Brian Day 5

 3/6 as i missed both my 50/50s  but got a wild guess.

Is that a Kim sighting???

1) 1739   1/0  Sure to be a gimme for most of you, but I only knew this was the 1700s

2) Blue skies 3/3  A guess, also considered clear skies and sunny day.  

3) Fletch 2/2  I thought Millennials were better than Gen Z, but not after learning the two Daves have never hear of Fletch.  Do better. 

4) Eritrea 1/1  50/50

5) Carbon footprint 0/1   gimme of the day

6) Chik-Fil-A 2/2 knew was wrong but no idea

Kim Day 5

3/6

I still very much enjoy the blog and would contribute if I got more questions correct!   I am upset with my 1739, but mostly came here to say there is a Raising Cane's in Penn Station for anyone that wants to check out the hype!

Diane Day 5: 3-3

Not bad considering how clueless I felt when I first looked at the questions 😆 My opponent has forfeited every match so far, so I didn't put too much thought into point assignments.

1) ✅1793 --  I saw "base ten" and moved to the next question 😅 Math is *not* my strong suit. When I came back and realized it was a history question, the math made sense, and even helped: I would have said 1791 if the answer didn't need four different numbers.

2) ✅ Blue Skies -- You will never catch me skydiving, but I've spent a decent amount of time with Irving Berlin and Holiday Inn (where the song Blue Skies is included in stage productions, even if it's not in the movie).

3) ❌ Pink Panther. No clue :( 

4) ❌ I need to work on my geography:( 

5) ✅ Carbon Footprint. Gimme, thought I didn't know how it popped into popular usage.

6)  ❌ I said Popeye's, because Louisiana. I was pretty confident :( I'd never heard of Raising Cane's.

Sorry you broke your run, Marcus!

Dave M day 5 v Brad CLL

4/6 today, enjoyable set of questions.

 

1 : ) 1793. I worked back from when the revolution started going off the rails and it seemed like the four numbers fit the prime clue. D33

2 : ( Happy Days. Couldn't think of anything. D11

3 : ( The Detective. I also have never heard of Fletch, Seif. I feel like I should? D02

4 : ) Djibouti. A straightforward Africa geography question but that is not the strong suit of my opponents. D22

5 : ) Carbon Footprint. I actually joined BP in 2004 as a graduate, in large part because they were moving into green and low-carbon energy. Best laid plans. We even launched a carbon footprint calculator and you could pay to offset your personal emissions. It seemed cool at the time! D21

6 : ) Raising Canes. The daughter of a work colleague went to LSU and was an early Canes employee, she's now their head of strategy I believe. Canes has the second highest revenue per location of any fast food chain in the nation, right behind Chick Fil A. And yeah it's very much a South/Texas thing though growing like a weed. D10

David S Day 5

 3/6. Two really great questions today, I’d say. 

1. 1793 :), D33. Pretty easy to figure out with just a bit of math and history, but both my opponents are terrible at math, so D33. Clever question. 
2. Clear skies :(, D12. I had no idea. Got kind of close, but this was just a wild guess. 
3. Lost in America :(, D10. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Fletch. I certainly wasn’t going to come up with this. 
4. Djibouti :), D22. Very gettable with a bit of thought. Great question. 
5. Carbon footprint :), D21. Didn’t seem like it could be anything else. 
6. Chick fil a :(, D01. Seemed too early for Chick fil a, but I had nothing else. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Raising Caine’s. Is this well-known? Both my opponents are great at food/drink. 

Marcus LL108 Match Day 5 -- Confirmation

Broke the run with 5 today including a nice guess 

Player: BrowningM

1. Every prime number greater than 5, when written in base 10, must end in one of four digits. A four-digit number using each of these digits exactly once gives the year that marked the end of Year I (1) in the French Revolutionary Calendar. What is that year/four-digit number?
Correct Answer: 1793
Your Answer: 1793
Points Assigned: 1
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 1

Nice q

2. What two-word phrase, used by skydivers as a greeting wishing good weather for safe jumps, is also the title of a cheerful 1926 Irving Berlin song, later popularized by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye (1954), Ella Fitzgerald (1958), and Willie Nelson (1978)?
Correct Answer: BLUE SKIES
Your Answer: blue skies
Points Assigned: 2
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 2

A guess but it was vaguely ringing bells somewhere 

3. Don Corleone, G. Gordon Liddy, Dr. Rosenrosen, Arnold Babar, and John Cocktoastin are among the aliases used by the titular investigative reporter in what 1985 comedy?
Correct Answer: FLETCH
Your Answer: fletch
Points Assigned: 2
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 2

I haven't watched it since it came out 

4. Among the world's cities that currently share their name with the country in which they are located (such as the city of Luxembourg), which one served as the official port of Ethiopia beginning in 1897?
Correct Answer: DJIBOUTI
Your Answer: Djibouti
Points Assigned: 3
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 3

Nailed the spelling !

