University of Florida---SunshineState Invitational 2007
Round #8
1.Its core principles consist of three pillars, the first of which is community. If it were a country, it would rank 7th in area, 3rd in population, and 1st in Gross Domestic Product. Considered by political scientists a unique institution, its flag consists of a circle of stars on a blue background. Established in 1992 by the Maastricht Treaty, FTP, name this entity that has been in the news recently due to the admissions of Romania and Bulgaria.
Answer: European Union
2. Famous performers of this instrument include Pamelia Kurstin, Eric Ross, Robby Virus, and Lydia Kavina, who is a distant cousin and protégé of the inventor. However, the greatest virtuoso that ever lived is widely agreed to be Clara Rockmore, who invented the method of “aerial fingering”. One of the earliest electronic instruments, it works by measuring capacitance between the player and the instrument, allowing the performer to control pitch and volume as functions of distance from its two antennas. FTP, name this unique space-controlled instrument, which is played without physical contact.
Answer: Thereminvox (or “-box”)
3. Four years after seeing Jay Berwanger win the Heisman, this school’s football team was outscored 300-0 in their five games against Division I competition. In 1940, university president Robert Maynard Hutchins terminated the program, which had won the national championship in 1905 and currently exists as a Division III team in the UAA conference. Nicknamed the Maroons, their logo strongly resembles that of the NFL’s Bears. FTP, name this Midwestern school whose non-athletic alumni include Saul Bellow, Paul Wolfowitz, and Milton Friedman
Answer: University of Chicago
4. The Estonian Volunteer Defense League’s Tankipurustajad, an anti-tank squadron, uses a weapon named in honor of this. Built in 1904, it could fire 820 kilogram shells a range of 12 kilometers, or just around seven miles. While only four were ever built, they were all used during the siege of Verdun in 1916. FTP, name this celebrated cannon from World War I, one named after the wife of its developer, industrialist Gustav Krupp.
Answer: Big Bertha (accept Grosse Bertha)
5. This man shares his name with a character from Mike Baron and Steve Rude’s Nexus. His surname may be an acronym for a phrase meaning “Who is like God among the mighty” or it may just mean “hammer.” Before being killed in the battle of Elasa, this native of Modin and son of Mattathias fought against the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes as a leader of the Hasmonean rebellion. In his most famous exploit, he purified the Temple in Jerusalem, leading to a miracle in which the Temple’s menorah was lit for eight days with one day’s supply of oil. FTP, name this Jewish warrior whose story is commemorated on Hanukkah.
Answer: Judah Maccabee or Judas Maccabeus (prompt on either name alone)
6. Number 14 describes pornography as a tool “to influence the minds of the [target nations], directing them towards such understanding and forms of knowledge as have been determined by [the men behind this work.]” It was inspired by a number of earlier writings, including Hermann Goedsche’s Biarritz and Maurice Joly’s satire on Napoleon III entitled “Dialogue in Hell between Machiavelli and Montesquieu.” Allegedly submitted by Theodor Herzl at the First Zionist Congress, it would arouse staunch anti-Semitic sentiment in a number of influential figures including Henry Ford and Adolf Hitler. FTP, what is this fraudulent text which outlines a Jewish plot for world conquest?
Answer: The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion
7. In his Lettre a M. de Sacy, Johan Akerblad made a significant step towards understanding this. Part of the mystery rested on the function of cartouches, which physicist Thomas Young proved were used to denote royalty. Jean-Francois Champollion compared it to inscriptions taken at Abu Simbel and realized that its contents were not solely symbolic, but primarily phonetic, a revelation that allowed a complete translation of the inscriptions on this specimen of black basalt. FTP, what is this Egyptian artifact whose contents allowed for the deciphering of both demotic and hieroglyphic language scripts?
Answer: Rosetta Stone
8. This writer studied under William James while at RadcliffeCollege, whose influence can be found in works like Lucy Church Amiablyand Three Lives, the latter of which was highly regarded for its primitivistic approach to character studies. Other works include Tender Buttons and Paris France, an appreciation of the city she moved to after World War I. The line, “Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” from the poem, “Sacred Emily,” is an example of her unique style, where words are repetitiously employed for their sounds and associations and not necessarily for their actual meaning. FTP, name this American expatriate who wrote a famous autobiography of her friend, Alice B. Toklas.
Answer: Gertrude Stein
9. In a contest to design Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial, Horst Hoheisel suggested dynamiting this and leaving the rubble as a “fitting” reminder of Prussian militarism. Designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the neo-classical style, its famed Quadriga, designed by Johann Gottfried Shadow, faces West, except for a time between 1945 and 1990, when it faced east. Site of a famous speech where JFK is erroneously believed to have called himself a jelly doughnut and where Reagan ordered a wall to be torn down, this is, FTP, what iconic symbol of Berlin?
