Lucy and Sherman Maisel ’35 General Information Test

The Nichols Upper School General Information Test is a tradition that began in the 1911 Verdian yearbook. It is compiled from questions submitted by Nichols faculty and is given to students in grades 9 through 12 as a measure of general knowledge. This GIT was coordinated by Associate Head of School for Academics Sarah Jacobson, and it is funded through the generosity of Lucy and Sherman Maisel ’35.

1. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is set during which war, explaining the presence of the many soldiers?

2. One product from the neutralization reaction between hydrochloric acid and potassium hydroxide is potassium chloride. Name the other product.

3. Name the reigning World Cup Men’s Soccer champion.

a. United States b. France c. Argentina d. Brazil a. one b. two c. three d. four a. Tegucigalpa b. Managua c. Lima d. San José a. Ruben Santiago-Hudson b. Stephen McKinley Henderson c. Wendell Pierce d. Jesse L. Martin a. Boston Celtics b. Los Angeles Lakers c. Chicago Bulls d. Cleveland Cavaliers a. slendro b. pentatonic c. pelog d. major

4. How many domes did Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi nestle together (for stability purposes) in order to create what appears to be the single dome of the Florence Cathedral?

5. Which is the capital of Nicaragua?

6. What was the name of the Carthaginian general who led his troops, and his elephants, across the Alps in 218 BCE?

7. Parent of a Nichols graduate, this acclaimed stage and film actor recently starred on Broadway in “Between Riverside and Crazy” by Stephen Adly Guirgis.

8. The Arabic word aljabr means completion or “reunion of broken parts.” What modern study of mathematics takes its name from aljabr?

9. What is the name of the English street artist whose Balloon Girl shredded itself at auction in 2018 after being sold for £1,042,000 and is now called Love is in the Bin?

10. Name the NBA team with the most consecutive championships.

11. What singer-songwriter is the first and only female solo artist to win the Grammy for Album of the Year three times for her solo recordings?

12. Both plant and animal cells have cell membranes. In addition, plant cells also have _________________.

13. If you are born in Saint Pierre and Miquelon, an archipelago of eight islands off the coast of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, what is your nationality?

14. What is a five tone scale called?

15. Portland, Oregon was named after Portland, Maine in a coin toss. True False a. Billie Jean King b. Aranya Maritime c. Margaret Pauly d. Amy Borden

16. There were three famous Bronte sisters, ______________________, _________________, and _____________________________.

17. Many new energy storage devices are based on the 3rd element on the periodic table, which is?

18. Who was the only U.S. president to serve two nonconsecutive terms?

19. Who are the Nichols tennis courts named after?

20. What is the name of Picasso’s famous painting depicting an attack during the Spanish Civil War?

21. In Born a Crime, Trevor Noah writes about growing up in this African country.

22. Named after the princess rescued by Perseus, what is the name of the galaxy that will collide with our galaxy in 4.5 billion years?

23. A stage with a picture frame arch through which the audience views the action is called a(n): a. arena b. thrust c. proscenium d. black box a. They played the same sport. b. They have the same first name. c. They won gold medals in the same year. d. They both married a Canadian. a. 79,000 b. 100,000 c. 68,000 d. 53,000

24. What creature has no teeth, no stomach, mates for life and is the only species on earth where the male carries unborn offspring?

25. Who was the first Prime Minister of India after it achieved independence in 1947?

26. The Nobel Prize does not have an award in the field of mathematics. What is the name of the award that is considered as “the Nobel Prize of mathematics”?

28. In 1984, 10 years after the tragic death of this Canadian restaurant’s namesake, Tim Hortons opened its first successful store in the United States –it is still operating today. Which Buffalo area suburb would you need to visit to get a coffee and Timbits from the longest-operating Tim Hortons in the United States?

29. In what decade was the microwave oven invented?

30. Toni Morrison, arguably one of the most influential and important writers of the last fifty years, most famously author of Beloved, wrote just two short stories. The first and most famous of which is: “Recitation,” “Recitatif,” OR “Resignation”?

31. Which French port city lies on the River Garonne and is the capital of the southwest French region Nouvelle-Aquitaine?

32. What is the name of the coffee shop where the characters in Friends hang out?

33. What type of camera was described as early as 500 BCE?

34. What do the two most recent female Nichols alum Olympic Gold Medalists have in common?

35. Who wrote The Tale of Genji, the world’s first novel?

27. The symbols are called: incidentals, accidentals, coincidentals, or intentionals?

36. One of the first three black students at West Virginia University, she graduated summa cum laude at the age of 18. She joined NASA in 1953 and contributed to the Mercury and Apollo missions sending people to the moon. In 2015, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama. Who is she?

37. List two of the five countries that border Kenya.

38. After Adam and Eve eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God casts them out of the garden before they eat the fruit of a second tree, the tree of _____________________________.

