ROUND: Languages

1) Which language has official status in six European countries, more than any other language?

2) In computer science, which programming language, developed by John Backus' team at IBM in the 1950's and still in use today for high-performance scientific computing tasks, is considered the first practical high-level programming language in history?

3) In linguistics, what is the term for a simplified version of a language which arises to facilitate communication for trade between groups of people who don't share a common language?

4) In American sign language, only two letters require movement to be signed. Name either of them.

5) India has the most official languages of any nation with 36 having official status in at least one province. Which nation has the second-most official languages with 34, including Altay, Mari, and Yakut?

6) Most languages evolve so that the most common words are very short. In the Oxford English Corpus, for example, 170 of the 200 most frequent words are 1 syllable, 28 are two syllables. Name either of three syllable words which are found in the top 200.

ROUND: Comparing things to other things

1) Between Argentina and Indonesia, which country has a (total) GDP roughly twice as high, three times as much irrigated farmland, but only half as many airports?

2) Between pigs and sheep, which farm animal was domesticated earlier and a larger global population (roughly twice as big), but has fewer recognized breeds?

3) Between 'Les Misérables' by Victor Hugo and 'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy, which novel was published earlier, is longer (in terms of number of words in its original language), and has been adapted into twice as many feature-length films?

4) Between The Qing Dynsasty of China or the Roman Empire, which empire had over twice as much land area, but fewer provinces and fewer emperors in its history?

5) Between the British Museum of London and Louvre of Paris, which museum has been open for forty more years and has 25% more floor space of exhibits, yet gets only 70% as many annual visitors?

6) Between 'Goodfellas' and 'Pulp Fiction', which film nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award features 42% more homicides and 15% more utterances of the word 'fuck' despite running 10 minutes shorter in total length?

ROUND: Roots

1) In mathematics, only one problem was included in both Hilbert's 23 problems of 1900, and the Clay Mathematics Institute's 8 Millenium Prize problems in 2010. The problem is a proof or disproof of the hypothesis of which 19th century German mathematician, which states that all non-trivial roots of the so-called 'zeta function' have a real part equal to one half?

2) Roots: The Saga of an American Family was a best-selling 1976 book and later mini-series. Author Alex Haley claimed in the book that his great-great-great-great-grandfather was Kunta Kinte, captured as a slave in 1767 from the Mandinka village of Juffure on the banks of which West African river? The river, which was the source of as much as 5% of all trans-Atlantic slaves, later became the center of British efforts to halt the African slave trade, and today is the namesake of the smallest country in (continental) Africa.

3) Which plant's roots, commonly used in traditional medicine, tea, energy drinks, and cosmetics, have been shown in clinical trials to function as a natural aphrodisiac and treatment for sexual disfunction? There are at least 11 species of the plant in the genus Panax.

4) On the Pacific coast of North America, massive forests of kelp (large underwater seaweed plants) mysteriously collapsed in the 19th century with the expansion of otter hunting. Later analysis showed that which animal, the primary food source of sea otters, had exploded in population and destroyed the kelp by eating their holdfasts, or underwater roots? The recognition of sea otters in protecting the entire ecosystem has become the classic example of a 'keystone species.'

5) The deepest roots ever recorded in nature, reaching 68 m below the surface, were found on the Shepherd's Tree, or witgatboom as it is known locally, in which 'desert', which is often not considered a true desert since most of it floods annually?

6) Roots Canada Ltd. is a prominent Canadian clothing company. Although founded in 1973 in Toronto, the company famously rose to prominence due to the popularity of the outfits it designed for Team Canada at which Olympic games, including the famous "poorboy" oversized beret? Within 6 months of the Olympics, Roots had opened its first American store in Manhattan, launched the "Roots Explorer" in partnership with Ford, and was worn by the US president in a meeting with Canada's prime minister. Roots later designed outfits for both the USA and UK Olympic teams.

ROUND: Dead foursomes

1) Which of the following people was the oldest at the time of his of her death: martial artist Bruce Lee, musician Bob Marley, politician Eva (Evita) Peron, or mathematician Srinivasa Ramunujan?

2) Which of the following no-longer manufactured cars was the last to be produced: the Chrysler LeBaron, the Ferrari Testarossa, the General Motors EV1 electric car, or the Volkswagen Type 1 (Beetle, not including the New Beetle)?

3) Which of the following extinct bird species was the last to be hunted to extinction: the dodo of Mauritius, the giant moa of New Zealand, the great auk of the North Atlantic, or the passenger pigeon of North America? 

4) Which World War II-era leader was the last to die: Charles de Gaulle of France, Francisco Franco of Spain, Emperor Hirohito of Japan, or Chiang Kai-Shek of China? 

5) Which of the following currencies which died in the EU with the adoption of the euro is no longer the name of a currency used anywhere in the world: the drachma (Greece), the escudo (Portugal), the guilder (Netherlands), or the mark (Germany)?

6) (According to Forbes magazine) Which of these dead entertainers earned the most money in 2010: Elvis Presley, John Lennon, J.R.R. Tolkien, or Michael Jackson? 

ROUND: Things that use electricity

1) Which electric device was invented in 1880 as a medical cure for women with hysteria, replacing the centuries-old manual technique? Although the device no longer is used medically, there are still hundreds of millions sold per year. 

2) In the Iraq war of the 2000's, improvised explosive devices have been the leading cause of casualties amongst soldiers in the occupation. The most common remote triggering mechanism involves re-wiring which common electric device?

3) Which electrical device, first developed in the 1930's, but not mass-produced until the 1970's, is one of the most common in the UK, with at least one being found in 85% of homes. However, it is also one of the most widely non-functioning devices, with an estimated 30% of devices in existence not functioning.

4) Which electrical device was developed and promoted by Thomas Edison in 1888 as a publicity stunt, hoping to gain an edge in his fierce AC/DC standardisation battle against Nikola Tesla's Westinghouse Electric company? The device never worked well in its history, only a few dozen were ever built, and were never exported to any country except the Philippines, but several are still in working condition today.

5) Which electrical device, first commercially sold in 1974, took its name from the 1911 science fiction novel "Thomas A. Smith's Electric Rifle?" Many advocacy groups have called for the device to be banned on safety grounds, alleging that it causes up to 50 accidental deaths per year.

6) In 1982, while testifying before US Congress, Jack Valenti declared: "We are going to bleed... unless this Congress at least protects (us) from the savagery and the ravages of this machine. ... this is to the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." in reference to which recently-introduced electrical device?

TIEBREAKER:

According to the Landmine Survivors Network, how many unexploded landmines remain planted around the world?