BS: BASIC quiz (very!)

Subject: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 12:59 PM

Another quiz, and as before please restrict the use of the thread to comments on your particular attempts, not to show the answers I will admit that this one is probably more Anglo-centric than normal, as it relies on misspellings, mispronunciations, and a number of slang terms. The connection does however run throughout the 20 answers.

Nigel

1 What is the French for 'Yes'?
2 What name is used for Embassy's major cigarette brand (sold in red packs)?
3 Who said "A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for" and "Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people."?
4 What is a slang term for a German, or an item of chinaware?
5 What is Australian rhyming slang for an American?
6 Who is the most remembered occupant of the Hundred acre wood?
7 What term describes a basic unit, with no fancy extras (such as a car or computer)?
8 Which is the largest Italian river, flowing into the Adriatic?
9 What term is used for the council which advises the Queen on matters of government?
10 What word describes either the action at Dunkirk, or the removal of children to the countryside during the blitz?
11 What word describes a backless chair?
12 What word describes a member of the armed forces who has signed on during peace time with a fixed term contract?
13 Metaphorically, where is an undisclosed gay person said to be?
14 What is a technician said to do when he replaces the spoken word in a film?
15 What were the small characters in a children's tv show written & introduced by Michael Bentine?
16 Traditionally, what creates the warbling noise in a referee's whistle?
17 What is the Queen's seat called?
18 What term is used for a day of taken when one has been required to work unpaid overtime, or on a bank holiday?
19 What word describes teachers in charge of individual schools?
20 In most quiz shows, what do you do if you can't answer a question?

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: DMcG
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 01:05 PM

I see what you mean by basic. You might even go so far as fundamental.

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 01:10 PM

Wow. I know only four of the answers. We need a quiz that is exclusively US!

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 06:08 PM

Sorry, Pongo.
John

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Noreen
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 06:45 PM

Jolly good, Nigel- you have been busy! :0)

Got them all except 4 and 5, where nothing springs to mind.

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Snuffy
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 08:26 PM

4 & 5 are no prob - I'm stuck on 2 & 3

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 09:22 PM

Snuffy: "...not to show the answers."

I deleted your answers. I doubt I would have gotten many right, but there's a chance that someone may not have seen your post and may still get some enjoyment from playing.

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 09:32 PM

Oh, and I think the penalty for posting answers to one of Nigel's "don't post the answers" quizes should be to come up with another quiz! (And I think I know what Number 2 is. Nyah, nyah.)

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: mack/misophist
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 10:51 PM

It seems I don't know as much about England as I thought. I'll wager that some of the obvious ones aren't.

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Noreen
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 12:03 AM

Snuffy, 2 & 3 I Googled for, 4 & 5 I couldn't find that way.

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 05:38 AM

Giok has PMd me with a creditable 14/20

All the answers are in line with a very lavatorial sense of humour.

No4 has a close link with No 15
No5 is the largest receptacle in the list

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 07:15 AM

Got them all - I think - is there any connection between the subject and our visiting american vip ?

No4 is also another name for No8.

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 07:40 AM

Yep, 20/20 for Dave, although he came up vith a different answer to No15, I wasn't thinking of the Bum(blies) but it fits with the theme, so it scores

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Snuffy
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 09:12 AM

Oh dear, I meant to send that as a PM to Nigel. I had 2 windows open, and must have posted in the wrong one.

And Googling is cheating, Noreen :-)

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 09:16 AM

I'm usually happy if I can figure out the theme - and on this one I got it!

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 09:57 AM

Snuffy, if what you posted was our only copy of your answers, I still have it available and can send it you or Nigel if you'd like.

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 12:15 PM

Noreen if you hadn't gone to that Ann Summers party you wouldn't have taken up Googling in the first place!
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: vectis
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 06:55 PM

Stuck on 3, 4 and 18. Dammit

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Snuffy
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 09:14 PM

Jeri - no need to, seeing as I only had 18 and Dave has got 20/20 (I had Bumblies too, can't think what Nigels preferred answer might be)

Mary - think Gazunda and Gardylou, can't help with 3

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Nov 03 - 05:44 AM

For those ready to check their outstanding questions, the answers are (as usual) in a separate thread (allowing others to continue) SQ2 (message dated today, so scroll down)

CHEERS

Nigel

---

Click to go directly to Nigel's post with the answers. --JoeClone

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Nov 03 - 05:48 AM

Snuffy: no giving help with No 3, my little chickadee! Too many clues already (ha ha)

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 19 Nov 03 - 06:36 AM

I'm finding it hard to get any work done, thinking about Noreen at an Ann Summers party. Are there any piccies which could be posted by Pene ?

