Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Thursday, 10 September 2015
My Heart Is Otherwise
We're a bit too busy at Leaflocker HQ for bloggy nonsense right at the moment. Hopefully, some semblance of normality will descend once we've left Parliament House and this home of ours and set up at the new place in Oxford, which as of this moment I'm calling the Low Commission.
I am feeling very nostalgic this week. I've been crying over YouTube videos again:
I am feeling very nostalgic this week. I've been crying over YouTube videos again:
That's all for now...Wait, let's do last week's quiz results!
1) The winner of the Ashes last Monday was Australia. The Mens Ashes finished earlier, but let us not dwell on those.
2) Afghanistan are currently the 12th ranked ODI nation.
3) The Phoenix appears to be Greek.
4) Conchita Wurst is from Austria.
5) No-one wins the French Open.
6) Potash is Potassium Carbonate.
7) Tai is the protagonist of Digimon.
8) Iceland has some good volcanic ash.
9) Hinduism has some good ashes too.
10) Ash is a goddamn robot
11) AE is George William Russel. No-one ever gets the poetry ones.
Thus, it's a draw between Alethea and John for first position, with 5 points apiece.
Thursday, 3 September 2015
The Wednesday Quiz: The Ashes
Edit: This post failed because I stuffed up the scheduling, so I'll throw it up now! Lucky I'm not still on a deadline, huh?
I know that Blaugust is finished, but I'm still trying to work out what the Leaflocker will look like in the aftermath. Once again, I've greatly enjoyed the challenge of pushing myself to post every day whether I feel like it or not, and the sense of community arising from being part of something bigger with a bunch of diverse and interesting people. I also earnt this snazzy badge, so that's always good!
Taking a single day off felt really weird yesterday, so it's clear that we have to do something moving forward after all or suffer the withdrawal symptoms. It seems logical that it is Wednesday, so the people must need quizzes! I'm running the quiz that I was going to run last week before I got distracted. The theme is The Ashes, for some reason.
The rules are the same as always, so let's get on with it with your first starter for ten.
1) This Monday the final game of the 2015 Ashes was played between England and Australia. Which team won the series?
2) Out of the Ashes is a cricketing documentary that has nothing to do with The Ashes, but instead documents the meteoric rise of an associate nation (they're now an affiliate) from playing in Division Five of the World Cricket League in 2008 to participating in the 2010 T20 World Cup. Which nation?
3) The phoenix, a mythical bird that arises from the ashes of its predecessor, comes from the mythology of which civilisation?
4) Rise Like a Phoenix was Conchita Wurst's Eurovision entry in 2014, winning with a massive margin of 52 points. Which country, site of the 2015 Eurovision contest, was she representing?
5) Usonian Arthur Ashe was once the world number one Tennis player, and over the course of his career he won the first open era US Open in 1968 as well as two other Open tournaments in 1970 and 1975. Which Open couldn't he win, his best results being reaching the quarter finals in 1970 and 1971?
6) In modern times, 'potash' refers to a number of potassium compounds widely used as fertilisers, but the potash that gave its name to the element potassium and has been used since the 12th century AD (primarily in the production of soap and glass), was produced by the leaching and evaporation of wood ash. By what name do we more know this deliquescent salt today?
7) Almost everyone who grew up in the 90s would know that the protagonist of the Pokemon television series is Ash Ketchum, but what's the name of the protagonist of that other lovable Japanese monster show of the same period, Digimon Adventure?
8) Volcanic ash is pretty good stuff from the perspective of growing things, but during volcanic eruptions ash is thrown into the air where it generally makes a nuisance of itself, particularly by interfering with air travel. A recent event was caused by eruptions at Eyjafjallajökull, which disrupted European air traffic for a month in 2010, the largest disruption since World War II. Where the heck is Eyjafjallajökull?
9) Vibhuti, that which is left behind, is the sacred ash used for marking the face and body in which major world religion?
10) Spoiler alert: In a Ridley Scott science-fiction film of 1979, one of the crewmembers of the Nostromo, Ash, appears to be human, but is really a goddamn what?
11) Æ, (pronounced ash), is a ligature in Latin, but a letter in its own right in many Scandinavian countries. It's is also the psuedonym of which Irish writer and poet, potentially familiar to you for verses such as the following:
Please leave your answers in the comments and don't go looking up answers until AFTER you've posted. Also, let me know what Leaflocker features you're interested in seeing more of in the future. We theoretically exist for you the reader rather than exclusively for stroking the ego of the editorial team, after all...
1) Warcraft and Peace.
2) Alice in Super Mario Wonderland
3) Little Women, Big Planet
4) Brave New World of Tanks
5) 1001 Neverwinter Knights
6) 1984 Swords Adventures
7) Animal Farmville
8) Titanfall of the House of Usher. This was the tricky one. Usher was the first Poe I ever attempted, as I first read it while attempting to teach my Windows XP machine voice recognition.
