to
personally experience Tauhid, a total unity with God. They do not
distance themselves from the Shariat, but despite this view, some
countries, notably Saudi Arabia, still condemn, for 10 points, what
mystical Islamic sect?
Answer: _Sufism_ or _Sufis_
- By the end of this battle from Jun 18-20, 1944, the Japanese
fleet had lost almost all of its remaining carrier force. While 750
or more planes were shot down in this Marianas Turkey Shoot, it was
American submarines that sank the Taiho and the Shokaku, leading to
the inevitable demise of the Japanese fleet 5 months later during the
battle of Leyte Gulf. For 10 points, identify this massive battle
named for the body of water north of the Caroline Islands and east of
the Phillipines.
Answer: Battle of _Philippine Sea_
- They most likely make up only about 1% of the Universe's total
mass, though supernovae and the like emit most of their energy by
creating them. Recently, in Japan, it was shown that the Sun emits
less of one flavor than another, which may solve a long standing
problem in astrophysics, and finally places a lower limit on their
mass. For 10 points, name these particles which interact with
virtually nothing, and whose name comes from Italian meaning "little
neutral one."
Answer: _Neutrinos_
- After he was given consular power in Spain, he scored major
victories at Saguntum, Baecula, and Illipa in 217 BC. Fifteen years
later, he would team up with the cavalry of Massinissa to fight his
greatest battle. For 10 points, name this Roman commander, the hero of
the 2nd Punic War who defeated Hannibal at Zama in 202 BC.
Answer: _Scipio Africanus_ (prompt on just "Scipio")
- He was born in 1759 and wrote prolifically despite only living to
thirty-seven. Many of his poems are actually lyrics, set to the tunes
of drinking songs and folk tunes like "Robin Adair" and "Gordon's
Strathspey." The poems display a wide variety in style and language.
"Man was Made to Mourn: a Dirge" uses normal English such as "Man's
inhumanity to man / Makes countless thousands mourn." Volumes of his
poetry must often include a glossary, however, as most of his
better-know works are in nearly unintelligible dialect. For 10
points, name the poet who wrote lines like "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace
bled" and "Wee, sleakit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie."
Answer: Robert _Burns_
- In 1940 this lawyer won his first Supreme Court case, Chambers
v. Florida, to be followed by 39 others. With his mentor, Charles
Houston, he had won his first civil rights case in 1935: Murray
v. Pearson. Appointed to the United States Court of Appeals in 1961,
his confirmation was held up for months by southern senators. For ten
points, name this first African-American Justice of the US Supreme
Court.
Answer: Thurgood _Marshall_
- Born into a prominent New York family in 1862, she married a
wealthy Bostonian at the age of 23. She published her first short
story Mrs. Manstey's View, in 1891, and others of her short stories
include The Angel at the Grave, The Pelican, and The Muses'
Tragedy. For 10 points, name this author, who is more well known for
her novels, such as The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome, and The Age of
Innocence.
Answer: Edith _Wharton_
- This apocryphal story takes place over two fateful months in 587
B.C., in the small town of Bethulia, which is under attack by the
Assyrians. The widow of Manasseh casts off her widow's sackcloth and
attracts the attention of an Assyrian general, who invites her to eat
with him. For 10 points, name this title character, who saves her town
by beheading the general, Holofernos.
Answer: _Judith_
- The Josephson Effect is the flow of electric current in the form of
these between two superconducting materials. They are electrons that,
when correctly placed among positive ions, no longer repel one another
but instead attract one another and move in the same direction,
eliminating all resistance to the flow of electricity in their medium.
For ten points, identify these pairs of electrons, named for the
American scientist who discovered them and co-founded BCS theory.
Answer: _Cooper_ pairs (Prompt on _electrons_ on an early buzz)
- His best friend was his pet poodle who biographers now think
may have been a really ugly cat. Born in 1788, this philosopher left
home when his mother, a novelist, pushed him down a flight of
stairs. He taught at Jena where he often spoke to empty classrooms
because, out of spite, he always scheduled his lectures to conflict
with those of his more popular rival, G. F. Hegel. For ten points,
name this German philosopher who wrote _The World as Will and Idea_.
Answer: Arthur _Schopenhauer_
- It depicts the story from Matthew 17:24-27. In the center Christ
instructs Peter to catch a fish. It uses the recently discovered
linear perspective and chiaroscuro, with the primary light source
being a window in the Brancacci chapel in the Church of Santa Maria
del Carmine in Florence, where this fresco resides. For ten points,
name this masterwork by Masaccio, adjacent to the Expulsion of Adam
and Eve.
Answer: _The Tribute Money_
- It begins in eukaryotes when the 50S ribosomal subunit binds to a
mRNA molecule. Soon, promoters in the base pairing allow for the 30S
ribosomal section to combine. Specific sequences are matched with
amino acids brought to the ribosome by tRNA molecules, and then the
growing molecule is added by the action of GTP and peptidyl
transferase. Using the wobble concept, the mRNA strand is elongated
until a stop codon is reached, at which point the process halts. For
10 points, these events describe what biologic process, which in
prokaryotes occurs in the nucleus along with transcription, even if
the genetic code is the only language involved?
Answer: _Translation_