TNPG Question Thread

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Jeemie
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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#476 Post by Jeemie » Wed Jul 15, 2009 8:43 pm

Bob78164 wrote:
mrkelley23 wrote:
Bob78164 wrote:I agree the question is ambiguous, but I strongly suspect they mean the wheel-and-cog experiments that took place shortly after the discovery of Neptune. Those are the first experiments that resulted in a value relatively close to the currently accepted value. --Bob

Don't know what wheel-and-cog experiment you're referring to, but Olaus Roemer correctly calculated the speed of light to three significant digits in the 1670s, by using careful examination of Io, the moon of Jupiter that Galileo had so carefully observed. Three sig figs is pretty damn good by any standard.
As I understand it, Roemer's work relied on knowledge of the size of the AU, which wasn't then known to that precision. --Bob
Sorry, Bob- I'm guessing you're not right on this one.

Speed of light was known with decent precision by the mid-to-late 1800s.
1979 City of Champions 2009

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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#477 Post by Bob78164 » Wed Jul 15, 2009 8:53 pm

Jeemie wrote:
Bob78164 wrote:
mrkelley23 wrote:

Don't know what wheel-and-cog experiment you're referring to, but Olaus Roemer correctly calculated the speed of light to three significant digits in the 1670s, by using careful examination of Io, the moon of Jupiter that Galileo had so carefully observed. Three sig figs is pretty damn good by any standard.
As I understand it, Roemer's work relied on knowledge of the size of the AU, which wasn't then known to that precision. --Bob
Sorry, Bob- I'm guessing you're not right on this one.

Speed of light was known with decent precision by the mid-to-late 1800s.
But Neptune was discovered in 1845.

The Colorado site Mr. K linked is the only one I've found so far that says Roemer was close to the correct value. Other sites say either that Roemer didn't convert his observations into a value for c or say that his estimate (which relied on the then-accepted value for the diameter of Earth's orbit) was approximately 200,000 km/sec. --Bob
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson

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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#478 Post by mrkelley23 » Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:04 pm

Bob78164 wrote:
Jeemie wrote:
Bob78164 wrote:As I understand it, Roemer's work relied on knowledge of the size of the AU, which wasn't then known to that precision. --Bob
Sorry, Bob- I'm guessing you're not right on this one.

Speed of light was known with decent precision by the mid-to-late 1800s.
But Neptune was discovered in 1845.

The Colorado site Mr. K linked is the only one I've found so far that says Roemer was close to the correct value. Other sites say either that Roemer didn't convert his observations into a value for c or say that his estimate (which relied on the then-accepted value for the diameter of Earth's orbit) was approximately 200,000 km/sec. --Bob
Oy. Depending on how you choose to interpret Wiki's article on it, the correct value could be thought of as being published by DeLambre in 1809, still significantly before Neptune. And the context of the question seems to make it clear that it's not the speed of light to any number of sig figs, but the fact that there was a definite speed of light, and that light did not travel instantaneously from one place to another. And that was most definitely a mid-to-late 1600s discovery.

Roemer's "experiments" (really more observations, but fall within the broad umbrella of the general idea of experiment) were screwed up by the media, but his point was that the speed of light could be expressed as a ratio of the distance from Sun to Earth compared to distance from Sun to Io. So even though the AU became increasingly refined, the ratio rgument was correct, which is why Roemer is given credit for the three sig figs, even though he didn't know how far away the Sun was at the time.

Here are a few more sites, just in case you want more background on Roemer:

http://www.physlink.com/Education/askExperts/ae22.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Rømer
http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/in ... 65298.html
http://www.rundetaarn.dk/engelsk/observ ... /light.htm
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. -- Richard Feynman

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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#479 Post by Jeemie » Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:05 pm

I'm guessing this won't be cleared up until/unless we have someone get this question right on the Phone Game.
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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#480 Post by Bob78164 » Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:40 pm

I assume this thread will lose Sticky status tomorrow. I've added it to the Bored Reference Thread so we can find it again when they announce the next incarnation of the Phone Game. --Bob
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson

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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#481 Post by traininvain » Wed Jul 15, 2009 10:21 pm

Don’t Cry for Me Argentina, but The Brotherhood of Man was against me tonight.

