The Random Quiz

new question:

what is the SI unit for electrical conductance?

Ohms?

Ohms is the units for resistivity which is the inverse of conductance... No idea on the answer though. 

Siemens (hehe).

Conductance and conductivity are slightly different btw.

What is the etymology of the word 'shambles', as in "everything is in a shambles".

HINT: It is derived from the street being in a messy state after said activity was performed on the street during the middle ages.

It's Old English for fish market I believe? Although I have a feeling the original Latin means footstool, or something similar.

That's very close, but no, not fish markets.

Crab markets?

Meat market/butchery?

Correct.

what ya got Pseudo?

Shit, forgot about this.

Which two Ivy League universities has Barack Obama graduated from?

While googling that I came across this pic

 

 

 

He's definately a Harvard Law grad. Seeing that he lived in Chicago during his community organisation days, I would guess Chicago Uni? Don't know if that is an ivy league colleague, but has many reputable sociology and economics scholars. Otherwise, Stanford?

Neither U of C or Stanford are Ivy League colleges. Chicago spawns Nobel Prize winners at a great rate but it is too far inland to be an Ivy Leaguer and Stanford is on the wrong coast.

Clue Time - Members of the Ivy League are:

Brown
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Harvard
Princeton
U Penn.
Yale

brown and harvard?

Harvard and Princeton?

No and no. To Brown and Princeton obviously.

Harvard and Columbia?

Correct.

Ok, why do many of Dutch properties have absolutely no window shades or curtains?

There are two possible answers to this one. 

Because the Dutch are shameless exhibitionists (case in point: The Red Light District window shows)?

does it have something to do for during the war? so the nazi's could see what was happening inside at all times possibly? or some army anyway. lol.

So that the smell of all the shitty food they make can escape the house more easily?

No internal lighting

They were the answers I was after. It was an eye-opening experience touching down in the Netherlands, literally. Every second house I saw people lounging around in their undies etc lol. The Dutch put up a big underground resistance and the Nazi's inforced that during the occupation.

  too true, worst cuisine ever...

comments like that belong in the schnitty thread!

So I guess its either Chris or Glock up next...

That is correct.

Sorry 'bout that. 

glock can have it. i'm off for the day and not here on weekends usually.

Righto. I'll only be able to check on Sunday so if you know you're right go ahead and all that.

What was the original name of the sporting goods company renamed in 1978 to Nike, Inc.?

I obviously didn't know the answer to the previous question so I looked it up out of curiosity, everything I read said that it was to do with Dutch women presenting their clean house to everyone, and that if you had the curtains drawn it was likely that it was because you didn't want people looking into the house because it was dirty, hence you were a shit wife...?

I found that to be the most common answer as well. A status signalling act. I did find a couple of sources that mentioned the Nazi history link though, although both said that it was the occupied nations choice to open their curtains so as to let the Nazis know they had nothing to hide, rather than a coercive Nazi order. All sources were entirely too anecdotal though.

The Grange.

That's the one!

The more you know the position of a particle, the less you can know about its velocity, and the more you know about the velocity of a particle, the less you can know about its instantaneous position.

To whom, and what, does the preceding statement most commonly relate?

limits, derivatives, rate of change?
The more you know about one the more unknowns there are in the others
I dont know what the principle is called in physics and quantum mechanics though.  Ill be back

theory of relativity, Albert Einstein

Isn't that Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle? So, Werner Heisenberg.

thats the shizzle

Yes, Werner is correct.

What is the name of Charles Darwin's polymathic half-cousin, famous for, among many things, early studies of the relation of hereditary factors to genius and success?

francis galton.

haha. i've just finished reading a book about darwin. first book i've read in about 10 years too.

Sweet timing. You're up.

shit. i haven't actually thought of another question and i have to go. tobias. you keen to ask another. i'm sure you are. i know you are, even. Smiley

What famous historical event is the Tennis Court Oath synonymous with?

Can you provide a copy of the oath?

It's not exactly something I am familiar with off the top of my head.

What if I told you it was a pledge signed by the members of the Third Estate?

I've got nothing mate.

What if I told you it all led to a rather terrible reign?

I know this.

