Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Monday Quiz XIV

Ruins

Note: Due to the expected high difficulty level of this Monday Quiz, a special offer. Any contestent answering all five questions correctly may demand a L&TM5K post on the topic of his or her choice!

1. Where is this, and what imperial South American civilization built it?



2. Where is this, and what Central American civilization built it?


3. It is 1906. What happened?


4. "Ruins" is probably too strong for this building, which has seen periods of disrepair but which has never been entirely abandoned since its construction in the 1100s. What is its name?



5. It's 1972. What's going on?


Submit your answers in the comments.

30 comments:

Karin said...

1. Machu Pichu, the Incas
2. Didn't Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky climb this?
3. This city had a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good day.
4. Angkhor Wat
5. This building is sneezing. Gesundheit!

fingerstothebone said...

1. Machu pichu...can't think of the civilization, although I know that if I read it, I would recognize it.
2. Hmmm...Mexico? Mayas.
3. San Francisco earthquake and fire.
4. Angkor Wat?
5. Yoyo did it!

Elizabeth said...

Damn. Thought I'd be first this time, still being up at an ungodly hour of the morning.

1. I think that's Macchu Pichu - Inca?

2. That might be Cancun, and the Mayans?

3. San Francisco had a bit of a problem with earthquakes and fire.

4. Angkor Wat, maybe, but I thought it was more jungly.

5. Those places in Chicago were finally torn down, horrible "planned communities" that turned quickly into ghettos. Cabrini Green?

Cartophiliac said...

1. Machu pichu built by the Inca

2. Yucutan, built by the Maya

3. San Francisco earthquake

4. Mall of Cambodia

5. Nixon attempting to forestall investigation by blowing up Watergate Building

d said...

1. macchu pichu (sp?) aztecs? or mayans? i can never remember.

2. um. mexico? mayans?

3. san francisco earthquake. don't live in calif people.

4. the pinecone palace. home to the great squirrel king.

5. those look like urban projects. that apparently someone wanted to demolish. that or the dorm i lived in in college. which should've been demolished considering some of the bad things that happened there.

Rex Parker said...

1. Macchu Pichu - Incas
2. Something by the Mayans, somewhere in the Yucatan
3. SF earthquake
4. Angkor Wat (sp!)
5. To prevent the spread of the Original Legionnaire's Disease, the hotel where the Legionnaires were meeting was demolished, Legionnaires and all.

rp

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater said...

How come nobody said The Chicago Fire for number 3? It's a good guess, no?

I hate this game . . .

Anonymous said...

1/ In the Andes, in Peru. It was built by the Incas. It's called Machu Picchu.

2/ In Mexico, inland from Cancun. Built by Mayans.

3/ Fires destroyed much of San Francisco after the earthquake.

4 / Angkor Wat.

5 / The famous '72 transformation of an apartment block into a parking lot. After a series of carefully controlled explosions (the photo was take directly after them), four sets of "ramps" were created (see the diagonal floors in the photo) to enable vehicles to move from floor to floor. The apartment building was originally named "The Paradise". Rumored to be the inspiration for Joni Mitchell's song about razing Paradise and putting up a parking lot.

As my answer to #5 sucks, I request that any correct answers of mine be transferred to Karin (if she missed any), because her answer to #5 made me laugh. Out loud.

Anonymous said...

1 Machu Pichu. The Incas, dude!
2 OK, we head north. Not Tenochtitlan, but one of the Mayan ruins. But which one? Palenque, Copan, Tikal? I'm going with Chichen Itza.
3 The San Francisco earthquake, and subsequent fires.
4 I believe that's Angor Wat. Not to be confused with the Ethiopian Yedoro Wat, which is a tasty chicken-and-egg pairing.
5 The failed public housing Pruitt Igo is being demolished. In St. Louis, I think. Sort of the end of the Age of Innocence in modern urban design.

Anonymous said...

