Honesty Quiz - March

[3iff]

Honesty Quiz - March 2010

No research is allowed after seeing the questions. They must be answered solely with the information currently in your head.
No internet, books or consulting other people...or 'accidentally' seeing information.
One point per correct answer with no penalty for incorrect or unanswered questions. If you don't know an answer, it's worth guessing. I will accept ONLY your first answer list (send to me via PM). Spelling accuracy is not required for person names. You may freely use pen, paper and simple calculators.

No entry = no points. You can add yourself to my alert list where I will PM you if I'm still waiting for your answers. Just let me know you wish to be added to the alert list.

Answers provided when entries close.

This month we have an Either/Or system. Each question has 2 or more alternatives. You must answer one alternative to each question. Clever people may wish to answer all parts, but I can only accept the first answer you give for each question, so if your first part answer is wrong and the second part answer right...you get it marked as a wrong answer. You don't get any extra points for answering everything.

Highlight below to see the questions.

1. Who was US president when America invaded Grenada OR Who was UK prime minister when Britain and Argentina fought over the Falkland islands. Both events occurred in the 1980s.

2. Name a US football team who have won the Superbowl at least 3 times OR name a football team that have won the English FA Cup at least 4 times OR name a football team that has won the Mongolian premier league any time from 2001 to 2009.

3. Which sea lies between Sweden and Poland OR which sea lies between China and North/South Korea.

4. Name 6 of the 7 dwarves (from Snow White) OR name 6 of the 7 deadly sins OR 6 of the 7 actors who played the magnificent 7 (in the 1960 film of that name).

5. Name 2 noble gases OR 2 halogens.

6. Name both the male and female leads from either the 1968 OR 1999 version of "The Thomas Crown Affair"

7. Name the artist who released the albums, 'Aladdin Sane' and 'Young Americans' OR Name the artist who released the albums, 'Innervisions' and 'Songs in the Key of Life'.

8. Whose real name is Marion Morrison OR Whose real name is Frances Gumm.

9. What is 987 (decimal) in Base 7 OR What is 822 (base 9) in decimal.

10. How many square yards in a square mile OR what temperature has the same value in both centigrade and fahrenheit.


Remember to answer ONE part of each question.



Good Luck.

[Zag]

Submitted early this time, so as to avoid the earlier problem.

Also, I wanted to say that this game has turned out more fun than I expected. I mean, it's just trivia questions, but somehow it has captured people's attention. I think it's that the questions are good ones, a nice depth and breadth of knowledge. Anyway, thanks!

[3iff]

Thanks for the comments, appreciated.

[jesternl]

Good Questions again

[referee]

Sent. Not too bad, I guess. (my answers. Questions were good)
_________________
Jan 21st, 2008: The pillaging continues.
Mar 4th, 2008: Rest in Peace, Gary Gygax. May your dice always roll a natural 20 wherever you are.

Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!

[Lepton*]

Well, that sucked for me. I didn't even know the Mongolian question!

[raekuul]

I am not a cat, I am a lion. I have, however, sent in an entry for March.

(That makes so much more sense with context...)

[PuzzleScot]

Mine are in too. I either knew both or neither in each category - doh!

[3iff]

12 entries received so far, which is pretty good.

No entries yet from Courk, Milkshake, Cordelia, Internet Stranger, Lexprod, Azu who have made entries in earlier months.

Even if you've not entered before, you can still participate.

The quiz will remain open for a couple of weeks.

[3iff]

Ok, 16 entries now received. I suspect that'll be all, but the round will stay open for another week.

[3iff]

Honesty Quiz - Mar 2010 - Answers

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of correct answers. There were 16 entries.

1. Who was US president when America invaded Grenada OR Who was UK prime minister when Britain and Argentina fought over the Falkland islands. Both events occurred in the 1980s.
A: Ronald Reagan (7) B: Margaret Thatcher (7)

2. Name a US football team who have won the Superbowl at least 3 times OR name a football team that have won the English FA Cup at least 4 times OR name a football team that has won the Mongolian premier league any time from 2001 to 2009.
There are various answers to each part.
A: 11 correct answers B: 4 correct answers , 1 incorrect answer.

