[QUOTE=davar55;394703]That Terracotta reference looks like a big chess-piece repository to me.
Where was chess invented, and by whom ?[/QUOTE]

The etymology of [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkmate#Etymology"]checkmate[/URL] helps:
[QUOTE]The term checkmate is, according to the Barnhart Etymological Dictionary, an alteration of the Persian phrase "shāh māt" (شاه مات) which means, literally, "the King is helpless". Others maintain that it means "the King is dead", as chess reached Europe via the Islamic world, and Arabic māta (مَاتَ) means "died" or "is dead". However, in the Pashto language (an Iranian language), the word māt (مات) still exists meaning "destroyed, broken".

Moghadam traced the etymology of the word mate. It comes from a Persian verb mandan (ماندن), meaning "to remain", which is cognate with the Latin word maneō and the Greek menō (μενω, which means "I remain"). It means "remained" in the sense of "abandoned" and the formal translation is "surprised", in the military sense of "ambushed". "Shāh" (شاه) is the Persian word for the monarch. Players would announce "Shāh" when the king was in check. "Māt" (مات) is a Persian adjective for "at a loss", "helpless", or "defeated". So the king is in mate when he is ambushed, at a loss, helpless, defeated, or abandoned to his fate.

In modern parlance, the term checkmate is a metaphor for an irrefutable and strategic victory[/QUOTE] Don't get me started on the words [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem#Earliest_stories"]met and emet[/URL]. I'm just saying these all these words sound suspiciously similar. If it weren't for those [URL="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouMeddlingKids"]meddling kids[/URL], things would be different I tell you...
[QUOTE]In some tales (for example, some versions of those of the golems of Chełm and Prague, as well as in Polish tales and version of Brothers Grimm), a golem is inscribed with Hebrew words, such as the word emet (אמת, "truth" in Hebrew) written on its forehead. The golem could then be deactivated by removing the aleph (א) in emet, thus changing the inscription from "truth" to "death" (met מת, meaning "dead"). Other versions add that after creating an entity out of clay, it would be brought to life by placing into his mouth a shem with a magic formula, and could later be immobilized by pulling out the shem, or by reversing the creative combinations, for, as Rabbi Jacob ben Shalom, who arrived at Barcelona from Germany in 1325, remarked, the law of destruction is the reversal of the law of creation.[/QUOTE]

Keyboard Reset: [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control-Alt-Delete"]Control-Alt-Delete[/URL]
This adds a critical path of failure and is problematic on tablets and phones. Holding the device in [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gripping_Hand"]the gripping hand[/URL] is a tremendous convenience.

Adulterated: NC-17

Groundhog: [URL="http://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-landowners-america"]Land Baron[/URL]

[QUOTE=only_human;394706]The etymology of [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkmate#Etymology"]checkmate[/URL] helps:
Don't get me started on the words [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem#Earliest_stories"]met and emet[/URL]. I'm just saying these all these words sound suspiciously similar. If it weren't for those [URL="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouMeddlingKids"]meddling kids[/URL], things would be different I tell you...[/QUOTE]The "check" portion of the word can be traced back at least 2500 years in the Behistun inscriptions carved at the command of Darius (𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 [i] D�rayavauš[/i]) the Great where it appears as 𐎧𐏁𐎠𐎹𐎰𐎡𐎰 (xš�yatha) pronounced (approximately) "kh-shah-ya-th-a".

There may well be earlier attested versions in Indo-European languages (I'd be surprised if not) but that's the one that immediately springs to mind.

[QUOTE=xilman;394747]The "check" portion of the word can be traced back at least 2500 years in the Behistun inscriptions carved at the command of Darius (𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 [i] D�rayavauš[/i]) the Great where it appears as 𐎧𐏁𐎠𐎹𐎰𐎡𐎰 (xš�yatha) pronounced (approximately) "kh-shah-ya-th-a".

There may well be earlier attested versions in Indo-European languages (I'd be surprised if not) but that's the one that immediately springs to mind.[/QUOTE]
Well that gets me partway into cuneiform line one of column one. I hope this won't be due by Friday and no one said it would be on the test. These Turing Tests are hard!

Apropos of generalies versus your specifics, here are some etymological entries starting with shah with PIE mentioned:
[URL="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=shah&searchmode=none"]Online Etymology Dictionary:shah[/URL]
[QUOTE]shah (n.)
title of the king of Persia, 1560s, shaw, from Persian shah, shortened from Old Persian xšayathiya "king," from Indo-Iranian *ksayati "he has power over, rules" from PIE *tke- "to gain control of, gain power over" (cognates: Sanskrit ksatram "dominion;" Greek krasthai "to acquire, get," kektesthai "to possess"). His wife is a shahbanu (from banu "lady"); his son is a shahzadah (from zadah "son").

