Life Skills

Music

In what order would you most likely learn how to play the following piano pieces:
1. Ellmenreich's Spinning Song
2. Bach's Goldberg Variations
3. Khachaturian's Toccata
4. Beethoven's Fur Elise
5. Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag
a, d, e, c, b
If you want to play a blues scale based on C, what notes would you play?
C Eb F F# G Bb C
What is the function of the rightmost pedal on a piano?
sustains the notes
What is a more common name for the pitch C4?
Middle C
When tuning a piano, to what pitch should A3 be tuned?
220 hz
How many strings are there on a violin, and what are their names?
G, D, A, E
Draw a C-clef
a c-clef

Misc

What is a roux, how do you make it, and where did it come from?
Roux: sauteed butter and flour used to thicken and/or as a base for sauces and soups. Comes from French cooking, and used for Cajun and Creole cooking (accept either).
Explain how you can take a fingerprint from a plate of glass using a pencil, Scotch tape, a brush, and an index card.
Grind the graphite from a pencil into powder. Sprinkle it on the glass. Lightly dust with the brush. Hold the tape from both ends and place it on the revealed print. Lift it from one side, and then press it onto the card.
A male thug, standing perpendicular to your right, is pointing a gun at your head. Explain how best to stun him and get away
a- slip your right shoulder forward, and snap your arm back into his wrist while bringing your head forward. Pivot and kick him in the crotch, and then run away, changing direction and turning corners.
disarm him
Do a quick 180-turn, grab his wrist with your left hand and the barrel with your right. Pull down on the left and up with the right, breaking his finger. Then push the gun down out of his hand.
Describe a first-position plie.
Point your feet out at 45-degree angles and bend your knees while keeping your back entirely straight (possibly holding your arms out in a circle to keep your balance). Once you've bent as far as you can, straighten up again slowly, again keeping the back straight.
Not taking into account drunk driving or felony-level speeding, what driving infraction causes the most points on driving records in most states?
Not stopping when a school bus has its stop sign out.
You're driving down Route 2 from NY towards Florida MA one Friday morning. Explain what time(s) is the absolute worst to pass through Williamstown.
:50-:00 from 9-1; there is a steady stream of pedestrian crossing that keeps traffic stopped for ten minutes
You're driving down a largely empty, icy highway at a high speed, and hit a patch of black ice, causing you to skid across lanes. What do you do?
Do not pedal, or you will risk spinning out; attempt to guide the car back to a straight path using the steering wheel.
Describe the grips for the following pitches: two-seam fastball
index and third fingers on the seams, seam closing away from you
slider
same as fastball, but with the middle finger curving in and slightly off-center
three-finger change-up
hold deep into palm, with middle three fingers all on the ball and pinky tucked underneath
A C battery is how many volts?
1.5

Cooking

How should you never, ever, defrost meats?
By leaving it out in the air to defrost, at room temperature (or something really creative)
How do you whip cream?
Use very cold cream, whip at medium speed until soft peaks form, add sugar and any flavoring, whip until stiff peaks that hold their shapes form.
How do you Knead Dough (and how to tell when it's done)
Push down and forward, fold, repeat. If it's sticky, dust it with flour. When it's done, it will be smooth and elastic, not webby, and will have some resistance.
Give the verbs used to describe the following processes-
To brown meat quickly in fat and then cook in a covered pan for a long time with little liquid
Braise
To cook by putting directly over heat, grill
Broil
To cook by simmering for a short time in liquid
Poach
To cook by dry heat, bake
Roast
Cook or brown in a little fat over a hot fire
Saute (with an up accent on the e)
Place quickly in boiling water, followed by ice cold water
Blanch
Cut almost all the way through, fan out sides and lay flat
Butterfly-cut
Melt sugars
Carmelize
Combine 2 non-soluble ingredients by whisking quickly
Emulsify
Cut into narrow long strips
Julienne
Cut repeatedly into tiny pieces
Mince
Boil liquid until the volume is decreased by evaporation
Reduce

House and Home

How do you refinish a piece of furniture (using a polyurethane or other varnish)?
Sand with a low-grit sandpaper(100 or so) to remove the existing finish, down to bare wood. Sand with a higher-grit sandpaper(~200). Wipe down the entire piece with a cloth to remove dust. Open and gently stir varnish (do not shake! take off points if they say shake!!!), apply with a brush evenly and allow to dry for 3-4 hours in a well-ventilated area. Sand with a very-fine sandpaper (320 or so), remove dust with a cloth, add another layer of varnish. Allow to dry for 24 hours before use.
How do you fill cracks in plaster?
Widen crack slightlyand clean crack of any loose plaster, fill with spackling with a spackling knife and press hard on the surface to make the fill even with the wall surface. Sand cracks with a sander once spackling is dry. Wear a mask if you value your lungs. Apply a sealer over the area to prevent bleeding. Paint surface.
There's a white tape you might use when putting on a new showerhead, or in general when you're afraid pipes are going to leak. What is it called, and what is it made of?
Plumber's Tape; Teflon
Once upon a time, lawns were mowed using old-fashioned power- muscle. What other major design difference made these lawnmowers cut lawns more nicely, on the whole, than most modern home lawnmowers?
They were reel lawn mowers instead of rotary lawn mowers.
The lights in your front hall always burn out faster than any other lights; they tend to last for a month instead of a year. What should you do?
Try replacing the circuit breaker. Or, stop using light in the front hall.
What traditional type of fireplace is rather shallow, but very heat-efficient, and always has a draft?
A Rumsford fireplace

