12. When HAL is being disconnected, his last words go back to the day he was first activated at the HAL plant in which city in Illinois?
From Quiz "My God, It's Full of Stars!"
Answer:
Urbana
Urbana is the seat of Champaign County in Illinois. Originally settled by Europeans in 1822, it was originally called Big Grove. The name Urbana was adopted in 1833, when Champaign County was organised - the name came from Urbana, Ohio, the home town of John Vance, the state senator who wrote the Enabling Act that created the county. In 1854, a new town, West Urbana, was developed around the newly built rail depot of the Illinois Central Railroad; the town was renamed Champaign in 1861, and together the two formed the Champaign-Urbana urban area, which, in 1868, became the home of a new state agricultural college that evolved into the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the flagship institution of the University of Illinois system.
In "2001: A Space Odyssey", as a result of the computer's actions in killing Frank Poole and attempting to strand David Bowman in space, Bowman, having effected ingress back aboard the Discovery, proceeds to disconnect HAL's higher functions, which causes HAL to revert to earlier stages of development. Prior to the removal of the final modules, HAL begins reciting his first memory, which came following his activation at the facility in Urbana responsible for his construction, and includes him singing the song "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)".