The quiz thread. Test your knowledge.

[Cogman]

Quarks, leptons, and bosons?




(Didn't click the link)
I see that used with image resizing if you want good quality resizing at the expense of processing time. But now that we've got processors that can push out 1.21 jiggaFLOPS per second, that's not such a big deal.

The Lanczos algorithm isn't really the "best" per say, it is just an option. It usually results in images being sharpened (which could be a bad thing.) I personally like me a Spline resize over Lanczos.

 

[busydude]

I personally like me a Spline resize over Lanczos.

Yup. Me too.

 

[dighn]

Discrete Cosign Transform. The brother of the Fourier Transform. (ah, looks like someone else got it.)

Who's the cosigner?

 

[DominionSeraph]

Who's the cosigner?

VeriSign.

vv: neat, never heard of that.

 

[busydude]

What is Kaye effect?

 

[Locut0s]

What is Kaye effect?

Que?

 

[Spacehead]

In astronomy what is an asterism?

A formation of stars that have a recognizable pattern. I suppose all the constellations are asterisms but not all asterisms are constellations.

"The Coathanger" & "ET cluster" come to mind for famous asterisms.

 

[Locut0s]

A formation of stars that have a recognizable pattern. I suppose all the constellations are asterisms but not all asterisms are constellations.

"The Coathanger" & "ET cluster" come to mind for famous asterisms.

Yup. good.

 

[Locut0s]

Anyone else want to post some questions?

 

[angminas]

In biology insects breath through these on the sides of their bodies.

Spiracles

 

[angminas]

Hints are blacked out. Trying to get a variety of questions which might be guessable.


What is the most populous city in the western hemisphere?

Spoiler

Not New York.

What's the scientific name of the southern lights?

Who holds the MLB record with 6856 career total bases? (A single is one base, double is two bases, etc)

Spoiler

Not Babe Ruth.

Spoiler

This person played from 1954 to 1976.

Who won the Hugo and Nebula for two different novels in consecutive years? Alternately, name one of the books.

Spoiler

It happened in 1985 and 1986.

Spoiler

The second book was a sequel to the first.

In computing, what does RISC stand for?

Spoiler

The R stands for reduced.

What is traditionally the most expensive spice by weight?

Spoiler

It's yellow.

Who wrote "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want"?

Spoiler

He was a king.

 

[Cogman]

Who won the Hugo and Nebula for two different novels in consecutive years? Alternately, name one of the books.

Spoiler

It happened in 1985 and 1986.

Spoiler

The second book was a sequel to the first.

Orson Scott card
Ender's Game and Speaker for the dead.

In computing, what does RISC stand for?

Spoiler

The R stands for reduced.

Reduced Instruction Set Computing. CISC is Complex instruction set computing

What is traditionally the most expensive spice by weight?

Spoiler

It's yellow.

Mustard? or maybe Ginger.

Who wrote "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want"?

Spoiler

He was a king.

We don't actually know the answer to this. Tradition holds that King David wrote all the psalms, but many scholars call that into question. Many believe that there were multiple authors.

 

[zokudu]

What is the most populous city in the western hemisphere?

Spoiler

Not New York.

Mexico City

 

[Perknose]

Mexico City

My guess as well.

Couldn't remember what the 'C' in RISC stood for. Doh!

The spice would be probably be saffron.

King David.

Most total bases is probably Hammerin' Hank Aaron, as he was a career (or just missed) .300 hitter whose career lasted 20 plus very productive years with, as we know, all those taters and such.

 

[Spacehead]

What's the scientific name of the southern lights?

Aurora Australias (not sure of the spelling)

 

[angminas]

Very good answers, crazies and mentalmen. I am not disappoint.

It's challenging to come up with questions of this sort...making them guessable by smart people without giving away the answers completely.

I actually missed the C too, Perk...thought it stood for chip!

 

[angminas]

6856 is one of the more unapproachable records in baseball. For example, in 2008, Albert Pujols hit .357/.462/.653 with 187 hits, 37 HR and 116 RBI. A fantastic season, good enough for an MVP.

Have 20 of those seasons and you'll still be 16 bases short of Mr. Aaron's record.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

What is the difference between sucrose and fructose?

Who is Dean Karnazes and what is he known for?

What year was the plasma screen invented?

In what galaxy is the supernova that is currently visible exploding in (or was visible the last two nights)?

Who is the runner that ran from the Battle of Marathon to Athens?

In what order, and what are the distances respectively, for an Ironman Triathlon?

 

[Ken g6]

A formation of stars that have a recognizable pattern. I suppose all the constellations are asterisms but not all asterisms are constellations.

"The Coathanger" & "ET cluster" come to mind for famous asterisms.

Astronomy 1: There is an asterism that looks like a teapot. What constellation is it in?

Spoiler

Canadians may not be able to see it.

Astronomy 2: You may have heard about the supernova near the Big Dipper (an asterism). Sadly, it's not visible to the naked eye, and I don't think I have the equipment to see it. :'(
What was the name of the last supernova visible to the naked eye, and where was it? (I'll accept several different answers for where it was.)

Spoiler

Ever heard of a fishing spider? :sneaky:

Physics 1: You may have heard that the SSC is looking for the Higgs Boson. That particle, in theory, carries mass. What was the last massive particle discovered in a particle accelerator?

Spoiler

The tau neutrino shouldn't count, but you're on the right end of the spectrum.

 

[Ken g6]

What is the difference between sucrose and fructose?

Sucrose has a ring. Fructose doesn't.

 

[Fenixgoon]

what is the most commonly used plastic material?

 

[Ken g6]

what is the most commonly used plastic material?

Polyethylene?

 

[Fenixgoon]

Sucrose has a ring. Fructose doesn't.

IIRC sucrose is two glucose bonded together. fructose is glucose with an end group on in place of a hydrogen atom.


could be wrong - i know we covered this in HS biology 10 years ago

 

[Perknose]

6856 is one of the more unapproachable records in baseball. For example, in 2008, Albert Pujols hit .357/.462/.653 with 187 hits, 37 HR and 116 RBI. A fantastic season, good enough for an MVP.

Have 20 of those seasons and you'll still be 16 bases short of Mr. Aaron's record.

<-------- Pats himself on the back for his guess.

There was always the chance that one of the iconic old timers was first, but I thought Aaron was a good choice because of the length of his career, his amazing consistency, and the fact that I don't recall him ever going on the DL -- certainly never for any length of time, and maybe never!

I remember one year in the mid-later sixties or so when he batted under .300 for the season, likely his first time ever. He was already getting up in age, and was at a point where most players begin their inevitable decline.

Well, batting under .300 pissed him off! So, he declared, in spring training the next year, that he was going to bat over .300 again. I remember his homers taking a hit, but damned if he didn't reach his goal, because he was Mr. Henry Aaron and he had decided to.

I will never forget that. :thumbsup:

Two things:

Most of Aaron's career was played in the shadow of Willie Mays, and, it is no insult at all to say, rightly so. Mays was simply THE BEST, hands down.

Hank's teammate Eddie Matthews' career was regrettably played in Aaron's shadow. Matthews has never gotten his full due. HOF, a member of Mlb's All Century team, arguably the second best third baseman of all time behind Mike Schmidt, and almost no one remembers him.

 

[Perknose]

Who is the runner that ran from the Battle of Marathon to Athens?

It pisses me off that I can't remember this.

Polyethylene would be my (uneducated) guess for most common plastic, as well. There was probably a time back in the 30's/40's when it was Bakelite.