Online Test Recap & Discussion (Central), October 5, 2016

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[Archivists]

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[nlw44]

Good luck to anyone taking the test tonight.

My transcript of sherder's video (as ever, thank you!) follows. I'm glad I took it yesterday for real, because I got 44 off of the video tonight.

Spoiler

1 – AUTHORS
IN ADDITION TO HIS MANY SPY NOVELS, HE WROTE “CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG”

2 – THE ACTRESS’ ROLE
IN 2016 SHE PLAYED MYSTIQUE IN AN “X-MEN” FILM

3 – SCIENTISTS
IN THE 1830S HE NOTED THE DIFFERENCES IN MOCKINGBIRDS ON 4 ISLANDS IN THE GALAPAGOS

4 – U.S. GEOGRAPHY
THE MISSOURI RIVER PROVIDES AROUND 150 MILES OF THIS STATE’S BORDER WITH NEBRASKA

5 – RELIGION
IT’S JAPAN’S OLDEST RELIGION

6 – ANCIENT ROMANS
IN 40 B.C. HE WED OCTAVIAN’S SISTER OCTAVIA BUT SOON HAD HIS EYES ON CLEOPATRA

7 – RESTAURANTS
THE BUBBA GUMP SHRIMP CO. WAS INSPIRED BY THIS FILM

8 – HOLIDAYS
THIS MAY HOLIDAY WAS ONCE KNOWN AS DECORATION DAY

9 – ANIMALS
TYPES OF THIS MARSUPIAL INCLUDE RED & EASTERN GRAY

10 – MUSEUMS
MUSEUMS DEVOTED TO THIS WRITER CAN BE FOUND IN KENYA & DENMARK

11 – 8-LETTER WORDS
IT’S A COURSE OUTLINE OF A SCHOOL CLASS

12 – SEAS
THE GULF OF BOTHNIA IS AN EXTENSION OF THIS SEA

13 – HITMAKERS
SHE HIT THE CHARTS WITH “SEND MY LOVE (TO YOUR NEW LOVER)”

14 – ENGLISH LITERATURE
PART OF THIS E.M. FORSTER NOVEL TAKES PLACE AT THE PENSIONE BERTOLINI IN ITALY

15 – THE CONSTITUTION
THE PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION PROMISES TO “PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON” THIS

16 – DISEASES
IT IS CANCER OF THE BONE MARROW

17 – NAME THAT BIBLE BOOK
PHARAOH’S MEN HAVE BIG PROBLEMS WITH THE RED SEA IN CHAPTER 14 OF THIS BOOK

18 – TRAVEL & TOURISM
THE MURANO ISLANDS IN THIS CITY’S LAGOON ARE FAMED FOR THEIR GLASSWARE

19 – GRAMMAR
OUCH & UGH ARE EXAMPLES OF THIS PART OF SPEECH

20 – AMERICAN NOVELISTS
HE SET MANY OF HIS NOVELS IN THE MYTHICAL YOKNAPATAWPHA COUNTY

21 – HISTORIC WOMEN
IN 1774 HER TROOPS CRUSHED A PEASANT REVOLT LED BY YEMELYAN PUGACHEV, A COSSACK

22 – MONEY
IT’S THE UNIT OF CURRENCY OF BAHRAIN & IRAQ

23 – POETS & POETRY
IN “ODE TO THE WEST WIND”, HE WROTE, “O WIND, IF WINTER COMES, CAN SPRING BE FAR BEHIND?”

24 – TRANSPORTATION
IN 2001 THIS JET MANUFACTURER MOVED ITS HEADQUARTERS FROM SEATTLE TO CHICAGO

25 – THE WESTERN U.S.
CALIFORNIANS KEEP AN EYE ON THIS GEOLOGICAL FEATURE THAT RUNS 800 MILES SOUTH TO NORTH, ENDING AROUND SAN FRANCISCO

26 – TV DRAMAS
RAMI MALEK PLAYS ELLIOT ALDERSON, A HACKER ON THIS SHOW ON USA

27 – AMERICAN LITERATURE
THIS WILLIAM STYRON NOVEL TELLS THE STORY OF A POLISH WOMAN & HER FRIGHTFUL EXPERIENCES IN NAZI GERMANY

