Subject:
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 07:24:36 -0700
From: David Matthew Levinson
To: dmlevins@uclink2.berkeley.edu
1996 Western Invitational
Questions by ASU Siddhartha
Toss-Ups
1. In order to hide her from Hera, Zeus changed her into a cow. Hera
then has her tormented by as gadfly. Although this moon of Jupiter
is probably free of gadflies, it is not free of torment, as
an average of 4 inches of fresh sulfur is deposited
on its surface each year. FTP, name this volcanic moon.
answer: IO
2. The setting is 16th-century Turkey. Constanze and her maid Blonde have been
sold by pirates to the Pasha. Belmonte arrives to help them escape. FTP, give
the English name of this Mozart opera, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, which
takes place in a harem.
answer: ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO
3. A poor Indian of Mixtec origin, he gained office and gathered around him
the cientmficos, a group of intellectuals stressing rational planning and
development. However, by 1910, Francisco Madero was issuing the Plan of San
Luis Potosi to the populace to rise in revolution against him. For ten points,
name this President of Mexico forced in exile in 1911 after 35 years in office.
answer: Porfirio DIAZ
4. Released during appeal procedures, he jumped bail in 1921 and received an
administrative post in the Russian revolutionary government, and he died in
Moscow in 1928. Born in 1869 in Salt Lake City, he became a miner at age 15,
and was arrested and acquitted on a murder charge in 1906 and 1907. FTP, name
this man most famous for his leadership of the IWW, or "Wobblies".
answer: William Dudley (Big Bill) HAYWOOD
5. In 1876 he began a correspondence with Nadezhda von Meck, a wealthy widow,
who gave him an annuity sufficient to allow him to give up his day job; they
never met. Born in 1840, he was once thought to have died from cholera, but
recent scholarship holds that he committed suicide after being accused of
romantic involvement with a male member of the Imperial family. FTP, name this
composer whose works include The Manfred Symphony, Queen of Spades, Eugene
Onegin, Capriccio Italien, 1812 Overture, and The Nutcracker.
answer: Peter Ilich TCHAIKOVSKY
6. Born in St. Petersburg in 1845, this German mathematician lived until
1918. Many of today's lazy math students might agree with a thesis he wrote
entitled "In mathematics the art of asking questions is more valuable then
solving problems." The set named after him has measure zero, despite
containing an uncountable number of points. FTP, identify this formulator
of the concept of transfinite numbers.
answer: Georg CANTOR
7. Part of the itinerary of Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase in "Spies like Us",
it borders Afghanistan on the south and China on the east, and includes such
mountains as Lenin Peak, Communism Peak, and Revolution Peak. FTP, name this
country which also borders Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which has more than half
its territory above 10,000 feet, and which has capital Dushambe (Due-SHUM-bay).
answer: TAJIKISTAN
8. Founder of the Canadian Centre for Advanced Films Studies, his directorial
work includes 1965's "The Cincinnati Kid", 1966's "The Russians Are Coming, The
Russians Are Coming", and 1967's "In the Heat of the Night". FTP, name this
man whose more recent offerings include "Other People's Money"
and "Moonstruck".
answer: Norman JEWISON
9. Easily oxidized to acids and reduced to alcohols, this class of organic
compounds combines with other types of molecules to produce plastics, such
as bakelite and formica. Highly reactive, they are characterized by the
presence of a carbonyl group, in which at least one of the two remaining bonds
to the carbon atom is to a hydrogen atom. FTP, name this class of compounds
with general formula RCHO.
answer: ALDEHYDES
10. It had its origins in the discussions of the "Metaphysical Club" in the
1870s and in two classic papers, "The Fixation of Belief" and "Spencer's
Definition of Mind as Correspondence," both by Charles Sanders Pierce. Boiled
down, its a theory that the truth of an idea can be judged only by the
practical effects that arise from it. FTP, name this school of philosophy
dominant in the United States during the first quarter of the 20th century,
whose most famous exponent was William James.
