As a starting point, I thought I would resurrect the game we played the last time we were in Texas - the google race!
A quick reminder of the rules
How to play:
The race organisers provide a question and the particants try to find the answer using google (or similar) and post the answer together with the search terms used to get there and a new question (on a topic of their choice) as a blog comment. The question deviser or at least 2 other participants can confirm the correct answer on the blog. The participants then chase the new question of the person who was first to provide the correct answer and so the race continues like a relay, with question devisers taking on confirmation role as appropriate (the race organisers can also be participants in subsequent rounds). And so on until it runs out of steam...each correct answer provided entitles the winner to be entered into the draw for a special (lone)star prize...First question (to get things started):
Of the 189 heroes who died defending the Alamo, how many are known to be from the home nations (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales)?
on your marks.....get set.....GO!
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82 comments:
bah - the search terms :
alamo "home nations" died
landed me with a direct link to your page
some short time later..
Got it!
The answer is 26 -
search term - alamo
http://www.thealamo.org/defend.html
(I know because I counted..)
Everyone agree?? I counted too, got something slightly different, but then again I'm jet-lagged! Can anyone else confirm or contest smodge's answer?
don't forget you need to set a new question
Richard has just complained about me winning something already - but that's his look out - its every man/woman/typething for itself in this game..
Anyway - on the theme of death: in San Antonio, which event in 1921 lead to the death of a further 50 people?
Just a minute, it hasnae been confirmed yet. I also got 26, after Helen's leg work... but the answet to her too-soon-placed question is a flood.
Search terms were: san antonio 1921 50 deaths
and thh first link I went to was: http://www.sanantonio.gov/SAPD/history2_20s.htm
I counted twice.. assuming mine is allowed, Yes Richard, that's right. (Its a fine line between making them easy and impossible!)
Oops I've just re-read the instructions and Helen was right. So here is mmy question. It's in two bits, and you have to get both. The first will lead to the other, adaptive release and all that:
What is the name of the basketball team that play in San Antonio? and who is the name of their current head coach?
(I'm not even that keen on Basketball...)
OK 26 it is (I've also just recounted)
so a point each for Helen and Richard
(btw - for clarity, the two competitions are scored seperately not cumulatively - so more chances for everyone to win 'lone star' goodies)
oh -oh
I saw them on the TV this morning!!
San Antonio Silver Stars
coach - Dan Hughes
search terms san antonio and basketball
New question: what is the US government denying happened in Texas on 8 January 2008?
Louise,
I think there are more than one right answer here. As the Spurs are the male NBA team in San Antonio and their head coach is Gregg Popovich. Search terms were:
"San Antonio Spurs" coach.
Louise has cited the WNBA team, while there are also male and female basketball teams at UTSA (both the Roadrunners with coaches Brooks Thompson and Rae Rippetoe-Blair (what a name!) respectively) and there are no doubt many league teams that play in the city, so there are quite a lot of answers. Vague question Richard!
Decision is needed on which you meant Richard.
Oh no, sorry for vagueness - please deduct my point as a penalty. I forgot the complexities of sport(s) in the US. If I'd only put NBA as I planned in the question, it would have been so much clearer...
I think we still go with Louise's Q, but she will have to amend the scores accordingly. It was San Antonio Spurs/Gregg Popovic that I was after. I'll dodge making sports questions in future
I know the answer to Louise's one. It is that US fighter planes were chasing a UFO across the sky.
terms:
jan 8 2008 texas ufo
Next question:
To continue on from Richard's NBA theme... An NBA player bought a real-life version of a gag communications device made famous in "Get Smart." What was the device and who was the player?
I'm sorry, but I feel that I might need to deduct some points from Brian for making a conspiracy theory about fighter planes and UFOs that is being taken seriously by serious news outlets sound so ordinary and oh-hum (only kidding...but come on everyone, it is weird isn't it??)
Ha Louise! You don't know how often we Americans see UFOs. It is a pretty ordinary occurence, especially in the midwest of the US. Seems like every couple weeks another person sees the UFOs, despite the government's attempts to cover it up (and the great US media's attempts to bring it to light, something they seem completely unable to do with 'facts'). You just don't want to know where the aliens always seem to put their probes on human test subjects...
flippin' 'eck, brian - if you're playing vagueness poker with richard, you win hands down! but i'm not sure there are prizes for that competition :)
the player was: shaquille o'neal
the gadget was: the shoe phone (or possibly the sneaker phone, depending on whether you want the answer to the device in 'get smart' or the device worn by mr. o'neal).
search term was: "get smart" - which about half way down the results page led to wikipedia...the 'gadgets' section of that page contained a link to 'sneaker phone', which led to the answer.
