Conquizition

Unmaad Open Quiz - 2017Prelims Answers

Rules for Prelims

Total of 30 Questions; 35 points up for grabs.

Starred questions from Qn. No. 11 to Qn. No. 20 will be used to resolve ties, if any

Qn. No. 26 to Qn. No. 30 will each count for two points each

No negatives, so please guess away!

Seven months after writing a headline that was intended as an April Fools joke, Rajkot-based newspaper Akilas editor Kirit Gantara said that the report was intended as a prank meant to amuse the readers. He argues, If it were authentic, some leading newspapers would have got the story, not us.

Gantara added that his imagination and his certitude that _______ would do something drastic (as he had known him from a while ago and still enjoys a good rapport with him) had helped him manufacture the report.

What did the April Fools prank article say?

Q1

Demonetization would happen

Released by Andrei Lisovenko of the United Russia Party in 2015, this is meant to rival which other flag/symbol?Q2

Gay Pride / Rainbow Flag (Anything to do with anti-LGBT, Straight Pride is accepted)

The hashtag on the flag basically translated to #realfamily

Seen as taking political correctness too far, in 2008, certain institutions and town councils banned the use of a particular term, so as to not offend people who suffer from epilepsy.

The alternatives provided such as thought showers and blue-sky thinking, were seen as ambiguous, while the original, coined by Alex Osborn in his book, Your Creative Power, was not seen as offensive by the National Society for Epilepsy.

Which term is this?Q3

Brainstorming

Guard From Above along with the Dutch police have recently embarked on an experimental program to combat a growing menace near airports. The plan involves teams of eagles placed on standby at high-risk locations. Different birds could be deployed at night, though the risk would be lower then.

Since eagles are already used around some airports to scare away birds that can pose a danger to aircraft if sucked into engines, they would be suited to the location.

What menace is being tackled here?Q4

Drones

Shown in the video clip is Erik Bauersfeld (one of the many casualties of 2016), describing his work on a 1983 movie as a voice artist. Which line of dialogue is he best remembered for delivering, via a character in that movie (reprised in a 2015 movie as well)?Q5

Admiral Ackbars Its a trap!

On June 14, 1985, in a carefully chosen symbolic act, state secretaries from five different countries boarded the MS Princess Marie Astrid, which made its way up the Moselle River and anchored itself in the place shown (picture in next slide).

What was signed on the boat?Q6

Schengen agreement was signed. That section of the water is under 3-way jurisdiction between France, Germany and Luxembourg

Worshipped as the incarnation of Durga, this sages youngest son, Lakhan, drowned and died. She then ordered Yama to bring him back to life.

Yama was unable to do so, but said that she could restore Lakhans life which she did, decreeing that members of her family would no longer die but would be reincarnated as kabas. Around 600 families claim to be descendants and that they will be reincarnated as kabas.

What are these kabas, or alternatively, name this sage, who has a famous temple in Bikaner dedicated to her?Q7

Karni Mata

Kaba means rat

What word is common to all of the creatures shown? The behavior that contributes to the name is given for each case.

Seeks out and lives in a solitary cell

Q8

It spends its winters alone and is not commonly found in flocks.

Most of the individuals stay most of their life inside the wood mould of hollow trees

Hermit

Hermit Crab, Hermit Thrush and the Hermit Beetle

From a book written by Sam Sargent and Michael Alves:

Around 1880, the common usage of ________ in the United States meant administering a large and efficient dose of any sort of medicine or punishment. If you _________ someone, you gave him a severe whipping or coerced or intimidated him in some other way, such as by holding a gun to his head. In 1886, with a slight variation in spelling, a _________ had come to mean both a large-caliber pistol and the person who wielded it.

By the early 1900s, it got its current meaning thanks in part to the Hornsby Company of England. Fill in the blanks. Q9

Bull-dose, became Bulldoze(r)

Because of the importance of the 1799 discovery, it assumed the role of an idiom to refer to any crucial piece of evidence that helped understand a larger whole. Examples are as follows:

Spectrum of hydrogen atoms is called the _______ _______ of modern physicsHuman Leucocyte Antigen is the _______ ______ of immunologyThe Mouse-Ear Cress is the ______ ______ of flowering timeA Gamma ray burst (GRB) found along with a supernova was called a ______ ________ for understanding the origin of GRBs

Fill in the blanks. Q10

Rosetta Stone

Starred questions being now

Primarily used as part of a phrase, a ___2___ is a penance (a prescribed penalty) imposed by a priest in a confession in order to provide absolution, often when the confessor was near to death.