9) The Secret Assassin's Creed
10) Half Life of Pi
11) Godfather of War
12) The Man in Majora's Mask
13) Super Size Metroid
14) Dr. Mario Strangelove
15) Sim Citizen Kane. I liked the Star Citizen answer, but that's not what I was after and it wasn't on Commodore 64.
16) The Third Pac Man
17) Moulin Rouge Squadron
18) Amadeus Ex
19) The Goldeneye Rush. People are not up on their Chaplin and I am disappoint.
20) Howl's Moving Castle Crashers. And I thought this one would be tricky.
Our winner is John (again), with an extremely dominant 18.5 points. A big win for the home team, but everyone did very well indeed. You know the rules, John: three wins then random :)
I know that Blaugust is finished, but I'm still trying to work out what the Leaflocker will look like in the aftermath. Once again, I've greatly enjoyed the challenge of pushing myself to post every day whether I feel like it or not, and the sense of community arising from being part of something bigger with a bunch of diverse and interesting people. I also earnt this snazzy badge, so that's always good!
Taking a single day off felt really weird yesterday, so it's clear that we have to do something moving forward after all or suffer the withdrawal symptoms. It seems logical that it is Wednesday, so the people must need quizzes! I'm running the quiz that I was going to run last week before I got distracted. The theme is The Ashes, for some reason.
The rules are the same as always, so let's get on with it with your first starter for ten.
1) This Monday the final game of the 2015 Ashes was played between England and Australia. Which team won the series?
2) Out of the Ashes is a cricketing documentary that has nothing to do with The Ashes, but instead documents the meteoric rise of an associate nation (they're now an affiliate) from playing in Division Five of the World Cricket League in 2008 to participating in the 2010 T20 World Cup. Which nation?
3) The phoenix, a mythical bird that arises from the ashes of its predecessor, comes from the mythology of which civilisation?
5) Usonian Arthur Ashe was once the world number one Tennis player, and over the course of his career he won the first open era US Open in 1968 as well as two other Open tournaments in 1970 and 1975. Which Open couldn't he win, his best results being reaching the quarter finals in 1970 and 1971?
6) In modern times, 'potash' refers to a number of potassium compounds widely used as fertilisers, but the potash that gave its name to the element potassium and has been used since the 12th century AD (primarily in the production of soap and glass), was produced by the leaching and evaporation of wood ash. By what name do we more know this deliquescent salt today?
7) Almost everyone who grew up in the 90s would know that the protagonist of the Pokemon television series is Ash Ketchum, but what's the name of the protagonist of that other lovable Japanese monster show of the same period, Digimon Adventure?
8) Volcanic ash is pretty good stuff from the perspective of growing things, but during volcanic eruptions ash is thrown into the air where it generally makes a nuisance of itself, particularly by interfering with air travel. A recent event was caused by eruptions at Eyjafjallajökull, which disrupted European air traffic for a month in 2010, the largest disruption since World War II. Where the heck is Eyjafjallajökull?
9) Vibhuti, that which is left behind, is the sacred ash used for marking the face and body in which major world religion?
10) Spoiler alert: In a Ridley Scott science-fiction film of 1979, one of the crewmembers of the Nostromo, Ash, appears to be human, but is really a goddamn what?
11) Æ, (pronounced ash), is a ligature in Latin, but a letter in its own right in many Scandinavian countries. It's is also the psuedonym of which Irish writer and poet, potentially familiar to you for verses such as the following:
Here's to you, men I never met,
Yet hope to meet behind the veil,
Thronged on some starry parapet,
That looks down upon Innisfail,
And sees the confluence of dreams
That clashed together in our night,
One river, born from many streams,
Roll in one blaze of blinding light?
Please leave your answers in the comments and don't go looking up answers until AFTER you've posted. Also, let me know what Leaflocker features you're interested in seeing more of in the future. We theoretically exist for you the reader rather than exclusively for stroking the ego of the editorial team, after all...
Last Week's Answers:
I was really impressed by how well people did on this quiz that I thought was pretty durn tough.1) Warcraft and Peace.
2) Alice in Super Mario Wonderland
3) Little Women, Big Planet
4) Brave New World of Tanks
5) 1001 Neverwinter Knights
6) 1984 Swords Adventures
7) Animal Farmville
8) Titanfall of the House of Usher. This was the tricky one. Usher was the first Poe I ever attempted, as I first read it while attempting to teach my Windows XP machine voice recognition.
9) The Secret Assassin's Creed
10) Half Life of Pi
11) Godfather of War
12) The Man in Majora's Mask
13) Super Size Metroid
14) Dr. Mario Strangelove
15) Sim Citizen Kane. I liked the Star Citizen answer, but that's not what I was after and it wasn't on Commodore 64.
16) The Third Pac Man
17) Moulin Rouge Squadron
18) Amadeus Ex
19) The Goldeneye Rush. People are not up on their Chaplin and I am disappoint.
20) Howl's Moving Castle Crashers. And I thought this one would be tricky.
Our winner is John (again), with an extremely dominant 18.5 points. A big win for the home team, but everyone did very well indeed. You know the rules, John: three wins then random :)
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