Write Bros, quite literally Topic – Letters 8 questions 5 points for every correct answer Bonus of 10 points for getting all 8 Total of 50 points

“Oh Honey” was the 15th episode of the 6th season of How I Met Your Mother. The episode features Katy Perry as a guest star and has her saying: “Maybe I should feel weird about giving the guy my social security number, but the guy is a Nigerian prince!”.

What is this dialogue a reference to?

This image accompanied a 2011 article chronicling The New York Times’ involvement with Wikileaks.

What is the title a reference to?

“Organization of Asian Games in 1951 encouraged by Pandit Nehru is an integral part of Indian national story that should be read by our students. It helped shape Delhi, as did the 1982 Asiad and the 2010 CWG. I wish to argue that the time is ripe to build on the success of London to take giant strides in sports and achieve excellence in the not too near future. 12 medals in Rio or 20 in 2020 isn't a pipedream if we appropriate the momentum created and undertake a few fundamental changes.”

Who got off the mark with this letter to the HRD ministry?

“To my widow,

……. Dear it is not easy to write because of the cold — 70 degrees below zero and nothing but the shelter of our tent…….God bless you my own darling I shall try and write more later — I go on across the back pages. Since writing the above we have got to within 11 miles of our depot with one hot meal and two days' cold food and we should have got through but have been held for four days by a frightful storm — I think the best chance has gone. We have decided not to kill ourselves but to fight it to the last for that depot but in the fighting there is a painless end so don't worry.”

Excerpt from someone’s last letter, curiously, addressed to his widow.

Whose?

“I beg to know expressly your intention touching the love between us. Necessity compels me to obtain this answer, having been more than a year wounded by the dart of love, and not yet sure whether I shall fail or find a place in your affection. I also send by the bearer a buck killed by me last night, hoping when you eat of it you will think of the hunter. Written by the hand of your servant.”

Excerpt from a letter dated 1527 A.D. However, the union of the two lovers was not agreed to by the then Pope, Clement VII.

What division did this result in? Also, name both the lovers.

Pictured is a note of thanks from X to Y for a 1963 creation Z, but found time only in 1977 to send X a copy.

Solve for X, Y and Z.

Image in the next slide.

Identify the author of the letter.

What pioneering welfare measure (aimed at promoting efficient and productive working habits) by the recipient of this letter was memorialized with the words “It shot like a blinding rocket through the dark clouds of the present industrial depression”?

Image of the letter in the next slide.

“Of all the parasites that affect humanity I do not know of, nor can I imagine, any more distressing than that of Obesity, and, having emerged from a very long probation in this affliction, I am desirous of circulating my humble knowledge and experience for the benefit of other sufferers, with an earnest hope that it may lead to the same comfort and happiness I now feel under the extraordinary change.”

Excerpt from William Banting’s 1863 Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public, which was the first to popularize a particular concept. What?

Dry Round 16 questions Infinite Bounce On the pounce - +10, -5

These 2 disorders are opposites of each other and are named for words meaning ‘to shut’ and ‘beyond’ respectively. They are also used as expressions in the English language to refer to actions similar to these disorders. Birds like eagles with these defects cannot hunt easily and eventually starve to death.

Name both disorders.

The ENIAC was the first electronic general-purpose computer. Conceived and designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert of the University of Pennsylvania, it cost $500,000, took 3 years to build and consumed so much power that whenever it was switched on, lights in Philadelphia dimmed, supposedly. The machine completed construction in 1946 and was meant to calculate firing tables for the US Army's artillery guns.

However, the ENIAC was first utilized for an entirely different purpose, a task it performed with success and thereby did humanity no favor. What?

Image in the next slide.

Pertinax was a Roman Emperor who was murdered by the Praetorian guard in 193 AD. The assassins held an auction immediately after, with the bidders in fray being two gentlemen named Didius Julianus and Titus Flavius Claudius Sulpicianus, the city prefect. Sulpicianus promised 20,000 sesterces for each item on offer, while Julianus, fearing a loss, offered 25,000 per piece. Julianus went on to win the auction and utilized his winnings for a period of 9 weeks.

What was auctioned off thus?

