Curiosum Dormiens Nunquam Tittilandus

Q

Q1. Who connects the four of them. (Inexhaustive List)

All of them have / will play the role of Steve Jobs in a movie.

Q2. What is X? • In the summer of 1994, those listening in to radio-frequency

conversations in Jammu and Kashmir began coming across a decidedly cryptic conversation, which would go like “ask the Koel what song it will sing tonight.” Koel here is a reference to Mohammad Yusuf Parrey a.k.a Kuka Parrey, a folk singer turned militant turned politician.

• In early 1994, Parrey was the leader of a group called X. X began cooperating with the Indian army in 1994 and by end of the year, three more such groups had coalesced into a much larger X. X’s role is said to be Instrumental in suppressing terrorism in the run of the 1996 Assembly Elections. The very report I am writing this question from is titled ‘India’s Forgotten Army’. Parrey even won a seat in the elections. What is X?

Ikhwan Ul Muslimeen

• X is a former Indian Test Cricketer. X represented Odisha and East Zone in the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy respectively.

• X’s bowling action was rewarded by the ICC as the official action for the 1999 World Cup graphical logo.

• In 2006, X joined Colwyn Bay Cricket Club in Wales as the club professional.

• X replaced Michael Bevan as the coach for the Odisha Ranji Team. He also coached the East Zone.

• Who is X?

Q3. Who is X?

Debashish Mohanty

Q4. These are alternatives to something. What? Colours removed for obvious reasons.

All of them are

Alternatives to the Red

Cross

Q5. • X was named for being a remount depot on a travel

route through the rugged Konkan region to Gujarat via Surat.

• X was famous for its splendid horses. Warriors changed their horses at the town in anticipation of the difficult climb through the Konkan.

• A journalist at the Hindu, describes X as the place where you can check in any time but you can never leave; A purgatory between life and death. (In a slightly different context, though)

• X is in news currently. What is X?

Q6. WHO IS X? WHAT IS Y?

• X was famous for coining the term Y. X also operated his twitter account under the name Y. X also wrote a book titled Y: The art of subtle modesty in 2012.

• According to the Urban Dictionary, Y means, “Subtly letting others now about how fantastic your life is while undercutting it with a bit of self-effacing humor or "woe is me" gloss.”

• X is best known for having been a writer for The Sarah Silverman Program, a writer and executive producer for Parks and Recreation.

• On February 19, 2015 X was found dead of a possible drug overdose in his Los Angeles home.

X: Harris Wittels

Y: Humblebrag

Q7. What is X? • The use of Electronic Instruments isn't allowed in Unplugged Events. So, when X

performed one of his popular songs in MTV Unplugged he had to snip about 2 minutes of it, which included nothing but music from a "part-electronic" instrument Y. However there were no such rules in Coke Studio, so when X performed there, Y was played a significant role in two of X's songs.

• X is also a music and tech enthusiast. He is known to have made music in uncanny ways. For example using different iPad apps that were primarily meant for amateur musicians; X has also used Human Percussions Instead of the traditional Percussion instrument for mainstream music. Apart from that, X also keeps up with new inventions; using part Electronic instruments like the Harpejji and Y.

• X also owns a social networking service, similar to Pinterest but projected as a platform for independent artists to upload all kinds of work including Music.

• Y is a part electronic music instrument that uses finger manipulation to produce MIDI sounds.

• Who is X? What is Y?

X: A.R. Rahman

Y: Continuum Fingerboard

Q8.

• Raj Kaul was a Persian and Sanskrit poet at the Darbar of Mughal Emporer Faruksiyar, where he moved in 1716 from Kashmir.

• The poet lived near a canal and hence earned a name due to it which his descendents later adopted as a surname.

• What’s the name?

Nehru

Q9. • X had worked with several media publications, including Business

India, The Economic Times, The Indian Express and The Financial Express. As a reporter X specialised in the energy sector and had a reputation for breaking several major stories.

• In early 2000, X started his own website under the name, indianpetro.com followed by indianfertilizer.com and energylineindia.com ; The websites are known for their comprehensive and authentic information.

• X’s wife Sabina Sehgal died in the attack on Taj Mahal hotel where she was staying on a visit to the city as a food writer for the Times of India.

• Who is X? Why is he in News?

X: Santanu Saikia

He’s the alleged mastermind

behind the Petroleum Ministry

Corporate Espionage.

Q10. What is X? • The choice to make the X appear as a single shot, resulted from the

director’s realisation that "we live our lives with no editing". By presenting the film like this he could "submerge the protagonist in an 'inescapable reality' and take the audience with him.”

• According to one of the writers of X, “It takes a great, great deal of ignorance to not pay attention to the difficulties and to think you’re going to do this.” ; This is also something that’s been used in the title of X.

• The makers of X were embroiled in a controversy with the Academy of Motion Pictures after the Academy didn’t nominate X for the Best Original Score Category, noting that the movie contained over half an hour of non original classical score. To their defence the makers said that the academy had “miss calculated the ratio of classical score to original score”.

• What is X?

Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

Q11. • The name X is derived from the verb drássomai which means,

“To Grasp”.

• Initially, a X was a fistful (a "grasp") of six oboloí (metal sticks, literally “spits”) used as a form of currency as early as 1100 BC and being a form of "bullion": bronze, copper, or iron ingots denominated by weight.

• The official currency of Morocco derives it’s name from X.

• The modern X was introduced In 1832, when “phoenix” was replaced by the monarch, King Otto.

• What is X?

