Random Questions
2000 ACF Regionals - Packet by Bowling Green and Georgia - #23 [report this tossup]
One of its names translates as "plain of joy", while another means "land of youth". Sources list either King Tethra of the Formorians, a race of giants, or the sea god Manannan mac Lir as its ruler. Sources also can't agree on the location of this paradise for the deceased, placing it at the bottom of the ocean or as an idyllic island. FTP, name this place from Celtic mythology, capitalized upon by Saban Entertainment with its "Mystic Knights."
Answer: Tir na n-Og
2007 ACF Nationals - Packet by ACF Editors (#4) - #22 [report this tossup]
This man came into conflict with Cicero when Cicero refused to let him use the Roman army in Cyprus to collect the debts and massive interest owed him by the city of Salamis. Later he asked Cicero to write a laudatory biography of Cato, and another of Cicero's works, an extended history of Roman oratory, is named for this man, who famously favored the "Attic" style of rhetoric. He was made pontifex in 47 and praetor in 44 despite being married to Porcia, the daughter of Cato, and having been on the losing side at Pharsalus. FTP, name this man who jointly led an army of more than 100,000 to defeat at Philippi two years after he led the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar.
Answer: Marcus Junius Brutus
2009 ACF Regionals - Packet by University of Toronto - #5 [report this tossup]
Applying an inversion to this figure gives the Dupin cyclide, and the systole and area of one of these figures is related by Loewner's inequality. The Weyl group can be defined as the normalizer of a group isomorphic to one of these figures, modulo the centralizer of said group. A compact Lie Group has a maximal one of these, and the standard one of these requires seven colors to color according to the Heawood conjecture. Double and triple ones of these have more than one handle, and N-dimensional ones are the direct product of a circle with itself n times. FTP, name this shape important in topology which is homeomorphic to the coffee cup and is shaped like a donut.
Answer: Torus