Poli Sheep 105: Fair & Balanced Vanity Edition, w/ SheepMates and Land Mines

[Thor Simpson]

By popular mandate, it's time to get your Sheep on...



Never played before? Here's some praise for the game:

Spoiler:

"These things are the most fun way to waste time at work since GemCraft." - maxfisher

"This is the most stirring display of gallantry and sportsmanship since Mountbatten gave India back to the Punjabs." - wishbone

"These have been really fun." - Tracer Bullet

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank The Bus for quite possibly the funniest commentary of any of the sheep games." - orangecrush18

Played before? Here's what's most important this time around:

Spoiler:

Google * rules are in place the same as last time, if you missed it. Read below for clarification.

Read about the SheepMate Bonus questions, which ask for a pair of answers.

Spreadsheets at the bottom

Rules


• The object of the game is to out-think everyone by picking answers to questions that are the most common (Sheep and SheepMate pairings) or least common (Reverse Sheep), but still correct.
  
• Example Sheep question: "Name a unit of currency." A good answer would be the U.S. dollar and a bad answer might be the Uruguayan peso.
  
• Example Reverse Sheep question: "Name a current member of the cabinet". Hillary Clinton might be a bad answer, but Shaun Donovan might be a good answer. (Unless you think everyone else is trying to go as obscure as possible, in which case you might outsmart them by naming Hillary Clinton).
  
• Example SheepMate question: "Name two kinds of fruit used in comparisons". "Pineapples and Guava" might be a bad answer, but "Apples and Oranges" might be a good answer. You would get normal Sheep points for any "Apples" or "Oranges" in the field, and bonus points if you said both "Apples, Oranges" if that was the single most common exact pairing.
  
• Sheep and SheepMate scores are tallied as negative numbers. Reverse Sheep scores are tallied as positive numbers. The lowest score wins.
  
• The answers to each question are tallied up. Wrong answers in Reverse Sheep are scored two points above the most common answer. This penalty is multiplied by the Lightning Round Multiplier. Wrong answers in Sheep are not penalized.
  
• Certain rounds are considered Lightning Rounds (designated by a multiplier, such as ×2). In these rounds, scores are adjusted by the number on the multiplier. A wrong answer still gets a +4 penalty in a ×2 round and a +6 penalty in a ×3 round, and so on. In a sheep round, a wrong answer scores normally.
  
• The assumption is that you will not use Google, Wikipedia, etc. You may choose to do so. However, if you so choose, you must indicate each answer for which you have used an outside resource by placing an asterisk (*) before the answer. You will be penalized one point for your first asterisked answer, two points for your second asterisked answer, four points for your third asterisked answer, and so on.
  
• Please send in your answers to me via PM. Place only one answer per line, without numbers or the question itself. Those who do not do this will be penalized 10 points right off the bat.
  
• Note: Be creative with your answers, but don't be stupid.
  
• Sheep questions are marked by an S:, Reverse Sheep questions are marked by an R:, SheepMate questions are marked by an SM:.
  
• Unique Bonus: Reverse Sheep questions will generate additional bonus (negative) points if we have at least 25 entrants and there are less than 6 people with unique answers according to the following:
  1 Unique is awarded -15
  2 Uniques are awarded -10 each
  3 Uniques are awarded -6 each
  4 Uniques are awarded -3 each
  5 Uniques are awarded -1 each
  
  
• SheepMate Bonus:
  *Only the single most common exact pairing will generate a SheepMate Bonus (although the order of the two answers is not relevant)
  *Each individual answer will be scored normally, and any player who is part of the top pairing will receive an additional point per player in the pairing
  *If there are two pairs with the same number of participants, they will both count as a top pairing
  
  
• To assist you in submitting your answers, a spreadsheep is available. Thanks to The Bus for preparing it.
  
• Google Docs


• Excel Doc

The Questions


1. S: Name a politician, living or dead, who was formerly known as an entertainer.
   
2. S: Name a historical and/or political film/series that should be required viewing for public school students in America
   
3. R: Federalist #51 by James Madison addresses the importance of checks and balances within the system. Name a senator who voted "Yea" on stimulus checks in the Economic Stilumus Act of 2008, whose state budget carried a balance (deficit) of more than $3,000,000,000.00 in the fiscal year that followed?
   
4. S: Which group/class of citizens will receive the least appropriate level of taxation in 2009 (in the US)
   
5. S: Rush Limbaugh is quite a loudmouth, but he's also fat. Name a political commentator with a high mouth (noise) to body weight ratio.
   
6. R: Name a current US Senator representing a state West of the Mississippi River who is older than John McCain
   
7. S: Name a historically noteworthy black American citizen or slave born prior to 1900.
   
8. S: Name a country in Asia that carbon blobs might not classify as a "country in Asia" if you handed them a globe.
   
9. SM: SheepMates #1: From Maria Reynolds to Don't Cry For Me Maria, Politicians have always had a hard time keeping their hands (among other things) off forbidden fruit. But they seem to do so infrequently with one another. Name the pairing of currently elected officials that would have the most physically attractive children together. (NOTE: You MUST specify currently elected officials, even though this is a sheep question)
   
10. S: What a croptastic nation! Excluding the staples of corn, wheat and marijuana, name a major crop grown in the US of A.
    