Q1: It Takes a Village

Q2: Arrange the following words and phrases to form the state motto of Kentucky:

1. We Fall
2. We Stand
3. United
4. Divided

OK easy enough, but…well I’m not sure what I punched in. My biggest problem with this version of the phone game has been Fast Fred. I can’t write as fast as he can talk and I find myself taking what could best be described as bad notes.

These are what my notes look like:

We Tall.....We Sta.....Unt.....Div..........which I still should have been able to rescue it and put together the correct phrase. I think I may have my wife teach me shorthand for possible future games. :wink:

Congratulations to all those who are awaiting a call, I know that The Bored is going to represent big on PT BAM in August! And if anyone needs a PAF who mainly knows music (at least up until about 2001) I’m here for you, otherwise I’ll be sitting in front of my TV rooting hard.

And hey, there’s still SyndiBam, and Meredith is better looking than Regis, sorry Reg but you know it’s true.
Enjoy every sandwich

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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#482 Post by Bob78164 » Wed Jul 15, 2009 10:29 pm

traininvain wrote:Congratulations to all those who are awaiting a call, I know that The Bored is going to represent big on PT BAM in August! And if anyone needs a PAF who mainly knows music (at least up until about 2001) I’m here for you, otherwise I’ll be sitting in front of my TV rooting hard.
I'm sorry about your result. If I do get The Call, please know that I've always thought of you as being on my short list of potential PAFs for exactly this reason -- music is a relative weakness. --Bob
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson

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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#483 Post by themanwho » Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:01 am

I found my notes for Sunday's questions, so I add them here to make the reference more complete:

Q1. Presidents in order, starting with the earliest:

1. Old Hickory
2. JFK
3. Father of his country
4. FDR
Spoiler
3-1-4-2
Q2. Architectural styles in order, starting with the earliest:

1. American colonial
2. High Tech
3. (Ancient) Greek 9not sure about ancient)
4. Art Noveau
Spoiler
3-1-4-2
was my guess, I think. When I got this right, I figured I must have been fated to win.

Q3. Singers by birth, starting with the most recent

1. Jennifer Lopez
2. Jon Bon Jovi
3. Joni Mitchell
4. Jessica Simpson
Spoiler
4-1-2-3
Q4. Medical discoveries chronologically, starting with the earliest

1. structure of DNA
2. AIDS virus
3. Penicillin
4. Rabies Virus
Spoiler
4-3-1-2
Question 5 was the credit card question I've posted earlier.

-M
"I will win BIG on a game show this coming year!" - since gsabc isn't using it any more.

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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#484 Post by Im_Ace » Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:30 am

Done in by Q4.

Q1. THe EXIT question

Q2. Rockers in order of birth
1. Bowie
2. Bono
3. Lambert
4. Kravetz
1,2,4,3

Q3. Weight in order from the MOST
1. 1/2 lb
2. ounce
3. Kilo
4. 1/2 ton
Too easy

Q4. Bodies of water according to water surface, largest first
1. Lake Okeechobee
2. Caspian Sea
3. Lake Vicktoria
4. Lake Erie
2,4,3,1 I switched Victoria and Erie. I'm a dumbshit

So, it's over. I didn't qually. Gave it my best shot. Flamed out only because I ran into questions outside of my knowledge and also because the questions had not been given to anyone else. That's the way it goes. I want to thank everyone who participated in posting questions. Without a doubt it is a HUGE help to those of us who are trying to get on the show.

Best of luck to everyone who's OTC. Do us proud and take all their fucking money !!