OK gs - you need to set a new question....
ah, sorry, i thought i had to wait for the answer to be confirmed before setting a new question.
so, tenuously trying to continue the vague-adaptive-release- american-sports theme: in 2005, the boston red sox approached a prominent international wicket keeper with a view to signing him after his retirement. who was he, and when did he retire?
Boston Red Sox approached Adam Gilchrist
Search terms copied and paste from Liz's question and answer retrieved directly from google hit #1. Couldn't be easier.
Liz and I are obviously more suited to US time-zones - make a note.
Here's my question (change of tack - apparently):
What have the following got in common and how does this connect to both Louise and Kay? :-
*an Israeli settlement in the West Bank
*a variant on the name of God as spoken in Hebrew and Aramaic
*a 2007 short science-fiction thriller
*a fictional character on Xena: Warrior Princess
eli! and louise and kay are both at e.l.i.
googled "science fiction thriller god hebrew" and scanned the first page of results until something looked familiar...
next question in a minute, just making a cup of tea...
come on snakey! I'm waiting! does it take 34 minutes to make a cup of tea? I was hoping on being first to answer this morning to boost my score!
btw - just noticed that andrew omitted gilchrist's retirement date - but am taking it on trust that he found it.
ok, seeing as mather is hassling me, here's an easy one. what links the following:
*an emmy award winning medical drama
*a division of the astrological horoscope
*an american inventor
*a horror movie
I confess to a vagueness in my question as Liz has suggested, but not the answer (a sneaker is a type of shoe after all). Liz, of course, got it right.
Well, after a bit of thinking the answer was something to do with ER (which could be a massive distraction to me, as I think it is great and could easily waste all day finding out about it), my brain informed me that the answer is House. Sort of. It is for part A (Wikipedia confirmed it) and D (I know, because I've seen it) of the question anyway. I don't know anything about astrology or horoscopes as I think it is all nonsense, but can assume house might be one of the divisions, and I don't think House has got anything to do with american inventors, unless one claimed to have invented the house years after they already existed. So that's where I'm going to finish this one. It was a) vague, and b) not easy. Someone else can finish it and get the point for it
oh, richard! so close...and just one page in wikipedia would have confirmed the answer.
i think the competition creator will need to adjudicate on this one (maybe you get 1/2 point?)...but why don't you set the next question anyway? after all, it's so quiet in l7 today, we need *some* excitement to distract us...
Yes, it would, and it just has. "Henry Alonzo House", what an absolutely brilliant name! I'll have a little think and set the next Q in approximately 1 hour.
Hi people - 6am in Texas and I'm back - points for both Liz and Richard, looking forward to the next question
OK, using the word to describe more than one of a metallic noisy something you find up high in a church tower, and a word from one of the answers to my previous questions (also metallic), what is the name of the poem that inspired a mini-western movie created in Second Life? and what is the name of the drinking establishment named in the poem?
---
and, completely unrelated to the competition, I'll give my own prize to the first answerer of this:
My beloved Huddersfield Town have only ever won the FA Cup once (up until this year. ha ha). In four parts:
When was it?
Who was it against?
Who scored the winning goal?
and what does it have in common with HTFC's 5th round opponents in this year's competition?
The poem was "Silver Bells and Golden Spurs"
And the saloon was the Lucky Star
terms: bells spur second life poem
Next question: What candy featured as the main characters in a US TV show that ran for over 5 years?
Well done Brian!
Gummi bears!
search terms us tv show kids candy
(although I'm not sure I needed to search terms *shame on me*)
and on a related note, check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z47EUaIFrdQ&feature=related
Aaarrgghh, I need a question (and I also need my breakfast) - the pressure!!
What was invented in San Antonio in the 18th Century and officially was "introduced" to the nation at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893?
chili!
from the search terms: "san antonio invented 18th century"
next question to follow in approx 20 minutes...
ok, with absolutely no connection to anything at all, here's the next question:
spider sabich was shot in 1976. who shot him, and what does this person have in common with tom selleck?
and no, louise, it's nothing to do with what you'll probably be thinking when you read the words "tom selleck" :)
hmmm - a toughie - it could be his girlfriend and French Singer Claudine Longet, although she said it was an accident and was found not guilty of his murder.
you clearly know me very well, but even I couldn't think that a female french singer talks like tom selleck (and andrew rosen)
Claudine and Tom share the same birthday - today!!!
oops forgot I need a question
Who was the last former actor to seek nomination for president of the US and what ever-running TV series did he used to star in?
