Disease
Presently, I am running a new series of quizzes on Quiznet . But somehow, I don't seem to be getting the same number of replies (only 10-20) as I used to get (between 30-40) when I ran the original series in 2002-2003. I started to wonder: Have I lost my sting? Should I stop? But a few other old-timers were also complaining that they too were not getting many responses either. I decided to take a look around.
The cause?
I found that a major change from back then was that there were many more quizzing groups around, as was the recent spurt in the number of blogs. Taking into account the similarity in the nature of the quizzes in my two series, perhaps the lackadaisical response had something to do with the fact that I don't crosspost these quizzes, ie, post the same content in different groups.
A cursory examination of the quizzes receiving 30+ replies backed my hypothesis; those were being crossposted.
I believe there too many quiz groups right now. It is getting a bit difficult to keep track of and manage the content in our Inboxes, with the same content appearing on most of the quiz-groups. It also takes more effort to share the information/make announcements; we need to mark copies to all the quiz-groups.
Evils of the crosspost
I understand that the exponential explosion in the number of groups could be because each group has a philosophy of its own. Or does it? If yes, why does the same content appear in most of them? I feel that many are just egotistical pursuits. The duplication of content leads to -
a) Time wastage (Haven't I read this before?)
b) Unnecessary mail-traffic (read as spam; duplicates are as useless as spam)
This is why I don't crosspost.
The group-proliferation is not for the Greater Common Good; indeed, it did much harm. Take a look at the contrast between :-
(pre-blog/multigroup era)
2003 Quiznet Posts : J104 F123 M127 A130 M154 J113 J117 A114 S127 O117 N99 D72
(post-group explosion)
2005 Quiznet Posts : J64 F66 M69 A31 M55 J66 J52 A45 S70 O81 N80 D101
I am reminded of the days when the chess-world was split into the PCA & the FIDE camps. Lots of duplicated and wasted effort and confusion.
Too many cooks spoil the broth: too many groups spoil the fun:: 1:1. What do you think?
....Maybe a grand unified quiz group is the need of the hour?
History shows us the way to go.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Monday, January 16, 2006
Queuriest - VI
-------------------------------------------------------
QUEURIEST - VI
Keep Guessing - Johnnie Guesser
-------------------------------------------------------
1. If James Joyce wrote A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, who wrote A Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man? God knows!
*
2. This one might really whip the bails off you. Who holds the record for the most number of stumpings in Test cricket history?
*
3. Golden Hind: Francis Drake :: Millennium Falcon : _____________?
*
4. What happens when somebody is subjected to defenestration? Linux fans, anyone?
*
5. Easy one. Who led the mutiny onboard the HMS Bounty?
*
6. Codenames! The secret plans for what was called Project Chess?
Crazy Cryptic Clue: A giant that could be royal, Prussian and marine has something to do with it, perhaps? But little to do with Mr. Garik Weinstein though, contrary to what you might think.
*
7. Who, along with superstar pals 'Beatle' George Harrison, 'Heartbreaker' Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison - formed a band called the Traveling Wilburys? The answer, my friend is . . .
*
8. Which month in the calendar is named after Latin for `to open'? You may guess, but think what could be before!
*
9. Surprisingly easy one. What does a thaumatologist do?
*
10. What was codified in a 1942 short story called 'Runaround'? Cryptic Clue: Mt.SinAI !
*
BONUS Question
Q. Can you make 24 out of 4 zeroes only? Use mathematical operations only. ie, make an expression out of 0,0,0,0 such that it evaluates to 24.
*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A match may start a fire. But once the fire is
started, putting out the match will not be of
any use.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "SonOfDelphi"
Date: Thu Jan 9, 2003 12:18 pm
Subject: Queuriest - VI
Welcome to episode 6 of Queuriest.
a few words about the Queuriest series. I intend these quizzes to be competitive in nature. That's why I toss in a few sitters and also why clues abound, so that there's something for everybody. I don't bury the questions in voluminous prose (obscurification). Neither do I introduce deliberate misspellings or inaccurate info. (Two anti-googling strategies commonly employed). Direct & honest, trust implied. That's what I like...