5. In 2004, BP hired advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather to popularize what two-word term for the measure of an individual's personal contribution to climate change? Coined in 1999 but relatively obscure until this campaign, the phrase is now common—though critics argue BP's intent was to shift public focus away from fossil fuel companies and onto consumers.
Correct Answer: CARBON FOOTPRINT
Your Answer: carbon footprint
Points Assigned: 1
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 1

I didn't know they invented it but seemed to fit well

6. What chicken finger purveyor began in 1996 with a single location near the campus of Louisiana State University and, by the end of 2025, had grown to nearly 1,000 locations and more than $5 billion in annual sales?
Correct Answer: RAISING CANE'S
Your Answer: pass
Points Assigned: 0
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 0

Not a clue 

Brian Day 4 vs David S

 4/6 (unless Thorsten grades grades harshly).  Seif was easy to defend today, but so was I.....  

and I win 6(4)-4(4) (or possibly lose 3(4)-4(4) to the Sandbergs)

1) Transvaal 2/1 No idea, and have never heard of the Natal province, so the Christmas hint didn't help. Why am I the only one to not have heard of it?

2) Platt 3/3  No idea this show existed

3) All Quiet on the Western Front 2/2   Surprise to get this.  Educated guess on the book, threw it in as my answer despite thinking there was no chance a foreign movie would use the English title

4) Grace 0/2  A little worried as re-reading he's clearly asking for the plural, but I think I'll get credit.  Got it from Mark Grace the Cubs 1B, confirmed with Maggie Grace from Taken (and Lost). 

5) Schrodinger 1/0 No idea until I realized it said hypothetical felid, not field.   I need new progressive lenses, Dave!

6) Yeti 1/1  gimme

Welcome Diane

From Marcus !

Begin forwarded message:

From: Marcus Browning <marcusjbrowning@me.com>
Date: 26 February 2026 at 17:26:34 GMT
To: steiny171.learnedleague@blogger.com
Subject: Welcome Diane

Hi Diane it is a pleasure having you in the league and as the second most recent member I totally agree the real pleasure is the blog and I am very much enjoying your fulsome explanations

Welcome Diane

Hi Diane it is a pleasure having you in the league and as the second most recent member I totally agree the real pleasure is the blog and I am very much enjoying your fulsome explanations

Diane Day 4, 3/6

I did this one at 2 or 3am, because the kids kept waking me up:( I probably should have waited 😅 

1. ❌Missed it:( Even with the Christmas clue I didn't get Natal. I put Good Hope, even thought I knew it was wrong, because it seemed ever-so-slightly Christmassy (if not at all Portuguese). Gave it 2 points, because this seems like something people should know, even if I didn't.

2. ✔️Jonathan Groff  -- I'm a fan. Though I didn't remember who his jukebox musical was about so I'm VERY glad they didn't want that, too! My opponent is based in NYC, so I assigned this 1 point, on the assumption that every New Yorker knows their Broadway 🤣

3. ✔️ All Quiet on the Western Front. I didn't actually know they'd made another movie of it--going to have to check it out. 2 points.

4. ✔️ Graces. I assigned this 1 point, because there are so many clues in the question.

5. ❌KICKING MYSELF. I assumed that "felid" was a typo for field 🤦. Without the cat clue, I guessed Heisenberg, who is pretty much the only other physicist I know besides Einstein and Bohr, both of whom I knew not to be Austrian. I assigned this 3 points since my opponent hadn't yet gotten any science questions right.

6. ❌ Totally blanked, which I'm going to choose to attribute to sleep-deprivation. But I assumed it would be obvious as soon as I saw it (which it was!), so I assigned it 0 points. 

I also wanted to say thanks, to David S and everyone, for letting me join this blog group. LL is fun, but it's SO MUCH BETTER seeing other people's answers and analysis (and ofc getting to do my own post-mortems).

Dave M day 4

I dispute that questions are easier this year Marcus! A 3/6 for me today.

 

1 : ) Natal. Kwazulu Natal is instinctive in my head from the rugby teams of the 1990s (South Africa, Australia and NZ shared a league at the time).