I also forgot my search terms
spider sabich
then claudine longet tom selleck
well done, and in double quick time - i knew the tom selleck reference would distract you from other, worthier events :)
fred thompson - law and order!
search terms: us president nomination actor
easy peasy question now: the aforementioned fred thompson starred in a tv show that was premiered and cancelled in 2005.
what was the name of the show, and which of his co-stars also portrayed a psychiatrist in a slightly longer running show?
Finally!!!
OK this one has driven me crazy
search terms: fred thompson 2005 tv show
(then distracted for quite a long time trying to find a connection between Fred and Kelsey Grammer - interestingly came across:
http://fredpresident08.blogspot.com/2007/09/fred-thompson-is-not-kelsey-grammer.html
tried a whole range of other things incl. trying frasier's brother, even considered the possibility that other TV shows as well as Fraiser might have psychiatrists...surely not!
and finally in a fit of temper entered:
"trial by jury" (the only short 2005 show listed for Fred in imdb)
frasier and psychiatrist.
Ta da!
Law and Order: Trail by Jury
Bebe Neuwirth
Question: Who has won the Florida primary (for both Democrat and Republican) - and what percentage of the vote did each winner get?
well done for sticking with that, louise!
(memo to self: watch things other than crime dramas and frasier)
searching for "florida news election" tells me that the winners were:
John McCain (Rep) got 36% of the vote
Hilary Clinton (Dem) got 50% of the vote
[though at the moment it says 99% of the votes have been counted...so maybe that's not the correct answer afterall. eeek!]
well, a new question anyway - which presidential hopeful once attended a stag do in wokingham?
well done Liz - the 99% thing it seems to depend upon which tv channel you watch - whether it is 99 or 100, but Wolf Blitzen had just said the extra 1% can change the percentages - did he hear you ask I wonder??
Obama did. No search terms needed, as was on the front page of shuspace (in the BBC news RSS channel of course)!
New question coming up shortly.
One of the presidential candidates used to live about a mile and a half away from my parents' house. Who was it and what street did he/she live on? (Hint: the street is named after a county in the NC mountains).
wow Brian - that was hard
presidential candidate north caroline pretty quickly gave me John Edwards
street name - aarrgh!! tried several combinations of john edwards, north carolina, address, raleigh, counties, mountains along with a list of the (100!!) NC counties open in wikipedia
can I go for Alleghany Road - am I right?
my question (I'll try to make ths the last AP question, but I heard it on the tv this morning)
Who was the last president of the US who moved directly from being a Senator to President?
(no this isn't a trick question, I know they need to resign for a bit, I mean the last job they had before they became a candidate was to be a US Senator)
Alleghany Drive is right (road, drive, whatever). Great job Louise! (2 points for difficulty?) The terms:
"John Edwards" Raleigh street
will get it, but other combinations don't seem to easily, as you found out. The counties was probably not much of a help in finding it, but I figured you could check your answer that way.
whoa! i'm so impressed - got as far as john edwards and the scary number of counties, then was devastated when searching for "brian's mom dad america" didn't get me any closer.
can i guess jfk for louise's question?
searched for "president senator job", which brought up a site listing presidents' occupations...and jfk appeared to be the latest.
ok, here's another question - i was going for a presidential theme, but got distracted by something else while looking at something:
in fraggle rock, fraggles regularly eat bits of scaffolding (apart from in one fateful episode, of course). what are the bits of scaffolding made from?
Seems to be from radishes that taste like marshmellows
terms: fraggle rock, then wikipedia showed the way. Hopefully Liz didn't just edit it to make use look foolish for trusting wikipedia.
Next question: What current running 'adult' cartoon is loosely adapted from 'Jonny Quest'?
mwah-ha-ha - you fell for my wikipedia trick!
oh, ok, not really. as for your question, brian, i'm far too nervous to type "adult cartoon" into google...so i went with "jonny quest" (which led, of course, to wikipedia) then clicked on "cultural impact"...which led me to the venture bros.
soooo, next question: what do guy fawkes, judi dench, and the author of 'agnes grey' have in common?
It might not be the answer you want, but they were all born in Yorkshire (but not on the same day, which was my first guess at the answer). Dench (sorry, Dame Dench, blimey, she's 73!), and Fawkes in York, Anne Bronte near Bradford. As this is a weak answer, I'll await confirmation beore posting the next Q
First search term was 'agnes grey', after which t'Wikipedia took care of the rest.
I was hoping the answer to brian's Q was going to be family guy, but the mention of fraggle rock has made up for it. I used to be mesmerised by the amount of construction going on by the doozers
spot on richard!
next question, over to you...