answer: PRAGMATISM
11. The name we apply to it dates from 1254 A.D., and it used this name only
during and after the 15th century, when one dynasty came to dominate the
remainder of its history until its end in 1806. FTP, name this "First Reich"
whose name was savaged by Voltaire and which was begun in 800 A.D. with the
coronation of Charlemagne in Rome.
answer: HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
12. Contained within the order Passeriformes, there is controversy about how
to assign them to families; some researches think the family Fringillidae
suffices. A group including the bunting, crossbill, grosbeak, sparrow,
cardinal, and canary, the name of this group itself may be most famously
associated with Charles Darwin. FTP, name this group of songbirds studied
during Darwin's layover in the Galapagos Islands.
answer: FINCHES
13. He was born in a slum in 1805, and after two unsuccessful attempts at play
writing he produced the play "The Mulatto". He was regarded as a novelist,
though, writing "The Improviser", "O.T.", and "Only a Fiddler." But to us he
is most famous for his stories. FTP, name this Danish creator of "The Tinder-
box", "Little Claus and Big Claus", "Little Ida's Flowers", and "The Princess
and the Pea."
answer: Hans Christian ANDERSEN
14. Its immediate cause was Maria Theresa's desire to regain the province of
Silesia, lost by the Austrians to the Prussians during the War of the Austrian
Succession. Begun in 1756 with an attack by Frederick the Great upon Saxony,
it ended with the 1763 Treaties of Hubertusburg and Paris. FTP, give the name
used to describe this war outside North America, wherein it was called the
French and Indian War.
answer: SEVEN YEARS' War
15. His stock characters include the snarling wife, her timid, hapless
husband, and a roster of serene, silently observing animals. Both a writer
and a sketch drawer, his works include "The Male Animal", "The 13 Clocks",
"The Wonderful O", and "My life and Hard Times." FTP, name this man who
collaborated with E.B. White for the spoof "Is Sex Necessary?", and whose most
famous characted is the henpecked Walter Mitty.
answer: James THURBER
16. 125 years ago the logging town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin was destroyed,
killing over 1000 people. Since the telegraph lines weren't working,
however, a similar disaster that killed only 300 people dominated the
news, and history. FTP, what less-deadly accident was also ignited on
the 8th of October of 1871?
answer: the Great CHICAGO Fire of 1871
17. With area roughly 360,000 square miles, it is bounded by headwaters of the
Zambezi River, the plateaus of Transvaal and Zimbabwe, the Orange River, and
the highlands of Namibia. FTP, name this desert contained mostly in Botswana.
answer: KALAHARI
18. The Thomas Shadwell succeeded this creator of "heroic stanzas" as
Poet Laureate. His support of the king was made clear in his "Absalom and
Achitophel". He also wrote the plays "Marriage A La Mode" and "All for Love".
FTP, name this author of "To My Dear Friend Mr. Congreve" who lost his position
of Poet Laureate with the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
answer: John DRYDEN
19. This student of Sir Flinders Petrie joined his first expedition in 1890 at
the age of 17; the discovery of Hatshepsut and Thutmose IV would follow 12
years later. FTP, name this man who on November 4, 1922 found the first sign
of the tomb of Tutankhamen.
answer: Howard CARTER
20. First used as a literary character in a work of Euripides, she also is the
subject of plays by Grillparzer, Anovild, and Seneca. Daughter of King Aeetes
of Colchis, in the Euripides play she is deserted by her husband for a
daughter of King Creon of Corinth; in revenge she murders Creon, the daughter,
and her own two sons. FTP, name this spurned wife of Jason who helped him
retrieve the Golden Fleece.
answer: MEDEA
21. It is the story of a publican in Chapelizod, near Dublin, his wife
Anna Livia Plurabelle, and their three children Kevin, Jerry, and Isabel.
