Dhwani 2012 Finals

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Transcript of Dhwani 2012 Finals

Jithin & Raouf

with inputs from VR and VIP

(you know, of MusicAloud fame )

5 Rounds

1. Write Bros.

2. Clockwise

3. AZED

4. Anti Clockwise

5. Theme

6 clips from the 2003 movie The Dreamers

Each clip references (and shows footage from) a movie

5 points per correct answer

10 points bonus if all 6 are correct

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

2

3

4

5

6

1. À bout de souffle (1960) or Breathless

2. City Lights (1931)

3. Top Hat (1935)

4. Bande à part (1964) or Band of Outsiders

5. Scarface (1932)

6. Mouchette (1967)

16 questions clockwise

10 points per correct answer

Modified infinite bounce

Infinite Pounce

+15 / -10 on pounce

On June 16, 2004, a news report appeared on the World

Tribune saying ―Move over Tiger: __________ ___ shot 38

under par his 1st time out‖. This as per the report makes him

―easily the greatest golfer, the world has ever seen.‖ Other

reports suggest that he developed the technology of mobile

phones that are invisible to the naked eye, with which he

gave tactical advise to the coach of the national football

team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He was also

reported to be a huge basketball fan and was said to own a

video library of practically every game Michael Jordan ever

played for the Bulls.

Who is this multi faceted personality?

1

Kim Jong-il

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a World War II

organisation of the United Kingdom formed in 1940 by

Winston Churchill to ―set Europe ablaze‖. Their primary

duty was to conduct guerrilla warfare through espionage,

sabotage and reconnaissance behind enemy lines against the

Axis powers and to help resistance movements in Europe.

Because of the location of their headquarters at London,

they were often called X, after a fictional group employed

―to go everywhere, see everything and overhear everyone.‖

What was their nickname?

2

Baker Street Irregulars

Sherlock Holmes’s group of street urchins, whom he used for various physical tasks

T.P. Sundara Rajan, a former IPS officer and lawyer was a

resident of Thiruvananthapuram. During his service as an

IPS officer, he had a stint in the Intelligence Bureau and was

also part of the security staff of the former Prime Minister,

Indira Gandhi. In July 2011, his death after a heart attack at

the age of 70, was widely reported by the national media.

For what reason was he in the limelight?

3

He filed the petition which led to the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple's closed vaults being opened and the assets being revealed.

The 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, was a

prominent English politician in the 17th century. On 4

February 1673, he addressed the English Parliament as Lord

Chancellor. He was a vocal supporter of Britain‘s war with

the Dutch during this time (Third Anglo-Dutch War). In his

now famous speech, he compared England and the Dutch

Republic to X and Y respectively and quoted a political

phrase made famous by the Roman statesman Cato the

Elder.

What phrase?

4

“Carthago delenda est”

Carthage must be destroyed

Echo ___ Mines Limited was a mining company founded in

1964 and had its initial operations on the shores of the Great

Bear Lake in Canada. They were based out of the mining

area of Port Radium in Northwest Territories and takes its

name from a silver mine of the same name in the region.

They later expanded to other regions in Canada and the US.

In 2003, the company merged with Kinross Gold

Corporation and is now its subsidiary.

The company would be remembered for necessitating the

shortening of the name of a famous company. Which

company?

5

eBay

The internet domain echobay.com was already owned by Echo Bay Mines Limited

It‘s popular name is derived from the title of Leon

Lederman's popular science book, ―The ___ ________: If

the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?‖

Lederman said he gave it the nickname ―The ___

________‖ because the particle is ―so central to the state of

physics today, so crucial to our understanding of the

structure of matter, yet so elusive,‖ but jokingly added that a

second reason was because ―the publisher wouldn't let us call

it the ___damn ________, though that might be a more

appropriate title, given its villainous nature and the expense it

is causing.‖

What nickname?

6

God Particle

Higg’s Boson

In Canada, ―the _________ ________‖ is a phrase generally

used in such a way as to imply that if a certain political

course is taken, Canada's destiny will be to become ―the

_________ ________‖. Becoming ―the _________

________‖ is usually raised either as a potential consequence

of adopting policies that propose greater integration or

cooperation with the United States. The phrase is usually

used in local political debates, in polemic writing or in private

conversations. It is rarely used by politicians themselves in a

public context, although at certain times in Canadian history,

political parties have used other similarly loaded imagery.