and if you attempt to answer the Qs honestly, then the answers stay longer in your head when they come. That's the ultimate aim, right? Plus that way it's more fun and satisfying for all involved...and there need be no shame in getting 'just' 1 or 2. And 50% in a set of Qs set by another person is very good indeed.
and in case you do google for a question (when it absolutely CAN't wait!!) , at least indicate that in the answer, I'll give you half the points. CONSCIENCE, not CON-SCIENCE! ;-) That way it would be fair both on googlers (some reward for searching so hard) and on others who attempt the Qs by themselves ...and give me some extra info also please :-)
If, on the other hand, you feel that these quizzes are just google-guides, then please tell me, I'll stop posting the scores, just the answers should do fine then, won't it. . .I feel it's unfair on the genuine, competitive respondents otherwise (sometimes it breaks my heart to place a googler above a genuey :-(. . .also, I need not frame the questions all that carefully then, you would find the errors anyway, huh? :-)
I hope I do not lose my audience because of these lamentations of mine! Not possibly, 'cos it's the other guy that I was complaining about, right? :-)
GET CRACKING NOW!!!!
luv
thomas
ANSWERS
-------------
From: "SonOfDelphi"
Date: Sun Jan 26, 2003 11:00 pm
Subject: Answers to Queuriest - VI
Hi everybody!
45 responses in all. Perhaps this was the cluesiest episode yet. Most questions had clues - used very imaginatively by respondents!
sorry for the LOOOOOOOOOOONG delay in posting the answers. Now, what excuse can I give? ....
"And on the seventh, He Rested."? :-Queuriegenesis 1:18
;-)
luv
thomas
----------------------------------------------
QUEURIEST - VI
Keep Guessing - Johnnie Guesser
----------------------------------------------
1. If James Joyce wrote A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, who wrote A Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man? God knows!
*Joseph Heller, the Catch-22 guy. God knows was the clue. It's another book he wrote.
Dylan Thomas wrote Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog
2. This one might really whip the bails off you. Who holds the record for the most number of stumpings in Test cricket history?
*Bert Oldfield of Australia. He was the wicketkeeper in the middle 20th century. '30s I guess. 52 in career.
Pure statististics. Never mind if you didn't get this one.
3. Golden Hind: Francis Drake :: Millennium Falcon : _____________?
*Han Solo, in Star Wars
AC:Lando Carlrissian is the actual owner, Han Solo gets it only later.
does anybody know whether there's an expansion for R2D2 or C3PO?
4. What happens when somebody is subjected to defenestration? Linux fans, anyone?
*He gets thrown out of the window.
The Linux comment was just a bit of fun from me. I'm not too sure whether it applies to removing windows from computers ...or .... does IT?
refer Defenestration of Prague & Thirty Years also.
5. Easy one. Who led the mutiny onboard the HMS Bounty?
*Fletcher Christian
Some answered Bligh, Bligh is the author/captain.
6. Codenames! The secret plans for what was called Project Chess?
Crazy Cryptic Clue: A giant that could be royal, Prussian and marine has something to do with it, perhaps? But little to do with Mr. Garik Weinstein though, contrary to what you might think.
*Project Chess was the secret plans for the IBM PC, the PC itself I believe was codenamed Acorn.
The clue wasn't called __Crazy___ Cryptic Clue for nothing! Giant=> Big + royal, Prussian,marine=>Blue (shades of) together => Big Blue => IBM. Garik Weinstein =>original name of Garry Kasparov. little to do with him => Project Chess has nothing to do with chess.
7. Who, along with superstar pals 'Beatle' George Harrison, 'Heartbreaker' Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison - formed a band called the Traveling Wilburys? The answer, my friend is . . .
*...blowin' in the wind. The answer,my friend is Bob Dylan.
8. Which month in the calendar is named after Latin for `to open'? You may guess, but think what could be before!
* April. It's not January as many seemed to think.
Guess! What's before MAY?!! ;-)
9. Surprisingly easy one. What does a thaumatologist do?
*Studies miracles.
A lot of answers mentioned magic. Have given marks for that as well.
10. What was codified in a 1942 short story called 'Runaround'? Cryptic Clue: Mt.SinAI !
* The Three Laws of Robotics. Yeah, the story is by Isaac Asimov. Just robot is not good enough, I'm sorry.
About the clue. Mt.Sinai is where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. and AI= Artificial Intelligence. Get it? Mt.SinAI.
