1996 Western Invitational Questions By Stanford Toss-ups 1. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 governs this type of lawsuit, which may include hundreds or even millions of parties. Examples of these suits are the Dalkon Shield litigation, asbestos litigation, and most recently, tobacco litigation. FTP, give the two-word name for the type of lawsuit in which many individuals join their claims against a particular defendant into one suit. Answer: CLASS ACTION 2. Her story begins when she leaves Ms. Pinkerton's school at Chiswick with her friend Amelia Sedley. After a secret marriage, she moves her way up in society by schemes and machinations. Her travels take her to Belgium during the Battle of Waterloo, and to France, Italy, and Germany during the course of the novel. She is finally cast out of her position in society by a scandalous affair with Lord Steyne, to end her days as an exile. FTP, name this non-hero of Thackery's novel Vanity Fair. Answer: Becky (or Rebecca) SHARP 3. Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman, John LaTouche, Richard Wilbur, and Stephen Sondheim all worked on its lyrics, coming up with such lines as "Though war may seem a bloody curse/ It is a blessing in reverse,! When cannons roar/ Both rich and poor/ By danger are united/ 'Til every wrong is righted." FTP, name this optimistic musical by Leonard Bernstein, based on a story by Voltaire satirizing Leibniz. Answer: CANDIDE 4. It is well known that the stars are not fixed in their positions in the sky; the appearance of the constellations several thousand years from now could be much different than today. Navigators need not fear, however- while Polaris will no longer be the North Star, another star will take its place and always show the way to north. FTP What fairly young, blue star will that be that currently is the brightest point in the constellation Lyra the Lyre? Answer: VEGA 5. His victims include Caleb Cole, Simon Killian, Lucas Kasan, and Lyman Kerlow, to name just a few. Each of these men died by decapitation, but even stranger, their deaths spanned some 400 years. FTP, name the swordsman born in the Scottish Highlands in 1592 who killed these fellow Immortals. Answer: Duncan MACLEOD (prompt if "the Highlander" is answered) 6. This man's sons were Ephraim and Menachem, and the two boys got along fine. This was quite remarkable, because each of the preceding generations had been scarred by sibling rivalry. For example, his father had stolen his uncle's birthrights, and his brothers had tossed him into a pit and sold him into slavery. FTP, name this man, whose dreams and many-colored coat aroused his brothers' wrath. Answer: JOSEPH 7. Sponsored by Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma, Senate Bill 1740 was approved by the Senate with only 14 dissenting votes this past September. Its overwhelming support in Congress met with outrage from such groups as the Human Rights Campaign Fund, Lambda, and the National Lesbian Rights Task Force, who saw the bill as an embodiment of anti-gay hostility. FTP name this bill which was signed into law by President Clinton in a late-night ceremony designed to keep media attention away. Answer: The DEFENSE of MARRIAGE Act (Prompt for more if "DOMA" is answered.) 8. It tells the story of a group of individuals trapped in the port city of Oran Algeria sometime during the latter stages of the French colonization. It explores from an existential point of view the trials of a group of individuals trapped together with the specter of death all around them. FTP Name this Albert Camus work which describes an outbreak of disease in a small port city and the quarantined natives' responses. Answer: "The PLAGUE" 9. Often people judge the actions of others and attribute them to personality quirks or certain facets of the individual's make-up rather than to external situations. This tendency, in psychology, has a name which describes this common mistake of incorrectly classifying the cause of a person's reactions as something due to the idiosynchracies in a person's personality rather than that person's reaction to an individual scenario totally unrelated to his or her personality type. FTP, name this psychology principle. Answer: Fundamental ERROR of ATTRIBUTION 10. The first battle here was fought between the Roman Emperor Constantine and the pretender Licinius. In the second battle here Emperor Valens was soundly defeated by the Goths. Three later battles here were fought by the Bulgars trying to take Constantinople and the 14th and 15th battle here were fought between the Ottoman Turks and the Serbs and Bulgars. FTP, name this Asia minor city, perhaps the most fought over city in history. Answer: ADRIANOPLE 11. It is a theorem in discrete