From: pete.gayde@gmail.com   
      
   Mark Brader wrote:   
   > These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on the dates   
   > indicated, and should be interpreted accordingly.  If any answers   
   > have changed due to newer news, you are still expected to give   
   > the answers that were correct on that date.   
   >   
   > On each question you may give up to two answers, but if you give   
   > both a right answer and a wrong answer, there is a small penalty.   
   > Please post all your answers in a single followup to the newsgroup,   
   > based only on your own knowledge.  (In your answer posting, quote   
   > the questions and place your answer below each one.)  I will reveal   
   > the correct answers in about 3 days.   
   >   
   > All questions were written by members of Bloor St. Irregulars and   
   > are used here by permission, but have been reformatted and may have   
   > been retyped and/or edited by me.  The posting and tabulation of   
   > current-events questions is independent of the concurrent posting   
   > of other rounds.  For further information please see my 2023-05-24   
   > companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian Inquisition   
   > (QFTCI*)".   
   >   
   >   
   > * Game 9 (2023-07-17), Round 1 - Current Events   
   >   
   > 1. On Sunday the 9th, the Calgary Stampede set the new world   
   >     record for most pancakes served in an 8-hour period.  Guinness   
   >     World Records adjudicator Brittany Dunn observed the attempt,   
   >     and she disqualified 15 pancakes.  However, they made more   
   >     than enough to beat the previous record of 14,208.  Within 250,   
   >     what is the new world record?   
      
   20,000; 22,000   
      
   >   
   > 2. At a press conference Thursday afternoon, it was announced   
   >     that SAG-AFTRA, the entertainment industry's largest union,   
   >     representing 160,000 actors and performers, would officially be   
   >     on strike at midnight PST.  What fine actress is the SAG-AFTRA   
   >     president?   
      
   Fran Drescher   
      
   >   
   > 3. According to the results of a 2-year study, the air quality   
   >     in *what Ontario municipality* is like smoking a cigarette a   
   >     day, when it comes to inhaling cancer-causing benzo(a)pyrene?   
   >     U of T professor, and air contaminants researcher, Matthew   
   >     Adams also said that in Dundas or on the West Mountain it's "not   
   >     quite as bad -- maybe 1/3 of a cigarette or 1/2 a cigarette".   
      
   Hamilton   
      
   >   
   > 4. A blockade at a Winnipeg landfill is still standing -- as of this   
   >     writing -- in protest of the Province of Manitoba's announcement   
   >     that it would not support the search of another landfill for   
   >     the remains of two missing First Nations women.  An injunction   
   >     went into effect Friday at 6 pm authorizing the Winnipeg Police   
   >     Service to remove the blockade.  Name *either* landfill.   
   >   
   > 5. On Saturday, Markéta Vondrousová won the Ladies' Singles   
   >     Wimbledon championship, and set a first in doing so.  What makes   
   >     her victory unique in the Open Era?  Be sufficiently specific.   
      
   First non-seeded woman to win.   
      
   >   
   > 6. Attributed to crop failures after heat waves and heavy rains,   
   >     the price of what culinary staple has risen by 400% in India?   
   >     It's a key ingredient in many dishes, including butter chicken   
   >     and paneer makhni, and McDonald's has temporarily stopped   
   >     serving it as a burger topping.  What is it?   
   >   
   > 7. Nothing sad about the news that Hillary Simms, from Torbay, NL,   
   >     has been appointed as a professor at Juilliard, and its first   
   >     female professor of her chosen brass instrument -- which is what?   
      
   Trombone   
      
   >   
   > 8. On Thursday, Google announced it is expanding access to its   
   >     AI chatbot to 230 countries and territories, but not to such   
   >     places as Russia, China, North Korea, Afghanistan, and, oh,   
   >     Canada.  What is Google's chatbot called?   
   >   
   > 9. On Tuesday, a group of scientists announced the bottom of   
   >     Crawford Lake in Ontario has been selected as the "golden spike"   
   >     -- the marker of a new proposed geological epoch, which would   
   >     start in the 1950s.  What was considered our current epoch   
   >     is the Holocene, which started at the end of the last ice age   
   >     11,700 years ago.  What is the name of new epoch?   
   >   
   > 10. Last week, Lithuania was the host country for the 2023 NATO   
   >     Summit, held in its capital -- which is what city?   
      
   Vilnius   
      
   >   
   > After completing the round, please decode the rot13: Vs lbh fnvq   
   > gur graavf cynlre jnf hafrrqrq, tb onpx naq or zber fcrpvsvp.   
   >   
   >   
   > * Final (2023-07-24), Round 1 - Current Events   
   >   
   > 1. It's summer movie season (despite the strikes).  Two dramatically   
   >     different movies, which both opened Friday, have gone viral due   
   >     to people planning to watch them back-to-back... and of course   
   >     there are memes and a portmanteau word for this double-feature   
   >     extravaganza.  What is the portmanteau?   
      
   Barbenheimer   
      
   >   
   > 2. The North American Indigenous Games is the largest Indigenous   
   >     gathering and multi-sport event hosted in the history of   
   >     Atlantic Canada.  What two-word name, in English, is used by   
   >     some Indigenous peoples -- such as many Algonquian and Iroquoian   
   >     speakers -- to refer to the continent of North America?   
   >   
   > 3. On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he   
   >     had received *which official document* -- with a two-word name --   
   >     indicating that he would soon be subject to new indictments from   
   >     Special Counsel Jack Smith relating to the events of 2021-01-06?   
      
   Target letter   
      
   >   
   > 4. "Cheek to Cheek" (2014) and "Love For Sale" (2021) are   
   >     collaborative albums between a woman born with the name Stefani   
   >     Germanotta and a recently-deceased man born with the name   
   >     Anthony Benedetto.  By what better-known names are these two   
   >     people credited on these albums?  Two answers required.   
      
   Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett   
      
   >   
   > 5. On Wednesday, the South African government announced that Russian   
   >     Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be attending the upcoming   
   >     BRICS summit in place of President Vladimir Putin.  Why was   
   >     Putin's attendance at the summit a problem for the South   
   >     African government?   
      
   There is an arrest warrant out for Putin   
      
   >   
   > 6. On Friday, four men were arrested after a video surfaced of a   
   >     mob assaulting two naked women in which troubled Indian state?   
   >   
   > 7. The FIFA Women's World Cup is under way.  Canada's women's soccer   
   >     team started the group stage with a 0-0 draw against Nigeria's   
   >     Super Falcons.  Name *either* of the other two teams who share   
   >     Group B.   
      
   Australia   
      
   >   
   > 8. Following a 17-month investigation into workplace harassment,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)