Most botanists believe that they evolved from green algae and that all other plants evolved from
them. Their lifestyle is dominated by the haploid gametophyte stage. Their three classes include
hornworts, liverworts, and mosses. FTP, name this division of plants, consisting of complex but
nonvascular plants.
ANS: bryophytes or bryophyta
The last great religious war of Europe, this conflict began as an altercation between German
Protestants and Catholics over the Peace of Augsberg. The war consisted of a Bohemian Period
from 1618 to 1620, a Danish Period from 1625 to 1629, a Swedish Period from 1630 to 1635,
and a Swedish-French period from 1635 to 1648. FTP, name this war that ended with the Peace
of Westphalia, having lasted from 1618 until 1648.
ANSWER: Thirty Years' War
Any reversible heat engine has the same efficiency as this one, which is the most efficient any
engine can be. The four steps of isothermal expansion, adiabatic expansion, isothermal
compression, and adiabatic compression bring the engine back to its starting place, and the
efficiency of the work done is one minus the ratio of the cold temperature over the hot
temperature. FTP, name this process named for the Frenchman who studied it.
ANS: Carnot heat engine or Carnot cycle (accept “Carnot efficiency” before “isothermal”)
Silver ones were used in the middle ages to detect poison, while dropping them is a sign of bad
luck, and uneven ones herald missing an appointment. Originating in the Shang dynasty, this is,
FTP, what item that Confucius promoted the use of, since he believed that knives promoted
aggression?
Answer: kuaizi or kuai’er or chopsticks.
He made his acting debut as Wilbur Wright in the 2003 film, The Adventures of Ociee Nash. A
set production assistant on Leaving Las Vegas, he operates his own Atlanta-based business while
he has appeared on two hit shows since 2000. Recently becoming the pitchman for Sears, this is
FTP, what former Trading Spaces carpenter and current host of Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition?
Answer: Ty Pennington
PENCIL AND PAPER READY. A dog is tied to a post in the center of a grassy field. The field
itself measures 50 feet by 40 feet, and the rope measures 10 feet long. Assuming that the dog
cannot reach the edge of the field, FTP, in terms of pi, on what fraction of the field can the dog
walk while remaining attached to the rope?
Answer: 20/pi or twenty over pi
Any reversible heat engine has the same efficiency as this one, which is the most efficient any
engine can be. The four steps of isothermal expansion, adiabatic expansion, isothermal
compression, and adiabatic compression bring the engine back to its starting place, and the
efficiency of the work done is one minus the ratio of the cold temperature over the hot
temperature. FTP, name this process named for the Frenchman who studied it.
ANS: Carnot heat engine or Carnot cycle (accept “Carnot efficiency” before “isothermal”)
This author was born in Brooklyn in 1919 and worked as a comic book writer until World War
II. After the war he published his novel, "Mike Danger, Private Eye" and by 1948 had published
one of his more well-known stories, "I, The Jury." For ten points, named this writer of pulp
stories like "My Gun Is Quick" and "Kiss Me, Deadly," and whose most famous creation is Mike
Hammer.
ANSWER: Mickey Spillane
Various economists recognize that a “natural rate” of this phenomenon exists, beyond which
attempts to decrease it further lead to inflation. Time or place mismatches cause the “frictional”
variety, while obsolete skills are termed “structural” and the effects of recessions “cyclical.”
Calculation of it excludes the institutionalized, those under sixteen, and “discouraged workers.”
For 10 points, name this statistic which measures the percentage of people who are looking for,
but cannot find, jobs.
ANSWER: unemployment
His controversial views, expressed in such plays as Sejanus, His Fall and Eastward Ho!, got him
in trouble with the authorities. In his time, he was known mostly for his masques, but he is better
remembered now for such comedies as The Alchemist and Volpone. FTP, identify this Jacobean
playwright of Every Man in His Humour.
ANS: Ben Jonson
Founded May 12, 1789, Irish immigrants forced it to admit them as members in 1817. Soon
thereafter it advocated for the property-less whites in its area, eventually gaining them the
franchise. Named after a Delaware Indian chief, it was later mired in scandal and Fiorello La
Guardia fought its power fiercely. FTP, what is this political machine once run by Boss Tweed
in New York City?
