TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given passages that contain mentions of names of people, places, or things. Some of these mentions refer to the same person, place, or thing. Your job is to write questions that evaluate one's understanding of such references. Good questions are expected to link pronouns (she, her, him, his, their, etc.) or other mentions to people, places, or things to which they may refer. Do not ask questions that can be answered correctly without understanding the paragraph or having multiple answers. Avoid questions that do not link phrases referring to the same entity. For each of your questions, the answer should be one or more phrases in the paragraph, and it should be unambiguous.
PROBLEM: Passage: Two aliens, Nukie and Miko, spend their time flying through space in the form of stars and looking for fun. The two come across the planet Earth and, while trying to survey the planet, get caught in its gravitational pull and end up crash landing. During the crash, the two are separated, with Nukie ending up in the African savanna and Miko falling into the hands of a Space Federation in the United States. Upon discovering Miko's crash site, the agency take the alien in to perform tests on him, while Miko cries out for Nukie. Miko reaches out to Nukie telepathically and informs him that he is being held captive in America. The head of the operation, Dr. Glynn sends Dr. Eric Harvey to Nairobi to investigate the other crash site. During their experiments, the scientists discover that Miko is a being made of pure energy.
Nukie, meanwhile, begins to explore his surroundings, attempting to communicate telepathically with the animals he encounters to ascertain the location of America. The animals don't understand and – much to Nukie's frustration – run away. He then comes across two children, Tiko and Toki, who seem to be able to understand Nukie. He asks them for their help with finding America, but they run off vowing not to tell anybody about what has happened.
In America, Miko is subjected to more painful testing to explore his physical makeup. Miko's brain patterns show images of the animals which Nukie sees, indicating that Nukie is transmitting his brainwaves to Miko. Nukie decides to rest in the shade of a tree, turning invisible as he does so. Tiko and Toki pass by and Nukie is awoken by a flock of birds, becoming visible once more. He surmises that his light beam transformer must be working once more, and he succeeds in flying. Landing near a stream, he tastes the water and notices his reflection, which he claims is different from usual.

SOLUTION: Who is the alien friend of the creature that crashes in the African savanna?

PROBLEM: Passage: Unable to purchase a bottle of beer due to Prohibition (despite it being repealed 13 years ago), the Stooges opt to brew some of the stuff themselves.  The recipe that they use calls for three small cubes of yeast.  A mix-up with the telephone causes each Stooge to think he is the one to put in the yeast.  Nine cubes end up in the tub being used to make the beer.  The yeast continuously expands causing them to pour the beer into every container they can find, until Curly brings in the bath tub.  They successfully bottle their brew only to leave the bottles too close to an open flame.  Many of the bottles explode sending corks and suds all over the kitchen.
Unfortunately, Curly ends up selling a bottle at the black market price to a detective, landing the trio in jail. They were due to serve a short amount of time, but Curly tries to smuggle a barrel of beer in jail under his overcoat.  The barrel explodes under the heat of lights while the trio has their mugshots taken.
While in prison, the Stooges begin to plot their escape, and end up destroying the saws being used to whittle down the iron bars in their cell. A few days later, the Stooges have a run-in with a fellow convict, leading them to knock the warden (Vernon Dent) out cold, and landing them on the rock pile. While hammering away, the boys stumble on an old friend also in the clink, Percy Pomeroy, and work together to flee the prison. They are ultimately captured, and sent to solitary confinement.
After nearly half a century later, the graying trio are finally released as senior citizens, in which Curly quips upon leaving "You know what I'm-a gonna do? I'm gonna get myself a tall, big, beautiful bottle of beer!"  Moe and Larry become irate and throw Curly back into the jail, leaving him there.

SOLUTION: What is the full name of the Stooges' old friend in jail?

PROBLEM: Passage: Alodia, also known as Alwa (Greek: Aρουα, Aroua; Arabic: علوة‎, ʿAlwa), was a medieval Nubian kingdom in what is now central and southern Sudan. Its capital was the city of Soba, located near modern-day Khartoum at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers.
Founded sometime after the ancient kingdom of Kush fell, in around 350 AD, Alodia is first mentioned in historical records in 569. It was the last of the three Nubian kingdoms to convert to Christianity in 580 following Nobadia and Makuria. It possibly reached its peak during the 9th–12th centuries when records show that it exceeded its northern neighbor, Makuria, with which it maintained close dynastic ties, in size, military power and economic prosperity. Being a large, multicultural state, Alodia was administered by a powerful king and provincial governors appointed by him. The capital Soba, described as a town of "extensive dwellings and churches full of gold and gardens", prospered as a trading hub. Goods arrived from Makuria, the Middle East, western Africa, India and even China. Literacy in both Nubian and Greek flourished.
From the 12th, and especially the 13th century, Alodia was declining, possibly because of invasions from the south, droughts and a shift of trade routes. In the 14th century, the country might have been ravaged by the plague, while Arab tribes began to migrate into the Upper Nile valley. By around 1500 Soba had fallen to either Arabs or the Funj. This likely marked the end of Alodia, although some Sudanese oral traditions claimed that it survived in the form of the kingdom of Fazughli within the Ethiopian-Sudanese borderlands. After the destruction of Soba, the Funj established the Sultanate of Sennar, ushering in a period of Islamization and Arabization.

SOLUTION:
What was the last of the three Nubian kingdoms to convert to Christianity in 580?