It's time for one of my occasional quizzes again. This time it is just
a random set of questions - but no sports questions! I hope this to be
a fairly simple one (but I've been wrong before on that point :-)

As always, post your answers to the newsgroup. Use your own knowledge only.
Do not consult sources, wives, husbands or cats.

I plan to score this quiz on Friday 10th. In case of a tie, I will
primarily make a subjective judgement of the incorrect answers to name
a winner.

Have fun

1. Chaco is a geographic natural region that spans over several countries.
Name any of them.

2. Which controversial organisation was founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928?

3. "Rosebud" is an important word in which classic movie?

4. Who is Olaf Scholtz?

5. Rurik is a mythic legendary figure who was the ancestor of the
rulers in several state formations. Name any of these.

6. This creature starts its life in the middle of the deep ocean, but
finds it ways to the continental shores where it travels upstream into
fresh-water lakes and lives for many years, before eventually returning
to the middle of the ocean to reproduce and die. What creature is this?

7. In the field of energy production, what does SMR stand for?

8. Armenian is most closely related to which of the following languages:
Georgian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Kurdish or Turkish?

9. In the novel "The Nine Tailors" by Dorothy Sayers, Lord Peter Whimsey
concludes that he was himself involved in killing the victim. How?

10. Reportedly, there are visitors to New Zealand who think they see a
kiwi when they see this bird:
http://privat.sommarskog.se/NZ2018/00-Intro/Stor-0310_IMG_0424-en.html
And while this bird also has a four-letter name, it is not a kiwi. Give
the name, or if you don't know, explain why this cannot be a kiwi.

11. This week, on Wednesday 8th, sees the global celebration of what?

12. The 2nd of this month a great musician passed away at the age of 90.
In the 1960s, this sax player was an integral member in Miles Davis
Quintet. In the 70s and 80s he was the co-leader of one of the most
renowned acts in fusion music. After that he continued as a solo
artist and also as a leader for a quartet that bore his own name. Who
am I talking about?

On Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 11:35:52 AM UTC-6, Erland Sommarskog wrote:

> 1. Chaco is a geographic natural region that spans over several countries..
> Name any of them.

Bolivia
> 2. Which controversial organisation was founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928?

Muslim Brotherhood

> 3. "Rosebud" is an important word in which classic movie?

"Citizen Kane"

> 5. Rurik is a mythic legendary figure who was the ancestor of the
> rulers in several state formations. Name any of these.

Russia
> 8. Armenian is most closely related to which of the following languages:
> Georgian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Kurdish or Turkish?

Georgian
> 10. Reportedly, there are visitors to New Zealand who think they see a
> kiwi when they see this bird:
> http://privat.sommarskog.se/NZ2018/00-Intro/Stor-0310_IMG_0424-en.html
> And while this bird also has a four-letter name, it is not a kiwi. Give
> the name, or if you don't know, explain why this cannot be a kiwi.

The linked page specifically gives the bird's name, so I will have to disqualify myself from this question. (As should everyone else unless they don't follow the link.)

--
Joshua Kreitzer
gromit82@hotmail.com

Erland Sommarskog <esquel@sommarskog.se> wrote:

> 1. Chaco is a geographic natural region that spans over several countries.
> Name any of them.

Bolivia

> 3. "Rosebud" is an important word in which classic movie?

Citizen Kane

> 5. Rurik is a mythic legendary figure who was the ancestor of the
> rulers in several state formations. Name any of these.

Sweden

> 8. Armenian is most closely related to which of the following languages:
> Georgian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Kurdish or Turkish?

Turkish

> 9. In the novel "The Nine Tailors" by Dorothy Sayers, Lord Peter Whimsey
> concludes that he was himself involved in killing the victim. How?

he was one of the change-ringers and the victim was killed by the bell sounds

> 10. Reportedly, there are visitors to New Zealand who think they see a
> kiwi when they see this bird:
> http://privat.sommarskog.se/NZ2018/00-Intro/Stor-0310_IMG_0424-en.html
> And while this bird also has a four-letter name, it is not a kiwi. Give
> the name, or if you don't know, explain why this cannot be a kiwi.

weka
(which it says on the page)

--
_______________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum tool@panix.com
"I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't just made it up."

Erland Sommarskog (esquel@sommarskog.se) writes:
> 10. Reportedly, there are visitors to New Zealand who think they see a
> kiwi when they see this bird:
> http://privat.sommarskog.se/NZ2018/00-Intro/Stor-0310_IMG_0424-en.html
> And while this bird also has a four-letter name, it is not a kiwi.
> Give the name, or if you don't know, explain why this cannot be a
> kiwi.

