The preliminary round of LitSoc Main Quiz 2017.

1. litsoc main quiz 2017
gaf/ananth ‘stan’ sundararaman/kat/menon
prelims

2. ● 30 questions
● No negatives
● No star questions
● We hope you have a outSTANding
UTime.

3. Here is a picture of a spaghetti spoon. Why does the spoon have a
hole in the middle? In other words, it solves a problem that people
always have when cooking spaghetti; how does it solve that
problem?
1.

4. 2.
Shown in this video from 1935 is the story behind X. The idea
for X came about when two brothers Édouard and André of
Clermont-Ferrand in France, attended the Lyon Universal
Exposition in 1894.
<insert video>

5. 3.
“Drink DB export, save our _ _ _ _ _ _ _” is a campaign that was started
by DB breweries in New Zealand over the last month. It consisted of
installing machines in malls, theatres and other public spaces. The machines
themselves consisted of a wheel of small steel hammers spinning at 2,800
rpm. It also included a vacuum system that removed the 200 grams of the
end product. The whole process takes five seconds.
A critical part of the project involved securing a two-year deal between DB
export and a company named DryMix.
What is the whole campaign aimed at?

7. 4. X is a 2011 non-fiction book written by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew
McAfee. It’s full title is X: How the Digital Revolution Is Accelerating
Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming
Employment and the Economy. Its website carries the following text.
X is a bold effort to make sense of the future of work. No one else
is doing serious thinking about a force that will lead to a
restructuring of the economy that is more profound and far-reaching
than the transition from the agricultural to the industrial age.
What is the name of this book, that is a play on an American rock band
that was founded in 1991?

8. 5. Below are two comic covers. What were they inspired by?

9. The following slide shows the five most
prominent designs of a certain type of
building around the world. They are
taken from a book that catalogues a total
of 193 entries. After studying and
compiling the 193, they converged on
this list of 5 designs. The name of this
book is also the type of building studied.
What building?
6.

11. 7.
The following slide has
the logo of an entity that
was started in 1935. It
attracted the elite of
New York City until its
closure last year in July.
Which entity?

13. 8.
In the early 1990s, X wrote a script for _ _ _ and met with 20th Century Fox
executives to pitch his project. X says of the meeting, “They said,
‘Oooooohkaaaaaay – a three-hour long epic? Sure, that's just what we want. Is
there a little bit of Terminator in that? Any Harrier jets, shoot-outs, or car
chases?' I said, 'No, no, no. It's not like that.'”
The primary inspiration for X to make _ _ _ was that he wanted to fund a trip to
the location of the _ _ _.
FITB.

14. 9.
Asao Tokolo, a 46-year-old artist had this to say about his creation:
“I was thinking of something like a coloring picture that everyone can add their
own color to. White against indigo blue — it’s a very clean-cut expression.”
The design comprises 45 interconnecting pieces forming a checkered pattern.
Use of the color indigo is intended “to express a refined elegance and
sophistication.”

15. 10.
An explanation for the name of which product (or) FITB?
● As our lead did, people associated it with speed - shiny fast
engines and cars.
● In design terminology, '_ _ _' refers to the non-webpage parts of
the interface - the toolbars, tabs and buttons - because our design
philosophy was "Content, not _ _ _" - putting our focus on
minimizing the amount of UI present, we felt it cheekily
appropriate to name it '_ _ _'.

16. 11.
Who’s story is being
narrated in this video?

17. 12.
______ ___ ______ is a board
game cafe chain in Toronto.
Its name is a play on a popular
children’s board game and the
primary beverage it serves.
Changing the last word of the
board game alone leads to the
answer.
What is the name of the cafe?

18. 13.
Connect:
● Animal Circus, Seasons 4-5
● Coldplay, Season 3
● Dr. Feelgood, Season 1-2
● Michiel Huisman, Season 4-6
● Mastodon, Season 5
● Molotov Jukebox, Season 1-3 and 6
● Of Monsters and Men, Season 6
● Sigur Ros, Season 4
● Ed Sheeran, Season 7

19. 14
This food item is believed to have been invented in North America by Dutch settlers,
and they were initially called oliekoeks (Dutch for oilcakes). The shape that is most
commonly associated with them today was apparently invented by a shiphand in
1847. Dissatisfied with the rawness of the center part, he punched it out using a
pepper box, solving the problem and resulting in the item’s characteristic shape.
Which food item?

20. 15.
Weird Al Yankovic is a musician who
parodies popular songs and makes them
funnier. Listen to this excerpt from one
of his songs and identify the name of the
song.

