2009 Advent Calendar Quiz - Day 15

Hey All,

I thought I would send out today's challenge a might bit early, as we have an ad maniac in the group. Hannah got every single ad correct, not only the product, but also the company in nearly all cases.

The answers are as follows:

1. The towel is to promote the use of sunscreen and was created for skin cancer awareness

2. A tire ad for Goodyear tires. Your car will be towed away but your tires will stick...

3. FedEx Kinkos saying that "Office Products now at fedexkinkos.com" promoting their website where you can make on-line purchases.

4. Security Glass Advertisement by 3M.

5. Dettol Instant Hand Sanitizer Advertisement
6. Clorets ad for gum.
7. Burger King promoting really big burgers.
8. Monster.com ad, to help people find th

e right job. Ie, "We help you find the best place for your job."
9. Martial Arts School Advertisement.
10. Bose noise reduction headphones.

In other news, has anyone heard from last year's champion Chris H ... I'm sensing that 2008 was but a flash in the pan....a rare moment of elevated performance?

---------------------- Question #9 ---------------------------------------------------------------

We also got a winner for Question #9 last night. X=6 and X=243. Chris F. came through to secure his position in second place.

The x position is always achieved by taking the Factorial (!) of the top number in the square. ! of a number is the number sequentially multipilied by every positive integer smaller than itself. So for 3, 3! = 3*2*1 = 6. The y is achieved by taking the top number and raising it to the power of the lower number.

----------------------------------------------------Question #15 -------------------------------

I have been asking a lot of you all lately, so today will be simple as can be. Who is pictured in the attached image?

2009 Advent Calendar Quiz - Day 14 Leaderboard

Hi All,

As of today, here is the Quiz leader board. Rob is certainly leading the charge, but with a dozen questions left, everything remains very much up for grabs.

2009 Advent Calendar Quiz - Day 14

Hi All,

Can you believe it, we are more than halfway done this year’s quiz! A mere twelve more days and we will be wrapped!

At the end of the day, anyone can still win!

------------- Question #12 – still up for grabs! -----------------------

I have yet to get a completely correct answer for question #12. To help things along I want to clarify one point. The numbers within one square do not connect to the numbers in any other square, and so the way the squares are laid out matters not at all.

Also there is no requirement for all numbers within a square to connect to each other through a relationship.

As a general hint, most people are hitting the mark on y, but x is proving troublesome.

This question will remain open until further notice ……..

--------------------------- Question #13 Winner ---------------------

Answering within 30 minutes of the question going out was Hannah! It seems Hannah was at work and had a bit of time to kill ;).

The sum of the three symbols in the vertical column was 16, and the symbols were valued at 5, 4, and 7 respectively for the square, the star, and the triangle. If you want a copy of a possible solution, let me know and I will forward it along.

Below is a brief bio for Hannah.

I moonlight at the clock shop enjoying Vern's quiz as the whole store ticks away. My attached picture is me wishing for warmer weather!

---------------------------------------- Question #9 --------------------------------

I finally stepped through all the Question #9 answers, and we have a new winner yet again, in Winnie. Missing only a single entry and providing full names for all entries, Winnie cleaned house, although special mention goes to Varina who was a very, very close second.

Couple of funnies worth noting --- the quiz was based on pairs, so “sugar cubes”, “bow” , “tusk” weren’t winning entries ;) Also, snakes have heads, chutes do not ;).

Here is a bio for Winnie.

Winnie is a Canadian transplant in California, dutifully spreading the exotic Canadian language of aboots, passta and soarys to our Southern neighbours J Winnie was an Edmonton girl who hated the cold and mutinied for warm(er) San Francisco. Chris H added Winnie when he couldn’t steal her answers as his own anymore. Winnie joined the advent calendar mid-way last year and tied for 3rd place; she hopes to leverage her quirky mix of engineering brawn and creative wit to better her standing this year with a strong showing!

And now for today’s question……

-------------------------------------------- Question #14 -----------------------------

Have you ever seen an advertisement that, for whatever reason, really hits home? Something that makes you appreciate the art of advertising? Well, that is the theme of tonight’s question.

Pictured in the attached file are a series of images. Your goal is to guess what is being sold and/or what message is being conveyed. Although no additional prizes are to be awarded, take a stab at the companies behind the ads.

Rules are as standard, guess the product /theme and you’ll get a point for each correct image. In the event that a tiebreaker is needed, first one in wins.

Cheers!

2009 Advent Calendar Quiz - Day 12 + 13

Hey Everybody,

Another great round of answers yesterday.

In terms of a solution, in short, A and B can’t solve the riddle as they know too little. D could solve it if B and C had the same coloured hats as he would then conclude that his was a different colour. But, in this case, B and C have different coloured hats. So, C ultimately steps up and saves the group from frying and is able to do so specifically because D says nothing. It takes C a bit to step through the reasoning,

so that is why two minutes sneak by before he says anything.

---------------------------------------------------- Question #11 Winner --------------------------------------------

Question #11 was won by Aaron, whose bio is found below.

Aaron, a prominent business man and entrepreneur who dabbles in the solar industry in between jet setting to exotic locals to meet beautiful women and dine on exquisite dishes. This Christmas and new years, you can find Aaron amongst the wallabees, bbqing shrimp, golfing, and fishing off the southern coast of Australia for 6 weeks where his brother and family live. Although he is single and looking for someone special to share his days in Toronto with, women particularly from Virginia seem to find him alluring (even though they lead double lives). He is known to participate in many international advent quizzes but has yet to pull off an extraordinary performance. This year promises to be his best yet and he assures he will be able to take Rob down....