3. Which sea lies between Sweden and Poland OR which sea lies between China and North/South Korea.
A: Baltic Sea (11) B: Yellow Sea (1)

4. Name 6 of the 7 dwarves (from Snow White) OR name 6 of the 7 deadly sins OR 6 of the 7 actors who played the magnificent 7 (in the 1960 film of that name).
A: Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy (7)
B: Lust, Gluttony, Pride, Greed, Wrath, Sloth, Envy (8)
C: McQueen,Vaughn,Bronson, Brynner, Dexter, Coburn, Buckholst (0, but one player knew the answers anyway)

5. Name 2 noble gases OR 2 halogens.
A: Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon, Radon (15)
B: Fluorine, Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, Astatine (1)

6. Name both the male and female leads from either the 1968 OR 1999 version of "The Thomas Crown Affair"
A: Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway (1)
B: Pierce Brosnan and Renee Russo (2)

7. Name the artist who released the albums, 'Aladdin Sane' and 'Young Americans' OR Name the artist who released the albums, 'Innervisions' and 'Songs in the Key of Life'.
A: David Bowie (2)
B: Stevie Wonder (2)

8. Who's real name is Marion Morrison OR Who's real name is Frances Gumm.
A: John Wayne (5)
B: Judy Garland (1)

9. What is 987 (decimal) in Base 7 OR What is 822 (base 9) in decimal.
A: 2610 (3) B: 668 (6)

10. How many square yards in a square mile OR what temperature has the same value in both centigrade and fahrenheit.
A: 3,097,600 (2) B: -40 degrees (14)

Questions 6, 7 and 8 proved a real low point, just 13 correct answers from a possible 48, only Scurra and Internet Stranger managed to get all three of these right. Questions 5 and 10 got a 100% correct response.

Scores to follow soon.

[3iff]

March scores

10 Scurra
9 Duke Gnome, Internet Stranger
8 Zag, Quailman, jesternl, Puzzlescot
7 Groza528, referee
6 JDTAY, Jaguar, AZu
5 Lepton, Undercover Monk, Courk
3 Raekuul

An average score of 6.9 this month.

Overall (end number is how many months they've participated)

27 Scurra (3)
22 Puzzlescot (3)
18 Duke Gnome (3)
17 Jesternl (3)
17 Lepton (3)
14 Quailman (2)
13 Referee (2)
13 Internet Stranger (2)
13 Undercover Monk (3)
13 Courk (3)
12 Zag (2)
11 JDTAY (3)
9 Azu (2)
8 Raekuul (2)
7 Cordelia (1)
7 Groza528 (1)
6 Jaguar (1)
4 Milkshake (2)
3 Lexprod (1)

Scurra maintains a comfortable lead with a 90% accuracy rate. Once the "best 6 scores" start kicking in I would expect to see things getting much closer.

The April quiz will appear at the start of April...

[Quailman]

bah! I got the base conversion correct but typed the wrong answer in my PM.

[3iff]

BTW...any objections to my scoring (if you think you got a right answer that I've missed)...let me know.

Quailman: Unfortunately I have to go by what I get in the PM...someone else possibly misordered the digits in the base conversion.

[Quailman]

I understand completely. If I had said

7: John Wayne
8: Stevie Wonder

I would hope you'd figure it out, but not for writing down an incorrect answer for one. BTW, is Wratch anything like Wrath?

[3iff]

Touche...Obviously one I missed when I was proofreading... I was commiserating with your loss of a point.

There was an oversight on my part where for some questions an answer could be given (as a guess) without specifying which part they were guessing at...effectively giving players two guesses at an answer. However, I don't think it made a difference.

[Scurra]

Yes, I confess to giving a complete slate for all three of the sets of seven. And I was definitely lucky with Q10 - I would have got the temperature one wrong.

I sometimes wish I knew actual useful things, you know...
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Zag]

I'd like to repeat my request that Scurra and PuzzleScot, at least, be given some sort of handicap, since they are cheating by being way smarter than the rest of us.

By the way, I liked the format of "Answer A or B" even though I would have gotten either A or B for 1, 4, 9, and 10 (but not C for #4).

[Scurra]

I wouldn't say "smarter". Just "really good at pub quizzes."
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[PuzzleScot]

I claim "happen to know" rather than any inate skill!
Knowledge is NOT equal to intelligence...

[3iff]

[Internet Stranger]

Stupid math, bah!
Why cant we have math questions be like fill out the multiplication table?
_________________
"I didn't know she was your sister I swear!"
www.InternetStranger.com

[MatthewV]

On questions 4 and 5...
I don't understand why you require 6/7 for one but only 2/6 (or 2/5) for the other. Is chemistry really more difficult than popular culture?

[3iff]

[Duke Gnome]

I've got no problem with whether the questions are easy or difficult as long as they are fair. (I think it was pretty well balanced. For example, although I could have named all 6 noble gasses, I couldn't name a single halogen. I doubt there's anybody on this board who couldn't name a single dwarf, a single deadly sin or a single actor in "The Magnificent 7")

[groza528]

I couldn't name a single actor in The Magnificent Seven but I could get all seven dwarves, all seven sins, all six noble gases and five halogens (I'm the one person who sent halogens )

[Zag]

But could you name all thirteen dwarves? ... in the order that they arrived at "The Unexpected Party"? (Actually, it should be dwarrow, which is the correct plural of dwarf in Tolkien's world.)