OK then:
Take the first name of a former british prime minister and place it before the surname of a famous cricketer born in Georgetown on 31 August 1944, and you will have the name of an film icon of the 20th century. Which 2004 film mentions this film icon?
(as no-one, as yet, has answered my bonus question from earlier in the week, you might like to know that there is a link between that one and this one.)
- british prime ministers
- georgetown cricketer born "31 August 1944"
= harold lloyd
"harold lloyd" movie 2004
= i Robot
Believe me, it's almost as hard to re-construct the search terms when someone (naming no names(drinks gin)) has given you the answer. And in fact, having ducked out of the comp for a few days I've realised that I've been handed a poison chalice and now have to set a ridiculously challenging question, not like what they were a few days ago..
bah.
Bonus question answers:
29 April 1922
against Preston North End
Billy Smith scored the winning goal
The 5th round opponents are Chelsea, and the FA cup match was played at Stamford Bridge, their home stadium
Well done Brian! I owe you a prize
PS well done Helen, that's correct. Snakey did have the answer ages before you though. She must have given you more info post learning-lounge...
OK smodge - you've dived back in - now you have to set a question...y-o-u-a-r-e-k-i-l-l-i-n-g-t-h-e-c-o-m-p-e-t-i-t-i-o-n...
btw - don't be put off with the new question types - I, for one, would be more than happy with a return to the easy ones...
In an attempt to get the competition going again, I am bypassing Helen's slackness and posting a new question:
What is the name of the most recent panda born in Europe?
Thanks Brian!!! Do we have our first disqualification??
Fu Long
search terms panda born europe
followed by panda born austria name
follow up question:
Our Presidium account manager was until recently in a band, what is the name of that band?
Jackie Gino
terms: mike cuthriell band
Next question: How old is the statue of liberty (from date of dedication, not construction)?
121 years old - dedicated on Oct 28 1886 - search terms history "statue of liberty"
the phrasing of your question intrigued me Brian, until I found this:
"Financing for the pedestal was completed in August 1885, and pedestal construction was finished in April of 1886. The Statue was completed in France in July, 1884 and arrived in New York Harbor in June of 1885 on board the French frigate "Isere" which transported the Statue of Liberty from France to the United States. In transit, the Statue was reduced to 350 individual pieces and packed in 214 crates. The Statue was re-assembled on her new pedestal in four months time. On October 28th 1886, the dedication of the Statue of Liberty took place in front of thousands of spectators."
on the National Park Service website - too much information??
What was first unveiled to the public at theSouthern Exposition in Louisville Kentucky in 1883?
It was the first electric light, unveiled by Thomas Edison. My search terms were:
Unveiled Southern Exposition Louisville Kentucky 1883
and I didn't have to go anywhere, it was in the description of the topmost link, but I did follow it to make sure. Question a-comin at lunchtime. Yee har
OK, here's my question. What links a popular(!) fast food company based in the same location as the unveiling took place in the previous question, and a blockbuster film trilogy which is about to gain a younger sibling?
This should be very easy...
Is it that Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken was born in Indiana, which is the first name of Indiana Jones, the movie with the sequel coming out?
That was kind of hard actually! Terms Kentucky Fried Chicken Indiana Jones led nowhere, but taking off Jones gave me the answer.
Next question: For my vote to count in the presidential primary, when must it be received by the board of elections?
5th May 2008
terms (bit clumsy but I wanted to make sure I got the exact info for citizens of NC residing outside the US)
north carolina presidential primary "board of elections"
if you are undecided you might find the following "useful" - http://www.2008electionprocon.org/howtopresident.htm#campaign
oops! wrong link - can I get back to you on that one :-)
btw I agree with Brian - that was really hard. I was stuck in an endless lord of the rings/hobbit link to KFC loop (which, by the way, I'm relieved to say doesn't exist - except that KFC gave away LOTR toys back in the day)
My question: What is the name of the latest TV film by a very excellent "whacked-out" comedian being aired in the UK tonight, and what channel/what time will it be on?
I tried the Hobbit too! Then I realised it was coming 2010, so it is not coming soon.
Revised link to help you choose a candidate (try the quiz)
http://www.selectsmart.com/president/2008/comparethem.html
If that fails, you could always try
http://www.2008electionprocon.org/howtopresident.htm#campaign
Also (sorry) amendment to my question, hopefully making it easier - just a typo, oops.
My question: What is the name of the latest TV film about the USA by a very excellent "whacked-out" comedian being aired in the UK tonight, and what channel/what time will it be on?
