2008 EFT: Trapping Bees in a Dyson Sphere
Packet by Brown
Tossups:
1. One character in this story is instructed to smell the perfume of a flower, whose leaves turns coal-black upon touch; a polished plate of metal is used to try to take a picture of that character, but her features are blurred and indefinable. After reading about Albertus Magnus and Paracelsus, one character enters a laboratory, where she witnesses a flower lose its splotches in little time. With the help of Aminadab, the protagonist gives his wife a potion for the title entity, which is shaped like a small hand and eventually dissolves. However, the scientist Aylmer's desire for the removal of Georgiana's titular imperfection leads to her death at the end of, FTP, which short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne?
ANSWER: "The Birthmark"
2. One variation of this statement is used to eliminate anthropomorphic causes of animal behavior, while another variation is used to explain away malice. Those variations are named for Lloyd Morgan and Hanlon, and one statement counter to it is known as Crabtree’s Bludgeon. Walter of Chatton criticized its application and developed an “anti” version of it, and it was first formulated in terms of experience, sacred scripture, and the principle of sufficient reason. Also known as the lex parsimoniae and used extensively in evolutionary biology and other sciences, FTP, name this reductionist principle named for a 14th-century English nominalist philosopher that states “entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity”
ANSWER: Ockham’s Razor
3. One notable ambassador to this dynasty was Kibi no Makibi, and this dynasty was founded partly by the chancellor Li Shimin. It was ended by a rebellion lead by Huang Cho, and was weakened by the rise of military governors known as jiedushi. One ruler of this dynasty required visitors to perform oral sex on her as a sign of respect, and briefly interrupted this dynasty with the Second Zhou. That ruler, Empress Wu, was usurped by Zuanzhong. This dynasty saw the rise of the civil service exam system, as well as the rebellion of a Sogdian Turk, An Lushan. With its capital at Chang’an, FTP, name this Chinese dynasty that preceded the 5 dynasties and 10 kingdoms period and lasted from 618 to 907 AD.
ANSWER: Tang Dynasty
4. Gardner, Rand, and Haynes used this reaction to synthesize docosanedioc acid. One modification of this reaction uses scandium trifloromethane sulfonate and BTBSH to overcome the side production of dimers and is named for Meyer, while another variation is used on alpha-beta epoxy carbonyls and is named for Wharton. Modern instances of this reaction are performed in a pot of ethylene glycol instead of the sealed tubes used in the original version, in a modification named for Huang and Minlon. Its second step relies on three equivalents of hydroxide and is driven by the evolution of nitrogen. FTP, name this alternative to the Clemmensen reduction, which uses hydrazine to reduce a carbonyl to an alkane in strongly basic conditions.
ANSWER: Wolff-Kishner reaction or reduction
5. This object was created after its occupant used the Skull of Gul’dan to open portals and was thrown back, resulting in his death. It was located next to the Violet Citadel and a plain containing the skeletons of several dragons. It was surrounded by four obelisks, and was shattered using the same weapon used to kill King Terenas, a cursed blade called Frostmourne. Located in Northrend, this object was destroyed after Arthas Menethil defeated Illidan Stormrage, resulting in the release of the Lich King and the merging of Arthas and Ner’zhul’s souls. FTP, name this royal seat located in Azeroth’s wasteland, which titles the expansion to Warcraft 3.
ANSWER: The Frozen Throne (accept “Icecrown glacier” until “obelisks”, accept things like "Ner'zhul's tomb/prison" or "Lich King's tomb/prison", etc)
6. The top right of this painting sees a group of people gripping a broken column, while the bottom of this painting has some people on a boat being pulled into the water. A group of people with musical horns hover next to a man gripped by a serpent and an imp near the center of this painting. Daniele de Volterra partially censored this painting, which was thought obscene by Cardinal Carafa, who is depicted as Minos in the bottom right corner. The artist inserted himself as a figure holding his flayed skin, and the central figure of this work stands on a cloud next to a woman in blue and pink. FTP, name this Sistine Chapel fresco depicting the second coming of Christ, by Michelangelo.