Avasarala Kanyakumari is a renowned female Carnatic music violinist from South India. Very recently, she earned mention in the India Book of Records for a composition called the ‘Carnatic Violin Symphony’. The composition has the artist employing different ragas to define the moments of a X, through strains on the violin.

This is the artist speaking about the project : “One hears a lot of drums

during a X. So I began to wonder how short pieces on the violin would sound at crucial moments of the X. I put my mind into it and composed some pieces. But left it at that and forgot about it till Shankar, the president of Shanmukhananda hall, Mumbai, who's a good friend, requested me to compose something for a X. I was thrilled and revived the old pieces I had composed and put them in an audio format.”

What is X? OR What are the different moments being talked about?

British PM David Cameron paid a two-day visit to China in November 2011, with the purpose of boosting trade ties. The English delegation, however, courted controversy and invited criticism from the Chinese for a practice that cites its origin to the general region-community that hosted the 1920 Olympics. This was because the practice is deemed offensive in China due to its association with the events that triggered a Century of humiliation.

What practice? Why did the Chinese find it offensive?

It was part of a North Korean propaganda campaign and broadcast on state-run Korean Central Television in 2004 as part of the regular television program Common Sense (later aired on BBC1). The initial few episodes of the show featured officially endorsed examples, while a later series went a step further by exposing certain men harboring wrong examples. With every man, the show depicted the person's name and where they lived/worked via subtitles and/or voice, courtesy hidden cameras placed around Pyongyang. The logic behind the campaign was that wrong examples can affect human intelligence, in part by depriving the rest of the body of nutrients.

What absurd idea are we talking about?

The earliest known variation of X dates back to a 1905 issue of The Cambrian, a magazine for Welsh Americans. It carried the story of a minister temporarily filling in at a church in Wales. After a service, the minister cautiously asked the church clerk how his sermon had been received, and if it had been long enough. Upon being assured that it was, he admitted to the clerk that it would have been longer had his pet not behaved the way it did. X was popularized in the 1970s by American psychologist-columnist Eugene Kennedy who described listening to Richard Nixon on account of the Watergate Tapes as “working on the greatest American excuse since X.”

Identify expression X.

These gardens typically include a few dozen species of plants along with walkways, benches, reproductions of Elizabethan architecture etc. Typical plants seen in these gardens include red and white roses, rosemary, pansy, fennel, daisy, violet, rue, mulberry etc., with relevant quotations accompanying each plant. They sprang up in the early 1900s in English-speaking nations, particularly USA, to celebrate the 300th anniversary of an event. The most famous ones are the gardens in New Place, UK and the Central Park, New York.

What are these gardens called? OR What is common to the plants found in these gardens?

Image in the next slide.

The Millennium Dome project was conceived by John Major's Conservative government, as a showcase to celebrate the Third millennium. These sentiments were echoed by the incoming Labour Government that expanded the size and scope of the project. However, the government was unable to raise the necessary private capital for the project and hence had to rely public money. The project quickly became a subject of public ridicule, resulting in an opportunistic advertising campaign: ‘Not all domes lack public support.’

Who came out with this ad campaign?

This single from a 1978 album (that has a title referring to inter-planetary transport) is historically inaccurate for at least one reason. This is because the song refers to a location, that became the capital only in 1918 and therefore could not have been the location of the events described in the song.

Which song? Name both capitals (the previous one and the one referred to in the song).

German Bauhaus architect Herman Soergel devised a plan in the 1920s wherein a new nation of Atlantropa would be created by the addition of about 660,000 sq.km. to Europe. This plan also included increasing the area of arable and productive land in the Sahara. The final aim was that the world would be divided into three economic spheres in the future, all beginning with the letter "A": America, Asia, and the new land to be created by Soergel, Atlantropa. The project did not see the light of the day, but provided ample plot elements for Star Trek, The Man in the High Castle, Rendezvous with Rama etc.

How did he propose to accomplish this plan?

Nepalm is a redditor who works as part of the Student Global Health Alliance in Africa and most famous for something that happened in a market in Gulu, Uganda. Pictured is a screenshot from a conversation on Nepalm’s profile on Reddit.

So, what exactly did Nepalm do in Gulu?

Images in the next 2 slides.

