Virginia Psycho Questions 1. Robert Bauval claimed that the Great Pyramids of Giza are aligned to correspond to stars in this constellation: namely, Mintake, Al Nilam, and Al Nitak. Among its other stars are Rigel, and of course, its brightest, the red supergiant Betelgeuse. FTP, name this constellation, known as the hunter. Answer: _Orion_ 2. The subtitle reads, "A Treatise how the High Father of Heaven Sendeth Death to Summon Every Creature to Come and Give Account of their Lives in this World." It was the counterpart of the Dutch play Elckerlijc, and was later adapted into German verse by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Beauty, Kindred, and Worldly Goods all abandon the hero, and only Good Deeds stands by him when Death comes to call. FTP, name this anonymously-written morality play. Answer: _Everyman_ 3. Conquered by Gauls in the third century BC, this region of Asia Minor centered on Ancyra became a Roman province in 25 BC. It comprised parts of Phrygia, Lycaonia and Cappadocia. FTP, name this region, to whose citizens Paul sent an epistle proclaiming justification by faith as superior to adherence to the law. Answer: _Galatia_ (Galatians) 4. Iso-propyl-methyl-phosphono-flouridate, aka GB, was first manufactured by Germany during WWII. More recently, it was manufactured by members of the Aum Shinri Kyo cult and used to attack a Japanese subway station. FTP, give the more common name for this nerve gas. Answer: _Sarin_ 5. It incorporates a 50-line fragment of another poem, called "The Fight at Finnsburg" which is sung by a minstrel at a feast. Known from only one eleventh-century manuscript, which was badly burned in a 1731 fire, causing many letters to crumble away, it was written down by an unknown poet around 700 A.D. FTP, name this tale of a king of the Geats who mounts his enemy's arm as a trophy in the Heorot feast hall. Answer: _Beowulf_ 6. The three brothers of this family of artists were Gaston, Raymond, and Marcel. Gaston designed stained glass windows for the Cathedral in Metz; Raymond was a sculptor whose best work was 1914's The Horse; and Marcel was a leader of the Dada movement, with works such as Nude Descending a Staircase. FTP, give the family name. Answer: _Duchamp_ 8. It took 36 ballots before they finally lost. James G. Blaine was the popular choice of the Republicans that year, but this faction managed to block his nomination and settle on the compromise selection of the dark-horse Garfield. Led by Roscoe Conkling, they pushed for Grant to be nominated a third time. FTP, name this group whose name comes from a word meaning "strong" or "robust". Answer: _Stalwarts_ 9. This Virginia born frontiersman procured supplies fo the Kentucky region during the Revolution, claiming that "if a country is not worth protecting, it is not worth claiming." Accordingly, he conducted an epic campaign that climaxed at Fort Sackville, Indiana in the "Night of the Long Knives". FTP, name this backwoods leader who won the Battle of Fort Vincennes. Answer: George Rogers _Clark_ 10. His real name, was Gerhard Kremer, but he Latinized it. In 1552, he became cosmographer to the Duke of Cleves, and in 1544, he had been imprisoned for heresy. In 1537, he produced a map of the Holy Land, and the year before he had made a terrestrial globe. FTP, name this Flemish geographer best known for his map projection used by sailors. Answer: Gerardus _Mercator_ 11. Biologists classify them into groups according to the nature of their thallus or body. Crustose ones grow as a layer on rocks or trees, while foliose ones are loosely attached to the substrate and have thin, leafy thalli. Composed of a ascomycete and a cyanobacterium, the relationship between the two may be thought of as a controlled parasitism. FTP, name these symbiotic associations between a fungus and green algae. Answer: _Lichens_ 12. In 1923, he published his his first book, a collection of sixty-six poems called _Tulips and Chimneys_. Among other genres, he experimented with drama in _Santa Claus_ and even wrote a satyrical ballet called _Tom_. His most substantial works are impressions of Russia in _Eimi_ and an expressionist drama