The French Revolution!

That's the one.

Fire at will.

Where is the driest place on Earth?

I'm tempted to fall for the old Antarctica trick, but it's more likely to be someones vagina.

the Atacama

my mull bowl!!!!   sad sad week

Nope.

Leezee can have it. For the first part of his answer, not the vagina part. Would have preferred if he was more specific and said the Dry Valleys but I'm happy enough with Antarctica.

A majestic horse stands proudly on the foreshore of South Australia's centre of seafood production.

Who is she?

Is that a cryptic question?

If so, I'm guessing Makybe Diva seeing as she comes from Port Lincoln which could be considered the seafood production capital of SA by export numbers due to tuna, scallops, etc.

that's what i would have said too. it has the least rainfall, that's for sure. Smiley

totally.

image not archived: makybe.jpg





i think it's one of those debatable questions, and it depends a lot on the context and conditions of the question. this dry valley gets no moisture from rain/snow/ice there are no glaciers, and it hasn't rained in millions of years, however it does have floodplains/rivers that flow every so often.

the atacama gets on average 1mm per year, but it's from freak storms every few hundred years or so.

It hasn't rained in the Atacama for 500 years. I think it is something like 300,000 years since it last rained in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica.

Yeah Makybe is right obviously.

It would be lucky be 1 mile long. I would have thought closer to a 1Km. It's basically just a nuclear plant.

Good guess!


Speaking of islands, which island was home to the extinct flightless bird, the dodo?

Madagascar? Or the Galapagos?

Tasmania
full of Dodos

Haha none of those. Madagascar is the closest though.

Mauritius.

Match each word to its language of origin:
1. entrepreneur     A. Arabic
2. flak                 B. Old Norse
3. sugar               C. French
4. odd                 D. Urdu
5. pyjamas           E. German

oooh, hello.

1C, 2E, 4B, 5D which leaves 3A, I guess.

Correct of course.

Psuuuuedo?

Loooong wait there and now Pseudo is deprived of the chance to post us one of his famous esoteric quiz questions.


What was the original purpose of/reason for building the Great Wall Of China?

Stop god damn Mongowians! And other races/tribes/groups...... I promise I will be quicker if you accept my answer this time. Didn't check this thread for months.

Yeah that's pretty much it. Build a bloody great fortification across the north of the country to stop the Manchurian/Mongolian/assorted hordes from rampaging through.

If you were, or are, a Jacobite which royal house did, or do, you wish to see restored to the throne?

Esoteric yes, but I know this sort of shit is up your alley Glocklan.

First clue, Jacobus is the Latin formation of James.

Something to do with King James? NFI lol.

So which House did James I - James V belong to? They had a fair bit of involvement with the House of Tudor throughout history.

I'm giving this to Glock for effort, even if I'm disappointed a man who professed to be quite a fan of Tudor history doesn't know of the Stuarts.

I think you have me confused with someone else man, I can't say I've ever stated anything about being a fan of Tudor history in the past.

Probably the closest I get to it is 2 seasons worth of the show The Tudors on my external HDD.


What feat would you have accomplished if you are referred to as a Trusty Shellback?

I remember something vague about you saying what got you in to the Tudors (the TV show) is your appreciation for that shit. Could be mixing your narrative with someone else. Blending memories.

saved one of your fellow turtles from the foot clan?

Haha no.

OK clue time.

You would be involved in some sort of naval occupation/pursuit.

I thought it was to keep out the rabbits?

No takers?

The answer is; you would have accomplished the feat of crossing the equator for the first time in a naval vessel and undergone the rituals involved with doing so.


What does the acronym WASP stand for?

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

Bingo. I always wondered about that as it seemed to crop up in a lot of American themed books etc. When I finally found out it wasn't what I was expecting at all. I used to think it was White American Single Parent haha.

I thought that was a Pollywog. Or is the Pollywog the persno who has to go through the beatings/rituals?

isnt a pollywog a candy bar?

pollywaffle, and no, not anymore. discontinued in 09.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Waffle

I thought that was a Pollywog. Or is the Pollywog the persno who has to go through the beatings/rituals?