2 : ( Sinatra. Default answer. D22

3 : ) All Quiet on the Western Front. Was pleased to remember this and figured it would be hard, not going by the answers on here so far today. D12

4 : ( Eagles. Didn't know where to start really. D33

5 : ( Planck. Seems obvious in hindsight. At least I D00ed.

6 : ) Yeti. Finally a simple question for today. D11

David S Day 4

4/6 with a stupid miss. Usually I defend Brian perfectly (and him me), but I seriously question my D. 

1. Natal :), D01. Zero chance I pull this off without the Christmas clue. 
2. Sinatra :(, D12. No idea. Just went with the generic guess. This seems harder than I thought. 
3. All Quiet on the Western Front :), D22. I remember this coming out fairly recently. 
4. Sandberg :(, D33. Not saying I would have gotten this, but I clearly didn’t read the question. Or maybe somehow I convinced myself that the Sandbergs were a central part of Greek mythology. Sandberg was the Cubs much more famous 2nd baseman in the 1990s. 
5. Schrodinger :), D21. Great question. No single clue got me there, but it seemed like the best guess. 
6. Yeti :), D10. Didn’t see what else this could be. 

Marcus LL108 Match Day 4 -- Confirmation

6 again and yesterday my 6 was only good enough for 6 all draws in both leagues. I don't know how much is the questions suiting and how much is the fact they are easy this season. David S any stats?

Player: BrowningM

1. What former province of South Africa, which merged with KwaZulu to form a new province in 1994, traces its history back through British colonialism to its first European sighting (and naming) by the Portuguese on Christmas Day, in 1497?
Correct Answer: NATAL
Your Answer: Natal
Points Assigned: 3
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 3

Maybe easier for Brits

2. Manhattan's Circle in the Square Theatre is transformed into what New York Times chief theater critic Jesse Green called a "sumptuous supper club" for the 2025 jukebox musical Just in Time. Name either the legendary crooner whose music it celebrates, or the acclaimed Broadway star who plays him in the lead role.
Correct Answer: BOBBY DARIN, JONATHAN GROFF
Your Answer: Bobby Darin
Points Assigned: 1
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 1

Seen the posters 

3. Since Parasite's Best Picture win at the 92nd Academy Awards ceremony in 2020, at least one foreign-language film has been nominated for that same award each year. Which of these nominees was the third adaptation of a 1929 anti-war novel?
Correct Answer: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Your Answer: All quiet on the western front
Points Assigned: 2
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 2

Seen it 

4. A notorious TV legal pundit, a first baseman for the Chicago Cubs in the 1990s, and the actress who plays the daughter in the Taken movies can be referred to collectively by a name that also belongs to the mythological figures Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. What is that name?
Correct Answer: THE GRACES
Your Answer: Graces
Points Assigned: 2
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 2

Got it from the Greek and briefly worried it was the furies 

5. Identify the Vienna-born physicist whose legacy includes the origination of wave mechanics in quantum theory, development of the celebrated wave equation that bears his name, a share of the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics, and a hypothetical felid.
Correct Answer: ERWIN SCHRÖDINGER
Your Answer: Schrodinger
Points Assigned: 1
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 1

I spent a lot of time at uni solving wave equations 

6. What word, which entered the English lexicon after British expeditions to Mount Everest in the 1920s and 1930s, is believed by some linguists to come from a Tibetan word loosely interpreted as "rocky place bear", related to terms meaning "little Rock creature" and "man-bear snow thing"?
Correct Answer: YETI
Your Answer: yeti
Points Assigned: 0
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 0

Gimme 

Rickroll

Oh, and I did get credit for "Going" instead of "Gonna."

Jesse day 3

4/6

1. The Philadelphia Eagles' 34-29 Week 1 win over the Green Bay Packers in 2024 was the first NFL regular season game played in what country, the third country to host one outside North America and the first south of the equator?
Correct Answer: BRAZIL
Your Answer: Brazil
Points Assigned: 2

I don't follow football, but figured Brazil was most likely. 

2. "The Stars and Stripes Forever", "El Capitan", and "The Liberty Bell" are among the first musical pieces to include what instrument, in no small part because they were composed by the man who originated its design?
Correct Answer: SOUSAPHONE
Your Answer: Sousaphone
Points Assigned: 1

One of my favorite Onion articles of all time:  https://theonion.com/activision-reports-sluggish-sales-for-sousaphone-hero-1819569239/

3. Turning and turning in the widening gyre \ The falcon cannot hear the falconer; \ [REDACTED]; the centre cannot hold; \ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world \ \ What phrase is redacted from this opening of William Butler Yeats's 1919 poem, and provides the title of what is often considered the most widely read book in modern African literature?
Correct Answer: THINGS FALL APART
Your Answer: The Power of One
Points Assigned: 3

I had no idea.

