LJ Daily Answers: 28 November 2005

[chaosvizier.livejournal.com]

The month ends, but the quiz is just beginning! Insert dramatically appropriate sound effects here.



1. What is the term for a cataclysmic nuclear explosion caused by the accretion of hydrogen on the surface of a white dwarf star?

"*Smokes a cigarette* Did the sky move for you too?" - akiyasan

"Kapow! A term later adopted by comic book writers, and used to maximum effect in the Batman TV series." - marasca

"You're just trying to mock my Arts degree and hint at its uselessness, aren't you?" - jelymo

(Yes. Yes we are. -CV)

"'Feeding beans to the dog.' And how did YOU know my chihuahua was named Whitey?" - captainsblog

"I believe the scientific term for it is Earth-Shattering KABOOM!" - nakedblueninja

(+1, Marvin The Martian. -CV)

"Verne Troyer Syndrome." - drbear

(I think you'll find Warwick Davis was there long before Verne hit the scene. -CV)

"Time to break out the SPF 5 bajillion suncream and the Ray Ban's" - diefbaby

"a PBS science show which doesn't feature Bill Nye and appears three times a year when it is not part of a pledge drive." - wingedelf

"Damnitall, now I have some whiny emo guy in my head, singing about champagne supernovas in the sky." - dorei and several others

"A super nova? I wonder, if we have super novas, why don't we just have regular novas?" - lyme

(Wonder no more. -CV)

Correct Answer: Nova

"not to be confused with the Chevy Nova which didn't go anywhere." - etumukutenyak



2. If you repeat a prayer for nine days in order to obtain special graces, what Roman Catholic custom have you fulfilled?

"Dear Martin Luther. When taking the Danish/Norwegian countries with you out of the Catholic church - would it have been too much to ask that you'd at least provide me with the answer to ljdq? I thought not. Much love, me." - norwegianne

"Oh god. I don't know this and I used to be catholic. Whatever it is, it probably involves lots of guilt and maybe even self-flagellation." - lyme

"A Hail Mary...now if only the Eagles could get a few of those..." - droptheleash622

"Futility" - wiredwizard, master_flea
"Seppuku" - jonem
"Obsessiveness" - glamsith, the_wanlorn, cscottd, altoidsaddict

"Wasting your time.... everyone knows you can't get special graces without a completely optional 'donation' to the church." - pheltzer

"When I was young and impressionable, I actually tried doing one of those. I think I fell asleep half of the nights, though. I wonder if I got half of the graces, or if it's an all or nothing deal?" - kamalloy

"Are the special Graces, like, spuermodels or something? If so, it ought to take more than 9 days to obtain them." - marasca

"Is the special Grace the one in the vinyl habit?
" - sskipstress

"this is lesser known female version of Noveno, which only takes nine minutes and is really not related to God at all" - ravenlock_3

"I once had to do a school project on the novena, and complete a diary to show that I had ... umm, novena-d, I guess. The moral: don't go to Catholic school." - liseuse

Correct Answer: Novena



3. Population approximately 290,000, location in Northwestern Russia, name means "New City" in Russian. What city are we thinking of?

"In Soviet Russia, city thinks of you!" - deltashade, puredeadthingy, jonem, soimpossible414, jacesan, hellpaladin2183

Nova Scotia: 9 votes.
Newski Cityski: 14 votes.

"That's a bit of a crap name though, isn't it? I mean, 'New City', isn't that simply the default name of the city you start building in Sim City?" - dracothelizard

"Istanbul was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople, so if you've got a date in Constantinople, she'll be waiting in Istanbul." - dslartoo

(+1, TMBG. -CV)

"Is Tetris a city?" - iankeith

"I have a friend in Minsk, who has a friend in Pinsk, Whose friend in Omsk has friend in Tomsk, With friend in Akmolinsk, His friend in Alexandrovsk has friend in Petropavlovsk, Whose friend says it is Dnepropetrovsk" - hemloche

(-1, egregious use of the letter K. -CV)

"I just was looking at the diagram of whatever chemical that is down there, surmised that the theme's got something to do with chemical ugliness, so I'm going with Chernobyl!" - ladylyonesse

"SMERSH City." - guxx

(+1, James Bond. -CV)

