Mostly Harmless

10,000 words and may be some more

2008-01-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

The answers as well as the scores have been posted as a comment.

1.How did the death of this man alter Indian history?

2.The man on the right (your right)and the man on the left were friends. The man on the left immortalized the man on the right as a character in his work. The man on the left's claim to fame is that, he created a character who also made men debate whether he was from the right or from the left. Id the men in the picture.

3. Absolut Vodka's tribute to a great movie. What did I blank off?

4. Which movie takes it's name from the newspaper item given below?

5. This is one of the most sought after images on internet, today? Who is this?

6.Identify the artist. One of the iconic art works of late 21st century. The creator of this piece is currently the world's most expensive artist.

7.Somebody delivering his last speech, who?

8.Tribute to what?

9.The person in picture is a Brit illustrator who lived during the Victorian era, he is remembered today for dressing up some one with a cap and coat.
Identify

10. "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language" paying tribute to something, what?

A set of 13 random questions

2008-01-21T01:21:00.000-08:00

The answers to these questions have been posted as a comment. Please scroll down to find the scores

1. This Italian dessert typically made from sponge finger biscuits, espresso coffee, mascarpone cheese, eggs, cream, sugar, Marsala wine, cocoa, and rum, means "pick-me-up" metaphorically, "make me happy,"), a reference to the two caffeine-containing ingredients, espresso and cocoa. Which cake?

2. In 1900, André ______ published the first edition of a guide to France to help drivers maintain their cars, find decent lodging, and eat well while touring. It included addresses of things like gasoline distributors, garages, tire stockist , and public toilets. As motoring became more widespread, a rating system was developed which gave stars to restaurants. This grading system went on to become the ultimate recognition a restaurant could aspire for in Western Europe and is used by gourmets worldwide. What is this grading system called?

3. ISO 3103 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization. What does it specify? George Orwell had spent some of his time doing the same thing, as in standardizing the same thing.

4. Which Bollywood movie was based on Stephen King's story Quitter's Inc?

5. Fill in the blanks to get the name of a novel

O wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beauteous mankind is! O ____ ___ ___

That has such people in't!"

These lines are taken from The Tempest.

6. X and Y were rivals in a sport for a long time. After retirement X came up with Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grill machine which went on to earn $100 million in sales since 1995. Now Y who had defeated X to become the world champ has come out with a brand called Real Deal grill to rival X's product. Id X and Y

7. Who now owns the Marquis de Sade's legendary castle at Lacoste, France, where he indulged in the atrocities attributed to him?

8. If we should be remembering Radhanath Sircar a Bengali mathematician, today, what would it be for? Our former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was of the opinion that Mr. Andrew Scott Waugh was unfairly giving credit to his former boss and instead Sircar should be bestowed with the honour. What did Sircar do?

9. Which capital city's name means "the hills of Impala" the antelope?

10. X is an English Mathematician working on number theory at Princeton. His areas of specialization include arithmetic of elliptic curves with complex multiplication. His most famous mathematical result is that "all rational semi stable elliptic curves are modular"; which is a way of proving Y. A special case of Y was first stated by Abu Mahmud Khujandi in the 10th century. Y is named after a French mathematician who felt that the margin of his copy of Arithmetica of Diaphantus was not wide enough. Id X and Y.

11. Originally published as a monthly limited series from 1986 to 1987, it was later republished as a trade paperback, which popularized a particular format. To date, it remains the only book of its genre to win a Hugo Award, and is also the only book of its kind to appear on Time Magazine's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present." It is set in 1985, in an alternative history United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The title of the book is derived from the phrase Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?, from Juvenal's Satire VI, "Against women", often translated as "Who watches the ______?"

12. This iconic scientist has a penchant for courting controversies. In his autobiography, Avoid boring People, he describes his academic colleagues as "dinosaurs", "deadbeats", "fossils", "has-beens", "mediocre", and "vapid". He was quoted as saying he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" as "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really." These quotes attributed to him drew attention and criticism from press in several countries and was widely discussed on CNN, the BBC, several papers, peers and by civil rights advocates. The common perception was that he was claiming a link between race and intelligence with the BBC stating that "he claimed black people were less intelligent than white people" Name this scientist who was in news for all wrong reasons during the last months of 2007.

13. "It’s a phenomenal instrument, one of those freaks of nature that come very rarely in a hundred years. Clear and penetrating it has a brilliant, metallic timbre and yet remains warm, with a gorgeous romantic sheen, an unforced, open throated quality that.." says conductor Richard Bonynge. What is he talking about?

The answers have been posted as a comment.

Now the scores..

Deepak Ranganathan 8
Manjith K 6
Raziman 12.5
Priya Kamala 7.5
Lloyd 12
Snehaj 4
Rajesh Mohan 4.5
Arun A S 4.5
Hrishi Varma 4
Goutam Jayasurya 4.5

Thank you very much for attempting the quiz!

The Third Grey Cells Open Answers

2007-07-25T00:51:00.000-07:00

1 This device is believed to be invented by a Muslim scholar named Abu Ali Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haitham, known in the West as Al-Hazen. Its name means “dark chamber” and has lent a part of its name to its modern day derivatives. What?

Camera Obscura

2.This famous publicity campaign was created by photographer Oliviero Toscani. Under Toscani's direction ads were created that contained striking images unrelated to any actual products being sold by the company; a deathbed scene of a man (AIDS activist David Kirby) dying from AIDS, a bloodied, unwashed newborn baby with umbilical cord still attached, two horses mating, close-up pictures of tattoos reading "HIV Positive" on the bodies of men and women, a collage consisting of genitals of persons of various races, a priest and nun about to engage in a romantic kiss, and pictures of inmates on death row. The company's logo served as the only text accompanying the images in most of these advertisements. Which ad campaign?

Colours of Benetton

3 This ubiquitous chemical laboratory device was actually invented by Michael Faraday. But he design was not free of flaws and this prompted Peter Desaga an Instrument maker at the University of Heidelberg to perfect. Desaga incidentally worked for a famous chemist of the time and the device was named after the famous chemist rather than Desaga. This led to the widespread misconception that this device was invented by the famous chemist. What?

Bunsen Burner

4This ship was the first ship to sail under then new London Bridge as part of Queens Naval review. Its first major voyage was to Terra Del Fuego under the captainship of Capt Pringle Stokes. In the lonely waters of Del Fuego the Captain succumbed to deep depression and shot himself. For its second voyage Capt Robert FitzRoy was chosen to command her. In the wake of the misfortune of Capt Stokes, Capt FitzRoy worked out a solution to fight boredom. What happened as a result?

The ship was HMS Beagle and the Capt FitzRoy was advised to take Charles Darwin along, to fight boredom J. Rest as they say is history.

5. Different techniques of playing this instrument include legato-style, pizzicato, col legno, collé, ricochet, sautillé, martelé, spiccato, tremolando, staccato and mute.. What is the instrument in question?

Violin

6 In the Roman calendar, a month had only three named days and the remaining days of the month were arranged around these named days and they acted as reference points from which the other (unnamed) days were calculated. The first two of three named days were Kalends (1st day of the month) and Nones (the 7th day in March, May, July, and October; the 5th in the other months). What was the third named day?

Ides (the 15th day in March, May, July, and October; the 13th in the other months).

7. In 1964 J D Tippit, a police officer with Texas Police Department was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor from the National Police Hall of Fame and also received the Police Medal of Honor, the Police Cross, and the Citizens Traffic Commission Award of Heroism. He was decorated mainly because he was the second victim of a famous assassin. who?

Lee Harvey Oswald

8. This floors of the hotel are named Social Sciences, Language, Maths and Science, Technology, The arts, Literature, History, GK, Philosophy and Religion. Each floor has six rooms and each of them is named after a sub classification of the particular floor’s name. For example the fourth floor, “Maths and Science” is has rooms named Astronomy, Dinosaurs, Botany, Zoology, Geology and Mathematics. Because of this classification scheme, the hotel owners were sued in 2003 by an organization called OCLC. OCLC reached an agreement with the hotel enabling the hotel to continue using the naming system. Why did they sue them?

This the Library Hotel near the New York Public Library and the rooms here are named according to the Dewey decimal classification. Online Computer Library Center(OCLC) owns the copy right.

9. The word literally means dead creek. They are very common in Australia and are formed when the path of a river changes leaving the former branch with a dead end. The most famous reference is the opening line of their National Anthem Waltzing Matilda. What is it?

Billabong

10. This dish is known as “Guss” in Iraq and is related to a dish Greek dish called Gyros.

The name by which we know it comes from a Turkish word meaning “Turning”. What are we talking about?

Shawarma

11. What was conceived by the Philological Society, London when three blokes Richard Trench, Herbert Coleridge, and Frederick Furnivall were dissatisfied with the available alternatives. Now days the “X” is known after a different institution all together. What?

The OED

12.

Dear Mr. X,

I saw your films Open City and Paisan, and enjoyed them very much. If you need a Swedish actress who speaks English very well, who has not forgotten her German, who is not very understandable in French, and who in Italian knows only "ti amo", I am ready to come and make a film with you.

This letter was the beginning of one of the most popular stories in cinema lore, ID X and Y.

Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman

13. It was founded in England in 1942 as the Oxford Committee for famine, with a mission to send food through the Allied blockade to the citizens of Nazi-occupied Greece. The first overseas branch was founded in Canada in 1963, what are we talking about?

OXFam

14. According to the legend he is still alive but asleep with his knights in a cave in the mountain in Bavaria, Germany, and that when the ravens cease to fly around the mountain he will awake and restore Germany to its ancient greatness. According to the story, his red beard has grown through the table at which he sits. His eyes are half closed in sleep, but now and then he raises his hand and sends a boy out to see if the ravens have stopped flying. Name this king.

Barbarossa

15 He was the first Caribbean novelist to publish a novel in England. He was also a Trotskyite and his second best-known work of non-fiction was World Revolution published in (1937), a history of the rise and fall of the Communist International which was critically praised by Leon Trotsky. In 1963 he published his personal memoirs which revolutionized a particular genre of writing and is still considered the greatest work in that genre, who and which book?

CLR James and Beyond a Boundary

16. This July a Federal District judge ruled that the Library of Congress violated the First Amendment rights of blind people by eliminating Braille editions of a particular magazine. The Library of Congress had to stop publishing due to lack of funds.The Braille edition of the magazine comes in four volumes and contains no pictures or advertisements. It is one among 35 other magazines in Braille published by the Library and none of them were dropped. This particular magazine was the 6th most popular of all magazines published by Library of Congress. Id the magazine.

Playboy

17. He had a physique superior not only to average people but also to his fellow athletes. His blood circulation had the ability to circulate 7 litres of oxygen around his body per minute, compared to the average amount of 3-4 litres of an ordinary person and the 5-6 litres of his fellow riders. Also, his lung capacity was 8 litres, compared to an average of 5 litres. In addition, his resting pulse was as low as 29 BPM, compared to a normal human's 60-90 bpm, which meant his heart would be less strained in the tough mountain stages. His VO2 max was 88 ml/kg/min; in comparison, Lance Armstrong's was 82 ml/kg/min. This retired Spanish cyclist was the first person to win Tour de France 5 consecutive times. Name him.

Miguel Indurain

18.This man made a bet with his captain that if he won an important match, the captain should buy him a particular suitcase he had seen in a Boston store. The American press got word of this deal and gave him a famous nickname. Who are we talking about?

Rene Lacoste and story behind the origin of the crocodile logo.