4. The Mexican state of Jalisco's various claims to fame include its status as the primary source of what trago, whose birthplace and namesake is a city approximately 40 miles northwest of the state capital, Guadalajara?
Correct Answer: TEQUILA
Your Answer: Tequila
Points Assigned: 1

I knew Trago was a drink. 

5. The Yang-Mills existence, Navier-Stokes existence, Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, and Hodge conjecture are all associated collectively with what prize?
Correct Answer: MILLENNIUM PRIZE
Your Answer: Fields Metal
Points Assigned: 0

I knew it wasn't the Fields Medal, but could not recall the Millennium prize. 

6. Many American children reportedly began to develop English accents and adopt words and phrases such as "mummy", "on holiday", "telly", and "ready, steady, go" due to COVID-19 lockdown-era binge watching of what animated series, headlined by a good-hearted four-year-old who loves jumping in muddy puddles?
Correct Answer: PEPPA PIG
Your Answer: Peppa Pig
Points Assigned: 2

My daughter watched a lot of Peppa Pig. 

Brian Day 3

Jesse, I hope you got credit on your Rickroll answer yesterday.  Dave M, you really should've played me today.  2/6

1) Brazil 1/0  Were I a certain articulate, intelligent, former bartender, I might have answered Venezuela.   But I knew this game was played in Brazil.

2) Sousaphone 2/2   High school marching band got me the chicks and a classical music answer.

3) Lightning Crashes 2/2  What rough beast... slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?  That part of the poem I know.  But I completely blanked on things fall apart.   So many quotable lines in this poem. 

4) Tabasco 1/1  Espanol is not my strength.  Hopefully there will be a question en francais later this season.

5) Fields Medal 0/3  I hate non-math math questions, but hopefully my opponents  zero me.

6) Bluey 3/1  I know Bluey is Australian, but I had no idea

Dave M day 3 vs David S CLL

Ah of course Seif dropped a 5 on me. I only managed 4 and he also got perfect defense so a win for him today.

 

1 : ) Brazil. Couldn't really be any other country. D22

2 : ( French Horn. I've never heard of the Sousaphone. D33

3 : ) Things Fall Apart. Interesting everyone's known this so far, I figured it might play harder. D12

4 : ) Tequila. While I've never been I have a long weekend itinerary planned for a trip to Guadalajara and surrounds when the opportunity presents. Probably not this year… D00

5 : ( Fields Medal. No idea here. D21

6 : ) Peppa Pig. I think it's the only recent UK animated series that got global fame. D11

Diane Day 3: 4/6

Better today!

1. Brazil: Lucky guess:) My opponent hasn't gotten a lot of sports questions right (well, there's only been one so far, but she got it wrong) so I assigned this 2 points.

2. Sousaphone! Assigned it zero.

3. Things Fall Apart. Not super familiar with Yeats, but we read the Chinua Achebe book in high school. David, were you in Mr. Shultz's class with me for that? There are few books that have changed my perspective about how to write history more, which has come in handy (in my day job I'm a medievalist historian of Christianity at Rutgers). I assigned this 1 point, because there were two good clues to use.

4. Tabasco--swing and a miss. 2 points.

5. Nobel Prize in Physics (I hadn't the faintest clue about any of them, but they sounded sciency🤣) I assigned it 3 points, because my opponent hadn't done super well on those.

6. Peppa Pig :)  I feel like whoever is writing these questions is in the same parenting phase as I am 🤣 1 point.

David S Day 3 vs. Dave M (CLL)

 5/6 with no chance at the last one. Always fun to drop 5 on Mirkin!

1. Brazil :), D21. I knew it. It’s also the obvious guess. 
2. Tuba :(, D33. Recognized that this was Sousa. Had no idea there was an instrument called a Sousaphone. 
3. Things Fall Apart :), D12. Read the novel (novella?) in high school. Might have been able to get this just from the poem without the additional clue. 
4. Tequila :), D00. Glad I didn’t overthink this. I was the least confident of this among my five right answers. 
5. Millennium Prize :), D22. I’ve been obsessed with these since they first came out. Gimme. 
6. Peppa Pig :), D11. This was both of my kids’ favorite for a while. 

Marcus LL108 Match Day 3 -- Confirmation

6 again , a while since I have had 2 in a row.

