Trivia Contest 2021
Rules
- 10 points awarded for each question to start with.
- Points increase with time: 15 points after 12 hours, 20 after 24 hours, 25 after 36 hours, 30 after 48 hours.
- You may use Google. You will probably have to use Google in some cases.
- For answers that are "guessable" (i.e., have limited possible answers), you need to explain your answer to get the points to show you're not just guessing.
- First to post the full answer gets the points.
- If you edit your post, you may not be awarded the points.
- Partial points may be awarded for good alternative answers.
- Moaning about questions is permitted.
- I'll post hints after a week for remaining questions (points reset).
- A tie for winner will be broken by number of questions answered, if still equal, by last to start answering.
Questions Remaining: 0/22
Questions
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Each of the following is a clue for the title of one this author's novels:
- A monumental portal or it may carry current
- A place of refuge you might buy from her
- The settlement too small to be devout
- Their females are a real pest
- A request for pleasure from a prophet
Answer
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William Faulkner:
- Pylon: A monumental portal or it may carry current
- Sanctuary: A place of refuge you might buy from her
- The Hamlet: The settlement too small to be devout
- Mosquitos: Their females are a real pest
- Go Down, Moses: A request of pleasure from a prophet
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Name the artwork from this preview:
Answer
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L'Atelier Rouge β Henri Matisse
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Something quite remarkable (though known to be theoretically possible) was happening at this location over a billion years ago. It is the only known place on Earth where this has occurred. What was it?
Answer
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It's the site of the Oklo Reactor: a natural nuclear fission reactor, which was discovered in 1972. The conditions for such a reactor were theorised in 1956.
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Fill in the two blanks:| User | Year |
|---|---|
| ashi | 1811 |
| baccheion | 1868 |
| Lilith | 1829 |
| ??? | 1804 |
| Sinny | ??? |
Hint
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The values are the years in which they made the list.
Hint 2
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It is elementary, really. 
Answer
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Rhu (1804) and Sinny (1824). It's the year in which it was first possible to spell their name from chemical elements.
| User | Year | Elements | Last element |
|---|---|---|---|
| ashi | 1811 |  | I (1811) |
| baccheion | 1868 |  | He (1868) |
| Lilith | 1829 |  | Th (1829) |
| Rhu | 1804 |  | Rh (1804) |
| Sinny | 1824 |  | Si (1824) |
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She starred in a movie named after the country in which she is a citizen, but in which she was not born. She has starred in movies by Kubrick, von Trier, and Van Sant. She is not a boy, like her name might suggest. Who is she?Answer
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Nicole Kidman. Born in Hawaii, but citizen of Australia (2008). Starred in Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick), Dogville (von Trier), and To Die For (Van Sant). Her second name is "Kidman".
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Hold a thin rope of 2 metres length such that its ends are at the same height 1 metre apart and such that the lowest part does not touch the floor.
How far down is it in the middle at its lowest point? (Solve for h to the nearest centimetre.)
Answer
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80 (79.66) centimetres. A rope like this forms a caternary. Solving for a numerically, we get a = 0.2296. Then we get h = a(cosh(w/2a - 1)) = 0.7966 m, i.e., 79.66 cm.
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What was the codename for this British plot, involving very overcooked poultry, to slow a Soviet advance into Europe during the 50's?Answer
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Blue Peacock: The plan was to store ten-kiloton nuclear mines in the North German Plain and detonate them if the Soviets advanced into Germany, with the idea that the fallout would make the region uninhabitable. To avoid the electronics freezing over, a chicken would be locked in with food and water to keep the nuclear bomb warm.
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Name the following three places united in ennui:
Answer
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Boring, OR, US.
Dull, Scotland.
Bland, NSW, Australia.
They are all twinned (tripled?).
Dull, Scotland.
Bland, NSW, Australia.
They are all twinned (tripled?).
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Had he blundered in this high-stakes game, this Grandmaster would surely not have lived until he was 80, nor even half as long. Who was he and what was the game?Answer
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Ossip Samoilovich Bernstein.
Nice people, the Bolsheviks.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossip_Bernstein wrote:In 1918, when he was 36 years old, Bernstein was arrested in the city of Odessa by the Bolshevik secret police whose purpose was to investigate and punish βcounterrevolutionaryβ crimes. Bernstein was to be shot by a firing squad for serving as a legal advisor to the banking industry. β£ On the day of his execution, Bernstein watched as the firing squad lined up before him. At the last minute, a commanding officer asked to see the list of prisoner names and recognized Bernstein's name as he was a chess enthusiast. After confronting Bernstein about his identity, the commanding officer offered him a deal he couldn't refuse.β£ They would play a game of chess. If Bernstein won the match, he would win his life and freedom. However, if he drew or lost, he would get shot along with the rest of the prisoners. Bernstein won in short order and was released. He escaped on a British ship and settled in Paris.
