The Friday QuizApril 2014

Mount Harriet is the third highest peak in Andaman and Nicobar islands. On the way to the top of this peak, one can get the panoramic view of the abundant coconut palms and a distant view of the North Bay Island and the tower of the Port Blair lighthouse.

Where can one most conspicuously see the landscape style portrait of this view from the way towards Mount Harriet?

Behind the 20 Rupee note!

These are the images of the corporate headquarters in Europe.

This building is constructed in such shape so as to mark a permanent tribute to the product, the company is known for.

Which company and why is the building shaped thus?

BMW headquarters. The building is shaped like a 4 stroke engine with the top of the building resembling spark plug.

The Flip Flop (Classified as T, D, RS, JK etc) forms the most basic electronic storage element in a computer memory. It is a popular belief among Electronics buffs that the J and K in the name of JK flip flop are in fact the initials of a scientist famous for pioneering work in semiconductor physics. He also won the Nobel prize in Physics in 2000. Who?

Jack Kilby

Kurt Vonnegut is one of the most phenomenal authors of Science Fiction and one of his most popular works is this book Cat's Cradle which is about a fictional scientist Felix Hoenecker who invents a compound called "ice-nine" with the capability to destroy all life on Earth.

The character of Felix Hoenecker is inspired from a real life Nobel Laureate.

Who was this Noble laureate and what is the connect of this book to General Electric which finds mention several times in the book.

The inspiration of the character is Irving Langmuir who won a Nobel prize in Chemistry and who worked in the Schenectady lab of GE. Also Kurt Vonnegut worked in the PR department of GE

Give the names of two countries that will complete this exhaustive list.

Countries with –stan suffix: KazakhstanKyrgyzstanTajikistanTurkmenistanUzbekistanAfghanistanPakistan

There are many legends surrounding the origin of the name of this surgical procedure.The etymology can be connected to some proto-European words meaning 'to cut' and also in the Sanskrit word ‘खि�दति�', meaning 'to tear'.Oxford English Dictionary, in the meaning of this word describes the procedure and ends it with : …..as was done in the case of Julius Caesar.What word is commonly used to describe this surgical process?

Caesarean section

Written question with differential scoring

In February 2014, RBI hiked the repo rate by 25 bps.When asked by a journalist as to why the RBI policy stance is hawkish while its guidance dovish, Raghuram Rajan said the central bank as being neither a hawk nor a dove but a / an ‘_______’, signifying wisdom and alertness, when it comes to monetary policy formulation.

Owl

Round 2

South Sea Company was a British joint-stock company founded in 1711, created as a public–private partnership to consolidate and reduce the cost of national debt.At the time it was created, Britain was involved in the War of the Spanish Succession and Spain controlled South America. There was no realistic prospect that trade would take place and the company never realized any significant profit from its monopoly. Company stock rose greatly in value as it expanded its operations dealing in government debt, peaking in 1720 before collapsing to little above its original flotation price.What term is economics owes its origin to this collapse of South Sea company?

Economic bubble

In October-2013, this image appeared on the official Twitter page of a company. Whose page and explain the symbolism in this picture.

Nokia ad to mock the latest Android version called Kit-Kat

What 4-lettered suffix immensely popular in Indian print and TV media owes its origin to this group of five buildings in the neighborhood of Washington, D.C. in the United States?

The Watergate complex. The suffix is -gateCoalgateSnoopgateChoppergateRadiagate ...

Topsy was considered a threat to people when she killed three people in three years. Hence it was decided to execute her. Initially it was decided to hang her, but on ethical grounds, the hanging was canceled. On January 04, 1903, Topsy was eventually fed 460 grams of carrot laced with potassium cyanide before a 6600V electric shock was sent through her body, instantly killing her. What is the historical significance of this incidence?

Topsy was the elephant killed in the AC-DC wars between Edison and Tesla.

What is this game called?

