The All New All New Groundspeak UK Pub Quiz

February 28, 2013

A ceilidh is an informal gathering with music and dancing but what does the word ceilidh actually mean?

6.2k · February 28, 2013

I had this in a pub quiz some years ago, when it was asked what ceilidh and Sputnik had in common. I guessed at they both meant companion and got the point. How's my luck this time?

February 28, 2013

I had this in a pub quiz some years ago, when it was asked what ceilidh and Sputnik had in common. I guessed at they both meant companion and got the point. How's my luck this time?

Your luck holds true. A DING! for you, sir.

6.2k · February 28, 2013

Your luck holds true. A DING! for you, sir.

Thanks very much. Taking a tangent, Sputnik is an interesting object. Although the original is long-since-burnt-up, several 'contemporary', Soviet-made copies exist - either development or back-up units. Most are in museums (as are many replicas) but one is owned by a remarkable individual with a link to Geocaching. The second person to wear the Union flag in orbit, the second in orbit to be the child of a previous generation 'naut (their father Owen flying on Skylab and a shuttle mission) and the only private individual to own an object on the moon. They would have been the first 'space tourist' if it wasn't for the Dot-Com crash, are a keen magician, and shot a short sci-fi film while in space; the first. They also officiated over the first zero-gee wedding, on a 727 'vomit comet'... But who are they?! (I used Google to set the question but please don't to answer it. There should be enough info above for you to get the name I'm after.)

6.2k · March 4, 2013

This is easier than it appears. How many cachers do we know who've been into orbit..?

March 4, 2013

I know there's at least one as there has been a cache on the ISS. When I last looked at it (some months ago), it hadn't been found) so my guess is 1.

March 4, 2013

This is easier than it appears. How many cachers do we know who've been into orbit..?

Lord British?

6.2k · March 6, 2013

This is easier than it appears. How many cachers do we know who've been into orbit..?

Lord British?

aka Richard Garriott, aka Richard Garriott de Cayeux: Ding! I note he found his second-ever cache just last month. Over to Team Noodles.

March 7, 2013

Cool!

Alrighty, easy one:

What is the name of the capsule that SpaceX put in orbit last Friday which successfully docked with the ISS 2 days later?

6.2k · March 8, 2013

I left this until the following day so it doesn't become quiz tennis, but couldn't resist now it's Friday: Dragon.

March 8, 2013

I left this until the following day so it doesn't become quiz tennis, but couldn't resist now it's Friday: Dragon.

your serve

6.2k · March 8, 2013

Thanks. *Twok* Since the Space Shuttles were retired in 2011, NASA have been working on a replacement but it's a very interesting development that private enterprise is making a real inroad into space. Going back a generation, Shuttle missions were all named STS and then numbered, eg STS-31 to launch the Hubble space telescope, and STS-61, to fix it. But what does STS stand for?

March 9, 2013

Space transport service?

March 9, 2013

At last one I know thanks to James May. Lego as we know it was 1st produced in 1949, but the company that makes it started making wooden toys 1932 and changed its name to Lego in 1934 (cant remember what it was called before).

In which country?

Denmark - we've driven passed the factory when we visited Lego land in Denmark last year! also got a couple of caches (and a souvenir now) whilst we were there

6.2k · March 9, 2013

Space transport service?

Oh, very close!

March 9, 2013

Space Transportation System.

6.2k · March 9, 2013

Space Transportation System.

Advantage, Betelgeuse. Ding! The Space Transportation System was intended to be a whole set of modular craft, including a space tug (designed to be left in orbit and crewed and refilled as necessary) for inter-orbital work, a replacement for Apollo which would be good for setting up a moon base and a reusable 'space truck' which became the Shuttle. With the success of Apollo 11 and the winning of that phase of the Space Race, Nixon and Congress decided not to fund a Mars trip in the 'post-Apollo era', and as the final three planned moon landings were pulled, it was clear budgets were only going south. NASA's grand plans for fleets of nuclear-powered ships, stations - including a Luna-orbit Skylab - and bases were shelved, along with promising technology such as NERVA high-ISP nuclear engines. A good book on 'what might have been' is Stephen Baxter's Voyage. Which he wrote about 10 miles from my home, in Great Missendon. Small world

March 9, 2013

Space transport service?
Oh, very close!

I know, I googled afterwards :sad:

*Awaits betelgeuse's question*

March 10, 2013

America's space shuttles were retired from service in 2011 - or were they?

America still has three shuttles in service. For the DING! Can you tell me either:

Their flight designation OR the manufacturer and model?

If you can answer both then expect a black helicopter or two overhead.

6.2k · March 11, 2013

I suspect you mean the X-37B micro-shuttle, reusable orbital drone thingies. There's one up there now but the USAF (they're not NASA craft) is keeping very tight-lipped on what it's doing. They're built by Boeing I think?

March 11, 2013

That'll get you the DING!

Boeing X-37B is correct. The USAF have 3 of them in service - they were intended to be launched from the NASA shuttle originally, but it was decided that it wasn't an economical launch system and so they are now strapped to an Atlas V. They're unmanned and designed to stay in orbit for up to 270 days at a time.