UNIX

OK, you want to become the superuser. Out of curiosity, what's the name of this superuser?
root
How can you execute a single command as the superuser?
sudo or su -c
How can you permanently become the superuser (that is, until you logout)?
su
How can you do the same as 3, but start a clean session (i.e. no lingering environmental variables)?
su -
You want to edit the file, so you open an editor... oh no! You've accidentally entered vi! Quick, how do you get out?
:q
Phew, back at the console. Open emacs by typing, you guessed it, "emacs." What does emacs mean, anyhow?
Editing MACroS
Give the emacs keybinding to open a file.
C-x C-f
Once you've typed a few lines, you'd like to see some color. What command will give your script syntax highlighting?
M-x global-font-lock-mode
Eh, this script stuff isn't all it's cracked up to be. Let's play some tetris.
M-x tetris
This tetris game sucks. How do you kill the tetris buffer?
C-x k
Exit emacs.
C-x C-c
Find out what shell you're using.
echo $SHELL
Say you're using bash, and you accidentally type ":(){ :|:};:" (not including quotation marks). Why is this a Very Bad Idea - what does this command do, specifically?
It defines a function, ":", which calls itself then pipes the output of that call into itself, then backgrounds the process. Then it calls ":" to start the recursion from hell.
Say you've typed that command, and for some reason your computer is still accepting input. What command might you type to observe the current processes?
top or various varrietes of ps - ps aux, ps auxc, ps auc, etc.
Someone's created a file called "-rf" in your root directory. What is the right way to remove it? What is the wrong way to remove it, and what happens if you remove it the wrong way?
rm -- -rf, rm -rf, you delete your whole hard drive
OK, we're done with Unix for today. But you don't want to just type "logout" - you want to type "hihosilver" for a more personal touch. What bash feature allows you to do this?
aliasing

Auto Mechanics

Let's say you buy a car from 2001, that's just off-lease. You take it to a mechanic that's been recommended to you for the model, and they tell you you need a new Carburator. What's almost definitely wrong with this picture?
Carburators don't go into recent US cars due to air pollution-fuel injectors are used instead.
What are the four-cycles in a four cycle engine?
Intake, Compression, Ignition, Exhaust.
In a car engine, what creates the high-voltage electricity that's needed by the spark plug?
The Ignition coil.
What mechanical device selects which spark plug gets that jolt?
The distributor
List at least two things you can do wrong with jumper cables. At least one should be related to auto mechanics.
Connect the wrong polarities of battery together, connect both leads from battery to battery directly (discouraged,) Don't start the car you're jumping from, accept one creative answer.
You're in an old truck and can't find the brights on the dash. Where are they likely to be?
on the floor, in the corner on the left.
John Delorian had a very unsuccessful company. Eventually, the solution was presented to him: drug running. This was a set-up, and he was busted. What corporate giant was rumored to be the architect of this plot?
General Motors
What does a blinking green traffic light mean in Ontario?
An advance go; lets you go before other traffic, like an arrow down here.

Camping

You're camping, and have a supply of food you wish to keep away from bears. Conveniently, there is a large tree nearby. Describe how to keep the food safe.
Food should be hung from the tree, ten feet up, 4 feet down from any branches and 4 feet out from them.
You're in the woods, and from another campsite you hear a whistle blown loudly three times. What does this mean?
There's some kind of imminent distress occurring at the other site, and they need assistance
You're making a fire. The wind is blowing from the southwest. Which way should you theoretically be facing while making the fire?
The northeast
You're camping in the winter. What should you do with your boots before you go to sleep?
Put them in your sleeping bag to keep them from freezing.
On the Swiss Champ pocketknife, what is inside the corkscrew?
A screwdriver
Describe how you tie a bowline, using metaphors. If you mention rabbits, trees, or rabbit holes, you will lose points.
Make a circle a ways back from the end of the line, with the part closer to the end over the standing part of the rope. Leave a loop of the final size you want at the bottom, then bring the end of the rope up through the bottom of the loop, around the standing part, and back down. Tighten.
Q: When you have a camping pack strapped correctly to your body, on what body part should most of the weight be supported?
the hips
What do you put on if your feet are cold (besides boots)?
A hat - a great deal of heat escapes through your head.
You run into a black bear; what do you do?
Make noise - try to scare it off.
You run into a grizzly bear; what do you do?
Back off slowly; don't appear threatening.
What should you do with your fuel on a cold winter night?
Sleep with it; otherwise it will freeze and become useless.
Where and upon what should one urinate?
200 feet from any water source; not on any vegetation (the acid kills it) - ideally on a rock (you'd think this is common sense, but there are entire lectures on this)
Where is the best place to be in a lightning storm?
In a stand of trees, but not near the tallest tree. In general, away from open spaces where you are the closest connection between the sky and the ground.
According to the Wilderness Survival merit badge pamphlet, what, in order, are the seven priorities for wilderness survival?
Positive Mental Attitude, 1st Aid, Shelter, Fire, Signaling, Water, Food (in this order)
Why do you never set tents up in a row?
Deer like to jump over things, including tents, and it sucks if a deer jumps over one tent and lands on another
Why do you never bring cotton into the backcountry?
It absorbs moisture extremely well, becomes very heavy, and can lead to hypothermia by heat loss.
Why are wide-mouthed Nalgenes best for winter camping?
It is much easier for ice to form in the narrow mouths, since there is a smaller surface area.
What is unique about cooking at high altitudes?
Everything boils quicker. (This is really cool if you ever get the chance to experience it.)
Where is the weight supposed to be concentrated in an external frame pack? Where is it supposed to be concentrated in an internal frame pack?
Top and bottom, respectively
Why do some hikers wear bells?
They wear "bear bells" to warn bears of their presence.
What do the white, blue and yellow blazes seen in the Purple Valley indicate?
White - Appalachian Trail, Blue - sub-trail (i.e. Broad Brook trail), Yellow - sub-sub trail (i.e. Agawon Trail)