| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| This novel is framed by a manuscript recorded by the fictional Cide Hamete Benengeli. The title character is inspired by Amadis of Gaul, steals a bowl he believes to be the Helmet of Mambrino, and fights the Knight of the White Moon. He also rides the horse (*) Rocinante and fights giants that are actually windmills. The title character is in love with Dulcinea and is accompanied on his adventures by Sancho Panza. For ten points, name this Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. | The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (or El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha) |
| Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland features some strange foodstuffs. Identify some of them, for ten points each. Upon first arriving in Wonderland, Alice discovers a cake with this phrase written on it in currants. When she follows these instructions, Alice grows very tall. | EAT ME After watching the “Lobster Quadrille,” Alice listens to a song about a soup made from this kind of animal, which is sung by a “Mock” one of these creatures. ANSWER: turtle (accept Turtle Soup; accept Mock Turtle) Alice later encounters a peculiar Duchess, who treats a pig like a baby and scolds it for sneezing when its nose is irritated by an overabundance of this common spice. ANSWER: pepper |
| Nathaniel Greene was appointed Quartermaster General of this location, where Baron von Steuben composed his “blue book” for training troops. American soldiers retreated to this location after the capture of (*) Philadelphia, and Martha Washington created a sewing group at this camp to make clothing for the undersupplied troops. For ten points, name this location where the Continental Army spent a harsh winter. | Valley Forge |
| Answer these questions about the Wonders of the Ancient World for ten points each. The brightest of the Wonders of the Ancient World was this structure, which guided ships near a city which also contained a legendary library. | Lighthouse of Alexandria (or Pharos of Alexandria; prompt on partial answer) Not far from Alexandria, this ancient wonder was built as a tomb for Pharaoh Khufu. ANSWER: Great Pyramid of Giza (accept Pyramid of Cheops) A Greek island hosted this massive statue of a sun god until it toppled in an earthquake. ANSWER: Colossus of Rhodes |
| During an event in this city, participants will run back and forth between a pair of hills seven times, and drink water from the Well of Zamzam. During an event in this city, participants walk seven times around a cube-shaped building called the (*) Ka’aba, which must be faced during prayer. This city is the site of a pilgrimage called the hajj, which Muslims should attempt to make at least once in their lifetimes. For ten points, name this holy city of Islam, the birthplace of Mohammed, found in Saudi Arabia. | Mecca |
| This god received a pair of winged sandals called Talaria, which helped him travel quickly. For ten points each, Name this Greek messenger god, the counterpart to the Roman Mercury. | Hermes Hermes’s winged sandals were made by this deformed Greek god of smithing, who was thrown from Olympus by his mother, Hera. ANSWER: Hephaestus (do not accept “Vulcan”) Hephaestus also created this shield for Athena, into which he cast the image of the Gorgon Medusa. ANSWER: Aegis |
| In a work by this artist, a glass sits on a table in a dodecahedral room, in which the central figure points toward the image of a torso above him. In addition to Sacrament of the Last Supper, this artist painted his wife, Gala, as the Madonna of (*) Port Lligat [YEE-got], and painted the Catalan coast behind a Disintegration of a work in which ants crawl on the back of a downturned pocketwatch. For ten points, name this Spanish surrealist artist who painted soft clocks draping over the scenery of The Persistence of Memory. | Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dal´ı Dom`enech, Marqu´es de Dal´ı de Pubol |
| One of this country’s national anthems was composed by Mikhail Glinka. For ten points each, Name this country, where a later composer wrote The Tale of Tsar Saltan. | Russia (do not accept or prompt on Soviet Union or similar responses) The Tale of Tsar Saltan was composed by this Russian, whose other works include the orchestral suite Scheherezade [sh’hair-uh-zahd]. ANSWER: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov The Tale of Tsar Saltan includes this interlude, famous for a series of chromatic sixteenth notes that aspiring musicians often try to play much too quickly. ANSWER: Flight of the Bumblebee |
| In a story by this author, Jim Smiley loses a bet after Dan’l Webster fails to leap. This author of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” also wrote about the peasant Tom Canty, who switches places with (*) King Edward VI. Another of this author’s characters runs away from Miss Watson and rafts down the Mississippi River with the escaped slave Jim. For ten points, name this author of The Prince and the Pauper and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. | Mark Twain [or Samuel Langhorne Clemens] |