In homage to Vico's theory that history is cyclic, it begins by completing
a sentence begun on the last page. FTP, name this story of Humphrey
Chimpden Earwicker, known as "Work in Progress" from 1922 until 1939, when
finally completed by James Joyce.
answer: FINNEGAN'S WAKE
22. Enormous elephant trunks of gas contain EGGs, "evaporating gaseous
globules" that are the sites of recent star formation. FTP, name this
nebula, 700 light years away in the constellation Serpens, whose HST
image last year made it a popular pin-up.
answer: M16 or The EAGLE Nebula
23. It appears to have arisen out of a suggestion by the Reverend M. R.
Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, made in a letter to Samuel Chase in
1861. In 1864, the newly-created two cent piece included it. FTP, name this
four word motto now included on all U.S. coins and bills.
answer: IN GOD WE TRUST
1996 Western Invitational
Questions by ASU Siddhartha
BONUSES
All boni worth 30 points
1. Identify this American poet on a 30-20-10 basis.
30: His collections include "The Weary Blues" and "Fine Clothes to the Jew",
published in 1926 and 1927 respectively.
20: Working in a Washington, D.C., hotel, he placed three poems by the plate
of Vachel Lindsay and was thus "discovered" by him.
10: This poet of the Harlem Renaissance wrote "The Negro Speaks of Rivers".
answer: Langston HUGHES
2. There's no place like home, no matter what it is called. Given the
name of a place in the native tongue, give the name by which we in
America know it, for ten points;
or for five points if you nee the capital city.
A. 10: Suomi
5: Helsinki answer: FINLAND
B. 10: Chosun
5: Seoul answer: South KOREA (accept KOREA)
C. 10: Hellas
5: Athens answer: GREECE
3. Identify these opera composers given works for ten points, or for five
points if you need a more famous work and a birth year and country.
A. 10: "Orfeo ed Eurdice", "Alceste", and "Paride ed Elena"
5: this German composer was born in 1714
answer: Christophe GLUCK
B. 10: "Le Villi", "Edgar", and "Manon Lescault"
5: this Italian composer was born in 1858, and is also known for "Tosca"
answer: Giacomo PUCCINI
C. 10: "The Fairies", "The Ban on Love", "Rienzi", and "Parsifal"
5: this German composer was born in 1813, and is also known for
"Tannhauser"
answer: Richard WAGNER
4. For ten points each, given two countries, name the bay between them.
A. Between Canada and Greenland, Davis Strait connects it to the Atlantic, and
Nares Strait connects it to the Arctic Ocean.
answer: BAFFIN Bay
B. India and Burma.
answer: Bay of BENGAL
C. This triangular bay is bordered by France to the east and Spain to the
south.
answer: Bay of BISCAY
5. Identify these particles from physics for the stated number of points.
A. For 5 points: This hypothetical spin-2 particle has never been seen,
and may not exist -- it is unnecessary within the
constructs of General Relativity.
answer: GRAVITON
B. For five points each, identify the two letters which represent the bosons
which transmit the weak nuclear force.
answer: _W_ and _Z_
C. Experimental evidence of this fundamental
particle was first seen in the J/psi particle,
of which it is a constituent. For 15 points, name it.
answer: CHARM quark
6. Even 220 years after its drafting, the Declaration of Independence
is still a hit with question writers. Answer the following, for ten points
each.
A. Within 2, how many signed the Declaration?
answer: 56 (54-58)
B. On July 2, 12 colonies voted for the motion for independence, with one
colony abstaining because its representatives lacked permission to act. Name
it.
answer: NEW YORK
C. On May 15, the Virginia delegation was instructed to introduce the motion
for independence. What relative of a famous Confederate general introduced
the motion on June 7?
answer: RICHARD Henry LEE (prompt on Lee)
7. Answer these questions about the philosophy of the ancients for the stated
number of points.