Oops! I goofed on this one. Instead of giving the link to the image
directly, I gave the link to the page where it appears on, which gives
you the name of the bird *and* why it cannot be a kiwi.

I guess this quiz only has eleven questions then. Sorry about that.

Erland Sommarskog:
> 1. Chaco is a geographic natural region that spans over several countries.
> Name any of them.

Bolivia.
> 2. Which controversial organisation was founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928?

Arab League? (Second guess would be OPEC.)
> 3. "Rosebud" is an important word in which classic movie?

"Citizen Kane".
> 4. Who is Olaf Scholtz?

Defense minister of Germany.
> 5. Rurik is a mythic legendary figure who was the ancestor of the
> rulers in several state formations. Name any of these.

Sweden?
> 8. Armenian is most closely related to which of the following languages:
> Georgian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Kurdish or Turkish?

Georgian has to be a decoy, but I'll go with it anyway.
> 9. In the novel "The Nine Tailors" by Dorothy Sayers, Lord Peter Whimsey

Wimsey.

> concludes that he was himself involved in killing the victim. How?

By participating in a bell-ringing team.
> 10. Reportedly, there are visitors to New Zealand who think they see a
> kiwi when they see this bird:
> http://privat.sommarskog.se/NZ2018/00-Intro/Stor-0310_IMG_0424-en.html
> And while this bird also has a four-letter name, it is not a kiwi. Give
> the name, or if you don't know, explain why this cannot be a kiwi.

Well http://privat.sommarskog.se/NZ2018/00-Intro/Stor-0310_IMG_0424-en.html
says "Weka is a flightless bird which you encouter in some places on
New Zealand. Some people think they have seen a kiwi when they spot a
weka, but nothing could be more wrong. (Kiwis are strictly nocturnal.)"
--
Mark Brader | "Life is mundane until it is not,
Toronto | and then the mundane can look serene."
msb@vex.net | --David Maraniss

My text in this article is in the public domain.

On Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 12:35:52 PM UTC-5, Erland Sommarskog wrote:
> It's time for one of my occasional quizzes again. This time it is just
> a random set of questions - but no sports questions! I hope this to be
> a fairly simple one (but I've been wrong before on that point :-)
>
> As always, post your answers to the newsgroup. Use your own knowledge only.
> Do not consult sources, wives, husbands or cats.
>
> I plan to score this quiz on Friday 10th. In case of a tie, I will
> primarily make a subjective judgement of the incorrect answers to name
> a winner.
>
> Have fun
>
> 1. Chaco is a geographic natural region that spans over several countries..
> Name any of them.

united states (south western)

> 2. Which controversial organisation was founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928?

muslim brotherhood

> 3. "Rosebud" is an important word in which classic movie?

citizen kane

> 4. Who is Olaf Scholtz?

german chancellor

> 5. Rurik is a mythic legendary figure who was the ancestor of the
> rulers in several state formations. Name any of these.

kievan rus

> 6. This creature starts its life in the middle of the deep ocean, but
> finds it ways to the continental shores where it travels upstream into
> fresh-water lakes and lives for many years, before eventually returning
> to the middle of the ocean to reproduce and die. What creature is this?

some type of eel

> 7. In the field of energy production, what does SMR stand for?

small modular reactor (easy to make, hard to fuel)

> 8. Armenian is most closely related to which of the following languages:
> Georgian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Kurdish or Turkish?

kurdish?

> 9. In the novel "The Nine Tailors" by Dorothy Sayers, Lord Peter Whimsey
> concludes that he was himself involved in killing the victim. How?

wag:
he was among the bell ringers, the sound of which covered up the gunshot

> 10. Reportedly, there are visitors to New Zealand who think they see a
> kiwi when they see this bird:
> http://privat.sommarskog.se/NZ2018/00-Intro/Stor-0310_IMG_0424-en.html
> And while this bird also has a four-letter name, it is not a kiwi. Give
> the name, or if you don't know, explain why this cannot be a kiwi.

weka, from your link. they are not nocturnal

> 11. This week, on Wednesday 8th, sees the global celebration of what?

international women's day

> 12. The 2nd of this month a great musician passed away at the age of 90.
> In the 1960s, this sax player was an integral member in Miles Davis
> Quintet. In the 70s and 80s he was the co-leader of one of the most
> renowned acts in fusion music. After that he continued as a solo
> artist and also as a leader for a quartet that bore his own name. Who
> am I talking about?

wayne shorter I suppose

swp

On 3/5/23 09:35, Erland Sommarskog wrote:
>
> Have fun
>
> 1. Chaco is a geographic natural region that spans over several countries.
> Name any of them.

Paraguay

>
> 2. Which controversial organisation was founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928?

