Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 15:51:41 -0800 (PST)
From: "Matthew H. Baker"
To: psb@lbl.gov
Content-Description:
1995 Guy Fawkes Eve Buzzer Explosion
Questions by Tom Waters
Tossups:
1. A boy stands by the seashore at night listening to the song of
a mockingbird mourning for his mate; at the same time he hears the
death song of the sea and realizes that "my own song awakens from
that hour." This poem was originally titled "A Word Out of the Sea"
when it appeared in 1860, but was retitled for the 1871 edition of
Leaves of Grass. FTP, name this long poem by Walt Whitman known for
its regular cadence.
Answer: _Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking_
2. It pledged all members "not to separate, and to reassemble
wherever circumstances may necessitate, until the constitution of
the Kingdom is established ..." The date was June 20, 1789. FTP,
identify this seminal event of the French Revolution which occurred
in an indoor arena.
Answer: _Oath of the Tennis Court_ or equivalent
3. He was born in Konigsberg, but he wasn't Immanuel Kant; his
middle name was Amadeus, but he wasn't Mozart; he was a conductor
in Dresden until 1814, but he wasn't Beethoven; his later stories
appeared in a collection titled "The Serapion Brothers," though he
wasn't one of them either. He wrote an early type of horror story,
but he wasn't Edgar Allan Poe. Indeed, most people know nothing
about him other than the fact that Jacques Offenbach set his
stories to music. FTP, name this author of The Devil's Elixir.
Answer: E.T.A. _Hoffman_
4. By 1939 this book had sold over five million copies, which made
it more popular than even _Gone With the Wind_, although it took
twelve years to reach that level. It was written in two volumes;
the first in 1925 was titled "The Settlement of Accounts." FTP,
name this best-seller whose second volume was titled "The National
Socialist Movement."
Answer: _Mein Kampf_ or _My Struggle_
5. This element was originally called "Alabamine" because of
research done at Alabama Polytechnic Institute. It was prepared in
1940 by bombarding bismuth with alpha particles. Today it has a
name which means "unstable," which it certainly is. FTP, name this
radioactive halogen, with atomic number 85.
Answer: _Astatine_
6. He died in 1899 and his self-written epitaph was composed from
the titles of some of his books: "Six feet underground reposes
[blank blank],...Struggling Upward and Bound to Rise at last In a
New World..." His works include the _Luck and Pluck Series_ and
the _Ragged Dick Series_. FTP, name this popular American author
of rags-to-riches stories.
Answer: Horatio _Alger_
7. He cheats at cards by using his third eye which can foresee the
future; he plays mean tricks on his fiancee's mother; gets drunk,
then sells his wife's clothes to buy more drink. His dwelling was
at Kailasa, and he was usually mounted on Nandi, the sacred bull.
FTP, name this ashen-white husband of Parvati and father of Ganesh,
the Destroyer in the Hindu trinity.
Answer: _Shiva_ or _Siva_ (NOT Vishnu or Vishnu
Jejjala)
8. He wrote to Niels Bohr on November 16, 1913: "I have dealt
with the K [spectral line] series from Calcium to Zinc.... The
results are exceedingly simple ... K = N - 1 ... N being the atomic
number." FTP, name this British scientist who predicted the
unknown element hafnium, only to be killed in 1915 at Gallipoli.
Answer: Henry _Moseley_
9. He trained in Milan and moved to Rome in the 1590s, where one
of his works was noticed by Cardinal del Monte. After his early
years of genre paintings such as _Boy bitten by a Crayfish_ and
_Fortune Teller_, he devoted himself to religious works such as the
_Crucifixion of Saint Peter_ in the Cerasi Chapel and the _Life of
Saint Matthew_ series. FTP, who is this baroque painter, born
Michelangelo Merisi?
Answer: Michelangelo Merisi da _Caravaggio_
10. It is defined as a rodlike, semirigid body of vacuolated
cells, which runs between the enteric canal and the central nervous
system. Its primary purpose is to support and stiffen the body,
which it does throughout the life of a lamprey or hagfish. It is
the first part of the endoskeleton to appear in the embryo. FTP,
name this structure which is replaced by the vertebrae in higher
animals.
Answer: _Notochord_
11. 75 years before Louis Farrakhan, he organized a "Million Man
March" of sorts in New York, where he called for freedom from white
domination in Africa. His newspaper _Negro World_ made him the
most influential black leader of the early 1920s, but his influence
declined after a 1923 mail fraud conviction. FTP, name this
Jamaica-born black leader, who in 1914 founded the Universal Negro
Improvement Association.
