A friend asked me to answer this question: What five cities had a tzykanisteria?, using the article: Byzantines were avid players of tavli (Byzantine Greek: τάβλη), a game known in English as backgammon, which is still popular in former Byzantine realms, and still known by the name tavli in Greece. Byzantine nobles were devoted to horsemanship, particularly tzykanion, now known as polo. The game came from Sassanid Persia in the early period and a Tzykanisterion (stadium for playing the game) was built by Theodosius II (r. 408–450) inside the Great Palace of Constantinople. Emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) excelled at it; Emperor Alexander (r. 912–913) died from exhaustion while playing, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) was injured while playing with Tatikios, and John I of Trebizond (r. 1235–1238) died from a fatal injury during a game. Aside from Constantinople and Trebizond, other Byzantine cities also featured tzykanisteria, most notably Sparta, Ephesus, and Athens, an indication of a thriving urban aristocracy. The game was introduced to the West by crusaders, who developed a taste for it particularly during the pro-Western reign of emperor Manuel I Komnenos., what would be the answer ?
Ans: Constantinople

A friend asked me to answer this question: What type of camera took the only known well-exposed color photograph of the detonation explosion?, using the article: Others were less optimistic. Ramsey chose zero (a complete dud), Robert Oppenheimer chose 0.3 kilotons of TNT (1.3 TJ), Kistiakowsky 1.4 kilotons of TNT (5.9 TJ), and Bethe chose 8 kilotons of TNT (33 TJ). Rabi, the last to arrive, took 18 kilotons of TNT (75 TJ) by default, which would win him the pool. In a video interview, Bethe stated that his choice of 8 kt was exactly the value calculated by Segrè, and he was swayed by Segrè's authority over that of a more junior [but unnamed] member of Segrè's group who had calculated 20 kt. Enrico Fermi offered to take wagers among the top physicists and military present on whether the atmosphere would ignite, and if so whether it would destroy just the state, or incinerate the entire planet. This last result had been previously calculated by Bethe to be almost impossible, although for a while it had caused some of the scientists some anxiety. Bainbridge was furious with Fermi for scaring the guards who, unlike the physicists, did not have the advantage of their knowledge about the scientific possibilities. His own biggest fear was that nothing would happen, in which case he would have to head back to the tower to investigate.Julian Mack and Berlyn Brixner were responsible for photography. The photography group employed some fifty different cameras, taking motion and still photographs. Special Fastax cameras taking 10,000 frames per second would record the minute details of the explosion. Spectrograph cameras would record the wavelengths of light emitted by the explosion, and pinhole cameras would record gamma rays. A rotating drum spectrograph at the 10,000-yard (9,100 m) station would obtain the spectrum over the first hundredth of a second. Another, slow recording one would track the fireball. Cameras were placed in bunkers only 800 yards (730 m) from the tower, protected by steel and lead glass, and mounted on sleds so they could be towed out by the lead-lined tank. Some observers brought their own cameras despite the security. Segré brought in Jack Aeby's 35 mm..., what would be the answer ?
Ans: 35 mm Perfex 44

A friend asked me to answer this question: What is the full name of the person who stole a mermaid pin?, using the article: Ann Sutton, the wife of Dr. William Sutton, a successful psychoanalyst, is arrested for shoplifting. Ann is saved from scandal by smooth-talking hypnotist David Korvo. Korvo persuades the store officials to put the mermaid pin she stole on her credit account, and not prosecute. He pressures her into coming to lunch with him, and she is relieved when, instead of accepting the blackmail payment she thinks he is after, he tears up her check and the store record of her shoplifting, and promises to help her. Ann is anguished about her secret, but feels she must hide all negative feelings from her husband and appear to him as a happy, supportive wife. This is taking a toll on her, and she is unable to sleep well. She attends a sophisticated party with Korvo, where he has words with one Theresa Randolph, who has clearly had an affair and a bitter breakup with him (and is now Dr. Sutton's patient). Korvo hypnotizes Ann and instructs her to sleep well, which works, but, significantly, he cannot make her obey his order to put her hand in his. Ann meets Korvo at the hotel where he lives for what she thinks are further therapy sessions, but refuses to go up to his suite and insists on talking in public in the hotel bar. Korvo distracts her and takes the martini glass with her fingerprints on it and her scarf., what would be the answer ?
Ans: Ann Sutton

A friend asked me to answer this question: What group threatened Bulgaria from the south?, using the article: After the conquest of Bulgaria, Basil II prevented revolts by retaining the rule of local nobility and relieving their lands of the obligation to pay taxes in gold, allowing tax in kind instead. The Bulgarian Patriarchate was reduced to an archbishopric, but retained its autocephalous status and its dioceses. Byzantine domestic policies changed after Basil's death and a series of unsuccessful rebellions broke out, the largest being led by Peter Delyan. In 1185 Asen dynasty nobles Ivan Asen I and Peter IV organized a major uprising which resulted in the re-establishment of the Bulgarian state. Ivan Asen and Peter laid the foundations of the Second Bulgarian Empire with Tarnovo as the capital. Kaloyan, the third of the Asen monarchs, extended his dominion to Belgrade and Ohrid. He acknowledged the spiritual supremacy of the pope and received a royal crown from a papal legate. The empire reached its zenith under Ivan Asen II (1218–1241), when its borders expanded as far as the coast of Albania, Serbia and Epirus, while commerce and culture flourished. Ivan Asen's rule was also marked by a shift away from Rome in religious matters.The Asen dynasty became extinct in 1257. Internal conflicts and incessant Byzantine and Hungarian attacks followed, enabling the Mongols to establish suzerainty over the weakened Bulgarian state. In 1277, swineherd Ivaylo led a great peasant revolt that chased the Mongols out of Bulgaria and briefly made him emperor. He was overthrown in 1280 by the feudal landlords, whose factional conflicts caused the Second Bulgarian Empire to disintegrate into small feudal dominions by the 14th century. These fragmented rump states—two tsardoms at Vidin and Tarnovo and the Despotate of Dobrudzha—became easy prey for a new threat arriving from the Southeast: the Ottoman Turks., what would be the answer ?