| Answer some questions about unique writing styles in poetry. For ten points each: This punctuation mark is separated into “en” and “em” varieties. Emily Dickinson often used this punctuation mark at varying lengths. | dashes In High German Languages, this property is used in all nouns. E.E. Cummings chose not to do this to the letters of many of his poems, even though you would expect it to occur at least once in “i carry your heart with me.” ANSWER: initial capitalization (accept word forms like capitalized letters; accept upper case) This word in poetry refers to a figure of speech in which the poet addresses something that is absent. This term also refers to a punctuation mark that is used before an “s” to represent possession. ANSWER: apostrophe |
| A rostrum is an extended upper bone of this structure, and is found in sailfish, sawfish, and hammerhead sharks. Agnathans such as lampreys and hagfish lack this structure, but bony fish have a secondary pharyngeal version of this structure that is used to force food into the (*) stomach. The articular bone behind the dentary bone connects this moveable bone to the skull. For ten points, name this bone structure the holds teeth and allows a mouth to open and close. | jaw |
| Because metals have a sea of free-floating electrons, they can have interesting properties. For ten points each, Aluminum has this property, the ability to be hammered into sheets. | malleability (accept word forms like malleable) Copper has this property, the ability to be drawn into wires. ANSWER: ductility (accept word forms like ductile) Electric charge can flow through gold because it has this property, unlike the plastic casing of wires. ANSWER: conductivity (accept word forms like conduction; do not accept superconductivity or semiconductivity) |
| Near the mouth of this river, the English destroyed a French fleet that was anchored in Aboukir Bay. Lake Tana is the source of one branch of this river. This river caused the relocation of the temples at (*) Abu Simbel when the Aswan High Dam created Lake Nasser to stop the annual summer flooding of this river. For ten points, name this river that flows north to the Mediterranean Sea through Egypt, the longest river in Africa. | Nile River |
| Legislatures during this time period included the National Convention, the Legislative Assembly, and the National Assembly. For ten points each, Name this time period, in which Louis XVI [the Sixteenth] was killed and the Reign of Terror occurred. It essentially began with the storming of the Bastille. | French Revolution Executing political enemies is a time-consuming task, so this instrument was popularized during the Reign of Terror. It uses a falling blade to swiftly execute people, and was last used in France in 1977. ANSWER: guillotine This leader of the Committee of Public Safety was the chief architect of the Reign of Terror. He tried to establish the Cult of the Supreme Being and was killed in the Thermidorian Reaction. ANSWER: Maximilien Robespierre Sixty Second Rounds The categories are ... 1. Harry Potter Villains 2. Gifts to the United States 3. Energy Sources 4. Mythological Heroes Harry Potter Villains Name the character from the Harry Potter franchise who... |
| became known as “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.” | Voldemort (accept Tom Marvolo Riddle) |
| hid the physical form of You-Know-Who under his turban in the first book. | Professor Quirinus Quirrell |
| betrayed Lily and James Potter, and whose animagus was a rat. | Peter Pettigrew (accept either underlined name; accept Wormtail) |
| took control of Hogwarts as the “High Inquisitor” during Harry’s fifth year. | Professor Dolores Jane Umbridge (accept “ (Senior) Undersecretary,” “Headmistress,” or “High Inquisitor” as titles) |
| was disowned by her villainous sister Bellatrix for marrying the muggle Edward. | Andromeda Black Tonks (prompt on “Black” or “Tonks”) |
| was a savage werewolf who bit Remus Lupin and allied himself with the Death Eaters. | Fenrir Greyback |
| Capital of Massachusetts, which receives a Christmas tree every year from Canada. | Boston |
| Statue in New York Harbor whose inscription asks for “your huddle masses.” | Statue of Liberty (accept Liberty Enlightening the World) |
| the 2001 terrorist attacks which prompted the Maasai to make a gift of cows. | September 11th terrorist attacks (or 9/11; prompt on World Trade Center attack; prompt on Pentagon attack; prompt on Flight 93) |
| The type of Japanese tree planted in Washington D.C after a 1912 gift. | (Japanese) cherry blossom tree (accept sakura tree; accept Prunus serrulata) |
| Type of animal, named Ling-Ling, that was given to Nixon after his trip to China. | Giant Panda (accept Panda Bear; accept Ailuropoda melanolecua) |
| Desk, given as a gift by Queen Victoria, that is used in the Oval Office by President Obama. | Resolute desk |