Answer: Marcus _Garvey_
12. It has four movements: "Morning," which depicts a beautiful
rising sun; "Ase's Death," melancholy and gloomy; "Anitra's Dance,"
gay and rhythmic; and "In the Hall of the Mountain King," in which
elves, goblins, and gnomes cavort in their cavern. FTP, name this
1876 musical composition, based on a Henrik Ibsen play, and
composed by Edvard Grieg.
Answer: _Peer Gynt_ Suite _No. 1_ (prompt on "Peer
Gynt")
13. This country is about the size of California, but has a
population of under five million. About 100,000 of them are of
German descent, and for 35 years after World War II the country was
ruled by the son of a Bavarian brewer. The Itaipu Dam is a
prodigious hydroelectric project that makes this country the
world's largest exporter of electricity. FTP, name this South
American nation, the only one without mountains or beaches.
Answer: _Paraguay_
14. A native of Sicily, his thought reflects both the Ionian and
the Eleatic traditions. Only two fragments of his works are
extant; one of them, _Purifications_, describes the fall of man and
the transmigration of souls. FTP, name this Greek philosopher who,
in his _On Nature_, describes how the forces of Love and Hate
combine and separate the basic elements of earth, air, fire, and
water.
Answer: _Empedocles_
15. You probably won't find any Swiss mercenaries fighting for the
Serbian army in the current war in the Balkans. But in an 1894
play, Captain Bluntschli does just that, until he finds refuge in
the Petkoff household where he falls in love with Raina Petkoff.
FTP, name this play by George Bernard Shaw which takes its title
from the first line of Vergil's Aeneid.
Answer: _Arms and the Man_
16. Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse. He was U.S.
Secretary of Commerce from 1945 to 1946, probably the most anti-
capitalist person ever to head that department. Perhaps he was
better qualified as Secretary of Agriculture in the 1930s. FTP,
name this vice-president of the U.S. from 1941 to 1945.
Answer: Henry A. _Wallace_
17. From 1848 to 1859 he traveled along the upper Amazon and
collected samples of more than 8000 previously unclassified
species. Among them he noticed two similarly marked but unrelated
species of butterfly, one of which was poisonous to birds. His
pioneering theory of mimicry was used by Darwin as a proof of
natural selection. FTP, name this English naturalist for whom that
type of mimicry is named.
Answer: Henry _Bates_ (accept Batesian mimicry)
18. This gas burns with a characteristic blue flame, and is used
in the reduction of metals from ores. It combines with chlorine to
produce phosgene and with hydrogen to produce methyl alcohol. It
is colorless and odorless, and when present in concentrations as
low as 0.1%, can cause fatal oxygen starvation. FTP, name this
extremely poisonous gas whose formula is CO.
Answer: _carbon monoxide_
19. A weak and dissipated king, he was overthrown in a rebellion
headed by his wife and son and gruesomely murdered at Berkeley
Castle. He is the subject of a 1594 drama describing his Trouble-
some Reign and Lamentable Death. FTP, name this English monarch
who was defeated in 1314 at Bannockburn by Robert the Bruce.
Answer: Edward II
20. This Frenchman was wounded at the siege of Arras in 1640
andgave up his military career to study under the mathematician
Pierre Gassendi. Under the influence of Gassendi's scientific
theories, he wrote his two best known works, usually translated as
Voyages to the Moon and Sun. He was the basis of many romantic but
un- historical legends, the most famous being an 1897 play by
Edmond Rostand. FTP, name this large-nosed man.
Answer: _Cyrano de Bergerac_
21. One of his operas has a cast of birds, insects, and other
animals. Another is set in a prison camp. A third deals with a
woman who is 337 years old, and is based on a Capek play. FTP, name
this composer of The Cunning Little Vixen, From the House of the
Dead, and The Makropulos Affair.
Answer: Leos Janacek
22. The Missouri Compromise was being hotly debated on February 25,
1820 when long-winded Congressman Felix Walker of North Carolina
rose on the floor of the House and insisted that he be heard. After
many minutes of rambling oration, Walker was asked the purpose of
his speech. He replied that he was speaking for the voters of his
home county. FTP, name Walker's North Carolina county, which lent
us a four-letter word for "empty, inflated speech meant to fool
people."
