Urban Survival

Fire!

1. You're in a hotel room, and the fire alarm goes off. Tell us what you should do.
   Dress for the weather. Feel the door, see if it's hot. Slowly open the door. Walk down the hall to the stairs, and leave the building. Points for run around screaming, etc.

2. What sort of fire extinguisher should you use on a mound of burning paper?
   Type A

3. What about energized electrical equipment that's in flames?
   Type C

4. And what class of extinguisher do you grab to put out that pile of burning metal?
   Type D (though only if you're trained in fighting metal fires!)

Material World

5. What's the smallest size of coffee available at Starbucks, and how you get it?
   A "short," which you have to request by name.

6. Describe a real Chicago deep-dish pizza.
   Cornmeal crust, with tomato sauce spread on top of the cheese.

7. How does one make a bagel that won't make a New Yorker complain?
   You can't.

8. How do New Yorkers make bagels?
   Boil them, then bake them.

9. In Seattle, where can you find fishmongering theatrics?
   Pike Place Market

10. Where can you buy cheap hot dogs in North Adams?
    Jack's Hot Dogs

11. Name three things that Eliza Higgins thinks would be lovely.
    Lots of chocolate, a room, a big chair, coal making lots of heat, warm hands, warm face, warm feet, or a man.

12. What dive, made famous in a Saturday Night Live skit, is a hangout for Chicago journalists, at least ones want cheeseburgers but not fries?
    The Billy Goat

Getting Around

Name the City

13. 
    San Francisco

14. 
    London

15. 
    Washington DC

16. 
    Moscow

17. 
    Boston

18. 
    Paris

19. 
    Chicago

20. What city just opened a new subway system within the last few weeks?
    New Delhi

21. Speaking of flirtations, where was While You Were Sleeping set?
    Chicago

22. What's the European word for "trolley"?
    Tram

23. In what US city can one ride a monorail?
    Seattle. Or Disney theme parks.

24. What city installed the first electric "WALK" sign?
    New York

25. You're in DC on a clear summer morning, near the intersection of 14th St NW and S St NW, and you have an appointment at 9th and H. Do you walk north, south, east, or west?
    South, and a little bit east.

26. Please give us directions to Albany Airport.
    Get on Route 2 West, At Troy, get onto Rt 7 W, turn off on Albany Shaker Rd. Or, take Rt 7 N into Vermont, NW on VT 346, N on Rt 22, W on NY 7, Turn off onto Albany Shaker Rd. Or Variants involving I-87 are fine too

27. When is the Big Dig supposed to be completed?
    Dec 2004

Peaceful Protest

28. Peace protestors in Lafayette Park, outside the White House, used squirrels to advance their cause, until the Secret Service threatened to make arrests. Exactly how what did the activists do with the squirrels?
    They wrote messages on balloons, tied the balloons to peanuts, then fed the peanuts to squirrels, who dragged the peanut-string-balloon-message ensemble into the White House grounds.

29. In a P.G. Wodehouse short story, one of Bertie's friends joins group of London's most radical socialists. Why?
    So that a girl would like him. Why else do any of Bertie's friends do anything?

30. Why does the melody to "Oh, Christmas Tree!" hold greater political meaning in the UK?
    It's better known as "The Red Flag," the anthem of the Labour Party

Power to the People, Cos!

31. Your peaceful protest turned nasty, and the government forces are firing tear-gas grenades. You're trapped in a shattered cafe, and you want to get out. What can you do to your handkerchief (martyr's-blood red, of course) that will help filter out the CS?
    You can put vingear on it. Or lemon juice. Or maybe even pee on it.

32. Things just got a lot worse. How do you make a molotov cocktail? (It's more than just gasoline.)
    Recipies vary, but they all look something like this one: Obtain a bottle. Fill it with a mixture of gasoline, tar or another sticky substance. Sometimes add diesel fuel. Stuff a gas-soaked rag into the top. Ignite rag and throw.

33. Please explain the molotov cocktail's name.
    Named after a Russian foreign minister, either by Finns or by Russians.

34. What urban design feature makes a European riot much more likely to result in stone-throwing than an American one?
    Loose paving stones on streets.

35. What has Chicago Union Station got to do with a mutiny on a Czarist warship?
    The "Untouchables" baby-carriage scene is a quotation of a scene from "The Battleship Potemkin."

Bridges

Please name the bridge and city

36. 
    George Washington Bridge, NYC

37. 
    Verrazano Narrows Bridge, NYC

38. 
    Roberto Clemente Bridge, Pittsburgh

39. 
    Bay Bridge, San Francisco-Oakland

40. 
    Michigan Ave Bridge, Chicago

41. 
    Bridge of Sighs, Venice

42. 
    Charles River Bridge (Leonard P. Zakim Br, Bunker Hill Br) Boston

43. Pontoon bridges form an important part of one US city's transport network. Which city?
    Seattle

44. Where is the "bridge too far"?
    Arnhem, the Netherlands

45. Uber-planner Robert Moses was responsible for much of the highway infrastructure in and around New York City. Why did he intentionally design Long Island parkways with very low overpasses?
    To keep busses away from the beaches!

Signs from Above

What do these symbols signify?

46. 
    Wireless network available ("webchalking")

47. 
    New York State Thruway System

48. 
    Do Not Enter

49. 
    Big Dig logo

Urban Planning

50. Why was Bunker Hill such an important position, anyway?
    Ah! Boston was once a peninsula, nearly an island, connected to the mainland by a narrow neck. And Bunker Hill commanded this neck.

51. What US city made its river run backwards, and why?
    Chicago, so that its sewage would go down a canal and into the Mississippi basin, rather than into the drinking-water intakes on Lake Michigan

52. What Northern European city, capital of a former Russian dominion, has a central square laid out to look like St Petersburg's?
    Helsinki, Finland

53. What do the Back Bay and the Mission District have in common?
    They're both built on landfill, on land that was once water. Half credit if you say that they're both expensive places to live.

54. What is the "New Urbanism"?
    New theory in planning. Build denser communities, seek mixed use. Aim for the small town as the ideal settlement.

Mean City Streets

There are always a few detectives who stand out as the product of their city. Name the detectives and their authors (or, if they originally appeared on the screen, their movie or tv show):

55. Kooky second-string journalist at a New York TV station; wields a mean hot-glue gun.
    Robin Hudson, by Sparkle Hayter (Yes, "Sparkle" is the author)

56. Three members of the Amsterdam murder brigade.
    de Gier, Grijpstra, extra points for Cardozo *or* the Commissaris by Janvillem van de Wetering

57. Polish private detective from Chicago with an hard-to-spell name.
    V.I. Warshawski, by Sara Paretsky

58. Chief of Detectives for the Brattleboro Police.
    Joe Gunther, by Archer Mayor

59. Does every detective in a New York squad have this much trouble relieving himself?
    Andy Sipowicz, from "NYPD Blue"

60. Does Minnesota even have a city big enough for a hardboiled detective?
    Guy Noir, from "A Prarie Home Companion"

61. Black Sicilian in Baltimore.
    Al Giardello, from "Homicide"

All the Sights of the City

Name the City

62. 
    Chicago

63. 
    Berlin

64. 
    Helsinki

65. 
    Philadelphia

66. 
    Washington DC

67. 
    London