December 24, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Christmas Fun
December 25, 2011 at 2:25 am
Interesting - I cheated, obviously, and found there are nine, but it appears eight is also right:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus%27s_reindeer
Paul White
SQLPerformance.com
SQLkiwi blog
@SQL_Kiwi
December 25, 2011 at 6:46 am
interesting your post Paul!!!!
December 25, 2011 at 6:49 am
Woot woot - Merry Christmas all.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
_______________________________________________
I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
SQL RNNR
Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
Learn Extended Events
December 25, 2011 at 8:17 am
Merry Christmas, Ho Ho Ho! 🙂
For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/
For better answers on performance questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/
December 25, 2011 at 8:29 am
Quite a difficult question.
The famous poem that begins "Twas the night before Christmas" (it's not called that - I can't remember its proper title, or who wrote it) has 8 reindeer. That's where the idea that Santa delivers presents on Cristmas Eve in a sled pulled by reindeer came from; and it's probably the most famous of all American poems. I hit that one at school when I was about 8, and learned all 8 names (which I've now forgotten, but remember there were 8)
Frank Baum's version, about three quarters of a century later, had Santa start with just 2 reindeer and acquire 8 more, so in that version there are 10 reindeer. I read that (borrowed it from local library) when I was temporarily hooked on Baum after seeing "The Wizard of Oz" at the cinema - but had to look it up to check now as I couldn't remember what the reindeers in it were called (so I couldn't count the names) or how many there were.
Then there was the Rudolph version, which originated a few decades after Baum's version, as a little story book made to be a Santa present in a department store chain, which had 9 reindeer. That of course had commercial clout, because it was owned by a fairly big retailer; and it acquired further commercial clout a decade later when Gene Autry sang a song written by a relative of the Rudolph story and roughly based on it, which rapidly hit the number 1 spot in America (it was pretty well known in the UK too - the Christmas when I was 5 years old I heard it many times) and was one of the highest selling titles ever in the USA - it only lost that distinction when Americans became sufficiently rich to buy many songs in that sort of quantity, which was not until about another 3 decades later on. I found it very odd that the singing cowboy should sing about a red nosed reindeer, but I guess that was just because I was young enough not to separate actors from roles. I remember that when Rudolph led the sleigh he was an extra added to the original 8, so that makes 9 altogether.
There are certainly other versons too - but I don't know anything about them. However, given that 8, 9 and 10 are all possible answers I suspect that 11 and 14 are too.
So the answer could be any of the numbers listed as options: 1000, 1001, 1110, 1011. And one has to work out on some basis which of these numbers should be chosen.
Historically the right answer seems to be 8; but as Frank Baum's books were extremely popular with American children (although perhaps his Santa story was less popular than the Oz books) maybe children would think of 10, but that wasn't one of teh options; and finally, as SQLServerCentral is culturally an American site, and American culture sometimes appears to be driven by the power of money, it might be a safe bet that choosing the one with the commercial clout will get the points.
So I picked 9. But I think people who answered 8 should get the points too.
Tom
December 25, 2011 at 8:30 am
SQL Kiwi (12/25/2011)
Interesting - I cheated, obviously, and found there are nine, but it appears eight is also right:
Add to the above
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20111225/OPINION02/112250319
in late 1939, when the original story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was written for Montgomery Ward, by Robert L. May.
An advertising gimix - sorry to say but traditionally it was and to many of us still 8 ... that is EIGHT
December 25, 2011 at 11:24 am
You need to be able to get inside Steves mind for these questions!
Remember, 7 points should not be too easy to get, and steve has an wicked streak! 🙂
Happy christmas!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
December 25, 2011 at 11:30 pm
A suggestion: Steve, when you re-post this question, assign it 9 points. 🙂
December 25, 2011 at 11:43 pm
I got it from this link.
Malleswarareddy
I.T.Analyst
MCITP(70-451)
December 26, 2011 at 1:37 am
Rudolph was to "guide the sleigh tonight" not pull the sleigh. Technically there 8 that pulled and one that guide. In the story, Rudolph was to small to play in the games.
December 26, 2011 at 5:53 am
SQL Kiwi (12/25/2011)
Interesting - I cheated, obviously, and found there are nine, but it appears eight is also right:
Well, I cheated too! 🙂 I knew about Rudolph, Vixen and Cupid, but not the rest.
Loved the idea about representing the answer in binary.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Thanks & Regards,
Nakul Vachhrajani.
http://nakulvachhrajani.com
Follow me on
Twitter: @sqltwins
December 26, 2011 at 7:19 am
There is nothing more aggravating than having a question with two correct answers and having the person posting the question selecting the answer based on their own bias.
Grinch
December 26, 2011 at 7:52 am
I was thinking the same thing - to Americans, we can have two correct answers. I didn't even try to research that to see what other cultures might think. I went with 9 just because I figure most kids now think of the 8 named reindeer and add Rudolf without pausing. I'd agree that those who chose 8 should also get credit and I think the argument for 10 has some merit as well, though Baum's Santa Claus / reindeer is not really well known.
December 26, 2011 at 8:33 am
[font="Courier New"]
Hi!!!
As far as I understood, the layout of the reindeer pulling the sleigh was something like this:
+------+Dasher--Prancer-Comet--Donner--+
|SLEIGH|...............................>--Rudolph
+------+Dancer--Vixen---Cupid--Blitzen-+
Not sure about the order of the first 8 reindeer, but as Rudolph would "guide" the sleigh using its bright nose, it would be on the very front of it.
Just my $0.02.
Merry Christmas everyone!!!
[/font]
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 50 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply