Monday, October 22, 2007

Report on the quiz on 14th October

QM: Rohit Chopra

Format: Infinite bounce with AV rounds in between.

QM Caveat: Pop culture quiz and pop culture quiz it was...

Thumbs Up:

• A question on Danny Trejo - Holy Cow - Cracked by urs truly :)
• Good crackable questions
• Ent, ent and ent :)
• Kiddo was all at sea

Thumbs down:

• Ent, ent and ent :(
• A round on Album covers
• A round on cover songs
• Kiddo was all at sea but still managed to win


Memorable moments/questions: Borat, Breath Analyser, Handcuffs, Danny Trejo(;), Bunker 13 – The bad sex award, Sex, Lies and Videotape, Some Frank Zappa Album cover - and yes Raghu cracked it.

Standings:

1st: Sudhir and Kiddo
2nd: Priyambad,JK and Neerad
3rd: Raghu,Diwakar and Rahul


Sudhir and Kiddo comfortably defeated the team comprising Priyambad,JK and Neerad.The team of Raghu,Diwakar and Rahul finished third with some good answers as well. Despite being an out and out entertainment quiz, it had some nice general questions as well. Hope the future quizzes are more balanced.

Questions from the quiz on 14th October

Here are some of the questions from the quiz on the 14th of October done by Rohit.

1. On September 27, 2007 there was a four-page advertisement in The New York Times. The advertisement primarily spoke about this country’s many natural resources and its general growth in glowing terms. This advertisement preceded the official visit of the President and his diplomatic entourage and was part of a greater PR campaign including the release of a book “________ Nuclear Disarmament: A Global Model for a Safer World.” This was seen as a reaction of what the country’s politicians believe was a propaganda war against them. What was the reason?



Ans : They were largely reacting to the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”

2. This started with an innocuous upload of a simple 1 minute 8 second video by one of the supporters of Barack Obama on to youtube using a unique way of showing Hillary Clinton as an authoritarian and a “Big Brother figure” who wanted to use acts such as “Gun control” etc to control America and the world. As is the case in the online world, a quick parody to this parody was uploaded by Hillary supporters on to youtube in a matter of days. This got into a rather interesting mud-slinging match between both candidates supporters. What was being used to create the parody in the first place?


Ans : The TV commercial – Apple 1984

3.The symbol is remarkably simple; silver lettering on a circular black band that encases four segments. The image has its origins in World War I, when the certain Luftwaffe planes were painted in two distinctive colours, affording the pilot a view through his propellor of blue and white segments. This inspired the stylized design we now recognize. Which logo ?


Ans BMW logo

4. These earlier versions caused discomfort for people with slightly larger frames. That changed in 1862, when W. V. Adams revolutionized the device with the invention of adjustable ratchets. An Adams ____ consisted of a square bow with notches on the outside that engaged with a lock mechanism shaped like a teardrop. Several years later, Orson C. Phelps patented a version of the _________that placed the ratchet notches on the inside of the square bow. What am I talking about?


Ans : Handcuffs

5. First used and developed in the 1930s for "The Thief of Baghdad," The credit for development of this is given to Larry Butler - nominated for five academy awards, winner of two. The technique has had a slight shift in name due to the higher luminance value of ______. What technique heavily used in recent films am I referring to?


Ans : The Blue screen now which is now replaced by the green screen

6. The ancient Greeks recorded the use of the willow bark as a fever fighter. The leaves and bark of the willow tree contain a substance called salicin, a naturally occurring compound similar to acetylsalicylic acid. What did this eventually evolve into?


Ans : Asprin

7. Since the discovery of the bones in Indonesia in 2003, researchers have wrangled over whether the find was an ancient human ancestor or simply a modern human suffering from a genetic disorder. The wrist bones of the 3-foot-tall creature, technically known as Homo floresiensis, are basically indistinguishable from an African ape or early hominin-like wrist and nothing at all like that seen in modern humans and Neanderthals, according to the research team led by Matthew W. Tocheri of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.Why was there so much interest in this creature?


