tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post3495088335302919104..comments2024-03-12T12:54:32.926-07:00Comments on Life After Mastermind: Is A Star Born ? Maybe.Londiniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07871325359167581176noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post-41378232070976717852010-03-02T11:20:31.512-08:002010-03-02T11:20:31.512-08:00Hi Ben and Andrew
Its frustrating when you go to ...Hi Ben and Andrew<br /><br />Its frustrating when you go to a quiz where you can see that the question master can't be . . . bothered to put the same amount of time and effort into a quiz that you do, especially when is a quiz you regularly set yourself. <br /><br />The problem is when the question master sets his stall to accept only his own answers, even when the evidence that he is wrong is totally overwhelming.Londiniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07871325359167581176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post-40999541660058618092010-03-01T16:05:45.054-08:002010-03-01T16:05:45.054-08:00Ben - because St Patrick was (possibly, according ...Ben - because St Patrick was (possibly, according to some theories) born in Wales, and they've confused the two facts?Andrew B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12054400570279868608noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post-34355861306085824562010-03-01T15:31:03.641-08:002010-03-01T15:31:03.641-08:00Re: The same quiz I talked about above.
Today, be...Re: The same quiz I talked about above.<br /><br />Today, being St Davids and living in Wales, we were asked "In which country was St David born?"<br /><br />My team all immediately wrote down Ireland. I told them it was Wales, that he was born near St Davids itself. I lived nearby for eight years. I knew. They changed our answer.<br /><br />The host: "Ireland"<br /><br />Every team but us had it wrong. I told the question master after the quiz he was wrong, and he told me all the history books say Ireland so I must be wrong. A quick google search proves me right. <br /><br />So why do so many people believe that he was born in Ireland?Ben Duttonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13626732284749728398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post-52878891718169630622010-03-01T02:34:13.929-08:002010-03-01T02:34:13.929-08:00I was recently asked "What fruit is obtained ...I was recently asked "What fruit is obtained from the linden tree?"<br /><br />Answer: Lime.<br /><br />A little learning is a dangerous thing.xxxzzzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12122139392187951108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post-18967434728237893732010-02-28T04:16:46.508-08:002010-02-28T04:16:46.508-08:00Regarding one of the points in your article: whene...Regarding one of the points in your article: whenever I write a quiz I obey a number of different rules, one of which is: never ask questions about my specialist subjects. One of my fields is cinema and I'm as familiar with the works of Abel Ferrara as I am with Abel Gance (to use two examples), so when I first began writing quizzes, I presumed my audience would be. So I would dismiss those easy questions, and ask something tougher, like 'Which Oscar winning director began his career working for famed producer Roger Corman with Dementia 13?' Easy if you know cinema well, not if you don't (though you could have an educated guess). When I was marking the answers to that question I had no right answers, but answers such as George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, Alfred Hitchcock. Not long afterward I decided not to ask about cinema unless it was about a film making waves at the box office at that time, or was considered one of those perennial favourites. So, never ask questions about your favourite things - they're your favourite things, not everybody elses. <br /><br />A quick story from one of the quizzes I attend regularly. The quizmaster seems to only have enough questions for 52 quizzes, and sometimes we can get the same quizzes repeated after just a few months (the worst was where he started to give the quiz he'd given the week before!), though he mixes the questions up. One he asks, frequently, is 'Which major Nazi spent the remainder of his life living in Manchester?' He's been told the answer he has is wrong, yet he insists on repeating it. So now all the regulars write Albert Speer, and the visitors leave with this incorrect fact. He also does a dingbat sheet where sometimes the answer is one thing, and the next time another, and he will only ever accept what is on his sheet that week.<br /><br />Writing a quiz is a fiendishly fun way to spend a day, but they are only as good as the effort you put into them.Ben Duttonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13626732284749728398noreply@blogger.com