Technophobia 4: Massive Quizbowl Overdose
Tossups by Stanford A (Jeremy Horwitz, Elliot Mandel, Kenny Easawaran, and Alan Taber)
  1. Dialing 555-2368 won't do much these days, but in 1984 and 1989 it would probably connect you to Janine. If Janine didn't answer, you might get Winston, Ray, Peter, or Egon (read: EE-gon). For 10 points, name this tale of three parapsychology professors with a great startup idea, starring Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, and Bill Murray.

    answer: Ghostbusters (also accept Ghostbusters II)

  2. It was first hypothesized in 1786 by Sir William Jones. Following much work in the 19th century by linguists such as Ramos Rosk, August Schleicher, and the brothers Grimm, who all compared Germanic languages with various other related languages, Franz Bopp published the first grammar of this dead language. For 10 points, name this language, hypothesized to be the ancestor of Greek, Latin, Old Slavic Gothic, German, Persian, Sanskrit, and various other languages spoken throughout a large part of the world today.

    answer: Proto-Indo-European

  3. The Jordan-Hölder program took more than 100 years to catalog all finite simple ones of these. All finitely-generated ones are isomorphic to the direct product of copies of Z and groups of the form Zi (read: Z sub i). The center of any group is an example of one of these, while n x n (read: n by n) matrices equipped with multiplication is not. For 10 points, name this algebraic structure, the best-known example of which is the integers equipped with addition.

    answer: Abelian group (also accept commutative group)

  4. Start with benzene and methanol. Remove a water molecule from the group to form toluene. Add nitric acid and sulfuric acid. Heat. The resulting compound made modern warfare possible by making a stable high explosive. For 10 points, name this product frequently purchased from Acme Corporation by Wile E. Coyote.

    answer: trinitrotoluene or TNT

  5. The element named after her was first discovered in 1801 by Charles Hatchett, and has atomic number 41. The daughter of Tantalus, she and her children suffered the wrath of the gods after she boasted that she was more fertile than Leta, who had borne only Apollo and Artemis. For 10 points, name this prototype of the bereaved mother, who wept when all of her children were killed.

    answer: Niobe

  6. This nation's flag contains two red right triangles in the lower corners, a white triangle at the bottom, a blue trapezoid in the middle, and the upper half of the sun on a black trapezoid at the top. Located at the southern end of the Leeward Islands, less than fifty miles northeast of Montserrat, its official language is English, though the population is primarily of African descent. Although the island of Redondo is also included, the nation's name consists of the two primary islands, one of which was formerly known as Dulcina. For 10 points, name this nation, whose largest island contains the capital, St. John.

    answer: Antigua and Barbuda (do not accept or prompt on partial answer)

  7. From his early days at the University of Hannover in 1901, he was interested in wing theory. The publication of his boundary layer theory in 1904 clarified many of the assumptions used in aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. Known for his collaboration with Glauert on subsonic flow and Meyer on supersonic expansion waves, for 10 points, name this man, sometimes called the father of modern aerodynamics.

    answer: Ludwig Prandtl

  8. In violation of the Letters of Majesty written by Emperor Rudolph II in 1609, the imperial regents William Slavata and Jaroslav Matrinic ordered the closure of Protestant chapels being constructed in the towns of Broumov and Hrob. As a result, a council of Protestants met in Hradcany and on May 23, 1618, found them guilty and administered punishment on the spot. For 10 points, name this punishment, which, though physically harmless, led to the beginning of the Bohemian revolt and the Thirty Years War.

    answer: defenestration of Prague

  9. Winner of a Navy RFP in 1938, this Chance Vought design entered operation evaluation in June of 1942. Quickly gaining a reputation as an "Ensign Eliminator" due to its long nose and stiff landing gear, it was deemed unsuitable for carrier operations and given to the Marines for use off of land bases. For 10 points, name this American fighter plane of World War II, instantly recognizable by its bent gull wings, which takes its name from Barbary privateers.

    answer: F4U Corsair (either is acceptable, as is both. F4F is NOT acceptable, as it refers to the F4F Grumman Wildcat). Prompt on F4.

