Question-specific Discussion

[Urech hydantoin synthesis]

This is the thread for discussing specific questions in LIST IV.

[NLiu]

Is it possible to put the text of the "prices" tossup in round 5 up? I believe that after the first clue (Shoe-leather costs), "inflation" should still be an acceptable or at least promptable answer.

[Urech hydantoin synthesis]

13. Shoe-leather costs can be incurred by rises in this quantity, while these quantities can be “sticky” due to high menu costs. Perfectly competitive firms are “takers” of this quantity, and firms exit the industry in the short run if it is below the shutdown point. Monopolies can maximize profit by instituting two-part tariffs and other methods of (*) discriminating this quantity. The demand for Veblen goods increases in response to increases in this quantity, unlike most cases in which quantity demanded goes down when this goes up. For ten points, give this term for the amount of money that a good costs, which rise due to inflation.
ANSWER: price
<BZ>

I could see a case for "inflation rate" being promptable or acceptable, but I don't think "inflation" itself is.

[JHuh33]

Do you mind posting the Forster question? Thanks in advance.

[Off To See The Lizard]

13. Shoe-leather costs can be incurred by rises in this quantity, while these quantities can be “sticky” due to high menu costs. Perfectly competitive firms are “takers” of this quantity, and firms exit the industry in the short run if it is below the shutdown point. Monopolies can maximize profit by instituting two-part tariffs and other methods of (*) discriminating this quantity. The demand for Veblen goods increases in response to increases in this quantity, unlike most cases in which quantity demanded goes down when this goes up. For ten points, give this term for the amount of money that a good costs, which rise due to inflation.
ANSWER: price
<BZ>

I could see a case for "inflation rate" being promptable or acceptable, but I don't think "inflation" itself is.

Why wouldn't inflation be acceptable?

Could you post the Assasination of Caesar tossup? I think it was referred to as an "event," leading me to buzz in with "Ides of March" and being negged.

[RexSueciae]

EDIT: Never mind, I'm silly.

[MuffinSandwich]

Do you mind posting the Forster question? Thanks in advance.

10. This author wrote a novel in which the hypnotist Lasker Jones offers advice about same-sex marriage to the protagonist after he spends a night with Alec Scudder. In another work by this author, Charles is sentenced to three years in jail after a falling bookcase kills Leonard Bast. In a third novel by this man, Mrs. Moore is unable to continue exploring the (*) Marabar Caves after receiving an invitation from Fielding’s tea party. In that work, Ronny Heaslop decides not to marry Adela Quested after she drops her charges of sexual assault against Dr. Aziz. For ten points, identify this English author of Maurice, Howard’s End and A Passage to India.
ANSWER: Edward Morgan Forster
<KT>

Could you post the Assasination of Caesar tossup? I think it was referred to as an "event," leading me to buzz in with "Ides of March" and being negged.

11. Several months before this event, a tablet predicting its occurrence was excavated from the tomb of the founder of Capua. The Sacred Way and a bridge over the Field of Mars were considered as possible settings for this event, whose key figure was given a warning note that went unread just prior to it. (*) Calpurnia tried to prevent that figure from attending this event, whose perpetrators were later killed at the Battle of Philippi. A statue of a man with 23 wounds was erected after this event, which occurred during a false meeting of senators at the Theatre of Pompey. For ten points, identify this event in which Cassius and Brutus stabbed a Roman dictator to death on the Ides of March.
ANSWER: assassination of Julius Caesar [accept equivalents like “killing Caesar”]
<JD>

I would argue that the "Ides of March" is the day on which the event occurred, not the actual event itself. Though I guess a prompt wouldn't hurt.

[Byzantium1453]

Could I please see the tossup on ozone in round 10 (I think).

[Ailing Knight-at-Arms]

Could I please see the tossup on stacks and the shari'a/fiqh/Muhammad bonus?