"Oh wait! It's that city... Vladnovinstock or something?" - marasca

(You get a -3 for taking three different city names and smashing them together in a horrible amalgam that's making Vladimir Lenin roll in his grave. -CV)

"The information you gave refers to Novgorod. As to what city you're thinking of...uh, Reykjavik? It's just fun to say." - sparcck

(So is Kuala Lumpur. Mainly because it makes me think "lumpy koala". And that's funny. -CV)

"Новгород" - babybokal

(Very nice use of the Cyrillic font there. -CV)

"Novgorod, one of the few major Russian cities that hasn't changed it's name in the last century. St. Petersburg/Petrograd/Leningrad always gets called the wrong name at parties." - stephe

Correct Answer: Novgorod



4. The song "The Girl from Ipanema" is the best-known representation of what style of Brazilian music?

"I thought Brazil's only contribution to the world were Pele and the Brazilian wax..." - thepikey

(Wrong! Do I really need to remind you:
"" - ataralas
Brazil wins at volleyball. Always. -CV)

"Brazil's most valuable national treasure...second only to the brazil nut, of course." - quasilemur

"Brazilian's have something called iPanama? Was it built by Apple?" - shadowkeeper

"Ipanema? Sounds like a constipation remedy. 'Bottom fallen out of your world? Take Ipanema twice daily and make the world fall out of your bottom...'" - jonem

"I knew a girl who said she was from Ipanema. But she was a pathological liar, so I doubt the song is about her." - wendynat

"There once was a girl from Ipanema,
whose house got knocked down by Katrina.
It's been almost twelve weeks.
She still sleeps in the street,
while waiting for a trailer from FEMA." - caffeineod

(Fear not, little quizling! angledge is on the case! Uh, on second thought, be afraid...be VERY afraid... -C&CV)

"Arsing around when Brazilians should be doing other things, such as say, defending themselves against the dutch." - the_zaniak

"Oh my god! Zombie Frank Sinatra! *hacks with fireaxe* Die! Damn you, die!" - master_flea

(Oooookay... *backs away slowly* -C)

"My husband has loved this steamy little number for years and when Astrud Gilberto sings it in Portuguese a certain glow comes over him that you have to see to believe." - csflick

(+1 for marital TMI. -C)

"See the 'Bassa' part roughly translates as the base line or the beat. And as anyone who's ever tried to sell a Chevy Nova in Mexico knows... No Va means doesn't run. So put altogether Bassanova means a song with a beat that doesn't move or change." - pheltzer

(Actually the "nova" part means "new" and hence Bossa Nova means "the new beat." But you get a +1 for creative bullshitting. -C)

"Bossa nova, which makes me wonder what old bossa sounded like." - kamalloy

"I blame EVERYTHING on Eyde Gorme." - lusciousmango
"Rumour has it that this musical style has been blamed for the ill-defined 'it.'" - wingedelf
"Which is apparently to blame for something." - lotusbiosm
"Oh, for the love of little green polliwogs, get out of my head Steve and Edie!" - ginalin
"Blame it on the Bossa Nova, the dance of love..." - dreamalynn

(Congratulations, you're all officially geriatric. -C)

"Uh, style? Brazillian? Music? I thought that song was by the Beatles..." - maggiebloome
"Would that be jazz? I thought jazz originated in New Orleans, though...?" - kittycatness

(*bang head on desk* -C)

"I once mistakenly referred to a bassoon as a bossa nova. It was confusing, and my ex hasn't yet let me live it down." - liseuse

"Annoying." - renee12321, elaran, jennifurret, mazikeen, diefbaby
"Elevator music." - ghostrider65, quasilemur
"Muzak." - sparcck, ladylyonesse
"I didn't realise 'Annoying Fucking Lift Music' was a Brazilian music genre." - setting_sun, properly summarizing.

(And now, LJDQ Episode II: Attack of the Earworms!)

"And now I have it stuck in my head. Great. Just great." - jelymo, marveen
"Oh, great, now I have David Alan Grier as Don 'No Soul' Simmons singing 'Blame It On The Bossa Nova' stuck in my head." - deza
"Immediately upon reading this question, 'Copacabana' started playing in my head and has not stopped for the last half hour. Thanks." - sienna_blaze
"*plugs ears and hums 'Walk Like an Egyptian'* La la la can't heeeeeear youuuuu!" - profsparky

(*nod* Our work here is done. -C)

Correct Answer: Bossa Nova



5. Science time! What's this thing?


"I don't know, but it's getting me hot." - dracothelizard

(This is so completely the wrong answer, I barely know where to begin. -CV)

"I have no videa." - sarekofvulcan

(Luckily, AL is not around right now to chide you on punnery. Carry on. -CV)

"ACK SCIENCE I HAVE AN ARTS DEGREE!" - 19 of you.

