Fourth edition of KQA's Akkan Just Miss Quiz - December 2014

1. May the fourth be with you!

3. What tongue-in-cheek name is
used for rocks that are incorrectly
thought to be meteorites?

5. Meteowrongs

6. Which Ramone (albeit misspelt)
featured in the Steve Miller
Band album Brave New World
as a special guest vocalist and
bass guitarist?

8. Paul ‘Ramone’ McCartney

9. Melkuhaakodu is a popular Kannada
metaphor for reminiscing and conversing
about an old story over and over again,
mostly induced by nostalgia. The literal
translation however refers to a certain
practice of a particular animal.
What practice of what animal?

11. Cow chewing the cud

12. “Lectu Mihi Mars” is a classical piece
whose lyrics are in Latin, and don’t seem to
make much sense. That’s because the
composer wrote the piece for his friend, a
Bavarian baritone with a thick accent. So
when the baritone sang this song it would
sound like something else, causing much
laugher.
Who composed this piece? And what would
it sound like?

14. Mozart
Leck mich im arsch (“lick my ass”)

15. The piece in the previous question also
incessantly repeats the word “jonicu”—
that’s because, when said over and over, it
sounds like a particular dirty Italian word.
We very well know the Spanish equivalent
of this word, because it has passed on to
the English language as a loose synonym
for bravery.
What is the Spanish word?

17. Cojones

18. Pictured here is a Polish
Academy Award winning set
decorator and costume
designer
Though she has been
working in production design
since the 1960s, she came
to limelight for her Oscar
winning effort in Steven
Spielberg’s Schindler’s List.
What is her name that
makes all this so interesting?

20. Ewa Braun

21. Explain the joke here

23. He starts off with the Jaws theme and then after
the second verse moves to the riff from Can't Take
My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli.

24. X was a diet suppressant candy which sold well in
America in the '70s and early '80s. It was named so
because it helped / assisted you in dieting, the spelling
was modified slightly to make it easier to trademark the
name.
But by mid 1980s, it sales plummeted as more people
became aware of Y, which among other things reduced
your weight. By late 1980s, Y began to receive heavy
publicity and so X's rather simple taglines like, "Why take
diet pills, when you can enjoy X" or "You will notice the
difference when you get X" made it a sure shot failure in
the market. The company was never able to regain its
lost glory and went quickly out of business.
X, Y?

26. X- Ayds (Diet Ayds)
Y – AIDS

28. As part of anti-malarial campaign in the northern states of the island
of Borneo in the late 1950’s, the World Health Organization sprayed
DDT and other insecticides to kill the mosquito vector for malaria.
During this campaign, DDT was sprayed in large amounts on the
inside walls and ceilings of the large “long houses” that housed an
entire village in these areas.
As a consequence of this effort, the incidence of malaria in the
region fell dramatically. However, there were two unintended
consequences of this action. There was an increase in the rate of
decay of the thatched roofs covering the long houses because a
moth caterpillar that ingests the thatch avoided the DDT but their
parasite, the larvae of a small wasp, did not. Also, the domestic cats
roaming through the houses were poisoned by the DDT as a
consequence of rubbing against the walls and then licking the
insecticide off their fur. In some villages, the loss of cats allowed rats
to enter, which raised concerns of rodent-related diseases such as
typhus and the plague.
To rectify this problem what did the Malaysian govt do with the help
of the RAF?

30. A few dozen cats were parachuted into
some villages thus giving rise to the
many different versions of the
Operation Cat Drop story

31. This Bollywood “star-kid” was famously
overweight in is teenage years. In those days
he would often be seen wearing loose sports
jerseys made by a particular US brand. Thus
the brand name became his nickname as
well. Name the person and the brand.

33. Arjun Kapoor

34. Speaking about what two simple yet
remarkable inventions, in a field where
women are often unfairly chided as being
clumsy or not skilled enough to carry out this
common everyday activity, did Sandi Torsvik
on an episode of QI rather philosophically
say "So women enabled you to see where
you were going and where you'd been" ?

