WTF Quiz #250, December 27, 2023
QUESTION 1
January 1, 2024 begins the new year according to the Gregorian calendar; February 10, 2024, however, begins the new year according to the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar, which will usher in the year of WHAT SYMBOL OF THE CHINESE ZODIAC?
Your Answer: N/A
Correct Answer: Dragon
QUESTION 2
Co-sponsored by the city of Prague, an international literary prize, first won by Philip Roth in 2001 and later won by Václav Havel in 2010, is named for WHAT BOHEMIAN WRITER of absurdist German-language novels?
Your Answer: N/A
Correct Answer: (Franz) Kafka
QUESTION 3
The French sociologist Roger Caillois defined a "game" in 1961 as any activity which had six specific characteristics: it had to be fictitious (as opposed to normal reality), governed by rules (that differ from everyday life), non-productive (in terms of outside utility), uncertain (as to outcome), separate (i.e. having a set time and place), and WHAT SIXTH ADJECTIVE, describing its character?
Your Answer: N/A
Correct Answer: Fun
QUESTION 4
IDENTIFY THE FLEMISH CARTOGRAPHER best known for producing a world map in 1659 which represented constant compass bearings as straight lines, particularly useful to sailors of the era, and a feature still frequently seen today in nautical charts and other maps.
Your Answer: N/A
Correct Answer: (Gerardus) Mercator
QUESTION 5
The "Funk Master Flex" urban driving shoe was the first celebrity-endorsed product in WHAT BRAND OF URBANWEAR BOOTS, founded in New York in 1993 and which has been endorsed by UFC fighters like Quentin "Rampage" Jackson" and Cain Velasquez, media figures like Howard Stern, and a number of professional athletes?
Your Answer: N/A
Correct Answer: Lugz
QUESTION 6
As described by Mendelian genetics, the variant sequences of nucleotides found at a particular site on a DNA molecule are known by WHAT NAME, short for a word first coined in the 1900s that means "other form"? Such variants are responsible for different phenotypic traits, such as eye color, blood type, pigmentation, and many others.
Your Answer: N/A
Correct Answer: Allele
QUESTION 7
News wire services began to use specially-designed multiplexers in the 1920s in order to be able to broadcast information to teleprinters over extant telephone lines, rather than the more expensive leased lines already designed for such transmission; this type of device, which converts digital data into an analog signal, and is also capable of the reverse, is known today by WHAT NAME, derived from its two main functions?
Your Answer: N/A
Correct Answer: Modem
QUESTION 8
Similar in appearance to, but distinct from, the punctuation mark known as the hyphen, the dash primarily comes in two common varieties, as seen here: – and —. These two symbols are each named for a particular letter of the alphabet; GIVE THOSE TWO LETTERS.
Your Answer: N/A
Correct Answer: M and N (or em and en)
QUESTION 9
Traditionally consumed on Good Friday in the English-speaking word, WHAT TYPE OF BAKED GOODS are perceived superstitiously to not spoil for a year if baked on Good Friday, have medicinal value, and even protect against shipwrecks? Per some oral traditions, the baked goods were once offered for as cheaply as two a penny.
Your Answer: N/A
Correct Answer: Hot Cross Buns
QUESTION 10
Christmas Eve is the name of a fictional Japanese-American therapist in WHAT BROADWAY MUSICAL that also features a fictionalized version of the late actor Gary Coleman? The show is R-rated, but also has a "School Edition" in which several songs have been cut or altered, character names have been changed, and most profanity has been removed.
Your Answer: N/A
Correct Answer: Avenue Q