The flight designation is OTV (Orbital Test Vehicle) 1, 2 and 3.

6.2k · March 12, 2013

That'll get you the DING!

Thanks very much. Due to lack of forward planning, I'll let someone else set the next question as I may not be online as much as I'd like for the next few days; busy busy!

6.2k · March 14, 2013

No takers? Well, ok then. I'm currently working on a pub quiz for my 10th caching anniversary event in May. Here's a question from it. In which year was iTunes launched?

March 14, 2013

Absolutely no idea but I'll take a guess at 2003.

6.2k · March 14, 2013

Absolutely no idea but I'll take a guess at 2003.

Sometimes a guess is all it takes. Ding!

March 14, 2013

Splendid.

Winnie the pooh's name derives from which city?

Edited March 14, 2013 by TheOldfields

March 15, 2013

Splendid.

Winnie the pooh's name derives from which city?

Winnipeg ?

March 15, 2013

Would be a ding. Interesting background to the story available here: http://www.just-pooh.com/history.html

March 15, 2013

Would be a ding. Interesting background to the story available here: http://www.just-pooh.com/history.html

Thanks for the info.

What was Adolf Hitler's mother's first name ?

March 16, 2013

Would be a ding. Interesting background to the story available here: http://www.just-pooh.com/history.html

Thanks for the info.

What was Adolf Hitler's mother's first name ?

[deletes stupid wrong answer] :blink:

Edited March 16, 2013 by Beach_hut

March 18, 2013

I think it was Klara.

March 18, 2013

I think it was Klara.

That's a ding to you !

March 18, 2013

OK, a nice simple one: What was the name of Blackbeard's ship?

6.2k · March 20, 2013

OK, a nice simple one: What was the name of Blackbeard's ship?

Bit of a guess. Was it Queen Anne's Revenge?

March 20, 2013

It was indeed. Over to you.

6.2k · March 21, 2013

I have applied to be on the next series of Pointless. Thanks very much.

With a recorded fatality rate of around 85% (since 1940), what's probably the world's most hazardous competition?

March 21, 2013

Becoming pope?

6.2k · March 21, 2013

Becoming pope?

That's only (usually) fatal to the winners, not the other contenders...

March 21, 2013

a friedfrende of mine films the Dakar Rally and he suggest that this is the most dangerous, legitimate sport

Edited March 21, 2013 by martin&lindabryn

March 21, 2013

If 'hazardous' includes broken bones and not just death in blazing fireballs, then I'll have a guess at Gloucester cheese rolling.

6.2k · March 21, 2013

It's not exactly a sport as such, although it was a competition born of a sport. There's no prize for winning except a place in the history books. A man who owned a bear has won it. Not on sand or Cooper's Hill though.

March 21, 2013

Have to admit that I completely missed the bit about 85% fatality rate. That would have to be some nasty gruyere.

With the cheese excluded, how about trying for the land speed record?

March 21, 2013

How about speed boat racing, they always have big crashes

6.2k · March 21, 2013

I'll have a guess at some sort of free diving record.

6.2k · March 22, 2013

Two very close suggestions, but no Ding yet. The bear had a name. Indeed, it still does.

March 22, 2013

Two very close suggestions, but no Ding yet. The bear had a name. Indeed, it still does.

taking a hint from you last comment I will try water speed record,

don't know the bears name though

Edited March 22, 2013 by martin&lindabryn

6.2k · March 22, 2013

Two very close suggestions, but no Ding yet. The bear had a name. Indeed, it still does.
taking a hint from you last comment I will try water speed record,
don't know the bears name though

A Ding for the water speed record (inspired by the previous boat question), but a small raspberry for not knowing Mr Whoppit, a rare stuffed toy with its own Wiki page

March 22, 2013

thanks for the Ding hears one to get you thinking

As the last question was about boats, hears a two part question about launches.

Part 1. what was launched on 5 September 1977? As Elvis was topping the UK chart with Way Down.

Part 2. On the 25 August last year it left the influence of what object?

March 22, 2013

That would be Voyager 1 and it's said to have left the influence of the Sun although that's a statement that's being argued at present. The evidence for this is a sudden decrease in solar particles and a corresponding increase in cosmic rays. If it hasn't already, then it'll exit the region of the heliopause some time soon.

Voyager 2 is still within the influence of the Sun but is also at the heliopause. The missions of both are expected to last until around 2025 when the radiothermal generators that power them will finally stop producing sufficient power to maintain operation of the transmitters. Fantastic stuff really.

March 22, 2013

That would be Voyager 1 and it's said to have left the influence of the Sun although that's a statement that's being argued at present. The evidence for this is a sudden decrease in solar particles and a corresponding increase in cosmic rays. If it hasn't already, then it'll exit the region of the heliopause some time soon.

Voyager 2 is still within the influence of the Sun but is also at the heliopause. The missions of both are expected to last until around 2025 when the radiothermal generators that power them will finally stop producing sufficient power to maintain operation of the transmitters. Fantastic stuff really.

That’s a ding. Thought that may have lasted longer than that

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