Intelligence Community
Ancient Rome
Comics
Decision Theory
Olympics
100
These terms refer to the source of information: whether they ultimately derived from interpersonal contact (e.g., spies, defectors) or from the interception of signals.
What are HUMINT and SIGINT?
100
In 2011, then Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton alluded to this famous quote in reference to the death of Muammar Gaddafi in saying, "We came, we saw, he died."
What is "VENI, VIDI, VICI"?
100
Daily Double
Who is Doomsday?
In Superman vol. 2, #75 (Jan 1993), "The Death of Superman" story arc "Doomsday!"
100
French polymath Jean le Rond d'Alembert argued that, with two flips of a fair coin, one of three outcomes may obtain: zero heads, one heads (and one tails), and two heads, and therefore that each enjoys a probability of 1/3. This explains why he was wrong.
There are actually four states that are equally likely: {(T,T), (H,T), (T,H), (H,H)}.
The middle event (just one heads) corresponds with two of the four equiprobable states, such that the probability distribution for the events is {1/4, 1/2, 1/4.
100
Michael Phelps has more Olympic gold medals than any other Olympian, gold or combined. On August 9th, 2016, he tied (and later broke) the record for the most amount of individual placements at 12 (excluding relays). The Olympian who set the record at 12 did so in this city.
What is Olympia, Greece?
Leonidas of Rhodes set this record in 152 BC, after winning three events in four consecutive Olympiads. Phelps broke this record 2,168 years after it was set.
200
Prior to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, enacted in response to the intelligence failures that resulted in the 9/11 attack, the Director of the CIA was the head of the intelligence community (IC). Since that reform (beginning in 2005), this is the head of the IC.
What is the Director of National Intelligence (DNI)?
200
These letters were emblazoned on Roman government articles, such as currency, and means "The Senate and People of Rome".
What is "SPQR"?
(Senatus Populusque Romanus)
200
She is the only female character to have (apparently) defeated Thanos in combat, and she also prevails against Doctor Victor von Doom and Galactus.
Who is (the unbeatable) Squirrel Girl, née Doreen Allene Green?
200
This is the expected value (NPV) of the game involved in the St. Petersburg Paradox.
Game: There is a fair coin. On flipping tails, you receive all the money in the pot, which starts at $0. On flipping heads, $2 is added to the pool. On your next heads, $4 is added to the pot. On your next heads, $8 is added to the pool.
What is infinity dollars?
[(1/2) • $2] + [(1/2)2 • $4] + ... [(1/2)n • $2n]
= 1 + 1 + 1 + ... + 1
= ∞
200
This country has hosted the Olympic games (Summer and Winter) in the modern era the most amount of times.
What is The United States of America?
300
Established informally in 1941 (per The Atlantic Charter), secretly in 1943 (per The BRUSA Agreement) and formally in 1946 (per The UKUSA Agreement), this intelligence alliance, which has included Denmark, Norway, and West Germany, gives the releasability caveat: "AUSCANNZZUKUS EYES ONLY".
What is The Five Eyes (FVEY)?
300
This Roman general defeated Hannibal of Carthage at the final Battle of Zama (in modern day Tunisia) during the Second Punic War, thus earning him the agnomen "Africanus".
Who is Publius Cornelius Scipio (Africanus)?
300
Being featured in 14,358 issues (as of 6/14/2019), this character is the most frequently occurring comic-book character.
Who is Batman?
2nd: Superman (13,164)
3rd: Wolverine (12,912)
4th: Spiderman (12,164)
5th: Captain America (9,139)
300
On the Monty Hill gameshow, what are the odds of the best strategy?
Monty Hill gameshow: There's a garbage prize (a mule) and a cool prize (a new car). There are three doors. You select a door. Next, Monty Hill shows you a door you didn't choose that happens to contain a mule. You are presented with the option to change your guess. What do you do?
2:1 (or 2/3 chance of winning)
300
This is the only Olympic sport where women and men compete together on equal terms.
What is Equestrianism?
(This sport includes the events Dressage, Eventing, and Jumping.)
400
The first female director of the CIA, this person oversaw a torture program in Thailand and participated in the destruction of 92 videotaped investigations, prompting the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) to have the Public Prosecutor General of Germany to issue an arrest warrant.
Who is Gina Haspel?
400
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, known today as Seneca the Younger and known to his contemporaries as Seneca PRAEVIDES ("Seneca the very wealthy"), was a famous Stoic philosopher who tutored, and was later executed by, this Roman Emperor.
Who is Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus?
400
This is the most powerful character in any comic book universe.
Who is One-Above-All (Marvel)?
The supreme being in the D.C. universe, The Presence, though modeled after the Abrahamic God, is not omnipotent: he a creation of forces "external to" The Presence, and his enemy, The Great Evil Beast, is equal in power to The Presence and external to The Presence's creation. One-Above-All is an abstract entity, though occasionally takes the form of Jack Kirby (creator of Marvel), and immediately subordinate to One-Above-All is The Living Tribunal, also an abstract entity. The most powerful non-abstract entity in either universe is Galactus (Marvel).
400
Imagine three identical wallets that each contain two bills: {($5,$5), ($5,$10), ($10,$10)}. You select a wallet at random, and remove one bill and see that it is $10. These are the odds that the other bill in the wallet is $10.
What is 2:1 (probability of 2/3)?
P(A) = 1/3
P(B) = 1/3
P(C) = 1/3
P($10|A) = 0
P($10|B) = 0.5
P($10|C) = 1
P(A|$10) = 0
P(B|$10) = P($10|B)P(B) / P($10) = (1/2)(1/3) / (1/2) = 1/3
P(C|$10) = P($10|C)P(C) / P($10) = 1(1/3) / (1/2) = 2/3
400
This country has the highest rate of winning medals (medals per Olympiad).
What is Soviet Union / Russia?
USA has most medals by far (1,022 gold, 2,520 total; versus 440 gold, 1122 total), but USSR/Russia participated in far fewer Olympiads.
USSR (USA) medals/Olympiad: 98.0 (93.3)
USSR (USA) golds/Olympiad: 36.8 (37.9)
500
Sixteen organizations comprise the intelligence community (IC). The CIA is the only independent IC organization: for example, the Intelligence Branch of the FBI is subordinate to the Justice Department. Other than the Departments of Justice (n=2), Defense (n=8), Homeland Security (n=2), and State (n=1), which other departments are represented in the IC?
What are the Departments of Energy and the Treasury?
Energy: Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, established 1977.
Treasury: Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, established 2005.
500
This Roman emperor, whose mother was Christian, had seen the Chi-Rho sign (☧) above the sun with Greek letters that translate to Latin as "IN HOC SIGNO VINCES". Later that night, Jesus explained to him in a dream that he should use the Chi-Rho in battle against his enemies.
Who is Emperor Constantine?
500
In 1937, The Batman first appeared in this comic book series, from which this universe derives its name.
What is "Detective Comics"?
500
The sum of the pips on the face of dice (n=2) can take on values between 2 and 12. The most frequent value is 7. How much more likely is 7 than either 2 or 12?
What is six times more likely?
500
This is the only sport that contains an event where the world record is held by a woman.
What is Archery?
Event: 36 arrow elimination
Score: 341 (339)
Athlete: Yun Mi-jin (Chen Szu-yuan)