Answer: Tammany Hall
Two hilly areas in this country are called the Cuchilla de Haedo and Cuchilla Grande. Half of its
population lives in the greater area of the capital, and its other large cities include Salto and
Paysandú. The artificial lake Rincón del Bonete dominates its center, and other important
waterways are Lake Merín and the Rio Negro. For 10 points, name this country whose southwest
coast on the Rio de la Plata includes Montevideo.
ANSWER: Oriental Republic of Uruguay [or Republica Oriental del Uruguay]
He was tutored by Regin, who also recast the sword, Gram, left him by his father. He proceeded
to find a secret hoard of treasure hidden by the dwarf Andvari. Counseled to go rescue the
sleeping Valkyrie, Brunhild, he fell in love with her, then forgot about her after drinking a
potion. In the end of his story, pretty much everyone dies. FTP, name this hero of the Norse
Volsunga saga, the earliest version of which appears in Beowulf.
ANSWER: Sigurd the Volsung
He graduated second in his class at West Point, and remains the only cadet ever to complete the
school’s course without earning a single demerit. He served in the Army Corps of Engineers,
and later as an aide to General Winfield Scott in the Mexican War. He was offered command of
the Union forces, but followed his home state of Virginia when it seceded. FTP, identify this
man who thus was given command of the Confederacy’s Army of Northern Virginia. (10)
ANS: Robert E. Lee
Doubts exist over the authentic authorship of the fifth part of his major novel, in which Panurge
visits the Temple of the Holy Bottle. He was a doctor before borrowing from Thomas More and
writing about a Utopian who wars with the Dispodes. His characters include Picrochole, Frère
Jean, and a giant baby who shouts for a drink while being born. For 10 points, name this author
who used the anagrammatic pseudonym Alcofribas Nasier to write Gargantua and Pantagruel.
ANSWER: François Rabelais
Examples include a funny internet video that a person sends to their friends, or a chatroom
smiley. An evolving example would be a chain letter where each person adds a question to the
end of the list. For 10 points, give this term that represents an idea that is learned and passed
along to others, coined by Richard Dawkins in the 1976 book The Selfish Gene as a social
counterpart to a gene.
ANS: meme (MEEM)
Even though it was opposed by the industry, he was able to enact the policy of number
portability for cell phones. However, he is much better known for his regulations on
broadcasting indecency, which resulted in Howard Stern deciding to move his radio show to
satellite broadcasting. A longtime champion of deregulation, FTP, name this man, who resigned
as chairman of the FCC on January 21, 2005, and is the son of Colin Powell.
ANS: Michael Powell (take just Powell until the mention of his father)
It was sparked when the governor of Shensi organized an offshoot of the Eight Trigrams Society
into a militia. In the response, Tientsin and Taku were occupied and the imperial court fled to
Xian, after foreign troops entered the country and disproved the group’s belief in imperviousness
to bullets. During their activity, Beijing’s missionaries were cornered in a cathedral and
thousands of Christian converts were killed. For 10 points, name this anti-foreign paramilitary
uprising that attempted to seize Beijing in 1900.
ANSWER: Boxer Rebellion [or I-ho ch’üan or Righteous and Harmonious Fists]
He was born in a small town in Iowa in 1909. Although known as one of America's great
Western writers, some of his books such as Crossing to Safety and The Spectator Bird take place
in other parts of the country. The majority of his works focus on families living in the American
west, as he was very involved in conservation and a founder of the writing program at Stanford.
For ten points, name this author of Angle of Repose.
Answer: Wallace Stegner
Called “The Flemish Meat Merchant” by Ingres, he painted more than two thousand works in his
Antwerp studio, to which he had returned in 1608 upon the death of his mother. Among them are
epitomes of Baroque style such as The Descent from the Cross and the Marie de’ Medici series.
FTP, name this artist whose Massacre of the Innocents sold for 49.5 million pounds in 2002.
