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The All New Groundspeak Uk Pub Quiz!

The Golem
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Dorsetgal & GeoDog

+Dorsetgal & GeoDog

Posted
Posted

Dad is delighted, currently bedridden with a chest infection, this has made his day ;)

 

I asked him to set the next question, I hope this is ok :laughing:

 

What was the name of the Soviet ship that brought Kruschev and Bulganin to the United Kingdom in 1956, during the visit events took place which led to an international diplomatic incident.

 

Also, who went missing?

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The Forester

+The Forester

Posted
Posted

The SIS diver who went missing was Buster Crabb. Divers, even special forces ones, usually work in pairs, not alone, so I suspect that we haven't heard the full truth of what his espionage mission involved. The whole point of using SIS and a freelance instead of Naval Int's 'usual suspects' was deniability, so I guess the Whitehall neddies have shredded the files long before the 30year rule kicked in. I'd love to know whose embarassment was being covered up. One wonders if the Soviets also had divers down during that port call as a visit to Pompey would be such a wonderful spying opportunity at a time when the Russkies desperately need good quality Intel on what was still a formidable navy (before the Andrew became, in the recent words of the most senior serving Admiral, "Belgium").

 

Was the ship called Sverdlov or Sverdlovsk?

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The Forester

+The Forester

Posted
Posted

I've asked the oldest and saltiest old phart I can think of. He spent years flying Shacking Great Big ####letons chasing the Soviet Navy. Even he is (almost) stumped.

 

He reckons that Sverdlov was the class of the vessel, not the name, but he cannot remember which one was involved in the Crabb incident.

 

His best guess is that it was Dzherzhinsky as that was the most up to date of the whole bunch of them at that time

 

Does anyone know what became of the Russian Navy. Does it still exist? I can't remember the last time I saw a Russian warship at sea. Certainly not in the last 15 years.

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Dorsetgal & GeoDog

+Dorsetgal & GeoDog

Posted
Posted (edited)

The cruiser was called Ordzhonikidze, and it was indeed Buster Crabb who went missing while the cruiser was in Portsmouth Harbour. A headless body was found some time later. Various theories exist as to who's orders Crabb was acting upon.

 

As this was a history question and not a spelling one, the Ding Ding goes to Forester.

 

The report into the episode was revealed last year.

Edited by Dorsetgal & GeoDog
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The Forester

+The Forester

Posted
Posted

Interesting to read the internal report. It sounds like a complete cockup at every level.

 

I'm not sure that I got the main question right as Djerzhinsky was named after the NKVD (forerunner of the KGB) boss and is not the same name as the one mentioned for the Crabb ship, but as the cat is out of the bag I suppose we should move on to the next Q.

 

The zero degree Longitude line is properly known as the Prime Meridian, often simply called the Greenwich Meridian. Actually there are no less than five different Prime Meridians which run through Greenwich. One of them is WGS84's Prime Meridian which is the one to which all our geocaching co-ords are referred. Another, the first one, is called Flamsteed's Prime Meridian.

 

What are the other three Prime Meridians which run through Greenwich?

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Jango & Boba Fett

+Jango & Boba Fett

Posted
Posted

The zero degree Longitude line is properly known as the Prime Meridian, often simply called the Greenwich Meridian. Actually there are no less than five different Prime Meridians which run through Greenwich. One of them is WGS84's Prime Meridian which is the one to which all our geocaching co-ords are referred. Another, the first one, is called Flamsteed's Prime Meridian.

 

What are the other three Prime Meridians which run through Greenwich?

 

There's probably the OSGB36 prime meridian, which the OS rely on. There's also probably a European datum (20?) which is quite like WGS84.

 

Well given that Flamsteed's prime meridian is in the definitionof GMT while the WGS84's Prime Meridian defines the zero line of longitude I could come up with several:

  1. ETRF89
  2. NWL9D
  3. ED50
  4. OSGB36
  5. UTC given that this differs from GMT by only a couple of seconds it s prime meridian must pass through Greenwich

Sorry I can feel that nervious twitch coming on again .....

 

:laughing:

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The Forester

+The Forester

Posted
Posted

There's probably the OSGB36 prime meridian, which the OS rely on. There's also probably a European datum (20?) which is quite like WGS84

 

Two-eighths of a ding there.