36. Mary Anderson invented the windshield
wiper, Dorothy Levitt first described and
advised the use of a rear view mirror. In
fact women have contributed a lot more
to hazard free, safe driving. Insulation
for spark plug, early version of turn
indicators, improvements to clutch and
carburetors, even coffee cup holders in
the door

37. The identity of the girl in the ad had long
remained a mystery. Over the years, she’d been
incorrectly identified first as Jagi Mangat Panda
and then as Sophie Haque. The Sophie Haque
misidentification was even propagated by certain
filmstars on twitter. The model is actually one
Shimona Rashi.
Sadly, a divorce case - Rekha Deepak Malhotra
vs Deepak Jagmohan Malhotra on 18 February,
1999 – found on indiankanoon.com is the only
prominent reference you'll find online of hers (for
her alleged role as the other woman). Even
today, rather than her name, you will probably
better recognize her simply as 'that dancing girl
in the ad'. Which ad?

40. The dress worn by ballet dancers is known as
a tutu. The name was given (sometime in the
18th century) by those sections of the audience
who, on account of not having enough money,
bought cheaper tickets and sat in what were
known as pits in front of the stage. What is the
etymology behind the name?

42. Tutu means buttocks in French (a
variation of cucu).

43. In the late 1980s and early 1990s due to conflict with
the military regime in Burma, many of the tribes in
the country fled to the Thai border area and lived in
refugee camps set up there.
As per 2002-2003 audit reports of the Burmese
Border Consortium (a consortium of humanitarian
agencies), a particular camp known as the Long
Neck Section had become self sufficient and had
received no assistance for years. What’s interesting
is that their revenue got generated even without
them having to work.
What was their main source of income then?

45. Long Neck in the refugee camp’s name
refers to the Paudang Karen
tribeswomen’s neck. Their income was
from NatGeo types paying to see them
and click their pictures.

46. Black Ivory Coffee is a brand of coffee made
from Arabica coffee beans exclusively
produced by the Black Ivory Coffee
Company Ltd in Northern Thailand. Explain
the name.

48. Consumed by elephants and collected
from their feces. Taste is said to be
enhanced by Elephant's stomach acid.

50. Harry Truman had a very poor eyesight from
a very young age. But that didn’t hinder him
from enlisting himself in the army and
ultimately getting accepted as well. How did
he manage to clear the mandatory vision
test in spite of a poor eye sight?

52. He just mugged up the entire chart
before the vision test

53. If you want to catch a cab in Jaffna, the
best place to go to would be the Jaffna
Teaching Hospital, where most cabs end
up parking by default. Why is this location
favoured by most cab drivers?

55. During the civil war, cabs in Jaffna used to
double up as hearses and ambulances
more often than not, and so they would
always hang around Jaffna’s only hospital
for their business. Even after the war
ended, inertia meant that Jaffna Teaching
Hospital continued to be the hub of Sri
Lankan city

57. In the 1920s, Bimal Mukherjee wrote a
book called ‘Du Chakay Duniya’ which is
till date considered one of the best pieces
of travel-writing in Bengal. What did Bimal
do before writing this book?

59. Went around the world on a bicycle

60. Mauritius
Trinidad and Tobago
Papua New Guinea
Vanuatu
Haiti

62. List all countries whose capitals start with
the word “Port”

63. Forks in Washington state is one of the
wettest places in the USA, and had been
the reason for its steady stream of tourists.
However, the number of tourists visiting the
place has shot up by 10X in the last decade
or so. For what reason?

65. Twilight series of books is set here

66. ‘Blackfish’ was a documentary that pointed
stern fingers at San Diego’s Sea World,
and the notion of oceanic creatures being
held in captivity. The popularity of this
documentary has made Pixar tweak the
storyline of which upcoming 2015 movie?