BONUS Question
Q. Can you make 24 out of 4 zeroes only? Use mathematical operations only. ie, make an expression out of 0,0,0,0 such that it evaluates to 24.
* (0! + 0! + 0! + 0!)!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The scores (in chronological order)
1. Asish Koshy - 7
2. Sharad Singh - 4
3. Suki - 1.5
4. Shiraz - 9 (0.5 each for 2Qs)
5. Mamatha Balasubramanian - 2 (nice working out)
6. Sujith Vijay - 9 (o yeah,i know to get 8 with two 0s :-p)
7. Ramkumar Sankar - 1
8. Prasun Ratn - 1
9. Kensy Joseph - 3
10. TalonX the Surreal - 2
11. Avinash Iyer - 3 (Bonus qUIZZER?)
12. Madhu M - 2 (Share ur views on Heller)
13. Kunal Malhotra - 8
14. Partha Sengupta - 3
15. Sreeram - 3
16. Syam Prasad - 5
17. Lahar Appaiah - 5 (May <-- Goddess of fertility Maia)
18. Avjit Chaudhuri - 7
19. Devilcat - 4
20. Sukhamaya - 4
21. Santhosh D'Souza - 9 (nice work on April!)
22. Acharya Rajib - 7
23. R.Krishna - 8
24. Suranjan Chakrabarty- 6 (I believe there's more than 1 album though for TW)
25. Navneet Bal - 5
26. Dinesh Krithivasan - 5.5
27. Samrat Sengupta - 2
28. Aniruddha Gupta - 7
29. Anshuman Mishra - 5
30. Debashree Mitra - 4
31. Koushik Vedaraman - 5
32. Hussain Poonawala - 1
33. Paul Ahmitough - 9
34. Satyajit Chetri - 1
35. Vijay Krishnan - 2
36. Pramod R - 1
37. Venkateswar KR - 0 (queery effort!)
38. Anannya Deb - 4
39. Bhaskar Singh - 0
40. Pauline Daniel - 1
41. Prithwiraj Mukherjee - 3.5
42. Thejaswi Udupa - 7
43. Sankle Pradesh - 3
44. Avik Chatterjee - 2
45. Bharat Jayakumar - 1 (may the 44444.. be with U2!)
--------STATS ----------------------------------------------
Funnest!-
Click OK to restart on Defenestration
00:00 = 24 hrs midnight on BonusQ
Plan to kill Bobby Fischer by Soviets on Proj Chess
Guessest!- nice guessing
May, December on April
Phileas Fogg, Frank Poole on Millennium Falcon
Nirad Chaudhuri on Joseph Heller
Picasso,MF Hussain on Artist as Old Man
Turing Test on Runaround
Hitler's submarine fleet on Project Chess
Expectedest!
Removing MSWindows from PC on defenestration
Deep Blue for Project Chess
* Most popular wrong answer: William Bligh has no HMS mutiny
* All questions were answered
* Shiraz,Paul,Santhosh top the quiz with 9 points
* What I realised: Clues are interpreted and used in myriad ways. Sometimes in ways unIMAGINED by framer!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A match may start a fire. But once the fire is
started, putting out the match will not be of
any use.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUEURIEST - VI
Keep Guessing - Johnnie Guesser
-------------------------------------------------------
1. If James Joyce wrote A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, who wrote A Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man? God knows!
*
2. This one might really whip the bails off you. Who holds the record for the most number of stumpings in Test cricket history?
*
3. Golden Hind: Francis Drake :: Millennium Falcon : _____________?
*
4. What happens when somebody is subjected to defenestration? Linux fans, anyone?
*
5. Easy one. Who led the mutiny onboard the HMS Bounty?
*
6. Codenames! The secret plans for what was called Project Chess?
Crazy Cryptic Clue: A giant that could be royal, Prussian and marine has something to do with it, perhaps? But little to do with Mr. Garik Weinstein though, contrary to what you might think.
*
7. Who, along with superstar pals 'Beatle' George Harrison, 'Heartbreaker' Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison - formed a band called the Traveling Wilburys? The answer, my friend is . . .