About 15-25 people usually take part in them, and are separated by ‘stints’. They were chaotic for a significant part of their existence, with some order achieved in 1994 thanks to multiple adjustments, partly prompted by something involving the man pictured. One such event in July 2012 in Baden-Wurttemberg is currently regarded at the best ever of its kind.

What are we talking about?

Image in the next slide.

Anwar Maqsood is a famous Pakistani playwright-poet born in the erstwhile Hyderabad State of India in 1935. He has been active in the Pakistan entertainment industry since the 1970s. Many members of his family are equally famous, like his son Bilal Maqsood (member of the band Strings) and his sister Zubaida Tariq (cooking expert).

For what reason (that was lauded at the National level), with a prominent connection to the Mithun Chakraborty film Disco Dancer, did Anwar Maqsood become famous in Kerala in 1990, probably the only such instance of its kind?

MS Deutschland is a German-registered cruise ship launched in 1998 and capable of carrying 513 passengers and 260 crew members. The ship is owned and operated by German company Peter Deilmann cruises and was shortlisted by the German Olympic Committee as a hospitality ship during the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Sometime in July 2000, the ship was scheduled for a two-week cruise from New York to Manta, Ecuador and onward to Sydney for the Olympic Games. However, this didn’t quite work out as not all the passengers were able to board the ship.

Why?

X is the title of Y’s directorial debut, and went on to win the Directing Award Dramatic at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. The name X dates back to 1706, when a Welshman named William Jones used it as a substitute for the word periphery. One of the most famous literary works based on X is Cadaeic Cadenza, a short story by American Mike Keith, which is a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s “Raven”. However, today there is strong opposition to the usage of the name X and to be replaced by Z. This apparently would avoid a lot of confusion to the people who use X the most.

X, Y and Z please.

Image of the opening lines of the literary work in the next slide.

In which London tube station would you find this warning?

Baker Street

Differential Scoring 6 questions 1-2 teams - +20

3-4 teams - +15 5-6 teams - +10 Negative of minus 5 for wrong answers

One of the commonest misconceptions associated with this victory is that the top spot was achieved as a result of this match. This was not the case and the match was actually part of a round-robin medal round. However, fortunately for the team in question, 2 days later they beat Finland, then the world’s fifth-ranked team in an exciting game. They were down 2-1 in before coming back with three late goals. This match, however, lacked sizzle and it was the previous match that dominated all the headlines.

Which team? What victory?

In order, they have been identified as: 1st - Matty O'Shaughnessy 3rd- Austin Lawton/Sheldon London/Ralph Rawding 5th - Claude Stagg 6th- John Johansson 7th - John Doucette 8th - Francis Michael Rafferty 9th - Stretch Donahue 10th - Thomas Norton 11th - Patrick "Sonny" Glynn/Gusti Popovic Their union in 1932 in New York is widely recognized as symbolizing

the Great Depression, when people were willing to do anything for a living regardless of safety issues.

So, what were they doing together?

The term X was coined by Carole Shaw in 1979 when she launched a magazine by the same name catering to and about the sub-group now represented by the term X. A near-synonym of X is the term Y, because of the paintings of a famous flemish baroque painter (of the 15th-16th centuries) who is best known for portraying full-bodied women.

Gimme X and Y.

Image in the next slide.

“Reagan was always in the news at the time he was born and my Dad thought the name sounded a bit different. It wasn’t because he had any opinion on if he was a good president. They just liked the name!”

Said Catia dos Santos Aveiro about her sibling, who was born in 1985.

Name the sibling.

They were conceived in the early half of the 19th century as a method for preventing reuse (of something else). The first of these were red in color, handmade and depicted a Maltese cross design. The color was subsequently changed to black for better contrast and the Maltese cross gave way to numbers which referred to specific locations. Multiple methods have evolved over the years and today include Bullseye, Deferential, Flag, Pen, Mute, Pictorial, Slogan etc.

What are we talking about?

Maltese Cross Deferential Flag

This creative work was commissioned to protest a 1905 event that sounds suspiciously similar (in the native language of the region where it happened) to a Silvio Berlusconi party. However, surprisingly, 67 years after this event, the work was adopted by one of the resultants of a similar event (that happened more than 4 decades after the original one) as a symbol of itself.

Which event? Which work? Who created it?