George Gamow Memorial Tournament – Final
Questions by Matt Kiefer
Related Tossup/Bonus
1: Hoping to repeat the success achieved in Africa, Ferdinand de Lesseps unsuccesfully began work here in 1881. After the surrounding countryside won independence from Columbia, Secretary of State John Hay negotiated an agreement whereby the U.S. would take over interests and complete construction, that would ultimately use a system of raised locks and involved the creation of Gatun Lake. For ten points, what is this isthmian waterway opened in 1914 linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans?
A: Panama Canal
Q: The Panama Canal was a major goal of the Theodore Roosevelt administration, and lead to TR's becoming the first president to travel outside of the U.S. while in office, when he went to inspect construction. Identify these other items related to the Roosevelt administration:
Part 1: For five points, Roosevelt had been elected governor of NY in 1898 and earned a spot on the Republican ticket in the 1900 election, in part by capitalizing on a reputation earned during the Spanish-American war; Roosevelt's most famous deed during that conflict was leading this unit on a charge up Kettle Hill during the battle of Santiago.
A: Rough Riders or 1st Volunteer Cavalry
Part 2: For five points, what company founded by John D. Rockefeller did TR pursue using the Sherman Anti-Trust act, and eventually broke up in 1906, earning his "trust buster" reputation?
A: Standard Oil
Part 3: For ten points, a strong believer in naval powerTR ordered the U.S. Navy to engage in this 1907-08 circumnavigation of the globe. The name for this cruise came from the color of the hulls of the American vessels.
A: Voyage of the Great White Fleet
2: Project PX received a half-million dollars in funding from the U.S. Army. Its results materialized in the Moore School, under the care of John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert. For ten points, what is this object, originally designed to enhance production of ballistic trajectory tables during World War II that began the modern computer revolution?
A: ENIAC or electronic numerical integrator and computer
Q: Answer the following related to computer science:
Part 1: In HTML, if you write the line of code left-caret, a, href equals http colon double-backslash www dot html dot com right-caret, left-caret, slash-a, right caret [ <a href=http://www.html.com</a> ] what have you just done?
A: made a hyperlink (to the page www.html.com)
Part 2: The next projected leap forward for the internet is the Wireless Web, with cell phone companies like Sprint PCS scrambling to take advantage of people being able to access websites from their mobile phone. To view these websites on the smaller screen of a cell phone requires the site to be formatted using this new computer language, abbreviated WAP
A: Wireless Application Protocol
3: This company started as a lumber mill in 1865, and was named for the river it was situated on. A one-time conglomerate that produced everything from rubber boots to televisions, it was forced to rethink its primary business strategy when the Soviet Union's collapse left it with an unsellable surplus of toilet paper. In 1991, now-CEO Jorma Ollila, was able to devise a strategy to take advantage of the new GSM standard to make this company the dominant player in the European telecommunications market. For ten points, what is this Finnish company and regular sponsor of collegiate football's Sugar Bowl?
A: Nokia
Q: Before there were phones to communicate, people used old-fashioned snail mail; answer the following about stamps, for ten points each:
Part 1: Derived from Greek the words for "loving" and "tax-exempt", what is this term for stamp collecting?
A: Philately
Part 2: Great Britain, prompted by a reformist effort led by Rowland Hill, issued this first stamp ever, featuring an image of Queen Victoria and valued at 1-cent at the time of its 1840 debut:
A: Penny Black
4: The author's musings on a bleak December day are disturbed, first by a tapping at his door, and then again at his window. The title creature enters his room and settles upon a bust of Pallus above his chamber door. In response to the author's queries about his lost Lenore, the creature gives but a one-word answer. For ten points, what is this Edgar Allen Poe work, whose title creature quoth "Nevermore"?
A: The Raven
Q: Given an author and lines, identify the poem described.
Part 1: Alfred Lord Tennyson ; "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
A: Ulysses
Part 2: Joyce Kilmer ; "Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make..." this title object.