titled _Him_. FTP, name this American writer best known for his memories of imprisonment in a French concentration camp near Paris, which are recorded in _The Enormous Room_. Answer: _e. e. cummings_ 13. They revere their teacher or guru and accept as their sole religious text the Adi Granth, which is a collection of hymns by early gurus. Fusing Hindu and Muslim beliefs, they worship one God and employ meditation. The faith was founded in the fifteenth century by Nanak, and came to control much of Punjab. FTP, name this religion whose faithful wear long hair, a hair comb, a special undergarment, and a short dagger. Answer: _Sikhs_ or _Sikhism_ 14. In the field of epistemology, he was determined to abolish metaphysical speulation, and his 1897 _Contributions to the Analysis of Sensation_ espoused logical positivist foundations, influencing Einstein, though he is best known as a physicist. His work on the flow of gases and projectiles obtained some remarkable early photographs of shock waves and gas jets. FTP, name this Austrian after whom the ratio of the speed of flow of a gas to the speed of sound is named. Answer: Ernst _Mach_ 15. It was summed up in the quote, "Keep the right wing strong." The basic plan was to put the strongest men and artillery on the Western Front, where the forces could overwhelm Belgian and French resistance, and win the war in the west before turning to the Eastern Front. FTP, name this German war plan, botched by their generals at the outbreak of WWI? Answer: von _Schlieffen_ plan 16. He was born in 1906 and died in 1975. HIs music exudes a modern, dissident style, but rooted in basic tonality. He composed 15 symphonies, eleven dealing with topical Russian history, as with "May 1st" or "October 12, 1917". Anti-communist for most of his life, he joined the Party in 1960 and thereftare was hailed as Russia's greatest living composer. FTP, name him. Answer: Dmitri _Shostakovich_ 17. When the human Ottar needed to recite his ancestry, this Vanir goddess tricked the Giantess Hyndla into giving him memory beer and reciting his lineage. In order to obtain Brisingamen, a necklace, she slept with four dwarfs. Often called Syr, her emblem was the sow, and she rode in a chariot drawn by two flying cats. FTP, name this Norse goddess of love, and beauty. Answer: _Freyja_ or _Freya_ (accept other variants) 18. Developed by Samuel Hahnemann, its practitioners hold that disease symptoms are evidence of the body's curative powers. Accordingly, they treat disease by deliberately enhancing the symptoms of the illness, such as by using drugs with similar side-effects, in order to bring a faster cure. FTP, name this alternative medical prcatice. Answer: _Homeopathy_ 19. In 1913, he presented a scheme for the systematic investigation of consciousness and its objects, which proceeded by "bracketing off", or suspending belief in, the empirical world in order to gain an indubitable vantage point in subjective consciousness. His ideas influenced Heidegger and helped give rise to Gestalt psychology. FTP, name this German of Jewish origin, the originator of phenomenology. Answer: Edmund Gustav Albrecht _Husserl_ 20. The title is taken from the name of a shepherd in Vergil's third Bucolic, and the poem wrestles with the fact that the good die young and false priests and poets prosper. Composed in memory of the death of a Cambridge schoolmate who drowned in the Irish Sea, the solution offered is partly Christian and partly humanist. FTP, name this elegy upon the death of Edward King, written by John Milton. Answer: _Lycidas_ 21. It was sent by Artemis as a punishment for King Oeneus, who had neglected to sacrifice to her. A dispute over its head led to a war with the neighboring tribe of Curetes. FTP, name this creature that ravaged the land in Aetolia until it was killed by Meleager after being wounded by Atalanta. Answer: The _Calydonian Boar_ 22. Among its clever lines is: "They spell it Vincky and pronounce it Vinchy; foreigners always spell better than they pronounce." Based on a series of letters the author wrote from Europe to newspapers in New York and San Francisco, it was published in 1869. FTP, name