Muslim Brotherhood

>
> 3. "Rosebud" is an important word in which classic movie?

Citizen Kane

>
> 4. Who is Olaf Scholtz?

Chancellor of Germany

>
> 5. Rurik is a mythic legendary figure who was the ancestor of the
> rulers in several state formations. Name any of these.
>
> 6. This creature starts its life in the middle of the deep ocean, but
> finds it ways to the continental shores where it travels upstream into
> fresh-water lakes and lives for many years, before eventually returning
> to the middle of the ocean to reproduce and die. What creature is this?

eels

>
> 7. In the field of energy production, what does SMR stand for?
>
> 8. Armenian is most closely related to which of the following languages:
> Georgian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Kurdish or Turkish?

Kurdish

>
> 9. In the novel "The Nine Tailors" by Dorothy Sayers, Lord Peter Whimsey
> concludes that he was himself involved in killing the victim. How?
>
> 10. Reportedly, there are visitors to New Zealand who think they see a
> kiwi when they see this bird:
> http://privat.sommarskog.se/NZ2018/00-Intro/Stor-0310_IMG_0424-en.html
> And while this bird also has a four-letter name, it is not a kiwi. Give
> the name, or if you don't know, explain why this cannot be a kiwi.

I'm sure others have told you that you failed to note the text below the
picture, which gave away the name of the weka. So I'm going to guess
you're not going to count that answer, since everyone could get it.

As far as the difference, the main one I noticed is that the weka's
feathers are interlocked like birds that fly, so their shape is smooth.
Kiwis have lost that feature, so their feathers look bedraggled.

>
> 11. This week, on Wednesday 8th, sees the global celebration of what?
>
> 12. The 2nd of this month a great musician passed away at the age of 90.
> In the 1960s, this sax player was an integral member in Miles Davis
> Quintet. In the 70s and 80s he was the co-leader of one of the most
> renowned acts in fusion music. After that he continued as a solo
> artist and also as a leader for a quartet that bore his own name. Who
> am I talking about?

--
Dan Tilque

Stephen Perry:
> he was among the bell ringers, the sound of which covered up the gunshot

You should've quit while you were ahead!
--
Mark Brader | "As the old saying goes: those who learn history
Toronto | are doomed to watch others repeat it."
msb@vex.net | --Peter Moylan

Erland Sommarskog wrote:
> It's time for one of my occasional quizzes again. This time it is just
> a random set of questions - but no sports questions! I hope this to be
> a fairly simple one (but I've been wrong before on that point :-)
>
> As always, post your answers to the newsgroup. Use your own knowledge only.
> Do not consult sources, wives, husbands or cats.
>
> I plan to score this quiz on Friday 10th. In case of a tie, I will
> primarily make a subjective judgement of the incorrect answers to name
> a winner.
>
> Have fun
>
> 1. Chaco is a geographic natural region that spans over several countries.
> Name any of them.

United States

>
> 2. Which controversial organisation was founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928?

OPEC

>
> 3. "Rosebud" is an important word in which classic movie?

Citizen Kane

>
> 4. Who is Olaf Scholtz?

Prime Minister of Germany

>
> 5. Rurik is a mythic legendary figure who was the ancestor of the
> rulers in several state formations. Name any of these.

Persia

>
> 6. This creature starts its life in the middle of the deep ocean, but
> finds it ways to the continental shores where it travels upstream into
> fresh-water lakes and lives for many years, before eventually returning
> to the middle of the ocean to reproduce and die. What creature is this?
>
> 7. In the field of energy production, what does SMR stand for?
>
> 8. Armenian is most closely related to which of the following languages:
> Georgian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Kurdish or Turkish?

Kurdish

>
> 9. In the novel "The Nine Tailors" by Dorothy Sayers, Lord Peter Whimsey
> concludes that he was himself involved in killing the victim. How?
>
> 10. Reportedly, there are visitors to New Zealand who think they see a
> kiwi when they see this bird:
> http://privat.sommarskog.se/NZ2018/00-Intro/Stor-0310_IMG_0424-en.html
> And while this bird also has a four-letter name, it is not a kiwi. Give
> the name, or if you don't know, explain why this cannot be a kiwi.

Kiwis have long, narrow beaks and are nocturnal

>
> 11. This week, on Wednesday 8th, sees the global celebration of what?
>
> 12. The 2nd of this month a great musician passed away at the age of 90.
> In the 1960s, this sax player was an integral member in Miles Davis
> Quintet. In the 70s and 80s he was the co-leader of one of the most
> renowned acts in fusion music. After that he continued as a solo
> artist and also as a leader for a quartet that bore his own name. Who
> am I talking about?