19. He was the Junior National champion in Diving for 6 years in a row from the age of 11.He also got a bronze medal at the lone National Games, in which, he participated. He rightfully claims to have been among the top 3 divers in the country until he retired at the ripe age of 19. His sporting excellence got him an admission to St. Stephen’s college and he later went on a year long scholarship to Davidson college, North Carolina. He played lot of first division club cricket for the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club and when he was in Hyderabad, he played for the Vazir Sultan Tobacco which was in the A-division of Hyderabad Cricket Leagues. He embarked on a new career altogether during the 9th Asian games in 1982. His career took off from the Commonwealth Games in ’82. Today he is one of the most recognized personalities in his field

Charu Sharma

20. It is also called “Physic nut” .It is the raw material for a famous product. In May 2005, Chief Minister Raman Singh became the first head of a state government to use this product. What are we talking about?

Jatropha

21. Ricardo Klement came to Argentina in 1950 under a Red Cross Passport. He tried different jobs from factory foreman, to junior water engineer and professional rabbit farmer for a living. On May 11 1960 he was smuggled out of Argentina and was executed there after why? This particular incident (i.e. the hunt fort Ricardo and his execution was described in a book titled The House on Garibaldi Street written by someone called Isser Harel

Adolf Eichmann

22. In A.D. 711, _______ Ibn Zayid, the one eyed Umayyad general landed with his troops on the shores of Hispania (modern day Iberian peninsula). He ordered all his naval ships to be burnt so that his soldiers had no choice but victory. The Moorish forces soon defeated the visigoths and gained control of the peninsula. The place where they landed is now known after this general who led the invasion. Identify this place.

Gibraltar

23. This father of the nation is not revered much in his country. Having hailed from a family with revolution in its blood (his great uncle was beheaded for fighting the British) he took part in revolutionary activities right from his college days. He assumed the title of Thakin, a politically motivated title that proclaimed that the native people were the true masters of their country, not the colonial rulers who had usurped the title for their exclusive use. He opted for an armed liberation of his homeland and sided with Japanese to raise an Army. He attended the 1940 Indian National Congress Assembly at Ramgarh in India. The British tried to capture him but he fled back to his homeland. Later he abandoned his Japanese friends and helped the British to route the Japs out of the country. Shortly after the war he negotiated Independence with the British. But he was assassinated at the age of 32 before his country could attain Freedom. The reason why he is not recognized by the present rulers of his country might be attributed to his only daughter. Who is this?

Aung Sang

Answers to Love Quiz

2007-02-10T01:32:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Here are the answers and scores to the "Love Quiz" posted around Valentine's day.Apologies for the "long delay"(an understatement i guess :)).

The quiz mostly revolves around interesting love stories-fictional and real. These, honestly, aren’t the best love stories that I’d pick, but they sure are well known or pretty interesting. (At least, I hope so!!). People who sent in their attempts would have received a copy of the answers within a day. Received about 40 replies which is very satisfying.Some people sportingly admitted to googling while some chose to do it silently. No offence, as the idea of quizzing, i guess is to read up some new stuff based on the questions we hear.

Regards,
Manjith

1. At the age of 12, he went to stay with his maternal uncle in Clarksville, Missouri, to continue his education. He impressed the coach with his archery skills and soon excelled in other sports as well. One evening, when he was on his way to class, he got the news that a ferocious panther had escaped the zoo. He tracked the animal to a girls school and killed it with an arrow just as it was about to attack a girl. Thus began an enduring romance between the boy and the girl. Well…Who met whom?

A: Phantom meets Diana Palmer.

2. Sir Clifford was wounded in the First World War and became paralyzed from waist down. His wife Connie Reid fell into loneliness and finally found solace in the hands of the gamekeeper Oliver Mellors, thus leading to a passionate affair. How do we better know Connie Reid?

A: Connie Reid is better known as Constance Chatterley. The book is “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by D.H.lawrance

3. Claude Frollo, the arch-deacon, uses his faithful servant X to kidnap the gypsy girl Y, with whom he has fallen in love. The plan gets foiled and X gets arrested. Y shows great consideration towards X and wins his affection. Later the girl Y got framed by Frollo in a case involving attempted murder and is hanged by the court. X, who had tried desperately to save the girl, is struck by grief and throws Frollo down from the cathedral. After killing his mentor, he entombs himself with the girl’s dead body. Identify X and Y.

A: Quasimodo and Esmeralda in “The Hunchback of Notredame”

4. Dr. Juvenal Urbino, fell to his death while trying to retrieve his parrot from a tree top. On the night after his funeral, Fermina Daza, his aged wife, is taken aback when she is visted by Florentino Ariza, her lover from fifty years ago. A romance that started half a century finally had come back to exert itself. Which memorable book?

A: “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The Spanish names should have got people started.

5. Oliver Barrett IV, a Harvard student and the scion of a wealthy upper class family falls in love with Jennifer Cavalleri, a music student of ordinary background. Which celebrated novel of our times? (Pretty Simple, I admit. But a quiz on love may not be complete without this one!)

A: Love Story by Eric Segal. The mother of all romance stories!

6. Lt. Frederick Henry, an American by nationality, serves as ambulance driver in the Italian army during WWI. He falls in love with a British nurse, Catharine Barkley, while recuperating from a mortar wound in the hospital. He decides to take her away from all the madness of war. But fate intervenes and Catharine dies while they were on their way to neutral Switzerland. Identify the fascinating work in the backdrop of the war, penned by a renowned author who himself served in a similar position during the war.

A: “A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway. “Ambulance driver” and “madness of war” should have got you to the right answer.

7. He was born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. After the death of his parents, he wandered around the world, visiting places like Los Angeles and Paris as an artist. Won a game with his friend Fabrizio, before embarking on a memorable trip.
She was engaged to steel tycoon Nathan Caledon Hockley, giving up her dreams so that she and her mother could escape their financial troubles. She later escaped from Hockley and married a man named Calvert before settling down in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Where did “He” and “She” meet each other and have a brief fling?

A: The Titanic. We are talking about Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater :).

8. Edvige Antonia Albina Maino attended a certificate course in English at The Bell Educational Trust's language school in the city of Cambridge. There, she met her future husband who was studying at Trinity College, Cambridge. Her marriage to him in 1968 took her life on a course that would later see her being named as the ” Third most powerful woman in the world” by the Forbes magazine in 2004. Identify the couple.

A: Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

9. She was the daughter of King Carl and Queen Isabella of Cockaigne. She was driven out of her country along with her brother by a secret plot made by the evil Hawk. In Alexandria, she used her servants to attack a stranger mistaking him to be Hawk. Later she falls in love with this stranger and they have many adventures together. She renounced her throne to marry him and they finally tied the knot in 1997 or ’98 in a triple wedding ceremony at her kingdom, his father’s “institution” and his house. Which celebrated pair?

A: Narda and Mandrake. The “institution” is of course “Collegium Magicox” run by Theron.

10. This one’s on forbidden love. ‘A’ was a scholar of literature who rented a room in Ramsdale and ended up marrying his house owner named Charlotte. He fell in love with ‘B’, with whom he had an obsessive relationship. ‘B’ escaped from his clutches with the help of a man named Clare Quilty. When Quilty, her lover, tried to force her to act in indecent movies, she escaped from him and married Mr. Richard Schiller. She died during child birth at the age of 17. ‘A’ murdered Quilty and ended up in prison where he wrote the book titled “B” or “The Confessions of a White Widowed Male”. Identify just B.

A: Lolita.

11. Ma Tint Tint, an active member of the YWCA in Rangoon invited this foreign diplomat, a former student of political science at the London School of Economics, to speak to her friends about political freedom. The relationship grew and she ended up marrying him in June 1951. Who was “he”?

A: K. R. Narayanan. “Ma Tint Tint” later became Mrs. Usha Narayanan!

12. She performed as a contralto in La Scala, Milan and as a prima donna in in the Imperial Opera of Warsaw, Poland before retiring in her mid twenties and settling in England. She later married Godfrey Norton. She became famous after Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and hereditary king of a country, paid a visit to a certain man, asking him to retrieve a photograph from her possession. Who is this woman? Or should I say “The Woman”!

A: Irene Adler, or “The Woman” as per Sherlock Holmes.

13. His adopted name was Erik. He had a hideously deformed figure but was an expert illusionist and singer, who at one time even served as an architect to the Shah of Iran. He also helped in the building of the “Palais Garnier” where he fell in love with a singer named Christine Daae whom he had tutored. How do we better know Erik?

A: The Phantom of the Opera. The “Palais Garnier” is the Paris Opera where the story is set.

14. In a letter to her sister Gretl, She later wrote about the meeting:
"I had stayed after closing time to straighten up several things and was standing on the ladder putting something away on the top shelf. Then I heard the door open and saw the boss come in with a somewhat older man carrying a felt hat in his hand. I tried to watch them without their noticing ... When I came down off the ladder the boss introduced us. He said: Mr. Wolff, this is our little Miss ___. Then Hoffmann (her boss) sent me out to get some beer and sausages from the corner pub."
She soon became his companion and they were together till death.
How do we better know this Mr. Wolff?

A: Adolf Hitler. The lady was Eva Braun. Mr. Wolff was one of his aliases while hiding.

15. In mythology, who/what was retrieved by invoking “The Oath of Tyndareus”?This being a love quiz, we can't forget the great conflicts centred on love.

A: Helen of Troy. The oath named after Helen’s stepfather was invoked by Menelaus to rally the kings of Greece (former suitors of Helen) against Paris and Troy. The oath architected by Odysseus, bound the suitors to defend Helen’s chosen husband against whoever should quarrel with him.

Scores:

Rajesh Mohan-6.5
Rahul Girish Kumar-15
Devadas Krishnan-13.5
Jacob Dijo- Chose not to answer. Thanks for the comment!
Rajashekhar R-12
Shyam Shekhar Menon-3.5
Bijo George-7
Nupur Maskara-1
Suman Mondal-5
Anurag Gupta-15
Thiagarajan Munusami-12
Praveen V R-13
Atul V Nath-6
Shafeek M K-11
Jeevan D-15
Pranav Kukreja-4
Bildebej-15
Suraj V Kumar-12
Mayukh Bose-7
Anurag Singh-7
Hrishi Varma-6
Amitabha Joarder-15
Harikrishnan Nair-7
Ajith Prasad-5
Ashok-12
Prasanth Kumar-14
Biju James-8.5
Nirupa Somasundaram-10
Haynes M G-12.5
Ravi Ananthan-9
Nivedita Kashyap-12
Anil Raghavan-12
D K Bose-9
Nirmal Joy-12
Vijayanath Vishwanath-11.5
Rajimuth-14
Tirthankar Chakravarty-12
Abid E.H.-8
Arijit Mukhopadhyay-13
Senthil_OR-1

Please send in your comments to kmanjith@yahoo.com with the subject line “Love Quiz”

Answers to "Licence to Kill - The Bond Quiz"

2006-12-27T01:38:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

I thought I’d bring out a commemorative quiz on Bond movies now that Casino Royale is making waves. Even if you aren’t a Bond fan or haven’t watched the movies, a few questions might be worth taking a guess/workoutable. The first section in this post has only the questions to give people a chance to work them out.The answers, along with their questions, are posted as another section after the questions section . Wishing you all a very happy new year!!

Regards
Manjith

Rules of Engagement:

There are 21 questions, one from each Bond movie.
The order of questions follows the order of the movies, except where it has been changed deliberately to make the answer less obvious!
No googling allowed. I admit that all these questions were sourced from the internet and you’d just have a cakewalk if you use google.

Tips:

Since the order of the questions follow more or less the order of movies, make your guesses count!
No “Official” Bond movie has been left out (eg: “Never Say Never Again” and an older version of “Casino Royale” are not by Albert Broccoli’s EON productions and hence aren’t treated as official)
In questions where the movie name has been asked, it would be useful to keep the previous tip in mind and guess the movies that haven’t been named anywhere else in the quiz.

