XX Questions - Game CXLV

[Hominidae]

Born on the mainland of Europe?

[Jamiet99uk]

Born on the mainland of Europe?

He's from the USA. That was already asked!!

[Spartaculous]

That he is a major or lower in the Union army, and not a high level politician after the war, suggests he is mostly famous for non-political, non-military pursuits, and that his war service is tangential to the public's knowledge of him.

Is this person best known for his work in government/politics, the military, or for being a member of the hereditary nobility?

Yes

[JECE]

Is his role in the civil war what he's most famous for?

Yes

[JECE]

That he is a major or lower in the Union army, and not a high level politician after the war, suggests he is mostly famous for non-political, non-military pursuits, and that his war service is tangential to the public's knowledge of him.

So I'll ask: was he a professional writer?

Yes, but see my previous post . . .

[JECE]

Or alternatively, that he WAS a senior policitian, but not in the class of politicians listed in the earlier question.

So I'll ask a second question, if I may, before turning the floor over to others. Was he a state governor?

No

[JECE]

Born on the mainland of Europe?

No

[JECE]

That's 16 questions used up.

[JustAGuyNamedWill]

Has an E in their first or last name?

[mOctave]

This post doesn't contain any questions for JECE; it is just chit-chat.

So given the date of death, this person's date of birth is likely to be between the 1800s and the 1880s.

Please no more questions about birth or death dates, that's a small enough range to work with.

Something that I have wondered about is what it would be like to attempt to brute-force the birth or death date. If we have an 80-year range for either one, that works out to 29200 days (plus leap days). We could then spend 13 questions performing a binary search on (say) date of death, and, since 2^13 = 8192, we could narrow it down to around a 4-day period, at which point, you go to, say, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1892#Deaths and hope that it works.

Ho ho.

While superficially interesting, I fear that sounds like an utterly joyless approach which would rob this pursuit of its essential character, reducing a somewhat whimsical general knowledge game to an almost purely mathematical exercise.

Actually, we could just make a list of five hundred thousand people. The first question would be whether or not our target is in that list. Presuming the answer was yes, then we spend the remaining 19 questions figuring out exactly who.

In fact, we could probably do up to 2 million people with reasonable accuracy, thanks to our extra guesses.

Here's an actual question:
Did this person ever hold a political office in the United States?

[Spartaculous]

This post doesn't contain any questions for JECE; it is just chit-chat.

Something that I have wondered about is what it would be like to attempt to brute-force the birth or death date. If we have an 80-year range for either one, that works out to 29200 days (plus leap days). We could then spend 13 questions performing a binary search on (say) date of death, and, since 2^13 = 8192, we could narrow it down to around a 4-day period, at which point, you go to, say, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1892#Deaths and hope that it works.

Ho ho.

While superficially interesting, I fear that sounds like an utterly joyless approach which would rob this pursuit of its essential character, reducing a somewhat whimsical general knowledge game to an almost purely mathematical exercise.

Actually, we could just make a list of five hundred thousand people. The first question would be whether or not our target is in that list. Presuming the answer was yes, then we spend the remaining 19 questions figuring out exactly who.

In fact, we could probably do up to 2 million people with reasonable accuracy, thanks to our extra guesses.

First guess in game 146: Does the person appear in
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Living_people?

[Jamiet99uk]

Here's an actual question:
Did this person ever hold a political office in the United States?

We have established he didn't hold senior political office, you know that, right?

You people ask the worst questions.

[JECE]

Has an E in their first or last name?

Yes

[Jamiet99uk]

1,3. Real white man.
2,4 Born between 1800 and 1919
5. Born in a country in the Northern Hemisphere with the colour white in its flag.
6. Best known for his work in government/politics, the military, or for being a member of the hereditary nobility.
7. Died before 29th Feb 1921.
8. From the USA.
9. Did not serve as US president, vice president, senator, Supreme Court justice, or cabinet member.
10. Served in a military role during the American Civil War
11. Did not hold the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, or higher, in the United States Army.
12. Not part of the military of the Confederate States of America.
13. Most famous for his activity during the Civil War.
14. Was also a professional writer (but this is not the main source of his fame).
15. Was not a State Governor.
16. Not born on the mainland of Europe.
17. Has an E somewhere in his name.


NOT:
David Glasgow Farragut [DougJoe]
William Tecumseh Sherman [JustWill]

[JECE]

Here's an actual question:
Did this person ever hold a political office in the United States?

No, not that I could find

[Spartaculous]

Free guess: David Dixon Porter.

[JECE]

Free guess: David Dixon Porter.

And we have a winner!!!

[Spartaculous]

Free guess: David Dixon Porter.

And we have a winner!!!

The longer we went, I kept thinking, you know, Farragut would really be the perfect answer here, even apart from the torpedoes quote, except that DougJoe had already guessed him, so...

[Jamiet99uk]

Oh damn!

My question was too narrowly focused on the Union army and did not account for the possibility that he was a naval officer.

Well done, Sparty.

[Spartaculous]

Oh damn!

My question was too narrowly focused on the Union army and did not account for the possibility that he was a naval officer.

Well done, Sparty.

It actually was quite a good question, because it made me realize that the person likely was in the military, but not the army. (I was even considering Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, who did balloon reconnaissance for the North.)

Also, cdngooner's question about if the person was a writer ended up being the final clue I needed to guess.