VETO 2010, FARSIDE team tossups
TOSSUP 1
As a student at Fletcher's Field High School,
he holds a grudge against his history teacher, Mr. MacPherson,
for telling him his father is "not fit to bring up a boy", and
gets revenge by making a prank phone call to his teacher's bedridden wife,
resulting in her death.
After high school, he gets a job as a waiter in Sainte-Agathe,
where he meets Yvette, who becomes his lover and shows him the pristine
Lac Saint-Pierre, where he is determined to build a resort. Raising
money by means such as film production and heroin trafficking,
for 10 points, who
is this Jewish Montrealer whose
"apprenticeship" is described in a novel by Mordecai Richler?
Answer: DUDDY KRAVITZ
TOSSUP 2
A 1946 paper by Arthur Burks, Herman Goldstine, and
John von Neumann ["NOY-man"] argued that this system is unnecessary, because
it can always be replaced by manually introducing suitable scaling factors.
In 1941, Konrad Zuse ["TSOO-zuh"] designed a version of this system for the Z3
that allowed for plus or minus infinity and "undefined" to be passed through
operations. Today's computers use I-triple-E standard 754, which specifies
arithmetic operations and rounding algorithms as well as data formats.
For 10 points, name this system for representing real numbers with fixed
numbers of bits for mantissa and exponent.
Answer: FLOATING POINT representation
TOSSUP 3
It became legal in the state of Texas on March 31, 2010,
with a ruling by Judge Scott Jenkins in the case of Naylor v. Daly.
Texas Attorney-General Greg Abbott attempted to intervene in the case,
suggesting that the parties should instead pursue "voidance" in order to
end an "invalid" relationship contracted six years earlier in Massachusetts.
In 2004,
Justice Ruth Mesbur of the Ontario Superior Court granted the world's first
of these to "M.M." and "J.H.", two women known only by
initials for privacy reasons.
For 10 points, what is this type of legal termination of a relationship?
Answer: SAME-SEX DIVORCE (accept synonyms)
(do not accept same-sex marriage; prompt on "DIVORCE")
TOSSUP 4
Sigfrid Karg-Elert used this word for his
seven organ pieces "from the Lake of Constance".
In visual art, it refers to a method introduced by
Jean Perr�al to Leonardo da Vinci, who used it in his portrait of
Isabella d'Este to highlight the neckline of her gown in yellow.
In the early 1700s, Rosalba Carriera popularized this medium for
portraits. Among the Impressionists, it was most used by
Edgar Degas,
for such works as "woman combing her hair" and "les choristes".
For 10 points, what is this art medium made from
powdered pigment and a binder and formed into sticks?
Answer: PASTELs
TOSSUP 5
In the United States, this political position lost its last holdout
in 1833 with the passage of the eleventh amendment to the
Massachusetts constitution.
The word itself was coined in 1838 by William Gladstone, who, upon
becoming prime minister thirty years later, maintained this doctrine for
England, but rejected it for Ireland with a law in 1869.
Its strongest advocate in Upper Canada was John Strachan, but it was defeated
in 1854 with the secularization of the clergy reserves.
This political position opposing separation of church from state is,
for 10 points, what famous twenty-eight-letter word?
Answer: ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM
TOSSUP 6
This substance is the main component of the fountain solution used in
the process of lithography.
About seventy per cent of its worldwide
production is consumed in soft drinks and
confectionery products, where it distributes lipid components evenly
and prevents sucrose from crystallizing.
Because of Americans' sweet teeth, it's the one item
specifically exempted from U.S. trade sanctions on Sudan, the world's
largest producer of this commodity.
For 10 points, what is this hardened sap of the acacia tree?
Answer: GUM ARABIC
TOSSUP 7 has two versions, one for Vancouver and the other for
Ontario.
TOSSUP 7 - VANCOUVER ONLY
Established in 1908 by provincial letters
patent, it elected Samuel Howe as its first reeve.
A year later, construction began on
its municipal hall, at 5815 West Boulevard.
In 1914, the CPR's attempt to separate its eastern neighbourhood of
Shaughnessy was rejected by the B.C. government.
Fifteen years later, it ceased to exist as a separate entity, when it was
amalgamated into the city of Vancouver.
Stretching between Cambie Street and the University Endowment Lands,
for 10 points, what was this former municipality named after
the piece of land jutting into the strait of Georgia?
Answer: POINT GREY
TOSSUP 7 - ONTARIO ONLY
It was incorporated as a village in 1923, with Laurence Baldwin
as its first reeve.
Holding its council meetings at the public school on Dunloe Road,
in 1931 it decided to eliminate all industry and limit development
to single-family homes designed by an architect.
In 1962 it completed its Municipal Building and Library at 666
Eglinton Avenue West, but five years later it ceased to exist as a
separate entity when it was
amalgamated into the city of Toronto.
Located between Bathurst Street and
Upper Canada College, this former village is now, for 10 points, what
rich neighbourhood with a shopping area centred
at Lonsdale and Spadina?