What phrase?

7

51st state

What was all

this about?

8

Salman Rushdie

Facebook changed his name to Ahmad Rushdie.

He protested and got his name back.

When X‘s doctor told him that, because of his lifelong

injuries and trauma, he could no longer smoke cigars, ride his

horses, drink wine or perform sexual acts with women, he

decided he was ready to die. He ordered his favourite horse

brought to him, took a handful of cigars, two bottles of his

favourite wine and rode out to his finca where he was met by

two of Sevilla‘s ―women of the night.‖ He smoked his cigars

and drank his wine, engaging one more time in his final

passions, took his pistol and shot himself. He had told others

prior to his last day that if he could not live like a man he

would at least die like one.

X‘s picture on the Time Magazine on the next slide. Identify.

9

Juan Belmonte

Reputed to be the Greatest Bullfighter ever

Hiroo Onoda, along with two compatriots was involved in

the murder of around 30 inhabitants of the island of

Lubang and wounding another one hundred people, several

shootouts with the police and stealing and butchering cattle

for nearly 3 decades. Despite all this, he received a full

pardon from Ferdinand Marcos in 1974. He published his

memoirs, which was widely popular. The following year, he

moved to Brazil and started a quiet life raising cattle.

He was one of the last known ________ _______.

10

Japanese holdout

After World War II, several Japanese soldiers continued to fight for years, being cut off from the their army command and mostly ignorant of the fact that Japan had surrendered.

Upon X‘s death, the following obituary appeared on the

Editorial page of The Ottawa Citizen under the heading ‗No,

_________ ‗:

―It is sadly that we report on Sir X, elsewhere referred to as

Sir Y. While it would be premature to commit ourselves to a

definitive position on his merits or even his existence, a

committee is being struck to consider the possibility of a

decision, in the fullness of time, to regret his passing, if any.‖

Identify the actor X and the role Y immortalised by him.

11

Nigel Hawthorne

Humphrey Appleby from Yes Minister.

A 1978 work by Anthony Burgess was inspired by and is a

tribute to a 1949 work of the same genre. Despite the title, it

is not a sequel and just uses the same concept and settings. It

is divided into 2 parts. The first is a series of essays and

interviews which discusses the earlier work. The second is a

novella set a few years after the time of the work‘s writing.

Identify both.

12

1985

Tribute to 1984

Its creators intended to represent ―the stars in the sky at X at

8:30 in the morning on 15 November 1889, the moment at

which the constellation of the Southern Cross was on the

meridian of X and the longer arm [of the cross] was

vertical.‖ According to a 1971 law, it portrays the stars as

they would be seen by an imaginary observer an infinite

distance above X standing outside the firmament in which

the stars are meant to be placed. Currently, they are 27 in

number. Any additions have to follow the above principle.

What is being described?

13

Stars on the Brazilian National Flag

This term refers to simple but potent solution to some acute

social problem, without any adverse side effects. One of the

uses of this term is to disparagingly describe a theory

credited to Arlen Specter, which originated in the early 70s.

'CE 399' forms an essential part of the theory.

Which term? What theory?

14

Magic bullet

Single bullet theory on the assassination of JFK

In 2004, royalties agent Peter Rowan, representing Peter

Thorpe, filed a claim for royalties with the Performing

Artists' Media Rights Association (PAMRA). He was part of

a group of 23 students of Islington Green School, north

London who did something without permission from the

headmistress or their parents. The school received a £1,000

cheque, the children were unpaid and anonymous and the

teacher who encouraged them was fired from the school

after outrage from the public. The claim is based on a change

in UK copyright law in 1996, though the events happened

more than two decades back.

What did they do?

15

Sang the chorus in Another Brick in the Wall, Part II by Pink Floyd

“We don’t need no education/We don’t need no thought control/No dark sarcasm in the classroom/Teachers, leave them kids alone.”

Credited with the first Malayalam translation of Dracula as

well as the Sherlock Holmes series, X was a contributing

cartoonist at Shankar's Weekly. X‘s works have found their

way into Malayalam movies many times, but the only time he

himself donned the director's hat was in 1982 to filmize

another of his own works. Apart from this, he also wrote the

dialogues for the 1990 film Iyer The Great.

ID X.