21. 16.
Witold Pilecki was a volunteer who compiled important information about a
specific place. Based on his description of the place, ID the place:
“When marching along the gray road towards the tannery in a column
raising clouds of dust, one saw the beautiful red light of the dawn shining on
the white flowers in the orchards and on the trees by the roadside, or on the
return journey we would encounter young couples out walking, breathing in
the beauty of springtime, or women peacefully pushing their children in
prams — then the thought uncomfortably bouncing around one’s brain
would arise . . . swirling around, stubbornly seeking some solution to the
insoluble question: Were we all . . . people?”

22. 17.
Adult members of the species Oryctolagus cuniculus were
called “coney” until the 18th century. This word soon fell
out of favour, though, because of the similarity of its
pronunciation to another word used as a vulgarity. As an
alternative, a rhyming word was proposed, which to this
day is used as an alternative word to refer to this species
and its relative.
What word?

23. 18. New changes in the Swedish primary school curriculum mean that
students are going to be learning programming from a younger age.
Along with programming, another measure to improve digital
competence is aimed at teaching kids to recognize X, a hot topic in
Sweden at the moment, with even the King emphasizing the importance
of source criticism.
"There has been some naivety when it comes to the information society.
An idea that all knowledge is just a short click away and we don't need
to know as much as we needed to before”, an administrator pointed out.
What two-word term, one that we’ve been hearing a lot recently, is X?

24. Paolo di Verachi is an Italian
designer who holds the Guinness
World Records for World’s Most
Expensive Tequila and Cognac
Bottles. He has recently also
come up with the world’s most
expensive water bottle at
$60,000 per bottle. The next
slide has an image of the bottle.
This water bottle is called
Tributo a __________. From the
image, FITB.
19.

26. 20.
In the mid-1940s, this international football club started the concept of
‘penyes,’ which comprised of influential and wealthy fans who could also
help the club financially. The penyes were responsible for the bulk of the
sponsorship when they club built their iconic venue in the mid-1950s
and are still important in club affairs. The ‘penyes’ were primarily a
response to General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, who proved to be
extremely hostile towards the club.
Which club?

27. 21.
A book display for which
franchise?

28. 22. Project 2061 is a long-term initiative of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to help all
Americans become literate in science, mathematics, and
technology. To achieve that goal, Project 2061 conducts research
and develops tools and services that educators, researchers, and
policymakers can use to make critical and lasting improvements in
the nation’s education system.
This text is taken from the AAAS website. The goal of the
project is to educate the populace of America sufficiently before a
certain event. What event/Why is is called Project 2061?

29. 23. A graph of what?

31. 24 The Ghost in the Machine is a 1967 book by Arthur Koestler that
deals with concepts of philosophical psychology. It contributes to
the longstanding debate surrounding the mind-body problem (i.e,
the question of how the mind and the body interact, and if they’re
fundamentally divorced from each other or not).
Masamune Shirow, the creator of a certain franchise, was
inspired by the contents of the book to create his franchise, even
going so far as to draw inspiration from the title to name it.
Which franchise, that deals with similar themes?

32. 25. Third Man _______ is a new establishment opened in Detroit that is rolling back
the years. In order to do what they do, they had to order eight machines from
Germany - some to process seven-inch items, and some to process twelve-inch
items.
What is Third Man’s
business? Or just FITB.

33. 26. Jann Haworth is an American born artist who moved to London in
1961. Haworth married Peter Blake, with whom she created many
artworks including X.
The original concept for X was to have the subjects dressed in their new
"Northern brass band" uniforms appearing at an official ceremony in a
park. For the great crowd gathered at this imaginary event, the members
had also submitted a list of characters they wanted to see in attendance.
Blake and Haworth decided to pasted life-size, black-and-white
photographs of all the approved characters onto hardboard, which
Haworth subsequently hand-tinted.
What is X?

34. “We’re thinking about names. The names thing is really
hard, and the name of the first ship that goes to Mars - not
the name of the whole ship line necessarily but the first ship
that goes to Mars … my current favorite is Heart of Gold.”
Mirroring the sense of whimsical humor from the novel, X
emphasized he liked the idea of the name because “it’s
driven by infinite improbability because I think our ship is
also extremely improbable. I like the infinite improbability
drive.”
X, and which novel?
27.

35. During the US presidential election of 2008, this company was running
out of funds. They needed to raise funds in some form and decided to
capitalise on the Obama McCain rivalry. They therefore decided to
purchase 1000 boxes of something, and rebrand 500 of those as Obama
O’s and the other 500 as Cap’n McCain’s. They sold these as special
products and donated 5% of profit to the respective campaigns. Now
this company has a net worth of many billion dollars.
What is the company, and what did they market/sell to raise money?
28.

36. Who recently released his autobiography,
“Red”?
29.

37. 30.
What does the blue portion represent? This is relevant only in some parts of the
world.

38. please hand in your sheets
we will discuss answers now

39. Here is a picture of a spaghetti spoon. Why does the spoon have a
hole in the middle? In other words, it solves a problem that people
always have when cooking spaghetti; how does it solve that
problem?
1.