Answer: Buncombe (accept Bunk)
Boni:
1. All fishes are slightly heavier than water. They maintain
buoyancy by a variety of methods. FTP each:
1. Name the gas- filled space which serves as a flotation device
in most bony fishes. Answer: _swim bladder_
2. Sharks lack a swim bladder. Which buoyant organ is enlarged to
provide flotation? Answer: _liver_
3. What is the name of the fatty hydrocarbon found in a shark's
liver that gives it such lift? Answer: _squalene_
2. Clarence Day wrote Life With Father. Ten points for two, 20
for three, or 30 for all four, who wrote the following:
1. _Night_
Answer: Elie _Wiesel_
2. _Mother_
Answer: Maxim _Gorky_
3. _'Night Mother_
Answer: Marsha _Norman_
4. _Mother Night_
Answer: Kurt _Vonnegut_
3. Shakespeare could plagiarize with the best of them. Many of
the bard's plays are based on Roman and Greek legends. Identify
these providers of plots, for the stated number of points.
1. 5 pts: Which Greek writer's _Parallel Lives_ was the basis for
Julius Caesar and Coriolanus, among others? Answer: _Plutarch_
2. 15 pts: Name the 16th century translator whose French version
of _Parallel Lives_ brought Plutarch up to date.
Answer: Jacques _Amyot_
3. 10 pts: _Troilus and Cressida_ was based partly on Chaucer's
work and on this printer's _Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye_.
Answer: William _Caxton_
4. The Carmelites are an order of mendicant friars, originating as
hermits on Mt. Carmel in Palestine. They were made into a western
order in the 13th century by St. Simon Stock. FTP each:
1. Name the Spanish mystic nun who revived the order in 1562.
Answer: St. _Theresa of Avila_
2. St. Theresa's friend, he was imprisoned in 1577 and wrote
_Songs of the Soul_ and _Spiritual Canticle_.
Answer: St. _John of the Cross_
3. The order that St. Theresa and St. John founded is called the
Discalced Carmelites. What does discalced mean?
Answer: _Barefoot_ (accept equivalents)
5. People have gone over Niagara Falls in barrels; in 1837 one
American went over the falls in a burning ship. FTP each:
1. Name this ship, set on fire by loyal Canadians because it was
involved in aiding a rebel group. Answer: _Caroline_
2. Name the Canadian man who headed the rebellion during this so-
called Caroline Affair. Answer: William Lyon _MacKenzie_
3. Anti-British feeling in the U.S. persisted until what agreement
settled the border? Answer: _Webster-Ashburton_ Treaty
6. In 1860 Richard Wagner, asked to name the greatest living
composers, listed only three men. FTP each, identify them from the
descriptions.
1. He lived from 1803 to 1869 and wrote overtures to _Waverly_ as
well as the opera _Benvenuto Cellini_.
Answer: Louis-Hector _Berlioz_
2. Living from 1811 to 1886, he studied in Vienna under Salieri,
composed _Totentanz_, and took minor orders of the Roman Catholic
Church in 1865.
Answer: Franz _Liszt_
3. Born in 1813 and died in 1883, he specialized in opera. After
participating in the revolution of 1848 he fled to Zurich where he
lived for nine years and began his most famous work, a musical
drama in four parts.
Answer: Richard _Wagner_ (or himself)
7. In 1903 the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party split into
two factions.
1. For 5 points, name both factions.
Answer: _Bolshevik_ and _Menshevik_
2. FTP, in what city did this Bolshevik-Menshevik split occur?
Answer: _London_
3. For 15 points, Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks. What
Russian Marxist theoretician was the acknowledged leader of the
Mensheviks at the London conference? Answer: Georgy _Plekhanov_
8. Bombax is the common name for a family of tall, thick-trunked
deciduous trees, found chiefly in the tropics. Identify these
members of the Bombax family, for the stated number of points.
1. 5 pts: It yields the lightest lumber in the world.
Answer: _Balsa_
2. 10 pts: Also called the ceiba tree, it produces a water- and
decay-resistant fiber that is used as a stuffing, particularly in
life preservers. Answer: _Kapok_
3. 15 pts: It is known for its huge trunk and for the monkeybread
fruit that it produces. Answer: _Baobab_
9. Argentina is the second-largest country in South America.
Let's see how much you know about its geography. Name the
following features, for the stated number of points.
