Five more that bit the dust

1. It gets its name from the fact that it was observed mostly around Christmas by South American fishermen. A study conducted in 1998 also alludes to this having caused poor crop yields in Europe in 1789-93 which in turn might have helped spark of the French Revolution.
What?

2. Students at the Univ Of Konstanz recently demoed a unique project aimed at providing a revolutionary new navigation system for the blind that analyzed the space around them and then helped them to navigate the space by giving voice instructions.
This system consisted of a belt to be worn by the user which housed the feedback system and helmet with a device mounted on it that formed the heart of this system.
Which “unusual” device did this system use?

3. In the 1600’s when Christopher Wren was redesigning the St. Paul’s Cathedral he was faced with a peculiar problem. He wanted to construct a huge dome but did not know the structure would support the weight.
He posed this problem to his friend X who incidentally had been studying the work of Christian Huygens related to chains. X suggested that Wren should design the dome in the form of an inverted chain since that dome can support its own weight and does not need external support. He even came with the equation to describe such a catenary dome and Wren went back and constructed such a dome and the rest is history.Who was the unlikely architect of the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral?

4. Composed of large, white, sweeping dunes, Lencois Maranhenses, a national park and not a desert, lies just outside the Amazon basin. The region is subject to a regular rain season during the beginning of the year which cause a peculiar phenomenon: fresh water collects in the valleys between sand dunes, spotting the desert with blue and green lagoons. Why or how do we know this place?

5. Super 30 is a highly ambitious and innovative educational program which hunts for 30 meritorious talents from among the economically backward sections of the society and shapes them for India's most prestigious institution – the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). After which famous Indian is it named?

We have become nicer!

Yes, with India all set to get a drubbing at Lords, Baba Ramdev no more running in drag on National Television and Anil Kapoor having been snubbed in the MI-4 trailer, the world is no more a nice place. We, however, are such nice people that we are going to do what no one else has done, ever before.

We are going to give away our rejects. Yes! The Greenko Open 2011 rejects and not old, expired questions. Fresh from the editing board and with much heartburn from the owners of the respective questions.

As the start of our benevolence, this Saturday Late Night Fever edition of five questions is just the beginning.

N.B: The questions are at various levels of rejection (We are shamelessly admitting that some may not have been researched enough and have been rejected outright before our stringent rounds of verification, which can put Credit Card companies to shame)

1. The first one in Jun 2010 lasted 665 minutes. The second in Jun 2011, a mere 123 minutes. What are we talking about?
2. The purchase of which famous painting in 1937 for $110,000 with funds from a trust fund for the Philadelphia Museum of Art by their major benefactor Joseph E. Widener was welcome by the editorial of "The Philadelphia Record" as "No less than 41,000 of the city's dwellings—one in every ten—are without bathtubs and One hundred and ten thousand dollars would buy bathtubs for nearly half of these bathtubless dwellings.''?
3. They are a gotra (clan) of Jat, found in the eastern uplands of Sargodha and Gujrat districts, of Punjab, Pakistan. A small number are also found in Jhelum and Gujranwala districts. The most famous of them went by the name Dheedo but was immortalized as the gotra / clan name as part of an epic love story. Who?
4. Identify the original movie and singer of the song remixed here:
5. To whom is this Google doodle a tribute?

Greenko Open Quiz 2011

Fellow accumulators of useless knowledge and esoteric trivia, pay close attention. This is the time to mark your calendars.

Rustam-e-Dauran, Arastu-e-Zaman, Muzzafar-ul-Mulk, Wal Mamalik, Field Marshal, Fateh Jung, Sipah Salar, Faithful Ally of the Quizzing Circuit, Nizam-ud-Daula, Nizam-ul-Quizdom, Greenko Open Quiz IV is bringing its tashreef.

It will be held on 30th July (Saturday) 2011 between 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm in Hyderabad at the RNR Auditorium, Banjara Hills. Please do mark it in your calendar and be there.

Chuninda Details

Date: July 30, 2011 (Saturday)

Venue: RNR Auditorium, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad

Time: Prelims at 2:00 p.m. and finals at 5:00 p.m.

Type: Open

Teams: <= 3 hominids per team, 8 teams in the finals

Entry Fee: 0. Nil. Zilch.

Title Sponsor: Greenko Group

Prizes: In excess of Rs. 80,000 in cash including prizes for all finalists, audience, and other categories

Quiz Masters: Nitish Khadiya, Ravi Mundoli, Priyambad Pattanayak, Diwakar Pingle