Player: BrowningM

1. The Philadelphia Eagles' 34-29 Week 1 win over the Green Bay Packers in 2024 was the first NFL regular season game played in what country, the third country to host one outside North America and the first south of the equator?
Correct Answer: BRAZIL
Your Answer: Brazil
Points Assigned: 2
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 2

I could only think Brazil or Australia and the latter seemed too far away

2. "The Stars and Stripes Forever", "El Capitan", and "The Liberty Bell" are among the first musical pieces to include what instrument, in no small part because they were composed by the man who originated its design?
Correct Answer: SOUSAPHONE
Your Answer: Sousaphone
Points Assigned: 1
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 1

I knew these were marches 

3. Turning and turning in the widening gyre \ The falcon cannot hear the falconer; \ [REDACTED]; the centre cannot hold; \ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world \ \ What phrase is redacted from this opening of William Butler Yeats's 1919 poem, and provides the title of what is often considered the most widely read book in modern African literature?
Correct Answer: THINGS FALL APART
Your Answer: Things fall apart
Points Assigned: 2
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 2

I love Yeats 

4. The Mexican state of Jalisco's various claims to fame include its status as the primary source of what trago, whose birthplace and namesake is a city approximately 40 miles northwest of the state capital, Guadalajara?
Correct Answer: TEQUILA
Your Answer: Tequila
Points Assigned: 0
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 0

It's been in the news all week with the cartel violence 

5. The Yang-Mills existence, Navier-Stokes existence, Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, and Hodge conjecture are all associated collectively with what prize?
Correct Answer: MILLENNIUM PRIZE
Your Answer: Millennium
Points Assigned: 3
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 3

In my wheelhouse 

6. Many American children reportedly began to develop English accents and adopt words and phrases such as "mummy", "on holiday", "telly", and "ready, steady, go" due to COVID-19 lockdown-era binge watching of what animated series, headlined by a good-hearted four-year-old who loves jumping in muddy puddles?
Correct Answer: PEPPA PIG
Your Answer: Peppa pig
Points Assigned: 1
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 1

I've seen a lot of episodes over the years 

Jesse Day 2

3 or 4/6

1. The political party whose name translates to "Soldiers of Destiny" was founded in 1926, took power in 1932, and dominated politics for decades before a historic defeat in the 2011 general election (since partly reversed). In what European country did this occur?
Correct Answer: IRELAND
Your Answer: Cyprus
Points Assigned: 3

My brain was only thinking continental. I had no idea. 

2. What musical group, which formed at the University of Georgia in 1980, was arguably the most popular "college-rock" band of the 1980s (at least until they signed a $10 million, five-record deal with Warner Bros. in 1988, and were named "America's Hippest Band" by Rolling Stone the following year)?
Correct Answer: R.E.M.
Your Answer: R.E.M.
Points Assigned: 1

I just knew this one. 

3. An early internet bait-and-switch meme called "duckrolling", which originated with a filter that replaced the word "egg" with the word "duck" (hence the name), eventually evolved into an even bigger meme involving what pop song?
Correct Answer: NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP
Your Answer: Never Going to Give You Up
Points Assigned: 0

Is Going gonna be accepted? 

4. Four major English art museums—Modern, Britain, Liverpool, and St Ives—are all named after what industrialist and sugar magnate?
Correct Answer: HENRY TATE
Your Answer: Tate
Points Assigned: 1

Tate Modern. Easy if you have been to London. 

5. The official "reporting mark" (an identifying code used on locomotives and freight cars) of the Canadian National Railway Company is familiar via its use in the name of what iconic (and once superlative) structure?
Correct Answer: CN TOWER
Your Answer: CN Tower
Points Assigned: 2

I immediately thought of the CN tower and the abbreviation made sense. 

6. Geosmin, a compound produced by soil-dwelling bacteria, helps create the familiar smell that comes with the first rain after a dry spell. What sensory term, coined from Greek roots in 1964 by Australian researchers Isabel Joy Bear and Richard G. Thomas, refers to this scent?
Correct Answer: PETRICHOR
Your Answer: Geosume
Points Assigned: 2

I have heard the word but could not pull it. 

Brian Day 2

Welcome Diane!  Always nice to have a Charles in Charge fan on board. Yes, close that tab, it's a feeling of horror seeing that familiar banner on top sometimes.  A few times I've woken up in the middle of the night and  typed L and then enter thinking it will autofill the Learnedleague address, and instead it takes me to the blog, but luckily no one has posted yet. 

4/6 today

1) Greece 2/0  No idea, and I somehow missed Ireland on my list of European countries to consider.  Might have guessed Greece anyway, as I'm not sure when they defaulted. 