*
8. Which month in the calendar is named after Latin for `to open'? You may guess, but think what could be before!
*
9. Surprisingly easy one. What does a thaumatologist do?
*
10. What was codified in a 1942 short story called 'Runaround'? Cryptic Clue: Mt.SinAI !
*
BONUS Question
Q. Can you make 24 out of 4 zeroes only? Use mathematical operations only. ie, make an expression out of 0,0,0,0 such that it evaluates to 24.
*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A match may start a fire. But once the fire is
started, putting out the match will not be of
any use.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "SonOfDelphi"
Date: Thu Jan 9, 2003 12:18 pm
Subject: Queuriest - VI
Welcome to episode 6 of Queuriest.
a few words about the Queuriest series. I intend these quizzes to be competitive in nature. That's why I toss in a few sitters and also why clues abound, so that there's something for everybody. I don't bury the questions in voluminous prose (obscurification). Neither do I introduce deliberate misspellings or inaccurate info. (Two anti-googling strategies commonly employed). Direct & honest, trust implied. That's what I like...
and if you attempt to answer the Qs honestly, then the answers stay longer in your head when they come. That's the ultimate aim, right? Plus that way it's more fun and satisfying for all involved...and there need be no shame in getting 'just' 1 or 2. And 50% in a set of Qs set by another person is very good indeed.
and in case you do google for a question (when it absolutely CAN't wait!!) , at least indicate that in the answer, I'll give you half the points. CONSCIENCE, not CON-SCIENCE! ;-) That way it would be fair both on googlers (some reward for searching so hard) and on others who attempt the Qs by themselves ...and give me some extra info also please :-)
If, on the other hand, you feel that these quizzes are just google-guides, then please tell me, I'll stop posting the scores, just the answers should do fine then, won't it. . .I feel it's unfair on the genuine, competitive respondents otherwise (sometimes it breaks my heart to place a googler above a genuey :-(. . .also, I need not frame the questions all that carefully then, you would find the errors anyway, huh? :-)
I hope I do not lose my audience because of these lamentations of mine! Not possibly, 'cos it's the other guy that I was complaining about, right? :-)
GET CRACKING NOW!!!!
luv
thomas
ANSWERS
-------------
From: "SonOfDelphi"
Date: Sun Jan 26, 2003 11:00 pm
Subject: Answers to Queuriest - VI
Hi everybody!
45 responses in all. Perhaps this was the cluesiest episode yet. Most questions had clues - used very imaginatively by respondents!
sorry for the LOOOOOOOOOOONG delay in posting the answers. Now, what excuse can I give? ....
"And on the seventh, He Rested."? :-Queuriegenesis 1:18
;-)
luv
thomas
----------------------------------------------
QUEURIEST - VI
Keep Guessing - Johnnie Guesser
----------------------------------------------
1. If James Joyce wrote A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, who wrote A Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man? God knows!
*Joseph Heller, the Catch-22 guy. God knows was the clue. It's another book he wrote.
Dylan Thomas wrote Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog
2. This one might really whip the bails off you. Who holds the record for the most number of stumpings in Test cricket history?
*Bert Oldfield of Australia. He was the wicketkeeper in the middle 20th century. '30s I guess. 52 in career.
Pure statististics. Never mind if you didn't get this one.
3. Golden Hind: Francis Drake :: Millennium Falcon : _____________?
*Han Solo, in Star Wars
AC:Lando Carlrissian is the actual owner, Han Solo gets it only later.
does anybody know whether there's an expansion for R2D2 or C3PO?
4. What happens when somebody is subjected to defenestration? Linux fans, anyone?
*He gets thrown out of the window.
The Linux comment was just a bit of fun from me. I'm not too sure whether it applies to removing windows from computers ...or .... does IT?
refer Defenestration of Prague & Thirty Years also.
5. Easy one. Who led the mutiny onboard the HMS Bounty?
*Fletcher Christian
Some answered Bligh, Bligh is the author/captain.
6. Codenames! The secret plans for what was called Project Chess?
Crazy Cryptic Clue: A giant that could be royal, Prussian and marine has something to do with it, perhaps? But little to do with Mr. Garik Weinstein though, contrary to what you might think.
*Project Chess was the secret plans for the IBM PC, the PC itself I believe was codenamed Acorn.
