Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Wednesday Quiz is drifting towards an incapacitating insanity

It's:


The Wednesday Quiz, in its third incarnation, is basically the same old weekly game of knowledge, intuition, inductive reasoning, and willingness to risk public embarrassment in a friendly and moderately supportive environment!!  

Traditionally, it is a closed-book quiz.

It is very possible that answers will come out over the weekend.

1. While addicted to opium and drifting towards an incapacitating insanity, this once-talented scholar crafted theories of a vaguely defined future entity that would transcend humanity, promulgated the idea that all living things value power over survival, and insisted that certain exceptional people should not be constrained by morality -- and yet, oddly, he is still taken seriously in many quarters. Who is this very famous nineteenth century German guy?

2. It's the largest city in northern Mexico and the capital of Nuevo León.

3. Speaking of the will to power, here's a frame from the movie _______________.



4. This is, for better or worse, among the best-known works of the Swiss painter _____________.



5. A highly intellectual plantation farmer, he founded the University of Virginia; his private library became the core collection of the Library of Congress. He also had an active diplomatic and political career. What's his name?

6. What's the term for this?



7. It's sometimes said that there are 330 million of them, but then it's often said that they are all avatars of Brahman.  What are they?

8. What was the name of the ambitious economic development program in the late 1950s and early 1960s that, in addition to stifling its country's economy, ended up killing about 25 million people? (Oddly, its architect is still taken seriously in some quarters.)

9. This is the Wednesday Quiz of Nonidi, 29 Frimaire CCXX in the ____________________.

10. What the technical term for a chemical reaction that releases heat?

--

Put 330 million answers in the comments.

8 comments:

Christine M. said...

1. Nietzsche
2. Monterrey
3. Lawrence of Arabia
4. Klee
5. Thomas Jefferson
6. dunno
7. Hindu gods
8. Great Leap Forward
9. dunno
10. dunno

Voron X said...

1. Nietzsche
2. Monterrey
3. Lawrence of Arabia
4. I don't know, Kreuller? Those are always tasty.
5. Jefferson, Thomas
6. i (stands for imaginary)
7. Hindu Gods
8.The Great People's Program of Awesomeness for the Future?
9. The French Revolutionary/Republic Calendar? (220 years ago sounds about right)
X. exothermic

PB said...

1. Nietsche (sp.?)
2. Mexico City?
3. Lawrence of Arabia
4. Kandinsky? (only modrn painter I can think of whose name starts with K)
5. Thomas Jefferson (to this day, professors at UVA are addressed as Mr. or Ms./Mrs. because Mr. Jefferson did not have a doctorate, and one wouldn't want to portray oneself as better than Mr. Jeffrson)
6. Imaginary number (i for short)
7. Hindu gods
8. Great Leap Forward
9. French Revolutionary Calendar
10. Exothermic (it's that or endothermic, but my memory of Greek prefixes is a little rusty)

Ben said...

1. Nietsche
2. Mexico City? I think the "northern Mexico" specifier rules this one out. ¡Mierda!
3. Lawrence of Arabia
4. Klimt
5. Thomas Jefferson
6. Imaginary number
7. Hindi
8. Glosnost. No, Greenspanism. Aw, heck, I don't know!
9. Franciscan Calendar (yes, I made that up)
10. I think evaporation releases heat, but I'm not sure that is what you are looking for.

dhkendall said...

1. The crazy guy who hangs out at the mall
2. Dallas/Fort Worth
3. Borat
4. Weirdy McRound-Face
5. Thhomas Jefferson ;)
6. Math, duh!
7. Krishna's user pictures online.
8. Obama's stimulus package
9. land of make believe
10. hot

UnwiseOwl said...

The Wednesday Quiz is still taken seriously in some quarters...

1. I think it has to be Nitsche, but I really have nothing to base that on except that he's a dude whose name starts with N. Obviously need to learn more about my opium-affected philosophers.
2. I only know one Mexican city and that's Mexico City? Is it Mexico City?
3. Lawrence of Arabia!
4. King Karol KenSwiss??
5. Thomas Jefferson, maybe?
6. i
7. Hindus? I'd say Hindu deities, but the whole reincarnation thing could mean that the two are one and the same or something, I dunno.
8. Gabon?
9. Nonidi? CCXX? It HAS to be the Glorious Calendar of the Glorious People's Republic of Free France! I've become less enamoured of the idea of a decimal calendar as I've gotten older.
10. Exothermic, if I recall correctly.

I'm enjoying the new additions to my stamp collection by the way, thankyou.

dhkendall said...

Owl: Apologies if my bits of frivolity upset you - I do enjoy the Wednesday Quiz, and read it every week (although I usually don't submit answers every week as the scores don't seem to be tallied anywhere, nor are the answers given (though I can usually tell by the prevailing answers given by this erudite group), but I hope to inflect some enjoyment in the proceedings (something that M5K sometimes does as well), especially if the first answer that comes to mind on a few questions is a humorous one. I am, however, a relative newcomer here and if my frivolous answers are against the spirit of the Wednesday Quiz, I'll keep them to myself.

gS49 said...

1. Nietzche
2. M
3. Lawrence of Arabia
4. Klimt
5. Jefferson, Thos.
6. Irrational number
7. Hindu gods
8. Great Leap Forwarde
9. French Revolutionary Calendar
10. Exothermic