16

Malayatoor Ramakrishnan

Identify unknowns A - I

5 points per correct answer

10 points bonus if all 9 are correct

The first story to feature A going east was B. C, written in 1934, was the second one, in which A visits D. Before C was written, E, the creator of A got a letter from a priest at Leuven University saying : “I gather you're sending A to D. Be sure that you mug up on D properly and don't just stereotype. We have a number of students from D here who you could talk to.” E took this advice and the result, C was a masterpiece. It is considered a pivotal work in E’s career, marking a new found commitment to geographical and cultural accuracy, because the previous adventures E wrote were based on approximations of a country or whatever E could discover about them.

E was also a huge fan of the book F by G. E first watched the movie adaptation of F by director H who is considered one of the greatest in the suspense/psycho thriller genre. H said about F that it was a wonderful book to film because you didn’t need to do a storyboard, it was all there already. G's style of narrating exciting adventures in F was exactly similar to how E constructed A’s adventures. Thus inspired by F, E created I, which sees A’s first arrival and consequent adventures in Britain. In I, A arrives in Britain, stopping off in Dover and Suffolk before going north to Scotland. This is a reflection of the flight northwards of the protagonist Richard Hannay in the book F.

A. Tintin

B. Cigars of the Pharaoh

C. The Blue Lotus

D. China

E. Herge

F. The 39 steps

G. John Buchan

H. Alfred Hitchcock

I. The Black Island

16 questions anti clockwise

10 points per correct answer

Modified infinite bounce

Infinite Pounce

+15 / -10 on pounce

X is a non-fiction book written by Y on the group X . The book was born from an article written by Y for the May 17, 1965 issue of The Nation, on X and other similar clubs. The article was well-received and prompted book offers from several publishers interested in the topic. Y spent the next year preparing for the new book in close quarters with the X, in particular the San Bernardino and Oakland chapters of the club and their president Ralph ―Sonny‖ Barger. Y was up front with the X about his role as a journalist, a dangerous move given their marked distrust of reporters. The book was widely lauded as a masterpiece, the New York Times described Y‘s portrayal as ―a world most of us would never dare encounter.‖

Id the book/group X and the writer Y. 1

Hell's Angels

Hunter S Thompson

The Royal Canadian Dragoons, a regiment in the Canadian Army uses an animal as its mascot. This has its origins in a regimental legend. When the Regiment was deployed in a war, a sentry reported that a number of these animals were behaving erratically as though alarmed, and alerted the officers, who ordered a stand-to. This resulted in the defeat of a large party of enemy soldiers, who had managed a stealthy approach to the outpost.

Ironically the animal is found in a different continent altogether and was used as the national symbol of a country till 1990s. The name of the animal is still used as the nickname of one of the sports teams of the nation and is displayed on their jersey, although this has its share of detractors.

Animal and the sports team? 2

Springbok

South African Rugby team

Even though the origins of this are not conclusively known,

Major John Etty-Leal, the General Officer Commanding

(GOC) II of the British 2nd Infantry Division is supposed

to have suggested them, inspired by John Maxwell Edmonds,

an English scholar‘s work. He is in turn thought to have been

inspired by the Greek lyric poet Simonides of Ceos (556-468

BC).

What?

3

Kohima Epitah inscribed on the memorial of the 2nd British Division at the Kohima Allied War Cemetery.

The paintings The Geographer and The Astronomer by

Johannes Vermeer are believed to portray the same man.

Arthur Wheelock, curator of Northern Painting in the

Washington National Gallery and noted Vermeer expert,

among others, has suggested that a contemporary of

Vermeer and another famous Delft citizen served as the

model for the paintings. Although the suggestion can neither

be substantiated nor disproved, it is almost impossible to

imagine that these exact contemporaries, both baptized in

1632 and both high achievers in their fields, would not have

come across each other in small city of Delft.

Who?

4

Van Leeuwenhoek

Domoic acid is a marine biotoxin whose consumption causes

amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) in humans. In mammals

domoic acid acts as a neurotoxin, which causes short term

memory loss, brain damage and, in severe cases, death.

A study led by ocean environmentalist Sibel Bargu of

Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 2011 concluded

that Domoic acid poisoning was the culprit in a hitherto

unsolved mystery. What was famously inspired from this

incident?