The clue wasn't called __Crazy___ Cryptic Clue for nothing! Giant=> Big + royal, Prussian,marine=>Blue (shades of) together => Big Blue => IBM. Garik Weinstein =>original name of Garry Kasparov. little to do with him => Project Chess has nothing to do with chess.
7. Who, along with superstar pals 'Beatle' George Harrison, 'Heartbreaker' Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison - formed a band called the Traveling Wilburys? The answer, my friend is . . .
*...blowin' in the wind. The answer,my friend is Bob Dylan.
8. Which month in the calendar is named after Latin for `to open'? You may guess, but think what could be before!
* April. It's not January as many seemed to think.
Guess! What's before MAY?!! ;-)
9. Surprisingly easy one. What does a thaumatologist do?
*Studies miracles.
A lot of answers mentioned magic. Have given marks for that as well.
10. What was codified in a 1942 short story called 'Runaround'? Cryptic Clue: Mt.SinAI !
* The Three Laws of Robotics. Yeah, the story is by Isaac Asimov. Just robot is not good enough, I'm sorry.
About the clue. Mt.Sinai is where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. and AI= Artificial Intelligence. Get it? Mt.SinAI.
BONUS Question
Q. Can you make 24 out of 4 zeroes only? Use mathematical operations only. ie, make an expression out of 0,0,0,0 such that it evaluates to 24.
* (0! + 0! + 0! + 0!)!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The scores (in chronological order)
1. Asish Koshy - 7
2. Sharad Singh - 4
3. Suki - 1.5
4. Shiraz - 9 (0.5 each for 2Qs)
5. Mamatha Balasubramanian - 2 (nice working out)
6. Sujith Vijay - 9 (o yeah,i know to get 8 with two 0s :-p)
7. Ramkumar Sankar - 1
8. Prasun Ratn - 1
9. Kensy Joseph - 3
10. TalonX the Surreal - 2
11. Avinash Iyer - 3 (Bonus qUIZZER?)
12. Madhu M - 2 (Share ur views on Heller)
13. Kunal Malhotra - 8
14. Partha Sengupta - 3
15. Sreeram - 3
16. Syam Prasad - 5
17. Lahar Appaiah - 5 (May <-- Goddess of fertility Maia)
18. Avjit Chaudhuri - 7
19. Devilcat - 4
20. Sukhamaya - 4
21. Santhosh D'Souza - 9 (nice work on April!)
22. Acharya Rajib - 7
23. R.Krishna - 8
24. Suranjan Chakrabarty- 6 (I believe there's more than 1 album though for TW)
25. Navneet Bal - 5
26. Dinesh Krithivasan - 5.5
27. Samrat Sengupta - 2
28. Aniruddha Gupta - 7
29. Anshuman Mishra - 5
30. Debashree Mitra - 4
31. Koushik Vedaraman - 5
32. Hussain Poonawala - 1
33. Paul Ahmitough - 9
34. Satyajit Chetri - 1
35. Vijay Krishnan - 2
36. Pramod R - 1
37. Venkateswar KR - 0 (queery effort!)
38. Anannya Deb - 4
39. Bhaskar Singh - 0
40. Pauline Daniel - 1
41. Prithwiraj Mukherjee - 3.5
42. Thejaswi Udupa - 7
43. Sankle Pradesh - 3
44. Avik Chatterjee - 2
45. Bharat Jayakumar - 1 (may the 44444.. be with U2!)
--------STATS ----------------------------------------------
Funnest!-
Click OK to restart on Defenestration
00:00 = 24 hrs midnight on BonusQ
Plan to kill Bobby Fischer by Soviets on Proj Chess
Guessest!- nice guessing
May, December on April
Phileas Fogg, Frank Poole on Millennium Falcon
Nirad Chaudhuri on Joseph Heller
Picasso,MF Hussain on Artist as Old Man
Turing Test on Runaround
Hitler's submarine fleet on Project Chess
Expectedest!
Removing MSWindows from PC on defenestration
Deep Blue for Project Chess
* Most popular wrong answer: William Bligh has no HMS mutiny
* All questions were answered
* Shiraz,Paul,Santhosh top the quiz with 9 points
* What I realised: Clues are interpreted and used in myriad ways. Sometimes in ways unIMAGINED by framer!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A match may start a fire. But once the fire is
started, putting out the match will not be of
any use.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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