Quiz

1. The Friday Quiz
April 2014

2. Mount Harriet is the third highest peak in Andaman
and Nicobar islands. On the way to the top of this
peak, one can get the panoramic view of the
abundant coconut palms and a distant view of the
North Bay Island and the tower of the Port Blair
lighthouse.
Where can one most conspicuously see the
landscape style portrait of this view from the way
towards Mount Harriet?

3. Behind the 20 Rupee note!

4. These are the images
of the corporate
headquarters in
Europe.
This building is
constructed in such
shape so as to mark a
permanent tribute to
the product, the
company is known for.
Which company and
why is the building
shaped thus?

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

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

7. Jack Kilby

8. Kurt Vonnegut is one of the most
phenomenal authors of Science
Fiction and one of his most popular
works is this book Cat's Cradle which
is about a fictional scientist Felix
Hoenecker who invents a compound
called "ice-nine" with the capability to
destroy all life on Earth.
The character of Felix Hoenecker is
inspired from a real life Nobel
Laureate.
Who was this Noble laureate and
what is the connect of this book to
General Electric which finds mention
several times in the book.

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

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

11. Countries with –stan suffix:
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Afghanistan
Pakistan

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

13. Caesarean section

14. Written question with differential scoring

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

16. Owl

17. Round 2

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

19. Economic bubble

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

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

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

23. The Watergate complex. The suffix is -gate
Coalgate
Snoopgate
Choppergate
Radiagate
.
.
.

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

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

26. What is this game
called?

27. Croquet

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

29. Indian Navy submarines:
Battle-cry of the Sea INS Sindhughosh
Flag of the Sea INS Sindhudhvaj
King of the Sea INS Sindhuraj
Valiant of the Sea INS Sindhuvir
Jewel of the Sea INS Sindhuratna (Reason of exit of Navy
chief)
Lion of the Sea INS Sindhukesari
Fame of the Sea INS Sindhukirti
Victory of the Sea INS Sindhuvijay
Protector of the Sea INS Sindhurakshak (met a tragic end
in April 2013)
Weapon of the Sea INS Sindhushastra

30. Written question with differential scoring

31. What begins with these words:
“Wait, wait wait! You see the whole country of
the system is juxtapositioned by the hemoglobin
the atmosphere because you are a sophisticated
rhetorician intoxicated by the exuberance of
your own verbosity!”

32. The first line of the song My name is Anthony
Gonsalves

33. Round 3

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

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

36. What is the single word that connects these gods?
Indra (east)
Agni (south - east)
Yama (south)
Niruthi ( South - west)
Varu a (west)ṇ
Vayu (North west)
Kubera (north)
Esana (north east)

37. The 8 Lokpals

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

39. Totem Pole

40. "Biceps tendon tear" is a common injury in which
biceps tendon disruption occurs when there is a
complete tear of its tendinous attachment site in the
shoulder. This is usually caused by lifting heavy
objects.
Sometimes the disruption of the normal biceps
muscle attachment leads to its retraction distally
(down the arm). The subsequent appearance is that
of a bulge in the mid-arm and a hollowed-out loss of
normal contour above it.
This disorder is known by a common name, given to
it after a fictional cartoon character.
What is the common name of this disorder?

41. Popeye muscle

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

43. Nain Singh

44. King Trishanku was a saintly man whose one great desire was
to ascend bodily into heaven. He had once done a good turn
to sage Vishwamitra and the sage decided to help him fulfill
his desire.
Accordingly, he performed a yagna and Trishanku began to
rise heavenwards.
When Indra, saw Trishanku at the gates of Heaven, he was
furious and catching hold of him, threw him down.
Vishwamitra saw Trishanku hurtling downwards and shouted:
"Let Trishanku stay where he is now!"
Trishanku’s fall was arrested. As Indra would not let him
ascend into heaven and Vishwamitra would not allow him to
come down, Trishanku became suspended between heaven
and earth.
This is the story of origin of which tree / fruit?

45. The origin of the coconut tree: Vishwamitra knew
that Trishanku would eventually fall to earth unless
held up by physical means, so he propped him up
with a long pole.
The pole eventually turned into a coconut tree and
Trishanku’s head became its fruit. The fiber around
the coconut is Trishanku’s beard. When you take it
off, you see his eyes peering at you.

46. Written question with differential scoring

47. Ephraim is one of the Ten Lost Tribes of
Israel. Studies reveal that one of the warrior
tribes found in the Khyber-Pakhtunwala
region of Pakistan have traditions that have
striking similarities with the traditions of the
Ephraim people as mentioned in the Bible.
Hence, these warriors are considered to be
descendants of Ephraims.
What is the name of this Pakistani tribe,
brought to fame by a famous Pakistani?

48. Afridis

49. Round 4

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

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

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

53. Sadhna cut inspired from Audrey Hepburn
hairstyle.

54. Identify this work of literature and its protagonist. These
are the names of some of the other characters in the book:
Satyaboti : His Wife.
Khoka : Nickname of his son.
Sukumar : Wife’s elder brother.
Puntiram : Home servant.
Rakhal : Policeman.
Tridibendra Narayan Roy : Jamindar.
Ashwini Ghatak : Doctor.
Purandar Pandey : Police Inspector
Ajit Bandyopadhyay: His close friend

56. What?

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

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

59. Sqrt(2)

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

61. Simple: to identify and arrest them later.

62. Written question with differential scoring

63. Not as Faaltu a question, as it may appear….
Connect:
Santra
Ananas
Papaya
Istree
Almirah
Chaabi
Pipa
Neelaami
Tauliya

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

65. Round 5

66. Identify this cricketer who
died in a car accident in
1959.
Also who was the very
famous survivor of this
accident and was also
driving the car?

67. Colie Smith.
The driver was Sir Gary Sobers

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

69. He was crucified on inverted cross.

70. What are the two things blanked out?

72. TUNE

73. Starting track of Bharat Ek Khoj, with shlokas
from Rigveda

74. Connect this exhaustive list of stamps.

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

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

77. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee

78. Written question with differential scoring

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

80. Slide rule

81. Round 6

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

83. Minimalism!

84. Which one of the following names of Vishnu
(Krishna) is different from the other three and
why?
Maadhava
Jagannatha
Murari
Keshava

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

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

87. Insurance against smog

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

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

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

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

93. Ahilyabai Holkar airport, Indore

94. Connect

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

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

97. Doha

98. Phinis!