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed reindeer. Or Two-red noses reindeer as in the case of the first one." - norwegianne

"It's an ant! See the antennae. and the thorax, and the abdomen?" - captainsblog

'the worst stick-figure porn I have EVER seen. C'mon, guys, even I can draw the stick figure kama sutra." - iankeith

"It's two examples of what inbreeding does to spiders." - bacskocky

"An erector set? He he. I said 'erect'." - ginalin

"Ice crystals on a Novgorad window in November, rendered in little balls and sticks." - lusciousmango

"A midichlorian." - manynames

(-1, Star Wars Episode 1. -CV)

"Its... THE CLAW!" - renee12321

(+1, Toy Story. -CV)

"something that hides in my closet and licks my toes while im sleeping." - psycho316

"It's novembanite, a substance that drains pilgrims of their superpowers. Not that they had any in the first place, but this would drain them if they did." - rikchik

"got a dentist's appointment in a week or so and I hate those. Damn metal scraping hooks." - csi_tokyo3

Correct Answer: Novocaine



6. What's your favorite holiday taking place this November?

"My birthday!" - lynbug, sparcck, mediavore, stephe's wife, profsparky, ergie, sskipstress, lyzz13, jennifurret, ryttu3k

(Happy Birthday to all of you! -AL&CV&C)

"Every couple of years the celebration of the birth of skipstress falls on Thanksgiving Day (Like this year!) The Pilgrims and the Indians don't much care, but I do." - csflick

"Thanksgiving... when we all sit around and give thanks... to GOD... for giving us LJDQ... if by GOD you mean chaosvizier and angledge... and I do. Oh, how I do." - cassandralupos

"Sleepy Meat Day. I stole that from my nine year old. That's what she calls turkey. Sleepy meat." - ginalin

(I have nothing to add to this. -CV)

"I only spend Thanksgiving with my parents because of the turkey. The Wild Turkey, that is. Otherwise I wouldn't go near them. Last year, I had a little too much and blurted out 'when do we open the presents?'" - david_deacon

"I guess I'll go with Guy Fawkes Day. Sure, he failed to blow up Parliament, but by God he *tried*, and you just have to respect that kind of spirit and gumption. If only *more* people out there tried to commit regicide, just think how much better the world would be." - thepikey

"Guy Fawkesgiving. Because I really can't choose between explosions and lots of food." - caffeineod

"I'll say veteran's day. Because I get the day off work, much like thanksgiving, but I don't have to spend it with my family." - lyme

"Veteran's Day, because otherwise this quiz might be in German. And then our keyboards would have to have all those umlauts and that thing that looks like a 'B' but is pronounced like 'ss,' and it would be really annoying." - silk_knickers

"The 2008 election. Never too early to start planning for THAT." - captainsblog

"All Saints Day, because I love football." - drbear

"Dynasty day (Day of the belgian royal family) because I was the only one in my circle of friends who got that one off (15 november)" - b_hulsmans

(And here I thought only China was allowed to have dynasties. I stand corrected. -CV)

"NaNoWriMo!" - 11 of you.

(One day, I will join your ranks. -CV)

"Beer and Sex Orgy Eve. You're all invited." - lots42

(I don't know when that is, but remind me to pencil it in for next year. Sounds like a hoot! -CV)

"National Men Make Dinner Day." - dorei, deza

"That would be have to be National Fig Week, Nov. 1 - 7. Nothing says November like a good fig." - dreamalynn

"Personally, I like National Punsters Day, on November 8. Now I know angledge will never sleep with me." - nihilistbear

Correct Answer: "The one that gets me any time off work." - woap



And thus endeth November and its novel nov-themed quiz. No Nova Scotians were harmed during the writing of this quiz, although some chap from Hannover got kicked in the beanbag through no fault of our own. Tune tomorrow for another innovative quiz concept, and remember to tell your friends about the wonders you have seen here. +1 for pimping! +/-1 for punning, depending on which one of us sees it first. And, of course, +1 for David Lo Pan.