28 – CHEMICAL ELEMENTS
Hg IS THE SYMBOL FOR THIS ELEMENT

29 – ARCHITECTURE
THIS VERTICAL SUPPORT CONSISTS OF A BASE, A SHAFT & A CAPITAL

30 – THE 19TH CENTURY
AN 1820 AGREEMENT BY CONGRESS REGARDING SLAVERY WAS THIS STATE’S “COMPROMISE”

31 – CLASSICAL MUSIC
IN 1826 THIS GERMAN COMPOSED THE OVERTURE TO “A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM”

32 – RHYME TIME
A MAXED OUT MALE BOVINE

33 – BUSINESS & INDUSTRY
THIS AIRLINE IS HEADQUARTERED IN THE SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA SUBURB OF MASCOT

34 – MYTHOLOGICAL ITEMS
MJOLNIR IS THIS TYPE OF WEAPON

35 – CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
A CLASSIC BOOK BY GEORGE SELDEN TELLS OF THIS NOISY INSECT “IN TIMES SQUARE”

36 – ISLANDS
THE LARGEST FORM OF GRIZZLY BEAR CAN BE FOUND ON THIS ALASKAN ISLAND OF THE SAME NAME

37 – QUARTERBACKS
THE PACKERS CHOSE THIS MAN IN ROUND 1 OF THE 2005 NFL DRAFT

38 – THE U.S. SENATE
IN THE U.S. SENATE, THIS MANY VOTES ARE NEEDED TO END A LEGISLATION FILIBUSTER

39 – OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
THIS 2-LETTER MOON ORBITS JUPITER

40 – ALGEBRA
GIVEN 4x + 1 = 7y, IF x = 5 THEN y = THIS

41 – MIDDLE “D”
DESIGNATION OF A STUDENT AT A MILITARY SCHOOL

42 – WORLD CAPITALS
IT’S THE CAPITAL OF SERBIA

43 – COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES
THIS MILWAUKEE UNIVERSITY IS NAMED FOR A 17TH CENTURY FRENCH JESUIT MISSIONARY & EXPLORER

44 – VICE PRESIDENTS
HE WAS GEORGE H.W. BUSH’S VICE PRESIDENT

45 – NONFICTION
‘THE BOYS IN THE BOAT” TELLS THE STORY OF THE 1936 U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM PURSUING GOLD IN THIS SPORT

46 – ART & ARTISTS
IN 1888 THIS DUTCHMAN PAINTED HIS “PORTRAIT OF PERE TANGUY”

47 – COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES
IT’S ALPHABETICALLY FIRST AMONG THE 8 IVY LEAGUE SCHOOLS

48 – AT THE MOVIES
A CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST IS ONE OF THE TWO MAIN CHARACTERS IN THIS 1999 M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN FILM

49 – SHORT STORIES
IN AN 1819 TALE, HIS DAUGHTER TELLS HIM IT’S BEEN TWENTY YEARS SINCE HE “WENT AWAY FROM HOME WITH HIS GUN”

50 – HOMOPHONES
CLANGING PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS, OR THINGS THAT REPRESENT OTHER THINGS

answers per jeff6286 further downthread

[econgator]

Should have taken last night's. Don't think I passed this one.

[mpahu]

Once again it looks like I chose my worst night to take the test. Last night I would have had 42/50. I'd be shocked if I hit 30 tonight.

EDIT: 35 tonight. Better than I thought, but still kicking myself.

[swale]

I agree; this was much tougher than last night's test. I would have gotten 41 yesterday; today I MIGHT sneak in at 35, but it'll be close.

[OSXpert]

GF (who is already swimming in the pool) took this one for fun. Looked easier than last night's to me which I took for real, but who knows.

She had "Brown" for the Ivy League school, but luckily she changed it to " 'Arvard" at the last second. Phew.

[Anachronism]

I would only have hit 30 yesterday. Feel about the same today. Normally I'm strong with American Lit., but not today. Really pissed about blanking on

Spoiler

Venice, as "the Italian city with all the canals"

is not going to be accepted. How could I blank on that?

Yep, 30 again, assuming Leukemia is wrong. I should just stop this nonsense - I'm not quite there.