2) REM 3/3  synonymous with Georgia college radio

3) Never Gonna Give You Up 1/2  Nice twist asking for the song instead of Rickroll or Astley

4) Domino 0/1  Duh, Tate Modern.  Should have given this more thought

5) CN Tower 1/1 gimme

6) Petrichor 2/2  I love this word, for some reason I think it's really beautiful how it describes the aroma.  

Dave M day 2

Welcome to the blog Diane and welcome back Jesse! Feels like a big crowd in here all of a sudden which is great.

 

Much better 5/6 today, wish I'd matched up with Brian today (in the CLL) instead.

 

1 : ) Ireland. I was stuck on Greece for ages but they had dictatorships and the like. As soon as I started mentally roaming around Ireland was the obvious answer. I'd never guessed what Fianna Fail meant in English before. D22

2 : ) REM. One of the few things I know about REM is that they were from University of Georgia, making this gimmeish for me. D10

3 : ) Never Gonna Give You Up. I figured this would be the gimme of the day, maybe not given David Seif's answer. D01

4 : ) Tate. UK gimme. D12

5 : ) CN Tower. Great question and right in my wheelhouse. I strongly wished to go up the CN Tower as a kid and felt very happy to finally do so a couple of years ago. D21

6 : ( Phantasia. Had no idea with this one, and assume most don't. D33

Diane Day 2 -- Sophomore Slump :(

Just in case I thought I was good at this 🤣 I finished second in my Rundle yesterday, but I think today I might get laughed out of the League. Got 2/6.

#1: So I forfeited this one because when I opened my computer this morning, this blog was still on my screen and it had refreshed, so the first thing I saw was "Ireland". I'm ~75% sure I would have guessed it, but I wasn't sure, so I took the L and left it blank. I assigned this 1 point.

#2: Kicking myself: I love REM. My morning brain was thinking "southern and old" (sorry) so I went with Hall & Oates. Wrong vibe, wrong decade. Ouch. I assigned this one two points.

#3: Thank heavens for gimmes:) I think some people might accidentally enter "Rick Rolling", but I still gave it zero.

#4: I knew this! The Tate Modern is one of the best free things in London, where my sister lives, and contains my all-time-favorite work of art. I assigned it 1 point.

#5: I thought this was called the Space Needle :( Right vibe, wrong country.

#6: I know Greek. That didn't help AT ALL. I've never heard this term before, but I'm happy it exists! I assigned it 3 points, because this doesn't seem like something anyone could guess correctly if they didn't already know it.

Marcus LL108 Match Day 2 -- Confirmation

6 pack today starter losing both matches with 5 because of defence yesterday 

Player: BrowningM

1. The political party whose name translates to "Soldiers of Destiny" was founded in 1926, took power in 1932, and dominated politics for decades before a historic defeat in the 2011 general election (since partly reversed). In what European country did this occur?
Correct Answer: IRELAND
Your Answer: Ireland
Points Assigned: 3
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 3

Hopefully plays hard

2. What musical group, which formed at the University of Georgia in 1980, was arguably the most popular "college-rock" band of the 1980s (at least until they signed a $10 million, five-record deal with Warner Bros. in 1988, and were named "America's Hippest Band" by Rolling Stone the following year)?
Correct Answer: R.E.M.
Your Answer: REM
Points Assigned: 1
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 1

My fave band of the era 

3. An early internet bait-and-switch meme called "duckrolling", which originated with a filter that replaced the word "egg" with the word "duck" (hence the name), eventually evolved into an even bigger meme involving what pop song?
Correct Answer: NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP
Your Answer: Never gonna give you up
Points Assigned: 0
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 0

Very easy for Brits 

4. Four major English art museums—Modern, Britain, Liverpool, and St Ives—are all named after what industrialist and sugar magnate?
Correct Answer: HENRY TATE
Your Answer: Tate
Points Assigned: 2
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 2

Another Brit gimme

5. The official "reporting mark" (an identifying code used on locomotives and freight cars) of the Canadian National Railway Company is familiar via its use in the name of what iconic (and once superlative) structure?
Correct Answer: CN TOWER
Your Answer: CN tower
Points Assigned: 1
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 1

If it wasn't this I had no chance 

6. Geosmin, a compound produced by soil-dwelling bacteria, helps create the familiar smell that comes with the first rain after a dry spell. What sensory term, coined from Greek roots in 1964 by Australian researchers Isabel Joy Bear and Richard G. Thomas, refers to this scent?
Correct Answer: PETRICHOR
Your Answer: petrichor
Points Assigned: 2
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 2

Nominee is gonna be able to guess this if they don't know it 

David S Day 2

 3/6. Two pop music questions in one day? Come on. 