Questions:

1. Which Bond movie opens with a chess game in which the moves were identical to the Boris Spassky vs David Bronstein game at the USSR Championship in Leningrad in 1960? The Spassky-Bronstein game is widely regarded as one of the most inspired, brilliant chess matches of all time.

2. A brilliant scientist, he was, (self-described), "the unwanted child of a German missionary and a Chinese girl of a good family". He later "became treasurer of the most powerful criminal society in China", in this case, the Tongs. He then escaped to America with $10 million of gold bullion. He specialized in atomic energy, which cost him both of his hands, which were replaced with crude metallic hands.(some sources indicate that he was born without hands).When spurned by both Americans and Soviets, he joined SPECTRE and plotted his revenge. Identify the memorable Bond villain.

3. Bond: Who are you?
Girl: My name is _________ __________.
Bond: I must be dreaming.
Just fill up!!

4. He was the second in command of Spectre, and successor to Ernesto Stavro Blofeld. He held the world to ransom after stealing two nuclear warheads from the US. Identify this deadly Bond villain who appears in Thunderball.

5. Which celebrated novelist and short story writer wrote the screen play for "You Only Live Twice", the 5th Bond movie?

6. The most powerful Bond villain of all time, he assumed the alias of Comte Balthazar de Bleuville in the movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (the 6th Bond movie). He has appeared in many Bond movies, but his face could not be shown in many movies because of a legal dispute over rights to the Bond novels. In the novels he gets strangled by Bond while hiding in Japan as Dr. Guntram Shatterhand. In the movies, he is shown as killed by Bond in a helicopter stunt, with his trademark Persian cat abandoning him before his death. Identify this character, named after a famous cricket commentator's father (who was Ian Fleming's classmate) and has his name mentioned throughout this quiz. (Easy one!!)

7. In "Diamonds Are Forever", Blofeld holds a millionaire industrialist in Nevada hostage and uses his facilities to build a deadly laser satellite. The industrialist character was inspired by a real life maverick, a close friend of Albert Broccoli (producer of Bond movies). The same man has been in the news due to a 2004 movie based on his life. Identify the real life personality.

8. When the 8th Bond movie "Live and Let Die" was released in South Africa, the love scenes between Bond (Roger Moore) and Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) were removed because of a national law that existed in that era. What was this strange reason?

9. Developed by a man named Lazar, it had the following components:
A ballpoint pen, cigarette lighter, cigarette case, cuff link and a single bullet. Which weapon?

10. This character played by Richard Kiel was introduced in "The Spy Who Loved Me" and later appeared in "Moonraker" as well. He was the only henchman to feature in two Bond movies. Seemingly indestructible, his role changed from a killing machine in the first to a comic lover of humanity at the end of the second, a change presumably brought about by his new found girl friend. Identify.

11. "Moonraker" was chosen as the next (11th) Bond movie because the producers wanted to cash in on the science fiction craze of 1977. Some of the scenes in the movie, especially the shooting scenes in space, paid tribute to the cause of this sci-fi craze. Which cause are we talking about?

12. In the 12th movie "For your eyes only" Whose grave is shown with an epitaph that reads “We have all the time in the world”?

13. Her father was a British military officer who was implicated in a crime and was allowed to commit suicide by Bond, who was assigned to capture him. She lived in a lake palace in India surrounded by acrobatic females. She ran a circus in addition to hotels, ships etc and was also a smuggler. Name the character which is also the title of the film.

14. Which famous band composed the title song for the 14th Bond movie "A view to a kill”?

15. Which Bond movie featuring Timothy Dalton, had a sequence in which Bond teams up with the Mujahidden in Afghanistan? (wiki quotes Afghan media reports that this was mujahideen commander Ahmed Shah Massoud's favorite Bond movie! It couldn’t be confirmed!)

16. He regularly appears in Bond movies, and the movie "Licence to Kill" featured him tying the knot with a girl named Della .She gets killed on their honeymoon night and he was dropped into a shark tank. He lost a leg, but apparently, survived to appear again in Bond movies. Who?

17. During WWII, Operation _______ was planned to ensure that Britain could defend Gibraltar even if Spain joined the Axis powers or Nazis invaded it. Ian Fleming, one of the planners of this operation named his house in Jamaica after this operation. Please fill up!

18. In the movie "Tomorrow Never Dies" Eliott Carver, the villain, reminds Bond of a famous quote:""You provide the pictures, and I'll provide the war”. Which real life personality did he take this quote from?

19. The British Govt. refused permission for the shooting of "The World is not enough" outside a Vauxhall Cross building citing security risk. The then Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook overruled the order saying "After all Bond has done for Britain, it was the least we could do for Bond."(Source: IMDB) What was the security importance of this Vauxhall Cross building?

20. There are two memorable "books" that make their appearance in the movie “Die Another Day”.
a) When Bond visits Havana, lights a cigar, sits in a study and talks to a contact about the clinic where rich clients get treated, he picks up a book from the shelf.
b) When Miranda Frost, the MI6 mole and fencing champion gets killed by a knife-throw by Jinx (Halle Berry), the knife pierces through a book before embedding in Frost's chest.
Identify both the books!!

21. This character was losely based on the British occultist Aleister Crowley who was dubbed "The wickedest man alive" during his time. He makes his appearance in Ian Fleming's novel as a displaced person in Dachau camp in the US zone of Germany in 1945. He was later transferred to Alsace-Lorraine and Strasbourg on a stateless passport where he adopted the name _______ because he was just a "Number" on the passport. The movie altered his role to suit the modern day story line. Identify the character whose name literally means "The Number".

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Answers:

Here are the answers to the Bond Quiz. Great response from all you guys out there. I had interchanged the order of the movies in Q1 and Q2. The rest of the questions follow the order of the movies itself.Scores at the end.

1. Which Bond movie opens with a chess game in which the moves were identical to the Boris Spassky vs David Bronstein game at the USSR Championship in Leningrad in 1960? The Spassky-Bronstein game is widely regarded as one of the most inspired, brilliant chess matches of all time.
A: From Russia With Love

2. A brilliant scientist, he was, (self-described), "the unwanted child of a German missionary and a Chinese girl of a good family". He later "became treasurer of the most powerful criminal society in China", in this case, the Tongs. He then escaped to America with $10 million of gold bullion. He specialized in atomic energy, which cost him both of his hands, which were replaced with crude metallic hands.(some sources indicate that he was born without hands).When spurned by both Americans and Soviets, he joined SPECTRE and plotted his revenge. Identify the memorable Bond villain.
A: Dr. No

3. Bond: Who are you?
Girl: My name is _________ __________.
Bond: I must be dreaming.
Just fill up!!
A: “Pussy Galore “!(Goldfinger)

4. He was the second in command of Spectre, and successor to Ernesto Stavro Blofeld. He held the world to ransom after stealing two nuclear warheads from the US. Identify this deadly Bond villain who appears in Thunderball.
A: Emilio Largo

5. Which celebrated novelist and short story writer wrote the screen play for "You Only Live Twice", the 5th Bond movie?
A: Roald Dahl

6. The most powerful Bond villain of all time, he assumed the alias of Comte Balthazar de Bleuville in the movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (the 6th Bond movie). He has appeared in many Bond movies, but his face could not be shown in many movies because of a legal dispute over rights to the Bond novels. In the novels he gets strangled by Bond while hiding in Japan as Dr. Guntram Shatterhand. In the movies, he is shown as killed by Bond in a helicopter stunt, with his trademark Persian cat abandoning him before his death. Identify this character, named after a famous cricket commentator's father (who was Ian Fleming's classmate) and has his name mentioned throughout this quiz. (Easy one!!)
A: Ernesto Stavro Blofeld

7. In "Diamonds Are Forever", Blofeld holds a millionaire industrialist in Nevada hostage and uses his facilities to build a deadly laser satellite. The industrialist character was inspired by a real life maverick, a close friend of Albert Broccoli (producer of Bond movies). The same man has been in the news due to a 2004 movie based on his life.
A: Howard Hughes

8. When the 8th Bond movie "Live and Let Die" was released in South Africa, the love scenes between Bond (Roger Moore) and Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) were removed because of a national law that existed in that era. What was this strange reason?
A: Gloria Hendry was Black and inter-racial love making scenes were banned in Aparthied era South Africa!

9. Developed by a man named Lazar, it had the following components:
A ballpoint pen, cigarette lighter, cigarette case, cuff link and a single bullet. Which weapon?
A: Golden Gun(in “The Man With the Golden Gun”)

10. This character played by Richard Kiel was introduced in "The Spy Who Loved Me" and later appeared in "Moonraker" as well. He was the only henchman to feature in two Bond movies. Seemingly indestructible, his role changed from a killing machine in the first to a comic lover of humanity at the end of the second, a change presumably brought about by his new found girl friend. Identify.
A: Jaws

11. "Moonraker" was chosen as the next (11th) Bond movie because the producers wanted to cash in on the science fiction craze of 1977. Some of the scenes in the movie, especially the shooting scenes in space paid tribute to the cause of this sci-fi craze. Which cause are we talking about?
A: The release of Starwars. The blasters used in the space fights of Moonraker were similar to Star Wars weaponry.

12. In the 12th movie "For your eyes only" Whose grave is shown with an epitaph that reads “We have all the time in the world”?
A: Theresa Bond/Tracy Draco, wife of James Bond. (They were married in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”)

13. Her father was a British military officer who was implicated in a crime and was allowed to commit suicide by Bond, who was assigned to capture him. She lived in a lake palace in India surrounded by acrobatic females. She ran a circus in addition to hotels, ships etc and was also a smuggler. Name the character which is also the title of the film.
A: Octopussy

14. Which famous band composed the title song for the 14th Bond movie "A view to a kill”?
A: Duran Duran

15. Which Bond movie featuring Timothy Dalton, had a sequence in which Bond teams up with the Mujahidden in Afghanistan? (wiki quotes Afghan media reports that this was mujahideen commander Ahmed Shah Massoud's favorite bond movie! It couldn’t be confirmed!)
A: The Living Daylights.

16. He regularly appears in Bond movies, and the movie "Licence to Kill" featured him tying the knot with a girl named Della .She gets killed on their honeymoon night and he was dropped into a shark tank. He lost a leg, but apparently, survived to appear again in Bond movies. Who?
A: Felix Leiter of the CIA (later moved to DEA)

17. During WWII, Operation _______ was planned to ensure that Britain could defend Gibraltar even if Spain joined the Axis powers or Nazis invaded it. Ian Fleming, one of the planners of this operation named his house in Jamaica after this operation. Please fill up!
A: Goldeneye.

18. In the movie "Tomorrow Never Dies" Eliott Carver, the villain, reminds Bond of a famous quote:""You provide the pictures, and I'll provide the war”. Which real life personality did he take this quote from?
A: William Randolf Hearst of Citizen Kane fame.

19. The British Govt. refused permission for the shooting of "The World is not enough" outside a Vauxhall Cross building citing security risk. The then Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook overruled the order saying "After all Bond has done for Britain, it was the least we could do for Bond."(Source: IMDB) What was the security importance of this Vauxhall Cross building?
A: The real headquarters of the MI6. This building appears in the Thames chase sequence.

20. There are two memorable "books" that make their appearance in the movie “Die Another Day”.
a) When Bond visits Havana, lights a cigar, sits in a study and talks to a contact about the clinic where rich clients get treated, he picks up a book from the shelf.
b) When Miranda Frost, the MI6 mole and fencing champion gets killed by a knife-throw by Jinx (Halle Berry), the knife pierces through a book before embedding in Frost's chest.
Identify both the books!!
A: A Field Guide to the Birds of West Indies written by the ornithologist James Bond, after whom Fleming named his fictional spy.
B: The Art of War by Sun-Tsu.