Answer: Brandenburg Gate (also accept Brandenburger Tor)
10. The significance of the decomposition reaction for solid mercury calx was not immediately known to this man, who simply noted that “hitherto, only two mice and myself have had the privilege of breathing” the results. A lesser claim to fame was his discovery of the electrical conductivity of charcoal, while his work with gases brought about the invention of soda water and the isolation of nitrous oxide. Also a proponent of phlogiston theory, he considered a gas that he had isolated in 1774 to be dephlogisticated air for its role in combustion. FTP, identify this British chemist credited with the discovery of oxygen.
Answer: Joseph Priestley
11. King Henry I of England died after eating an excess of these creatures, which were considered a standard meal during the Middle Ages as their taste was considered meatier than that of most other seafood. They live primarily in coastal and fresh waters and can grow to be up to 40 inches long. They generally have one or two dorsal fins, one nostril that sits atop their head, and seven gills on each side, though they lack both scales and a vertebrate skeleton. Members of the family Petromyzontidae, they begin their lives in a larval state, unlike the semi-related hagfish. FTP, what are these parasitic, blood-sucking fish characterized by their lack of jaws?
Answer: lampreys
12. In 1889, E. Pickering detected IC 434, against whose pink emissions the silhouette of this astronomical object can be seen. Located just below Alnitak, they both can be found situated in the same constellation, which also contains Barnard’s Loop and the Trapezium. The object’s unusual shape is attributed to a strong magnetic field acting on clouds of dust and hydrogen gas that causes the appearance of its apparent neck and mane. FTP, identify this dark nebula found within Orion.
Answer: Horsehead Nebula(also accept Barnard 33)
13. Poet Elizabeth Bishop conjectured that the setting of this poem is somewhere in south Florida based on the imagery in the first stanza. Contrasted with that is the depiction of a “dresser of deal, / Lacking…three glass knobs” and an embroidered sheet used to prepare a recently deceased woman, though when it is “spread…so as to cover her face” it causes her “horny feet [to] protrude…[showing] how cold she is.” The title refers to another frigid figure who reigns metaphorically over the “concupiscent curds” whipped by the “roller of big cigars.” FTP, identify this poem by Wallace Stevens.
Answer: “The Emperor of Ice Cream”
14. The final descendant of the Cetra, she is pursued by the Turks for much of her life as she is coveted by a corrupt professor, a man who had ordered the murder of her father, Professor Gast. Her mother, Ifalna, was one of the ancients, but tragically dies before reaching safety in Midgar. Raised as a flower girl to support her adoptive family’s income, she fatefully meets Cloud after his raid on the Shinra reactor and eventually joins his party, only to abruptly leave it after being murdered in the Forgotten City by Sephiroth. FTP, who is this staff-wielding healer from Final Fantasy VII?
Answer: Aerith or Aeris Gainsborough
15. By the age of 16, this man had formulated one of the basic theorems of projective geometry which he described in his Essay on Conics. He invented both the first mechanical calculator and the syringe, the latter following from his research in hydrostatics of which he also contributed a namesake law concerning the distribution of pressure changes within a closed container. Along with fellow Frenchman Fermat, he would formulate the mathematical theory of probability, which may have led to his affinity for gambling. FTP, identify this mathematician, a Jansenist with a namesake triangle.
Answer: Blaise Pascal
16. Pataliputra, surrounded by a wall with 570 watchtowers and 64 gates, was the capital of this empire, whose founding saw the defeat of the Seleucids by Kautilya and the empire’s founder. Marked by improved road conditions and the construction of large-scale public irrigation, it extended over the entire country by the end of Bindusara’s reign in 273 BC. Lasting for nearly another hundred years until the death of Brhadratha, it reached its highest levels of prosperity under the rule of Ashoka. FTP, identify this first empire to provide a single government for most of India, established around 324 BC by Chandragupta.
Answer: Mauryan Empire
17. At Delphi, this man met with the Pythia, who told him to follow a cow with special markings that would lead him to a hill in southern Boeotia. His brothers, Cilix and Phoenix, had abandoned the quest that this man was determined to finish, though he too would fail. Instead, he would slay a dragon sacred to Ares with whose teeth would yield the Sparti, fully armed earthen soldiers. Using his wits, this man defeated them by tossing a rock into the group, after which he married Harmonia and became the founder of a city known for its hundred gates. FTP, identify this brother of Europa who established the city of Thebes.
Answer: Cadmus
18. One character in this work, Pratt,has lost his mind to some extent and cannot remember his real name, so everyone calls himPennsylvania. The work opens with a line from Longfellow’s poem “The Discoverer of the North Cape,” fitting as the narrative concerns the sea adventures of a young boy. That boy was traveling with his wealthy family on an ocean liner when he abruptly fell off, only to be rescued by the captain of the schooner We’re Here who forces him into a sailor’s way of life. FTP, name this novel about the journeys of Harvey Cheyne by Rudyard Kipling.
