Which Grateful Dead album has a palindrome for a title? (#SFWApro)

That was a typical question in this year’s Culture Quest, the event I went down to South Carolina for last weekend. More precisely it’s an excuse: I’m mostly going to see my Mensa friends there, but CQ is a good incentive for the visit.

It’s always a fun visit, though this year I couldn’t stay long. I read lots of Neil’s comic TPBs, hang out with Courtney and Neil and play with their puppies (to the left, Pinot, the adorably tiny chihuahua). We had a good dinner at a Vietnamese place and I had a great time browsing the local library’s clear-the-shelves sale: 20 books for just $15 (I upped it to $20 and told them the rest was a donation).

Now, as to Culture Quest, here’s some more questions. We do not get to use any outside sources so it’s entirely up to our own knowledge (Courtney helps by ramrodding and organizing the team efficiently, as well as competing).

•What art movement of the European avant-garde began in Zurich in 1916 and spread to Berlin? (I did get that one).

•What are the professions of the title characters in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay?

•Before founding his eponymouse sports car company, what Italian was a racing driver for Milanese giant Alfa Romeo?

•Mercury is one of two elements that exist as a liquid at room temperature. What is the other? (I got that one too).

•Which of the four bases in DNA was first extracted from Peruvian bird droppings?

•Austin Trevor debuted what film role in the 1931 British film Alibi and repeated it in 1931’s Black Coffee and 1934’s Lord Edgeware Dies.

•What actor starred in a film every year from 2008 to 2013 that grossed at least $500 million internationally?

•What is the capital of Uzbekistan?

•Given the following airport codes, list the person the airport is named after: ANC, BHM, JAN, OMA, YYZ (I got none of those but one of our team-mates did).

•If we assume all Fibonacci numbers are positive integers, what is the positive square foot of the twelth Fibonacci number? (I think I got that).

There were lots more. Overall, Courtney thinks we were off from previous years, but it’s possible other teams were too, of course. I feel annoyed because I know a couple of answers were in the “missed it by that much!” category (hacker-turned-security-consultant Kevin Mitnick went on my answer sheet as Kevin Mitford. Which pleases me, but it’s not going to net us points).

I headed back Monday after picking up a charger for the car so I could keep my cell-phone providing directions the whole way. No problems (unlike the trip down described in my previous post).