21. This character was losely based on the British occultist Aleister Crowley who was dubbed "The wickedest man alive" during his time. He makes his appearance in Ian Fleming's novel as a displaced person in Dachau camp in the US zone of Germany in 1945. He was later transferred to Alsace-Lorraine and Strasbourg on a stateless passport where he adopted the name _______ because he was just a "Number" on the passport. The movie altered his role to suit the modern day story line. Identify the character whose name literally means "The Number".
A: Le Chiffre (as in Casino Royale). The name also means “The Cipher” as per some sites.

The kills:
Sabapathy Narayanan-9
Rajiv D'Silva-12.5
D K Bose-11
Kushal Ramakrishna -6
Biju James-10
Anish -12
Harikrishnan Nair-16.5
Sriram Venkatesh-10
Suraj Menon-11
Abhilash Mony-2.5
Vivek-3
Santosh Chachadi-5
Sunil Pandey-9
Sumo-14.5
inge_y-15
R M V Simha-12
Mitesh Agarwal-4
Anant Singhania-7
Praveen V R-8.5
Atul V Nath-4
Brijesh Nair-11(mail got truncated and couldnt find the last 5 questions!)
Rajesh Mohan-9

Double-Oh Status Confirmed:
Kinshuk Biswas-19
Priyambad Pattanayak-18.5
Rahul Girish Kumar-18

signed
M(!)

Mail in your comments to kmanjith@yahoo.com

Thats all folks!!!

Answers to The Vacation Special General Quiz

2006-12-10T19:40:00.000-08:00

Hi

Here are the answers and scores to "The Vacation Special General Quiz" .
Thank you all for the generous response and comments. People who attempted the quiz must have immediately received a personal mail with the answers. Hope all you guys will take a shot at the James Bond quiz that will be uploaded on the blog shortly.

regards,
Manjith

Answers:

1. What was Kaiserbad,a disused spa, in the town of Karlovy Vary,Czech Republic transformed into, during May 2006?

A: Casino Royale. The exterior of the casino was this spa. The gambling scenes may have been at a studio. I was hoping that guys would figure out the Czech Republic connection since the movie starts off in Prague. The casino in the movie was supposed to be at Montenegro though.

2.Died at the age of 28 or 30. Had a name that literally meant "Ox-head".Buried near Jalalpur Sharif in Pakistan on the banks of the Jhelum river.Identify.

A: Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander. He was killed in the "Battle of Hydaspes", where Hydaspes is the Greek name for the Jhelum!! The age 28-30 is surprising for a horse, i felt. And it certainly confused a lot of you as well.The clue(i hope!) was the area mentioned in the question and its connection to Alexander.
Incidentally, the city named after the horse is also in the same region.(as per wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria_on_the_Indus)

3.Professor Krempe, teacher of natural philosophy at the university, criticized his new student when he told him that he had studied the works of alchemists and occultists like Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albert Magnus. But Mr.Waldman, Professor of chemistry was more tolerant of the boy's background and encouraged him greatly.The boy made his greatest creation in November 1792- something that would destroy his life. who are we talking about?

A: Victor Frankenstein, in the novel by Mary Shelley. This was his story at the Ingollstadt university. The clues were "greatest creation ...- something that would destroy his life" and the connection with the alchemists/occultists.

4.William J Donovan and Felix Dzershinsky are regarded as the respective founders of two organisations that were pre-eminent in a particular field. What are we talking about?

A: They founded the CIA and the KGB respectively. Infact it was the "OSS"(Office of Strategic services) and the "Cheka", that were founded by these people. These organisations later grew into the spying enterprises. Rahul adds that KGB HQ was in the Dzershinsky square in Moscow. Clue: The Russian name "Dzershinsky" and him founding an organisation should lead you unmistakably to the KGB.

5.What was started in 1941 and named after the late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary, ruler of a now obscure kingdom?

A: Santosh trophy. This Maharaja was president of India's football association at the time and named the trophy after his kingdom-Santosh, now in Bangladesh.

6.Pretty interesting stuff. We have heard of different Al Quaeda leaders in Iraq like Al-Masri,Al Libbi,Al Suri and so on.What do these surnames stand for? They arent family names by the way.

A: I have given points for nationalities, native towns etc. Al Libbi="The Libyan"Al Suri=" The Syrian"Al Masri="The Egyptian"Al Zarqawi incidentally was "The man from Zarqa" , a town in Jordan.

7.In the Star Trek-The Next Generation series,the USS Ambassador,USS Adelphi, USS Enterprise, USS Excalibur, USS Exeter, USS Valdemar, USS Yamaguchi, USS Zhukov and the USS ______ (also know as NCC 26632) were ships that belonged to the ambassador class of vessels which were mainly used for peaceful and non-violent purposes. The NCC 26632 which had been deputed for a mission in the Lagana sector was also a former assignment of Lt. Riker. Who or What was it fittingly named after?

A: USS Gandhi. The words "peaceful and non-violent" should have given the answer.

8.X's wife told her husband that their hall would be beautiful only if a "Roc's egg" was hung up from the middle of the dome. X immediately decided to humor her and summoned Y. On hearing the request Y gave a loud shriek, admonished X and left him for good. Identify X and Y.

A: X=Aladdin. Y=Genie. My favorite, this question. As per the story, an evil sorcerer came as a woman and tricked Aladdin's wife into believing that her palace lacked a Roc's egg. The genie's original master had been a Roc(some kind of huge bird) and he was angry at Aladdin for asking him the egg of his master. He revealed the sorcerer's trickery to Aladdin and disappeared. Aladdin promptly killed the sorcerer.

9.Champawat,Muktesar, Panar, Talla Des,Chowgarh, Mohan, Kanda, Chuka etc were some of the more famous trophies added to his bag by a legend. What are these known together as and who was the legend ?

A: They were individually called "The Man-Eater of Champawat","The Man-Eater of Muktesar" etc..Together they were "The Man-Eaters of Kumaon" , each killed by the legendary hunter, Jim Corbett. There were other man-eaters, but these were the ones in the book of the same name.The tough clue was "trophies" which could point to sports or hunting.I have deducted half a point for people who did not mention Kumaon.

10. Which ship commanded by Captain Von Muller was finally sunk by the HMS Sydney off the coast of the North Keeling(Cocos) islands after a massive search by over 60 allied ships ?(Hint : The ship's name contributed a word to many south Indian languages and was used as a bogey to scare kids !)

A: The SMS Emden. The malayalam word "Emandan"/"Yamandan" denoting large size is derived from this. The ship bombed Madras during WWI causing a mass panic with large number of people fleeing the city.

Scores:
Dinkar A- 7.5(0.5 for missing Kumaon)

Anand Shankar-2.5

Arish Tavadia-good guesses!

Indranil Adak-6.5

Santanu Dey-4

Mithun Paul-2

Husain Poonawala-3

Arindam Sanyal-2.5

Harikrishnan A-5

Ancil James Concesso-7

Dr. Bhatia Ravi-1

Sadashiv N-4

Abid E H-5

Roshith Mohan-3.5

Vijay Krishnan-3

Shreyas Joshi-4.5

Arun Warrier-3

Abhinav Mouli-7

Ajay Joy-4.5

Harikrishnan Nair-6

Ajith Prasad B-6

Atul V Nath-2

Vipin S Nair-5

Praveen V R-2

Rajesh Mohan-4

Rahul Girish-7

Folks who answered with additional clues:

Dhanya Varghese-2

Mathews John-2

Ambili V-2

Safitha j Raj-2

Thats All folks!!!

Answers to Terror! Terror!

2006-09-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

Thank You All for the excellent response to this quiz!I was initially worried that such an unconventional topic would yield very few responses.But i was in for a pleasant surprise!
Here are the answers and scores.

1."Allah is its goal, the Prophet its model, the Quran its Constitution, Jihad its path and death for the case of Allah its most sublime belief"slogan of Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya aka Islamic Resistance Movement.How is it more popularly known?

A:Hamas.Hamas is also supposed to be an Arabic word that denotes zeal or action

2.The name of this organisation literally means "bearer of the sword" in Arabic.It was reportedly founded when Aburajik Abubakar Janjalani broke away from the Moro Liberation Front.The gang specialises in kidnapping and extortion especially of US citizens.Identify.

A: Abu Sayyaf of Philippines.This is the group that was responsible for the kidnapping of a large number of Americans a few years ago.

3.The organisation takes its name from a maxim of José Carlos Mariátegui, founder of Peru's first communist party: "El Marxismo-Leninismo abrirá el ____ _______ hacia la revolución" (“Marxism-Leninism will open the ________ _______ to revolution”)Which organisation?

A:Shining Path founded by a University Professor named Abimael Guzman.The blank is "Sendero Luminoso" or "Shining Path".It was active in Peru.

4. .A student named Benno Ohnesorg was killed in police firing while attending a demonstration against the Shah of Iran.Andreas B. was the leader of a group of militant anarchists who went on a violent spree after this incident.After he was arrested and put on trial, a journalist named Ulrike M. wrote a series of articles sympathetic to their cause.One of her most powerful statements could be: "If one sets a car on fire, that is a criminal offence. If one sets hundreds of cars on fire, that is political action."Both Andreas and Ulrike supposedly committed suicide in prison (conspiracy theories say otherwise).Their organisation was called the Red Army Faction,but its popular name was derived from the surnames of these two individuals.Which organisation?

A:The individuals were Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhoff after whom the Baader-Meinhoff gang of Germany takes its name.You would find references to them in many novels,especially those with daring terror plots.

5.The organsiation first shot into limelight when four armed men operating in broad daylight and without the benefit of masks, shot dead the Jordanian Prime Minister, Wash Tel, as he returned to Cairo’s Sheraton Hotel from an Arab League meeting. The assassination itself was followed by a gruesome ritual as one of the killers knelt down, lapped up and drank some of Tel’s flowing blood and shouted several times that he and his accomplices belonged to ______ ______. The group then tried to assassinate Jordan’s Ambassador to London, Zeid Al Rifai’, blew up a West German electrical installation and a Dutch gas plant. Hijacking a Belgian Sabena airline,attacking Lod airport etc have been attributed to this organisation.But their most stunning attack was carried out on 5 September 1972.Identify.

A:The Black September.I guess many of u figured it out from the date.The Munich massacre of Israeli athletes occured on this date.But the group does not take its name from this date.September 1970,was the month when the Palestinian guerrillas were thrown out of Jordan by King Hussein and his PM.The arabs dubbed this event as "Black September"

6.The organisation was founded by a student named Renato Curcio at the University of Trento.Initially they broke into factory offices to support labourers who were opressed.In 1981,they kidnapped US Army Brigadier General James Dozier but he was later rescued.But their most spectacular attempt was the kidnapping and assasination of a former prime minister.Which organisation?

A:The Red Brigades of Italy also known as Brigatte Rosse.The PM who was kidnapped and murdered was Aldo Morro.

7.Sub-Commander Marcos is currently the most influential leader of this movement.This organisation is a much reformed version of its 1970's avatar.Infact there is even a talk of them contesting the next elections with Marcos himself changing his name to "Delegate Zero".Which organisation/movement?

A:The Zapatistas of Mexico or Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN)They are named after Emiliano Zapata who fought for land reforms in Mexico during the Mexican revolution.More recently they have given up violence and might join politics.

8.The Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an organisation committed to the liberation of _______?

A:Euskadi Ta Askatasuna abbreviates as ETA.They are the people who wish to seperate Basque from Spain.

9.In 2000, the organization changed its name to Aleph (the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet).Its earlier name roughly translated into Supreme truth.Identify.