Answer: Sir Peter Paul Rubens
PENCIL AND PAPER READY. Johnny walks into a store with twice as many quarters as
pennies, three times as many pennies as nickels, and twice as many dimes as quarters. Johnny
wants to buy an eight dollar shirt. FTP, what is the minimum number of quarters that he can have
to afford his shirt?
Answer: 18
Most botanists believe that they evolved from green algae and that all other plants evolved from
them. Their lifestyle is dominated by the haploid gametophyte stage. Their three classes include
hornworts, liverworts, and mosses. FTP, name this division of plants, consisting of complex but
nonvascular plants.
Answer: bryophytes or bryophyta
In physics, it means that the universe is asymmetric. In mathematics, it is the most general,
meaning any object that cannot be super-imposed on its reflection. In chemistry, molecules of
this type have enantiomers (ee-NAN-show-mers), a mirror image that polarizes light in the
opposite direction. FTP, give the common term, which would describe a carbon atom with four
different groups attached to it.
ANS: chirality
Identify the Amendment to the U.S. Constitution from descriptions FTPE.
a) This Amendment provides for the separate election of the President and Vice President.
ANS: Twelfth Amendment
b) This Amendment prohibited the “sale or manufacture of intoxicating liquors.”
ANS: Eighteenth Amendment
c) This Amendment forbade poll taxes in Federal elections.
ANS: Twenty-Fourth Amendment
Name the following parts of mitochondria for ten points each.
1. The inner membrane is folded into these structures to increase surface area.
Answer: cristae
2. This is the area bound by the inner mitochondrial membrane and is the site of the Krebs cycle.
Answer: mitochondrial matrix
3. The mitochondria also contain DNA which is always inherited from your mother. Give the
theoretical term for the ancestor from which evolutionary geneticists try to trace all
mitochondrial DNA lineages.
Answer: Mitochondrial Eve
Name these things from Indian opposition to British rule for 10 points each.
[10] In April 1919, a protest of the Rowlatt Acts in the Jallianwalla Bagh square led to 379
deaths when Reginald Dyer opened fire in this Punjab city.
ANSWER: Amritsar
[10] This 1857 to 1858 conflict arose due to a variety of Christianizing practices and was sparked
by prohibited fats used in the Enfield rifle in the Bengali army.
ANSWER: Sepoy mutiny [or revolt, etc]
[10] In this 1930 tax protest, Gandhi led an ecumenical group of protestors from Sabarmati to
Dandi.
ANSWER: Salt March
Identify the number of the Shakespearean sonnet given lines FTPE.
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
ANS: 18
“Love is not love/which alters when it alteration finds”
ANS: 116
“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”
ANS: 130
The theory of evolution had its own slow evolution. Answer the following about people
involved in that process FTSNOP.
a) 5 points—His Origin of Species argued for his new theory of natural selection, which he came
up with after studying finches of the Galapagos, as well as the geological theory of gradualism of
Charles Lyell.
ANS: Charles Darwin
b) 10 points—A major weakness of Darwin’s theory was that he provided no mechanism for
natural selection. That mechanism was found by this Austrian monk and father of genetics.
Darwin actually had his book, but never opened it.
ANS: Gregor Mendel
c) 15 points—Many people attribute the foundation of Social Darwinism, an extension of
Darwin’s theories to societies, to this Brit. He, not Darwin, coined the phrase, “survival of the
fittest.”
ANS: Herbert Spencer
100 years ago was Einstein’s annus mirabilis. Answer these questions about his papers from that
year FTSNOP.
A. 5 points—He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of light quanta while researching
this phenomenon.
Answer: photoelectric effect
B. 10 points—His first article of the year, titled “On the Motion—Required by the Molecular
Kinetic Theory of Heat—of Small Particles Suspended in a Stationary Liquid” [NOTE TO
MODERTOR: the hyphens are actually in the title, not blanks where words have been removed]
studied this behavior, also observed in dust particles.
Answer: Brownian motion
C. 15 points—One paper included the equation m = L / c^2 [L over c squared], which can be rearranged and re-labeled to discover Einstein’s equation to find this quantity, inherent in an
object.
