The Illinois Open 2007: Spite of the Long Knives
Round 7
Chicago Godot (Dix, LaRue, Morse)
Tossups
1. Because the world has “much good, but less good than ill”, the speaker of this poem advises you to “train for ill and not for good.” The last stanza of this poem opens with a line that describes a king that “reigns in the east” who is poisoned with arsenic in his meat and strychnine in his cup. Ironically, the poisoners died, and it ends with a reminder that “Mithriades, he died old.” In the second stanza of this poem, the speaker notes that “if ‘tis dancing you would be, there’s brisker pipes than poetry”, and “malt does more than Milton can to justify God’s ways to man.” A part of the collection A Shropshire Lad, for ten points, identify this A.E. Housman poem, that extols the virtues of alcohol and dancing as superior to poetry.
ANSWER: “Terrence, this is stupid stuff”
2. Originally called Shemini Atzeret in the Talmud, a name which persists today principally among Israelis, it is one of the more festive holidays on the Jewish calendar, not surprising as its name translates as “rejoicing.” Occurring on the 23rd of Tishrei in the Diaspora and the 22nd in Israel, celebrations consists of seven circuits of dancing around the synagogue while carrying all of the congregation’s scrolls, and a series of aliyot or blessings for all members of the congregation. All of this describes, for ten points, what Jewish holiday, which celebrates the continual cycle of the Torah as the last and the first parashot are read on the same night?
ANSWER: Simchat Torah
3. Theorems applying to these mathematical entries include one due to Sierpinski about the number of primes in one, another due to Goodstein stating that all the types of these named for Goodstein eventually vanish, and one due to Müntz which is a generalization of the Weierstrauss approximation theorem. Ones of these which surprisingly have only integer entries are named for Somos and Smarandache. A better-known theorem due to Bolzano and Weirstrauss makes a claim about subsets of bounded ones. Examples of these named for Cauchy converge for any complete space, in which all convergent ones are Cauchy ones. They are formally mappings from the rationals to a metric space. For ten points, name these mathematical entities, the summed terms of which form series.
ANSWER: sequences
4. Charles Jenkins drew up a platform approving the Compromise of 1850 named after this entity, and one Supreme Court case involving this location ruled unconstitutional a five-person jury. Another case with this state as defendant saw the death penalty ruled cruel and unusual punishment for the crime of rape. The Battle of the Rice Boats was fought off the coast of this state. A settlement knows as Brownsborough was founded in the newly Ceded Lands here, and Alexander Stephens represented this state in Congress. A lawsuit against this state led to the 11th Amendment, and permanent European settlement here began as a colony for British debtors under James Oglethorpe. This is, for ten points, what American state burnt by William Tecumseh Sherman?
ANSWER: Georgia
5. A notable episode in this novel sees a teenager buys a lot of Java coffee from an auctioneer and sell it to a grocery store for a one hundred percent profit. Another notable image in this novel is of a lobster being patient and devouring a squid. After a divorce and release from prison, the protagonist of this novel moves from Philadelphia to Chicago. A character in this novel rises from being a garbage collector to being a prominent politician. That character, Edward Butler, is the father of the protagonist of this novel’s mistress. A business associate of the protagonist is married to Lillian, but after he dies, the protagonist marries her. The prequel to The Titan, for ten points, identify this novel about Frank Cowperwood; a novel by Theodore Dreiser.
ANSWER: The Financier
6. One work based on a section of this work is Gounoud’s Ave Maria. A great deal of conjecture exists regarding the meaning of a twelve-loop structure found in the score of this work. This work is today separated into two parts of equal length, though the second was composed 22 years after the first under a different title and only incorporated into the larger work later and the first was derived largely from pieces found in an earlier book for the composer’s eldest son. This was the first work to contain pieces in each of 24 chromatically increasing keys; debate continues today as to whether tuning for the performance of this work should take a literalist interpretation of its title or accept instead the modern equal temperament preferred for keyboards. For ten points, this set of 48 paired preludes and fugues, written by J. S. Bach for performance on the clavichord.
ANSWER: The Well-Tempered Clavier (or Das Wohltemperierte Clavier)
7. In one of his works, he introduced the concept of praxeology, where he dismissed observation as one of the tool of analyzing human behavior. Arguing that humans can consciously make only one decision at a time, he wrote Planned Chaos, and dealt with resentment over mass demand in America in The Anti-Capitalist Mentality. Other than focus on the human mind, this economist also wrote extensively on monetarism and argued that socialist governments fail because of the economic calculation problem. For ten points, name this Austrian economist who wrote Human Action, known for being the teacher of Friedrich von Hayek.