| ”Crude” fossil fuel that is found as a liquid within the crust. | crude oil (or petroleum) |
| Controversial power source that may derive energy from fission or fusion. | nuclear power |
| Term for dams that generate power from the flowing water. | hydroelectric dams (accept word forms) |
| Non-renewable energy source that may be classified as bituminous or anthracite. | coal |
| Main component of natural gas, a hydrocarbon with formula CH | methane |
| Chairman of SolarCity, a panel manufacturer, as well as founder of SpaceX. | Elon Musk Mythological Heroes What Greco-Roman mythological hero... |
| got Ariadne’s help to kill the Minotaur? | Theseus |
| led the Argonauts in the quest for the golden fleece? | Jason |
| lost his chance to save his wife Eurydice [yoo-RIH-dih-see] from the underworld when he turned around to look at her? | Orpheus |
| was the illegitimate son of Zeus, and strangled the Nemean lion? | Heracles (or Hercules) |
| slew the Chimera while riding the Pegasus? | Bellerophon |
| designed the labyrinth to house the Minotaur? | Daedalus |
| Geodesics on a sphere take this shape. This conic section has an eccentricity of zero. This shape has the largest area for any shape formed by a fixed perimeter. Line segments with both endpoints on one of these shapes are called (*) chords. This shape consists of points at the same distance from a fixed point and can be drawn with a compass. For ten points, name this shape whose circumference is its diameter times pi. | circle (accept great circle on an early buzz) |
| This value is the fiftieth percentile of a data set. For ten points each, Give this term for the central value in a data set; that is, ignoring ties, half of a data set will be greater than this value, and half will be less than this value. | median The median is also considered the second of these values. The minimum is the zeroth of these values, and the maximum is the fourth. ANSWER: quartiles The IQR, or interquartile range, is an important measurement of how spread out a data set is. Somewhat predictably, the IQR is found by performing this operation on the first and third quartiles. ANSWER: subtraction (or word forms like minus; accept Q3 minus Q1 and descriptions of “you subtract one from the other”; do not accept Q1 minus Q3, because that is specifically the wrong order) |
| This character asks a love interest not to swear by the “inconstant moon” before describing a “bud of love” that “may prove a beauteous flower.” This character’s nurse suggests she marry Count Paris. She claims “a (*) rose by any other name would smell as sweet” in a famous “balcony scene,” and stabs herself after her lover drinks poison. For ten points, name this member of the Capulet family who appears in a namesake Shakespeare play with Romeo. | Juliet Capulet (prompt on “Capulet” until it is read) |
| In one story by these authors, two step-sisters cut off parts of their feet in an attempt to fit into a glass slipper. For ten points each, Name these German brothers whose stories, like “Rumpelstiltskin” and “Cinderella,” are a lot darker than their Disney counterparts. | The Brothers Grimm (or Grimm brothers; die Gebru¨der Grimm; accept Wilhelm and Jacob Ludwig Grimm) In another story by the Brothers Grimm, this character pretends to be confused when a witch asks her to lean over in front an oven. This character then shoves the witch into the oven and frees her brother Hansel. ANSWER: Gretel In another story by the Brothers Grimm, a donkey, a cat, a dog, and a rooster decide move to the town of Bremen to take up this profession, but they take up residence in a robbers’ cottage instead. ANSWER: town musicians (accept The Bremen Town Musicians) |
| With nitrogen, this element’s liquid form is used to cool superconducting magnets. Jules Janssen first detected the yellow spectral line of this element during the 1868 solar eclipse because it participates in nuclear fusion in the sun. This element’s nucleus is identical to the (*) alpha particle released during nuclear fission. This monatomic inert gas is used in lighter-than-air balloons. For ten points, name this noble gas with atomic symbol He. | Helium (or He before mentioned) |
| Answer the following about the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram for ten points each. The H-R diagram shows the relationship between the luminosity and temperature of these celestial bodies, like our Sun. | stars Most stars, including our Sun, lie in this diagonal band on the H-R diagram. The white dwarves lie well below this band. ANSWER: main sequence This general type of large, unusually bright star is found at the top of the diagram above the main sequence. ANSWER: giant stars (accept descriptors like hypergiant or supergiant, but do not accept color descriptions like red giant or brown giant) |
