The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep

After the glorious triumph that was last week's triple-pronged terror of a Quiz, we've gone back to the same well, for an even more aggravating excursion into pointless figure-it-outery. Order up an extra-large yerba mate and get ready for this week's tripartite think-down.

As before, the goal is to identify the individual answer to each devilish prong of the pitchfork, and then stab the one-word "theme" (tangentially related to each answer) through it's eldritch heart. Here we go:

1. This piece of technology was invented by Tom Cranston and Fred Longstaff as part of the Royal Canadian Navy's DATAR system in 1952, the very first version was much larger than almost any version in common use today, and had as its centerpiece a used item of sports equipment. The connection to the theme is one of the first widely-used applications of this technology.

2. An individual giant weta holds the world record for what? Our theme can be found in the name of a being in the same order, which can also reach impressive scale.

3. Born in Wales in 1916, he was an RAF pilot during World War 2 and later did espionage for Britain in Washington DC. He later married the actress Patricia Neal, (who would win an Academy Award for Hud). Who was he? The theme is found in the name of a character from his second-most-well-known work.

Individual correct answers win applause, but only identification of the overall theme gets a limited-edition audiobook of Fred Willard reading Scott McClellan's What Happened in character as Mike LaFontaine. No Googling or insisting that you believed it at the time because you figured, why would the President lie to his own press secretary? One guess at each part (plus theme) per comment but comment oh so much of the comment.

Posted by BT at 12:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)

Nick Cave, Charlie Hayden, and Toots Thielemans: Hey Joe

The Cafe Society of Ferenc Molnar

Just think: at some point in history, a Canadian kid got to send his birthday party invitations out with these stamps. (More here.)

I admit it. I am addicted.

The Wombat is reading this in galley form now. And liking it more than this guy, in a David-Mitchell-esque sorta way. And I don't really care about the author's family connections.

Posted by BT at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Barely alive, the Friday quiz is nevertheless still here -- this week, at least, for those of you who haven't already departed your usual deskular haunts in pursuit of extra-long weekend fun. The work-tethered Wombat is pleased to provide those still encubicled with a ray of trivial sunshine, with which to irradiate you with a tiny, if unhealthy dose of infotons.

In order to properly mark the occasion, a tripartite Quiz is here offered, with a devilish "final challenge" designed to make you delete your Wombat File bookmark for good and all. Here we go:

1. What professional group gathered at a temple in Haryana, India, in 2003, to protest a 1972 environmental law which -- although not largely aimed at them -- had wound up impacting their once-thriving livelihood?

2. After attempting to start a professional hockey career, joining the army, and selling insurance, this man became famous in a pursuit which was chronicled in a fictional form, in a film starring himself, Gene Kelley and Lauren Hutton. Who was he?

3. Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville is credited with introducing this pastime to America, when he returned to his native city from England, where he had learned it. It became characterized not by its English name, but a word in another language, meaning "toad." By what name do we know it?

A final challenge: correctly guess the word that connects the three questions. It is part of the answer to the first one, but only in the contextual background to the other two; the correct answer will identify the word from Question 1, a proper noun relating to Question 2, and a term of art relating to Question 3.

First correct answer to the whole shebang wins a slightly damaged copy of Wearing Crocs the Mario Batali Way. No Googling or meaning "toad" in any language whatsoever. Guess at any part of this exactly once per comment, but as usual comment and guess as often as your quiz- debilitated will allows.

Posted by BT at 07:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)

I'm sorry to report that while I hoped to get another last-minute quiz together today, the now-predictable Friday avalanche made short work of that foolish dream.

Please enjoy these two compendia of short jokes from AskMeFi.

Share any that you don't see here in the comments.

And forgive me.

Posted by BT at 03:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When the Wombat is late, he triples down. Here's a trio of skull-seize-ups to close out your week.

1. Jefferson Davis named this region as a "territory" in 1862, a full year before the U.S. would follow suit. By what name is it known today?
2. The largest city in one U.S. state, and the 2nd-largest city in another are both named for prime ministers of England. What are they?
3. The largest outdoor performance of its kind in America is the boast of Eureka Springs, Arkansas; it began regular summer evening performances in the late 1960s and continues presently. The cast contains a various number of performers, sometimes as high as 200. What is the performance of?

First correct answer to each wins a marketing tester bottle of ConfidenceWater(TM), the sports drink infused with a unique balance of electrolytes and vodka. No Googling or singing that schoolyard ditty listing all of the British prime ministers from the Restoration through Neville Chamberlain. One guess at each part per comment but comment as often as I want you to comment, which is often.

Posted by BT at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (42)

This week. I promise. Be strong.

Posted by BT at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

for the lack of activity here. I've been trying to get some new features launched at that online book review you all love to pieces. For example we now have real archives, and links to articles organized by contributor (here's the page of frequent Quiz-shredder Gavin. Also, a pretty treatment of our past Spotlight reviews, which higlights the nice collages my colleague Bryant puts together for us every week.

Even better, we'll have RSS, Email an Article, and the usual complement of "share this" tools enabled for all of our articles, very soon. Long overdue, but better late, so I hear, than never.

This is as good a time as any to mention a terrific recent piece by sometime quiz-player Shananan. And to highlight one of the first -- and still, to my mind, one of the best -- essays we ran, Tom Carson on Kerouac and Charlie Brown.

Posted by BT at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)