 

Yes, one of the Prime Meridians is the one that OS rely on. For a full ding on that I want the name of that Meridian and all the others.

 

None of the four Prime Meridians has ever been a "European" datum. Flamsteed's was the one which never quite became a major standard, but it had been intended to be so. It was based on the oldest part of the Observatory, at the octagonal building. It was abandoned due to subsidence at the location and its replacement was established about 1.85m away by someone after whom that second Prime Meridian is named.

 

The fourth of the five meridians (WGS84 is the fifth) is the famous one, ie the one which people straddle to pose for touristy photos at Greenwich. That one was the one which was eventually adopted by all the major seafaring nations, at least all the ones who participated in inetrnational conferences in those days (1884). Even the simian mangeurs des fromages capitulated and surrendered their aspiration that the Prime Meridian based based on a croissant in Paris, so that was the end of the dream that the Prime Meridian would be a Euro thing.

 

Well given that Flamsteed's prime meridian is in the definitionof GMT while the WGS84's Prime Meridian defines the zero line of longitude I could come up with several:

 

1. ETRF89

2. NWL9D

3. ED50

4. OSGB36

5. UTC given that this differs from GMT by only a couple of seconds it s prime meridian must pass through Greenwich[/code]

 

Several anti-dings for J&B Rerr there.

 

ETRF89 is a European "realisation", ie a subset, of WGS84. It nails WGS84 to the Eurasian tectonic plate's position in 1989 and is only intended to be used in Europe (and a few semi-detached islands), not worldwide as Greenwich's Prime Meridians were selected for.

 

ED50 is most definitely NOT a Greenwich meridian. When the Murricanes conquered Western Europe in 1945 they set about doing what all new Empires do: they mapped their new domain. Being sensible chaps who knew their own limitations when it comes to geodesy, they used tame Germans to do the tricky geodetic work for them; and having something of an inferiority complex about Greenwich being the centre of the world's measurement of Longitude and still smarting over the failed attempt by the rolledup trouserleg and funny handshake guys of Warshington who had wanted the Prime Meridian to be based on the datum bolt in that oval area immediately South of the White House, they chose Helmert's Tower in Potsdam as the datum point for ED50. Lacking a grasp of the basics of geodesy, they also decreed that the geoidal height of the Potsdam Datum be declared to be zero, which is somewhat reminiscent of another American government declaring that henceforce Pi be set to be 22/7 exactly.Heidbanger.gif

 

UTC is a whole 'nuther bucket of worms. When the surrendermonkeys agreed to the world's time standard, and therefore Prime Meridian, being based in perfide Albion it was agreed in return that Britain would convert to the Metric system. That very Euro compromise was made in 1884 and I'm sure we'll honour our promise any day now. In the meantime mine's a pint.

 

TPTB moved the measurement of time for GMT from Greenwich to Herstmonceaux and unfortunately Attila the Hen, who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing, flogged it off, together with several other joblots of the country's family silver. The glee of the French who took it over and gave it a Gallic name is as loud as the garlic fumes are strong!

 

So, Prime Meridan #1 is Flamsteed's.

Prime Meridan #5 is WGS84

Either #2, #3, or#4 is the datum point for the OS, but what's its name?

Either #2, #3, or#4 is the internationally recognised Prime Meridan, but what's its name?

 

Clue, with the exception of #5, they are all named after Astronomers Royal.

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The Forester

+The Forester

Posted
Posted

Yes, Airy.

 

That's the one which was adopted by most of the world as the Prime Meridian.

 

Paradoxically, although Ordnance Survey's co-ordinate system is based on Airy Spheroid, one exception to the list of countries which use that Meridian as the basis for their mapping work is the Great Britain as OS Lat/Longs -- and therefore the OS grid system too -- are not based on the Airy meridian but another which is located 5.79 metres West of the Airy meridan.

 

So, we have:

#1 Flamsteed Meridan (18.64m West of Airy)

#2 Halley Meridian (16.79m West of Airy)

#3

#4 Airy Meridan (The Prime Meridian)

#5 WGS84 (102.478m East of Airy)

 

Several semi-dings so far.

 

Just need the name of the Meridian which the OS currently uses.