Croquet

What is this list and why were the ones in red in news recently?The Battle-cry The FlagThe King The Valiant The Jewel The Lion The Fame The Victory The Protector The Weapon

Indian Navy submarines:Battle-cry of the Sea INS SindhughoshFlag of the Sea INS SindhudhvajKing of the Sea INS SindhurajValiant of the Sea INS SindhuvirJewel of the Sea INS Sindhuratna (Reason of exit of Navy chief)Lion of the Sea INS SindhukesariFame of the Sea INS SindhukirtiVictory of the Sea INS SindhuvijayProtector of the Sea INS Sindhurakshak (met a tragic end in April 2013)Weapon of the Sea INS Sindhushastra

Written question with differential scoring

What begins with these words:

“Wait, wait wait! You see the whole country of the system is juxtapositioned by the hemoglobin the atmosphere because you are a sophisticated rhetorician intoxicated by the exuberance of your own verbosity!”

The first line of the song My name is Anthony Gonsalves

Round 3

Complete this statement by Nelson Mandela to get a famous term in computer science:“A traveller through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food and attend him. That is one aspect of _______, but it will have various aspects. ________ does not mean that people should not enrich themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?”

“A traveller through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food and attend him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu, but it will have various aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not enrich themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?”

What is the single word that connects these gods?

Indra (east)Agni (south - east)Yama (south)Niruthi ( South - west)Varuṇa (west)Vayu (North west)Kubera (north)Esana (north east)

The 8 Lokpals

The sculptures, as shown here are carved out of trees in Southern America, especially the Giant Cedar tree.These type of sculptures have given name to a particular type of Electronic Circuit. What is the circuit called?

Totem Pole

"Biceps tendon tear" is a common injury in which biceps tendon disruption occurs when there is a complete tear of its tendinous attachment site in the shoulder. This is usually caused by lifting heavy objects.

Sometimes the disruption of the normal biceps muscle attachment leads to its retraction distally (down the arm). The subsequent appearance is that of a bulge in the mid-arm and a hollowed-out loss of normal contour above it.

This disorder is known by a common name, given to it after a fictional cartoon character.

What is the common name of this disorder?

Popeye muscle

Known for his expeditions in the Sikkim region, name this explorer.

Nain Singh

King Trishanku was a saintly man whose one great desire was to ascend bodily into heaven. He had once done a good turn to sage Vishwamitra and the sage decided to help him fulfill his desire.

Accordingly, he performed a yagna and Trishanku began to rise heavenwards.

When Indra, saw Trishanku at the gates of Heaven, he was furious and catching hold of him, threw him down. Vishwamitra saw Trishanku hurtling downwards and shouted: "Let Trishanku stay where he is now!"

Trishanku’s fall was arrested. As Indra would not let him ascend into heaven and Vishwamitra would not allow him to come down, Trishanku became suspended between heaven and earth.

This is the story of origin of which tree / fruit?

The origin of the coconut tree: Vishwamitra knew that Trishanku would eventually fall to earth unless held up by physical means, so he propped him up with a long pole.

The pole eventually turned into a coconut tree and Trishanku’s head became its fruit. The fiber around the coconut is Trishanku’s beard. When you take it off, you see his eyes peering at you.

Written question with differential scoring

Ephraim is one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Studies reveal that one of the warrior tribes found in the Khyber-Pakhtunwala region of Pakistan have traditions that have striking similarities with the traditions of the Ephraim people as mentioned in the Bible.

Hence, these warriors are considered to be descendants of Ephraims.

What is the name of this Pakistani tribe, brought to fame by a famous Pakistani?

Afridis

Round 4

Bill Gates in an interview in 2013:Basically, because when you turn your computer on, you’re going to see some screens and eventually type your password in, you want to have something you do with the keyboard that is signaling to a very low level of the software—actually, hard-coded in the hardware—that it really is bringing in the operating system you expect. … So we could have had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn’t want to give us our single button. And so we had, we programmed at a low level that you had to—it was a mistake.What is Bill Gates talking about?

About why three keys – Alt-Ctrl-Del, and not single key is required to boot Windows OS

Identify this Hollywood actress and what particular style inspired from her trademark look has been a popular hit in Bollywood movies since 1960’s?

Sadhna cut inspired from Audrey Hepburn hairstyle.

Identify this work of literature and its protagonist. These are the names of some of the other characters in the book:

Satyaboti : His Wife. Khoka : Nickname of his son. Sukumar : Wife’s elder brother. Puntiram : Home servant.Rakhal : Policeman.Tridibendra Narayan Roy : Jamindar.Ashwini Ghatak : Doctor.Purandar Pandey : Police InspectorAjit Bandyopadhyay: His close friend

What?