39. During a 2022 concert, what pop star played the crystal flute made in 1813 for James Madison to commemorate his second inauguration?

40. What was the population of the country of Andorra in 2021?

41. What are the standard units that energy is measured in?

42. The opening of a camera lens is measured as an “f-number,” but what is this opening called?

43. Recent discoveries indicate that Viking women were warriors and were given full Viking funerals. True False

44. Which Greek mathematician is best known for “his” theorem? He was also a religious and philosophical leader of a group bearing his name. Additionally, he is credited with recognizing that the morning and evening star is the planet, Venus.

45. Japanese artist Hokusai produced a woodblock print series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji from 1830 to 1832. The most famous print in the series is The Great Off Kanagawa a. Dawson Knox b. James Cook c. Josh Allen d. Stefon Diggs

46. If we allow x to increase without bound, i.e., x approaches infinity, what is the value of (1 + �/x )X?

47. Lemony Snicket uses which of these JD Salinger characters in his Series of Unfortunate Events: Esme, Franny, or Zooey?

48. What was the first U.S. territory to give women the right to vote?

49. Who scored the final touchdown of the 2022-2023 Buffalo Bills season (including playoffs)?

50. The Wrexham Football Club, which has recently been promoted to League Two, is owned by which famous actor?

51. In ancient Greek humoral theory, the four humoral temperaments are sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and _____________________________.

52. Matter particles that are not made up of quarks, like electrons, are called “leptons.” Matter particles that are made up of quarks, like protons, are called ____________________________.

53. The Greek goddess Circe of Aeaea is most famous for turning Odysseus’ men into __________________.

54. List out the dynasties, in order, that ruled China between 1271 and 1911.

55. Grand Island is the world’s largest fresh water island. True False a. Alexander Mogilny b. Danny Gare c. Pat LaFontaine d. Gilbert Perreault a. 21 b. 3 c. 12 d. 5 a. flour and water b. eggs and potatoes c. eggs and flour d. sugar and eggs a. trench coat b. fedora c. undershirt d. hoodie a. Plessy v. Ferguson b. Miranda v. Arizona c. Tinker v. Des Moines d. Obergefell v. Hodges a. Whig b. Know Nothing c. Democrat d. Republican a. Miguel Cabrera b. Sammy Sosa c. Bryce Harper d. Mickey Mantle a. Guangzhou b. Shanghai c. Beijing

56. How is the decimal number 16 written in the hexadecimal number system?

57. ______________________________ wrote a number of novels including, One Hundred Years of Solitude, considered to be second only to Don Quixote as the greatest novel in the Spanish language.

58. Which of these Buffalo Sabres did NOT score 50 goals in a season?

59. The late Prince Philip, consort of the late Queen Elizabeth II, was a prince by birth of ___________________ and __________________ based on his patrilineal descent.

60. In the 95 year history of the Academy Awards, how many women have won the “Best Director” Oscar?

61. If each person on earth were given enough space (0.5) to stand comfortably on the ground without touching anyone else, estimate the length of the side of a square that would contain everybody in this fashion.

62. What are the two main ingredients of the Spanish tortilla?

63. The film version of Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play A StreetCar Named Desire starred Marlon Brando as Stanley and Kim Hunter as Stella. What garment is Stanley famous for wearing through much of the play’s action?

64. Complete the Solfège notation: do re mi ________ la ti do.

65. What is the name of the supreme court case that legalized gay marriage across the USA?

66. Yellow light shines on a piece of paper containing blue pigment. What color does the paper appear to be?

67. When molecules of different types stick together it is called adhesion. When molecules of the same type stick together it is called?

68. Which Puerto Rican baseball great died in a plane crash in 1972 while on his way to Nicaragua to deliver relief supplies to the earthquake-ravaged country? In his final game of 1972, he secured his 3000th career hit for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

70. In music, what word means the quality of a sound that distinguishes it from another?

71. Abraham Lincoln was the first U.S. president to be elected from what political party?

72. Name the last MLB player to win the Triple Crown?

73. Which prefix is used to describe very small units, namely one-billionth of a unit?

74. Depicted as having the head of a crocodile, front legs of a lion, and hind legs of a hippo, the Egyptian goddess Ammut/Ammit was known by what epithet, which refers to her role in ancient Egyptian religion? Sofia Danu (body) and Saba Mubarak (voice) portray her in the Marvel series Moon Knight.

75. Which of the following Chinese cities is not a coastal city?

76. Pi, π, is an irrational number with an approximate value of 3.14. Pi is defined by a ratio that can be found in a common formula used in geometry. What is that ratio?

77. Name three of South Africa’s official languages. ___________________ , , a. Cale Makar b. Paul Coffey c. Larry Robinson d. Bobby Orr a. Ted Marks b. Beth Stone c. Roddy Potter d. RJ Gicewicz a. New York City b. Paris c. London d. Amsterdam a. Hamlet b. King Lear c. Macbeth d. Othello a. Chris Miner b. Ron Torgalski c. Will Regan d. Greg Plumb

78. __________________________ is a renowned Argentine writer whose short stories inspired modern movie director/writer Christopher Nolan to create the hit movies Inception and Memento.