A. 5: He discovered that the musical scale consists of definite mathematical
relations, and felt the number is the harmony of things and numbers comprise
things.
answer: PYTHAGORAS
B. 10: Empedocles, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, Democritus of Abdera, and
Leucippus of Miletus espoused this philosophical doctrine that explains
complex phenomena in terms of aggregates of fixed unitary factors.
answer: ATOMist
C. 15: Greek for "word", "reason", or "plan", it is in Greek philosophy the
divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and
meaning. The idea of it harks back at least to Heraclitus.
answer: LOGOS
8. Answer the following war-related questions for the stated number of points.
A. 5: This war, between the Russians on one side, and the British, French,
Ottomans, and army of Sardinia-Piedmont on the other, lasted from October 1853
to February 1856.
answer: CRIMEAN War
B. 10: This battle of the Crimean War featured the Charge of the Light Brigade.
answer: Battle of BALAKLAVA
C. 15: This base of the Russian Black Sea fleet was the object of an 11-month-
long siege, after which the Russians sank their ships, blew up the fortifi-
cations, and evacuated the city.
answer: SEVASTOPOL
9. There are still countries today with monarchs, if not
with the same power as
previous members of their ruling families. Given the name of the ruling house,
identify the country with a current member monarch for ten points, or for five
points if you need the current ruler.
A. 10: Saxe-Coburg
5: King Albert II answer: BELGIUM
B. 10: Bernadotte
5: King Carl XVI Gustaf answer: SWEDEN
C. 10: Grimaldi
5: Prince Ranier answer: MONACO
10. By surviving his assassination attempt, Ronald Reagan become the first
president in 160 years not to die in office after being elected in a year
ending in zero. Answer the following for ten points each.
A. For what Shawnee chief is named the curse that supposedly ended the lives of
the previous eight such presidents?
answer: TECUMSEH
B. Tecumseh was supposedly slain in 1813 by this future Vice President.
answer: RICHARD JOHNSON
c. Richard Johnson served as V.P. in this man's administration.
answer: Martin VAN BUREN
11. Identify these current leaders of American drama from works for ten points
each.
A. "Buried Child" (Pulitzer Prize, 1979), and "The Tooth of the Crime".
answer: Sam SHEPARD
B. "The House of Blue Leaves", and "Six Degrees of Separation".
answer: John GUARE
C. "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", and "Fences" (Pulitzer Prize, 1987).
answer: August WILSON
12. The life pattern of stars can be traced by plotting a sample of
them as a function of absolute magnitude and surface temperature. Answer the
following questions for the stated number of points.
A. 5: What is this diagram called, named for the two scientists who indepen-
dently decided to plot stars in this way?
answer: _H_ertzsprung-_R_ussell diagram
B. 5: What is the name of the region of the diagram where stars spend the
largest fraction of their lifetimes?
answer: MAIN SEQUENCE
C. 10: After the helium flash, stars may settle onto this descriptively-named
"branch" of the HR diagram; Cepheid variables are found here.
answer: HORIZONTAL Branch
D. 10: Lower mass stars whose remnants are white dwarfs slough off their outer
layers during the rise up the Asymptotic Giant Branch of the HR diagram,
temporarily creating this type of cosmic object.
answer: PLANETARY Nebula
13. Identify the following people, places, and things associated with Napoleon
for ten points each.
A. Napoleon dumped Josephine, who had not given him a child, for this daughter
of Francis I of Austria.
answer: MARIE-LOUISE
B. Earlier, in 1797, Napoleon concluded this treaty with Austria, which helped
enhance his stature when he foisted the Constitution of Year VIII on the
French people in 1800.
answer: CAMPO FORMIO
C. On October 14, 1806, the Prussians were defeated both at Auerstadt and this
battle.
answer: JENA
14. Identify the economists associated with the following ideas for the stated
number of points.
A. (5) This Elizabethan stated that "Bad money drives out good."
answer: Sir Thomas GRESHAM
B. (10) This 1972 co-winner with Hicks of the Nobel Prize
posited the Impossibility Theorem.
answer: Kenneth ARROW
C. (15) This German economist developed an index for measuring current price or
quantity levels relative to those of a selected base period.
answer: Hermann PAASCHE
15. Identify these French painters for the stated number of points.
A. 10: This creator of "The Charging Chasseur" is most famous for "The Raft of
the Medusa".
answer: (Jean-Louis-Andre-) Theodore GERICAULT
B. 20: This Frensh genre and portrait painter of "The Village Betrothal"
initiated a mid-18th-century vogue for sentimental and moralizing anecdotes in
paintings.
answer: Jean-Baptiste GREUZE
16. Identify the creators of the following cartoons for 10 points each.
A. Katzenjammer Kids answer: Rudolph DIRKS
B. Yellow Kid answer: Richard OUTCAULT
C. Woody Woodpecker answer: Walter LANTZ
17. Name the historical figure, 30-20-10.
A. He was named Succat by his father Calpurnius, a minor British official. At
the age of 16 he was abducted by raiders and taken into slavery.
