1. "Mama always said lnfinite Rebound was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.“ – Forrest Gump Anti-Clock 17 Questions 15/-0
2. 1. MS Balram (shown in the pic) was a national diver who represented India and diving competitions both home and abroad. He was also India’s national champion in 2003. Based out of Bangalore, his exploits are well known in South India. What was his claim to fame in 2010 ?
3. A. He performed the initial dive sequence in Raavan. Source: Newspapers, media, TV, everywhere
4. 2. Western cuisines traditionally recognized only four distinct tastes—sweet, salty, sour and bitter. In 1908, Tokyo chemist Kikunae Ikeda realized that he was tasting something that did not fall into the four known categories. He identified this constituent as glutamic acid, and named it umami, which means delicious in Japanese. It is today sold in the market by which company?
5. A2. The Ajinomoto Company Monosodium glutamate is a generic product which is often referred by the name of its largest manufacturer – Ajinomoto. Source: Prof. VR Narayanswami’s column on English and words in Mint. A recommended read! http://www.livemint.com/articles/Authors.aspx?author=VR+Narayanaswami&type=wa
6. 3. All we know about it is that it’s a fictional reclusive monster. It has been then adapted in various forms in comic strips, playing cards, computer games, puzzles and other such things. Hunt the _____ was a basic hide and seek puzzle which as adapted as a computer game in the 1970s. ______ is also the name of the information retrieval system at the Univ of Waterloo.
7.
8. A3.Wumpus! God knows how this thing even remotely resembles a lion! For those who don’t get this question, I’m sorry, it’s a comp science thing. Do some research on the Wumpus world problem and then code it in Java in two hours. You will get a A+ in our dept. Utter nonsense! Source: BE lecture on artificial intelligence !
9. 4. Who? He married in 1827, and fathered nine children. But as he was having trouble with creditors, his business suffered. Facing bankruptcy, he sold the shop to his father-in-law and departed for Illinois. It was there that he invented the first commercially successful steel plough in 1837. Name him or the eponymous company.
10. A4. John Deere ! World leader in providing advanced products and services for agriculture, forestry, construction, lawn and turf. Source: Lifted off the net
11. 5. He devised a formula which accounts for the intensity and in turn the destruction caused due to something. The original formula is As the plot is logarithmic, the intensity of damage varies exponentially to the value of the answer. Hence , he once very famously said, "logarithmic plots are a device of the devil“. Who ?
12. A5. Charles Richter and the Richter scale for measuring earthquakes. Source: Just thought of framing a question on the Richter scale
13. 6. Scotland in 1974 Brazil in 1978 England in 1982 Cameron in 1982 Belgium in 1998 These teams have achieved a peculiar distinction at the mentioned WCs. Another team got added to the list in 2010. Which team and what distinction? List is not exhaustive.
14. A6. New Zealand Teams getting eliminated from the WC without losing a single game. Source: Lifted off the net
15. 7. The film? The title is based on a conversation between Sean Connery and his second wife, MichelineRoquebrune. After initially retiring from the role following Diamonds Are Forever he told the press he would not play James Bond again; her response for him was to________. She is credited at the end of the film for her contribution. As a result, it was the first Bond movie to use a non-Ian Fleming originated title.
17. 8. Russian playwright ______ stated that any object introduced in a story must be used later on, else it ought not to feature in the first place. Some quotes attributed to him are – "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.“ "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there."
18. _______ is the literary technique whereby an element is introduced early in the story, but its significance does not become clear until later on. For example, a character may find a mysterious object that eventually becomes crucial to the plot, but at the time the object is found it does not seem to be important.
19. A8. Anton Chekhov and Chekhov’s gun Common examples are - In Slumdog Millionaire as soon as we see the flashback where Jamal mentions he doesn't know the name of the third musketeer, we know that it will be the final question on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Source: Bought a book titled 101 selected short stories of Anton Chekhov. Long live landmark vouchers and people who gift me those vouchers!
20. 9. He became the second Governor General of Madras in 1687 and amassed a fortune in his lifetime, largely through secret contracts with Madras merchants, against the East India Company's directive. After being relieved of his post as Governor, he settled in England. A gentleman named Mather representing a small institution of learning that had been founded as the Collegiate School of Connecticut in 1701 approached him as it needed money for a new building in New Haven, Connecticut.
21. He poured in the illegal wealth that he had earned in Madras and as a result the institution in Connecticut was named after him. Who ?
23. 10. Gideon Gono was awarded “Ignobel” in Mathematics in 2009 "for giving people a simple, everyday way to cope with a wide range of numbers — from very small to very big". What did he do to get this award?
24. A10. He was the Governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank when the country was afflicted with severe inflation causing bread to cost 100000+ in local currency and all that jazz. Source: Lifted off the net
25. 11. Germany lost 0-1 to low ranked Yugoslavia in the Quarter finals of the 1962 World Cup in Chile. Spurred on to avoid such embarrassments in the future and to organize German football, what did the German FA do ?
26. A11. They started the Bundesliga! Source: Daily football related browsing led to this
27. 12. Magnesium sulfate (or magnesium sulphate) is a chemical compound containing magnesium, sulfur and oxygen, with the formula MgSO4 . It is often regarded as the world’s first patented product. It is commonly called as _____, named after the town of _____ in Surrey, England where it was first found.
28. A12. Epsom Salt Source: From a quiz I had attended a couple of years ago
29. 13. It was created by an English bakery Peek Freans in London in 1874 to commemorate the marriage of the Grand Duchess Alexandrovna of Russia to the Duke of Edinburgh. It became popular throughout Europe, particularly in Spain where, following the Spanish Civil War, it became a symbol of Spain's economic recovery after bakeries produced mass quantities to consume a surplus of wheat. It usually has it’s name engraved on the top. What?
30. A13. Marie/Maria Biscuit Source: Was trying to see if Marie is a generic name or a Brand. As many brands have their own Maries.
31. 14. In April 2008, Pizza Hut undertook a huge spoof campaign claiming to open a new set of stores offering a range of ___. The email (and similar advertising on the company's website) stated “_____ so good, we changed our name to ___ Hut!“ The name change was a publicity stunt held in conjunction with April Fools' Day with the company's Dallas headquarters changing its exterior logo to ____ Hut.
34. 15. What? Founded by AbhayCharan De, a graduate from Scottish Church College in Calcutta in 1966, it is currently headed by Madhu Das, an IITB alumnus. It is today a worldwide confederation of more than 400 centres, including 60 farm communities, some aiming for self-sufficiency, 50 schools and 90 restaurants.
35. A15. ISKCON ISKCON is actually an abbreviation for International Society for Krishna Consciousness Source: I was surprised that there wasn’t a question On ISKCON for two years.
36. 16. Who? His followers include AmitabhBachan and VS Naipaul who once said, “I didn’t understand it (his music); but it was very, very soulful, very deep.” Mira Nair compared him to NusratFateh Ali Khan. He spent a year at the FORE school of management (Delhi), and dropped out after an year.
37. A16. Rabbi Shergill Source: I spent most of my time listening to his music while Framing the flag round and the videos. So yeah!
38. 17. An excerpt from a Shakespearean play, HELENA: Yet, I pray you: But with the word the time will bring on summer, When briers shall have leaves as well as thorns, And be as sweet as sharp. We must away; Our wagon is prepared, and time revives us: ______________; still the fine's the crown; Whate'er the course, the end is the renown. This is the first known usage of which famous phrase?
39. A. All’s well that ends well! Thank you for attending! Bouquets, brickbats, used lipsticks and hundred rupee notes can be sent to chinmay@chinmaykamat.com Thanks, again!