A:Aum Shinri Kyo,the Japanese cult founded by Shoko Asahare.They were responsible for the Sarin gas attacks in the Tokyo subway.Aum is supposed to be derived from the Sanskrit word Om.

10.He was one of the foremost anti-communist leaders in Africa,waging war on a Soviet supported Marxist Government.His friends called him "The Black Cockerel" . Ronald Reagen described him as a "freedom fighter" and he was personally invited to the White House.His organisation received generous assistance from the CIA,but its power was based more on the sale of diamonds, mined in the country and smuggled out("conflict diamonds").Identify this leader and his organisation whose wars have ravaged an African country.

A:Jonas Savimbi of UNITA.The country is Angola.He died a few years back.

I guess that covers pretty much every part of the globe.I skipped Al Quaeda and Laden coz it would be way too obvious/cliched.
Hope you guys enjoyed the quiz!Will come up with something new pretty soon!!

Regards,
Manjith
"I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies."-Michael Corleone

Scores:
Saurabh-3
Rahul Narayan-10
Abhirup Ganguly-2
dinkar-8
Kaushik Sriram-8(thanx for the comments!)
Husain Poonawala-4
Pranav Wankawala-Thanx for the response.
Justin Thomas Panachakel-Thanx for the response
abraham karimpanal-4
ananthakrishnan ganapathy-7
rahul/rajasekhar,GEC thrissur-9(great explanations for each answer!!)
Vijay BDL-7.5(.5 for figuring out Aum and missing Shinrikyo!)
Rajesh Mohan-3
arun warrier-5
Srikrishnan A Iyer-6
aji n-6
Satish Viswanathan-3(Charles Taylor was a good try on Q10)
Naseer Ahmed-10
jyotirmoy Bhattacharjee-8
Shekhar Menon-4.5(.5 for mentioning "the group that kidnapped israeli athletes")
Shreyas Joshi-2
Arun A.S.-5
Jaideep Kumar-10(admits to have done a "fair bit of googling"..thanx for the declaration and comments!)
Mihir Shah(elmihiro)-8
Roshith-2(given points for mentioning "Shoko Asahara's cult")
Jeevan D-10
Sadashiv-2.5(IRA was a good guess on Q7Thanx a lot for the comments)
Abid E.H.-6
Atul V Nath-4.5(.5 for mentioning the group in Philippines on Q2)
Praveen V R-3.5(.5 for mentioning "the guys who killed Aldo Morro)
Anil Raghavan-10
Tuppence aka Prudence_beresford-2
Mahesh Sharma-9(thanx mate!)
Bhaskara Rao-5

The Beautiful Game

2006-06-15T02:58:00.000-07:00

Here are the answers to "The Beautiful Game".Most of the questions are based on interesting football trivia. Some may even be urban legends. Will be happy if any of you can provide more info on any of the topics below. Please point out mistakes if any.Will try to send you the sources wherever possible.
Please mail in your comments to kmanjith@yahoo.com . Eminently guessable set of questions.So have fun!!

1.His mother called him “Dico”. For a while he had the nickname “Gasolina” after a singer. His dad’s friend, Jose Lino was a good goalkeeper who had a nickname X. Lino apparently didn’t start speaking even at the age of two. His parents consulted a witch doctor, who kept chanting "Bili-bilu-tetéia!" - something like "Abracadabra!" to make the baby speak. The boy finally blurted out “Bile” and was cured. Lino earned his nickname from this story. Our man in question greatly wished to be a player like Lino and often expressed his ambition to friends and family. Finally one of his friends started teasing him with a corruption of Lino’s nickname (X). Identify the legend.

A:Pele
source:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1774055,00.html#article_continue
http://www-d0.fnal.gov/cgi-bin/d0news?read__B_PHYSICS__179

2. “They say I slept with seven Miss Worlds,” he once said. “I didn’t. It was only four. I didn’t turn up for the other three.” Immortal words of?

A:George Best(Every man's dream,those words:))

3. Bela Guttman, manager of Benfica accidentally ran into his old friend Jorge Bauer, boss of São Paulo F.C. in a hair-cutting saloon. Bauer talked to Guttman about an African player he had wanted to sign for $20,000 but couldn’t do so because the club couldn’t pay that much. Guttman immediately went on to find the player and after watching him in action, signed him. On arriving in Lisbon, the player set off a huge row between Benefica and Sporting Lisbon who claimed that he played for a club that had a contract to supply players to it. The player was spirited away at the airport and kept in hiding for seven months till the row settled. Which Legend?

A:Eusebio, the Black Panther. He was from Mozambique and played for Portugal.

4. "In 1989, a plane bound for Surinam crashed on the edge of the jungle, killing many members of a black Dutch national side. Then in 1994, when he had to fly to USA, a journalist announced in a plane that he had a bomb in his bag which led the US authorities to ground the plane and delay the flight."
All these probably led to a guy earning his funny nickname. Who?

A:Dennis Bergkamp,"The Non Flying Dutchman".Bergkamp read about the first incident as a boy and later stopped flying altogether after the '98 incident.

5. A fan named Matthew Simmons, shouted racial insults and threw a missile at a player as he walked off the pitch after being given a red card for kicking another player during a tackle.The match was between Man U and Crystal Palace(1995).How did the player in question respond??!!

A:Eric Cantona with his infamous Kungfoo kick!

6. Green Fire shop in the Tequendama Hotel, (Bogota, Columbia) owned by Danilo Rojas raised a huge controversy due to an incident that supposedly occurred on 18 May 1970.The incident sent shockwaves through the sporting world and even Prime Minister Harold Wilson intervened to diffuse the crisis. What incident?

A:Booby Moore got arrested on charges of stealing a diamond bracelet.This was seen as an attempt to hamper England's show at the 1970 WC.

7. What is the claim to fame of Captain James Thain, pilot of the BEA Elizabethan airliner, Lord Burghley?

A:Captained the plane that crashed in Munich in 1958,killing eight players of Man U.

8. He graduated from the University of Bologna with a degree in economics in 1984. he played as a central defender ,but later chose a different career. A particularly severe form of alopecia caused him to lose all facial hair. This gave him his distinct appearance and the name Kojak (Kojak was a detective in a popular American serial). He retired from his job (whose crowning movement came in 2002) at the age of 45. He also worked as a financial consultant. Who?

A:Pier Luigi Colina.The crowning moment was officiating in the final of 2002 WC.
"retired at the age of 45" should have pointed to a referee(FIFA retirement age for International referees).There werent too many bald referees worth asking a question in WC2002!

9. It is known as Chilena or Chalaca in most of Latin America. Leonidas, the “Black Diamond” credits another Brazilian called Petronilho de Brito for this. Ramon Unzaga, a Spaniard player, who played for Chile has also been credited with this innovation. What innovation are we talking about?

A:Bicycle Kick.

10. .The boy was born on July 7,1994 as the third son of the family. He was later christened 'Mateus', supposedly after Lothar Mathaeus, one of his father’s favorite footballers. Why would we be still, remembering the birth??!!

A:The father was Bebeto.The famous cradle celebration involving Bebeto,Romario and Mazinho during Brazil vs Holland in the '94 WC was dedicated to the birth of this boy.(Ya, beats me why Bebeto wud have chosen a german!!)

Scores:
Rajendran Dheeraj 8
Prateek Vijayavargia 7
Husain Poonawala 5
Oranje Oranje 10!!
Shafeek M K 6
Vineesh Kumar 9
Arun warrier 6
Manish Achutha 9
Devadas Krishnan 9
Rajesh Mohan 6
Bharathan Gopalakrishnan 9
Ajith Prasad 6.5
Harikrishnan B 8

Please mail in your comments to kmanjith@yahoo.com .Hope you enjoyed the quiz.

"42"

2006-05-23T23:40:00.000-07:00

42 questions on Universe, life and a few other things..
(answers at the bottom of this post)

1. Arthur _____ Son & Co. is a brewery founded Dublin Ireland in 1756.The brewery's most famous product is a dark stout beer (a type of porter), known widely as ____. The company also brought out another product, as a result of a debate involving its managing director Hugh Beaver. This product went on to become a huge hit. Name it.

2. Who is X?

X is the most controversial of Indian choreographers. X was one of the first to
experiment with Bharatanatyam, X blended it with Kalaripayattu and yoga. X calls her
performances ‘celebrations of the human body’, since X believes that the body is as
important as the spirit and X has been hailed as a priestess of erotic. X’s dancers
do not wear the classical bharatnatyam make-up and are dressed as simply as possible. As a sign of X's distance from traditional Indian dancing, Xdoes not have the dancers perform the traditional pranam, prayer, at the start.X has received many prizes like the Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1992 , the international Time Out/Dance Umbrella Award for the best dance-performance in Great Britain, and the GAIA Award in Italy.
Identify X.

3.Truman Capote was the life long friend of x, who was his Monroeville neighbor. X assisted him
in the research work of his non fiction novel, “In Cold Blood”. X later published a book which became a classic. Capote is said to have inspired one of the characters in the novel. He frequently implied that he himself had written a considerable portion of her novel; some even say he ghosted the entire novel. Many people including x’s editor believed this story. Name x and the book.

4. How do we better know John Johnson, the servent of Thomas Percy ? Before assuming this identity he worked as weapons expert with the Spanish Army andheld a post of command when the Spaniards took Calais in 1596 under the orders of King Philip II of Spain.

5.Will Eisner,s book "A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories" published in 1978 is first of a kind, what?

6. Which club's fans are known as the culés? Roughly translated from language of the place where the club exists, it means arses. Far from being offensive, the name refers to fans seated in the highest row of the stadium. From outside passers-by could only see their arses.

7. ______ (1918-1982), former Chief Minister of Bihar, was born at Madhepura district in Bihar. He had his early education at Darbhanga and higher education at Patna. He worked as a Honorary Magistrate during 1945-51. Though his political career started with the Indian National Congress, he was soon attracted towards the 'Socialist' stream of thought, and joined the Samyukta Socialist Party. He took over as the Chief Minister of the State in 1968.He is very much in news these days due to a post he held from 1978.Whose is he?

8.______ is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille, based on the 1880 novel Rarahu ou Le Mariage de Loti by Pierre Loti. It was first performed in 1883 at the Opéra Comique in Paris.The story concerns ____, a girl who lives in India with her father, Nilakantha, who is a Hindu priest. She falls in love with Gérald, a young British man in the military service and consequently displeases her father. To avoid trouble between her father and Gérald, _____ chooses suicide over dishonor.Name it.

9. What was known as The pubic wars?

10. Electric rays are fish that have a rounded body and a pair of organs capable of producing an electric discharge, which is used to stun or kill prey. There are 69 species in two families.Perhaps the most known members are those of the genus _____, also called crampfish and numbfish. The genus name comes from a Latin word meaning to be stiffened or paralyzed, referring to the effect on someone who handles or steps on a living electric ray. A modern day device takes it name from this genus name what is it?

11.What did this statue inspire?

12.The Cacophony Society is “a randomly gathered network of free spirits united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society.” It was started in 1986 by surviving members of the now defunct Suicide Club of San Francisco. The anarchic nature of the Society means that membership is left open-ended and anyone may sponsor an event. Cacophony events often involve costumes and pranks in public places and sometimes going into places that are generally off limits to the public. Cacophonists have been known to dress as Santa Claus or dress in animal suits and go bowling. This has inspired something in pop culture or literature. What?

13 .The Order of the Dragon was an institution, similar to other chivalric orders of the time, modelled on the Order of St George (1318). It was created in 1408 by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund and his queen Barbara Cilli, mainly for the purpose of gaining protection for the royal family. According to its statute, the Order also required its initiates to defend the Cross and to do battle against its enemies, principally the Turks. Which character has a name which means “ son of the member of the order of Dragon”?