In the 17th century, criminals were sent to the scaffold immediately after sentencing and only had time for a ___1___ ____2___ before being hanged.

What phrase is this, which is now used to mean, to give little consideration to?Q11*

Short Shrift

Shrift referred to the penance

In September 1989, a town in Massachusetts voted to change its name in order to prevent confusion with a nearby much larger city in New Hampshire. The new name (a more specific version of the old name) referred to the fact that it was found along theNorth ShoreofMassachusetts Bay, which in turn leads to the Atlantic Ocean.

The city in New Hampshire was named in the 1800s in reference to a burgeoning industry, led by the Amoskeag Cotton & Woolen Manufacturing Company.

Which town in this, in the news recently?Q12*

Manchester-by-the-sea

Tsovkra 1, a farming village in Dagestan in Russia is home to a unique tradition that has passed through every generation, and every member of this community is skilled in this tradition.

The most popular explanation for the centuries of this practice is that the young men of the village grew bored with trekking for days to court women in a village on a neighboring mountainside. The glory days for them was during the 1950s, under the Soyuzgoscirk, a nationalized administration.

What practice is this, that everyone in Tsovkra-1 is fluent in?Q13*

Tightrope Walking

Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde and his team of experts created the tower shown in the next slide. Working on the principle of static electricity, the input is given a positive charge which is then collected by a negatively charged plate.

As for the material that remains, Roosegaarde has begun a line of jewellery, of which some products are shown.

What is the input that Roosegaarde is using for his products?Q14*

Smog Particles

Kristin Heaston is an American shot-putter, who, with a throw of 17.17 meters, placed 21st in the 2004 Olympic Games.

Despite the seemingly insignificant finish, she did create history during her qualifying rounds where she went first.

What first does she hold? Q15*

First woman to compete in Olympia

The 2004 Summer Olympics were held in Athens, Greece

Considering he had no birth certificate, the ambiguity about his origins troubled him and in the late 1940s, he made his way to Lincolnshire, England to trace his ancestry.

He discovered that the family was of Norman origin, with the family name deriving from Isigny, a small village in Normandy, France. Later, due to a failed rebellion against the King in the late 1600s, they were forced out of England. Some members of the family, including his great-grandfather, went to America.

Which famous surname traces its history thus?Q16*

From Isigny DIsigny Disney family

In 1985, Lowrance Electronics had introduced the X-15 SONAR and when the founder, Darrell Laurence was looking for means to promote it, he was contacted by Adrian Shine, who approached him regarding a plan called Operation Deepscan in Britain.

On the first day, 3 strong contacts were recorded. But after covering 60% of the intended area, it was called off. It was later discovered that the contacts were actually that of a prop from the 1970 movie, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

What was the aim of Operation Deepscan?Q17*

To find the Loch Ness Monster

The device shown was used with early firearms to push the projectile up against the propellant (mainly gunpowder). Used mainly with muskets and cannons, it was held in a notch underneath the barrel.

Cricket-watching audiences would be familiar with the device, often used as part of a commentary clich (and no, it is not the famous tracer bullet).

What is this device called?Q18*

Ramrod

The guy in the picture is Michael Barmier, very aptly standing in front of the Zagreb landmark.

Recently, for dealing with what purpose was he designated as the chief negotiator?Q19*

Brexit; He is the EUs Chief Divorce Negotiator

In the list of richest fictional characters published by FORBES in 2010, the #8 richest character was supposedly reprimanded by Santa Claus for blowing $145 million in very small cash gifts. She is also rumored to sell certain items to gray-market Chinese labs researching human cloning while other theories hold that they are used in Colonel Sanders secret KFC recipe.

Real-world statistics back this story up, as a Visa study showed that the average transaction in 2013 was $3.70, a 23% jump from 2012 and a 42% jump from 2011.

Which character is this?

Q20*

Tooth Fairy

Starred questions over

Watch the clip.

The song Another Day of Sun from the movie, La La Land takes place on the Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange in Los Angeles. In 1994, before the interchange opened, it was accessed to shoot an iconic scene in which movie?Q21

Speed

When the Tagua nut is dried out, it can be carved and is often used for figurines like the one shown.