Brian is right, I was looking for 'Indiana' as the link. I'm a bit stuck with the latest question
all the words in the question are there for a reason...there is a "clue" in the answers to competition 2 that might help...
;-)
I've got it now, after a little bit of prompting from Liz. I don't know why I didn't just think of it, after previous comedy-based conversations with Louise! and the fact that I last night set my DVD/HD recorder to take care of the following at 10pm on More 4:
Dave Gorman in America Unchained
It sounds great: http://www.channel4.com/more4/documentaries/doc-feature.jsp?id=187
No googling required, just plain old fashioned communication. By email. From someone sitting less than 10 metres away. And I've just figured out that "whacked out" refers to Googlewhack. I have a new Q in mind, but I might need to solve a technical difficulty first...
well done Richard! I felt like I had been too narrow in my question focus (after all, you either follow gorman or you don't) which is why I offered a clue so quickly - can't believe you were recording it and didn't get it straight away!! I've also recorded it and looking forward to watching it later.
Check out the beagle shaped B&B on DG's blog http://gormano.blogspot.com/
Thank goodness Presidium isn't in Cottonwood, Idaho!!
Oh great, another blog I'm never going to find time to read... although I've just added it to my Google Reader which will let me scan it and tell me when there is new stuff, and then got distracted by the recommended blogs list.
Hmm, a question. I'm almost tempted to copy something very difficult from one of Smodger's Perplexcity cards, woooops... another distraction, I've just signed up for notification of when Perplexcity Season Two is starting.
Right, OK, OK. Here goes. A famous film trilogy (+1) has already been mentioned in a previous question. Take an actor from that trilogy and place him alongside an actor from the other trilogy (+1) mentioned here. You will find this pair in a 1992 film based on a book by a (quite) famous American author. An earlier film, based on a book by the same author, starred a different actor playing the same character as that played by one of the trilogy (+1) actors in the 1992 film. What is the name of the earlier film and what links it to one of the trilogies?
That should keep you busy... (or you might just know it)
I've just realised that my latest Q (in fact all of mine so far) might not have met the google race point of the competition... oops, I'll see how you get on with it
OK - sorry, but my painkillers don't work on boredom:
trilogy 1: Indiana Jones
trilogy 2: LOTR
link: Ford and Bean in Patriot Games (1992) by Tom Clancy
previous film based on Tom Clancy book: Hunt for Red October (1990) in which Alec Baldwin played Jack Ryan (the role played by Ford in 1992) stared Sean Connery who played Indie's dad in trilogy 1 - phew!! now there is a stream of connections
(btw did you know that Fred Thompson - recent Republican presidential candidate and answer to question 14 of this quiz - was also in HfRO - a bit of "degrees of separation" going on here
a couple of editorials:
richard - it doesn't matter that you aren't following the rules of question setting as long as people keep playing - web2.0 - it is what the participants want it to be
I will stop trying so hard to win when I am back at work and less bored...but just be warned, this level of motivation can only really come from the drive of know what the prize is :-)
OK - here is another back down to the easy level:
We visited Presidium in Kentucky but their head office is in another state, how many capitals does that state have and what are their names?
- yes there is a clue in the question that there is more than one, but then again, that's what makes it worth asking the question
Brilliantly answered Louise! I nearly posted the question in 6 parts, and you've answered all of them! One of my favourite facts (which has been aired in the learning lounge) is that the film compnanies weren't keen on Ford/Connery appearing as leading roles in 2 films at around the same time: Indy/Last Crusade in '89, Red October in '90. I didn't know that about Fred Thompson, but then again I don't know much about the election-y stuff that's going on...
I have to admit to being a bit confused by your question Louise. As far as I know, there is only one capital city of Virginia, which is Richmond. I thought Presidium was based in Virginia, but maybe I was wrong. Washington, D.C. is next to Virginia, but not in it.
There are also 95 county capitals in Virginia, in addition to the state capital, making a total of 96 capitals in it. However, I am not sure I am dedicated enough to pour through each county's webpage to determine their capital city!
You are right, Brian, Presidium is in Virginia..."as far as you know" there's only one hmmm... maybe you need to check you US State trivia
**oh the shame!!**
minus one point for me for question malfunction :-( and I really want that prize.
My question should read:
We visited Presidium in Kentucky but their head office is in another state, how many capitals has that state had and what are their names?
please note the change in tense...I thought it was there...honest I did....have I mentioned lately that I am typing through a mist of pain and prescription medication...my sincere apologies...if it is any consolation there is a BIG clue to the location of the answer in my last comment...
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