Challenge Set #8
Scoreboard
Kevin: 190 (up from 180 on February)
Flip: 70 (up from 60 on February 4)
Christopher: 65
Jason: 35
Josiah: 30
Eduardo: 20
Ed: 10
Chris (answering vicariously for his wife): 10
Flip rises up the ranks to pass Christopher; can she pass Kevin and claim the crown?
Questions Still Open
Answer these on this post and not the old post.
7.4.) Who was the one clergyman to sign the U.S. Constitution? What was his affiliation? (5 pts.)
7.5.) What are the two parts of AT&T, other than Baby Bells, that will be reunited if the SBC-AT&T merger is approved by regulatory agencies? What makes this merger such an interesting contrast to AT&T's 1998 acquisition of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI)? (10 5 pts.)
New Question Set #8 1.) Who wrote/spoke the following and, if applicable, what is it? What other thing — I'm being intentionally vague here — derives its name from a phrase within here? (10 pts.)
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
2.) Who recently wrote in the blogosphere about a 100 MPG car (that person cannot answer this question)? Who developed the 100 MPG hybrid? (5 pts.)
3.) Name the ties of the apostate UCC denomination to the Puritans and eighteenth century Methodists. (10 pts.) BONUS: Link it to the German Pietists as well for 5 pts.
4.) What important U.S. figure (of the present time) is a distant cousin of Queen Elizabeth II? (5 pts.)
5.) What are the key technological differences between CDMA and GSM cellular systems? Which one uses a TDMA system? (15 pts.)
Join the Conversation
Re: Challenge Set #8
2) That would be Ed: http://ed.asisaid.com/blog/index.php?p=263. The car was developed by Toyota.
5) the ATT Wireless website seems to make a distinction between GSM and TDMA as their two main options. From that, and from some other info I found there, I’m assuming TDMA and GDMA are the close cousins (the final part of your challenge question, with the following differences:
TDMA digitizes the conversation and assigns it to a pipeline (channel). This keeps the message together, but you’re limited to 3 conversations per channel. CDMA breaks the digitized message up and adds a code to each piece to tell the receiving end how to put it back together. This allows the system to send many conversations down the same pipeline.
ATTW uses TDMA because it’s a better platform for making their services available nationwide, even though CDMA might be a “better” system.
TDMA is used mainly for voice communications, with voicemail options available.
GSM opens up the possibility of full networking. The phone is no longer limited to just voice type stuff, but can now receive all sorts of things, such as wireless internet and email. It also allows ATTW to go international with the system.
Re: Challenge Set #8
4) George Bush.
Re: Challenge Set #8
Kevin, two more for you! Great explanation of TDMA and CDMA. As I understand it, TDMA and GSM are close cousins indeed. In fact, I believe GSM is actually considered a form of TDMA. As a side note, personally, I think one of the strongest reasons to go for GSM over CDMA is that it is lower radiation.
Christopher: Bingo! This could be the beginning of your return!
Re: Challenge Set #8
Ha! I was going to guess George Bush for #4 just to be silly. I never would have thought it was the right answer.
Re: Challenge Set #8
Hehehe… that would have surprised you when it was right, huh? Just to add to the trivial fun, it is worth noting that President Bush is also a distant cousin of Sen. John Kerry.
Re: Challenge Set #8
Argh… kevin is… what? 120 points ahead? and I have no cable at home… I’ll bide my time for now, I think…
Re: Challenge Set #8
Keep playing, Flip! My goal was to reach 200 points. As a web host and designer, myself, I really don’t want to win the prize. I’d rather someone else won. Now that I’ve hit my goal, I’ll stop answering so aggressively.
Re: Challenge Set #8
Ah, now I’ll have Flip biding her time and Kevin taking a break as well! Ack! The prize isn’t a one time thing either, I’ll think of other prizes, so if that will encourage the discouraged, keep playing.
Re: Challenge Set #8
I thought I had read that about George Bush… I am glad kevin didn’t guess that for grins.
Re: Challenge Set #8
OK, then…
I don’t know who wrote the poem, but I think that there is a book called “the widening gyre” by someone else I don’t know. Mystery kind of book, as I recall
Re: Challenge Set #8
Well, I was not aware of such a book, but I shall count it. (But I’ll leave that part of the question open should anyone guess which book left its mark using another phrase from the poem. I’ll even throw another hint — neither the poem nor the book were written on my side of the pond but my name does share something with one of the writers).
Re: Challenge Set #8
Your name doesn’t have much in common with Chinua Achebe, but he wrote a book called Things Fall Apart.
Re: Challenge Set #8
Ah, yes, Kevin. Things Fall Apart is the correct book. And it is true, my name does not have much to do with Achebe. But it does connect with the author of the quote above from which Achebe extracted the name Things Fall Apart.