14. Herbert Samuel Leon bought over 300 acres of land in Buckinghamshire circa 1883. At the heart of the estate, he built a mansion in a curious mixture of architectural styles. Following the deaths of Sir Herbert and Lady Fanny Leon, the Park fell into the hands of property developer Captain Hubert Faulkner. In August 1939.The arrival of 'Captain Ridley's Shooting Party' changed the destiny of this place. Which place?

15. The statue shown below is from the city of Bukhara in Uzbekistan, the question is; who is being depicted?

16. Originally known as the Knights of Walpurgis, the members were branded on their left forearm with a mark of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth.This fictional society is headed by a person whose name translates into french as "theft from death".The standard attire was a black cape with a white skull mask.Name of this "terrorist organisation"?

17. This is a schematic diagram of a fridge patented by whom?

18. It was the term used to describe a person of profound mental retardation having a
mental age below three years and generally being unable to learn connected speech or
guard against common dangers. The term belongs to a classification system no longer
in use and is now considered offensive.It is now replaced by "profound mental retardation", which term?

19. She was an active political figure in freedom movement against British Raj.Encouraged by her brother but opposed by the rest of her family, she received excellent early education. She joined the Bandra Convent in Bombay in 1902. In 1919 she got admitted to the highly competitive University of Calcutta where she attended the Dr. Ahmad Dental College. After she qualified and went along with her idea of opening a dental clinic in Bombay in 1923.In 1954 Hector Bolitho wrote a biography of her illustrious brother which she strongly felt failed to do justice to her brother's political life and prompted her to write "My Brother" a biography of her brother. Who is she?

20. Identify this Lady.

21. He started his European career in Monaco in 1988, with whom he won the French Cup in 1991. n the 1990s he subsequently played for Paris Saint Germain (1992 - 95), with whom he won the French league in 1994; and AC Milan (1995 - 2000), with whom he won the Italian league in 1996 and 1999. In 1995 he was named European Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year. After leaving Milan in August 1999 he moved to Chelsea, Manchester City and lympique Marseille in quick succession, before leaving Marseille in May 2001 for Al Jazira FC, in the United Arab Emirates.As successful as he was at club level, he was not able to bring over that success to his national team.He has done everything with the squad from playing to coaching to financing it, but his country failed to make a single World Cup,falling just a point short in qualifying for the 2002 tournament. This has all led to him being known as one of the best footballers never to have played in a World Cup.Name him.

Answers:

1. Guinness. This is how Guinness started sponsoring the Book of Records.

2. ChandraLekha, the legendary dancer.

3. Harper Lee, To Kill A Mocking Bird

4. Guy Fawkes

5. First Graphic novel

6. Barcelona FC, cules means arses in Catalan.

7. B.P. Mandal of Mandal Commission fame.

8. Lakme, this from where the company takes its name.

9. The great rivalry between Penthouse and Playboy where in they competed with each other by revealing little more than the other during the 60's. 70's and 80's.

10.Torpedo

11. This statue is called Nike of Samothrace. This inspired Abel Lafleur to design the Jules Rimet Trophy.

12. The Operation Mayhem in Fight Club

13. Dracula

14. The Bletchley Park

15. Naseeruddin Hodja

16. The Death Eaters in Harry Potter

17. Albert Einstein

18. Idiot

19. Fathima Jinna

20. Capt. Lakhsmi Sehgal

21. George Weah

Move on to the next post to answer the remaining questions

"42"(continued...) with answers

2006-05-23T06:05:00.000-07:00

Please find answers for the next 21 questions at the bottom of this post

22. .He acted as a go-between for the drug barons Pablo Escobar and Carlos Molina when the latter’s daughter was kidnapped by the former. He was largely responsible for securing the release of Molina's daughter by delivering the ransom money. He received $64,000 for his services, which broke the national law, as it is an offence to profit from a kidnapping. He was incarcerated for 7 months before being released without charge. Who?

23. Leon Harrison Gross was an American playwright and theatrical producer. How do we better know him in literature?

24. The earliest settlers in the Valley of the Sun were the Hohokam Indian people, who lived there as early as 300 BC and later, disappeared mysteriously. In 1867, Jack Swilling of Wickenburg founded a small farming colony here. The town that grew out was named _____, memorializing the birth of a new civilization from the ruins left by the Hohokam. It is now the 6th largest city in the US, largest capital city by population, and the third-largest capital city by area in the U.S.

25. He died at the early age of thirty-four, and his body was buried under the riverbed of the Busento. The stream was temporarily turned aside from its course while the grave was dug .The king was buried with some of his treasures and when the work was finished the river was turned back into its usual channel. The captives who did the work were put to death so that none might learn their secret. The greatest accomplishment of the dead man was the sacking of Rome in AD 410.Who?

26. As a lawyer, X participated in the military commission trying the Lincoln assassination conspirators. X was also a Major General in the Union Army during the Civil War. While serving as governor of New Mexico (1878-81) he made the statement ``All calculations based on our experiences elsewhere fail in New Mexico.” This has been called the "The Curse of X". His greatest claim to fame is writing a novel during his gubernatorial stint. It was one of the best selling novels of the 19th century. Who?

27. This battle was fought on June 4, 1859 during the Austro-Sardinian War, resulting in a French-Sardinian victory under Napoleon III against the Austrians under Marshal Ferencz Gyulai. The Sardinians regard this as a great victory, which later paved the way for Italian unification under Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel. How has this battle been immortalized?

28. In the movie "From Russia with Love”, James bond almost got killed by Rosa Klebb as a result of a mistake he made. He spent 6 months in a hospital. M disapproved of Bond’s action saying that, the casualty rates of double O agents had gone down 40% during his tenure and he wanted it to remain so. What did Bond finally do on M's insistence to prevent such an accident again?

29. Where do they appear together or connect:
John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benton, Sam Houston, Edmund G. Ross, Lucius Lamar, George Norris, Robert A. Taft.

30. Who was killed by a man named Khalid Islambouli who shouted "Death to the Pharaoh!” as he shot him?

31. He was the child of Sarek, a diplomat, and Amanda Grayson, a schoolteacher.
He often relaxed by playing tri-dimensional chess and was also skilled at playing the lute. He had green blood, of the group T-negative. Who?

32. It was originally constructed in June 1869 to commemorate the victims of the Boshin War. Originally named Shōkonsha, it was renamed in 1879. In October 1979, 14 controversial figures were declared as martyrs, at this place.Since then it has been a center of controversy. Which site?

33. X is a marker used in poker. It is placed in front of the player who is to deal the next hand. Which popular phrase/phrases originate from this marker?

34.
“Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following propositions will be discussed at ________, under the presidency of the Reverend Father ______, Master of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and Lecturer in Ordinary on the same at that place. Wherefore he requests that those who are unable to be present and debate orally with us, may do so by letter.In the Name our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Thus started an invitation to discuss a set of propositions.
Proposition 1 states that “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance”. The last one goes like “And thus be confident of entering into heaven rather through many tribulations, than through the assurance of peace.” What propositions are we talking about?

35. In 1884 the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, inspired by labor's 1872 success in Canada, demanded an eight-hour workday in the United States to come in effect. This resulted in a general strike and the riot in Chicago of 1886, but eventually also in the official sanction of the eight-hour workday. In 1889, the first congress of the Second International called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago riot. These were so successful that it was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891.What originated as a result?

36. He was in love with a girl called Rosaline and was heartbroken when he learnt that she had taken a chastity vow and wouldnot be able to return his love. He then went to a party hoping to meet her again and met another girl whom he found to be better than Rosaline.The new girl was actually being courted by Paris and was only 14 years of age.Who are we talking about?

37. A man named Eustache Dauger was arrested in Dunkirk and sent to prison on July 1, 1669. He died on November 19, 1703, and was buried the next day under the name of Marchioly. What is his claim to fame?

38. . In March 1967, a tribal youth named Wimal Kesan went to plough his field after obtaining a judicial order. The goons of the local landlord beat him up. The incidents that followed soon brought global attention to this village and contributed a new word to the English language. Which village/word?

39. Pierre Laval, the French foreign minister in 1935 requested X to go easy on religion so as to enlist all round support for WWII. Laval was worried that X's intolerance could alienate religious heads. X's response is now legendary. Identify X and his quote.

40.This author spent three or four years writing copy for a St.Louis advertising agency. It was in this job that he received inspiration for the name of a new character in his strip. While mulling over a pile of trade papers on his desk, he came across one from the National Association of Retail Druggists.He immediately decided on the name of his character.Which character?

41. The operation was assigned to the Raider Brigade, which was part of the 4th infantry division. It involved over 600 soldiers Colonel James Hickey of the 4th Infantry Division. The two main check points were named as wolverine1 and wolverine2. The operation itself was named after a 1984 movie which featured groups called wolverines. Which operation?

42. In 1948, The Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded to any one although they were awarded in other disciplines. What was the official reason stated for the non-awarding of prizes?

Answers:

22. Rene Higuitta of Columbia.(The name "Escobar" should have led you to Columbia courtesy Andres Escobar.Pablo Escobar, incidentally was the head of the Medellin drug cartel in Columbia)

23. Lee Falk

24. Phoenix, Arizona (" memorializing the birth of a new civilization from the ruins..")

25. Alaric, King of Visigoths

26. Lew Wallace, the author of Ben Hur.

27. This was the Battle of Magenta, which inspired somebody to name a newly discovered color in its honour.

28. He replaced his Berratta, which had got stuck while drawing, with a Walther PPK.This was how the gun became part of Bond folklore.

29. They are the 8 case studies presented in “Profiles in Courage”, the Pulitzer winning work
by John F Kennedy.

30. Anwar Saadat of Egypt.("Pharaoh" was the clue)

31. Spock in Startrek.

32. Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, where the ‘kamis’ (spirits) of the war dead are kept. Hidekki Tojo (Japanese Premier during WWII) and many other war criminals were declared as martyrs by the shrine authorities, which makes it controversial. China, South Korea etc raise formal protests whenever a Japanese premier visits the sacred Shinto shrine.

33. Buck as in “passing the buck”, “the buck stops here “, ”making a buck (money)” etc.

34. Martin Luther’s 95 theses against the sale of indulgence put up first at Wittemberg church.

35. May Day celebrations.

36. Romeo and Juliet.

37. The Man in the Iron Mask.

38. Naxalbari.

39. “How many divisions has the Pope?” X was Joseph Stalin. Laval had asked Stalin to tone down his actions against the Catholics when he received this response.

40. NARDA in Mandrake. Lee Falk apparently liked the abbreviation NARD.

41. Operation Red Dawn, which led to the arrest of Saddam Hussein.

42. “There are no suitable living candidates.” This was an obvious reference to Mahatma
Gandhi even though the Nobel committee has never acknowledged this.

Hope you enjoyed the quiz. Send in your comments to kmanjith@yahoo.com.

Answers to the Ragam Lone Wolf Quiz

2006-04-17T23:53:00.000-07:00

Answers:
Round 1:
1.Check Point Charlie on the Berlin Wall

2.James Dean

3.Shantaram(Gregory David Roberts)

4.Bodhidharma who took kalaripayattu to China and started the martial arts tradition.

5.The jewels of Helen of Troy.The lady in the picture is the wife of Heinrich Schleimann who excavated Troy

Round 2:
1.Tom and Jerry

2.Young Turks.The country is Turkey.This phrase is now a cliche.

3.Christopher Marlowe.The other "assumed identity" would be William Shakespeare!

4. OZ,as in Wizard of OZ.

5.Arsenal F.C.

6.Cedric Gibbons who designed the Oscar statuette.

7.Gestapo or Geheims Statz Polizei,the German secret police during WWII.