Ans : The creature resembled the hobbit

8. Numbers, pattern, trick, technical, full body, bounce, football are all types of what ?


Ans : Types of ball juggling

9. He was hardly more than five feet four inches but carried himself with great dignity. His head ___________, and he always perched it a little on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. The neatness of his attire was almost incredible; I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound. Yet this quaint dandified little man who, I was sorry to see, now limped badly - Who on whom?


Ans : Captain Hastings on Hercule Poirot

10. Aniruddha Bahal is the founder and editor-in-chief of Cobrapost.com. He has worked for India Today and Outlook and is also the co-founder and former CEO of Tehelka.com, the news website. While at Tehelka, he exposed match-fixing in international cricket, titled "Fallen Heroes". He also exposed the corruption in Indian defense procurement, more popularly known as “Operation Westend.” He even wrote a book which was an espionage thriller which got some attention in international press. In 2003 for this outstanding contribution to literature he was conferred a rare literary award for an Indian. What is the name of the book and which award?


Ans : Bunker 13 – The bad sex award

Monday, October 8, 2007

Questions from the quiz on 16th September

Here are some of the questions from the quiz on the 16th of September done by Sudhir and Lathish.

1. X was an ancient Greek poet in the second half of the 1st century BCE. He was the author of short elegiacs, some of which are preserved in the Greek Anthology, e.g., "Crown of Meleager". He also composed an epitaph for Sappho in which he stated that she died of natural causes and was buried in her homeland. Cicero (Oratore, III, 50 and de Fato, 2) described him as a brilliant epigrammist but sometimes too fond of imitation.He, along with Philo , Strabo, Herodotus, and Diodoros collaborated on Y. Over the centuries, Y has been subjected to a lot of criticism from historians all over the world on account of the bias of the authors. Identify X and Y.

Answer: X =Antipater, Y = Seven Wonders of the World

2. X put down his Speed Graphic camera onthe ground, so that he could pile rocks to stand onfor a better vantage point. He nearly missed the shotin doing so. Realizing it, he quickly swung uphis camera, and snapped the photograph without usinghis view finder. Ten years after this, he wrote "Iswung my camera and shot the scene. That is how thepicture was taken, and when you take a picture likethat, you don't come away saying a great shot". Whatwas being captured on camera here?

Answer: Joe Rosenthal describing the photo of the soldiers raising the flag at Iwo Jima

3. Actinomycetes are a type of filamentous bacteria found in soil which thrive when conditions are damp and warm. However when dry conditions prevail, these form spores/cysts. Upon contact with moisture (which acts like an aerosol) these spores burst open resulting in what?This phenomenon is named after the fluid that is supposed to be flowing in the veins of Greek Gods.


Answer: Smell of wet earth after the rains

4. Origin of this phrase is from a puppet show character of the 17th century based on his Italian counterpart, Polichinello. Though it was a popular show upto the 19th and early 20th centuries, its popularity declined due to factors including political incorrectness; for instance the protagonist who was a baby murdering wife beater was depicted as self-satisfied and pleased with his evil deeds. He is considered synonymous with pleasure or pride due to the show's storyline which has him calling out "that's the way to do it" in a gleeful voice each time he murders another victim.

Answer: Pleased as punch

5.It was expression used by highway men or robbers in England in the 17th century. When these robbers held up stage coaches, they would shout _______ & _________. By X they meant that they wanted the coach not to move and by Y they meant, the passengers should hand over all their valuables to them.

Answer: Stand and Deliver

6. "Buzzing Hornets", "Bitten Heroes", "Bitten and Hisses", "Be On Edge“. Simply Connect!!!

Answer: Names used by Benson and Hedges on their F1 Cars in countries where tobacco advertising is banned.

7. According to the Middle English dictionary entry for noumpere, the predecessor of X, which came from the Old French nonper (from non, "not" + per, "equal") meaning "one who is requested to act as arbiter of a dispute between two people"--meaning that the arbiter is not paired with anyone in the dispute.

Answer: Umpire

8. Where is this pic from?



Answer: The original oceans 11


9. What did this pic inspire?




Answer: The US Democratic Party's election symbol


10. Connect






Answer: The first is a move in basketball called "Alley Oop" which derives its name from a cartoon strip that is featured in the second visual.