11. S: On a scale of 1 to 10, equally weighing both physical beauty and character appeal, rank Sarah Palin. (0 = super ugly and super annoying, 5= annoying but equally fetching, 10 = red hot charachterista).
    
12. SM: SheepMates #2: Support the troops! The F-22 may be on the brink. Name two military weapons and/or vehicles that are most vital for US defense.
    
13. S: Religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, disability… these are all personal characteristics that society finds of both interest and importance. Name the group that will make the next "first" in our Presidential line, where the candidate is elected with that characteristic to be well-known. (ex: If you think Bobby Jindal will be the next president, you might say "people of indian descent," but "Muslim" would not apply if the candidate were elected as a Secret Muslim.
    
14. S: Which NATO ally of the United States is strategically the least important to defend?
    
15. R: ×10 Land Mine Question #1: Name a country in Africa that contains at least one vowel in the English language (I don't want to have to translate a bunch of clicking sounds)
    
16. S:What act of the United Nations has had the greatest historical impact on the world? ("none" shall not be accepted as an answer)
    
17. S: ×2 The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And maybe pig flu. On what issue in the past 15 years has fear been used/abused most heinously by US politicians in an attempt to pass legislation or win an election?
    
18. R: ×3 Name a country (as defined by present-day physical borders, not necessarily leadership) that a US plane has dropped a bomb on
    
19. R: ×10 Land mine question #2: There have been 51 different Speakers of the United States House of Representatives. Name one… carefully.
    
20. SM: SheepMates #3: We all know about Burr and Hamilton. Cheney took a shot at an unknown. Name the pairing of currently elected officials that would generate the best TV ratings if they were to have a classic duel to the death on live TV.
    

I will allow answers through 11:59:00 PM EDT Monday, August 3, or until we hit 40-or-so players, whichever comes first. Results will be posted on Wednesday the 5th, beginning in the morning sometime. If I'm ready.

[The Bus]

S&M!

[Groucho]

Question #9 just got a lot harder.

[Tracer Bullet]

Whoa, where did this come from?

[Thor Simpson]

Originally Posted by Tracer Bullet

Whoa, where did this come from?

From me. It's from me.

[Venusian]

what's a land mine question?

[Venusian]

oh, just a big multiplier?

[Thor Simpson]

Yes. And likely an answering process that is difficult to assess.

[Venusian]

Let's see if i can come in at the bottom on this

[The Bus]

Originally Posted by Venusian

what's a land mine question?

A "Seinfeld character" question.

[JasonF]

Good questions! I like the SheepMate innovation, too.

[maxfisher]

Originally Posted by Groucho

Question #9 just got a lot harder.

FUCK! Can we submit changes to our answers if we sent them and then, say, remembered a certain someone just pussied out of holding office?

[Red Dog]

Originally Posted by Groucho

Question #9 just got a lot harder.

No kidding and it also fucks up #20. I had to really think on #9 and since it's a sheep, that doesn't help. Hopefully, others utilize the intertubes on that one.

Anyhoo, I'm in.

[Tracer Bullet]

Question #4 is just a way to get all the forum bleeding hearts to say that rich people are overtaxed, isn't it.

[Red Dog]

Originally Posted by Tracer Bullet

Question #4 is just a way to get all the forum bleeding hearts to say that rich people are overtaxed, isn't it.

I said homosexuals.

[Tracer Bullet]

I don't understand #16. This just seems like "Name a country in Africa" to me. They all have vowels in their names.

[The Bus]

Originally Posted by Tracer Bullet

I don't understand #16. This just seems like "Name a country in Africa" to me. They all have vowels in their names.

Thor didn't want people to answer !ny!kr!.

[Groucho]

Or Egypt.

[Tracer Bullet]

SheepMate answers do not have to be correct?

[Red Dog]

Originally Posted by Tracer Bullet

SheepMate answers do not have to be correct?

I would like to see a requirement that the "currently elected" part be enforced for questions 9 and 20.

[Thor Simpson]

SheepMates do not have to be correct, just populuar... just like Sheep. But I'll no longer agree with Red Dog on the "currently elected" part for those 2 questions.

[Tommy Ceez]

oh shit

Wait

There sheepy, why CURRENTLY elected, wouldnt a broader base make maching answers harder?

[Venusian]

Originally Posted by Tracer Bullet

Question #4 is just a way to get all the forum bleeding hearts to say that rich people are overtaxed, isn't it.

least appropriate could mean they pay too llittle

[Tracer Bullet]

Originally Posted by Thor Simpson

SheepMates do not have to be correct, just populuar... just like Sheep. But I'll agree with Red Dog on the "currently elected" part for those 2 questions. I will, however, send a message back to anyone who does not consider this, with an opportunity for correction.

maxfisher, feel free to send a revision.

Awesome, thanks.

[The Bus]

No, because then everyone would pick Strom Thurmond and Geraldine Ferraro.