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Category:
Quizzes

Guess What’s Going On, #2



What's going on in this photo? Is it:
  • A medical procedure
  • A scientific experiment
  • A magic act
  • A funeral
  • A sex club act

Answer in extended. More >>
Posted By: Alex | Date: Thu Apr 05, 2012 | Comments (3)
Category: Quizzes

Guess What’s Going on!



What's the deal with these two? Are they:
  • A married couple?
  • Circus performers?
  • A police officer and prisoner?
  • Mother and son?
Answer in extended.

More >>
Posted By: Alex | Date: Fri Jan 27, 2012 | Comments (8)
Category: Photography and Photographers, Quizzes

Sensation Seeking Scale

The Sensation Seeking Scale was developed by Prof. Marvin Zuckerman almost forty years ago. It measures four psychological tendencies: thrill and adventure seeking; experience seeking; disinhibition; and susceptibility to boredom.

"Thrill seekers" get a kick out of activities or sports that provide unusual sensations and experiences-- even if they involve risk. Motorcycle racing or water-skiing, for example, might appeal to this category of sensation seekers... "Experience seekers" enjoy novel experiences--say, travel to exotic locations, listening to unusual or exciting music, experimenting with drugs or living a "non-conformist" lifestyle... "Disinhibitors" are constantly searching for opportunities to lose their inhibitions at "wild" parties involving heavy drinking and sexual activities with strangers... Finally, sensation seekers are very easily bored by repetitious, predictable experiences and people, or by routine work assignments.

Take the test over at the BBC to find out how much (and what kind) of a sensation seeker you are.

I scored very high as an "experience seeker." Makes sense for someone who's addicted to weird.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Mon Dec 15, 2008 | Comments (5)
Category: Quizzes, Psychology

Guess the Scientist, #3

What famous sixteenth-century scientist does this passage describe? Answer is in extended (and in the comments).

_________ relates in one of his autobiographies (he wrote three) that he was completely impotent from the age of twenty-one until his marriage at the age of thirty-one; but that after he wed, the union resulted in three children, two boys and a girl...

_________ also suffered from an amazing array of physical problems and ailments, including: stuttering; chronic hoarseness; nasal discharge; heart palpitations; hemorrhoids; indigestion; malaria; gout; chronic itching; hernia; colic; insomnia; dysentery; and a malignant growth on his left nipple. He also had some truly odd physical problems. He wrote that "in 1536 I was overtaken with an extraordinary discharge of urine; and although for nearly forty years I have been afflicted with this trouble, giving from sixty to a hundred ounces a day, I live well."


More >>
Posted By: Alex | Date: Mon Nov 03, 2008 | Comments (3)
Category: Quizzes, Guess the Scientist, Science

Guess the Scientist, #2

What scientist wrote the following passage? The answer is in extended (and on the comments page).

A small experimental room was fitted with a bed and other items conducive to a normal sexual response. The bed was placed directly against a wall through which an opening was made. Both sides of the opening were covered with a thick sheet of foam rubber. Slits were made in the foam rubber so that the leads to the instruments could be passed to the recording room while still maintaining the privacy of the experimental room. All of the subjects were married and were between the ages of 22 and 30.

To record the heart rate four electrocardiographic leads, fashioned from wire mesh attached to an elastic bandage, were fastened to the upper thighs and the upper arms. With this technique the ECG was readable even during the periods of greatest muscular activity. During foreplay, records were taken each minute on two Sanborn direct writing electrocardiographs. During coitus continuous recordings were made, and after withdrawal records were again made a 1-minute intervals. Three tests were performed on each of three couples.

More >>
Posted By: Alex | Date: Mon Oct 20, 2008 | Comments (9)
Category: Quizzes, Guess the Scientist, Science, Experiments

Name That List #3

Jenny submitted a "name that list" challenge. So here goes. What is this a list of?

Plastic fake swords, golf clubs, a hammer, cordless drill, kitchen knives stolen from restaurants, a bowling pin, a chain saw, circular saws, ninja swords, nunchucks, mini Louisville Slugger bats, machetes, a deer-hunting kit, fuzzy handcuffs, crutches, ulus (round Eskimo chopping blades), a Sit'n Putt (a short-handled putter designed to be used while you're on the potty), piñata sticks, and 25 lbs of Swiss Army knives.

The answer is in the comments.

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Posted By: Alex | Date: Wed Oct 15, 2008 | Comments (8)
Category: Quizzes, Name That List

Name That List #2

It's time again to play "Name That List." Identify where the items in this list come from. Googling is cheating.

longbows, kidney daggers, swords, bills and pikes, jerkins, and knitted and worsted garments;
combs, razors, a 'piss pot', pomander, handheld sundials, urethral syringes, puncture syringe, trepan and feeding bottle;
human skeletal remains and bones of immature rat and small dog, butchered meat, fish bones, plum stones and peppercorns.

Answer on the comments page and in extended.

More >>
Posted By: Alex | Date: Mon Oct 13, 2008 | Comments (4)
Category: History, Quizzes, Name That List

Guess the Scientist!

What famous Victorian-era scientist does this passage describe? (Follow the "extended" link for the answer.)

He suffered from incessant retching or vomiting, usually brought on by fatigue; and from painful bouts of wind that churned around after meals and obliged him to sit quietly in a private room until his body behaved more politely. Reading between the lines, his guts were noisy and smelly. "I feel nearly sure that the air is generated somewhere lower down than stomach," he told one doctor plaintively in 1865, "and as soon as it regurgitates into the stomach the discomfort comes on." He was equally forthright with his cousin...: "all excitement & fatigue brings on such dreadful flatulence that in fact I can go nowhere." When he did go somewhere, he needed privacy after meals, "for, as you know, my odious stomach requires that."

He also had trouble with his bowels, frequently suffering from constipation and vulnerable to the obsession with regularity that stalked most Victorians. He developed crops of boils in what he called "perfectly devilish attacks" on his backside, making it impossible to sit upright, and occasional eczema. There were headaches and giddiness. He probably had piles as well.
More >>
Posted By: Alex | Date: Sat Sep 06, 2008 | Comments (2)
Category: Medicine, Quizzes, Guess the Scientist, Science

Name That List

Jincy Willett, one of my favorite writers (who just came out with a new book, The Writing Class), offers an interesting puzzle. The challenge is to identify this list. Googling is cheating.
  • The spur of cheese.
  • The mustard-pot of penance.
  • The cobbled shoe of humility.
  • The furred cat of the Solicitors and Attorneys.
  • The Teeth-chatter or Gum-didder of Lubberly Lusks.
  • The Ape’s Paternoster.
  • The Fat Belly of the Presidents.
  • The Merciless Cormorant, by Hoxinidno the Jew.

Jincy doesn't give the answer, and neither will I. Leave your guesses in the comments.

(Of course, the real challenge is to see how long before you break down and google. Took me about a minute.)
Posted By: Alex | Date: Mon Jul 07, 2008 | Comments (0)
Category: Literature, Quizzes, Name That List
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All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.