X: Drachma

Former Greek Currency

Q12. • Mirza Jahangir was the son of Akhbar Shah II, who wanted to declare him

as his apparent heir rather than Bahadur Shah Zafar. But one day Mirza fired a shot on Richard Seton, an important British at the Red Fort. Although the shot missed him Mirza Jahangir was exiled to Allahabad.

• His mother, Mumtaz Mahal Begum, was distraught and took a vow that if her son was released from Allahabad she would offer a ______ at the Dargah of Khwaja Bakhtiar ‘Kaki’.

• Mirza Jahangir was released a couple of years later and like a devout lady Mumtaz Mahal Begum went to redeem her vow. With her the Imperial Court also shifted to the outskirts of the Dargah and so did nearly the entire population of Delhi. For 7 days a fair was held near the Dargah, and the amidst all the pomp and show, Mumtaz Mahal also redeemed her vow.

• What did this lead to?

Unexpected Half Days in NSIT :)

Phoolwalon Ki Sair

Q13. • X is a weekly show hosted by an English comedian Y who

also appeared in the Simpsons as Wilkes John Booth and was the voice of the character “Vanity Smurf” in The Smurfs series.

• In October 2014, in an Attempt to make Supreme Court arguments “more compelling to watch”; Y also introduced a Video Kit on his show X featuring Dogs. Y urged News Outlets to make use of the kit to make the audio only Supreme court proceedings more Interesting.

• Who is Y, and What is X?

X: John Oliver

Y: Last Week Tonight

Q14. What is X? • Various Episodes of X include; “Mighty Hoax”,

“Danger Above”, “The Big Setup”. One of their recent episodes was titled “The Flock Favorites”.

• The antagonists (Y) in X are green skinned and have a toothy grin on their face. Each one of the many Ys lives in their own castle made of Wood, Glass and Stone.

• The inspiration behind Y is in news currently. If you know X, you’d know Y. What is X?

Q15. Philippines skipped 31 December 1844

Alaska ceremoniously skipped 9 April 1867

Samoan islands skipped 30 December 2011

Kwajalein skipped 21 August 1993

Eastern Kiribati changed the date on 1 January 1995

Put Funda

These countries lost the respective

dates while shifting sides on the

International Date Line.

Q16. What are X and Y? • X is a two member band. The

members of X are often called the terror twins of funk and swing, One member notes that: “People who don’t know us have actually assumed that we were twins or siblings”.

• Their first album, All Ball released in 2014.

• The band was in news recently when they composed a song for an upcoming Hindi Movie Y. The song itself is a re-touched version of their first song, “Alley Cats”.

X: Madboy/Mink

Y: Detective Byomkesh Bakshy

Q17. What is X? Who is Y? • Operating in India as “Resource Expert India Private Limited”,

X is a part-technology based startup which was co-founded in 2009 by Z and Y, with Ryan Graves serving as the first CEO.

• X recently started a food delivery service in Barcelona, promising meals from local restaurants in under 10 minutes. The service is called XEats. Last year they had come up with the same service in Los Angeles as XFresh.

• Y’s previous ventures include Scour Inc, a Multimedia Search Engine and Red Swoosh, a peer to peer file sharing service.

• What is X? Who is Y? (Z need not be identified)

Uber “uberlovesnsit” is a valid promo code. No Kidding!

Q18. • X works for the OWCA (The Organization Without a Cool

Acronym).

• Y, X’s nemesis, is a 47 year old scientist hailing from the country of Drusselstein.

• On few occasions, X would often help Y with his non-evil plans, such as 1.Helping Y overcome evil scientist's block 2.Helping Y put on a birthday party for his 16-year-old daughter Vanessa 4. Helping Y convince his rich ex-wife to help pay off his mortgage debt.

• Identify X and Y

X: Perry the Platypus

Y: Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz

Q19.

• In 1973, X was first brought to life by Ustad Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan during his Shehnai recital in an hour and a half long inauguration ceremony of Y held at Vigyan Bhavan in new Delhi.

• Ustad Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan and Pt. Ravi Shankar were the one who first breathed life into X.

• Identify X

The Doordarshan

Opening Tone

Q20. X Completes this list. Who is X?

Captains of the Indian team in their first match in respective formats.

Sehwag: T20

Q21.

• In February 2015, the following movies were released on YouTube: El’Ayachi , RIP , The Last Day, Bunny, Deuce. This is a first in the series of X.

• Which online group, cofounded by Chintan Ruparel, is responsible for the creation of X, a spin-off of the group itself? What is X?

X: Terribly Tiny Talkies

Q22. • A native to the northern China X was called was

called "mi hou tao", but was changed to "Chinese gooseberry”. X gained popularity among the Americans during the World War II.

• Because of this, the X was exported to California using the names "Chinese gooseberry" and "melonette". Because the California-based importer rejected these names, it was rebranded “X”.

• What is X?

kiwifruit

Q23. WHAT IS X? • A X is a cannon caliber projectile that is built with a small

pyrotechnic charge in their base. Ignited by the burning powder, the pyrotechnic composition burns very brightly, making the projectile visible to the naked eye. This enables the shooter to follow the projectile trajectory to make aiming corrections.

• X proved useful as a countermeasure against Zeppelins used by Germany during World War I. X had the ability to bring down the airship quickly.

• Today however, Indians associate X with something completely different, in the field of sports. What is X?

Tracer Bullet! “That went like a tracer bullet!” - Ravi Shastri

Tracer Bullet! “That went like a tracer bullet!” - Ravi Shastri