Tag: washington dc

Trivia quiz: 10 Questions inspired by the Mona Lisa

11-May-09 / James Callan

Round 2 at the Old Pequliar on April 7, 2009

1) The Mona Lisa’s eyes peek out from the cover of what 2003 mystery, the second-best-selling novel of 2004?

2) To create his piece L.H.O.O.Q., what did Dadaist Marcel Duchamp draw on a postcard of the Mona Lisa?

3) Mona Lisa is one of the craters on what planet, where most of the large craters are named after women?

4) The song “Mona Lisa” was a 1950 hit for what jazz vocalist, who last hit the charts in 1991, 26 years after his death?

5) After the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911, police questioned what artist, who now has a museum in Paris dedicated to him?

6) In 1800, what world leader moved the Mona Lisa to his bedroom?

7) In 2005, “emotion recognition” software calculated that the Mona Lisa was 9% disgusted, 6% fearful, and 2% angry, but 83% what emotional adjective?

8) Mona Lisa Overdrive is the final book in the Sprawl trilogy. What seminal cyberpunk novel was the trilogy’s first book?

9) When the Mona Lisa came to the US in 1962, you could see it in which two East Coast cities? (Half point each)

10) What did the countess of Bearn add to the Mona Lisa back in 1906, which remains with the painting until this day?

Quiz: Albert Einstein

13-August-08 / James Callan

Round 6 at the Old Pequliar on August 12, 2008
Average score: 7.09/11 (11 teams)

1) On Einstein’s 72nd birthday, photographer Arthur Sasse took a picture of him sitting in the back seat of a car doing what?
2) In a 1993 play, Steve Martin tells the story of Einstein meeting what artist, mentioned in the play’s title, at the Lapin Agile?
3) E=MC2 is the title of an album released earlier this year by what pop diva?
4) In 2000, Michael Paterniti published Driving Mr. Albert, a memoir with the subtitle “a trip across America with” what?
5) Leo, June, Quincy, and Annie are the main characters on what Disney Channel animated series?
6) In the Australian comedy Young Einstein, Einstein falls in love with what fellow scientist?
7) Like the fictional genius Sherlock Holmes, Einstein played what musical instrument?
8) The Albert Einstein Memorial, a bronze statue by Robert Berks, is located in what major US city?
9) What frequent guest voice on The Simpsons was born Albert Einstein but changed his name in the late ’60s when he started working as a comedian?
10) In 2000, Time magazine named Einstein the Person of the Century. For one point each, name the two men Time name as runners up.

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Quiz: Shot on Location

27-June-07 / James Callan

I’ll name a TV series, you tell me where it’s set. For example, for Frasier, the answer is Seattle.

1) Magnum, P.I.
2) Charmed
3) Alice
4) The Bob Newhart Show
5) Matlock
6) Nip/Tuck
7) Murphy Brown
8) The Wire
9) The Office (US version)
10) Ally McBeal
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Quiz: Electrical Engineering

10-January-07 / James Callan

Used Jan. 9, 2006, at the Old Pequliar. Round topic requested by a team the previous week.

According to the International System of Units, what’s the official base unit for measuring electrical current? (Examples: meter measures length, second measures time.)
What 1970s science fiction film recounts electrical engineer Roy Neary’s long, strange trip to Wyoming…and beyond?
In 1844, Washington DC and Baltimore became the first American cities connected by what method of communication?
What Austrian-born electrical engineer, who patented a form of spread-spectrum still used in wireless communications, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?
German physicist Heinrich Hertz discovered and experimented with what form of electromagnetic radiation?
What device did Harold P. Brown invent in the late 1880s to help Thomas Edison publicize the dangers of alternating current?
The US Supreme Court upheld the radio-related patents of what inventor in June 1943, five months after he died?
After 1941, “radio direction finding” became known by what more popular acronym?
After the transistor was invented in 1947, it replaced what device in most electronic equipment?
Before inventing the Moog synthesizer, Robert Moog sold kits for building what other electronic musical instrument?