Answer: FOREST HILL
TOSSUP 8
The first person to have this job was Bilal ibn Rabah,
a freed Ethiopian slave, who initially performed this duty while walking
the streets.
Later tradition stipulated that the person should begin by
facing each of the four compass directions in turn.
Most often given to a blind man in order to maintain the privacy
of inner courts and roof terraces,
for 10 points, what is this job of
reciting the adhan ["a-THAN"] five times a day
while standing atop a minaret to call Muslims to prayer?
Answer: MUEZZIN (or MU'ADDIN)
TOSSUP 9
The first winner of this competition was Reg Thomas of Pembroke Dock, Wales,
who won it in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1930. The only Canadian winner was
North Vancouver's Bill Parnell, who won
the fourth one in 1950 in Auckland, New Zealand.
The most anticipated one
was the fifth one in 1954 in Vancouver, where Australian John Landy lost by
four fifths of a second to Englishman Roger Bannister, who finished in three
minutes and fifty-eight point eight seconds in, for 10 points, what foot race
in what multinational sporting event?
Answer: the MILE race in the
British EMPIRE GAMES (or British COMMONWEALTH GAMES,
or British EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH GAMES)
TOSSUP 10
A medieval German legend about this person says that he was the son of a
miller's daughter and an astrologer-king named Ata.
In Bulgakov's Master and Margarita, he has a tendency to
suffer migraines, one of which
is diagnosed and cured by Yeshua Ha-Nozri.
Friedrich Nietzsche ["NEE-chuh"] said of him that he's the only figure who
commands respect in the whole New Testament, as the person who asks,
"What is truth?"
For 10 points, name this hand-washer and
governor of Judaea who ordered Jesus's crucifixion.
Answer: PONTIUS PILATE
TOSSUP 11
From 1970 to 2009, the world's biggest one of these was the one measuring
three point eight metres high and nine point six metres in circumference,
that is
located on the main plaza of the city of Ulan-Ude ["OO-lan OO-day"] in Siberia.
In December
2009, the Gao brothers of Beijing built a twelve-metre-high one, surmounted by
"Miss Mao trying to poise herself at the top" of it, in Richmond, B.C.
For 10 points, what body part of what leader actually measured twenty-four
centimetres from goatee to bald pate, and can be viewed in a mausoleum
next to the Kremlin in Moscow?
Answer: the HEAD
(prompt on "statue" or "bust")
of Vladimir Ilich LENIN
TOSSUP 12
This object
inspires poetry such as the Augural Canto, which begins, "Mine eyes, as did
the Greek's, have known men's towns and fame."
The poet-librarian Daneri tells the narrator that it must be observed in the
cellar's total darkness by focusing on the stairway's nineteenth step.
When the object comes into view, the narrator sees in one instant "millions
of acts both delightful and awful".
A "small iridescent sphere of almost unbearable brilliance",
for 10 points, what is this title object of a story by
Jorge Luis Borges that shares its name with
the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet?
Answer: the ALEPH
TOSSUP 13
The original version of this device consisted of two semi-circular
plates of diameter 11 centimetres,
with a gap between them, in a uniform
magnetic field such that the time to traverse a
semi-circular path within the plates is half the period of oscillations
of an applied electric field.
In 1930,
it was used to accelerate protons to eighty thousand electron volts.
Today, the world's largest one
accelerates ions to five hundred million
electron volts in a device eighteen metres in diameter, at TRIUMF
in Vancouver.
Invented in Berkeley by Ernest Lawrence, for 10 points, name this
kind of particle accelerator.
Answer: CYCLOTRON
TOSSUP 14
Ali Kemal Bey, great-grandfather of London mayor Boris Johnson, had this
cabinet position in the
Ottoman Empire until his assassination.
Count Nikolay Ignatieff, Michael's great-grandfather, had this same job in
Russia under Tsar Alexander the Third when he issued the anti-Jewish "May
Laws" of 1882.
In the Canadian government, this position existed until 1936,
and when not held by the prime minister himself,
the longest and best-known holder
was Clifford Sifton, under Wilfrid Laurier.
For 10 points, what is this cabinet post in many countries with responsibility
for immigration and security?
Answer: minister of the INTERIOR
TOSSUP 15
When it gets on your clothes, it's ayak.
When it's hard, it's sillik, and when it's very soft, it's milik.
When mixed with water, it's massak.
When it's like sugar, it's pukak,
and when it's like salt, it's pokaktok.
When drifting, it's perksertok, and when melting, it's auksalak.
You can use it to build a kind of house, called iglu.
For 10 points, name both the indigenous people and the very
common material in their environment to which these terms refer.
Answer: INUIT
(or INUKTITUT or ESKIMO)
words for SNOW
TOSSUP 16
The beginning of this era coincides with
the accession of Ji Ren, known as King Yuan, after the death
of his father Ji Gai,
and also the military victory by Gou Jian of Yue over the Wu kingdom.