ANSWER: Ludwig von Mises
8. The Polyakov action is typically used to describe their namesake objects, and some types of these can be related to each other by duality transformations. The original bosonic variety was developed in the 1960s, but it couldn’t account for fermions and it predicted a particle of imaginary mass. The heterotic variety is peculiar in that left- and right-moving excitations seem to feel a different number of dimensions. Incorporating supersymmetry yields the super varieties, which are unified in M-theory. The fundamental idea behind all these theories is that matter is actually composed of small 1-dimensional objects that vibrate at resonance frequencies. For ten points, identify this currently un-testable model of physics that is a candidate for the Theory of Everything.
ANSWER: string theories
9. Events that took place during this dynasty's rule included the reinstatement of civil service exams, which were based on Neo-Confucianism, and a literacy test for Buddhists who wanted military exemptions, which led to the recording of koans. Artists during this period placed emphasis on personal expression through the concept of “literati painting”, and “san-chu”, or nondramatic songs, became more popular. The Grand Canal was rebuilt during this period, and a new capital was established at Khanbaliq. One of the catalysts of its downfall was the lack of natives in government positions, and its overthrow was led by Chu. The shortest of the major dynasties, for ten points, name this dynasty that ruled China from 1279 to 1368 and was succeeded by the Ming.
ANSWER: Yuan Dynasty
10. Hesiod claims that she is the daughter of Schoeneus, while some stories claim that she is two maythic women merged into one. She foils an attempted rape by the two centaurs Hylaeus and Rhaecus. No one is sure who fathered her son Parthenopaeus, while a gift given to her led to the deaths of Toxeus and Plexippus. Aphordite had a hand in her marriage, as the goddess gave her husband three golden apples that were used to distract her, and after she and her husband had sex in one of Zeus' temples, he turned the pair into lions. Melanion married this figure after winning her bargain, which allowed for her to kill a suitor who challenged her to a race and lost. FTP, identify the recipient of the pelt of the Calydonian Boar.
ANSWER: Atalanta
11. On the wall of his office, the title character of this novel has a map that shows a newspaper, mines, timber, hotels, and foreign stocks and bonds, the extent of his holdings. Sentenced to death, that character decided to pass information along to revolutionaries. He also distantly remembers taking possession of land at Parales. Under the influence of Father Paez, Catalina Bernal is convinced that she sold her soul for her father’s security. She married her husband after he showed up at her estate in 1919 for the purpose of bringing the news of Gonzalo’s death. Famously, at the end of the novel, the title character’s family is gathered around his bed, but instead of being concerned primarily with his last moment, all they want is the location of his will. For ten points, identify this novel about the passing away of a business tycoon from gastric problems, a work by Carlos Fuentes.
ANSWER: The Death of Artemio Cruz
12. One leader in this battle abandoned his campaign against Muawiya in order to participate in it, and in the talks before this battle, one figure rode to meet the opposition's leaders with a copy of the Koran on his head. Fought in the Valley of the Lion, forces from one side acted in their own interest, as they believed that one leader would order the executions of those from Kufa. One figure fled to Mecca before being decapitated by a soldier of Ahnaf, who called the leader of the winning side “an evil judge of men” upon presenting him with the head of Zubair. After the turning point in this battle, the eventual loser was led to Basra. Fought over the assassination of Uthman. FTP, identify this battle fought between the forces of Aisha and Ali, whose tide was turned when the namesake animal was killed.
ANSWER: Battle of the Camel or Jamal (accept Battle of Basra or Bassorah before its mention)
13. An extended version of the namesake technique by which this stricture was derived was used to deduce the Woodward-Hoffman rules; that method was among the first LCAO methods. A more general result along the same lines is due to Pariser, Parr, and Pople. Pyrene and coronene are notable exceptions to this law. A three-dimensional analogue to this rule requires the number of the central entities to be twice a perfect square. Formally, it provides a criterion for bond delocalization in terms of the number of pi electrons, which it states must be two plus four times an integer. For ten points, name this rule determining the aromaticity of planar ring molecules, name for a German physical chemist.
ANSWER: Hückel’s rule
14. Among its landmarks are the Pontalba Buildings and the Aquarium of the Americas. In its early existence, the port was frequently shut down owing to overly raucous frontiersmen drinking by the harbor and the early 20th century was marked by intensive antagonism between the city and state governments. Better-known landmarks include the Historic Voodoo Museum and a statue of Ignatius J. Reilly. Currently run by Clarence Ray Nagin, FTP, identify this city which suffered major flooding from Hurricane Betsy in 1965.