[MuffinSandwich]

13. The cold plasma process can be used to produce this compound, which can be used to cleave alkenes and alkynes
in a reaction that often leads to the cracking of rubber tubes. It can react with cyanides and urea to reduce their
toxicity, and unlike its more common counterpart, this molecule is diamagnetic. It can be measured in (*) Dobson
units, and the tropospheric variety of this compound present in smog is an eye irritant, while free radical reactions with CFCs
in the stratosphere lead to this molecule’s degradation. For ten points, identify this molecule comprised of three oxygen atoms
that forms a layer in the stratosphere which shields the Earth from UV radiation.
ANSWER: ozone [or O3]
<EC>

12. The shunting-yard algorithm evaluates operators using this structure, which helps reduce memory access by
leaving operators at the end of operands, a format known as reverse Polish notation. The x87 floating point
architecture organizes 8 registers into this structure that uses FXCH instructions to swap registers, although it may
still encounter its namesake (*) "overflows" common to flat registers. One method to inspect but not modify these
structures is the peek operation, although they fundamentally run by push and pop from the top. For ten points, identify these
last-in-first-out data structures.
ANSWER: stack
<EC>

17. Bonus: Sources for this include Sunnah and the Qur’an. For ten points each:
[10] Identify this Islamic legal and moral code, which is enforced in countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia.
ANSWER: Sharia Law
[10] This term denotes the study, interpretation, and implementation of Sharia law and Islamic jurisprudence.
ANSWER: fiqh
[10] Sunnah can be found in hadiths, which are records of the life and sayings of this Islamic prophet.
ANSWER: Muhammad ibn `Abd Allāh
<BZ>

[Off To See The Lizard]

Can I see the full tossup on "poems"?

[MuffinSandwich]

20. Archibald MacLeish wrote that these entities “should be palpable and mute,” and “should not mean, but be.” The speaker of Ezra Pound’s Hugh Selwyn Mauberley mentions how he “strove to resuscitate the dead art” of this practice for three years. Persian (*) ghazals by Hafiz and Rumi were one type of this work, and examples of other Arabic ones include quatrains. Horace wrote about the “art of this,” and the “epic” variety of this form was practiced by Homer. For ten points, identify these literary works which come in forms like the villanelle and the sonnet, and may or may not rhyme.
ANSWER: poems [or poetry; accept any other word forms]
<BZ>

[Off To See The Lizard]

20. Archibald MacLeish wrote that these entities “should be palpable and mute,” and “should not mean, but be.” The speaker of Ezra Pound’s Hugh Selwyn Mauberley mentions how he “strove to resuscitate the dead art” of this practice for three years. Persian (*) ghazals by Hafiz and Rumi were one type of this work, and examples of other Arabic ones include quatrains. Horace wrote about the “art of this,” and the “epic” variety of this form was practiced by Homer. For ten points, identify these literary works which come in forms like the villanelle and the sonnet, and may or may not rhyme.
ANSWER: poems [or poetry; accept any other word forms]
<BZ>

That first line seems way too easy. I think even Hugh Selwyn Mauberley is less read than Ars Poetica and the "palpable and mute" line is literally the first line of Ars Poetica so it's immediately recognizable.

[Urech hydantoin synthesis]

That first line seems way too easy. I think even Hugh Selwyn Mauberley is less read than Ars Poetica and the "palpable and mute" line is literally the first line of Ars Poetica so it's immediately recognizable.

I can see an argument for moving the Hugh Selwyn Mauberley clue earlier, and in retrospect probably should have done so, but I wouldn't characterize both of those clues as "way too easy", unless I'm mistaken in how often MacLeish's Ars Poetica is read by high schoolers.

[Off To See The Lizard]

That first line seems way too easy. I think even Hugh Selwyn Mauberley is less read than Ars Poetica and the "palpable and mute" line is literally the first line of Ars Poetica so it's immediately recognizable.

I can see an argument for moving the Hugh Selwyn Mauberley clue earlier, and in retrospect probably should have done so, but I wouldn't characterize both of those clues as "way too easy", unless I'm mistaken in how often MacLeish's Ars Poetica is read by high schoolers.

Yeah i think Hugh Selwyn Mauberley should be moved earlier. I misspoke, I didn't mean that Ars Poetica is often read by high schoolers. I just thought it was a little bit too early to place a poem whose sole focus is to talk about what poems should be like in the first clue of a tossup about poems.

[marianna]

Could I see the Byron/Shelley bonus, the Thatcher/Argentina bonus, and the Leviathan tossup?

Vasari and the Iditarod guy both seemed excessively hard as hard parts.

I don't know much about comp sci, but I think the answer-line for CPU should account for the possible answer of "processor", which seems related (?). Also, our moderator mentioned that packet 2 had misnumbered bonuses (two 18s or 19s).

