In a short story, this author describes a frightening ebony clock owned by Prince Prospero, who hosts a lavish party in a set of colorful rooms during a plague. In another story by this author, Montressor gets revenge on Fortunato by (*) bricking him into a cellar wall. For ten points, name this American author of macabre short stories like “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Cask of Amontillado.”
During this religious period, night-time congregational prayers include the Tarawih. Suhur and iftar are consumed before dawn and after sunset during this month. This celebration includes the Night of Power, when the first verses of the (*) Quran were revealed to Muhammad; it is followed by Eid al-Fitr [eed al fee-tur], which is celebrated with feasting. For ten points, name this Islamic holy month devoted to reflection and daytime fasting.
Each of bromine and this element name a type of number used to characterize the unsaturation of fats. A common clock reaction changes color when this element complexes with starch. Pills containing potassium and this element may be issued to victims of (*) nuclear disasters. A product whose name combines this element and “beta” is a popular skin antiseptic. For ten points, name this purplish halogen that can be added to table salt for thyroid health, and that has atomic number 53 and symbol I [EYE].
A New York Times article about this war outlined Daniel Ellsberg’s leak of documents that described the rise of Ngo Dinh Diem [no din dee-yem] and the goal of containing Chinese influence, nicknamed the Pentagon Papers. For negotiating this war’s ceasefire, (*) Henry Kissinger controversially earned a Nobel Peace Prize. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after, for ten points, what war in which an American-backed force was defeated by communists in Southeast Asia?
Musical works of this type that are nicknamed Palindrome and Surprise are two of the one-hundred-four of these works written by their “father,” Joseph Haydn. Mahler wrote his “Song of the Earth” to avoid the “curse of the (*) ninth” associated with these works, and Brahms’s first one is nicknamed “Beethoven’s Tenth.” Four movements make up the modern form of, for ten points, what long musical works for full orchestra?
This country was forbidden from allying with Spain in the Peace of Utrecht. Nobles of this country attempted to dethrone a boy king in a rebellion called the Fronde. This officially Catholic country persecuted the (*) Huguenots after the Edict of Fontainebleau. The palace of Versailles was once a royal residence in, for ten points, what country led by the “Sun King,” Louis XIV [fourteenth]?
In 2013, guard Brandon Jennings insisted that this team would win “in six,” even though they were swept in the first round of the playoffs. This team won their first championship in 1971, led by Kareem Abdul-Jabar, and took their second in when Brook Lopez and (*) Khris Middleton did finally beat the Suns in six games. Giannis Antetokounmpo [YAH-niss on-teh-teh-KOOM-poh] plays for, for ten points, what 2021 NBA Champions from eastern Wisconsin?
This work’s narrator rides on the back of Geryon, hears Ugolino describe eating his children, and watches Francesca da Rimini be blown away from her lover by a whirlwind. After entering a gate under the words (*) “abandon all hope, ye who enter here,” this poem’s narrator begins following the dead poet Virgil. For ten points, name this poetic journey through the Catholic Hell, the first section of Dante’s Divine Comedy.
In this city, fifteen “moonlight towers” built in the nineteenth century still operate at night. This seat of Travis County has suburbs called San Marcos and Round Rock, and hosts the (*) South by Southwest festival. This city’s namesake was defeated in an 1836 presidential election by Sam Houston. For ten points, name this city that trails San Antonio and Dallas in population, the capital of Texas.
Xanthe-lasma is caused by deposits of this compound under the skin. It is not bile, but yellow gallstones are primarily crystals of this molecule, whose four-ring structure is the precursor of (*) steroid hormones. The best-selling drug of all time is a statin that lowers this molecule’s LDL or “bad” form. For ten points, name this lipid molecule that is concentrated in shellfish and egg yolks, and that forms plaques that harden arteries.
This man’s successful guerilla campaign in the Sierra Maestra began with only nineteen people. This man’s “History Will Absolve Me” speech became the manifesto of the Twenty-sixth of July Movement. Due to health issues, this man handed the presidency over to his brother, (*) Raul, in 2008. Fulgencio Batista’s government was overthrown by, for ten points, what revolutionary who established the Communist party in Cuba?
This operation is typically applied to n in the binomial theorem, as well as to the time variable in the formula for compound interest. The base of this operation can be zero, unlike the base of its inverse operation, the (*) logarithm. This type of function will always, eventually, grow faster than a polynomial. The “two” in “y equals x squared” indicates, for ten points, what mathematical operation that is written above and to the right of a number?