5

The Birds (1963) by Alfred Hitchcock

Inspired by a similar incident at California's Monterey Bay in the summer of 1961

Several countries have a system of laws which protect

bystanders who help incapacitated people. They generally

protect the people who assist from being prosecuted for

unintentional injury. These laws vary from jurisdiction to

jurisdiction and are based on the legal systems used.

By what appropriate name are they referred to?

6

Good Samaritan law

Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)

―X confirmed his commitment to retire and also this succession plan to me not once but twice shortly after. When everyone took his word at face value and in good faith, in the month of February 2010, he reneged on his commitment to retire to my utter shock and dismay. That act of breach of faith triggered a whole series of unsavoury events which have taken an ugly turn and which are all now in the public domain. In these 18 months matters have reached a very low point indeed—with a brazen and crude display of factionalism, opportunistic and vote-bank politics, quid-pro-quo deals, bad faith, vindictive acts, selective targeting of individuals and pursuing personal agendas by some board members all combining into a messy ‗slugfest‘ among the Board members. There is no question that these anti-institution actions by a coterie of the Board have seriously eroded the quality, reputation and credibility of ___ _______ and have also severely impaired the competitive ability and profitability of the whole enterprise.‖

Excerpts from a letter. Identify the writer.

7

N. Murali about the plight of The Hindu.

X - N Ram.

It is often attributed to George Bernard Shaw, probably

because of his support for English spelling reform, though

he never used it in his writings. The earliest known published

reference is an article from the October 1874 issue of St.

James's Magazine by S. R. Townshend Mayer, entitled ―Leigh

Hunt and Charles Ollier‖. It quotes an 1855 letter from

Ollier to Hunt.

What?

8

Ghoti

Respelling of fish

―…I went to have a look at the cathedral - a modern

cathedral, and one of the most hideous buildings in the

world. It has four crenellated spires exactly the shape of

hock bottles... I think the Anarchists showed bad taste in not

blowing it up... though they did hang a red and black banner

between its spires.‖

George Orwell talking about something in ―Homage to

Catalonia‖. What?

9

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Antoni Gaudi’s famous unfinished cathedral

Rebel Without a Crew (subtitle: Or How a 23-Year-Old

Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player) is a

1995 non-fiction book by __________. Presented in a diary

format, Rebel details ________‘s beginnings as a young

filmmaker; his stint at a medical testing facility to raise

money for a feature film; the making of that film for $7,000,

and his subsequent experiences in Hollywood selling the film

and going to film festivals promoting it.

Identify the director and the movie.

10

Robert Rodriguez

El Mariachi

The ________ are a class of several ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia. Their current populations include 12 Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands, six Semang peoples of Malaysia, the Mani of Thailand, and the Aeta, Agta, Ati, and 30 other peoples of the Philippines. Reports from British traders also speak of ________ people on Borneo. __________ share some common physical features with African pygmy populations, including short stature, natural afro-hair texture, and dark skin; however, their origin and the route of their migration to Asia is still a matter of great speculation.

Fill in the blanks with a term which caused much uproar in sporting circles, recently.

11

Negrito

Excerpt from the judgement against X at Nuremberg:

―...For his 25 years of speaking, writing and preaching hatred of the Jews, X was widely known as ‗Jew-Baiter Number One.‘ In his speeches and articles, week after week, month after month, he infected the German mind with the virus of anti-Semitism, and incited the German people to active persecution... X‘s incitement to murder and extermination at the time when Jews in the East were being killed under the most horrible conditions clearly constitutes persecution on political and racial grounds in connection with war crimes, as defined by the Charter, and constitutes a crime against humanity.‖

X was sentenced to death by the tribunal and was hanged to death on October 16, 1946. Who?

12

Julius Streicher

The editor of the Nazi mouthpiece.

Wealthy Farmer, 3 of Family Slain: A wealthy wheat farmer,

his wife, and their two young children were found shot to

death today in their home. They had been killed by shotgun

blasts at close range after being bound and gagged. The

father, 48-year-old Herbert W. Clutter, was found in the

basement with his son, Kenyon, 15. His wife Bonnie, 45, and

a daughter, Nancy, 16, were in their beds. There were no

signs of a struggle and nothing had been stolen. The

telephone lines had been cut. ―This is apparently the case of

a psychopathic killer,‖ Sheriff Earl Robinson said.