checkmate (n.)
mid-14c., from Old French eschec mat (Modern French échec et mat), which (with Spanish jaque y mate, Italian scacco-matto) is from Arabic shah mat "the king died" (see check (n.1)), which according to Barnhart is a misinterpretation of Persian mat "be astonished" as mata "to die," mat "he is dead." Hence Persian shah mat, if it is the ultimate source of the word, would be literally "the king is left helpless, the king is stumped."

check (n.1)
c.1300, "a call in chess noting one's move has placed his opponent's king (or another major piece) in immediate peril," from Old French eschequier "a check at chess" (also "chess board, chess set"), from eschec "the game of chess; chessboard; check; checkmate," from Vulgar Latin *scaccus, from Arabic shah, from Persian shah "king," the principal piece in a chess game (see shah; also compare
checkmate (n.)). Also c.1300 in a generalized sense, "harmful incident or event."

When the king is in check that player's choices are severely limited. Hence, "sudden stoppage" (early 14c.), and by c.1700 to "a token of ownership used to check against, and prevent, loss or theft" (surviving in hat check) and "a check against forgery or alteration," which gave the modern financial use of "bank check, money draft" (first recorded 1798 and often spelled cheque), probably influenced by exchequer. Checking account is attested from 1897, American English. Blank check in the figurative sense attested by 1849. Checks and balances is from 1782, perhaps originally suggesting machinery.[/QUOTE]
Also, being curious, I looked around and found this cool list of old stuff:
[URL="http://listverse.com/2013/11/10/10-oldest-surviving-documents-of-their-type-in-the-world-2/"]10 Oldest Surviving Documents Of Their Type[/URL][LIST][*]Oldest International Treaty[*]Oldest Surviving Medical Document[*]Oldest Surviving Religious Texts[*]Oldest Surviving Poem[*]Oldest Depiction Of Sex[*]Oldest Message In A Bottle[*]Oldest Correspondence[*]Oldest Printed Book Bearing A Date[*]Oldest Marriage Certificate[*]Oldest Surviving Set Of Laws[/LIST]

[QUOTE=only_human;394754]Well that gets me partway into cuneiform line one of column one. I hope this won't be due by Friday and no one said it would be on the test. These Turing Tests are hard![/QUOTE]You should be able to make further progress by finding the words "kings" and "of kings", the portion which leads to Darius being called "the Great" in English. Note that Old Persian is alphabetic, apart from a very few logograms, which makes deciphering rather easier for English readers, there being only a few different symbols to recognize and learn their values.

I am firmly of the opinion that there should be material on tests which has not been explicitly predicted to be there. My degree course (chemistry at Oxford) had only the vaguest of formal syllabus and the only (implicit) expectation about the contents of the examinations was that it would be at least 80% in common with those set in the previous few years. We were expected to educate ourselves, not memorize pre-ordained facts.

[QUOTE=xilman;394789]I am firmly of the opinion that there should be material on tests which has not been explicitly predicted to be there. My degree course (chemistry at Oxford) had only the vaguest of formal syllabus and the only (implicit) expectation about the contents of the examinations was that it would be at least 80% in common with those set in the previous few years. We were expected to educate ourselves, not memorize pre-ordained facts.[/QUOTE]
There are several mathematics courses in Leiden in which students are allowed to consult their notes during exams, and therefore get no credit at all purely for memorizing material.

This question is currently causing a storm for economics at Sheffield in the UK:
[URL]http://www.bbc.com/news/education-31057005[/URL]

[QUOTE=only_human;394754]Well that gets me partway into cuneiform line one of column one. I hope this won't be due by Friday and no one said it would be on the test. These Turing Tests are hard![/QUOTE]

Just so you're aware, the MT Test (Modern ...) is much harder, but it's not just pass-fail...

[QUOTE=Nick;394796]There are several mathematics courses in Leiden in which students are allowed to consult their notes during exams, and therefore get no credit at all purely for memorizing material.
This question is currently causing a storm for economics at Sheffield in the UK:
[URL]http://www.bbc.com/news/education-31057005[/URL][/QUOTE]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Interesting - economics actually requires math and thinking.

[QUOTE=davar55;394801]Just so you're aware, the MT Test (Modern ...) is much harder, but it's not just pass-fail...[/QUOTE]That a relief. The Turing Test is already a blinded test but a double blind would possibly only work if the entity under test lacked the very self awareness that is consequential in passing the test, so I am requesting a triple blind that passes the conversation as a whole if it appears intelligent. That way we can pair up and my lab partner can help me pass. And I request a open-book test.

[QUOTE=only_human;394808]That a relief. The Turing Test is already a blinded test but a double blind would possibly only work if the entity under test lacked the very self awareness that is consequential in passing the test, so I am requesting a triple blind that passes the conversation as a whole if it appears intelligent. That way we can pair up and my lab partner can help me pass. And I request a open-book test.[/QUOTE]

Granted. That request gets you a C-minus at least, so you're almost assured of passing.
But don't ignore all the extra credits ...

Inflation: An increase in the price of balloons.