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: vectis
Date: 19 Nov 03 - 08:03 PM

Duh. Oh Yeah. Thanks Snuffy..
See you in March???

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 09:15 AM

I thought this was going to be a BASIC quiz, like

13 PRINT
20 PI=3.1416
30 EM = 5.98E+24 :'Mass of Earth, in kg.
40 ER = 6.38E+06 : 'Radius of Earth, in m.
50 G = 6.6726E-11 :'Universal gravitational constant.
60 MM = 1.99E+30 : 'Mass of moon, in kg.
70 MR = 1.72E+06 : 'Radius of Moon, in m. (In case anyone wants it)
80 INPUT "Enter satellite altitude in kilometers";SA
81 IF SA > 0 GOTO 84
82 INPUT "Enter satellite altitude in miles";SA
83 SA = SA*1.609 :'Miles to kilometers.
84 PRINT "Earth radius is ";ER/1000;"km, or ";ER*6.214E-04;"miles."
85 PRINT "Satellite altitude is ";SA;"km, or ";SA*.6214;"miles."
90 SR = ER/1000 + SA : 'Satellite orbit radius in km.
95 PRINT "Satellite orbit radius is ";SR;"km, or ";SR*.6214;"miles."
100 V = SQR(G*EM/(1000*SR)) : PRINT "Satellite speed is ";V;"m/s"
105 AG = G*EM/((1000*SR)^2 : PRINT "Acceleration due to gravity is ";AG"m/s^2"
110 T = 2*PI*SR*1000/V : TM = T/60
120 PRINT "Satellite period is ";T; "sec, or ";TM;"minutes."
150 END

and I'm disappointed.

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Jeri
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 10:21 AM

You don't have to write "REM" anymore? Makes me want to dig the Commodore 128 out of the basement and see what it does why I type in the above. Probably explode in a shower of sparks and spider parts...

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: GUEST,a visitior from another reality
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 12:05 PM

You never did have to write "REM"; REMarks were only for those who intended BASIC programs to have some structure, and be intelligible to others.
Bring back MSX Basic

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Jeri
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 01:10 PM

I disagree, visitor. You absolutely HAD to write "REM" if your instructor said so. If you had to go back and stick them in later when copy/paste hadn't yet been invented, it was a major problem.

And quiz-wise, I got an answer right! I'm SO excited!

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 05:14 PM

Jeri:
I used MSX Basic as well, & That was one of the reasons for starting programming with line numbers which were multiples of 10, it left plenty of space to go back & add "REM" lines.
Also MSX Basic allowed for the instruction "RENUM" which not only renumbered all programme lines, but also kept track of GOTOs GOSUBS and other such looped instructions
Quiz wise I hope you got #4 !!

CHEERS

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Jeri
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 06:26 PM

I missed #4. I mighr have gotten the German reference, but I've never heard the chinaware one. They spell it wrong anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: GUEST,Ely
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 07:49 PM

What the Hell is a bank holiday, anyway? I always get Boxing Day off--I even kind of know what it is--because my boss's wife is Canadian, but she's never explained to us what a bank holiday is.

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Snuffy
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 08:30 PM

A public holiday, when banks and government offices are shut.

In England and Wales they are:
New Year's Day
Easter Monday
1st Monday in May
Late Spring (used to be Whit Monday)
last Monday in August
Boxing Day.

Christmas Day and Good Friday not bank holidays - they are Holy Days (i.e count as Sundays).

Scotland, Northern Ireland an d Eire have slightly different ones

Subject: RE: BS: BASIC quiz (very!)
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 10:56 PM

I got several right, I'm a Yank, and I was taught to REM whenever necessary so that others could follow your coding.