[MuffinSandwich]

20. Bonus: It talks of a woman who has “The smiles that win” and “the tints that glow.” For ten points each:
[10] Name this poem, whose title action is performed “like the night/ Of cloudless climes and starry skies” by a woman whose “love is innocent.”
ANSWER: “She Walks in Beauty”
[10] “She Walks in Beauty” is a poem by this Romantic poet who also wrote Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and Don Juan. He famously died during the Greek War of Independence.
ANSWER: Lord George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
[10] This other Romantic poet compared death to “pleasant dreams” in “Thanatopsis” and about the nature of guidance in “To a Waterfowl.”
ANSWER: William Cullen Bryant
<KT>

10. Bonus: For ten points each, answer the following about recent deaths among world leaders:
[10] This former president of Venezuela died in March 2013 and was succeeded by his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicolas Maduro, as President.
ANSWER: Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias
[10] The funeral of this former Prime Minister took place in April 2013. Cristina Kirchner was not invited to that funeral due to tensions over the Falkland Islands brought on by this female British Prime Minister.
ANSWER: Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher
[10] A former dictator of this country named Jorge Videla was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping children, where he died in May 2013.
ANSWER: Argentina
<BZ>

20. This work claims that appetite and aversion underlie all “Passions” of humans after dividing animal motion into “Vital” and “Voluntary” components. It lists judicial and law-making authority as two of the twelve principal rights of Commonwealths. Besides stating that (*) absolute monarchy is the best of three types of government, a section titled “Of the Kingdom of Darkness” explains four causes of ignorance. This work warns of a “war of all against all” and describes life as “nasty, brutish, and short.” For ten points, identify this treatise by Thomas Hobbes titled after a biblical sea monster.
ANSWER: Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil
<KT>

[ScoBo]

I don't know much about comp sci, but I think the answer-line for CPU should account for the possible answer of "processor", which seems related (?).

Could I see this bonus?

[Rudolf Volz's Hamlet In Rock]

In my room in Round 7 (I think?), there was a bit of confusion over the Pope Toss-up, as the other team first line buzzed "patriarch". Could I possibly see the tossup, and would this be an acceptable answer?

[samus149]

11. Several months before this event, a tablet predicting its occurrence was excavated from the tomb of the founder of Capua. The Sacred Way and a bridge over the Field of Mars were considered as possible settings for this event, whose key figure was given a warning note that went unread just prior to it. (*) Calpurnia tried to prevent that figure from attending this event, whose perpetrators were later killed at the Battle of Philippi. A statue of a man with 23 wounds was erected after this event, which occurred during a false meeting of senators at the Theatre of Pompey. For ten points, identify this event in which Cassius and Brutus stabbed a Roman dictator to death on the Ides of March.
ANSWER: assassination of Julius Caesar [accept equivalents like “killing Caesar”]
<JD>

Our captain negged this with "Operation Barbarossa", because apparently there were a lot of things excavated from that tomb that predicted the future, including something about World War II.

Also, could you post that question on Bunsen? I remember that the entire first half was filled with a lot of kinda unhelpful clues.

[MuffinSandwich]

I don't know much about comp sci, but I think the answer-line for CPU should account for the possible answer of "processor", which seems related (?).

Could I see this bonus?

17. Asynchronous examples of these devices include AMULET and ILLIAC II, which are coordinated using pipeline controls and FIFO sequencers. They operate primarily based on fetch, decode, execute, and writeback, and the von Neumann bottleneck limiting their performance can be reduced by adding a (*) cache. They transmit information between the ALU, registers, and memory, and their clock rate is typically measured in gigahertz. Multiple cores can be found in ones manufactured by AMD and Intel. For ten points, identify this hardware component that handles instructions and computation for a computer.
ANSWER: CPU or central processing unit
<EC>

I don't know much about comp sci either, but "processor" seems promptable (?).

In my room in Round 7 (I think?), there was a bit of confusion over the Pope Toss-up, as the other team first line buzzed "patriarch". Could I possibly see the tossup, and would this be an acceptable answer?

