Monday’s loss and yesterday’s tie have knocked me down three spots — climbing out of the basement is looking more and more unlikely. And my match yesterday was particularly spastic, with both competitors screwing up the defense to a comical degree. 5(2)-5(3)? Sheesh.
1. What is the imperial unit of measure, today in very limited and specific use, which is the equivalent of 220 yards? One of them equals an eighth of a mile, while five of them approximate one kilometer.
I went with my first thought: fathom. Not a terrible guess, but the correct answer is furlong.
2. The philosophical concept known as the categorical imperative, which states (in small part) that one must act according to the maxim that one would wish all others to follow, as if it were a universal law, comes from 1785′s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, by what German philosopher?
It’s become something of a tradition: When a question contains the words “German” and “philosopher,” I answer Immanuel Kant. It’s never been right, but he’s my go-to guy. Persistence has finally paid off: Kant finally came through for me!
3. Of the 50 U.S. states, which has the highest percentage of non-Hispanic whites (nearly 95%), as well as the greatest proportion of residents who speak French at home?
I was pretty darn foolish, going with Louisiana. 95% white?! Come on. But the French part of the question snagged me — I couldn’t think of any other state that might come out on top of that ranking. I should have gone with Maine.
4. Genetically engineered organic robots known as replicants (also known derisively as skin-jobs), produced by the Tyrell Corporation, are central to the plot of what science fiction film?
The one solid gimme in the lineup (except for my opponent — so much for my zero). Blade Runner.
5. Name the singer who was the world’s best-selling recording artist of the 1990s and, with 1999′s Heartbreaker, became the first (and still only) artist to have a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 each year of a decade.
I was proud that I removed Britney Spears from the blank: Did she have that many number one hits? And by the end of the 1990s, she was already on the path to her new career as a troubled person, right? So I discarded that first thought and reconsidered. Alas, I then went with the equally wrong Christina Aguilera. The correct answer, Mariah Carey, never crossed my mind.
According to Wikipedia, this video cost $2.5 million dollars to make. How the? What the?
6. This term is defined as a ship owned by an individual or company, but authorized (or commissioned) by a government to attack foreign vessels during wartime — corsairs are a specific French example. The term is also used for the commander of such a ship.
I’m positive I read an article about this not that long ago, but the word I needed was always a couple of inches out of my grasp. Sometimes I can let go of the question, get my mind all serene, and then the answer will drift into place. And other days I can’t help but say, again and again, “ARRGH, IT’S RIGHT ON THE TIP OF MY TONGUE, WHAT IS THIS WORD, ARRRGH.” And that, of course, never gets me anywhere. The word I couldn’t find is privateer.
I got the six-pack on this one, and amazingly enough, my opponent neither forfeited nor beered it himself. One bright spot in what has been a miserable season for me.
I had this vague memory of having heard that Mariah Carey was way up there on the best-selling-ever list, so went with her, and was glad I did.
Wow, congrats, Sax!
Private-eers *clap clap* are listening to you *clap* listening to your every move…
1 — Furlong seemed pretty correct, particularly with them offering up the 1/8 mile part.
2 — All words of the question other than “categorical” could have been blanked out, and I would have said Kant (though with a touch less confidence than after seeing the whole question). But really, all that extra information, *and* “German philosopher? A bit too much.
3 — Now for the part of our program where I start failing. I wrongly convinced myself (somehow) that “non-Hispanic whites” was a group that included the group known as “Alaskan Natives,” and Alaska being next to Canada and all (and the TV show Northern Exposure using a lot of French references in its mythology), I went there. In part that was to save me from having to pick among Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, and in part because it seemed like an “interesting” answer to the question in a way that Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire would not have been (as much). But nope — geographically almost as wrong as I could be.
4 — Well, OK. One more correct before I blow the final 2 answers.
5 — I think a while back I’d heard the same stat as Sax about Mariah Carey being crazy popular, and perhaps even something like the precise stat of the question. But I didn’t believe it then, and although Mariah was therefore on my scratch paper as a possibility (along with Madonna and Michael Jackson), I still didn’t really believe it in my heart, and went with Madonna.
6 — Privateer, Brigadier … whatever. (I actually had great hope for Brigadier, but the actual correct answer, not surprisingly, felt so much more correct.)
Lost 4(3)-6(3) (ouch!). Still not mathematically locked out of either the green zone or the pink zone, but one more day should do it.
Woohoo! All but that dang privateer for me! Glad to end my Learned League Lurker career on a high note.
1. I was pretty sure it was a furlong, and the clue about a current specific usage — horse racing was all the talk around here, since the jockey who could have won the Triple Crown this past weekend was trained here in Vancouver — cinched it.
2. Ooh. Kant is not so big in my brain. Went with Goethe.
3. I had thought I’d heard that Vermont had a lot of French-speakers on top of having a French-derived name. Not enough, apparently.
4. Easy answer, easy zero.
5. My short list was Celine Dion and Garth Brooks, who I had also heard had broken crazy records some time back then. Neither one had a song titled “Heartbreaker” that I could recall (which put me even more in favour of Garth, since I’d stopped being force-fed country by that point) and trying to put the word to music got me nowhere.
6. I came up with a bunch of words for pirates/sailors and for ships, but couldn’t find anything that fit both lists. It was no use — I hadn’t known a privateer could also be a ship, so even if I’d thought of the term, I wasn’t necessarily going to pick it.
Congrats on the six-pack, Saxifrage!
1.Brain fart on Q1 as I quickly decided that the answer was Furlough (not Furlong). That’s what happens when you get two very similar sounding words that you never use on a regular basis. I end up undeservedly getting a point for this because the spelling is so close.