this satyrical travel book by Mark Twain. Answer: _The Innocents Abroad_ Virginia Psycho Bonuses 1. A Dutch astronomer, working in German-occupied Europe during WWII, discovered that magnetic fields of the hydrogen atom should, on rare occasions, spontaneously reverse. This reversal would emit a radio wave of a certain wavelength, andw ould be a useful tool for looking at galactic hydrogen. In 1951 these waves were detected by one of the co-discoverers of nuclear magnetic resonance. FTP apiece, name the theorist, the conformer, and the specific wavelength involved. Answer: Hendrik _van de Hulst_, Edward _Purcell_, _21 cm_ 2. 30-20-10, name the American political figure: 30: In his acceptance speech, he spoke the words, "Let's talk sense to the American people." Later, when John F. Kennedy tapped four of his law partners for government posts, he quipped, "I only regret that I have but one law firm to lose for my country." 20: As Democratic governor of Illinois, he doubled funding for eduction and vetoed a state "antisubversive" squad. He mustered public support for the United Nations at the San Francisco conference and served as senior adviser for the first General Assembly meeting. 10: After losing the 1952 and 56 Presidential elections, he told Alistair Cooke, "Who did I think I was, running against George Washington twice?" Answer: Adlai _Stevenson_ II 3. Simultaneously with the English Civil War, France faced a revolt of its own, as merchants and peasants protested the strengthening of central authority and the raising of taxes during the minority of the King. a) FFP, what name was given to these rrevolts, one "of the Parlement" and one "Of the Princes"? Answer: the _Fronde_ b) FTP, name the King of France at that time, who was just 15 when the Fronde was put down? Answer: Louis XIV c) F 15 P, name the first minister of Louis XIV, who was instrumental in both instigaing and suppressing the Fronde? Answer: Jules _Mazarin_ 4. Identify the following forms of ancient life: 1. These reptiles have been advanced as possible candidates for the Loch Ness monster, since they have flippers and snake-like necks with small heads. Answer: _Pleisiosaurs_ (accept _Elasmosaurs_) 2. The seas of the Mesozoic Era were swarming with these molloscs. Cephalopods like modern nautiluses and squids, they are known from the fossilized shells, which were straight or coiled, and share their name with the tribe descended from Lot that warred with the Moabites in the Bible. Answer: _Ammonites_ 3. This carnivorous mammal-like reptile sported a large membranous sail of skin stretched over elongated spines on its back, which it used to regulate its body temperature. Answer: _Dimetrodon_ (also accept _Edaphosaurus_) 5. 30-20-10, name the composer from his works. 30: Omphale's Spinning Wheel 20: The Third, or Organ, Symphony 10: The Carnival of the Animals Answer: Charles Camille _Saint-Saens_ 6. Literary titles are often derived from other works of literature. FTP apiece give me the name of the work from which these works were named. a) The Sun Also Rises, by Hemingway Answer: _Book of Ecclesiastes_ b) Far From the Madding Crowd, Hardy Answer: _Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard_ c) Brave New World, by Huxley Answer: _The Tempest_ 7. When Agamemnon wished to sail for Troy, the winds were against him. Finally, in order to get good winds, he sacrificed his own daughter; an act that eventually led to his own death from the girl's grieving mother. a) FTP, who was the daughter he sacrificed? Answer: _Iphigenia_ b) FTP, name the Greek playwright who dramatized the story of Iphigenia, altering it so that she survives and becomes a priestess in Tauris? Answer: _Euripides_ c)FTP, name the German playwright who updated Euripides' work, resolving the fate of the characters without the deus ex machina? Answer: Johann von _Goethe_ 8. With all the furor over this tournament's name, it's time for a bonus on mammaries in the arts. Answer these, 10 each: 1. First, the art movement Surrealism derived its name from the subtitle, "A Surreal Drama", of a work by Guillaume Apollinaire. Name it for 10 points. Answer: _The Breasts of Tiresias_ or _Les Mamelles de Tiresias_ (since it's a translation, accept _The Tits of Tiresias_) 2. What youngest member of Les Six composed an opera of the same name based on this play? Answer: Francis _Poulenc_ 3. What English playwright wrote the line, "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast" in his 1697 drama, _The Mourning Bride_? Answer: William _Congreve_ 9. 