B. The two known works of this 5th century figure are "Confessio", his
autobiography, and "Epistola".
C. "Epistola" dealt with British maltreatment of the Irish, whom he
Christianized.
Answer: Saint PATRICK
18. Nebuchadnezzar sends his army against Palestine. During the siege of a
city, a Jewish widow pretends to flee and presages to the general his eventual
victory. As he sleeps, she beheads him and returns to the town, which defeats
the siege. Answer the following for the stated number of points.
A. 5: What is the name of the book of the Bible that relates this story, named
for the widow?
answer: JUDITH
B. 10: What is the name of the Assyrian general who loses his head during his
drunken slumber?
answer: HOLOFERNES
C. 15: Name the Palestinian town being besieged.
answer: BETHULIA
19. Identify the Russian authors of each of the following for five points each.
A. The Lower Depths answer: Maxim GORKY
B. The Inspector General answer: Nikolai GOGOL
C. The Master and Margarita answer: Mikhail BULGAKOV
D. Eugene Onegin answer: Aleksandr PUSHKIN
E. A Hero of Our Time answer: Mikhail LERMONTOV
F. Dr. Zhivago answer: Boris PASTERNAK
20. Answer these questions about the development of the periodic table for the
stated number of points.
A. 5: The final version of this Russian's version of the periodic table,
published in 1871, had gaps that he predicted would be filled by elements not
then known.
answer: Dmitri Ivanovich MENDELEYEV
B. 10: With the discovery of the noble gases by Rayleigh and Ramsay, Mendeleyev
and others proposed a new group to hold them. Name this group, or the current
group that the noble gases occupy.
answer: Group _0_ (then) or Group _VIII A_ (now)
C. 15: This English physicist, who died at the Battle of Sulva Bay during the
Gallipoli campaign, made the discovery that major properties of an element
are based on atomic number, not atomic weight.
answer: Henry Gwyn Jeffreys MOSELEY
21. Identify these Shakespearian plays based on characters for ten points each.
A. Helena and Bertram answer: ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
B. Ferdinand, Biron, Longaville, and Dumain answer: LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST
C. Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page, Nym and Pistol answer: THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
22. Identify this historical figure on a 30-20-10 basis.
30: His rise to power was completed at the Battle of Chacabuco, after which he
was elected interim supreme dictator.
20: He was forced from office in 1823 after six years in power, and spent the
remainder of his life until 1842 in exile in Peru.
10: This illegitimate son of a Spanish officer of Irish origin was the first
Chilean head of state.
answer: Bernardo O'HIGGINS
23. Identify these Japanese authors for the stated number of points.
A. 5: The pseudonym of Hiraoka Kimitake, he wrote the four-volume epic
"The Sea of Fertility" before committing ritual suicide in 1970.
answer: Yukio MISHIMA
B. 10: This author's "The Remains of the Day" won the Booker Prize in Britain.
answer: Kazuo ISHIGURO
C. 15: His first novel was the wonderfully-name "Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids".
Other novels of this 1994 Nobel Prize winner include "The Silent Cry" and
"Awake, New Man".
answer: Kenzaburo OE (or reversed; OE is surname)
24. Answer these questions about Mendelian genetics for 15 points each.
A. If I choose offspring at random from a cross of two dihybrids and cross
it with a member that is recessive in both traits, what is the probability
that it will produce an offspring that is homozygous dominant for at
least one trait?
answer: 0
B. If I cross a plant that is homozygous dominant for color and homozygous
recessive for height with another plant that is a dihybrid for both traits,
what percentage of the offspring will be heterozygous for color and homozygous
recessive for height.
answer: 25%