A McLeod gauge is attached to equipment operating under this condition, which minimizes heat conduction within a Dewar flask. This phenomenon exists between Magdeburg hemispheres, and is found above the mercury (*) column in a Torricelli barometer. Robert Boyle designed an air pump to prove that sound cannot travel through this medium. Aristotle said that “nature abhors,” for ten points, what condition in which a space is entirely devoid of matter?
An authors from this country uses the pen name “Banana,” and another wrote Confessions of a Mask and committed public seppuku [seh-poo-koo] after leading a failed coup. While looking for his cat in a novel from this country, Toru must also search for his missing wife (*) Kumiko [koo-mee-koh]. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle is from, for ten points, what home country of Yukio Mishima [yoo-kee-oh mee-shee-mah], where Haruki Murakami [hah-roo-kee moo-rah-kah-mee] once lived in Kyoto?
This artist created The Virgin of the Rocks using sfumato, a shading technique that created a mysterious atmosphere, which he also used in a portrait of Francesco del Gioconda’s wife. While studying the human body, this artist drew the (*) “Vitruvian Man” illustration, in which a nude man extends his limbs in a circle and a square. For ten points, name this Italian Renaissance artist who painted the Mona Lisa.
This thinker claimed that “history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce” and described a “specter” that is “haunting Europe” when discussing a history of class struggle. This philosopher discussed the (*) proletariat and bourgeois [borj-wah] classes in a work co-written with Friedrich Engels. For ten points, name this German philosopher who wrote Das Kapital and co-wrote the Communist Manifesto.
This deity was the mother of Zagreus and Melinoe, and raised Adonis, over whom she feuded with Aphrodite. Thsi goddess was also known by the name Kore [koh-ray], and was nearly kidnapped by (*) Pirithous. This goddess causes the changing of the seasons by spending part of each year with her mother, Demeter, and part with her abductor, Hades. For ten points, name this queen of the underworld in Greek myth.
This astronomical body is orbited by the second most trojans in the solar system, and by the largest- known non-spherical satellite, Proteus. This planet’s surface has the solar system’s fastest winds, which create the (*) “Scooter” cloud formation as well as a now-dissipated storm nicknamed the “Great Dark Spot.” Fourteen moons, including Triton, orbit, for ten points, what vivid blue eighth planet from the Sun?
Two authors with this surname wrote The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and a novel in which Lockwood meets the ghost of Catherine while staying in a manor house. A member of this family wrote a novel in which (*) Rochester hires the title woman as a governess, and eventually marries her. For ten points, give the last name shared by the authors of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, a group of sisters named Anne, Charlotte, and Emily.
This place was the destination of the Peoria Party, who carried flags promoting “[this region] or the grave.” This territory was the focus of a “Great Migration” in 1843. Expeditions that began in (*) Independence, Missouri, attempted to reach this territory’s Willamette Valley. For ten points, name this modern state, the endpoint of a namesake migratory Trail that carried European-Americans to the upper west coast.
This function is the “CAH” [kah] portion of the popular mnemonic “SOHCAHTOA” [soh-kah-toh-ah]. For ten points each, Name this function whose input values are typically angles; for example, this function of zero degrees is one.
Sine and cosine are two elementary functions of this branch of mathematics, which studies the relationships between the angles and side lengths of triangles.
This trigonometric function is the reciprocal of the cosine function.
Humus [HYOO-muss], a dark organic matter made of the decomposed remains of dead plants and animals, forms much of the top layer of this substance. For ten points each, Name this substance made of organic matter and sand, silt, or clay, in which plants can grow.
By one estimate, each gram of soil contains one million organisms from this kingdom, which does much of the work of decomposition. This kingdom includes mold and yeast.
In the tundra and taiga biomes, the most abundant animal life in the soil is worms from this phylum that includes the model organism C. elegans.
Following this man’s death, hundreds of Spaniards died trying to flee during La Noche Triste [noh-chay tris-tay]. For ten points each, Name this leader who was allegedly stoned to death by his own people after being taken hostage by conquistadors.
This Spaniard led the conquistadors who captured Montezuma.
Montezuma II was a leader of this Mesoamerican empire, which was based in modern-day Mexico and conquered by the Spanish after the fall of their capital, Tenochtitlan [tay-nohch-teet-lahn].
Answer the following about English author Virginia Woolf, for ten points each. Virginia Woolf is the author of Orlando, which narrates the life of a three-hundred-year-old person who grows from a boy in the 1600s to a woman in the 1900s. Woolf described Orlando as a “fictional” work in this non-fiction genre, which describes a person’s life.