1. Ireland :), D32. Tricky one for me given how much political upheaval there was in 2011. But few European countries fit having a single dominant party since the early 1930s. 
2. Ac/dc :(, D02. I bet with 5 guesses I could have gotten this. 
3. Cake by the Ocean :(, D13. Would not have gotten this with 500 guesses. 
4. Tate :), D11. The Tate Modern is pretty famous. That’s what got it for me. 
5. CN Tower :), D20. Great question. “Superlative” is what got me there. 
6. Potami :(, D21. Never heard of this term. I wish I’d given even higher D now that I see the answer.  

Beginner's Luck and Rookie Mistakes:)

Hello! Very Happy to be here and thanks to David for inviting me!

For my first outing, I did OK--

1. I literally named the only two 90's-era ladies tennis players I knew, which happened to be the right ones! II even spelled them correctly. I assigned this 3 points because I thought folks would be tripped up by the double answer.

2. I've seen Hamilton:) And I fully confess that despite being a history buff, I probably wouldn't have known Thomas Jefferson was the first Secretary of State without that musical. I assigned it 1 point, because I am guessing everyone else has seen Hamilton, too.

3. Swing and a miss--I had no clue so I guessed Charles in Charge. Assigned 2 points.

4. Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books, and you don't forget Bertha Mason. I allotted it 2 points because I want this to be something I know and other people don't:)

5. I knew it was Korean. Thank you K-Pop Demon Hunters! I didn't know the letters mimicked mouth shapes, etc. That was a cool thing to learn. I thought this might be pretty well-known, so I assigned it 1 point.

6. This one kills me: I put Baleen whale because I saw the Latin name and I thought I was clever. But I missed the bit where it said "largest animal ever known," which anyone who regularly visits the Museum of Natural History in NY knows is the Blue Whale. Hopefully the person I was playing against ALSO marked this one as 0.

Super Fun: Looking forward to tomorrow's quiz and seeing how my opponent did!

David S Addendum

Welcoming my friend, Diane, who just joined LL and is planning on joining this blog. Diane was a fellow member of the New Rochelle High School quiz bowl team that made the national finals in 2000. 

Nevermind, 5/6

Damnit! I misread the question too and only wrote down Graf. -Jesse

Jesse Day 1 LL 108

Hi All! I have successfully moved to Auckland and am back to LLing. Starting off with a 6/6. What is with the new font? 

1. Spain's Conchita Martínez won the Ladies' Singles title at the 1994 Wimbledon Championships. In every other year from 1982 to 1996, the title was won by one of just two other women. Name both of them.
Correct Answer: MARTINA NAVRATILOVA, STEFFI GRAF
Your Answer: Graf
Points Assigned: 2

I was born in 1978, so this was easy, but went with Graf to use less spelling brain cells. 

2. In 1790, Thomas Jefferson became the first person to lead what U.S. government department, the oldest cabinet department, established by an early act of Congress in July 1789?
Correct Answer: STATE
Your Answer: Department of State
Points Assigned: 1

It was a guess, but I figured that would be pretty important from the start and I believe I remembered him being involved in diplomacy. 

3. The 1970s saw several successful American TV series adapted from British shows, including All in the Family (from Till Death Us Do Part), Sanford and Son (from Steptoe and Son), and what other sitcom, based on the British series Man About the House starring Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox, and Sally Thomsett?
Correct Answer: THREE'S COMPANY
Your Answer: Three's Company
Points Assigned: 3

It was the first thing that came to mind. 

4. Helen ("Nell") Huntingdon, Bertha Mason, and Catherine Earnshaw are names of literary characters created by novelists who share what last name?
Correct Answer: BRONTË
Your Answer: Bronte
Points Assigned: 1

Gimmie?

5. A writing system created in the 15th century is notable for being "phonographic", meaning its letters represent the sounds of the language. Its basic consonants ㄱ, ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅅ, and ㅇ were designed to mimic how the tongue, lips, and throat shape those sounds. Name this script, or the language spoken by roughly 80 million people that uses it.
Correct Answer: HANGUL/KOREAN
Your Answer: Korean
Points Assigned: 2

Those characters looked like Korean and the population amount felt right. 