[I could name them, but not in the correct order.)

[PuzzleScot]

Only a dweeb would dwell on the dwindling interest in a 'dwarrow' of dwarves! (Is that a dwarf dwelling?)

[3iff]

Which leads me to another idea. I'm trying to incorporate novelty rounds (like the Either/Or) we've just had.

So, I plan to have a set of questions based on the specialist subjects of players (people who know the TV program "Mastermind" will know what I mean).

Each player should specify their specialist subject and I will set a harder than normal question on that topic. Each entrant will have to specify a specialist subject or answer a default question. The other answers from that month can be any other 9 selected from the specialist subjects of other players.

It's a work in progress (as I've only just thought of it...) so if any of you want to think about what your specialist subject might be...and let me know by PM. I'll see if such an idea is workable.

Comments welcome.

[Lepton*]

Interesting, but I think a lot of it will come down to (a) how restrictive we might be in choosing a speciality subject (ie: Houston city taxation bylaws, People who can see Russia from their doorsteps, and Successful reconciliation of Quantum Field Theory and General Relativity), and (b) how good you are at making questions about stuff you don't know that much about. You're a fine quizmaster, but I'm honestly unconvinced you'd be able to pose a good stumper about the work of Hawking and Unruh, say.

Still, it's certainly worth a shot. How about restricting the specialties to those with Dewey integer designations?

[3iff]

Lepton*

I agree...having given it some extra thought on the way home last night. Any 'very general' subject will be fine. A 'very' specialist choice will be hard/impossible to deal with.

I'll see what any players suggest and see what I can do. I'd be planning this for later in the year in any case and can easily scrap the idea if it's not going to work.

[Lepton*]

Perhaps you could ask each competitor to provide a list of successively-narrow topics, such as this:

Natural Resources -> Oil in the Continental US -> Contemporary Oil Extraction in North Dakota

[groza528]

No fair! That was mine!

Fine, I'll take Basic Arithmetic instead

[Zag]

Rather than trying to find an appropriate question in someone else's field of expertise, which is pretty much impossible, maybe you might turn it around -- ask each person to write a question, and then the others have to answer it.

I would suggest that the goal of each question is that exactly half of the people are able to answer it, so you can reward the question writers by that criteria: You get, say, 3 points if exactly half of the respondents get it correct (within ¹ / ₂ of a respondent), 2 points if within 2, and 1 point if within 3 ¹ / ₂

[3iff]

groza528: More than one person can choose the same/similar area of expertise.

Zag: Nice idea. I did toy with the idea of players setting questions. Having a target of 50% of the answers correct would allow some control over how easy/hard the questions are set. Secondly, I could sneak in player-set questions amongst mine with the owner getting points as you suggest.

Actually, that is a better idea than the specialist subject one I think. I'll ponder it and see what I can come up with.


How about...

Players get an honorary 1pt if/when I include a question set by them, just 1 question per player.

If the number of other players getting it right is between 45% and 55%, the setter gets 5 bonus points (as a separate one-off award)

If the number correct is between 40-44.99% or 55.01-60% then the setter gets 4 points.

This continues in 5% increments (up and down) until we hit an extreme range of 25%/75% that scores 1 point. Any correct answer score that is below 25% or 75% scores zero bonus points.

Questions are not identifed as player-set to avoid other players deliberately not answering the questions. In a month, any number of questions may be player-set.

I have the right to request format/wording changes to the questions but the question setter has the final say in how the question is presented.

The setter MUST provide the answer to the question (but give me a chance to answer it first!). If their answer is proved to be significantly wrong then they will score zero bonus points and all other entrants will be awarded a point for the question regardless of whether they gave an answer or not.

For the likely final scoreboard...we'll count the best 6 scores + the bonus points from a player-set question.

Comments first before I get flooded with lots of questions.

[Quailman]

How about we select our own category and then submit say, three sufficiently difficult questions in that category? The hard part comes when we won't know which of those three questions will be asked.

[Undercover Monk]

I will take Potent Potables for a 1000 please
_________________
The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[3iff]

[Quailman]

I might say that my category is the IRS, and three possible questions are:

1. What is the filing date for the gift tax return?

2. What is the maximum contribution to a Roth IRA for a single taxpayer who has a 401(k) plan available through his employer?

3. What form must be filed in order to apply for an extension of time to file a U.S. Individual Income Tax Return?

Now I wait to see which of those you ask with the April quiz. Not knowing which one you'll choose will cause me great anxiety.

[3iff]