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The Forester

+The Forester

Posted
Posted (edited)

2°W is the central meridian of the OS's transverse Mercator projection, not the Prime Meridian.

 

In the plain vanilla variety of the Mercator projection, you are effectively wrapping a stiff piece of paper around the globe. It is in contact with the globe only at one Latitude, the equator. With increasing distance from that Latitude your projected image of the globe has a progressively worsening scaling error. That's why the Mercator projection map of the world doesn't bother to show Latitudes above about 80° 'cos the infinitely small points which are the poles would project onto an infinitely wide part of the projected map. That's also why Greenland looks to be larger in area than Australia on a Mercator projected map.

 

The transverse Mercator projection wraps the bit of paper onto the globe in a 90° different way, with a contact point along a chosen line of Longitude instead of Latitude zero. To minimise the scaling area across the area that's being mapped by this projection, a line of longitude is chosen for the central meridian such that it is approximately the middle of the country being mapped, with respect to the East/West axis.

 

The OS chose 2°W as a suitable estimate of the middle of the British isles landmass instead of the Prime Meridian because the greater bulk of the country is in the Western hemisphere and doing it this way minimises the scaling errors of the map projection across the Britain.

 

The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection, which is mentioned on every cachepage on the GC.com website, divides the world up into 6° wide strips and assigns zone numbers associating multiples of 6+3 as the central meridian for each zone. Zone 30, for example, has a central meridian of 3°W; Zone 31's central meridian is 3°E. Caches very close to the Prime Meridian (WGS84 flavour, of course) and close to eachother can have hugely different UTM grid co-ords as a result of the system hopping from one central meridian to another. That's why you sometimes see big jumps in the UTM grid co-ords over very small distances between nearby caches.

Edited by The Forester
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The Forester

+The Forester

Posted
Posted

Yep, it's the Bradley Meridian which is still used by the OS, despite the basis of the OS work being the Airy Spheroid and all the finest high-precision work having been done by his transit next door to Bradley's.

 

It may seem perverse, but the national mapping agency, which is a subset of the MoD uses Bradley Meridian while the similarly MoD owned Hydrographic Office uses the Airy Meridian. Daft or what?

 

Ding for Nediam's twitcher, with honorable mentions in dispatches for the other answerers.

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Nediam

Nediam

Posted
Posted (edited)

It appears that my colleagues other main interest is pubs, so here's a good pub quiz question set by him :D

 

There are around 275 station on London's Underground system but only five are named after pubs, name them.... :)

 

I think that the diaries you got at Christmas and threw into your bottom drawer may be of some use :)

 

Edit:- The ding goes to whoever gets the last station :D

Edited by Nediam
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Nediam

Nediam

Posted
Posted (edited)

Mornington Crescent !!!

 

Oops, sorry wrong game <_<

 

Right then!!!

 

I knew someone would start that!

 

Marty, go and stand in the corner with your nose against the wall until you hear the bell! :D:D:D:D

 

Edit:- Got to go out now (to a proper pub quiz :D) If you think you're right, post your answer and then check it on google/wiki and feel free to ask another question if you are correct :D

Edited by Nediam
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MartyBartfast

+MartyBartfast

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Posted

You're in a room where there are 3 light switches; each switch operates one of three light bulbs in a remote room; you cannot see the remote room from the room containing the switches. You can operate any switch or any combination of switches any number of times, but what is the minimum number of visits you must make to the remote room to identify which switch operates which light bulb. Explain your method to get the DING.

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Sharpeset

Sharpeset

Posted
Posted

You're in a room where there are 3 light switches; each switch operates one of three light bulbs in a remote room; you cannot see the remote room from the room containing the switches. You can operate any switch or any combination of switches any number of times, but what is the minimum number of visits you must make to the remote room to identify which switch operates which light bulb. Explain your method to get the DING.

Methinks you can do it with just two visits:

 

Step one: switch on switches 1 and 2: visit room to determine which light has not come on so you know that is operated by switch 3.

 

Step two: switch on just switch 1: visit room to see which of the original lights has gone off.

 

You now know which light is operated by switch 1 and which is operated by switch 3, so can safely deduce that the one switched off at step two was operated by switch 2....

 

Pete

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