ANSWER: The Last Judgment
7. Eichenbaum used an odor discrimination task to show hippocampal LTP in these organisms, and Karl Lashley repeatedly lesioned the cortex of a group of these animals in order to find the engram. Harvey Carr used them to prove the “chain of responses” hypothesis, and noted that they would run headlong into a wall while searching for food. In addition to the Kerplunk experiment, another psychologist used these organisms to formulate the cognitive map. Another subject initially made friends with one of these animals, until he associated it with a loud noise. FTP, name these animals used by Edward Tolman and John Watson, which will often run in mazes searching for cheese.
ANSWER: Rats or Mice
8. Among the minor characters in this work are the dentist Mr. Tench and Coral Fellows, the daughter of the owner of a banana company. The protagonist of this work stays at the home of Mr. Lehr shortly after being released from jail, having been caught at the home of Padre Jose. A brief affair with Maria results in the child Brigida, but the protagonist flees soon thereafter, whereupon he meets the mestizo; it is when the protagonist walks the mestizo back across the border that leads to his death. Another priest arrives in town after the execution of the alcoholic whiskey priest, suggesting the perseverance of the Catholic Church at the end of, FTP, which novel by Graham Greene?
ANSWER: The Power and the Glory
9. The appellate court judge involved in this case, Leon Brazille, cited Johann Blumberbach in his decision. A similar law from Arizona was previously upheld in Kirby vs. Kirby, while the Monks case also upheld the Arizona statute. A previous case that had a similar decision was Perez v. Sharp, and this case extended a decision made three years earlier in Laughlin v. Florida. This case overturned Pace v. Alabama, and the unanimous decision by Earl Warren stated that the law in question had no “overriding purpose independent of invidious racial discrimination”. FTP, name this 1967 Supreme Court decision that struck down Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act and all bans on interracial marriage.
ANSWER: Loving v. Virginia
10. A metric version of this problem is the subject of the Christofides algorithm. One method of solving this problem is the Lin-Kerninghan method, which is a generalization of 2-opt and 3-opt and relies on pairwise exchange. One solution to it is the Nearest Neighbor algorithm, which involves going from the current point to the adjacent edge with the lightest weight. The Chinese postman problem is a dual of this problem, and a recent exact solution to one instance was done on a group of fifteen thousand German towns. FTP, name this NP-hard problem that involves minimizing the path that a person takes to visit every city on a given map.
ANSWER: Traveling Salesman Problem
11. One group formed the Politiques movement in the aftermath of this event, and Francis Walsingham barely escaped from the backlash of this event. It began when the ringing of a bell of the Church of St-Germain L’Auxerrois, and occurred shortly after the First Peace of St. Germain. It was sparked by an assassination attempt on Gaspard de Coligny, who was recently reinstated as a royal advisor, and by the marriage of Henry III and Marguerite of Valois. Engineered largely by Catherine de Medici and the Guise family to end the influence of a certain group on royal policy, FTP, name this 1572 massacre of Hugenots in France.
ANSWER: St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
12. The release of fifty-two kings is celebrated during this time, while some celebrate it by making 21 different offerings and 21 different threads over the course of 35 days. Its last day consists of brothers and sisters meeting to express affection, while another day is celebrated with a mountain of food. Its second day celebrates the death of an evil demon, while its fourth day is devoted to the goddess of wealth. Mahavira attained nirvana during this holiday, making it sacred to the Jains, while another group celebrates the return of a king from fourteen years of exile. FTP, name this festival in which people ignite lamps to symbolize guiding Rama back to his kingdom, the Hindu festival of lights.
ANSWER: Diwali or Deepavali
13. A group of men wearing grey look upon a dwarf in his An Assault on His Dignity. He depicted a group of soldiers lying down in a grassy field in his Field Drill for the Prussian Infantry, while his more characteristic images include one of a man brandishing a whip called Prairie Fire. His Shotgun Hospitality shows a group of travelers making a fire near a wagon, and his most famous self-portrait is of a thinner version of himself on a horse. His most famous work, which was made popular through depictions of Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, shows a man attempting to control a rearing horse. FTP, name this painter and sculptor who depicted the American West, the creator of The Bronco Buster.