1. 5 pts: The bleak plateau in the south that is becoming a major
oilproducing region. Answer: _Patagonia_
2. 5 pts: The vast grassland between the Atlantic and the Andean
foothills that includes the most productive agricultural section.
Answer: _Pampas_
3. 10 pts: The flat alluvial plain in the far north, near the
border with Paraguay.
Answer: _Gran Chaco_
4. 10 pts: The immense waterfall on the border with Brazil with
a 210 foot drop.
Answer: _Iguacu_ Falls
10. 30-20-10. Name the artist.
30: Whistler said of this contemporary artist: "If a
six-year-old child had drawn that on his slate, his mother, if she
were a good mother, would have whipped him."
20: His own analysis of painting was that "everything in nature
is modeled after the sphere, the cone and the cylinder. One must
learn to paint from these simple figures."
30: One of his most famous paintings is _The Card Players_.
Answer: Paul _Cezanne_
11. According to the 1990 census, there were 50,051 Apaches in the
United States, mostly in Arizona and New Mexico. Identify these
earlier Apaches for the stated number of points.
1. 5: His real name was Goyathlay, or "one who yawns," but he is
known by the name given him by Spanish-speaking Mexicans. He led
repeated raids after 1876 until his capture and imprisonment in
Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Answer: _Geronimo_
2. 10: Chief of the Chiracahua, he warred against the U.S. from
1861 to 1872 after some of his relatives were unjustly hanged.
Answer: _Cochise_
3. 15: Chief of the Membranos, he united the tribes in 1837.
After the U.S. acquired New Mexico in 1846, he led his people in
continuous warfare until he was killed by Union soldiers in 1863.
Answer: _Mangas Coloradas_
12. The altarpiece was once a venerable art form. For 5 points
each, 30 for all five, name the artists of the following:
1. The Isenheim Altarpiece
Answer: Matthias _Grunewald_ (or Gothardt)
2. San Zeno Altarpiece
Answer: Andrea _Mantegna_
3. Castelfranco Altarpiece
Answer: _Giorgione_
4. The Ghent Altarpiece, called the Adoration of the Lamb
Answer: Jan or Hubert van _Eyck_
5. The Elevation of the Cross, in Antwerp Cathedral
Answer: Peter Paul _Rubens_
13. Rajiv Gandhi was the most famous grandchild of Nehru. For 10
points each, name these people given a grandparent, or 5 points if
you need an easier clue.
1. 10 pts: Josiah Wedgewood (2 answers possible on this clue)
5 pts: He wrote _The Descent of Man_
Answer: Charles Darwin (or Francis Galton)
2. 10 pts: St. Joachim
5 pts: He lived from c. 6 B.C. to c. 30 A.D.
Answer: _Jesus_ Christ or equivalent
3. 10 pts: Henry George
5 pts: She choreographed _Oklahoma!_
Answer: _Agnes DeMille_
14. In physics most principles can be derived from more
fundamental laws. FTP each, identify the following constants or
laws.
1. This constant can be obtained by dividing the gas
constant by Avogadro's number. Answer: _Boltzmann_'s Constant
2. If you combine the First Law of Thermodynamics with the Second
Law, you don't get the Third Law. Instead you get a quantity that
can be expressed as enthalpy minus temperature times entropy.
Answer: _Gibbs Free Energy_
3. This property, designated by the Greek letter lambda, is equal
to Planck's constant divided by the momentum of the particle.
Answer: _DeBroglie_ Wavelength
15. Germany almost fell apart in the first years after World War
I. There were three separate attempts to overthrow the new Weimar
government. Identify these for the stated number of points.
For 5: Led by General Erich Ludendorff, it was an attempt in
Munich by a fledgling party to take over the government from the
right.
Answer: Munich _Beer Hall Putsch_
For 10: What name was given to the 1919 leftist uprising in
Berlin, led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht?
Answer: _Spartacist_ Uprising
For 15: What name was given to the 1920 rightist attempt led by a
monarchist who seized Berlin and declared himself imperial
chancellor? Answer: _Kapp_ Putsch
16. The Faust legend has been all the rage since Goethe
popularized it. For 5 points each, name the composers of the
following musical treatments of the Faust legend.
1. Faust Symphony, 1857
Answer: Franz _Liszt_
2. Scenes from Goethe's Faust, 1849
Answer: Robert _Schumann_
3. Faust Overture
Answer: Richard _Wagner_
4. The Elixir of Love, 1832
Answer: Gaetano _Donizetti_
5. The Fiery Angel
Answer: Sergei _Prokofiev_
6. The Damnation of Faust, 1846
Answer: Hector _Berlioz_
17. 30-20-10. Give the common name.