Wayne Shorter

>

Pete Gayde

This quiz is over and undisputed winner is Stephen W Perry! He well deserves
the awe from the rest of us in this newsgroup for the next 24 hours!
Congratulations!

Here is the full score table:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Total
----------------------------------------------------
Stephen P - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 10
Dan T 1 1 1 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - - 7
Joshua K 1 1 1 - 1 - - - - 1 - - 5
Pete G - - 1 1 - - - 1 - 1 - 1 5
Dan B 1 - 1 - - - - - 1 1 - - 4
Mark B 1 - 1 - - - - - 1 1 - - 4

Here are the answers:

> 1. Chaco is a geographic natural region that spans over several countries.
> Name any of them.

Argenina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay.

The largest part of Chaco is in Argentina, but it's a much more defining
part of Paraguay, since about half of the country is covered by Chaco.

I once travelled by bus on the south-western fringe of Chaco in Argentina
and I was completely amazed. It was like nothing I had seen before. Flat
with dense but low vegeation.

> 2. Which controversial organisation was founded by Hassan al-Banna in
> 1928?

Muslim Brotherhood.

> 3. "Rosebud" is an important word in which classic movie?

"Citizen Kane". Everyone knew this.

> 4. Who is Olaf Scholtz?

The current Chancellor of Germany.

> 5. Rurik is a mythic legendary figure who was the ancestor of the
> rulers in several state formations. Name any of these.

Novgorod, Kievan Rus, The Grandy Duchy of Moscow and Russia are
the most significant. In the course of history, there were also
splinters from Kievan Rus that were practically independent.

According to the Primary Chronicle, written in Kiev in the second half
of the 11th century and completed in the 1110s, four Slavic tribes around
of what would become Novgorod called on Rurik, a Swedish viking, saying:
"We can't keep peace, so come rule over us". This is said to have happened
around 200 years before the Chronicle was written, so we need to take
this with some grains of salt.

Rurik himself only ruled over Novgorod, which is supposedly founded.
His successors took Kiev and establised the family there.

> 6. This creature starts its life in the middle of the deep ocean, but
> finds it ways to the continental shores where it travel upstreams into
> sweetwater lakes and lives for many years, before eventually returning
> to the middle of the ocean to reproduce and die. What creature is this?

Eel.

> 7. In the field of energy production, what does SMR stand for?

Small Modular Reactor.

And that is a nuclear reactor. The idea is that these would be mass-
produced, and you would buy an SMR from a manufacturor like you buy a
car. This way they would be cheaper and not the mass investments like
the current monoliths are. But we are not really there yet.

> 8. Armenian is most closely related to which of the following languages:
> Georgian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Kurdish or Turkish?

Kurdish.

Armenian and Kurdish are the only two Indo-European languages in the
pack. In the IE family, Armenian constitutes its own group, while
Kurdish belong to the Indo-Iranian languages.

> 9. In the novel "The Nine Tailors" by Dorothy Sayers, Lord Peter Whimsey
> concludes that he was himself involved in killing the victim. How?

Wimsey arrives in a small town and has some car problem. He is invited
to participate in ringing "The Nine Tailors", stepping in for a person
who has caught the flu. It later turns out that this person had tied up
the victim in the bell chamber. Not with the intent to kill him, but only
to get that person out of the way. Wimsey finally concludes that the
it was the ringing that killed the person.

> 10. Reportedly, there are visitors to New Zealand who think they see a
> kiwi when they see this bird:
> http://privat.sommarskog.se/NZ2018/00-Intro/Stor-0310_IMG_0424-en.html
> And while this bird also has a four-letter name, it is not a kiwi. Give
> the name, or if you don't know, explain why this cannot be a kiwi.

As noted by everyone, big goof on my side here.

Anyway, the idea was not really that should know that this is a weka,
but that it can't be a kiwi, since the picture is taken in daylight,
and kiwis are nocturnal.

My plan was to approve anything that was not apparently unreasonable,
like a kiwi having four legs, so even with the correct link, it might
very well have been a point for everyone.

> 11. This week, on Wednesday 8th, sees the global celebration of what?

Internnational Women's Day.

Everyone knew "Citizen Kane". Only one entrant knew this one. Seriously?
OK, this is a trivia newsgroup, but nevertheless...

> 12. The 2nd of this month a great musician passed away at the age of 90.
> In the 1960s, this sax player was an integral member in Miles Davis
> Quintet. In the 70s and 80s he was the co-leader of one of the most
> reknowned acts in fusion music. After that he continued as a solo
> artist and also as a leader for a quartet that bore his own name. Who
> am I talking about?

Wayne Shorter. The group is most associated with is Weather Report,
which he led together with Joe Zawinul.

Thanks to everyone for playing!