79. In kickball, how many bases is a base-runner allowed to advance after a foul overthrow?

69. Two masses are separated by a distance, d, and exert a force, F, on each other. If the distance between the masses is increased to 4d, what is the new force between the masses?

80. When Beatrice of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing declares that she does not wish to be “overmastered by a piece of valiant dust,” she is referring to what famous story?

81. Name the only NHL defenseman to lead the league in scoring?

82. Mr. Red, Mr. White, and Mr. Blue meet for lunch. Each is wearing a red shirt, a white shirt, or a blue shirt. No one is wearing more than one color, and no two are wearing the same color. Mr. Blue tells one of his companions, “Did you notice we are all wearing shirts with a different color from our names?” The other man, who is wearing a white shirt, says, “Wow, that’s right!” What color shirt is Mr. Blue wearing?

83. Stanford dropout, Elizabeth Holmes, in November 2022, was convicted of defrauding the investors of her health technology company and sentenced to 11¼ years in prison. What was the name of her company?

84. As the amplitude of a swinging pendulum decreases, does its period increase, decrease, or remain the same?

85. ________________________ is the first woman to translate Homer’s Odyssey into English.

86. Who was the only U.S. president to be a prisoner of war?

87. Which of these current Nichols Coaches is NOT a Nichols alum?

88. Who is considered the “founding father” of free market capitalism?

89. What singer-songwriter and Academy Award nominee for Best Actress for A Star is Born was recently tapped by President Biden to co-chair the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities alongside producer Bruce Cohen?

91. What transport project connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and played a significant role in shaping United States trade and commerce in the first half of the 19th century?

92. Where is Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night housed?

93. Which word is pronounced exactly like the French word fin: faim, fond, or feu?

94. Gabrielle Zevin takes the title of her new novel, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, from which Shakespeare play?

95. Who is 2nd on the Nichols Boys Basketball 1000-point club behind Christian Laettner?

96. During the reign of Justinian, the first recorded major outbreak caused by bacterium Yersinia pestis occurred, killing at its height 5,000 people a day. What is the more common name for the disease caused by this bacterium?

97. What Category 5 hurricane struck south Florida in the midst of the 1992 presidential election campaign but appears not to have affected the vote?

98. Declaring independence in 2011, ______________ is the world’s newest country.

99. What are the three main Abrahamic religions?

90. What famous item of clothing did Coco Chanel introduce to women’s fashion in the 1920s?

100. This bespectacled and red stripe-wearing wanderer with a dog named Woof was created by Martin Handforth in 1987. In his original England, he is known as Wally; in France, Charlie; in Denmark, Holger; in Norway, Willy; and in Lithuania, Jonas. What is his name in Canada and the U.S.?

The answer key for the GIT can be found on page 8 and also at www.nicholsschool.org/ alumni/general-information-test

With the backdrop of downtown Buffalo, Nichols School hosted its 45th annual auction on May 6 at Seneca One. A special celebration, Nichols Night: The Party to N All Parties, is a night for parents, families, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of Nichols to come together and support the students. Co-chaired by Elizabeth ’88 and Brian Duffett P’24,’26, and Becky and Jason Locke P’26, Nichols Night featured unique food pairings from Salvatore’s Hospitality, a specialty cocktail bar from Tommyrotter Distilling, a wine pull by City Wine Merchant, and magic by Garret Thomas.

“Many thanks to all the amazing volunteers who dedicated countless hours to make this event successful,” said Co-Chair Elizabeth Duffett ’88. “This includes corporate and individual sponsors, Nichols Night

Committee members, our gift gathering party hosts, and families and friends of Nichols who helped make the evening spectacular.”

Nichols Night featured over 100 gray (silent), white (premium), and green (live) auction items as well as a new way of raising money for the student experience by encouraging guests to stick their nametags to a board to designate the amount of money they would like to donate. Some of the one-of-a-kind items that were auctioned included an opportunity to become Head of School for a day; a Buffalo Bills experience with VIP passes to training camp, on-field access, and tickets to the home opener; trips to Rome, Italy, Yosemite National Park, New York City for a Yankees or Sabres game, and Ellicottville; plus, so much more.

This year, Nichols School was also able to give back and giveaway $10,000 to one lucky winner in the BIG $10K Raffle. Offering a 1 in 300 chance to win, the winner was pulled the night of the event via a big spinning wheel, and you did not need to be in attendance to win.

“We were grateful to have everyone that participated in our largest annual fundraiser,” said Head of School Chris Burner. “Most importantly, this was a night to support and enhance the Nichols experience that generations of students have enjoyed and will enjoy in the future. We are grateful to all for helping us raise more than $200,000 for our students.” n