Due to this property and their colour, what are they regarded as a substitute for?Q22

Ivory; It is called Vegetable Ivory

As part of an advertising campaign for McVities Jaffa Cakes, a marketing firm had its lifts lined with over 1,000 Jaffa cakes.

Food technicians and artists took a month to install the unique walls inside the liftinside the offices of communications firm Engine in Great Portland Street, central London.

Which literary source provided the inspiration for this campaign?

Q23

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Robert Tytler made an attempt to take a photograph in March 1858 but the lighting was poor. He returned in May, with Charles Shepard, and was successful. Who is the subject of the picture, who was photographed along with his hookah, described as follows? It is also the only known photograph of him.

When they saw the old man lying quietly on his charpoy, his mild countenance displaying no signs of cruelty, they felt an unexpected compassion. He looked so hopeless and helpless, his white beard unbrushed, rambling on about his dreams and quoting verses of his own compositionsQ24

Bahadur Shah Zafar

Intended as a general educational example to indicate the potential dose due to naturally occurring radioactive isotopes, BED is an informal expression. One BED is often taken as 0.1 Sv (micro-Sievert)

BED is only an indicative concept meant to show the existence of very low levels of natural radioactivity within natural substances and is not a formally adopted dose quantity.

If E stands for Equivalent and D stands for Dose, what does B stand for?Q25

Banana

Known to contain the radioactive and unstable isotope of Potassium (K-40)

Two Point Questions

John Wilson, founder of the Razzies had this to say regarding the 1991 winner of the Worst Supporting Actor category: We were ahead of the curve on thinking he was a dork. It truly is an atrocious little movie. The most insulting Razzie is the one you get for playing yourself. And the only other person I know of who has won one as himself was _________

While many have a Razzie for playing themselves, the one referred to was the Worst Actor Award given out for 2004 films. The movie involved was not critically panned and actually won the Palme DOr, but received Razzies anyway.

Who are the two people John Wilson is referring to? Q26

1991 film

Donald Trump for the 1991 movie

George W Bush for Fahrenheit 9/11

Dr. Bennett Omalu, the person who highlighted the impact of concussions (CTE) in contact sports, recently said that he would bet his medical license that a certain individual, exposed to much head trauma during his NFL career had CTE. All the tell-tale signs of CTEs symptoms, including explosive, impulsive behavior, impaired judgment, and criminality were noticed by him. Who is this person, who later attempted to use concussions as an explanation for his actions?

Apart from his NFL career, this person was also a part of a 4-member team representing USC that broke the 39-second barrier in the relay. However, today it is termed Worlds Best instead of World Record. Why?Q27

OJ Simpson

The race was run over 4x110 yards, not 4x100 meters

(Actually, 440 yards = 402 meters, longer than the 4x100 meter relay, and the USC team was still quicker than the 4x100 World Record)

Identify the singer.

This is from an album called, No Stranger Here, where all the songs are inspired by whom?Q28

Singer Shubha Mudgal; Inspiration Kabir

Q29According to research done by an individual, he allegedly was a 7th generation descendant of someone who was taken from James Island (later renamed) on the slave ship, Lord Ligonier (ad shown in next slide), to Annapolis, Maryland in 1767, where he became a slave gardener.

Genealogists have disputed this research, however, he used this heritage as the foundation for his 1976 endeavor. Who is this person, or what was this 1976 endeavor?

In which country, in the news currently, would you find the erstwhile James Island?

Alex Haley, who wrote Roots

The Gambia; The island is now called Kunta Kinte Island, in honor of the novel

Shown in the next slide, is a scene from the 2015 Tamil movie O Kadhal Kanmani, written and directed by Mani Rathnam.

Identify the person shown who plays a cameo as Taras mentor. In the movie, Tara is an upcoming architect.

Which creation of his, completed in 1983, did he describe the original plan as follows? We wanted the plan to have a certain flow. Imagine a meandering rivers flow. Similarly, this plan is also moving in and out. The openings are not regularly spaced. There are sudden vistas, some big, some small and some rhythmic. There are a lot of musical rhythms in the plan, organized and random at the same time.Q30

BV Doshi

IIM Bangalore

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