2. There are lots of German Philosophers to choose from so I score this a 3 and chuck a wild guess in Hegel’s direction. I’m not at all surprised to get this wrong but I’m kind of stunned to see a 70% correct leaguewide rate. Is this just because Kant is the first name to come up in Monty Python’s Philosopher’s Song? My opponent (occasional poster Andrew) who I’ve faced off against in the previous two seasons got it right.
3. My first thought was Maine but Vermont kept nagging at the back of my mind. With Vermont’s smaller population it would be easier for a handful of French homes to make up a larger proportion of the population. Even though I wrote Maine into the space I still couldn’t resist the urge to change my answer even though I knew I was probably switching it from right to wrong.
4 Blade runner was a total gimme for me. Easy 0.
5. Mariah Carey was another gimme for me although Heartbreaker is not all that memorable. By the end of the 90s Mariah’s hits all seemed to follow the same template featuring a Guest Rapper (Jay-Z, ODB..) and a sample from Tom Tom Club’s Genius of Love. Andrew has weak Pop Music stats so I scored him a 2 here even though I fully believed this was guessable.
6. Knew this word would come to me and after concentrating for about a minute, Privateer came into view.
In the end I won 5(4)-4(3) but I don’t feel that this was really deserved so I’ve asked Thorsten to take back the point for Furlough and leave it as a 4(3)-4(3) tie. Hopefully Andrew and I can both survive in Rundle B have another rematch next season.
I 6-packed this. Of the three other people who did this in my rundle, one was my opponent. I think I’m 0-0-3 when I get all the questions, which is kind of ridiculous.
1. I was pretty sure furlong was the 1/8 mile unit.
2. categorical imperative = Kant.
3. I thought about Louisiana because of the French clue, but decided it was probably something really close to Quebec. Maine seemed like the right choice out of the various New England states.
4. replicants, Tyrell = Blade Runner.
5. I knew Carey had a song “Heartbreaker”, and that she has the most #1 hits for a solo artist (I believe).
6. Guessed Privateer, came back later, didn’t think of anything better.
0-0-4 in the last four days.
I guess Mariah Carey wasn’t as much of a gimme as I thought. Lost 7(4)-8(4). Ouch.
Took this one 4(4) – 3(2). I am always somewhat offended when my opponent defends against me perfectly and I fail to do the same, but anyways, a win is a win.
1) At first I was going to put league down, but I realized that if a league is an eighth of a mile then 20,000 leagues under the sea would be about lava and not water, So I thought fathom was a good idea but still didn’t seem quite right and finally settled on the Furlong, a well accepted measure of how far a child star’s success as an adult falls from their beginning stardom.
2) Monty Python philosopher’s song namedrops Kant, Heidegger, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Wittgenstein and Nietzsche (Non-Germans omitted for the sake of brevity). Sadly I too went with Hegel cause Hegel’s Law sounded nice.
3) Knew it was between VT and ME, went with VT since it borders Quebec, but as my brother reminded me after, there’s a large French population in New Brunswick which borders Maine.
4) Uh…zeroes all round?
5) Figured this had to be Mariah Carey, and I remembered that was one of her songs.
6) Knew this one right away from various tales o’ the sea.
4)
My mistake, I won 4(4) – 3(3) but the principle’s the same,
1. Thought briefly about league, as in seven-league boots, but furlong seemed better. I also half-remembered the definition from an old Jeopardy clue that mashed it up with T2 star Edward Furlong.
2. Didn’t have the foggiest, and there are tons of German philosphers. I put down Kant, then changed it to Heidegger for no particular reason. Oops.
3. For a while, I was trying to reason out what US state was directly below Quebec, but then Alaska seemed like even a better idea. Oops.
4. Gimme.
5. Didn’t remember this single, but Carey debuted at the right time to have this streak, and she was a hit single machine, so there you go.
6. Flirted with “flag of convenience” before realizing that term wouldn’t cover the commander. Eventually my brain spit out “privateer,” and it felt right.
A not overwhelming but respectable 5(4)-3(2) victory; I’ll take it.
1: Was 95% sure on this one. I associate furlongs with horse racing, so that was my only worry, coming on the heels (no punny metaphor intended) of the quarter horse question.
2: I have spent enough time around folks talking about this stuff that certain phrases have sunk in, “categorical imperative” being one of them.
3: I started at Louisiana, then thought about the “95% white” bit, then wisely moved from Cajun to Acadia.
4: Never seen it, but “replicants” was a gimme. I might’ve been able to puzzle it out with just “skin-jobs”, but we’ll never know now, will we?
5: I was actually aware of this specific bit of trivia (#1 hit every year in the ’90s).
6: I focused on the “also the commander of such a ship” bit. Discarded “brigadier general”, but sadly came across “merchant marine” and thought it sounded good. My Language stat took a hit–I’m only batting 1.000 now on Math and Current Events this season.
6(5)-6(5) tie. Can’t gripe too much about one of those.
Jangler: GROAN
StevenS: A league is actually about 3.5 miles! (Okay, so I had to look that up.) The title refers to distance traveled around the world while also being submerged beneath the sea.
Picked off another 9(6)-9(6) tie. It’s tough to earn MPD these days. Slipped from 2nd to 3rd as it’s all tangled up near the top, and the 4th place player beat #3 to earn two points and fly by me. InglebritsonC is beginning to look more and more like the LL Champ up there at number one.
Thanks RHutch – I started thinking that a league was actually longer, but didn’t bother to do the research. I think it’s been 30 years since I watched the movie