Today’s QOTD is in the title.
“Pull up a G.E. College Bowl TV contest from the early 1960s and see how many correct answers you can come up with. Most of today’s college professors would get clobbered.” —- CCRider
OK, I did. These questions are taken from the 1966 GE College Bowl …. Agnes Scott College vs Princeton. As part of my STDs (Stucky Timesaver Duties) I have transcribed ten of the questions. How many did you get correct? (Don’t cheat!!!). Answers at the end.
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1)- The year in which Napoleon made his last bid for power was also the year in which Andrew Jackson last won a battle.
2)- The speed of sound in air is about 1,100 feet per second but in steel it’s about 16,400 feet per second. Why does sound pass through steel more quickly?
3) What playwright wrote Tamburlaine the Great?
4) What memorable 5 word command was given in the naval engagement in which the HMS Shannon beat the USS Chesapeake.
5) Rain Worm and Well Bread are characters in the first. Ship and Fastidious Thrift in the second. Name both of these companion piece plays by Ben Johnson.
6)- This disease is reportedly traced back to Queen Victoria through her youngest daughter Beatrice.
7) Who was the founder of eugenics.
8) What philosopher wrote Parmenides.
9)- The same adjective is in the title in works by Anthony Trullip, F Scott Fitzgerald, George Santiana, and James Fenimore Cooper. What is the adjective?
10) Bucephalus and Roan Barbary were steeds. What were Balmung and Durendal?
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Me?
No, I am not smarter than a bunch of chicks(one of whom is blind) from Agnes Scott College. I got a measly four correct answers.
— #1 because I knew it had to be the War of 1812, and it lasted three years, so Jackson’s last win must be 1815 (Battle of New Orleans).
— #6, I have about five books on my shelf about DNA and recall reading about Queen Vicky and Bea several times.
— #8, because “Parmenides” sounds Greek and I made a total SWAG with Plato.
— #9, only because of James Fenimore Cooper … the only book I know he wrote was The Last of the Mohicans.
My grade is 40. This is near-moran territory. That’s why I didn’t go to Princeton.
[*** Stucky Warning!! *** Anybody claiming to have gotten #10 correct IS FULL OF SHIT!! Admin will ban you for life. ]
OTHER INTERESTING FACTS
The women from Agnes Scott beat the soy boys from Princeton on the final question (swords). It is considered the greatest upset in the history of game shows. You can read about it HERE. (it’s a very good read!).
The GE College Bowl is considered to be the hardest game show of all time …. much much harder than Jeopardy.
The article (above link) makes this provocative comment; —- “America’s anti-intellectualism can be traced through the decline in popularity of the American quiz show.” —- and they do a decent job backing it up.
In the video below skip to the 2:25 mark. It’s the original GE commercial for something called the “heat and serve baby dish”. Yeah, sticking a cheapo ELECTRICAL appliance in front of a baby is a grrrrreat idea! It’s hilarious. Then again, kids were tough back then … a mild electrical shock builds character. I need to stop being a pussy.
THE ANSWERS
1) – 1815
2) – The steel is more “elastic”.
3)- Christopher Marlowe
4)- Don’t give up the ship.
5)- Every Man In His Humor. Every Man Out Of His Humor
6)- Hemophilia.
7)- Francis Galton
8)- Plato
9)- Last
10)- Swords
THE END
I was only able to get five answers. I may not be as good looking as Stucky, but at least I’m a little smarter!
Two thumbs down, Mr Tree Guy. Why? Because just about EVERYBODY is better looking than me. Not kidding … ain’t no momma anywhere on Earf saying “Yea, I’d like him to marry my daughter.” Don’t make that mistake again.
Fuck you and Llpoh. 3. What a maroon I am, sheesh.
Not to degrade Stucky or the thread, but I would point out (because no one else has) that only 2 questions of the 10 qualify as anything but “trivia” and don’t really give a clear picture of intelligence. They may correlate to it, but 8 of the questions have nothing to do with anything but rote memorization, and that’s not an accurate measure of “smarts” or IQ.