68. Finding Dory

70. The demonym ‘Zonian’ is used
to refer to people from which
part of the world?

72. Panama Canal Zone

73. Ali Bin Nasser from Tunisia, and Bogdan Dotchev from Bulgaria. The last
time these two communicated with each other was on 22 June 1986.
However, they didn’t do a good job at that, and haven’t talked to each
other since and have both railed against the other in interviews with the
media. What was the reason for their falling apart?

75. The Hand of God goal

76. Charlie Victor Romeo was a
2013 documentary. Where did
the entire material for this
documentary come from?

78. Transcripts from various airline black
boxes

79. The four words that follow are “quam
minimum credula postero” which is Latin
for “trusting as little as possible in the next”
What are the two words that precede this
that we all know pretty well?

81. Carpe diem

82. The entire regular cast that made
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
happen, featured in this March 2004
issue Photograph in Vanity Fair. And
I’m not kidding about the entirety.
How so?

84. Graham Chapman was obviously a Dead
Parrot by then.
But his Ashes are beside Terry Gilliam.
They usually carry it to their group
appearances.

85. "Indira was out in Vijayawada, with Narasimha Rao, when
Buta Singh was given three choices, one of them being an
elephant. He booked a trunk call to seek Indira's approval.”
"The line was not very clear or, perhaps, Buta's Hindi
pronunciation was so thick that Indira kept hearing elephant.
She kept saying no to it.”
“The comedy of errors continued till Indira handed the
telephone over to Rao. In a matter of seconds, Rao, master of
more than a dozen Indian and foreign languages, understood
what Buta was trying to convey.”
Put funda for the confusion.

87. Indira kept hearing Haathi instead of
Haath, and she said no to the elephant.
Eventually Buta was asked to say Panja,
and Congress(I) got its new symbol

88. Usually, male frogs excel at courtship croaks. Published
in the Ceylon Journal of Science, the discovery of about
16 Dancing Frog species from the Genus Micrixalus in
the Western Ghats, suggests that they use a Visual
mating call.
Should a rival male intrude on the display, he may get
kicked ( considering they have a 100:1 Male-to-Female
ratio, such foot-flagging becomes essential).
However, What is the main reason for this visual mating
call instead of the Croak?

91. The rushing streams of India’s Western
Ghats mountains are too loud for female
frogs to hear courtship croaks.

92. Legally, there is an Indian Supreme Court judgement on
bursting firecrackers till 10pm only.
What clause/clarification however allows you to continue
firecrackering way past that deadline though?

94. The Ban only applies to firecrackers that
produce sound.

95. Since radiation poisoning in the early 1900s was not very
well known, these indeed carried this element – thus
giving this otherwise-generic product an elemental name.
This is the name that many in the world (including India)
continue to call these shiny products by.
These days, phosphorescent materials and zinc sulfide
etc are used for this purpose.
What it is?

97. Radium Watches

98. Robert Benchley was a famous American Humourist.
Here is an anecdote about his travels.
“I have even been a travel agent, in an unprofessional
sort of way, I recall helping Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. plan a
European itinerary for the late humorist Bob Benchley,
and making special arrangements for him to visit some
friends of mine. The day Benchley got there he sent us a
cable which read:
STREETS FULL OF WATER. ADVISE.”
Where did he send the telegram from?

100. Venice

102. From this book.
Only one country and one
continent are fowl-free. Pope
Francis I regularly dines on
skinless breast bought in the
markets of Rome since there is
no room for a poultry farm in the
tiny state of Vatican City. In
Antarctica, chickens are taboo.
So why does Antarctica ban the
import of live/raw poultry?

104. An International treaty governing
Antarctica, to protect penguins from
common chicken viruses.

105. From a Kendriya Vidyalaya Circular. Whose Birthday?
Why that “Growing Aptitude….” name?

107. Srinivasa Ramanujan
“Growing Aptitude in Numerical
Innovations and Training” Abbreviates to
GANIT

108. What metric did Alibaba find to be a good predictor of
Online Spending power, the possible reason being that
younger people obviously spend less.

110. Women who bought larger bra sizes
also tended to spend more.

111. What does the License plate read, that is jocularly
described as “If it has taught me anything, it's
that errors pile up and accomplishments disappear.”