30-20-10, name the artist from his works. 30) Four Stages of Cruelty 20) Marriage a la Mode 10) Rake's Progress Answer: _Hogarth_ 10. FTP apiece, identify these men who each finished second in their class in Mathematics. a) from Glasgow U. in 1844, in 1846 he incorrectly set the Earth's age at 100 million years, assuming it had cooled from solar temperatures. Answer: Lord _Kelvin_ (William Thomson) b) from Cambridge in 1855, he shared in the development of a statistically-based kinetic theory of gases. Answer: James _Maxwell_ c) also from Cambridge, 1880, he became director of the Cavendish Laboratory just four years later, remaining there until 1919. Answer: Joseph J. _Thomson_ (do NOT accept "J.J. Todor") 11. Answer the following about Henry David Thoreau, 10 each: 1. While at Walden Pond, Thoreau was arrested and jailed for refusal to pay his poll tax of one dollar and fifty cents. He spent only one night in jail, but it inspired the writing of what essay? Answer: _Civil Disobedience_ 2. Most of Thoreau's work was published in this journal of the Transcendentalist movement which he helped edit. Answer: The _Dial_ 3. Thoreau wrote in his journal that "I have now a library of nearly nine hundred volumes, over seven hundred of which I wrote myself." He was referring to the poor sales of what 1849 book that told of a boating trip he had taken with his brother? Answer: _A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers_ 12. Answer the following about Soviet politician Georgi Malenkov, 10 each: 1. In 1953, he took over as de facto party leader upon the death of Stalin, but never achieved the title to go with these assumed powers, since what other man assumed the office of secretary of the All Union party that year and proceeded to denounce Stalinism and the "personality cult"? Answer: Nikita _Khrushchev_ 2. In February 1955, Malenkov was forced to resign as prime minister, admitting responsibility for the failure of the Soviet agricultural policy. This policy followed the flawed ideas of what agronomist who ruthlessly silenced advocates of Mendelian genetics? Answer: Trofim Denisovich _Lysenko_ 3. In July 1957, Malenkov and Kaganovich were demoted along with what man who had shaped the nonagression pact with Germany and was Stalin chief advisor at Teheran and Yalta, and who lent his name to a bottle of flammable liquid? Answer: Vyacheslav _Molotov_ 30-20-10, name the philosopher: 30: Among his works are the _Treatise on the Correction of the Understanding_ and _Tractatus Theologico-Politicus_. The only book published with his name on the title page during his life was his geometrical version of Descartes' _Principia Philosophiae_. 20: He died in 1677 from consumption which was aggravated by the glass-dust in his lungs. His major work was his _Ethics_, which was intended to be a proof of what is good for human beings, derived with mathematical certainty. 10: His pantheistic ideas and radical philosophy led to his expulsion in 1656 from the Jewish community in Amsterdam. Answer: Baruch _Spinoza_ It's time once again for Geography from Hell. Name the following island groups: 1. This Aegean island group includes Kalimnos, Leos, Nisiros, Patmos, Karpathos, Kos, and Rhodes. It consists of 50 islands, more than four times as many as the name suggests. Answer: The _Dodecanese_ 2. The northernmost extremity of this island chain lies at 18 degrees North, and the chain stretches to 16 degrees. Located between the Atlantic and the Caribbean, it consists of Antigua, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Saint Kitts, and the Virgin Islands. Answer: The _Leeward_ Islands 3. An independent nation with a name like a 1950's rock band, it consists of Bequia, Canouan, Mustique, Mayreau, and Union. The capital is Kingstown. Answer: _Saint Vincent and the Grenadines_ Identify the following authors from works on a 10-5 basis: 10: The poems _Modern Love_ and _Lucifer in Starlight_. 