In her essay “A Room of One’s Own,” Woolf contrasts the tragic life of a fictional Elizabethan writer named Judith with that of her “brother,” this real-life author of Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
This novel by Virginia Woolf follows the Ramsey family on vacation before and after the first World War. At the end of this novel, the surviving family members complete the title journey.
This author justified revolution in Rights of Man, and declared “these are the times that try men’s souls.” For ten points each, Name this early American pamphleteer who attempted to inspire rebelling colonists during the American Revolution with his pamphlet series “The American Crisis.”
Thomas Paine argued that it was absurd for a continent to be ruled by an island in this pamphlet, which advocated for the separation of the American colonies from Britain.
Common Sense was published in this year, the same year that the United States declared independence.
Answer the following about the work of Artemisia Gentileschi, the Italian painter of a Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, for ten points each. Artemisia painted Judith and her maidservant killing the general Holofernes in this way. She also painted the princess Salome holding the evidence of John the Baptist’s execution, which was carried out in this manner.
on answers describing “using a knife;” prompt on “amputation”) Artemisia used this color for the dresses of Judith and Salome to highlight her main characters. Her namesake tone of this color mimics the rich color of a precious metal.
Artemisia worked during this seventeenth- and eighteenth-century artistic period that followed the Renaissance and preceded Rococo. Art in this period commonly had ornate and dramatic themes and lush textures.
This god was the son of Geb and Nut, and was the brother of Nephthys and Set. For ten points each, Name this green-skinned, Egyptian god of the dead who became the lord of the underworld when he was brought back to life after Set killed him.
Osiris’s son was this falcon-headed Egyptian god of justice and power. This god avenged his father’s murder by killing his uncle, Set.
Osiris’s daughter-in-law was this wife of Horus and the goddess of love and fertility. She was depicted with a headdress resembling two cow horns flanking a Sun disk.
Above eight thousand meters, this layer is called the “death zone” because its effective oxygen percentage is just eight percent, compared to twenty-one percent at sea level. For ten points each, Name this lowest region of Earth’s atmosphere, where all weather occurs.
The troposphere over large urban areas like Los Angeles and Mexico City tends to trap this visible, toxic form of air pollution that consists of nitrogen and sulfur oxides.
Urban air tends to trap smog close to the ground because of an inversion of this quantity, which normally decreases with altitude toward the top of the troposphere, where it can drop below negative fifty Celsius.
In this novel’s sequel, Go Set a Watchman, Scout sees her father attend a pro-segregation council meeting in the same courthouse where he once defended an unfairly accused Black man. For ten points each, Name this Harper Lee novel that follows Scout and Atticus Finch through the trial of Tom Robinson in the predominantly racist town of Maycomb, Alabama.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and her friends spread rumors that this character eats bats because they never see him leave his house. She later changes her opinion about this character when he saves her and Jem from Bob Ewell after a Halloween pageant.
Scout attends church with this character, the Finch family’s cook and a mother figure to Scout.
Answer the following about films directed by Ridley Scott, for ten points each. In this 2021 Ridley Scott film, set in medieval France, Adam Driver and Matt Damon prepare for the final officially-sanctioned instance of trial by combat in French history.
In this Ridley Scott film, Ripley is the sole survivor of the Nostromo, the rest of the crew having been killed by a monster that bursts out of the chest of a crew member.
The “Tears in Rain” speech is given in this Ridley Scott film, in which the bounty hunter Deckard hunts down rogue cyborgs who are looking to extend their lifespans. Harrison Ford starred in this film and appears in its 2017 sequel, set in the year 2049.
Name some ballets by Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky, for ten points each. In this ballet, Odette and Prince Siegfried kill themselves to escape a curse placed by the evil sorcerer Rothbart, who transforms Odette into the title bird.
The heroine of this Christmastime ballet is usually called Marie or Clara. She defeats the evil Mouse King by hitting him on the head with her slipper, and meets the Sugar Plum Fairy in a magical land of sweets in this ballet.
Marius Petipa choreographed Tchaikovsky’s version of this story, in which the Lilac Fairy weakens a curse placed on Aurora by the evil fairy Carabosse.
In Basile’s version of this story, Zezolla is helped by a fairy living in a fig tree. In the German version, Aschenputtel is helped by a bird who lives in a tree planted on her mother’s grave. For ten points each, Name this folk tale in which the title girl is forced to be a servant in her family’s house, but marries a prince after her fairy godmother gives her a pair of glass slippers.
A German version of “Cinderella” appears in the Children’s and Household Tales collected by these folk-tale- obsessed brothers.