Answer: rest energy
(10) Whatever happened to Dr. Seuss? Name the celebrity writers of these recent children's
books FTPE.
1. Where do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery
Answer: Jamie Lee Curtis
2. The English Roses
Answer: Madonna
3. Halloween
Answer: Jerry Seinfeld
PENCIL AND PAPER READY. FTP each, answer the following questions regarding logarithms
and bases.
A. What is the irrational number that serves as the base for a natural logarithm?
Answer: e
B. What is the base-ten equivalent of the base-two number one-one-one-one-one-zero-one?
Answer: 125
C. What is the value for the logarithm base-eight of 512?
Answer: 3
Identify the non-existent substances F15PE:
a) Radiation doesn’t need a medium, and nature is just fine with a vacuum, bad news for this
substance once thought to fill all space.
ANS: ether
b) Water that went through narrow tubes gained a higher boiling point, lower melting point, and
a higher viscosity. They called it this, before realizing it was just impure water.
ANS: polywater or anomalous water
Identify these Greeks who died in the Trojan War but were not killed by Trojans, FTP each.
Achilles killed this rude common soldier because he mocked Achilles’s grief over the slain
Amazon Penthesilea [pen-the-si-LAY-ah]
Answer: Thersites [Thur-SI-tes]
Odysseus had this clever executed for treason because he had used the infant Telemachus to
reveal that Odysseus was feigning madness.
Answer: Palamedes
This second strongest Greek killed himself after he realized that he had killed sheep in his
madness.
Answer: Ajax the Great or Telamonian Ajax
Name the following parts of mitochondria for ten points each.
a) The inner membrane is folded into these structures to increase surface area.
ANS: cristae
b) This is the area bound by the inner mitochondrial membrane and is the site of the Krebs
cycle.
ANS: mitochondrial matrix
c) The mitochondria also contain DNA which is always inherited from your mother. Give the
theoretical term for the ancestor from which evolutionary geneticists try to trace all
mitochondrial DNA lineages.
ANS: Mitochondrial Eve
Given a description identify the series or special program produced by Dick Clark, FTPE.
(10) Clark has served as executive producer of telecasts this award ceremony hosted by the
Hollywood Foreign Press for over twenty years, syndicating it when no network would show it.
Answer: Golden Globes
(10) For thirty-one years, Clark’s production company has run this music award show that
moved its ceremonies to late fall to avoid their rather nasty competition with the Grammy’s.
Answer: American Music Awards
(10) Very similar to the John McEnroe hosted The Chair, this game show featured contestants
being asked questions while being tortured by extreme temperatures.
Answer: The Chamber
Answer the following questions about President Bush's inauguration on January 20, 2004, FTPE.
a) This man made his first public appearance in months to swear in President Bush.
ANS: Chief Justice William Rehnquist
b) This man, the Speaker of the House, swore in Vice President Cheney.
ANS: Dennis Hastert
c) At the ceremony, "Hail to the Chief" was played by this band.
ANS: U.S. Marine Band
Answer the following about the constituent islands of Japan for 5 points per answer.
[5/5/5/5] For 5 points each, name in any order the four largest islands, by land area, which are
considered the “main” islands of the country.
ANSWER: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu
[5/5] Japan’s four largest cities by population are on Honshu. For 5 each, name the largest
Japanese city not on Honshu and the island on which it may be found.
ANSWER: Sapporo, Hokkaido
For the stated number of points, identify the following theorems and conjectures in mathematics.
For five points, this theorem states that the sum of the areas of the squares on the legs of a right
triangle is equal to the area of the square on the hypotenuse.
Answer: Pythagorean Theorem
FTP, this theorem states that there are no positive integers a, b, and c such that a to the power of
n plus b to the power of n is equal to c to the power of n in which n is a natural number greater
than 2.
Answer: Fermat’s Last theorem (accept Fermat’s Great theorem)
For 15 points, this conjecture states that every even number greater than 2 can be written as the
sum of two primes.
Answer: Goldbach’s Conjecture
Ten points each, name these Post-Modernist architects.
A. An apprentice to Mies van der Rohe, this American came into his own creating International
Style and defining Post-Modernism with works such as Glass House and Pennzoil Place.