This is really a test of my ability to spell foreign place names:
1. Machu Picu: hmm: Incan?
2. Some where in Mexico: Mayan
3. SF earthquake/fire
4. Ankor Wat
5. Demolishing housing projects in [insert blight ridden and riot torn northeastern US city here].

Rebel said...

1. I originally thought this was something the Aztec had built... but now everyone's saying it's matchu pitchu (I couldn't help it, my computer was scrolling very slowly!) I'll go with my original "Aztec something in Mexico"
2. This is the one I thought was Matchu Pitchu.... I guess I was wrong
3. San Francisco after the earthquake & subsequent fires
4. Looks like it might be in Thailand... but it also kinda looks like a precursur to the Taj Mahal. I'll say it's a palace in thailand
5. One of the Projects in Chicago being destroyed? Possibly to make room for more bigger worse projects?

Anonymous said...

1. Machu Pichu, Incan
2. Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mayan
3. San Francisco earthquake
4. Angkor Wat
5. Darn it, we never learned about the 70s in school... Some building somewhere getting torn down.

Dug said...

As you may know I hate quizzes.
But I loves me some ruins!

1. Macchu Picchu - Peru - Incas
2. Tikal - Guatemala - Maya
3. Big ol' quake levels SF
4. Angkor Wat
5. They blew up the Cabrini-Green Housing Project in Chicago

Mr. Shain said...

all i know is that none of these are hungarian ruins.

Chance said...

1. macchu picchu by Joe Inca.
2. I think that's called a zigurat, by Mike Mayans. (It may be Aztecs, but I'm going with Mayan)
3. SF quake?
4. Angkor wat, in Cambodia. also on the flag. vexillology!
5. is it the demolition of housing projects, Somewhere in the South? Possibly. You could fill a book with what I don't know!

I should like to register my satisfaction at the increased difficulty of these games since the Sistine Chapel days.

McGuff said...

1. Machu Pichu, Incan
2. Chichen Itza, Mayan
3. SF Earthquake, in which fires did more damage the the original shake (as mentioned to me yesterday by my 10 y.o. son)
4. Angor Wat, (Indonesia?)
5. How about demolition of housing projects in St. Louis. Zoom on the picture and there's an arch-shaped thingy on the left side. Otherwise I would have guessed Watts in LA. Seems a little early for housing project demo, but it sure isn't the Sands in Las Vegas.

McGuff said...

Elizabeth: Cabrini Green was going strong until the late 90's. Used to drive near it regularly. Key lesson: respect random gunfire - a couple times a year stray bullets would hit cars and people on the nearby streets.

The signs near it's perimeter had a circle separating the words Cabrini and Green - made it look like an Chicago Irish rendition: Cabrini O'Green. That always cracked me up.

Dr. Noise: Not positive, but buildings are too tall for 1870's.

McGuff said...

Mrs 5000 - you rock!!! It must be St. Louis if that's your answer. And all I had was the arch.

M5K: I will accept the appropriate penalty for posting three consecutive comments.

Anonymous said...

1. Peru. the Incas
2. Mexico (yucatan) the Mayans
3. Earthquake and fire in San Francisco.
4.I thin this is in Thailand---Ankor Wot????
5. Demolition of a building--I think this is the city that was near Chernoble. Did they just abondon the place, or did they demolish some of it, too? Anyway--that's my guess. or else it's in Chicago.

Anonymous said...

1, Machu Piccu, Incan I see that one almost every day on a colleague's desk.
2. Mayan comes to mind but nothing specific
3. San Fransisco earthquake
4. No idea
5. Implosion/demolition. Looks like some projects coming down.

Michael5000 said...

Here come the answers:

1. That would be Machu Pichu, the great "Lost City of the Hungarians." Wait, no. "...of the Inca."

2. This is a Mayan ruin, at Chichen Itza.

3. The San Francisco Earthquake and fire.

4. Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

5. The award-winning Pruitt-Igoe apartment towers in Saint Louis, Missouri, are being demolished, less than 20 years after their construction. Also, according to fancy-schmancy theorists, Modernism itself is coming to a sudden symbolic end.