In addition to studying fairy tales and German mythology, Jacob Grimm worked in this field of study; he is the namesake of Grimm’s Law, a rule that describes a shift between Proto-Indo-European and German.
The Dalai Lama has repeatedly undergone this process, through which he has chosen a new body after death fourteen times. For ten points each, Name this cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that is common in Indian religions.
prompt on “rebirth” before it is read by asking “what process is rebirth a part of?”) A being’s status and species following reincarnation are determined by their positive and negative actions in life, which are collectively known by this term, meaning “deeds.”
This Indian religion’s texts say that a person will be reincarnated into one of four realms of existence, called gatis. Followers of this religion practice ahimsa, or extreme non-violence.
Give the following about the particularly small town of Monowi, for ten points each. Monowi is in this state, which is the only US state whose state government is unicameral. This state’s legislature meets in the capital of Lincoln.
Elsie Eiler is the mayor and only resident of Monowi, but data collected in 2020 by this governmental procedure claimed that Monowi’s population was actually two. Article One of the Constitution requires that this process take place every ten years.
The Census’ official policy is to occasionally shift respondents between nearby census blocks to preserve privacy in low population areas. So, while Monowi’s block is inaccurate, the data is still accurate at the level of these geographic divisions. These 435 divisions are redrawn - and possibly gerrymandered - after every census.
Along with a flame test, elements in solution can be identified using qualitative analysis. Answer these questions about the process, for ten points each. Much of qualitative analysis depends on this kind of reaction in which two ions combine to form a solid that sinks to the bottom of a test tube.
Lead [led], silver, and mercury can be identified quickly because they precipitate with this anion found in table salt.
Because it behaves so much like iron, this metal is difficult to identify in solution, requiring eight steps to form a rose red precipitate. This element has chemical symbol Ni [N-I].
In this novel, little Antanas drowns in a puddle, and a teenager named Stanislovas is eaten by rats in a factory. For ten points each, Name this novel about Lithuanian immigrant Jurgus Rudkis [YUR-gus RUD-kus], whose publication inspired the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act with its depiction of the meatpacking industry.
The Jungle describes the extreme poverty of meatpackers in this American city on Lake Michigan. A Carl Sandburg poem about this Illinois city describes it as the “Hog Butcher for the world.”
This muck-raking author of The Brass Check intended The Jungle to inspire reform of working conditions in the meatpacking industry.
This organization’s COINTELPRO, or Counter Intelligence Program, carried out illegal surveillance of “subversives” like anti-war activists, feminists, environmentalists, and civil rights activists from 1956 to 1971. For ten points each, Name this government agency, tasked with domestic security and law enforcement, that largely ignored white supremacist terror in the 1950s and 60s.
This longest-serving director of the FBI ordered much of COINTELPRO’s activities. When Martin Luther King criticized the FBI for ignoring white terror, this man responded by calling King the “most notorious liar” in America.
As Attorney General under his brother John, this man personally authorized some of the FBI’s requests, including wiretapping phones to spy on Martin Luther King.
Give the following about rivers of the American west, for ten points each. This river forms the Mexican-American border for over eight hundred miles in Texas.
Hydroelectric dams on this river are a source of environmental controversy, since they make breeding difficult for its massive salmon population. This river flows through Hells Canyon on the border between Idaho and Oregon.
An intermittent river of this name runs mostly underground for one hundred miles in southern California. This river flows under, and shares its name with, the hottest desert in America.
A boat’s outboard motor in water produces this type of motion, which is contrasted with laminar flow. For ten points each, Name this type of fluid movement in which particles experience unpredictable changes in velocity and pressure. Airplanes experience this phenomenon at the boundaries of air masses moving at different speeds.
The transition from laminar to turbulent flow can be predicted using this dimensionless number named for a British physicist. For a circular water pipe, turbulence occurs when this number is greater than four thousand.
The dimples on this type of ball increase its Reynolds number to about fifty thousand, greatly reducing air resistance and increasing distance when it is struck with a club such as a three-iron.
Tsar Nicholas II and this man sent each other a series of ten telegrams in summer 1914 as their countries teetered on the brink of war. For ten points each, Nicholas II corresponded with this man, his cousin and the last Kaiser of Germany.
The “Willy-Nicky” telegrams discussed each one’s fears that the other country was beginning this process of readying troops and supplies for war. This process was seen as an act of war, even though “Willy” and “Nicky” tried to convince each other it was not.
Wilhelm II and Nicholas II were related through - among many, many other royals - this English queen who was known as the “Grandmother of Europe.” This woman’s record as longest-serving British monarch was broken by Elizabeth II.