Answer: Philip Johnson
B. This Italian is renowned for merging avante-garde concepts with practicality, an achievement
that won him both the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the commission to build the new New
York Times Building.
Answer: Renzo Piano
C. The most provocative as well as famous Post-Modernist architect, his buildings such as the
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Experience Music Project exhibit a unique dynamism.
Answer: Frank Gehry
There were two triumvirates in Rome in the first century B.C. Answer the following questions
about the FTSNOP.
FFPE, name the three members of the First Triumvirate—one known primarily as a wealthy
politician, and two men known as generals. One of the generals had conquered Syria and
Palestine, and the other would later conquer Gaul.
ANSWER: Marcus Licinius Crassus, Julius Caesar, and Pompey the Great or Gnaeus
Pompeius Magnus
And, you guessed it, now name three members of the Second Triumvirate FFPE. One member
was the adopted son of Julius Caesar, and the other two were army officers—one was soon
pushed aside, while the other maintained power until he lost the Battle of Actium.
ANSWER: Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (prompt on Augustus), Mark Antony or Marcus
Antonius, and Marcus Lepidus
This Peruvian’s novels The Green House, The Time of the Hero, and Aunt Julia and the
Scriptwriter describe the need for changes he sought in a 1990 run for president.
ANSWER: Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa [prompt on Llosa]
[10] This blind Argentinean wrote such self-conscious works as Ficciones, The Garden of
Forking Paths, and The Aleph.
ANSWER: Jorge Luis Borges
Given clues, identify the following about the women involved in the modern Civil Rights
Movement FTPE. (10)
(10) Rosa Parks did not give up her seat prompting a boycott of buses in this city.
Answer: Montgomery, Alabama
(10) Of the nine students, only Melba Patillo Beals has written a memoir about their integration
of this Arkansas school in 1957, which was vehemently opposed by Governor Faubus.
Answer: Little Rock Central High School
(10) This widow of Malcolm X earned her doctorate and continued her husband’s legacy in the
wake of his assassination.
Answer: Dr. Betty Shabazz
Identify these characters from The Scarlet Letter FTPE.
She is the central character in the book and wears the scarlet letter.
Answer: Hester Prynne (accept either)
This man is actually Hester Prynne's husband.
Answer: Roger Chillingsworth (accept either)
Hester was adulterous with this man, with whom she had a daughter in Boston.
Answer: Arthur Dimmesdale (accept either)
Give these namesakes of psychological experiments for 10 points each.
[10] He coined the concept of “six degrees of separation” and conducted an “obedience
experiment” that found two thirds of subjects willing to kill when instructed.
ANSWER: Stanley Milgram
[10] Phillip Zimbardo conducted a “prison experiment” at this institution, finding that subjects
assigned to roleplay as guards and prisoners immediately began acting according to the expected
stereotypes of those roles.
ANSWER: Stanford University
[10] He investigated quotation attribution, the halo effect, and the primacy effect, but this teacher
of Stanley Milgram has his named attached to a conformity experiment in which social pressure
caused subjects to agree with an obviously wrong claim.
ANSWER: Solomon E. Asch
100 years ago was Einstein’s annus mirabilis. Answer these questions about his papers from that
year FTSNOP.
a) 5 points—He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of light quanta while researching
this phenomenon.
ANS: photoelectric effect
b) 10 points—His first article of the year, titled “On the Motion—Required by the Molecular
Kinetic Theory of Heat—of Small Particles Suspended in a Stationary Liquid” [NOTE TO
MODERTOR: the hyphens are actually in the title, not blanks where words have been removed]
studied this behavior, also observed in dust particles.
ANS: Brownian motion
c) 15 points—One paper included the equation m = L / c^2 [L over c squared], which can be rearranged and re-labeled to discover Einstein’s equation to find this quantity, inherent in an
object.
ANS: rest energy
FTPE, identify which of Aristotle’s four causes is described from clues
The structure that differentiates an object from others.
Answer: formal
That from which the object is made.
Answer: material
The reason why the object came into being.
Answer: final