Number one seemed a bit of an anachronism. Number four sounded like a piece of red agricultural equipment. Number five sounded like a condensed feline. Number nine's owner sounded just right. What adverb is most appropriate for number six?
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These are the Wacky Races participants! 1: The Bouldermobile driven by the Slagg brothers, Rock and Gravel 4: The Crimson Haybailer driven by Red Max 5: The Compact Pussycat driven by Penelope Pitstop 9: The Turbo Terrific driven by Peter Perfect Number 6 is The Army Surplus Special driven by Private Meekly and Sergeant Blast, so I would say "Meekly" is the most appropriate adverb. |
Vicky
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Variation on a theme by Neal
What number best completes the following sequence?
493.9
554.4
440.0
220.0
??
329.6 (frequencies in Hz of the alien-communication five-note sequence from Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
Pete Mitchell
A fiction writer from what once used to be Yugoslavia wrote about Selma Bouvier, Doctor Gonzo, the Roswell creatures and Japanese meat-packers. What's the name of his 1976 novel, or what have these four got in common?
All Simpsons characters famously only have four fingers; Doctor Gonzo or Benicio Del Toro played 'Frankie Four Fingers' in "Snatch", the Roswell creatures have always been (medically) described as having four fingers, and Japanese meat-packers are pejoratively called four-finger-workers (crappy translation from Japanese) as the reputation of the working accidents on their job has spread across society, and showing four fingers to someone is still considered a major insult. Miodrag Bulatovic is the most famous modern writer from Montenegro who wrote 'People with four fingers' in 1976 - followed by 'The fifth finger' in 1977.
Tom
Which two characters are depicted here?
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Susan, granddaughter of Death, and Death of Rats, from the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. The illustration is called Susan Meets Death of Rats, and is by "Mak" |
Alan
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Susan Sto Helit and the Grim Squeaker.
Everybody knew what caused them. They were seen as a status symbol by some people. Treatments were expensive and very lucrative. Then quite recently scientists found everybody had been totally wrong. The cause was extremely common and unglamorous and the best response is straightforward and cheap.
What are they and what really causes them?
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I believe you're talking about gastric ulcers, long believed to be caused (at least in part) by the hard work and stress associated with tycoon status, and treated by expensive surgery. Now known to be caused by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. A combination of an antibiotic, such as Tetracycline, and an acid-blocker, such as Pepto Bismol, proves effective in 80 to 90 percent of cases. |
Alan
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What are the dubious and related firsts of "Gone With the Wind" and "My Fair Lady"?
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GWTW was the first movie to admit the word "damn". The censors (the Hays Office) finally allowed it, but still levied a fine of $5000 for its being in violation of the Production Code. My Fair Lady was the first stage play to get "arse" past the censors (the Lord Chamberlain's office) - actually without much of a struggle, even though it was excised from Pinter's The Caretaker the following year (and of course Shaw's use of "bloody" in the original Pygmalion had caused a sensation back in 1914). |
Alan
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Venky
A three-letter airport code can often be formed by dropping one or more letters from the end of the city it serves: SEA serves Seattle, HAN Hanoi, and so on. Sometimes, you drop one or more leading letters: ORK is located in Cork, for example. But which airport's code can be formed equally well by dropping one or more letters from the front or one or more letters from the end of its location?
Venky - Avu Avu, Solomon Islands whose airport code is AVU
Pete Mitchell - Mandurriao Airport (ILO), in Iloilo, Philippines; and Wittman Field (OSH), in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA
Alan
Her friend Roger disappeared, sparking a quest through multiple universes. What college did she start off from and what did John Milton have to do with it all?
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Jordan College in Oxford, England. The reference is to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy, comprising Northern Lights (The Golden Compass in the US), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. In Northern Lights, readers meet for the first time 11-year-old Lyra Belacqua, a precocious orphan growing up within the precincts of Jordan College in Oxford, England. It quickly becomes clear that Lyra's Oxford is not precisely like our own - nor is her world. In Lyra's world, everyone has a personal dæmon, a lifelong animal familiar. This is a world in which science, theology and magic are closely intertwined. These ideas are of little concern to Lyra, who at the outset of the story, spends most of her time with her friend Roger, a kitchen boy. Together, they share a carefree existence scampering across the roofs of the college, racing through the streets of Oxford, or waging war with the other children in town. But that life changes forever when Lyra and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, prevent an assassination attempt on her uncle, the powerful Lord Asriel, and then overhear a secret discussion about a mysterious entity known as Dust. It is at this time that children mysteriously began to disappear. Children, and only the children, are vanishing at the hands of what become known as the "Gobblers." Who the Gobblers are and what they want is unknown, but soon, children from far and wide are disappearing with out a trace, even Lyra's good friend, Roger. The title of the trilogy His Dark Materials gets its name from a passage in John Milton's Paradise Lost, quoted at the beginning of the novel Northern Lights.
The whole trilogy has a lot of Miltonian themes running throughout it. |
Venky
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Vicky
In my trusty dictionary between a patent leather shoe and a condition which must be fulfilled I find a witticism that is often lost in translation, attentive to detail, a learned Hindu, an ozone friendly form of air conditioning, a laundry for the soul, festering matter, meanness of spirit, a square dance, a bog and a Friend with a capital F.
I also find a hunchback who would not gain favour with Disney for his family values, who is he?
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In my trusty dictionary between pump a patent leather shoe pun a witticism that is often lost in translation punctilious attentive to detail pundit a learned Hindu punkah an ozone friendly form of air conditioning purgatory a laundry for the soul pus festering matter pusilanimity meanness of spirit quadrille a square dance quagmire a bog Quaker a Friend with a capital F qualification a condition which must be fulfilled I also find a hunchback who would not gain favour with Disney for his family values, who is he? Punch (or Punchinello). |
Vicky
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Mr Punch is a very popular figure in children's theatre in Britain, at least adults expose their children to Punch and Judy shows in large numbers. Mr Punch's weapon of choice is a glove puppet sized slapstick with which he murders most of the other characters in the show, such as his wife and baby. Although plots are a little fluid, Punch is always a homicidal maniac, the ultimate anarchic anti-hero, and most of his audience are too young to read. If Punch and Judy was a new show on Fox Kids the network would be closed down, but Punch and Judy is traditional, ye olde Itchy and Scratchy. It began as an import of Commedia Dell' Arte from Italy which became stripped down to a sleeker format by using glove puppets rather than marionettes, which enabled it to be done by one man (and sometimes also his dog) on a hand cart.
Who is this?
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Eddy Merckx, famous Belgian cyclist, who won the Tour de France five times between 1969 and 1974. Seen here caricatured as a Belgian messenger in Asterix in Belgium. |
Venky
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