News report on November 16, 1959, in The New York

Times. Put funda.

13

Inspired Truman Capote to write ‘In Cold Blood’

Chromolaena odorata is known as Siam Weed, Christmas

Bush, and Common Floss Flower in different parts of the

world. It is used as a traditional medicine in Indonesia for

treating wounds. It is considered an invasive weed and has

been reported to be the most problematic invasive species

within protected rainforests in Africa.

For Malayalees it is an irony that this plant is native to North

America. How do we know it?

14

Communist Pacha

Extract from an entry by X on his blog , titled Not In Defense of Y:

On Thursday night I posted in entry in defense of Y's review of District 9. Overnight I received reader comments causing me to rethink that entry, in particular this eye-popping link supplied by Wes Lawson. I realized I had to withdraw my overall defense of Y. I was not familiar enough with his work. It is baffling to me that a critic could praise ―Transformers 2‖ but not ―Synecdoche, NY.‖ Or ―Death Race‖ but not ―There Will be Blood.‖ I am forced to conclude that Y is, as charged, a troll. A smart and knowing one, but a troll. My defense of his specific review of District 9 still stands.

Link on the next page. X and Y?

15

X – Roger Ebert

Y - Armond White

On the grounds of the United States Military Academy at

West Point, there are 36 plaques commemorating all of the

commanding generals who served in the American

Revolution. One plaque bears no name, but only a rank and a

date (―Major General - born 1741‖).

Who and why?

16

Benedict Arnold

For obvious reasons.

Closed theme – both answers and the theme in writing

Non-exhaustive

10 points for each correct answer

Points for the theme indicated on each slide

-5 throughout

Gösta Mittag-Leffler was a Swedish mathematician active

during the late 19th and early 20th century. He founded the

mathematical journal Acta Mathematica (1882) under King

Oscar's patronage. He also maintained a large mathematical

library in his villa in Stockholm. After his death, his house

and its contents was donated to the Academy of Sciences as

the Mittag-Leffler Institute.

His name is generally associated with an urban legend of the

time. What?

1 +30

___ _________ is a term applied to the historical concept

of relative peace in the Western hemisphere from the mid

19th century and later the Western world after World War II.

The earliest recorded use of the phrase was in 1894. In the

context of the late 20th century, it indicates the military and

economic position of the United States as a super power.

The term is derived from similar concepts proposed to

describe similar periods during the heights of the Roman

empire, the British empire and the Mongol empire.

The term is also referenced in the title of a 2009

documentary on ―the Weaponization of Space.‖ What term?

2 +30

Henry Richardson Labouisse, Jr., an American diplomat and

statesman, was the director of the UNRWA (United Nations

Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near

East) from 1954 to 58 in addition to serving as the US

ambassador to France and Greece. He was the director of

UNICEF from 1965–79 and accepted the Nobel Peace Prize

on its behalf in 1965.

His second marriage to Ève Denise _____ Labouisse, makes

him the 5th person in a unique list. What list?

3 +25

In 2004, at the urging of a local bishop, scientists began

searching for the remains of X at the Frombork Cathedral.

X, who had died nearly 450 years back, had worked as a

canon (a Catholic cleric) at the cathedral. The skull and

bones of a 70-year-old man was discovered, which was the

age at which X died. A reconstruction made by forensic

police based on the skull showed a broken nose and a scar

that resemble a self-portrait of X. DNA tests done with two

strands of hair found in Sweden among his books also

returned a positive verdict. In 2010 he was reburied by Polish

priests as a hero in a Catholic Mass at the same spot in

Frombork Cathedral.

Who?

4 +25

Even though this word‘s use started in 1849, it was officially

accepted only in 1963. The word was probably intended to

refer to the discovery of gold in the region. The original

1849 text explains ―the success of the miner at work‖ as one

of the reasons behind choosing it. In addition to the

meaning of the word, the famous story behind the word also

feature gold.

What word? What is it used as?

5 +20

Russian Standard, an alcohol manufacturer, advertises its

vodka as ―made according to a classical recipe‖ of ______

_________. Their website claims ―At Russian Standard

progress is built upon unshakable insight - chemist ______

_________‘s ground-breaking formula for perfect vodka

distillation. ... _________‘s perfect balance of 40% alcohol

by volume gave Russian vodka a precise formula for what

had been, until then, a process closer to alchemy than

chemistry.‖

Who?