mathematics which becomes very useful for computer scientists in the analysis of the running times of their algorithms. It allows them to solve many seemingly complicated recurrence relations in recursive programs which permits a statement about the number of operations in terms of N that are required to complete the algorithm. FTP Name this theorem, which gives methods for solving divide and conquer recurrence relations. Answer: the MASTER Theorem 12. Some say he became emperor of Rome after smothering his predecessor at his island retreat on Capri. His four-year reign was marred by evidence of his insanity, including the murder of his own sister after an incestuous relationship with her. A less gruesome example is his promotion of his horse, Incitatus, to the rank of Senator. FTP, name this third emperor of Rome, who was succeeded by his uncle Claudius. Answer: CALIGULA (or Gaius) 13. In the late eighteenth century, he was the first scientist to make a distinction between animals based on the presence or lack of a backbone; however, he was most known for his erroneous theory of evolution based on a direct response by animals to their environment. FTP Who is this French biologist who was appointed the royal botanist of France in 1781? Answer: Jean Baptiste LAMARCK 14. Passions, A Ball, Scene in the Fields, March to Execution, and Dream of a Sabbath Night are the five movements of this work titled Episodes in the life of an Artist. Supposedly, this work chronicles a love affair that the composer had with an English actress. FTP, name this work opus 14 by Hector Berlioz. Answer: SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE 15. It is partly autobiographical and deals with the story of young club footed orphan who struggles to become an artist and a doctor. He becomes involved in a love affair with a waitress which nearly destroys his medical ambitions. FTP, name this work dealing with the trials of Philip Carey written by Somerset Maugham. Answer: OF HUMAN BONDAGE 16. It has a total of 20 component parts in assorted shapes and sizes formed in a triptych with two hinged wings. Including many schemes such as the Adoration of the Lamb, Adam, Eve, plus the Lord between St. John and the Virgin Mary, this work was initially begun by the brother Hubert in 1425 and was completed over a 7 year span. FTP, name this work by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, a piece considered the greatest monument of early Flemish painting. Answer: GHENT ALTARPIECE 17. He did his most famous work around the year 320 BCE, but he is most well known for being a follower of a more famous countryman. FTP, give the name of this philosopher who thought that people were basically good by nature, and had 'sprouts' of morality as part of their nature, and was the most well-known disciple in the tradition of Confucius? Answer: MENCIUS (also accept Meng-Tzu or Master Meng) 18. Statistically, it is often difficult to prove whether or not one's experimental results are due to a real statistical difference or to random error. In fact, there is a hypothesis in statistics which claims that all differences are due to random error in sampling and measuring. It is the job of the experimenter to disprove this hypothesis by demonstrating that the measured differences are of a sufficient magnitude to account for random error. FTP Name this hypothesis which is the baseline explanation in statistical analysis. Answer: NULL Hypothesis 19. They were officially created in 1867 by an act of Congress. The 9th and 10th Cavalry served in many engagements in the western plains and the 10th Cavalry was the first to have a black commander. FTP, give the common name for soldiers of these 4 black regiments. Answer: BUFFALO SOLDIERS 20. A fan of Gilbert and Sullivan- whose works appeared on several occasions in his writing- he once won both major science-fiction writing awards, the Hugo and Nebula, for the same book. He was also a tenured professor of biochemistry at Boston University, but he was known far more for his science fiction, including the more than 20,000 page Foundation series. FTP Who is this author, born in Russia, who was known as one of the 'Big Three' of science fiction? Answer: Isaac ASIMOV 21. Perhaps the first influential Renaissance artist to come from Venice, this precocious artist was capable of executing his own commissions by the age of 17. His close association with learned humanist is echoed in his devotion to the antiquities but at the same time his tense, firmly constructed figures reminds one of Donatello. Known for his engraving, his works influenced many Venetians including his brothers in law, the Bellinis. FTP, name the artist of St. Sebastian and the Martyrdom 0 Answer: Andrea MANTEGNA 22.