40. measures quantity per
serving

41. 2.
Shown in this video from 1935 is the story behind X. The idea
for X came about when two brothers Édouard and André of
Clermont-Ferrand in France, attended the Lyon Universal
Exposition in 1894.
<insert video>

42. michelin man logo

43. 3.
“Drink DB export, save our _ _ _ _ _ _ _” is a campaign that was started
by DB breweries in New Zealand over the last month. It consisted of
installing machines in malls, theatres and other public spaces. The machines
themselves consisted of a wheel of small steel hammers spinning at 2,800
rpm. It also included a vacuum system that removed the 200 grams of the
end product. The whole process takes five seconds.
A critical part of the project involved securing a two-year deal between DB
export and a company named DryMix.
What is the whole campaign aimed at?

45. sand / “save our beaches”

46. 4. X is a 2011 non-fiction book written by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew
McAfee. It’s full title is X: How the Digital Revolution Is Accelerating
Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming
Employment and the Economy. Its website carries the following text.
X is a bold effort to make sense of the future of work. No one else
is doing serious thinking about a force that will lead to a
restructuring of the economy that is more profound and far-reaching
than the transition from the agricultural to the industrial age.
What is the name of this book, that is a play on an American rock band
that was founded in 1991?

47. race against the
machine

48. 5. Below are two comic covers. What were they inspired by?

49. black mirror

50. The following slide shows the five most
prominent designs of a certain type of
building around the world. They are
taken from a book that catalogues a total
of 193 entries. After studying and
compiling the 193, they converged on
this list of 5 designs. The name of this
book is also the type of building studied.
What building?
6.

52. parliament/legislature

53. 7.
The following slide has
the logo of an entity that
was started in 1935. It
attracted the elite of
New York City until its
closure last year in July.
Which entity?

55. four seasons hotel

56. 8.
In the early 1990s, X wrote a script for _ _ _ and met with 20th Century Fox
executives to pitch his project. X says of the meeting, “They said,
‘Oooooohkaaaaaay – a three-hour long epic? Sure, that's just what we want. Is
there a little bit of Terminator in that? Any Harrier jets, shoot-outs, or car
chases?' I said, 'No, no, no. It's not like that.'”
The primary inspiration for X to make _ _ _ was that he wanted to fund a trip to
the location of the _ _ _.
FITB.

57. titanic

58. 9.
Asao Tokolo, a 46-year-old artist had this to say about his creation:
“I was thinking of something like a coloring picture that everyone can add their
own color to. White against indigo blue — it’s a very clean-cut expression.”
The design comprises 45 interconnecting pieces forming a checkered pattern.
Use of the color indigo is intended “to express a refined elegance and
sophistication.”

59. 2020 olympic logo

60. 10.
An explanation for the name of which product (or) FITB?
● As our lead did, people associated it with speed - shiny fast
engines and cars.
● In design terminology, '_ _ _' refers to the non-webpage parts of
the interface - the toolbars, tabs and buttons - because our design
philosophy was "Content, not _ _ _" - putting our focus on
minimizing the amount of UI present, we felt it cheekily
appropriate to name it '_ _ _'.

61. chrome

62. 11.
Who’s story is being narrated in this video?

63. sakajawea

64. 12.
______ ___ ______ is a board
game cafe chain in Toronto.
Its name is a play on a popular
children’s board game and the
primary beverage it serves.
Changing the last word of the
board game alone leads to the
answer.
What is the name of the cafe?

65. snakes and lattes

66. 13.
Connect:
● Animal Circus, Seasons 4-5
● Coldplay, Season 3
● Dr. Feelgood, Season 1-2
● Michiel Huisman, Season 4-6
● Mastodon, Season 5
● Molotov Jukebox, Season 1-3 and 6
● Of Monsters and Men, Season 6
● Sigur Ros, Season 4
● Ed Sheeran, Season 7

67. cameos by
musicians/bands in
GoT

68. 14
This food item is believed to have been invented in North America by Dutch settlers,
and they were initially called oliekoeks (Dutch for oilcakes). The shape that is most
commonly associated with them today was apparently invented by a shiphand in
1847. Dissatisfied with the rawness of the center part, he punched it out using a
pepper box, solving the problem and resulting in the item’s characteristic shape.
Which food item?

69. doughnuts

70. 15.
Weird Al Yankovic is a musician who
parodies popular songs and makes them
funnier. Listen to this excerpt from one
of his songs and identify the name of the
song.

71. yoda

72. 16.
Witold Pilecki was a volunteer who compiled important information about a
specific place. Based on his description of the place, ID the place:
“When marching along the gray road towards the tannery in a column
raising clouds of dust, one saw the beautiful red light of the dawn shining on
the white flowers in the orchards and on the trees by the roadside, or on the
return journey we would encounter young couples out walking, breathing in
the beauty of springtime, or women peacefully pushing their children in
prams — then the thought uncomfortably bouncing around one’s brain
would arise . . . swirling around, stubbornly seeking some solution to the
insoluble question: Were we all . . . people?”