6 +20

A sailor‘s first crossing of the equator is generally

commemorated in navies by an initiation rite. The sailor is

subpoenaed to appear before King _______ and his court

and made to go through some embarrassing ordeal.

After the ceremony, the sailor is presented a certificate duly

signed by _______.

What is the name of the practice? Into whose kingdom are

the sailors being initiated to?

7 +15

The banknotes issued in New Zealand feature 5 people.

They include Sir Edmund Hillary (mountaineer), Kate

Sheppard (women's suffragette activist), Queen Elizabeth II

and Sir Apirana Turupa Ngata (Maori politician).

Who is the fifth?

+15 8

John Lasseter is an animator and director who has worked at

both Disney and Pixar. He has directed several Pixar movies

- Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Cars, and Cars 2 and

is a two time Academy Award winner.

He is also the creator of the most famous versions of an

unnamed mascot whose nickname is ‗beastie‘. The official

home page of the mascot says that he ―is very proud of the

fact that he does not have a name, he is just the ___ ______.

If you insist on a name, call him beastie.‖

What is it a mascot of?

9 +10

The ________ is a unit of measurement for exposure to

ionizing radiation.

1 R is the amount of radiation required to liberate positive

and negative charges of one esu (electrostatic unit of charge)

in one cc (cubic centimeter) of dry air at standard conditions

of temperature and pressure (STP).

Whom is the unit named after?

10 +10

It happened in 1951 on his 72nd birthday. He was returning

from an event in his honour and was not particularly pleased

by the hounding by paparazzi. He reportedly shouted:

―That‘s enough, that‘s enough!‖ However, when these words

didn‘t have any effect, he grew tired of them and did

something which became world famous thanks to Arthur

Sasse. He later described the incident in a communication

with Howard K. Smith thus, ―This gesture you will like,

because it is aimed at all of humanity. A civilian can afford to

do what no diplomat would dare. Your loyal and grateful

listener, _. ________ ‘53.‖

Who? What happened?

11 +5

The name was suggested by Venetia Burney, a 11 years old

girl from Oxford, England. Her grandfather forwarded the

suggestion to the powers that be. The name was

unanimously selected from a shortlist of 3 in 1930.

In 2006, a number was prefixed to the name, as a result of a

vote of 237–157, with 30 abstentions. The verb form of the

name was chosen as 2006‘s Word of the Year by the

American Dialect Society, indicating that it gained new

prominence in the year.

What name?

12 +5

Gösta Mittag-Leffler was a Swedish mathematician active

during the late 19th and early 20th century. He founded the

mathematical journal Acta Mathematica (1882) under King

Oscar's patronage. He also maintained a large mathematical

library in his villa in Stockholm. After his death, his house

and its contents was donated to the Academy of Sciences as

the Mittag-Leffler Institute.

His name is generally associated with an urban legend of the

time. What?

1

No Nobel Prize is awarded for mathematics because a mathematician was carrying on an affair with Alfred Nobel’s wife.

Wrong because of the simple fact that Alfred Nobel remained a bachelor throughout his life.

___ _________ is a term applied to the historical concept

of relative peace in the Western hemisphere from the mid

19th century and later the Western world after World War II.

The earliest recorded use of the phrase was in 1894. In the

context of the late 20th century, it indicates the military and

economic position of the United States as a super power.

The term is derived from similar concepts proposed to

describe similar periods during the heights of the Roman

empire, the British empire and the Mongol empire.

The term is also referenced in the title of a 2009

documentary on ―the Weaponization of Space.‖ What term?

2

Pax Americana

“American Peace”

Henry Richardson Labouisse, Jr., an American diplomat and

statesman, was the director of the UNRWA (United Nations

Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near

East) from 1954 to 58 in addition to serving as the US

ambassador to France and Greece. He was the director of

UNICEF from 1965–79 and accepted the Nobel Peace Prize

on its behalf in 1965.

His second marriage to Ève Denise _____ Labouisse, makes

him the 5th person in a unique list. What list?

3

Nobel recipients of the Curie family

His wife was Ève Curie, Pierre and Marie Curie‘s daughter

In 2004, at the urging of a local bishop, scientists began

searching for the remains of X at the Frombork Cathedral.