---------------------------------------------------- Old Business -----------------------------------------------------

The images in Question #9 have been posted to the photo album located here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=vernsadventcalendarquiz&target=ALBUM&id=5413490170352236225&authkey=Gv1sRgCOO-naT6wKqMUg&feat=email

The winner will be announced later today … still have a few sheets to review.

----------------------------------------------------Question #12 + 13 -------------------------------------------------

A combination of b-day activities and a volleyball tournament has me one day behind in quiz questions, so today you get two at once, both of which can be found in the attached jpg.

Note: Question #12 asks for the values of x and y

Note #2: Question #13 asks for the value of the question mark, that is the sum of the three symbols shown.

Happy puzzling!

2009 Advent Calendar Quiz - Day 11

Hi All,

Hopefully you enjoyed the Google test last night! In the end, Rob submitted an entry that was both topical and exceedingly close (5440) to the 5420 value being aimed for. See attached for the winning search string. With this win, Rob clearly vaults into the lead, so it is time for everyone else to step up!

So, for some reason, I am reminded of th

e following video today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3VJgkL

SFws

Kidding!

But as I will be celebrating the anniversary of my arrival into this world, I will officially abstain from thinking this afternoon and evening. See the way I see, you all can think on my behalf by tinkering with the puzzle below…… enjoy. While amusing, it is sadly not as tough as the Vernistanian question thrown out on the 11th of last year ;)

By the way, if anyone in Van i

s up for a drink, send me a txt as I will be having a couple post Christmas party drinks in town.

Lastly, answers and the winner for Q#9 will be coming shortly .......

--------------------------------- Question #11 -----------------------

The image attached shows four prisoners stuck in body-sized pylons, each wearing g a hat. Let’s call them A, B, C, and D. Each man is functionally paralyzed by the pylons so they cannot turn their heads or otherwise move their bodies. Between A and B is a wall that none of the men can see through, around, or over. Each is wearing a black or white hat, but none of them know the colour of their hat. They do know, however, that there are four of them and that two are wearing white hats and two are wearing black hats. They are also aware that they are separated by the wall in the way pictured below. All men are hooked to an electric grid and the warden is making his way from the local pub to throw the switch and “toast” the group upon arrival. The warden, being a passionate sort, has said the following: “if any one of you can correctly yell out the colour of your hat with 100% certainty, I will free you all”. “If you get it wrong, however, you will all perish”.

The prisoners are not permitted to talk to one another and no other form of communication is allowed. They have 5 minutes to figure it out. After two minutes, one of the prisoners correctly calls out the colour of his hat and saves the group.

Which one saved the day, and how did he do it?

2009 Advent Calendar Quiz - Day 10 Leaderboard

Hey All,

Although not yet referenced in the quiz, this will be the site of the most recent leader board for the 2009 quiz.

As of the 10th, this is where we stand.

2009 Advent Calendar Quiz - Day 10

Hey All,

Amazing effort on last night’s quiz – thanks all! It will take me a bit to step through the submissions and figure out who won. It will be close as there were many nearly complete submissions!

Now, for some old business

------------------------------------ Old Business - Question #8 ---------------------------------------------------

So, in response the Santa challenge, I have now received four photos. An oversight on my end was not mention that the photos were to be taken after the challenge was issued. So, three of the photos fall into this category in that they were taken this year, but not in advance of the challenge. The fourth, however, was a bonafide post-challenge shot. So, what to do?

After consulting with the quiz judging panel (a most difficult lot consisting of me, myself, and I), I have opted to do the following. Rob wins the challenge outright and gets three drinks because he sat on Santa’s lap following the challenge being issued. But, each of Chris F., Simon, and Alicia get a drink for getting in the Christmas spirit in 2009. Special note to Chris F., as he is posing with the original St. Nick, his inspiration for Santa Claus.

Alicia’s Bio:

· I am alicia and from Toronto and my friend Chris added me to this crazy challenge. A Toronto girl who hates the cold but lives here anyways.

· Love my high heals but hate winter boots so i make sure I travel lots to places with no snow.

· A bishops university and U of T grad. I am proud to be fishing with Santa.

· Happy holidays!

Simon’s Bio:

During some wacky adventures in New Zealand back in 04, Simon met Vern as he plunged 180 meters into Mokai Canyon, at 160 km/h in a death arm lock. During the days, Sven plies his trade at good old Vancity, where he helps to mold the minds of new employees and locks into Johari conversations with his internal clients. He also enjoys spending lots of time with Rotary, watching re-runs of South Park and trying to discover his youthful body through a rigorous workout schedule. No luck yet. He is proud that he was able to get one answer right, even if he had taken a picture with Santa during a very rowdy Christmas work party!

And now, for today’s question/challenge……

------------------------------------------------------- Question #10 -----------------------------------------------------

Okay, so most of the time, I am trying to steer you all away from Google as it generally undermines my efforts to come up with a decent challenge. Today, I embrace Google! You see the advent quiz is what we call a 5420. That is to say, a search for “vern’s advent calendar quiz” yields 5400 hits (as pictured).

Your challenge today is to search for something else that returns as close to that many search results as possible. So, the search string that comes closest to 5420 wins for today. As the number of pages on the web changes every second, I will need a screenshot to show the number of hits, like the one shown attached with the string and the number of results. In the unlikely event of a tie, the first one in wins.