Happy Whatever Holiday You Celebrated This Month!

Rock On!

AL&CV&C

Comments

amusing as always. :P

[elaran.livejournal.com]

got mentioned yay. :)

[nakedblueninja.livejournal.com]

Weeee-hee-hee! I got one! YAY!

[deltashade.livejournal.com]

No love for Rocko's Modern Life? Ah well, still got quoted once. And it was damn well worth it after spending five hours in the airport last night, not making any of my four possible flights home, going back at midnight, waking up at four to catch the six-thirty flight, barely making that, then finally getting back to college at 9:05 only to ultimately blow off your first class in favour of reading the LJDQ.

[pheltzer.livejournal.com]

But you get a +1 for creative bullshitting. -C

Sadly this is truly the only skill I need to do my job these days... and I'm not even a politician or a used car salesman.

[deltashade.livejournal.com]

By which I of course mean "my first class". I don't think I want to be blowing anybody else's classes off.

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

"I have a friend in Minsk, who has a friend in Pinsk, Whose friend in Omsk has friend in Tomsk, With friend in Akmolinsk, His friend in Alexandrovsk has friend in Petropavlovsk, Whose friend says it is Dnepropetrovsk" - hemloche

(-1, egregious use of the letter K. -CV)

Tsk, tsk...no +1 for Tom Lehrer? Though he did botch the last line:
"Whose friend somehow is solving now the problem in Dnepropetrovsk."

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

"Guy Fawkesgiving. Because I really can't choose between explosions and lots of food." - caffeineod


caffeineod wins at life for this.

[master-flea.livejournal.com]

Yay! Double mention! And one of them was making CV scared!

[dorei.livejournal.com]

hemloche, I love you for quoting Tom Lehrer.

[chaosvizier.livejournal.com]

Ah, I don't know enough Tom Lehrer. But I do know a letter K when it's being abused, and that was it.

[chaosvizier.livejournal.com]

No, that was our buddy chlaal, still filling in while angledge saves the Universe New Orleans with the help of her buddy Flash Gordon FEMA. Axe murderes make her wiggy.

[chaosvizier.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Now that's an evening of hellish travel. Good thing the LJDQ is there to ease your pain. We're like an Internet Tylenol!

[babybokal.livejournal.com]

My Russian professor would be so proud.

[deltashade.livejournal.com]

King Kong, cold-cock, Kato Kaelin.

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Maybe. We should get it to a battered consonants shelter, fast, and get a domestic abuse warrant for the vowel's arrest.

[chaosvizier.livejournal.com]

Kikkoman's Soy Sauce. Dr. Kevorkian. Kamchatka Vodka.

[theroach.livejournal.com]

A serious shortcoming. Everone should know the goodness that is Tom Lehrer (http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/)

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

It wasn't so much the axe murdering part as the sheer incomprehensible non-sequitur-ishness of it all, but, yeah. Either way, that was some freaky shit.

[marasca.livejournal.com]

(You get a -3 for taking three different city names and smashing them together in a horrible amalgam that's making Vladimir Lenin roll in his grave. -CV)

I may have gotten a -3, but I did get quoted 3 times so I think it evens out. My answer to that also completely accidentally fit the theme, which I never did quite figure out...

My real purpose in commenting, however, is to say this: Nuns in vinyl are hot. I wonder how hot Brazilian vinyl-clad volleyball-playing nuns would be...

[chaosvizier.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, thank you for the link. Now I see that I do know a few Tom Lehrerisms, specifically The Elements and The Masochism Tango. I'll have to get these albums somehow.

[deltashade.livejournal.com]

kaosvizier has kwickly skwashed me.

(Cheating? Kwite possibly!)

[chaosvizier.livejournal.com]

I think they're so hot they're illegal. Mega-hot. BURNINATING!

[chaosvizier.livejournal.com]

So were we. It was all good, and spelled right and everything.

[drbear.livejournal.com]

Only if they also fly.
(hmmm...young sally field in a vinyl habit playing volleyball...)

[dracothelizard.livejournal.com]

Finally, my dry spell has been broken! And I finally learn what the theme was, since I had no idea at ALL,.