a) American Airlines
b) Continental Airlines
c) Delta Air Lines
d) United Airlines

• A1) 5 weeks. The start was moved up four weeks, from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March (some years will have a three week difference), and the end was moved back one week from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November.
• A2) Summer. In 2007, it will last 93 days, while spring is 92 days, autumn 90, and winter 89 (ending in 2008). The eccentricity of the Earth's orbit can be thanked for this oddity.
• A3) Hourglass. The spiders sport a red hourglass-shaped marking, the second novel is titled "Bearing an Hourglass", and the evil sorcerer Jafar holds Jasmine captive in an supersized hourglass.
• A4) Gnomon. In 1966, MIT engineering graduate students borrowed the Greek word, meaning "indicator", for their new copy shop, Gnomon Copy.
• A5) Water. The Egyptians began using the relatively inaccurate measuring devices as far back as the 16th century B.C.
• A6) 11 days. The day after September 2, 1754 was September 14, 1754. George Washington was born on February 11, 1732 by the old system and February 22 by the new.
• A7) Cesium. One second has equaled 9,192,631,770 transition cycles between two radiation states of the cesium-133 atom since 1967.
• A8) 24 leap years. Every fourth year from 2004 to 2096 is a leap year, while 2100 is not a leap year because it is not divisible by 400.
• A9) Common. Common years have 365 days, and leap years have 366.
• A10) 7 years. The last two leap seconds were observed on December 31, 1998 and December 31, 2005. The shortest gap was six months between the first two leap seconds, as the second one occurred on December 31, 1972.
• A11) B. Planck time. This is the time (5.4x10^-44 seconds) a photon needs to cover one Planck length (1.6x10^-35 meters) at light speed. The prefix "yocto-" means 10^-24, "zepto-" means 10^-21, and "atto-" means 10^-18.
• A12) B. Thousands of minutes in a month. A month can range from 40.3 (40,320 minutes in a non-leap February) to 44.6 (44,640 minutes in a 31-day month). There are 36 hundred seconds in an hour, about 31.5 million seconds in a year (31.6 leap), and just under 31.7 years in a billion seconds.

This week's themed quiz has nothing to do with the Alan Parsons Project song "Time" and everything to do with time itself. Even before I've written a single question, I know I will spend longer on this than I planned to, I will go to sleep later than I hoped, and my deadline will arrive sooner than I'd like.

Time Questions

• Q1) In the United States, how many weeks longer will Daylight Saving Time be in effect in 2007 compared to what it would have been under last year's rules?
• Q2) In the northern hemisphere, which season is the longest?
• Q3) What timekeeping device connects North American black widow spiders, Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality book series, and Walt Disney's Aladdin?
• Q4) What part of a sundial casts the shadow used for telling the time?
• Q5) What did the ancient clocks known as clepsydras use to keep time?
• Q6) How many days are missing from September 1752 because of the switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar?
• Q7) What chemical element helps define the duration of a second in the International System of Units?
• Q8) How many leap years will there be in the 21st century?
• Q9) What adjective refers specifically to a year that is not a leap year besides "non-leap"?
• Q10) Since the first leap second was added on June 30, 1972, what has been the most years between leap seconds?
• Q11) What is the shortest of the following units of time: A. Attosecond; B. Planck time; C. Yoctosecond; D. Zeptosecond?
• Q12) What is the highest of the following numbers: A. Hundreds of seconds in an hour; B. Thousands of minutes in a month; C. Millions of seconds in a year; or D. Years in a billion seconds?

Sports & Games	What baseball player holds the American League record for most home runs in a season?
Literature & Arts	What Leviathan philosopher's last words were about his "leap in the dark"?
Entertainment & Food	What Fame actress appeared in Roots: The Next Generation?
Geography & Nature	Which U.S. state is tied with California for the most national park sites?
Math & Science	What pesticide, sprayed in Florida in 1998 to combat the Mediterranean fruit fly, is now linked to over 100 illnesses in people?
History & Government	From what country was Trygve Lie, the first Secretary General of the United Nations?

Literature & Arts	ECO	Umberto Eco's novel was originally printed in Italy as Il nome della rosa in 1980.
Sports & Games	BOWLER	The batter is called a batsman, and the catcher is the wicket-keeper.
Math & Science	KUDZU	Doug Marlette began drawing the strip in 1981. The plant can grow twelve inches in a day.
Entertainment & Food	BRAZIL	Gilliam also wrote the screenplay with Tom Stoppard.
Geography & Nature	ASPEN	Aspen, Colorado, a town of under 6,000 residents, was named for its aspen trees.
History & Government	NEXT	The computer company was launched in September 1985 and rolled out its first stylish black cubes in 1988. Apple bought out NeXT in 1996, and Jobs returned to Apple the following year.

Quiz Quilt Answer: COURSE (Second letters)

An entree is the main course (a homophone of "coarse") in some cultures and an appetizer in others.