X, who had died nearly 450 years back, had worked as a

canon (a Catholic cleric) at the cathedral. The skull and

bones of a 70-year-old man was discovered, which was the

age at which X died. A reconstruction made by forensic

police based on the skull showed a broken nose and a scar

that resemble a self-portrait of X. DNA tests done with two

strands of hair found in Sweden among his books also

returned a positive verdict. In 2010 he was reburied by Polish

priests as a hero in a Catholic Mass at the same spot in

Frombork Cathedral.

Who?

4

Copernicus

Even though this word‘s use started in 1849, it was officially

accepted only in 1963. The word was probably intended to

refer to the discovery of gold in the region. The original

1849 text explains ―the success of the miner at work‖ as one

of the reasons behind choosing it. In addition to the

meaning of the word, the famous story behind the word also

feature gold.

What word? What is it used as?

5

Eureka

State motto of California

Russian Standard, an alcohol manufacturer, advertises its

vodka as ―made according to a classical recipe‖ of ______

_________. Their website claims ―At Russian Standard

progress is built upon unshakable insight - chemist ______

_________‘s ground-breaking formula for perfect vodka

distillation. ... _________‘s perfect balance of 40% alcohol

by volume gave Russian vodka a precise formula for what

had been, until then, a process closer to alchemy than

chemistry.‖

Who?

6

Dmitri Mendeleev

A sailor‘s first crossing of the equator is generally

commemorated in navies by an initiation rite. The sailor is

subpoenaed to appear before King _______ and his court

and made to go through some embarrassing ordeal.

After the ceremony, the sailor is presented a certificate duly

signed by _______.

What is the name of the practice? Into whose kingdom are

the sailors being initiated to?

7

Crossing the Line

Neptune

The banknotes issued in New Zealand feature 5 people.

They include Sir Edmund Hillary (mountaineer), Kate

Sheppard (women's suffragette activist), Queen Elizabeth II

and Sir Apirana Turupa Ngata (Maori politician).

Who is the fifth?

8

Ernest Rutherford

John Lasseter is an animator and director who has worked at

both Disney and Pixar. He has directed several Pixar movies

- Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Cars, and Cars 2 and

is a two time Academy Award winner.

He is also the creator of the most famous versions of an

unnamed mascot whose nickname is ‗beastie‘. The official

home page of the mascot says that he ―is very proud of the

fact that he does not have a name, he is just the ___ ______.

If you insist on a name, call him beastie.‖

What is it a mascot of?

9

BSD daemon

Mascot of BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution)

The ________ is a unit of measurement for exposure to

ionizing radiation.

1 R is the amount of radiation required to liberate positive

and negative charges of one esu (electrostatic unit of charge)

in one cc (cubic centimeter) of dry air at standard conditions

of temperature and pressure (STP).

Whom is the unit named after?

10

Roentgen

After Wilhelm Röntgen

It happened in 1951 on his 72nd birthday. He was returning

from an event in his honour and was not particularly pleased

by the hounding by paparazzi. He reportedly shouted:

―That‘s enough, that‘s enough!‖ However, when these words

didn‘t have any effect, he grew tired of them and did

something which became world famous thanks to Arthur

Sasse. He later described the incident in a communication

with Howard K. Smith thus, ―This gesture you will like,

because it is aimed at all of humanity. A civilian can afford to

do what no diplomat would dare. Your loyal and grateful

listener, _. ________ ‘53.‖

Who? What happened?

11

Albert Einstein

The name was suggested by Venetia Burney, a 11 years old

girl from Oxford, England. Her grandfather forwarded the

suggestion to the powers that be. The name was

unanimously selected from a shortlist of 3 in 1930.

In 2006, a number was prefixed to the name, as a result of a

vote of 237–157, with 30 abstentions. The verb form of the

name was chosen as 2006‘s Word of the Year by the

American Dialect Society, indicating that it gained new

prominence in the year.

What name?

12

Pluto

Transuranic Elements

1. Alfred Nobel => Nobelium

2. America => Americium

3. Curie => Curium

4. Copernicus => Copernicium

5. California => Californium

6. Dmitri Mendeleev => Mendelevium

7. Neptune => Neptunium

8. Ernest Rutherford => Rutherfordium

9. Berkeley => Berkelium

10. Wilhelm Röntgen => Roentgenium

11. Albert Einstein => Einsteinium

12. Pluto => Plutonium