| In this TV show, Anthea is the assistant to a character played by this show’s co-creator, Mark Gatiss. “The Sign of Three” is a 2014 episode of this show in which Amanda Abbington, the real-life partner of (*) Martin Freeman, plays sharpshooter Mary Morstan as she marries Dr. John Watson. For ten points, name this BBC show about a brilliant detective played by Benedict Cumberbatch and originally created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. | Sherlock |
| Answer the following about Major League Baseball teams leaving their homes for ten points each. This team moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958, the same offseason that the Giants moved from New York to San Francisco. | Brooklyn and/or Los Angeles Dodgers This city was home to the Pilots for exactly one season before they moved to Milwaukee. Though they’re now home to the Mariners, they haven’t been immune to other sports teams leaving them; this city also lost the SuperSonics to Oklahoma. ANSWER: Seattle This city has had no fewer than three major league teams: one left and became the Minnesota Twins in 1961, a second team kept the old name but left to become the Texas Rangers in 1972, and a third team moved in with a new name in 2005. ANSWER: Washington, D.C. (accept District of Columbia; accept Washington Senators and/or Nationals) |
| This agreement was brokered and its text was organized by Stephen Langton. The Battle of Bouvines helped convince one side to sign this document. Innocent III broke this agreement, though few of its signatories had actually held to its terms in the leadup to the First (*) Barons’ War. This document was intended to provide the barons with a series of freedoms from illegal treatment. For ten points, name this 1215 document signed at Runnymede in England by King John. | Magna Carta Libertatum (or the Great Charter) |
| Answer some questions about a sneaky patriot for ten points each. This man legendarily said “I regret I only have but one life to give for my country” before being hanged by the British in 1776. | Nathan Hale Nathan Hale was hanged for acting in this capacity, which involved observing British troop movements. ANSWER: spying for the United States (accept equivalents like espionage) Nathan Hale was hanged in this city, which had recently been taken by the British in the Battle of Long Island. ANSWER: New York |
| ”Duration” solves the problem of this concept, according to an Henri Bergson essay titled for Time and this idea. Jean Buridan proposed that a hypothetical starving and thirsty donkey would die because it possessed this concept. John Calvin argued that this concept did not exist, instead arguing for (*) predestination, the idea that God has fixed all future events. Determinism is opposed to, for ten points, what philosophical concept that holds people are capable of making active choices? | free will (prompt on descriptive answers that don’t use free will or its word forms) |
| Broadly speaking, the current third wave of this movement focuses on the nature of stereotypes and norms, the second wave focused on combating inequality, and the first wave focused on suffrage. For ten points each, Name this social movement that advocates for the equality of the sexes. | feminism This author of The Feminine Mystique was a leading voice for second-wave feminism. ANSWER: Betty Friedan Friedan co-founded this feminist organization, which advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment. Its acronym indicates the urgency of her movement. ANSWER: National Organization for Women (or NOW) |
| Newton’s rings are created by one of these objects placed on a flat surface. Flaws in these objects can create chromatic aberration. A formula named for a thin one of these objects can be used to compute their focal lengths. (*) Concave examples of these objects produce virtual results, while convex ones produce real images. For ten points, name these curved objects that use refraction to focus light and images, as used in microscopes and eyeglasses. | lens |
| William Harvey’s revolutionary experiments quantified the amount of this substance that is pumped through the arteries and veins. For ten points each, Name this fluid that transports oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. | blood When blood vessels are injured, the blood coagulates into a gel and forms this structure, also called a thrombus. These structures are harder to build and maintain in patients with hemophilia. ANSWER: clots (accept word forms like blood clotting) These smallest blood vessels serve as connections between veins and arteries. ANSWER: capillaries |
| This president screened the controversial film The Birth of a Nation at the White House. William Jennings Bryan resigned as this man’s Secretary of State after the sinking of the Lusitania. During this man’s second term, he suffered a stroke that forced his wife, (*) Edith, to make important policy decisions. This president used the slogan “He kept us out of war” to win the election of 1916. For ten points, name this president who served during World War I. | (Thomas) Woodrow Wilson |