  10. "Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail, "there's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail." The performance of the dance associated with this song requires a crustacean for a partner, who must be thrown out to sea and retrieved again at the end of the first figure. For 10 points, what is this dance and song, performed jointly by the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon in Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?

    answer: The lobster quadrille

  11. Richard Belzer in Species II and Alan Alda in Canadian Bacon. Tiny Lister in The Fifth Element and Bill Pullman in Independence Day. No, they're not all Canadian, but they do play the same role as Jack Nicholson in Mars Attacks! For 10 points, name this role played by Harrison Ford in Air Force One and Michael Douglas in The American President.

    answer: President of the United States

  12. This extremely prolific mathematician was stubbornly Catholic, and refused to take oaths of loyalty required by the French government. A religious bigot, his refusal to read papers by Galois (read: Gal-wah) caused Galois' work to languish in obscurity for decades. For 10 points, name the mathematician who introduced modern rigor, whose name is associated with an integral formula and a type of convergent sequence, as well as with a pair of equations with Riemann and an inequality with Schwarz.

    answer: Augustin-Louis Cauchy

  13. Dizzy Dean in 1934. Stan Musial in 1943, '46, and '48. Jackie Robinson in 1949. Pete Rose in 1973; Barry Bonds in 1990, '92, and '93. For a quick 10 points, what do these men have in common with Larry Walker and, most recently, Sammy Sosa?

    answer: National League MVPs

  14. In response to the events of the Prague Spring, the party secretary of the Soviet Union declared that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in the internal affairs of any Communist nation. When Gorbachev explicitly repudiated this in 1989, the Iron Curtain rusted away. For 10 points, name this eponymous doctrine of the Soviet party secretary from 1964 to 1982.

    answer: Brezhnev doctrine

  15. Founded as the town of Vindobona, it occupies a strategic point between two mountain ranges on a long river that runs through many of the important cities of Europe. Though it is home to OPEC today, it has had troubled history with Islamic nations, since it was the site of the farthest advance of the Ottoman empire when it was besieged in 1529 and 1683. For 10 points, name this capital city on the Danube, the musical center of Europe from the time of Mozart and Haydn until the time of Schönberg and Webern.

    answer: Vienna

  16. Recorded in March and April of 1959, this landmark album featured the songs "Freddie Freeloader" and "Blue in Green," as well as jazz magnates in their own rights John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderly on saxophones and Jimmy Cobb on drums. For 10 points, name this seminal work of Miles Davis.

    answer: Kind of Blue

  17. In The Spanish Prisoner, he played an FBI agent. In The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, he played the former lead singer of Disco Express, who had a hit with Booty Time. You may know him as the titular character from Dutch; if not, then, for 10 points, name the man who played Al Bundy on Married with Children.

    answer: Ed O'Neill

  18. On the mound August 16, 1920 for the New York Yankees was Carl Mays. Facing him was the Cleveland Indians shortstop. With a 1 and 1 count, the pitch got away, resulting in the only death recorded as a result of a major league baseball game. For 10 points, name the Indian player who was killed by a fastball to the temple.

    answer: Ray Chapman

  19. Some songs often heard on the picket lines of this union were "Joe Hill's Last Will," "Scissor Bill," and "Casey Jones, a Union Scab." Famous for its concepts of "direct action" and its "free-speech fights," it was finally broken by the federal government due to its opposition to World War I. For 10 points, name this union led by Big Bill Haywood.

    answer: International Workers of the World or IWW or Wobblies

  20. Korobochka symbolizes a foolish ignorant provincial woman. Plyushkin epitomizes the avaricious scrooge who hoards everything whether or not he will ever use it. The main hero tries to take advantage of the small-scale provincial serf-owners with a far-fetched plan, which ridicules the entire establishment of land-ownership in nineteenth century Russia. For 10 points, name this work, whose title reflects Chichikov's attempt to purchase deceased serfs, the masterpiece of Nikolai Gogol.

    answer: Dead Souls (accept Mertvye Dushi)

  21. Company, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Into the Woods are all, for 10 points, musicals by what American composer and lyricist?

    answer: Stephen Sondheim

  22. Begun by the Parlement of Paris in 1649, this rebellion was named for the slingshots used by street urchins, even though it was mainly fought by the nobility in a vain effort to stem the power of Cardinal Mazarin. For 10 points, name this revolt, the last serious challenge to the supremacy of the monarchy in France until the Revolution of 1789.

    answer: the Fronde

  23. Susan Faludi, call your office! Based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk, this movie produced by Art Linson and Ross Bell, and directed by David Fincher sounds a battle cry for men to reject Madison Avenue in favor of Madison Square Garden. For 10 points, name this film starring Helena Bonham Carter, Ed Norton Jr., and Brad Pitt.

    answer: Fight Club