[jltexan]

I would say this test was about average for me. I really, really, really don't like the inclusion of algebra on the test. It is really hard (for me) to switch from Adele and Brown to solving for y.

[NewsToTom]

I noted 12 answers during the test. I got 10 of them right. Most of the guesses were highly educated ones I'd expect to get right at least 75% of the time, but a couple were closer to 50-50 . Unless I screwed up something somewhere else, I got a 48, one 2016 pop culture miss, and one ridiculously painful, humiliating, "that can't be right, it's too easy" miss. Not bad after yesterday's 40.

[DysonSphere]

Leave it to me to choose the hardest online test of all time. Practice last night would have been ~40. Tonight probably low 30s.

[Anachronism]

I would say this test was about average for me. I really, really, really don't like the inclusion of algebra on the test. It is really hard (for me) to switch from Adele and Brown to solving for y.

It's a shame they don't have Jeopalgebra, because I could do fifty of those in five minutes. Of course, no one wants to watch a bunch of aging smart-ass math whizzes.

[jeff6286]

Here's what I've got for correct answers:

Spoiler

1 Ian Fleming
2 Jennifer Lawrence
3 Charles Darwin
4 Iowa seems right, still trying to confirm that South Dakota isn't a similar length
5 Shinto
6 Mark Antony
7 Forrest Gump
8 Memorial Day
9 Kangaroo
10 Karen Blixen (or Isak Dinesen)
11 Syllabus
12 Baltic
13 Adele
14 A Room with a View
15 Defense
16 Leukemia
17 Exodus
18 Venice
19 Interjection
20 William Faulkner
21 Catherine the Great
22 Dinar
23 Percy Shelley
24 Boeing
25 San Andreas Fault
26 Mr. Robot
27 Sophie's Choice
28 Mercury
29 Column
30 Missouri
31 Felix Mendelssohn
32 Full Bull
33 Qantas
34 Hammer
35 Cricket
36 Kodiak
37 Aaron Rodgers
38 60
39 Io
40 3
41 Cadet
42 Belgrade
43 Marquette
44 Dan Quayle
45 Rowing (Crew)
46 Vincent Van Gogh
47 Brown
48 The Sixth Sense
49 Rip Van Winkle
50 Cymbals/Symbols

[The Talking Mime]

Considering my age and knowledge base, I feel I did okay on this test. I feel confident I got at least 30, and I just looked up some answers I wasn't sure about and I think I may have gotten the 35 I needed, but it may just be wishful thinking. I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking this test was a bit tough.

[jeff6286]

Trying to verify which state's border with Nebraska includes 150 miles of the Missouri River. From the pictures and dimensions I'm finding, both seem very close, and I can't find any sources actually giving lengths to the border sections of the Missouri.

[jeff6286]

Leave it to me to choose the hardest online test of all time. Practice last night would have been ~40. Tonight probably low 30s.

I had 43 last night, I believe 45 tonight, they seemed pretty similar to me. But don't let me interrupt your hyperbole...

[rjaguar3]

Based on the answers above, I got 40 or 41 (depending on whether Iowa is right for 4). Missed 2 (WAG Paltrow), 9 (opossum), 15 (welfare), 16 (osteoporosis), 18 (Naples, couldn't pull Venice even though I was there in August), 26 (WAG Psych), 35 (WAG bumblebee), 42 (Sarajevo; couldn't pull the capital), 48 (half-hearted guess of Midnight's Children)

[Clue Jungry]

On the answers, I think No. 6 referred to 40 B.C., four years after Julius Caesar's death. The correct answer would seem to be Marc Antony.

[Elijah Baley]

Trying to verify which state's border with Nebraska includes 150 miles of the Missouri River. From the pictures and dimensions I'm finding, both seem very close, and I can't find any sources actually giving lengths to the border sections of the Missouri.

Doesn't it seem like it's most likely Iowa?

[rjaguar3]

On the answers, I think No. 6 referred to 40 B.C., four years after Julius Caesar's death. The correct answer would seem to be Marc Antony.

#6 is definitely Antony (I put a checkmark on my paper tally indicating I was confident, so I didn't compare to the answer above).