5: The novel _The Egoist_ Answer: George _Meredith_ 10: The science fiction works _The Chrysalids_ and _The Kraken Wakes_ 5: _The Midwich Cuckoos_ and _The Day of the Triffids_ Answer: John _Wyndham_ 10: _The Decline of Radicalism_ and _Democracy and Its Discontents_ 5: _The Discoverers_ and _The Creators_ Answer: Daniel J. _Boorstin_ Identify the following two paintings from descriptions, 15 each: 1. On the right stand two dwarves, one of whomo is kicking a dog, which ignores her. On the left stands the artist himself, looking at his canvas which takes up the entire left edge of the painting. In the background is a mirror which shows two faces presumed to be the king and queen. In the middle foreground is the radiant princess, the center of attention. Answer: _Las Meninas_ or _The Maids of Honor_ 2. Staring across a deserted street with long shadows cast along it, we see a row of shops with a red upper story and 10 windows. The shops are closed and are trimmed in Green. A fire hydrant stands on the left, and a barber pole on the right. Answer: _Early Sunday Morning_ Name these treaties that accomplished the following: 1. Pope Alexander VI divides the colonial world between Portugal and Spain with the Papal Line of Demarcation. Answer: Treaty of _Tordesillas_ 2. Ends the Great Northern War, 1721. Answer: Treaty of _Nystadt_ 3. Ends War of Spanish Succession, 1713. Answer: Treaty of _Utrecht_ 4. United States and Britain agree to jointly operate a canal across Central America, 1850. Answer: _Clayton-Bulwer_ Treaty 5. United States gains the right to operate said canal alone, but pledges to keep it open to international traffic. Answer: The _Hay-Pauncefote_ Agreement 6. Ends the Franco-Spanish War. Louis XIV marries the Infanta of Spain. Answer: The Peace of the _Pyrenees_ Sure we all know the Romans liked to steal gods from the Greeks, but they actually had a few of their own. Name these, 10 each: 1. A god of Sabine origin, he became identified with the deified Romulus. Answer: _Quirinus_ 2. According to Livy, this god of beginnings was named first in any list of gods in prayer, even before Jupiter. Answer: _Janus_ 3. Literally, "the dwellers in the store-cupboard", these household gods were carried by Anchises as Aeneas fled from Troy in Vergil's _Aeneid_. Answer: The _Penates_ ("pen - AH - tayse") 11. On November 8, 1861, the captain of the U.S.S. San Jacinto forcibly removed Confederate diplomat James Mason and his companion from a British mail steamer, thus insulting the English and starting a diplomatic incident. For 15 points apiece: 1. What was the name of the second Confederate diplomat, a former representative and senator from Louisiana who had served as President Polk's minister to Mexico? Answer: John _SLIDELL_ 2. What was the name of the British ship, a name promptly attached to this incident? The _TRENT_ (accept "The _TRENT AFFAIR_") 18. Waiting to find out if the Big Bang will result in an open or closed universe? If one astronomer's right, you're in for a long wait. 1. First, for 10 points, what is the two-word name for a more or less static model of the universe, as opposed to the Big Bang? Answer: _STEADY STATE_ 2. Now for 20 points, identify this British renaissence man who also writes plays, an opera libretto and sci-fi novels such as "The Black Cloud" . Answer: Sir Fred _HOYLE_ Name the following social thinkers, 10 each: 1. This Frenchman believed that sociology should be objective and concerned with "social facts". He also held that societies are held together by a "conscience collective", and did important studies of suicide. Answer: Emile _Durkheim_ 2. Supported in his later years by George Grote, he is usually regarded as the founder of sociology. He completed two major works: _Cours de Philosophy Positive_ ad _Systeme de Politique Positive_. Not surprisingly, he's the originator of positivism. Answer: Auguste _Comte_ 3. He wrote _Culture Consumers_ and _Eco-Spasm Report_ as well as the famous _Future Shock_. Answer: Alvin _Toffler_