Answer: Captains Courageous
19. It has practical importance in spectrographic chemical analysis and in the determination of the structure of molecules. When monochromatic light, such as that obtained from a laser, is passed through a transparent gas, liquid, or solid and observed with a spectroscope, the spectral line produced has associated with it lines of shorter and longer wavelength as a result of this effect. These lines are caused by photons gaining and losing energy from elastic collisions with the molecules within the target substance, something observed by its Indian discoverer. FTP, identify this phenomenon, the change in frequency observed when light is scattered in a transparent material.
Answer: Ramanscattering or effect
20. He burst on the theater scene in 427 B.C.E. with the production of Banqueters, which won second place at the Great Dionysia festival. Perhaps because he was too young to produce plays officially, Banqueters and his next two plays, Babylonians and Acharnians, were instead produced by Callistratus. Sharply critical of both Socrates and the demagogic politician Cleon, his other notable plays include The Peace andLysistrata. FTP, identify this creator of The Clouds and The Frogs, the most famous playwright of Greek Old Comedy.
Answer: Aristophanes
21. On the wall within the titular establishment, a set of guidelines can be found, the first of which instructs one not to “operate the grinder or the press if you’ve been drinking” and the set ends with the advice that “there should be no more than half a dozen people on the roof at any one time.” Their purpose is to instruct the migrant workers at the Worthington family orchard, a location at which Homer Wells has an affair with Wally’s girlfriend, Candy Kendall. FTP, what is this complex novel about the morality of abortions, made into a 1999 movie starring Tobey Maguire and Michael Caine, a work by John Irving?
Answer: The Cider House Rules
University of Florida---SunshineState Invitational 2007
Round #8
1. Terms in it include f sub p, n sub e, and L. FTPE:
[10] What is this equation, named for an American astronomer, which has been proposed as a means of calculating the likelihood that intelligent life could be detected elsewhere in the galaxy?
Answer: Drake equation
[10] Of the values for the parameters in the Drake equation originally proposed by Drake, this one representing the rate of suitable star formation is the least disputed. In 1961, Drake gave it a value of ten per year though current NASA estimates place it closer to 6.
Answer: R* (R star)
[10] This fellow astronomer was a supporter of Drake’s efforts, going so far as to help him write the Arecibo message. He may be best remembered, however, for his best-selling work Cosmos.
Answer: Carl Sagan
2. His experience in the Algerian Revolution was the basis for the work A Dying Colonialism which became an inspiration for critics like Edward Said and Homi Bhabha. FTPE:
[10] Who is this Martinican author of Black Skin, White Masks, a former editor of the Algerian liberation movement’s newspaper, El Moudjahid?
Answer: Frantz Fanon
[10] This is Fanon’s best known work; in it, he establishes his ideas for revolution in such chapters as “On Violence” and “Colonial War and Mental Disorders.”
Answer: The Wretched of the Earth
[10] Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earthopens with a preface by this French author of Being and Nothingness and Existentialism and Human Emotions.
Answer: Jean-Paul Sartre
3. Given a animal field of interest, give the name of a person who studies it, FTPE:
[10] Fish
Answer: ichthyologist
[10] Butterflies
Answer: lepidopterist
[10] Bees
Answer: apiologist
4. Identify the following Handel works from clues, FTPE:
[10] The best known Handel work is this 1741 oratorio, first performed for Easter and later shifted to Advent, where the most common section performed is the “Hallelujah” Chorus.
Answer: Messiah
[10] This 1717 collection of three suites, it was composed for King George I, who requested a concert on the River Thames.
Answer: Water Music
[10] The most famous of Handel’s sixteen organ concerti, listeners to this work can here the titular birds calling back and forth to each other in different keys.
Answer: The Cuckoo and the Nightingale
5. Identify the following concerning children’s literature, FTPE:
[10] This book focuses on “Mistress Mary, quite contrary,” a spoiled orphan living in the country with Mr. Craven, her uncle, and her discovery and development of the titular location with Dickon and Colin.
Answer:TheSecretGarden
[10] This author of The Secret Garden supported herself and her family by writing for Godey’s Lady’s Book, as well as penning such other works as The Lady of Quality and The Little Princess.
Answer: Francis Hodgson Burnett
[10] Another of Burnett’s works, this work was intended for children but greatly appealed to mothers, who copied the main character, Cedric’s, style of long curls, black velvet suits, and lace collars.
Answer: Little Lord Fauntleroy
6. In spite of falling victim to scandal after scandal, identify the following things the Grant administration managed to accomplish anyway, FTPE:
[10] In 1871, this post was instituted, with its first holder being John Maynard Woodworth. It wouldn’t be until many years and administrations later that this post would first issue it’s well known warning on tobacco products, however.
Answer: Surgeon General of the United States
[10] The only state admitted during the Grant administration was this western state, nicknamed the CentennialState for its date of entry.
Answer: Colorado
[10] This department was established in 1870, and originally known as the Army Weather Bureau.