30: It is the last name of the U.S. Army surgeon who published an
account of Alexis St. Martin, whose abdomen, opened by a gunshot
wound, would not close.
20: Speaking of holes that won't close, it's a city in Texas near
where the Spindletop gusher erupted in 1901. It is also home to
Lamar University.
10: It is the name of the Elizabethan dramatist who wrote _The
Woman Hater_ by himself, but is better known for collaborations on
plays such as _The Maid's Tragedy_.
Answer: _Beaumont_
18. During the brutal Nazi occupation of Kiev from 1941 to 1944,
more than 100,000 local inhabitants were killed, then buried in a
ravine. Answer these questions for the stated number of points.
1. 5: What name, meaning "old woman's gully," was given to this
ravine? Answer: _Babi Yar_
2. 10: Name the Russian poet whose 1961 poem, _Babi Yar_, was an
attack on Soviet anti-Semitism. Answer: Yevgeny _Yevtushenko_
(NOT "Yevshenko")
3. 15: What Soviet writer condemned both German and Soviet
policies toward the Ukraine in his 1966 autobiographical novel,
_Babi Yar_? Answer: Anatoly _Kuznetzov_
19. The Aten group of asteroids has orbits smaller than Earth's
orbit. For 10 points each, identify these other noted asteroids or
asteroid groups.
1. This group is made up of asteroids whose orbits cross the orbit
of the Earth. Answer: _Apollo_ Group
2. This large, recently-discovered asteroid, named for a
mythological healer, is in an orbit between Saturn and Uranus.
Answer: _Chiron_
3. These asteroids revolve in the same orbit as Jupiter, 60 degrees
ahead and behind that planet. Answer: _Trojan_ Group
20. The top five surnames in China are held by 32 percent of the
population, or about 350 million people, with one name alone
accounting for 87 million people. FTP each, name any THREE of the
five most common surnames in China. Answer: Li, Wang, Zhang, Liu,
and Chen (accept variations)
21. Spontaneous human combustion is still hotly debated, but the
spontaneous generation of life has been disproven for over a
century. Identify these experimenters of abiogenesis and ten points
will spontaneously appear in your score.
1. In 1668, this Italian physician exposed meat in jars, some
covered and some uncovered. All meat spoiled, but only the
uncovered meat had maggots. Answer: Francesco Redi
2. In 1767, another Italian improved on Redi's experiment by
boiling meat extracts, sealing the necks of the flasks with flames,
and then immersing the flasks in boiling water to kill any
organisms present. Answer: Lazzaro Spallanzani
3. In 1861, this Frenchman took Spallanzani's experiment one step
further by placing fermentable material in swan-necked flasks,
boiling them, but leaving them open to the air. Answer: Louis
Pasteur
22. 30-20-10. Give this name from ancient and medieval history
shared by three men.
30: One was a Roman general in Africa whose
quarrels with Rome led to the invasion of North Africa by the
Vandals. He was defeated at Hippo in 430 and was killed in battle
by the rival Roman general Aetius two years later.
20: An English missionary in the 8th century, this man was called
the Apostle of Germany for his attempts to convert the pagans
there. He was martyred in Friesland in 754.
10: Pope from 1294 to 1303, he was involved in a bitter struggle
with Philip IV of France and died shortly after being roughed up in
an abortive kidnap attempt.
Answer: Boniface (the pope is Boniface VIII)
24. In a famous 1907 court case, a noted American labor leader was
acquitted of murder. Identify these participants in the case, for
10 points each.
1. Name the defendant, a radical labor organizer, who would later
leave the U.S. for the Soviet Union.
Answer: William "Big Bill" Haywood
2. What Idaho governor was Haywood accused of murdering?
Answer: Frank Steunenberg
3. Name the prosecutor in the case, a prominent Idaho politician.
Answer: William Borah
25. In 1896 a wild satirical farce was performed in Paris that was
a forerunner of the Theater of the Absurd. FTP each:
1. Give the title of this work about a grotesque and repulsive
character who becomes king. Answer: Ubu Roi (or King Ubu)
2. Who wrote Ubu Roi?
Answer: Alfred Jarry
3. What exactly is it, that didn't exist in 1896, that Ubu becomes
king of? Answer: Poland