Q: This article: Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain, in northern New York, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French military engineer Michel Chartier de Lotbinière, Marquis de Lotbinière between October 1755 and 1757, during the action in the "North American theater" of the Seven Years' War, often referred to in the US as the French and Indian War. The fort was of strategic importance during the 18th-century colonial conflicts between Great Britain and France, and again played an important role during the American Revolutionary War. The site controlled a river portage alongside the mouth of the rapids-infested La Chute River, in the 3.5 miles (5.6 km) between Lake Champlain and Lake George. It was thus strategically placed for the competition over trade routes between the British-controlled Hudson River Valley and the French-controlled Saint Lawrence River Valley. The terrain amplified the importance of the site. Both lakes were long and narrow and oriented north–south, as were the many ridge lines of the Appalachian Mountains, which extended as far south as Georgia. The mountains created nearly impassable terrains to the east and west of the Great Appalachian Valley that the site commanded. The name "Ticonderoga" comes from the Iroquois word tekontaró:ken, meaning "it is at the junction of two waterways".During the 1758 Battle of Carillon, 4,000 French defenders were able to repel an attack by 16,000 British troops near the fort. In 1759, the British returned and drove a token French garrison from the fort. During the American Revolutionary War, when the British controlled the fort, it was attacked in May 1775 in the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga by the  Green Mountain Boys and other state militia under the command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, who captured it in the surprise attack.  Cannons taken from the fort were transported to Boston to lift its siege by the British, who evacuated... contains an answer for the question: What are the full names of the two commanding officers who were involved with the surprise capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775?, what is it ?
A: Benedict Arnold


Question: This article: The film shows a scene of a girl being kidnapped from a charity plane by Vietnamese rebels (a U.N. supplies [as in food and medicine] plane) in Vietnam.  Then we are taken to the United States to a detention center in Los Angeles where the warden of the center and 6 of the toughest prisoners are hired to rescue the girl, whose name is Gabrielle Presscott, daughter of Jameson Prescott, CEO and billionaire.  Warden Toliver and prisoners (by last name only, their first names are never revealed) Butts and Monster (black youths), Lopez and Vasquez (Latino youths, with Vasquez being a girl), and Brophy and Lamb (white youths). The group travels to Vietnam with three days to rescue Gabrielle, spending one day to train and the rest of the days to find her. After winning a battle the group spends the night at a village brothel and has a small celebration, with Brophy sneaking away into the night.  The group awakens to find the rebels with Brophy as a hostage and asking the villagers to hand over the rest of the Americans.  The group decides to attempt a rescue for Brophy and are successful, however, Lopez and Monster are both killed during the fight. The group runs away into the jungle and is tiredly marching along when Lamb steps on a landmine.  While Toliver is trying to disarm the mine, some rebels are slowly getting nearer and nearer to the group.  Brophy once again sneaks away but sacrifices himself, bringing another death to the group.  Toliver and his men finally arrive at the rebel base camp, with Toliver combing the camp for Gabrielle.  After he finds her he returns to the others and hands each of them a set of explosives to be detonated by a timer. contains an answer for the question: What are the names of the characters to whom Toliver hands explosives?, what is it ?
Answer: Vasquez


[Q]: This 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. contains an answer for the question: What five cities had a tzykanisteria?, what is it ?
****
[A]: Constantinople


Question: This article: Following their 2004 reunion, the Pixies felt that recording a new song would "break the ice" between band members after their acrimonious split in 1993. As the band were announcing dates for their reunion world tour, DreamWorks contacted manager Ken Goes to enquire whether they would be interested in recording a song for the title sequence of Shrek 2. The band agreed, and frontman Black Francis and Deal began composing riffs for a song aimed at children. Deal had been experimenting with a chord progression for a while, and since her band The Breeders were then inactive, she decided to donate her new composition to the Pixies. The Pixies chose Deal's riff, as it was a "poppier, more kid-friendly thing," and Francis agreed to let her sing lead vocals and write the new song; significantly, Francis is relegated to backing vocals on the track. Francis' move was meant to warm the previously cold relations between the two—in the previous two Pixies studio albums, Bossanova (1990) and Trompe le Monde (1991), Francis, the band's principal songwriter, had not let Deal contribute any songs or sing lead vocals. This became one of the reasons for the Pixies' 1993 split. However, the two appeared at the time to have resolved their differences: Francis praised "Bam Thwok," as "a really good song." despite joking in interviews about how he planned to remove as many of her compositions as possible from a hypothetical new album. However, Deal eventually left the band in June 2013, before the release of the band's next album, Indie Cindy. contains an answer for the question: What is the name of the person that sang lead vocals and wrote the song for Shrek 2?, what is it ?
Answer:
Deal