113. That is Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of
Tetris

114. The opening ceremony of which recent event involved A
Magician, two Balloons and birds coming out of these
balloons?

116. The draw for colours at Sochi World
Chess Championship.

117. Dudley Le’ Blanc, a sometimes-Louisiana Senator, was
the inventor of a Patented Vitamin supplement called
Hadacol – which had 12 percent alcohol and thus
consumed more for happy times. The name was actually
short for Happy Day Company, with an L for LeBlanc.
However, When asked about the name of the
supplement, he used to often dismiss it with a jokey line
– What?

119. “Well, I Hadda-call it something”

120. What two word headline pun is often used for
Tennis stars like Justin Henin (over her
indecisiveness about her weight) and Kim
Clijsters(owing to her uncertainty over her
retirement and eventual comeback).
This is so because the 2nd word as a noun is
geographically associated with the first country-word,
while as a verb it means
indecisiveness/flipflop.
Funnily, this two-word term is only used in USA,
and the original country has other names for it.

122. Belgian Waffle

123. SMBC had this comic
strip once. Reddit,
being Reddit, went
ahead and created the
subreddit
/r/ReviewsOfAnything
On this subreddit,
what was the
review/rating for “Our
Solar System”

125. 1 Star 

127. Make a surreal pun.

129. Salvador Deli

130. Fill in the blank with a four word phrase.

132. As the Crow Flies.

133. Explain the joke.

135. Home runs are also called as Homers.

136. The full name of the webspinner in EB
White’s famous book ‘Charlotte’s Web’
is Charlotte A. Cavatica. Explain
White’s choice of the middle initial and
the surname.

138. The scientific name of the barn spider is
Araneus cavaticus

139. KRS-One
supplying a bit
of made-up
etymology to
bolster up a
metaphor.
Identify the
two words
blanked out.

141. Overseer
Officer

142. Screenshot from a
video game titled
“Ben’s Game”, where
the object is to
destroy cancer cells in
an Asteroids style
gameplay. Who were
the unlikely publishers
of this game?

144. Make-A-Wish Foundation

146. In 346 B.C, Philip II of Macedon sent a
message to intimidate the Spartans. "You
are advised to submit without further
delay, for if I bring my army on your land, I
will destroy your farms, slay your people
and raze your city."
What was the famous reply from the
Spartans, possibly by someone from the
Spartan region of Laconia?

148. If.

149. This is the Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi
paddling around in a kayak of her own construction.
What is the kayak modeled on?

151. Her own vagina

152. This is the Instagram
post that has landed
Mario Balotelli in a soup
right now. What are the
two blanked out lines,
that have made people
shout both “Racist!” and
“anti-Semitic!” at
Balotelli, who incidentally
is a black man brought
up by a Jewish family.

155. What name was coined in a review
in Sounds magazine of a concert by
the band Moose in which singer
Russell Yates read lyrics taped to the
floor throughout the gig?

157. Shoegazing

158. The name for this place comes from the
Chumash tribe, who called it Humaliwo,
meaning “the surf sounds very loud
here”, which is a pretty accurate
description if you ask me. Which place?

160. Malibu

161. She made her on screen debut in the 1974 James Bond film The Man With The
Golden Gun (Pictured) and was also seen in the Italian Job. After this she continued to
appear consistently on television and films especially on several sci-fi related
productions like Dr Who and Blake's 7. By mid 80s, however, demand for her began to
dwindle and she retired to a farm that once used to be a studio where one her tv shows
was shot. Sometime last year, there was a real concern that she would become
homeless if someone didn't do something to help her out. Due to the efforts of two
fans, Rod Thomas and Roger Holmes, she is now has a new home. The duo feel that it
is important for future generations to know about her and they don't mind spending
time and money to breathe new life into her. Name her

163. Flossie (ICT 1301) - one of world's oldest
business computers. Thomas and Holmes
are two computer engineers who are
undertaking her restoration at Bletchley
Park