I wasn’t even close to beating Stucky….. facepalm
4
Jeezus!!! What’s with the thumbs down people?? This was supposed to be a FUN thread.
Beat’s me I often wonder who does that without explanation
I don’t get the thumbs down either Stucky but what do I know….. oh yeah!
Apparently not too fucken much!
Can I get half credit for answering Margaret Sanger on eugenics?
No.
However, I will add 50 points to your score if you can answer the following correctly;
— “Who invaded Spain in the 8th century?”
It was the Moops.
RJ FOR THE WIN !!!!!!!!!!!
Those 50 points ices RJ as #1 Smart Guy on TBP … smarter than Babes of Agnes Scott College even.
We bow down before you.
Islam
Nice and reasonable answer. But, so solly … it was the Moops.
She was my answer too AoC.
Maybe thumbs down are fun for some people. LOL
I tried giving myself a thumbs down on this post, just to get the ball rolling, but it turns out not allowed.
Why is it that people always equate the ability to regurgitate useless facts from literary compositions to be indicative of knowledge?
Lets move this discussion into mathematics, economics or even mechanics and engineering and then lets talk.
These same generational twits are the ones that installed the building blocks for our govts, edu and corp and put us through the 2001 dot com bubble, 2008 housing crisis, our “racism” teachings in education and some still alive have now put us through the mask farce of 2020….
Was on a roll ’till I hit number 2…….
I was on a roll until I hit #1.
6. I don’t know if stating steel is a solid is the same as it being more elastic.
I read genetics not eugenics. Who cares who the father of eugenics is? Who is the father of concentration camps? Who is the father of biological warfare (Amherst?)?
Edit: The Mongols were throwing plague-filled bodies over the city walls at Genoese traders in Crimea in the 14th century.
I would say density rather than elasticity. More tightly packed molecules allow for faster propagation of vibrations.
And that’s the only one I knew.
Who’s the Moran? I got 90%
wrong…..
I just got one as well, *sigh*
Hey HSF, there’s that word again!
My little engineering college RPI in Troy NY won three GE college bowls. Was the fact that GE headquarters was nearby and hired a lot of our grads a factor? Or that our opponents were patsies? Don’t know but there were real geniuses there with extremely quick minds and photographic memories. When you get into higher intelligence speed is a factor.
YOU, sir, are blocked FOREVER from Twitter, YouTube, Google, Patreon, and DLive because, eugenics is a false Russian/Conservative plot.
Wich also happenz 2 B da on’y one I gotted rite.
Is that eugenics or ebonics?
knowledge, especially of the white kind is racist. I win! :0
Geez…1
#2
The stiffer the medium, the faster sound will travel through it. Sound travels faster in steel because it has a higher “elastic bulk modulus”
How did you think those sounds traveled so fast down the hall when banging the wife?
There’s a pecker joke in there. Somewhere.
“… a mild electrical shock builds character. “
I must have a lot of character, as I got shocked a lot as a kid.
Only 1.
Made the mistake of pissing on an electric fence as a dare from my brother. It wasn’t made by G.E., though. Sure stimulated my puberty!
There’s a pecker joke in there. Somewhere.
Thanks a bunch Stucky! Here’s the one for 8th graders that REALLY makes me feel STOOPID!
https://www.bullittcountyhistory.com/bchistory/schoolexam1912.html
You know what show made me feel stoopid? Are you smarter than a 5th grader. Watched in only twice. Really. Concluded I wasn’t smarter than a fifth grader. Fuckit. Went back to watching The Three Stooges on MeTV.
There’s also Columbo. I was always really good at figuring out who the murderer was. Turns out it’s always the guy that everybody thought it was the whole time.
I love mysteries. I want to try to write my own.
I only got three right, 1815, hemophilia and Plato.