During its two and a half centuries lived the philosophers
Mencius and Shang Yang.
Occurring during the
Eastern Zhou ["jo"] dynasty after the Spring and Autumn period,
for 10 points, name this period that ended in 221 BC with
Ch'in Shih-huang's unifying China under his own rule
by defeating six rival kingdoms.
Answer: WARRING STATES period
(or ZH�NGU� SH�D�I)
TOSSUP 17
On June 27, 2010, voters in this country approved a new constitution,
adopting a parliamentary form of government.
Campaigners against the new constitution included
acting Defence Minister Ismail Isakov, who argued that it was against
the national "mentality and spirit", but voters went for a
reduction in presidential powers after the abuses of
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was driven into exile in April.
Though over fifty per cent,
voter turnout was the lowest in Osh, the scene of deadly attacks
against the ethnic Uzbek minority.
For 10 points, name this
country bordering Uzbekistan, China, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
Answer: Republic of KYRGYZSTAN
TOSSUP 18
The largest lake on this island is Fagnano ["fan-YA-no"] Lake,
which drains into the Azopardo River, ending at the
Almirantazgo Fjord,
which cuts through the western side of this island.
South and west of the fjord lies the island's glacier-covered
Darwin mountain range.
Most of the island's people live in two cities,
Rio Grande on the east coast, and Ushuaia ["oosh-WYE-a"] on the south
coast's Beagle Channel.
Separated from the mainland by the Magellan Strait,
for 10 points, what is this island split between Argentina and Chile
off the tip of South America?
Answer: Isla Grande de TIERRA DEL FUEGO
TOSSUP 19
It was invented in 1932, in a hayloft on the the outskirts of Chicago,
by Charles Ellingsworth.
It was manufactured by a division of Centis Consumer Products until 2003,
when it was bought by Esselte ["ess-ell-tay"],
which decided to discontinue this brand name.
The name itself comes from the Latin word for the number two,
hyphenated with an Old Norse word for a sharp metal object fastened to
a handle.
Familiar to generations of Canadian schoolchildren,
for 10 points, what is this type of folder for looseleaf paper?
Answer: DUO-TANG
TOSSUP 20
It's the only letter of the alphabet that has not yet appeared
in the text of any tossup or bonus or answer in this packet.
In 2009, Sweden's highest court overruled the civil service and decided that
a couple could name their son with this letter.
Mondays through Fridays at ten a.m., CBC Radio One airs a program with this
name, hosted by Jian Gomeshi.
Marketing Evaluations Inc. uses surveys to calculate this popularity score
for celebrities and brands.
For 10 points, give the shared name of the head of research in James Bond's MI6
and an all-powerful extra-dimensional entity from
Star Trek.
Answer: Q
TOSSUP 21
Book Three of this work includes a hymn to creation based on Plato's
Timaeus, and a poem about Orpheus and Eurydice, asking,
"Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law."
In Book Two, the author writes, "in adverse fortune the worst
sting of misery is to have been happy"
and
"As for rank and power, these have often
fallen to the worst of men, and then did ever an Etna work such
mischief?"
In the form of a dialogue between the author and an
allegorical female figure, it was
written in prison while its author awaited execution.
For 10 points name this sixth-century work by Bo�thius.
Answer: The CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY
(or DE CONSOLATIONE PHILOSOPHIAE)
TOSSUP 22
As measured by the Wolf Number, incidences of these
were rarer than usual during the Dalton Minimum from
the 1790s to the 1830s, but not as rare as during the Maunder Minimum
from the 1640s to the 1710s, when almost none were observed.
According to Sp�rer's Law, they drift from higher latitudes to
lower latitudes over their eleven-year cycle.
Though noted by Chinese astronomers over two thousand years ago, for 10
points, what dark features did pre-telescope
Europeans mistake as transits of Mercury in front of the sun?
Answer: SUNSPOTs
TOSSUP 23
They had an assembly called the pankus which was given
authority over even the king, according to rules laid out in
the Edict of Telipinus, making theirs the first known constitutional
monarchy. Their king Hattusilis the Third signed the world's
earliest known
peace treaty, with Ramses the Second of Egypt,
after fighting over Syrian
territory in the thirteenth century BC.
Eventually displaced by the Sea Peoples,
for 10 points, name these Bronze Age people of Anatolia.
Answer: HITTITEs
TOSSUP 24
Its most noted practitioners were the Confidenti,
the Accessi, who performed for the marriage of Henry the Fourth
and Maria de Medici, and above all, the Gelosi.
The old Doctor and Pantalone, the adventurous Captain,
the servant Zanni, and the hunchback Punchinello were
stock characters, though the best actors were always assigned
to lazzi, stage tricks
that were interruptions to the play.
For 10 points, what was this dramatic genre
popular in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy?
Answer: COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE
Vancouver Estival Trivia Open, 2010, FARSIDE team