Michael5000 said...

So, twin Exclamation Points this week to Oregon's Sweetheart, or at least mine, Mrs.5000 -- who hit the ball out of the park -- and to Mrs. Finn's Sweetheart, Phineas -- who impressed the judges by identifying the location of #5 from the St. Louis Arch.

Mrs.5000 may dictate a post topic, per the special rules for this week. Phineas, in light of the unfortunate "(Indonesia?)" after his correct answer for #4, may not, but he still gets the Exclamation Point.

Karma, Sandy, and Chance had fine, fine answers that lacked only a little more specificity for Question #5. They get singled out for kudos, but do not get the Exclamation Point. I would not blame them if they never read this blog again.

Michael5000 said...


@Karin: San Francisco did indeed have a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good day. Or so I have read.

@fingers: No! Yoyo is not one of those destructive cats.

@Cartophiliac: I like your answer to #5!

@d: I like your answer to #4!

@Rex: I like your answer to #5! You guys are highly funny.

@Dr. Ken: Don't feel bad. I probably would have guessed the Chicago Fire myself.

@Dug: Yeah, quizzes suck.

Thanks for playing, y'all!

McGuff said...

TY for my first !!!

Unfortunate indeed - I'm thinking Laos-no, Thailand-uh no, Burma-nope,.....just couldn't pull it up.

Anonymous said...

Woo hoo! I am here to claim my prize! Since life at Castle5000 is all about lists of options, I would like M5K to hold forth on one of the following topics:
1 power tools
2 aviation disaster analysis
3 convenience stores
4 master bedroom suites
5 The Seven (_______) Wonders of ________
6 Behind the Scenes at the M5K Quizroom

Anonymous said...

Oddly, Pruitt-Igoe (I can spell it again now) had a small role in the early days of our courtship, when we were first mapping out shared knowledge and opinions. In my memory, something like. . .

Ms.not-yet5K: I can't believe I can't find that restaurant. I thought it was around here somewhere.
Michaelnot-yet5K: So, what event is said to mark the death of modernism?
Ms.not-yet5K: Um, the demolition of Pruitt-Igoe?
Michaelnot-yet5K: (radiant smile).

DrSchnell said...

OK, I know I'm too late, but I want to see if I can get a bonus something-or-other for one bit of trivial knowledge (see #5).
1) Macchu Picchu (sp?) - Inca
2) Chichen Itza , Mayans
3) Big ol' earthquake followed by fires in San Francisco
4) Angkor Wat
5) Death of modernism,as symbolized by destruction of Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis. And my extra credit point: What day was this picture taken? Answer: July 15, 1972. Why do I think I know this? I vaguely remember when reading David Harvey noticing this, because it would have been my second birthday.

Chance said...

Hey, that's lame. I want my exclamation point. You did not ask for the location, or I would have tried harder to think about it.

I want my money back, too.

Rebel said...

"
Ms.not-yet5K: I can't believe I can't find that restaurant. I thought it was around here somewhere.
Michaelnot-yet5K: So, what event is said to mark the death of modernism?
Ms.not-yet5K: Um, the demolition of Pruitt-Igoe?
Michaelnot-yet5K: (radiant smile)."


Geek love... it's a beautiful thing. =)

Michael5000 said...

Chance has invoked his right to appeal under the rules of the Monday Quiz!!!

However, after review, the ruling on the field has been confirmed. For an Exclamation Point, I was not have needed a location necessarily; the name of the complex, the historical context, or the whole "death of Modernism" thing would have been fine as well. Therefore, the lack of a specific call for a location is insufficient grounds for reversal.

@DocSchnell: I looked into specific dates, but it turns out that the buildings, contrary to what I had assumed, did not all go down on the same day. The demolitions started much earlier in the year, but they may have lasted into July....