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What connects these places on these dates?| Place 1 | Place 2 | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Durban | Omsk | May 17 |
| Buenos Aires | Leeds | June 21 |
| Lima | Washington | September 22 |
| Rovaniemi | Perth | December 22 |
Hint
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For September 22nd, and around that date, instead of Lima and Washington, it could have been Valparaiso and Quebec, or Perth and Baoding, for example. The month could even be changed to March.
Hint 2
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It happens to the west.
Answer
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It gets dark that day around the same moment (in global time).
Durban β Omsk, May 17
Buenos Aires β Leeds, June 21
Lima β Washington, September 22
Rovaniemi β Perth, December 22
Buenos Aires β Leeds, June 21
Lima β Washington, September 22
Rovaniemi β Perth, December 22
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Even cooler than Peter Dinklage, this star has (correction: an air sign) and came to prominence in 1999.Answer
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TRAPPIST-1, an ultra-cool dwarf star in the Aquarius constellation (which I had wrongly assumed to be a water sign 
) discovered in 1999.
) discovered in 1999.ππ
Country A's longest land border is with Country B. Country B's longest border is (correction: not) with Country A. The capital of Country A and Country B are more than 8500 kilometers apart. What are the two countries?Answer
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France (Guyane) has its longest border with Brazil. Brazil's longest border is with Bolivia (thanks to Senseye for the correction). The distance from Brasilia to Paris is 8729.08 km.
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Name the series of stories and cartoons whose main characters are depicted collectively in the following:
Hint
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The images do not depict the characters specifically, but rather hints at what kind of animal they are.
Hint 2
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The word "collectively" is key.
Hint 3
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The images depict collective nouns for the species of animal of the main characters.
Answer
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Winnie the Pooh (based on the collective nouns for the animal):
- Pooh: Sleuth of bears
- Piglet: Litter of pig(let)s
- Tigger: Streak of tigers
- Rabbit: Colony of rabbits
- Coffle: Coffle of donkeys
- Kanga and Roo: Mob of kangaroos
- Owl: Parliament of owls
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What kind of (typically reliable) guide should you distrust when visiting Bimbo, Shebekino or Skead?Answer
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A compass.
- Bimbo is within the Bangui Magnetic Anomaly
- Shebekino is within to the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly
- Skead is within (or at least very close to) the Temagami Magnetic Anomaly
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Considering U.S. presential elections since Reagan was first elected, this county, which voted Biden in 2020, holds the national crown (and might be the greatest of all time) for having its balls removed and a bell strung on its neck. Answer
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Clallam County, Washington is considered the most accurate Bellwether county: it is the only county to hove voted the winning candidate in every presidential election since 1980. The term bellwether was originally used for a castrated ram (goat - greatest of all time) with a bell around its neck used to track movements of a flock of sheep.
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Whose prizes might be found in here? (Nazis might not get this one.)
Answer
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Nobel Prizes for Physics of Max von Laue and James Franck. They were Jews in Germany and their prizes were smuggled out to Neils Bohr's lab in Denmark. When the Nazi's invaded Denmark, Georgy de Hevesy, a member of Bohr's group, dissolved them in agua regia (orange acid, which has the characteristic property of being able to dissolve gold). They were later extracted from the solution, recast and returned to Max and James.
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Soon after this song was released in the 70's, another version of the same song was released by another band, sung by a singer with the same name but of no relation to the original singer. In the UK, both versions were released within a few days of each other and both got into the top 20 UK singles chart. What's the song?Answer
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"Blame it on the Boogie", originally by the Jackos (singer: Michael (Mick) Jackson), covered by the Jacksons (singer: Michael Jackson).
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Which country took two days of public holidays to become more sinister (for economic reasons) in 2009?Answer
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Samoa changed from right-hand driving to left-hand driving in 2009. (Sinister means 'left' in Latin.)
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Identify the misheard lyric (most often misheard in Hispanic countries):
Answer
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"JosΓ© can you see ..." (The image is of JosΓ© Rizak, a national hero of the Philippines, and an ophthalmologist by profession).
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Based on the following axioms for a base-10 number system:
... who was the U.S. president in
?Answer
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James K. Polk. The year is 1847. The number system is based on units of the Cistercian numerals, though that's not necessary to solve the question.
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This famous gentlemen was found residing under a rock, had never seen nor heard of a plane, and had long suffered from arthritis and atherosclerosis. He was issued a passport to fly abroad to receive treatment. To nobody's surprise he arrived dead, but they still treated him. Who was he?Answer
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Ramesses II, third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, was issued a passport almost 3 thousand years after his death to transport him to France for anti-fungal treatment. French law dictated he needed a passport.
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Name the country in green:
Hint
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One of the countries (not the green one) is Chile.
Answer
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Peru (I flipped this image):
Scores
| User | Score | Answered |
|---|---|---|
| Ferrus | 170 | 13 |
| C.J.Woolf | 75 | 6 |
| Senseye | 30 | 1 |
| SomeInternetBloke | 20 | 2 |