Pollywogs are the name they give to the initiates. Once they have crossed the line and done the ritual they are then called Trusty Shellbacks.

Source

Pollywogs are the name they give to the initiates. Once they have crossed the line and done the ritual they are then called Trusty Shellbacks.

Source

Gotcha. I know someone who went through this last year. They've gotten rid of the beatings, pipes, general nastiness of it and made it more fun and less humiliating. She even showed me photos!

When my Uncle did it in the 70s it wasn't as fun.

Gotcha. I know someone who went through this last year. They've gotten rid of the beatings, pipes, general nastiness of it and made it more fun and less humiliating. She even showed me photos!

When my Uncle did it in the 70s it wasn't as fun.

I think it used to involve sump oil, pipes and inappropriate orifices at one point. There was some big expose in the Royal Australian Navy about it a few years ago.


Pseudo do you have a new question?

What is Bloomsday a celebration of?

nanna pants

I'm re-doing the quizzes! You've all taken too long.

Here's an easy one to start the flow.

What are the names of the pandas at the Adelaide Zoo?

'move little' and 'may be dead'

They are seriously the shittest creatures on the planet and evolution should have taken care of them years ago. The only discernible trait felicitous for the furthering of their species is looking cute, which is pure luck and not evolutionary adaptation. They are sexually receptive less often than women who married for money and they eat a particularly nutrient free diet that their bodies haven't adapted to properly. They should be given up as lost causes.

Also, Wang Wang and Funi?

Pseudo's rant then correct answer has it!

Name one person to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the 21st century.

They are seriously the shittest creatures on the planet

sure are
next time theres a bamboo outbreak though Im sure everyone will be glad we managed to save the only living creature capable of eating 40 kgs of bamboo a day

they may cool to see if they were on meth though

Name one person to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the 21st century.

j.k rowling   

j.k rowling   

Incorrect thankfully. I would have lost a lot of respect for the Nobel prizes if she had won one.

First name that came to me was Salman Rushdie but it appears he missed out, so I'm gone on this one.

I would say Henry Miller, but he had two books banned in the US and UK for thirty years. So he probably didn't.

21st Century, Cait. Henry died in 1980.

One of them is Australian. Wrote Youth, Disgrace, Elizabeth Costello etc.

One of them (the best one by some distance) is Turkish. Narrowly avoided Turkish jail for talking about the Armenian genocide.

21st Century, Cait. Henry died in 1980.

Hah, whoops. Good on me for reading the question properly!

Incorrect thankfully. I would have lost a lot of respect for the Nobel prizes if she had won one.

are you sure   


the dude who wrote the screenplay for sleuth(Michael Caine, Jude Law) got one, dunno when, dunno his name and pretty sure it wasnt for adapting sleuth but thats all I got

I am going to be soft and give this to Melvin. Harold Pinter did win one. Harold Pinter also adapted Sleuth. Harold Pinter was also a massive wanker. Good-ish playwright though.

I am going to be soft and give this to Melvin. Harold Pinter did win one. Harold Pinter also adapted Sleuth. Harold Pinter was also a massive wanker. Good-ish playwright though.

 

the director of sleuth also played Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (dont think Im some kind of rowling freak I just thought it would be interesting to tie the two together)  what is his name?
(think he also directed the Thor flick too, gee he's got the goods)

Kenneth Branagh. I'm not sure if you are trying to disparage the only man in the history of Hamlet directorship not to have turned it from the greatest piece of literature ever penned, to a piece of barely watchable, over-acted, excruciating tripe; but if you are, don't!

dang, too late. (j.m coetzee and orhan pamuk innit)
@pseudo

Ask one. I can't be arsed thinking.

Kenneth Branagh. I'm not sure if you are trying to disparage the only man in the history of Hamlet directorship not to have turned it from the greatest piece of literature ever penned, to a piece of barely watchable, over-acted, excruciating tripe; but if you are, don't!

no Ive enjoyed all that ive seen from him (have not watched Hamlet though I must confess) both directing and acting
but I haven't seen Thor yet

Ask one. I can't be arsed thinking.

x2

what are the two main ingredients in 'scrapple'?

Pig head and corn meal?