ANSWER: New Orleans
15. Most of the information available about the career of this artist comes from a work entitled The Art of Painting written by his father-in-law, Francisco Pacheco. One of his lost works is entitled Expulsion of the Moriscos. One of his early works depicts a smiling man in red garments handing a glass of his wares to a young boy in black. He popularized the bodegon, which is exemplified in his work Old Woman Frying Eggs. In addition to painting Water Seller of Seville, this artist is well-known for works like one in which the title figure is nude and reclining on a blue covered bed, gazing at herself in a mirror held up by a spry cupid. Far more famous, however, is a work by this artist that shows a man in black in a door at the back, as well as some dwarves and the artist himself at the left. For ten points, identify this Spanish painter of The Rokeby Venus and Las Meninas.
ANSWER: Diego Velazquez
16. This man kidnapped Linda, his first wife; cheated the 1960 Olympic Czech Hockey team out of exhibition money; and started the Sur-Kill guide service, which poached illegally within Yellowstone National Park, before embarking on the career that would make him famous. In his line of work, he broke 35 bones, notably while failing to clear a cargo van, 13 city buses, and the fountains at Caesar’s Palace. He has appeared on Wide World of Sports seven times, nearly being killed two of those times. For ten points, name this motorcycle stuntman, who also failed to jump the Snake River Canyon.
ANSWER: Evel Knievel
17. There is a field on the left bank of the Tiber named after the most famous holder of this office, and the nomination of one was confirmed by the Comitia Curiata. Having 24 lictors, their first act was necessarily to appoint a master of the cavalry, who served as his immediate subordinate. The term of one was set at six months, and the first person to hold this position was Aulus Postumius Albinus. Every year, one was appointed to put a nail in the wall of Jupiter's temple, and the aforementioned famous holder of the office is noted for putting his plow down in the field, crushing a rebellion, relinquishing his office, and picking his plow back up. This is, FTP, what Roman temporary magistrate, viewed as a concentration of the powers of the two consuls and appointed only during times of crisis, holders of which include Cincinnatus and Caesar.
ANSWER: Roman Dictator
18. This author invented and added the character Eriphile to a well-known Greek myth to create one of his plays. This author wrote a play in which the Roman emperor Tite falls in love with the Queen of Palestine, Berenice. In addition to that play and Iphigenia in Aulis, this writer wrote a play in which Aggripine puts her son Neron on the throne, much to the anger of the title character. That play, Brittanicus, followed a well-known play of this author in which the Greeks sent Oreste to retrieve Astyanax. In perhaps his best-known play, the action opens with the news that the King of Troezan has been gone for six months, prompting the title character to speak to Hippolyte about the succession. For ten points, identify this French author of Andromache and Phaedra.
ANSWER: Jean Racine
19. In his sociological work, Two Ages: the Age of Revolution and the Present Age, he critiques the idea of modernity. He emphasizes the individual and gives his most complete refutation of Hegelian thought in Concluding Unscientific Postscript. His early leanings toward theology would influence works such as The Concept of Dread and Fear and Trembling. Known as the first existential philosopher, his most famous work supports Aristotelian logic against Hegelian attacks. For ten points, name this philosopher, famous for his use of pseudonyms; the author of Either/Or.
ANSWER: Soren Kierkegaard
20. Due to his father’s illness, he ran his nation for several years before his 1413 coronation. His reign is noted chiefly for his role in the Hundred Year’s war: he successfully broke the alliance between France and the Holy Roman Empire, assumed naval superiority in the English Channel after the battle of the Seine, crushed the French’s Genoese allies, married Catherine, the princess of France, and was, by the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, recognized as regent of France. For ten points, name this English king, the son of Henry IV, who won the battle of Agincourt.
ANSWER: Henry V
21. For the Dirac field, this involves the covariant gauge derivative, and in Quantum Chromodynamics there is a term involving the gluon field strength tensor. For a particle moving in an electromagnetic field, it has a term involving the dot product of velocity and the vector potential and another term involving the product of charge and voltage. In field theories, the action may be calculated by integrating the density of this over space-time. If this quantity does not depend explicitly on time, then the Hamiltonian is a constant of motion. The equations of motion can be derived by substituting this quantity into the partial differential equations named for Euler and this quantity’s namesake. The Legendre transform of the Hamiltonian, this is, for ten points, what quantity equal to the kinetic energy of a system minus its potential energy?
ANSWER: Lagrangian
The Illinois Open 2007: Spite of the Long Knives
Round 7
Chicago Godot (Dix, LaRue, Morse)
Bonuses
1. Greg noticed a lack of Civil War stuff in this packet and sought to remedy it. FTPE:
[10] After his subordinates won the battle of Shiloh, he took over a month to cover the 40-odd miles between there and the Confederate base at Corinth. After this, he was recalled to Washington and replaced George McClellan as Union general-in-chief.