And one more thing......
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.Tell Michael Davies to kiss my ass
:::: taping my watch ::::

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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#485 Post by Bob78164 » Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:34 am

Im_Ace wrote:So, it's over. I didn't qually. Gave it my best shot. Flamed out only because I ran into questions outside of my knowledge and also because the questions had not been given to anyone else. That's the way it goes. I want to thank everyone who participated in posting questions. Without a doubt it is a HUGE help to those of us who are trying to get on the show.
I'm sorry for your result, Ace. --Bob
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson

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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#486 Post by themanwho » Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:40 am

A particularly nasty question, posted over at ken-jennings.com:

Put the following fowl in order according to their average weight, from lightest to heaviest:
1) Tom turkey
2) Capon
3) Broiler
4) Cornish-Rock


Yikes! That's why you call every day for 10 days.

http://www.ken-jennings.com/messageboar ... php?t=4902

-M
"I will win BIG on a game show this coming year!" - since gsabc isn't using it any more.

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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#487 Post by gsn309 » Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:00 am

themanwho wrote:I found my notes for Sunday's questions, so I add them here to make the reference more complete:

Q1. Presidents in order, starting with the earliest:

1. Old Hickory
2. JFK
3. Father of his country
4. FDR
Spoiler
3-1-4-2
-M
How crazy is it that THAT was A Question 1, and THIS (below) was a Question 5 (page 6 of this thread) on Takinover's JFF call!

Q5. Put these presidential nicknames in the order that they served, starting with the oldest

1. Old Hickory
2. The Sage of Monticello
3. Honest Abe
4. The Father of His Country

Are they that different in difficulty? (oh, I am asking that rhetorically!) :roll: :wink:

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Re: TNPG Question Thread

#488 Post by MVLease » Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:54 pm

I thought I'd posted this last night, after my final attempt to qualify, but I must have fumble-fingered the submission. Figures. :lol:

Q1 Arrange these historical events in chronological order, starting with the earliest:
1. Caesar crosses the Rubicon
2. Columbus crosses the Atlantic
3. Lindbergh crosses the Atlantic
4. Washington crosses the Delaware
Spoiler
1-4-3-2.
Q2 Arrange these celebrities in order by height, starting with the tallest:
1. Clint Eastwood
2. Danny DeVito
3. Julia Roberts
4. Shaquille O'Neal
Spoiler
4-1-3-2. Shaq and DeVito made easy bookends, wasn't 100% sure that Eastwood is taller than Roberts, but was correct that he is.
Q3 Arrange these poets in order by the year of their birth, starting with the earliest:
1. Maya Angelou
2. T.S. Eliot
3. Edgar Allan Poe
4. Emily Dickinson
Spoiler
3-4-2-1. Poe was easily the oldest, I thought Emily Dickinson was mid-late 19th century (but she turned out to be earlier than I thought), I knew T.S. Eliot's life spanned parts of the 19th and 20th centuries, and I knew Maya Angelou was all 20th. I held my breath and punched Dickinson in 2nd, and was gratified to be called correct. The actual years are: Poe (1809), Dickinson (1830), Eliot (1888) and Angelou (1928).
Q4 Arrange these fashion designers in order by the year of their birth, starting with the earliest:
(Really, Fred? You have to do this to me, with all the trouble I've been having with this game so far?)
1. Laura Ashley
2. Edith Head
3. Mary Quant
4. Stella McCartney

Um, who are four women who have never been in my kitchen???
The correct answer, per Wikipedia, is 2-1-3-4. That is not what I entered. What I did enter, I have no clue. I did guess correctly that McCartney was the most recent, but I couldn't tell you what order I punched the others in. Anyway, they were: Head (1897), Ashley (1927), Quant (1934), McCartney (1971).
And thus endeth my attempt to qualify. :(

-Mike
If Nietzsche is right, "That which does not kill me makes me stronger", I'm due to be fitted for a coffin or a cape any day now....

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