A: Trees
5: Historian Erwin Iserloh makes claim that these were circulated amongst friends and acquaintances instead of made public at the Castle Church on the eve of All Saints’ Day as is popularly held. The first one claimed that “repentance involved the whole life of the Christian man”, while the 62nd one postulates that the fundamental treasure of the church was the gospel and glory of god. For ten points, what are these criticisms of papal indulgences written by Martin Luther in 1517?
A: 95 theses of Wittenberg
Q: Martin Luther helped found the Reformation, with many of his beliefs, including that the elements of Christ were everywhere, rather than the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, becoming the guiding principles of the new Protestantism; identify these other reform movements in Protestant Christian history:
Part 1: This church was founded in 1534 when Henry VIII became upset that Pope Clement VII denied him a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
A: Anglican Church or Church of England
Part 2: In Scotland, this man founded the Presbyterian movement.
A: John Knox
6: Her brothers had killed each other in combat, when at the end of the first year of his reign, Eteocles refused to give up the throne. Eteocles’ successor to the throne, Creon, ruled that as the incumbent king, Eteocles would get an honored burial. Believing Creon's command unjust, and refusing to disavow her love for her brother, this woman gives Polynieces a burial anyway. For ten points, who is this woman, the subject of an eponymous Greek tale told by Sophocles as the third part in his Oedipus' trilogy?
A: Antigone
Q: Identify the following concerning these other Greek works:
Part 1: Aeschylus' tale about this son of Agamemnon, describes his vengeance killing of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, as well as his trial by the Areopagus to decide whether he was to justly continue to be persecuted by the Furies for his crime of matricide.
A: Orestes (do not accept Oresteia; that is the work, this question asks for the person.)
Part 2: This work by Aristophanes portrays Socrates as a bamboozler who teaches the protagonist’s son how to logically avoid paying taxes.
A: The Clouds
7: It is part of the Ketuvim in Judaic canon. In Protestant text, it falls between Nehemiah and Job; and between Judith and Job in the Roman Catholic. It is the only book of the Bible which does not mention the word god. It does instead mention a successful attempt to persuade Ahasuerus to reverse the actions of his chief minister, Haman, who had planned to massacre the Jews. For ten points, what is this book, which describes the story behind the Jewish celebration of Porim?
A: Book of Esther
Q: Answer these following items concerning other Esthers:
Part 1: Esther Rome wrote this landmark book discussing women's health issues, and advocating women taking a greater roll within their own health care by emphasizing the importance of knowledge of one's own anatomy.
A: Our Bodies, Ourselves
Part 2: This woman was an Olympic hopeful in 1940 until the games were cancelled due to World War II. Instead, she starred with Johnny Weismuller in a San Francisco Aquacade, which helped to catch the attention of people at MGM studios. Due to her popular appeal and prowess in a swimming pool, she became the showpiece for the new "aqua musicals", a genre of movies she helped to create with 1944's "Bathing Beauty".
A: Esther Williams
8: Its nucleus is approximately 16 by 8 by 8 kilometers, with a density of only about point one gram per cubic centimeter. [0.1 gm/cm3]. Its orbit is retrograde and tilted 18 degrees to the ecliptic. With an albedo of point-oh-three [.03], making it darker than coal, it would not be a surprise if you missed it on its last visit, especially if you were in the northern hemisphere. For ten points, what is this celestial object whose appearance in 1758 made famous an English astronomer, and whom won't be seen from earth again until 2061?
A: Halley's comet
Q: From one heavenly body to another: answer the following about actresses from the 2000 fall TV lineup.
Part 1: She broke into TV with the short-lived "Secret world of Alex Mack", and in the movies played Kirsten opposite Drew Barrymore in "Never Been Kissed", but now stars in her own series from James Cameron on Fox.
A: Jessica Alba (from the show "Dark Angel")
Part 2: This star of "League of their own" and "Thelma and Louise" visits the small screen with an eponymous show on ABC.