15. Holders of this office were heavily influenced by Theodora and her daughter Marozia during the Pornocracy. The son of one man with this title hosted the lewd Banquet of Chestnuts and was the sister of Lucrezia. Another man who held this position feuded with (*) Philip IV, and his successor moved the seat of this position to Avignon. The Council of Constance resolved the issue of who held this post and thus ended the Western Schism. The infallibility of people in this post when speaking ex cathedra was decreed by Pius IX. For ten points, name this ecclesiastical office whose holder is the head of the Catholic Church.
ANSWER: Pope [accept Papacy; accept Bishop of Rome]
<BZ>

The first line seems to refer specifically to popes, but Ben can comment further on that.

11. Several months before this event, a tablet predicting its occurrence was excavated from the tomb of the founder of Capua. The Sacred Way and a bridge over the Field of Mars were considered as possible settings for this event, whose key figure was given a warning note that went unread just prior to it. (*) Calpurnia tried to prevent that figure from attending this event, whose perpetrators were later killed at the Battle of Philippi. A statue of a man with 23 wounds was erected after this event, which occurred during a false meeting of senators at the Theatre of Pompey. For ten points, identify this event in which Cassius and Brutus stabbed a Roman dictator to death on the Ides of March.
ANSWER: assassination of Julius Caesar [accept equivalents like “killing Caesar”]
<JD>

Our captain negged this with "Operation Barbarossa", because apparently there were a lot of things excavated from that tomb that predicted the future, including something about World War II.

I'm fairly sure that clue is specific to Caesar's assassination. The only thing I can find on the internet that relates to Operation Barbarossa is that Tamerlane's tomb was opened a couple days before the invasion began, and Tamerlane is certainly not the founder of Capua.

[ScoBo]

I don't know much about comp sci, but I think the answer-line for CPU should account for the possible answer of "processor", which seems related (?).

Could I see this bonus?

17. Asynchronous examples of these devices include AMULET and ILLIAC II, which are coordinated using pipeline controls and FIFO sequencers. They operate primarily based on fetch, decode, execute, and writeback, and the von Neumann bottleneck limiting their performance can be reduced by adding a (*) cache. They transmit information between the ALU, registers, and memory, and their clock rate is typically measured in gigahertz. Multiple cores can be found in ones manufactured by AMD and Intel. For ten points, identify this hardware component that handles instructions and computation for a computer.
ANSWER: CPU or central processing unit
<EC>

I don't know much about comp sci either, but "processor" seems promptable (?).

Yeah, I think "processor" should at least be promptable, and I'd be tempted to accept it outright unless someone else has a specific reason why "processor" wouldn't be specific enough. There are other kinds of "processors", but in my experience the term "processor" usually refers to the CPU. (They are marketed by Intel as a "processor", for instance.) Someone with more hardware-oriented experience/background may be able to better clarify this.

[MuffinSandwich]

Also, could you post that question on Bunsen? I remember that the entire first half was filled with a lot of kinda unhelpful clues.

Whoops, I didn't see this until now. My apologies for the delay.

4. This scientist investigated the properties of cacodyl radicals, and he also improved upon the Grove cell by using a carbon electrode instead of platinum. This man pioneered the use of iron oxide hydrate to cure arsenic poisoning, and while working with Gustav (*) Kirchhoff, this man noted unique spectral lines in mineral water, which led to the discovery of caesium and rubidium. He began his spectroscopic studies with Peter Desaga, with whom he improved upon the design of a high-temperature flame. For ten points, name this German chemist who created a namesake burner used in labs.
ANSWER: Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen
<EC>

[Urech hydantoin synthesis]

I realized the leadin would be nonunique, so I changed it to "This scientist was blinded in his right eye after studying cacodyl cyanide,..."

[Theodore]

Could you please post the diffraction tossup? I remember that 'Huygens(-Fresnel) principle' sounded like it was acceptable for one clue.

[MuffinSandwich]

19. The intensity of this process for electrons is proportional to the structure factor squared, and one parameter for this phenomenon measures the ratio of aperture size squared to the product of distance and wavelength. Due to this process, every point on a wave front is considered a source of (*) secondary spherical wavelets, and this interaction creates an Airy disk that limits the focusing ability of lenses. Interference caused by this phenomenon creates alternating light and dark bands, which was observed in Young’s double-slit experiment. For ten points, identify this phenomenon where waves bend around an obstacle.
ANSWER: diffraction [accept x-ray scattering before “ratio”]
<EC>

[coldstonesteveaustin]

Error on packet 15: James II was the brother of Charles II, not the son.