6. Give the common name of the whale species Balaenoptera musculus, believed to be the largest animal ever known, though its gentle nature makes it a less likely choice for dramatic fiction than the whales featured in Moby Dick, Star Trek IV, and Free Willy.
Correct Answer: BLUE WHALE
Your Answer: Blue Whale
Points Assigned: 0

Easiest question I have seen in a while. 

Brian Day 1 vs Dave M (CLL)

Oh does it feel so good to write CLL instead of LLL!!!! Welcome to Day 1 of the Carr Longevity League, sure to be home of copious blog posts!  And what a way to kick off the season, with a six pack and a victory over Dave.   Hopefully it's enough to get me a tie as I yo-yo back up to A rundle.   

1) Navritalova, Graf  3/3  I had no idea these two went on such a run, but other than Chris Evert in the early 80s I couldn't imagine who else it could be.

2) State 0/0   Jefferson was the first Sec State

3) Three's Company 2/2  One man, two women

4) Bronte 1/2  1800s sounding names, female characters, authors with the same last name... probably one of the easier lit questions for me.

5) Korean 2/1  No idea at first, then thought they looked like parts of Korean letters.  Surprised how small the population was, but it was my best guess.

6) Blue whale 1/1   gimme

David S Day 1

 Welcome back, all. 4/6 to start. 

1. Graf, Navratilova :), D01. Gimme. I grew up watching Graf overtake Martina. 
2. State :), D11. I knew Jefferson was the first Secretary of State. 
3. Diff’rent Strokes :(, D22. Nope!
4. Alcott :(, D33. Would have loved to have gotten this. I got close but couldn’t remember which family had multiple authors in this era. 
5. Korean :), D22. I thought a lot about the 80 million number, plus the timing of the development. I felt really good about getting this until my 13-year-old daughter, playing for the very first time, said this was super easy and the only one she knew right away…
6. Blue whale :), D10. Gimmeish as long as you don’t overthink it. 

Dave M day 1 v Brian LLL

Happy LL108 everyone! I'm launching my career back in C with a poor 2/6 to start.

 

1 : ( Graf. I misread the question and thought I only needed to put down one. D12

2 : ( Interior. Random guess of major department. D22

3 : ( The Man of the House. No idea. D31

4 : ( Collins. Wrong century. D23

5 : ) Korean. Finally one I recognized straight away though gimmeish. D11

6 : ) Blue Whale. Gimme of the day. D00

Marcus LL108 Match Day 1 -- Confirmation

Nice to be back after the very long break. 5 to start 

Player: BrowningM

1. Spain's Conchita Martínez won the Ladies' Singles title at the 1994 Wimbledon Championships. In every other year from 1982 to 1996, the title was won by one of just two other women. Name both of them.
Correct Answer: MARTINA NAVRATILOVA, STEFFI GRAF
Your Answer: Navratilova, Graf
Points Assigned: 2
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 2

I can't name many of the current players 

2. In 1790, Thomas Jefferson became the first person to lead what U.S. government department, the oldest cabinet department, established by an early act of Congress in July 1789?
Correct Answer: STATE
Your Answer: State
Points Assigned: 1
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 1

I knew Hamilton was the treasury 

3. The 1970s saw several successful American TV series adapted from British shows, including All in the Family (from Till Death Us Do Part), Sanford and Son (from Steptoe and Son), and what other sitcom, based on the British series Man About the House starring Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox, and Sally Thomsett?
Correct Answer: THREE'S COMPANY
Your Answer: pass
Points Assigned: 1
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 1

I may have got it if they asked the other way round ..

4. Helen ("Nell") Huntingdon, Bertha Mason, and Catherine Earnshaw are names of literary characters created by novelists who share what last name?
Correct Answer: BRONTË
Your Answer: Bronte
Points Assigned: 3
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 3

Gimme but by opponents not good at lit 

5. A writing system created in the 15th century is notable for being "phonographic", meaning its letters represent the sounds of the language. Its basic consonants ㄱ, ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅅ, and ㅇ were designed to mimic how the tongue, lips, and throat shape those sounds. Name this script, or the language spoken by roughly 80 million people that uses it.
Correct Answer: HANGUL/KOREAN
Your Answer: Korean
Points Assigned: 2
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 2

Very guessable 

6. Give the common name of the whale species Balaenoptera musculus, believed to be the largest animal ever known, though its gentle nature makes it a less likely choice for dramatic fiction than the whales featured in Moby Dick, Star Trek IV, and Free Willy.
Correct Answer: BLUE WHALE
Your Answer: Blue whale
Points Assigned: 0
Points Assigned to Private Opp: 0

Gimme of the season already like the Louvre last time ?

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