The 4 voyages of Columbus that initiated European colonization of the American continent

ISO 216 standard defines the system of scaling of Printer Papers. According to this system, each size of printer paper should have the aspect ratio (ratio of larger side to smaller side) to be _____. The significant advantage of this system is its scaling: if a sheet with an aspect ratio of ______ is divided into two equal halves parallel to its shortest sides, then the halves will again have an aspect ratio of ______.

Sqrt(2)

In many parts of the world, police use such colored water to quell protestors. Why?

Simple: to identify and arrest them later.

Written question with differential scoring

Not as Faaltu a question, as it may appear….Connect:SantraAnanasPapayaIstreeAlmirahChaabiPipaNeelaami Tauliya

Hindi / Urdu loanwords from Portuguese language (Faaltu comes from Portuguese for ‘extra’)

Round 5

Identify this cricketer who died in a car accident in 1959.

Also who was the very famous survivor of this accident and was also driving the car?

Colie Smith. The driver was Sir Gary Sobers

St Peter is one of the 12 apostles of Christ. Roman authorities sentenced him to death by crucifixion. It is believed that Peter felt he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner that Jesus died. So, he succeeded in persuading his captors to change from the normal way of crucifying prisoners. So, what is special about crucifixion of St. Peter?

He was crucified on inverted cross.

What are the two things blanked out?

TUNE

Starting track of Bharat Ek Khoj, with shlokas from Rigveda

Connect this exhaustive list of stamps.

Mother Teressa sand Sachin Tendulkar are the only Indians to appear on a stamp when they were alive.

In 1952, Atal Behari Vajpayee, as a journalist had accompanied X when X decided to enter into Jammu and Kashmir, defying the then prevalent ‘permit rule’. As a result, X was arrested and later died in custody under controversial circumstances.In 2004, recalling the incident, Vajpayee alleged that the death of X was a “Nehru conspiracy”. X=?

Shyama Prasad Mukherjee

Written question with differential scoring

What is this device? (Specific two-word answer)

Slide rule

Round 6

This art movement started in USA in 1970s by painters and sculptors who were dissatisfied with Action painting, a branch of American Abstract Expressionism.The pioneers of this art form believed that Action painting was too personal and insubstantial and adopted the point of view that a work of art should not refer to anything other than itself. The word for the name of this art form was first used in English in the early 20th century to describe "a 1913 composition by the Russian painter Kasimir Malevich of a black square on a white ground".What is the name of this art movement?

Minimalism!

Which one of the following names of Vishnu (Krishna) is different from the other three and why?

MaadhavaJagannathaMurariKeshava

JagannathaAll other three names come from the names of Demons slayed by Vishnu, namely Madhu, Mura, Keshi.

In March 2014, China's largest online travel agency ctrip.com started selling an insurance product to travellers who book certain packages to six large cities including Beijing and Shanghai.In recent times, these cities have intermittently faced a disaster that though not life threatening, has potential to ruin the trip of the tourists to these cities.Honor or rejection of insurance claims will be based on a particular 'measurement' from an iPhone app.What is this insurance all about?

Insurance against smog

A few weeks back, Arvind Kejriwal posted a twitter message, taking a jibe at the apparently strained relationship between N D Modi and L K Advani and also targeted the alleged favorism by N D Modi for large corporate business houses in Gujarat.In this pejorative tweet, Kejriwal wrote that in order to gain 'attention' from Modi, Mr. Advani should incorporate a certain change in the spelling of his (Advani's) Name.So, what was the suggestion and why?

To drop the ‘v’ from Advani, an allusion to Modi’s alleged favors for the Adani group.

In March 2014, Royal Mail of Britain issued 10 stamps under the 'Remarkable lives' series. These stamps feature individuals for achievements in different feilds. All of these individuals were born in 1914 and would have turned 100 this year.One of these 10 is a person of Indian origin known for her heroism during World War II, prompting campaigners in India to ask for Indian government to bestow similar honor upon her. Who?

Name this lady and which state’s busiest airport is named after her.

Ahilyabai Holkar airport, Indore

Connect

Ranjha Ranjha and Chhaiya Chhaiya : Bollywood Songs based on Bulle Shah poetry

This form of Indian poetry, popularized by poets in Punjab gets its name from the fact that it gives a curt philosophical message in only 2 lines.It shares its name with a national capital.What?

Doha

Phinis!