8.Alan Greenspan who recently retired as Chairman of the US Federal Reserve.

9.Austin Powers.

10.The Seven Samurai.

11.Carthage.

12.Shakunthala.(Goethe was a great fan of this poem by Kalidasa)

13.Pindar,the poet.

14.Carravagio

15.Pearl Harbour.

16.Ingolstadt University where Victor Frankenstein studied.The anatomy theater was where, the monster was assembled (in the novel by Mary Shelley).

17.Apu from Apu Trilogy by Satyajith Ray.The storylines refer to Pather Panjali, Apur Sansar and Aparajitho.

18.H5N1,the avian flu virus.H=Hemagglutinin,N=Neuraminidase.

19.Elvisaurus named after Elvis Prestley

20.The last words of Romeo and Juliet.

Round 3:
1. This is Hal Halbrook who acted as Deep Throat in the movie " AllPresident's Men". The guy with the gun is Mark Felt, the original Deepthroat. And at the bottom you have the poster of the movie Deep Throat.So the answer we are looking for is Deep Throat.

2. This is Isabella Eugenie Boyer, the wife of Isaac Singer, thesewing-machine industrialist. She was chosen by Frederic AugusteBartholdi as the model of Statue of Liberty.

3.From the top. In the first picture Venus is shown with her handmirror,in the second Mars is shown with his spear and shield and in thethird one, Mercury is shown .The symbols for genders are derived from these gods/godess. The symbol for female sex is Venus' handmirror, while the male symbol is Mars' shield and spear. Finally thereis symbol for intersexual organisms which is same as the symbol of the planet Mercury

4. The first pic is that of a Tapioca. Second one shows Alhambra.It is the most famous of Moorish Castles generically called Alcazars. The flag at the bottom is the national flag of San Theodoros, a fictional country inTintin. Both Tapioca and Alcazar are characters from Tintin who keeptrying to oust each other from power.

5. The guy at the bottom is Richard Bachman, a fictional personcreated by Stephen King ( other guy) as his alias. The first visual isthe cover of a book written by King with this nom de plume.

6.The flag shown at the bottom is the University of Michigan flag. Theseare the only flags to go to moon.

Round 4:
1. Lord Louis Mountbatten

2. New York
3. The Bhopal Gas tragedy(the letters MIC can be found on the photo)

4. The Black Hole Memorial Of Calcutta

5. The Balfour Declaration which led to the formation of Israel.Arthur Balfour was the guy.

6.The Horsemen of Apocalypse.The fifth horseman is death.

7."Is Paris Burning?"

Theme: The books of Larry Collins and Dominic LapierreThey wrote a biography of Mountbatten (Freedom at Midnight largely revolves around Mountbatten as well).Is NewYork burning,It was 5 past midnight at Bhopal(Lapierre and Javier Morro),O Jerusalem(formation of Israel),The City of Joy(about Calcutta),The fifth Horseman(a novel with Col.Gaddafi as the villain),Is Paris Burning(about liberation of Paris during WWII) are the other connections.

Round 5:
1. Khilafat

2. Exorcism

3. The unknown rebel at Tiananmen Square

4. Cobras

5. Georges Clemenceau

6. Camp David

7. Charles Babbage.

8. Handshakes.

9. Chicken Soup series.

10. Sufis

11.The towers of London

12. Karunesh

13. Tebbit argued that the loyalty of British Immigrants can betested by looking at who they support, in a cricket match involving England and the country of their origin.

14. Scud missiles

15. Vedic maths

16. Siddarth and Bhagat Singh

17. Copa America

18. The Harmonium

19. Chaiya Chaiya

20 Elo

21 Tory

22 Black Sabbath

Round 6:Buzzer
1.Margaret Thatcher becoming the first Woman PM of UK(the mis-spelling of historic, utterly-butterly etc reflect the 'Tory" victory)

2."I have a dream"(speeches by Luther King and Rajiv Gandhi,song by ABBA)

3.Thomas Hobbes and John Calvin (gave their names to Calvin and Hobbes strip)

4.The Raft of Medussa.

5.Mixed Doubles partners of Mahesh Bhupathi when he won the 6 Grandslams.(Martina Hingis,Ai Suguyama,Elena Likhovetseva,Mary Pierce,Hantuchova)

6.Maximum uses of the 'F' word

7.J.R.R.Tolkien

8.Faberge Eggs(easter eggs of Russia)

9.Quidditch

10.Prof.Moriarty.He's nicknamed the Napolean of Crime.He has written a thesis on Dynamics of an asteroid.Also worked on binomial theorem.

11.First people to take 100, 200,300,400,500 and 600 test wickets respectively

12.Herman Hesse, grandson of Herman Gundert.

The Rules of Engagement:

2006-03-21T04:28:00.000-08:00

General rules for answering the questions posted on this blog:
There were 6 rounds for the Lone Wolf finals.
Roound 1 was a written round
Round 2 and 5 were straight forward bouncer rounds.
Round 3 was a set of visual connects.
Round 4 was a StageII where answers to all 7 questions were connected by a common theme.
Round 6 was a buzzer round.
We have uploaded all the questions(nearly 75) on this blog.
We request you to attempt as many questions as possible.This is a quiz which we expect you to attempt, as a recreation during ur free time,over many sessions.
Please start from the bottom.You'll find an intro to lone wolf and Round1 at the bottom.
Consolidate your answers(with correct question numbers+round numbers and put "Lone Wolf" in the subject line) and send it to:
1)kmanjith@yahoo.com
or
2)praveen.vr@gmail.com
Kindly avoid writing answers in the comments field.You can air your views there,but answers written there will be promptly deleted.We'd be delighted if you could put your name in the comments field,instead of "anonymous"!
The answers and scores will be put up after 2 weeks.

Ragam Lone Wolf: Round 6

2006-03-07T03:15:00.000-08:00

ON THE BUZZER!
1. Amul ad on which occasion? 2.Connect the three visuals below

3.Connect the two people below
4.Identify the painting.

Ragam Lone Wolf : Round 6 (continue...)

2006-03-07T01:05:00.000-08:00

5. What connects them?

6.What is this list all about??

Raging Bull(127)
Scarface(218)
Pulp Fiction(271)
Casino(422?)
The Devil Rejects(560???!!!)

7.This author is buried next to his wife, and on their tombstone the names "Beren" and "Lúthien" are engraved, a fact that sheds light on the love story of Beren and Lúthien.Who?

8.The first one was produced in 1885. It was commissioned by Tsar Alexander III of Russia as a surprise for his wife Maria Fyodorovna.The tsarina was so delighted by this gift that Alexander appointed the gift-maker as a "Court Supplier" supplying annually,stipulating only that it be unique and contain a surprise. Nicholas II continued the tradition.Altogether some 57 gifts have been recorded.What are we talking about?

9.The first World Cup was held in 1473, with the final being between Flanders and Transylvania.In the 1994 finals,Hassan Mostafa of Egypt was the referee.Which sport?

10.What connects Napolean,the binommial theorem and a thesis titled dynamics of an asteroid?

11.Connect John Briggs,Clarie Grimmett,Fred truman,Richard Hadlee,Courtney Walsh,Shane Warne.

12.His mother was born in Malabar, India.He was greatly influenced by Indian philosophy and spirituality.The concepts of Yoga and Maya form the backdrop of his work-"the Game of Glass Beads".Who is this nobel laurate?

Ragam Lone Wolf : Round 5

2006-03-03T05:57:00.000-08:00

ON THE ROCKS!! A dry round

1. X is a very important concept in Islam. X has three important dimensions. In a moral and spiritual sense X means representatives of Allah on Earth. X also means the political system of Islam and is the most mentioned dimension. Third dimension of X means the government in Islam. After the WW1 X acquired a new meaning its most popular one. What is X?

2.The Rituale Romanum was first written in 1614 under Pope Paul V gives a formal description of the ritual. According to Malachi Martin a Jesuit professor the various stages involved are namely The Presence, Breakpoint, The Voice, The clash and expulsion. What ritual are we talking about?

3.He was made famous by Jeff Widener of Associated Press. The British tabloid Sunday Express named him Wang Weilin. During his moment of glory on the "Great Avenue of Everlasting Peace, he is supposed to have uttered these words : Why are you here? My city is in chaos because of you"; "Go back, turn around, and stop killing my people"; "Go away" . He is fictionalised in Stephen Coonts novel Hong Kong (2000).He is one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century according to Time magazine. Name him.

4.What found in India what are classified as the monocled, the spectacled and the King?

5.He was the forceful wartime premier of France from 1917 to 1920. Nicknamed Le Tigre (The Tiger) and Le Père la Victoire (The Father Victory) he was a major contributor to the Allied victory in World War I. As a framer of the postwar Treaty of Versailles, he opposed leniency toward Germany after WWI. So most people believe the effects of his decision contributed to the events that led to World War II. Give his name.

6.How do we better know the Naval Support Facility Thurmont a part of Catoctin Mountain park in Frederick County, Maryland, outside Washington?

7.X is responsible for the invention of speedometer and cow-catcher . X was the first to realize that the width of a tree ring depended on the weather in the corresponding year. X also holds credit for standardizing the Postage system. Although primarily known as an inventor, X was a cryptanalyst too. His greatest achievement in this field being the cracking of the Vignere Cipher. The turning point in X's scientific career occurred in 1821, when he and the astronomer John Herschel were examining a set of mathematical tables used as the basis for astronomical, engineering and navigational calculations. One set of tables, the Nautical Ephemeris for Finding Latitude and Longitude at Sea, contained over 1,000 errors. Disgusted by this X went on to invent something which paved way for a new branch of science.Identify X

8.All American, The Lingering, The Push-Off, The Pull-In, The Topper, The Bone Crusher, The Dead Fish and the Twister are types of what?

9.The motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen are responsible for a series of books, name it.

10.They were a community of mystics living around Mecca. They attended to the needs of Pilgrims visiting the holy shrine of the Karbala. This community wove fabric out of wool, and themselves wove robes made from the discarded fluff. So they came to be known as ___ and ___ is the Arabic word for a strand of wool. Jesus Christ is also considered a saint by ____.Fill up the blanks

11.Connect Flint,Bowyer,Brick,Deveraux,Martin,Constable,The White, Wardrobe, Beauchamp, Bell, Bloody, Byward, Middle, St. Thomas, Wakefield, Broad Arrow, Salt, Develin, Well, Cradle and Lanthorn

12. Bruno Reuter was born in Cologne, Germany in 1956. He taught himself to play the organ while recuperating from a motorcycle accident. He recorded his first album, SOUNDS OF THE HEART, in 1987. By the time He had become a Osho follower he adopted a name which means “ compassion for all sentient beings" who is he?

13.In relation to cricket what is known as Tebbit Test?

14.The Iraqis two versions Al Hussein, and Al Abbas and Iran’s version was called Shabab-1. The Russians called them R -11 and R-300 Elbrus. How do we know them?

15. Jagadguru Swami Sri Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaja (1884-1960) was the spiritual head of the Shankaracharya seat at Gobardhan Math in Puri, India. Shankaracharya was a scholar in many disciplines and between 1911 and 1918 he did extensive research on Atharva Veda and recreated some ancient texts which were lost. His work on this field was compiled into a book which was published in 1965.What was the book about?

16.Connect and complete the list...
Prem Adib, Shammi Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Bobby Deol, Ajay Devgan , Tarun Khanna, Sonu Sood and ______.

17._____ was previously known as Campeonato Sudamericano de Selecciones and the oldest surviving event of its kind and it was held for the first time between July 2 and July 17 1916 as part of the commemorations of Argentina’s independence centenary. What are we talking about? Hint CONMEBOL was founded during this event on July Argentina’s independence day.