73. auschwitz

74. 17.
Adult members of the species Oryctolagus cuniculus were
called “coney” until the 18th century. This word soon fell
out of favour, though, because of the similarity of its
pronunciation to another word used as a vulgarity. As an
alternative, a rhyming word was proposed, which to this
day is used as an alternative word to refer to this species
and its relative.
What word?

75. bunny

76. 18. New changes in the Swedish primary school curriculum mean that
students are going to be learning programming from a younger age.
Along with programming, another measure to improve digital
competence is aimed at teaching kids to recognize X, a hot topic in
Sweden at the moment, with even the King emphasizing the importance
of source criticism.
"There has been some naivety when it comes to the information society.
An idea that all knowledge is just a short click away and we don't need
to know as much as we needed to before”, an administrator pointed out.
What two-word term, one that we’ve been hearing a lot recently, is X?

77. fake news

78. Paolo di Verachi is an Italian
designer who holds the Guinness
World Records for World’s Most
Expensive Tequila and Cognac
Bottles. He has recently also
come up with the world’s most
expensive water bottle at
$60,000 per bottle. The next
slide has an image of the bottle.
This water bottle is called
Tributo a __________. From the
image, FITB.
19.

80. modigliani

81. 20.
In the mid-1940s, this international football club started the concept of
‘penyes,’ which comprised of influential and wealthy fans who could also
help the club financially. The penyes were responsible for the bulk of the
sponsorship when they club built their iconic venue in the mid-1950s
and are still important in club affairs. The ‘penyes’ were primarily a
response to General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, who proved to be
extremely hostile towards the club.
Which club?

82. barcelona

83. 21.
A book display for which
franchise?

84. lotr

85. 22. Project 2061 is a long-term initiative of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to help all
Americans become literate in science, mathematics, and
technology. To achieve that goal, Project 2061 conducts research
and develops tools and services that educators, researchers, and
policymakers can use to make critical and lasting improvements in
the nation’s education system.
This text is taken from the AAAS website. The goal of the
project is to educate the populace of America sufficiently before a
certain event. What event/Why is is called Project 2061?

86. next sighting of halley’s
comet

87. 23. A graph of what?

89. fastest balls/etc.
recorded

90. 24 The Ghost in the Machine is a 1967 book by Arthur Koestler that
deals with concepts of philosophical psychology. It contributes to
the longstanding debate surrounding the mind-body problem (i.e,
the question of how the mind and the body interact, and if they’re
fundamentally divorced from each other or not).
Masamune Shirow, the creator of a certain franchise, was
inspired by the contents of the book to create his franchise, even
going so far as to draw inspiration from the title to name it.
Which franchise, that deals with similar themes?

92. 25. Third Man _______ is a new establishment opened in Detroit that is rolling back
the years. In order to do what they do, they had to order eight machines from
Germany - some to process seven-inch items, and some to process twelve-inch
items.
What is Third Man’s
business? Or just FITB.

93. records/vinyl records

94. 26. Jann Haworth is an American born artist who moved to London in
1961. Haworth married Peter Blake, with whom she created many
artworks including X.
The original concept for X was to have the subjects dressed in their new
"Northern brass band" uniforms appearing at an official ceremony in a
park. For the great crowd gathered at this imaginary event, the members
had also submitted a list of characters they wanted to see in attendance.
Blake and Haworth decided to pasted life-size, black-and-white
photographs of all the approved characters onto hardboard, which
Haworth subsequently hand-tinted.
What is X?

96. “We’re thinking about names. The names thing is really
hard, and the name of the first ship that goes to Mars - not
the name of the whole ship line necessarily but the first ship
that goes to Mars … my current favorite is Heart of Gold.”
Mirroring the sense of whimsical humor from the novel, X
emphasized he liked the idea of the name because “it’s
driven by infinite improbability because I think our ship is
also extremely improbable. I like the infinite improbability
drive.”
X, and which novel?
27.

97. elon musk
the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy

98. During the US presidential election of 2008, this company was running
out of funds. They needed to raise funds in some form and decided to
capitalise on the Obama McCain rivalry. They therefore decided to
purchase 1000 boxes of something, and rebrand 500 of those as Obama
O’s and the other 500 as Cap’n McCain’s. They sold these as special
products and donated 5% of profit to the respective campaigns. Now
this company has a net worth of many billion dollars.
What is the company, and what did they market/sell to raise money?
28.

99. airbnb, cereal boxes

100. Who recently released his autobiography,
“Red”?
29.

101. gary neville

102. 30.

103. daylight (savings time)

104. finals immediately