A: Geena Davis
Category Quiz
1: Renting a cellar in which twenty barrels of explosives were stored, Robert Catesby planned for the event to unfold on November 5th. However, he made the fatal mistake of recruiting additional conspirators, one of whom warned a brother-in-law, Lord Monteagle, not to attend Parliament. This warning, for ten points, lead to the capture of Guy Fawkes, and the foiling of what 1605 English-Catholic plot to blow up Parliament and kill James I?
A: Gunpowder Plot
2: Thomas Jefferson introduced this food to America when he brought a pasta machine home from Italy in 1787, and his instructions and recipe for how to use this machine are available online today at the Library of Congress website, and it was a favorite of Ronald Reagan while recovering from an assassin’s bullet in 1981. For ten points, what is this dish, made by cooking the title noodles with a little butter, salt, and cheese, made popular by Kraft?
A: Macaroni and Cheese
3: This structure's dorsum contains numerous projections of the mucous membrane called papillae, which contain the nerve endings that sense sweet, salt, sour and bitter. For ten points, what is this vertebrate organ used as an aid in digestion and speech?
A: tongue
4: Henry Moore said of this sculpture that he hoped people would "go around it, looking out through the open spaces, and that they may have a feeling of being in a cathedral." This poses an interesting juxtaposition, as the object is usually more reminiscent of, and aptly named for, a mushroom cloud. It was dedicated along Ellis Avenue between 56th and 57th streets in 1967, marking the location and 25th anniversary of the event it commemorates. For ten points, what is this Henry Moore sculpture marking the landmark achievement of Enrico Fermi's first chain nuclear reaction under Stagg Field at the University of Chicago?
A: Nuclear Energy
5: Bernard uses his discovery of John while on vacation in New Mexico with Lenina to embarrass the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning. Unfortunately, his inability to control the savage ultimately leads to his own undoing. John debates the condition of humanity with Mustapha Mond, unsuccessfully attempting to persuade his fordship of the virtues of a non-genetically and behaviorally-preconditioned life. For ten points, what is this Aldous Huxley work that takes its title from a line in Shakespeare's _The Tempest_?
A: Brave New World
6: It was moved from its original location and rebuilt in 1854 at Sydenham Hill. It was partially destroyed by fire in 1936, and then had its remaining towers destroyed in 1941 so they couldn’t be used as landmarks by German bombers. Designed by Joseph Paxton, it was a marvel of iron rods and clear glass. For ten points, what is this architectural wonder, the exhibition hall that housed the Great Exhibition of 1851.
A: Crystal Palace
Category Challenge:
History – It’s Cold Up Here: Taking advantage of the death of the Swedish monarch, a coalition led by Frederick IV of Denmark-Norway, Augustus II of Poland, and the Russian Tsar formed which then attacked. In a series of bold strokes, including the victory at Narva in 1700, the new Swedish king drove back the attackers. Given a reprieve when Charles XII chose to concentrate on deposing the Polish king, the Russians regrouped under Peter the Great to win the 1709 battle of Poltava. For 15 points, what is this conflict ended by the Treaty of Nystadt whose name reflects its geographic location in Europe?
A: Great Northern War
Chemistry – Being Friendly with Dmitri Mendeleev Atoms which strongly exhibit this property form ionic bonds, while those where there is less of a difference in value bond covalently. Linus Pauling developed a table of values for it in 1932, but as a general principle, it increases in value going up and to the left on the periodic table. For fifteen points, what is this ability of an atom to attract to itself an electron pair shared with another atom in a chemical bond, most strongly exhibited by the element Fluorine?
A: Electronegativity
Mathematics – Multidimensional Spatial Analysis Given a three-dimensional box, whose sides are 3 units by 4 by 12, what is the length of the interior diagonal of the box? You have fifteen seconds.
A: 13 units
Geography – Where in the World Are We, Carmen, Sandiego? At their easternmost extent, they join in with the Tébessa and Medjerda mountains. In the west, they cover much of Morocco. For fifteen points, what is this African mountain range, so named because they were once thought to be the bones of a titan?