From: msb@vex.net   
      
   These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2024-05-13,   
   and should be interpreted accordingly.   
      
   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 the Smith & Guessin' 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 2024-08-30   
   companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian Inquisition (QFTCI*)".   
      
      
   * Game 2, Round 2 - History - Bad Business Decisions   
      
   Decca Records turned down the Beatles, and many publishers rejected   
   J.K. Rowling's manuscript about a boy wizard.  Here are questions   
   about other truly bad business decisions over the years.   
      
   1. E.T. liked Reese's Pieces, and placing them in that blockbuster   
      movie did wonders for Hershey's bottom line.  Which candy   
      did the filmmakers originally want Elliot to use to lure the   
      Extra-Terrestrial, but were turned down by that candy's maker?   
      
   2. Both NBC and CBS passed on this football broadcast idea, not   
      wanting to disrupt their prime-time schedules.  ABC took   
      the chance, and this broadcast, starting in 1970, is now the   
      longest-running series on American TV.  Name the broadcast.   
      
   3. In 1979, Bill Gates offered Microsoft to a Texas businessman   
      for a reported $60,000,000.  Gates said no to the counter-offer   
      of $15,000,000.  Name the businessman, who twice ran for US   
      president.   
      
   4. In 1876, Western Union was offered a patent for an invention   
      for what seems like a measly sum of $100,000.  But the company   
      wasn't interested in what its president called an electrical   
      toy with no commercial possibilities.  What was the device?   
      
   5. In 1999, the top two Internet search engines were Yahoo and   
      Excite.  The founders of another search-engine company offered   
      to sell their firm to Excite for $750,000, but Excite said no.   
      Name the other company, which is worth a fair bit more now.   
      
   6. Even a billionaire like Rupert Murdoch isn't perfect all the   
      time.  Murdoch's News Corp. bought a social-networking company   
      in 2005 -- 2 years after its launch -- for $580,000,000,   
      but sold it in 2011 for just $35,000,000.  Name the company,   
      which lost the social networking war with Facebook.   
      
   7. In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak went to the founder of the   
      video game company they used to work for.  They showed their   
      ex-boss a computer they built, called the Apple 1.  Jobs and   
      Wozniak offered him a 1/3 stake in Apple Computer for $50,000,   
      but were turned down.  Name *either* the company or its founder   
      who said no to that bargain.   
      
   8. Quaker Oats took a huge bath on a drink line in the mid-1990s.   
      Quaker bought the company from its New-York-based founders in   
      1993 for $1,700,000,000.  But a series of marketing errors   
      took their toll, and Quaker sold it 4 years later for just   
      $300,000,000 -- a loss of $1,400,000,000.  Name the drink   
      company, which was resold and is thriving again.   
      
   9. Another media company bought Time Warner in 2000 for   
      $165,000,000,000.  But that merger became what one executive   
      called "the biggest mistake in corporate history."  Name Time   
      Warner's partner in that disaster.   
      
   10. Which former video rental giant turned down a chance to buy   
      Netflix for $50,000,000 in 2000?   
      
      
   * Game 2, Round 3 - Literature - Last Lines of Books   
      
   In this round, we will give you the last line of a book and the   
   year of publication.  Name the book.   
      
   1. "It's funny.  Don't ever tell anybody anything.  If you do,   
      you start missing everybody."  (1951)   
      
   2. "He was soon borne away by the waves, and lost in darkness   
      and distance."  (1818)   
      
   3. "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done.   
      It is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever   
      known."  (1859)   
      
   4. "It occurred to me then that for the first time in as long   
      as I could remember, I had absolutely no desire to log back   
      into the OASIS."  (2011)   
      
   5. "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly   
      into the past."  (1925)   
      
   6. "But I don't think us feel old at all.  And us so happy.   
      Matter of fact, I think this the youngest us ever felt.  Amen."   
      (1982)   
      
   7. "And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea."   
      (1938)   
      
   8. "And it was still hot."  (1963)   
      
   9. "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to   
      pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible   
      to say which was which."  (1945)   
      
   10. "After all, tomorrow is another day."  (1936)   
      
   --   
   Mark Brader         "...living through a coup involves a lot of   
   Toronto                 sitting around refreshing web pages."   
   msb@vex.net                                  --Harriet Boulding   
      
   My text in this article is in the public domain.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)