18. X was invented in Europe in Paris in 1842 by Alexandre Debain. During the mid-19th century, missionaries brought the French made X to India. . To Sikhs the X is known as the vaja/ baja. Though usually used as an accompanying instrument for vocalists some musicians have begun playing the X as a solo instrument. Identify X.

19.Bulleh Shah, the sufi poet was born in the small village of Uch Gilaniyan in Bahawalpur, in 1680. was a disciple of Inayat Shah Qadri, a famous saint of Qadirya School of sufis in Lahore. While Bulleh Shah was his student Inayat Shah got upset with him. In order to seek his guru’s mercy Bulleh wrote a poem. This poem inspired some one born as Sampooran Singh to use it in a Bollywood movie and the song became an overnight hit. Which song?

20.Árpád E. X (b. August 25, 1903 in Hungary - died November 5, 1992 in Wisconsin). X was a professor of physics at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By 1960, using the data developed through the Harkness Rating System ( which was the original rating system), X developed his own formula which had a sound statistical basis and constituted an improvement on the Harkness System. How do we know X?

21.The word also means “One who strongly favors retention of the existing order”. The word was originally used to describe irregular fighters on the Irish Confederate side. The word is a shortened form of an Irish word meaning pursued man. Which word?

22._____ was the seventh film of the great Mario Bava. Bava had single-handedly created the entire continental Gothic horror genre with a series of movies. Black Sunday was the greatest of Bava's several forays into the Gothic horror, but ______ is commonly regarded as at least his second best. This movie prompted bassist of a band called Earth (earlier known as Polka Tulk Blues Band) to write a song with same title as that of the movie. Now the name Earth got confused with the name of a local band, so they adopted the title of the song as their new name. How do we know this band today?

Ragam Lone Wolf: Round 4

2006-03-03T05:09:00.000-08:00

STAGE II
All the answers are connected by a common theme.

1.Shadow V, which had just set off from the fishing village of Mullaghmore was blown up by a bomb on 27 August, 1979.Two boys Nicholas, 14, and Paul Maxwell, 15, a local employed as a boat boy, died in the explosion. Another passenger on the boat, the Dowager Lady Brabourne, 82, died the day after the attack.But who was the most famous person who was killed in the attack?(Nicholas was his/her grandson)

2. What was surrendered by Governor Peter Stuyvesant to Captain Richard Nicholls by a treaty signed on December 9,1672?

3. Which famous incident would you associate the picture with?

4.Vis1 is the building where a famous incident took place.vis 2 is a monument that commemorates the event.vis 3 is a close up.Which event?

4

5.In early 1887 when, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, resigned because of illness, Lord Salisbury,the British PM appointed his nephew in his place. The selection took the political world by surprise, and was much criticized, possibly leading to the British phrase "Bob's your uncle!"The nephew went on to make a great reputation as an administrator and became the 33rd PM of Britain in 1902.He also served as First Lord of the Admirality(replacing Churchill) and as Foreign Secretary in Lloyd George's war cabinet.But his greatest claim to fame is a letter written to Lord Rothschild in 1917.What was this letter better known as?

6. According to the Book of Revelations,the last book of the Bible,they appeared when the first 4 seals of a scroll with seven seals were opened.Revelations Chapter 6:1-8 describe them in details.They are supposed to symbolize four elements of destruction: Famine, Pestilence, War and Death. Legend has it that, they are closely followed by a fifth which represents Hades or hell.They are depicted in a classic painting by renaissance artist Albrecht Durer.What are we talking about?

7. Which famous question was supposedly asked to General Dietrich von Choltitz on August 23/24 of 1944?

THEME????

Ragam Lone Wolf : Round 3

2006-03-03T02:11:00.000-08:00

CONNECTS
1
connect the movie poster with the two individuals

2006-03-03T02:02:00.000-08:00

2

Connect this visual with a monument.
Hint
She was the wife of Issac Singer and she spoke French

2006-03-03T01:58:00.000-08:00

3
connect
hint : look carefully at first two pics, what are they holding?

2006-03-03T01:54:00.000-08:00

4

Connect to get two fictional characters!

2006-03-03T01:39:00.000-08:00

5
Identify and connect the guys with book
(the book is not unique, there few other books which also share the same connection but the
guys are same)

2006-03-03T01:22:00.000-08:00

6
Connect three visuals

Ragam Lone Wolf:Round 2

2006-03-02T22:38:00.000-08:00

1.X has a cousin named George who's scared of Y, and a lover named Toodles.He parties with friends called Butch and pals.
Y has a guitar playing uncle named Pecos,an apprentice/ward named Tuffy(nibbles) and a strong cousin named muscles.Identify X and Y

2.Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) — the Ittihad ve Terakki jemiyeti in local parlance was a secret society whose leaders led a rebellion against Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Mehmed Talat Pasha, Ismail Enver, Ahmed Djemal were some of its leaders who usurped power and were later involved in violent genocide.How do we better know this society?

3.Scholars have argued that he was a spy working for Sir Francis Walsingham's intelligence service. He was once arrested in Holland on counterfeiting" charges but was pardoned by the British, which led credence to the theory that he was a spy. According to a coroner's report uncovered in 1925,he died in a house and not in a tavern as was previously believed. According to the report, he had assaulted a man named Ingram Frizer, and in the ensuing struggle Frizer stabbed him above the right eye, killing him instantly. Recent conspiracy theories argue that he faked his death and assumed an all together different identity. Identify this renowned personality

4.Visual1.Map of??

5.It was founded in 1886 by workers of the Woolwich Armaments company and was originally named Dial Square.In 1913 it shifted fromWoolwich to London.During the period 1949 to 2002,its emblemfeatured a cannon and the motto "Victoria Concordia Crescit" (meaning "victory comes from harmony").They modernised this logo in 2002.How do we know them these days?

6.Visual 2 Identify this personality. One of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), He also co-directed one film, TARZAN AND HIS MATE (1934), and was married to actress Dolores del Rio from 1930 to 1941.He was nominated for Oscars more than 30 times out of whch he won 11 awards.

7.On April 26, 1933, a decree was issued creating this organisation. It underwent many name changes.But its most popular name was supposedly created by a postal official who wanted a name that would fit on a regulation-sized postal rubber stamp. It was headquartered at No.8,Prinz Albrecht Strasse. Identify.

8.Visual3.Identify the guy who’s been caricatured.

9.He uses the profession of a fashion photographer as a cover for his secret identity.In reality he's a secret agent who was frozen in the 1960's and revived in the 1990's to fight his arch rival Dr.Evil.He gets his briefings from Basil Exposition.Who are we talking about?

10.Kambei, Kikuchiyo, Gorobei, Kyuzo, Heihachi, Shichiroji, Katsuhiro.What were they together called?

11.According to Virgil this city was founded by Dido. when Dido and her party were encamped at Byrsa, the local Berber chieftain offered them as much land as could be covered with a single ox hide. So, Dido cut an ox hide into tiny strips and set them on the ground end to end until she had completely encircled Byrsa. This story is considered apocryphal, and was most likely invented because Byrsa sounds similar to the Greek word meaning ox hide.The citadel dominated the city below and formed its principal military installation . The city was besieged and destroyed in 146 BC.Which city?

12.Complete the poem written by Goethe
"Wouldst thou the young year's blossoms and the fruits of its decline
And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted, fed,
Wouldst thou the earth and heaven itself in one sole name combine?
I name thee, O ___________ ! and all at once is said. "

13.In 335 B.C.When Alexander was emperor, a serious revolt broke out in Thebes, a city in Greece. Alexander who was just 20 years of age, and his army marched against Thebes and burned it to the ground. Over thirty thousand Thebans were sold into slavery. In the entire city, Alexander spared only one house -Whose?

14.Michelangelo Merisi - street brawler, gang member, murderer and the great painter. What we know of his activities and associates comes, largely from "police reports, legal depositions, court transcripts and contracts for commissions". He once threw rocks at police officers - according to the Roman police logs. And one of his tennis games ended with the murder of his opponent. The celebrated artist, arguably the most famous painter of his age died at the ripe age of 39.Who?

15.This place was originally an extensive, shallow embayment called Wai Momi or Pu‘uloa by the Hawaiians. Pu‘uloa was regarded as the home of the shark goddess Ka‘ahupahau and her brother, Kahi‘uka. The harbor was teeming with oysters until the late 1800's.In the years following the arrival of Captain James Cook, it was not considered a suitable port due to the shallowness of the water. In 1887, this place was leased to the US by Hawai in return for exclusive rights to allow Hawaiian sugar to enter the United States duty free. Which place?

16.This town is located in the German state of Bavaria on the Danube and Schutter rivers about 45 miles north of Munich. The history of the town dates to the 9th century. Its University was founded in 1472 and is best known as the University where Luther's opponent Johann Eck taught. It later became well known as the center for the Catholic(A.K.A.Counter) Reformation.
The University did house a prestigious medical school and in 1722 the University acquired a site for an anatomy theater, botanical garden and chemistry lab. By 1755 the anatomy theater was considered among the best in Europe. It consisted of a two-story anatomical theater with a dissecting table on the ground floor, a gallery for student observers above and a glass ceiling allowing overhead illumination.
From 1818,the university achieved international fame on account of a student who studied under the Proffessors, Kempe and Waldman. Who was the student?

17.X was the son of Harihar and Sarbhaya. He had a sister named Durga, who died of an illness after dancing in the rain. The family then shifted to Benares where Harihar made a living by reciting scriptures. After Harihar died, mother and son returned to her village. He convinced his mother to send him to school and later earned a scholarship to study in Calcutta where he also found a job in a press. He married Aparna, Who later dies while giving birth to their son Kajal. Grief struck, he wandered for many years before finally coming back and convincing his son to accept him back. Whose life story?

18.It contains the fifth of several known types of the protein hemagglutinin and the first of several known types of the protein neuraminidase. What are we talking about?

19.Cryolophosaurus ellioti (cry-oh-LOAF-oh-SORE-us, meaning "cold crested lizard") is a large bipedal dinosaur with a bizarre crest running across its head that looks like a Spanish comb. It was discovered in 1991 by Dr. William Hammer, Augustana College paleontologist. It was the first carnivorous dinosaur to be discovered in Antarctica, and the first dinosaur of any kind from the continent to be officially named. Dating from the early Jurassic, it is also the earliest tetanuran theropod yet discovered, though it is not the most primitive.What is it more popularly known as ? (see artist's depiction below.Big Clue!!)

20
1.“O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick.- Thus with a kiss I die.”
2.“O, happy dagger!This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die. “
Connect these two sentences

Ragam Lone Wolf : Round 1

2006-03-02T22:37:00.000-08:00

WRITE OFF!!
This is a written round where in the finalists will asked to write down the answers to the questions.

1.Where can you see these words?

2.who is this guy?

4

3.Name this famous author.

4.Probably the most famous keralite, what did he start?

5.What is she wearing? hint: she is the wife of a famous archeologist

Lone Wolf Intro

2006-03-02T22:34:00.000-08:00

The Lone Wolf Quiz of Ragam was an event which had its origins when a few of us in Bangalore got really bored with work and decided that we had to do something to retain our sanity.As all noble ventures go,once the decision was made,things fell in place pretty quickly.Although this event was in the pipeline for many years,it finally got done because of the enthusiatic support from Enquire,the NITC Quiz Club.Pramoy Pratap,Secretaray of Enquire and Head of Program Committe,Ragam'06 and Denzil Thomas,Convenor Ragam'06 deserve the credit for getting the plan to take off.Our thanks to all other Ragam organisers for their support,all quizzers for their spirited show and our friends in the audience for their encouragement. We hope that this event will turn out to be a prestigious gladiatorial fight between the best in business,in the years to come.