Edit: Hemophilia and Plato were actually guesses, so the only one I actually “knew” was 1815.
God only knows what sort of complete bullshit, feminist crap they are “learning” at Agnes Scott these days. I can tell you from its location in the Atlanta metro area, there is absolutely NO WAY IN HELL I would ever let my daughter even visit the campus, let alone live there or in the neighborhood surrounding it. Their college theme song should be “Welcome to the Jungle.”
Interesting little story at the beginning of “Welcome to the Jungle.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs3AWuLGjcs
All those questions are racist. No wonder the GE College Bowl isn’t on anymore.
Today’s questions would be more sensitive and in tune with the current level of knowledge of college students such as:
Who was the first black President
What color is a blue sky
How do you spell “socialism”
Who will be the first female President
Who was Hillary Clinton married to
How did Jeffrey Epstein die
I suspect today’s college students would still get most of these questions wrong.
Last one is a trick question…he isn’t dead.
I got 139 right……the answers came to me around 3:00 am when nobody was looking.
I wonder how many actually had the information in their brain and realized it when reading the answers? Recall is a strange thing.
I hope we get credit for putting our name in the right place on the paper
When grading your paper, was an error made??
#6, I have about five books on my shelf about DNA and recall reading about Queen Vicky and Bea several times.
Real answer; 6)- Hemophilia.
annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum <——====
Two right, is there a handicap for dummies kind of like golf ? If so I got nine right ( not 10 that’s banning territory )
I remember that little ole Davidson Collitch beat the crap out of the Ivies two years in a row in the mid-60s.
Guess what…they were never invited back.
The show came on Sunday afternoon on our CBS affiliate, followerd by Walter Cronkite narrating a show on history called “You Were There”.
I am always amazed at how how much I have forgotten as I aged. Too bad we can’t make our brains spit out everything we ever put in there because it is all still there.
I’m sorry I asked.
Nah! You’re not serious, are ya? It was a great observation and led to a fun post …. it’s kinda hard coming up with a QOTD that will result in participation, so thanks.
Or …. are ya sorry cuz you got zero right? lol
Not a fucking one.
Zero.
You just might be the only honest person here.
2 measly answers…. wow… guess I’m not going to Princeton either.
I didn’t even try to answer any, but figured I’d pop in to let you know I read it. I should get points for that. Participation points.
#10 was the only one I knew for certain. Seriously do people not know the legend of Roland?
My score leaves me labelled as “complete retard”!
That said,tis all esoteric info. that in daily living does me no real good or benefits.Nothing wrong with learning things just for the sake of learning/curiosity,but again has no real value in me daily life.
Sigh,I guess perhaps I should rethink me going back to college to get /finish me degree in post modern/afrocentric/ under water lesbian basket weaving.
With said degree could get me dream job as a barista at star bucks.
I didn’t know #10, but that was what jumped to my mind. Sounded very Tolkien-ish
Johnny Horton says the Battle of New Orleans was in 1814. So I give myself a pass on that one.
LAST of the Mohicans was the only one I don’t need a ‘pass’ on. Same as Stucky, it’s the only J F Cooper novel I could recall. I think Leatherstocking tales was a series, no?
I’ll stand on DENSITY for difference in speed of sound through air. Elasticity? WTH! Sort of a pass but not really imo. I say man will never break the sound barrier in steel.
Those are my three. Too many Literature qwexions imo.
I knew the hemophilia one and sort of knew that the steel more easily transmitted the vibrations because the molecules were closer together than in air (elastic) was not a word that I would have used however, but had few thoughts beyond that. I know that Agnes Scott is now a bitter, lesbian-filled campus on the south side of Decatur, GA in one of the top 10 worst areas of the greater Metro Atlanta area. It was likely not much different back then, though the area was likely a LOT safer (only 1 year into the “Great Society” social destruction experiment).
nigga pleeze… none of us could pass an 1890’s 8th grade Final Exam