ANSWER: Frederic Sackrider Remington
14. Hikaru Sulu and Pavel Chekov are the subject of one of this author's short stories found in the collection East, West. His most recent novel links stories from an Italian Renaissance city with those of Akbar's court, while the narrator and Ormus Cama compete for the love of Vina Apsara in another work. In addition to The Enchantress of Florence and The Ground Beneath Her Feet, this author wrote about the Flapping Eagle falls through a hole in the Mediterranean Sea in Grimus, and he wrote a collection of stories featuring Saleem Sinai as well as a novel featuring Saladin Chamcha and Gibreel Farishta. Shalimar the Clown and Shame are other works by, FTP, which Indian novelist of Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses?
ANSWER: Salman Rushdie
15. One of his works was a setting of the Whitman poem “From Noon to Starry Night” entitled The Mystic Trumpeter, and a work titled after his hometown was premiered alongside Walton’s Balshazzar’s Feast. This man’s tour of the Sahara inspired his Beni Mora, which was published after his first of two Suites for Military Band. His time as a teacher inspired his Brook Green Suite, while eastern influence can be seen in his Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda and an opera about the title figure’s appeal to Yama to spare Satyavan, entitled Savitri. His most famous work was expanded by Colin Matthews, and has movements like “The Bringer of War”. FTP, name this English composer of St. Paul’s Suite and The Planets.
ANSWER: Gustav Holst
16. One side in this battle kept Fraser’s Highlanders in reserve during the initial charge. One side planted their troops solidly between the Broad and Pacolet Rivers to prevent desertion, and this battle saw an early retreat covered by cavalry under William Washington and James McCall, and subsequent reorganization into three lines. The American cavalry managed to complete a full three-hundred sixty degree turn around the hill at the center of this battle, and managed to surprise the malnourished and tired British in a classic pincer. A victory for Brigadier General Daniel Morgan over Colonel Banastre Tarleton, FTP, name this key 1781 battle during the southern campaign of the revolutionary war named for a city in South Carolina.
ANSWER: Battle of Cowpens
17. These particles are the subject of the MSW effect, and the Seesaw mechanism predicts a currently undetected super-heavy one of these particles. The Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata matrix describes a particular interaction of these particles, which was confirmed by the Homestake experiment. In addition to their flavor oscillation, they emit Cerenkov radiation when passing through a detector like the Super-Kamiokande. Originally posited to explain the conservation of energy and momentum during beta decay, they were detected by Reins and Cowan using a reactor. FTP, name these leptons that come in tau, muon, and electron flavors, created during annihilation reactions and with a name meaning “little neutral one”.
ANSWER: Antineutrino
18. In Euripedes’ Cyclops, the title figure calls Silenus by this name after getting drunk. One of his brothers was blinded upon seeing the Palladium and was named Illus. This figure was often depicted with a rooster, which was given to him as a gift. His father was given either a golden branch or a group of swift horses after his ascension. Supplanting Hebe in one role, he was taken by Eos along with his brother Tithonus in one version, while in a more famous version his abductor turns into an eagle. The son of Tros, FTP, name this namesake of a Galilean moon, the cupbearer and lover of Zeus.
ANSWER: Ganymede
19. The title character thinks of Rose, his maid, who is presumably being raped by the groom in one story by this author, who also wrote an ape who trained at the title locale to become a human in another story. In addition to "A Country Doctor" and "A Report to An Academy," this author also wrote about the death of the title character in the Black Woods in another story, while this author also wrote about Karl Rossman's wanderings in the title country in another work. A novel about the land surveyor K. hoping to work at the title building was written by this author of "The Hunter Gracchus" and Amerika, and he also wrote about the mysterious arrest of the banker Josef K in another novel. FTP, name this Czech author of The Castle, The Trial, and a story about Gregor Samsa's transformation into a bug, "The Metamorphosis."