A fun quiz for all those who might seek to get acquainted with interesting trivia and cool things. Very general, very workoutable. We don't think Kolstylz is Koolstylz, so have fun.
4. 1
Connect-
Sandy Koufax, the Hall of Fame pitcher, decided not to pitch Game 1
of the 1965 World Series.
Former LA Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green, similarly, made headlines
in 2001 for sitting out a game for the first time in 415 games.
In 2011, golfer Laetitia Beck declined a request to join the UNC Tar-
Heels Invitational competition.
Boris Gelfand, X’s top chess player, played his game in the
prestigious London Grand Prix Chess Tournament on 25 September
2012, one day earlier.
6. YOM KIPPUR
Also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year in
Judaism. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jewish
people traditionally observe this holy day with an approximately 25-
hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of
the day in synagogue services.
7. 2
Connect-
A brand of cleaner
A character from the Iliad
A Marvel character
A series of web development techniques
A professional football club
10. 3
It consists of a metal ring in the shape of a horseshoe with two
parallel forks which form the frame, and a metal tongue in the
middle, between the forks, fixed to the ring at one end and free to
vibrate at the other. The metal tongue is bent at the free end in a
plane perpendicular to the circular ring so that it can be struck and is
made to vibrate. This bent part is called the trigger.
It is placed on the front teeth, with slightly pouted lips and held
firmly in the hand. It is struck using the index finger of the other
hand to produce sound. Movement of the player’s tongue while
making nasal sounds brings out the beauty of this instrument.
It is used in Rajasthan, in Carnatic music and in Sindh.
What?
13. 4
A diarchy or duumvirate is a form of government characterized by co-
rule, with two people ruling a polity together either lawfully or by
collusion and force.
It has been used historically in the context of the administration of
British India and in the Roman Republic.
Modern-day diarchies include San Marino, whose republic is led by
two captains Regent; Swaziland, where sovereignty rests jointly in the
king and his mother; X, whose princes are the President of France and
the Bishop of Urgell; and Y, whose Constitution affirms its
commitment to a traditional dual government sharing power between
the Druk Gyalpo (‘king’) and the religious authorities led by the Je
Khenpo.
ID X and Y.
16. 5
Jure uxoris is a Latin term referring to a particular legal right.
The term is usually used only in the context of European history, although
the concept can be applied to other cultures as well.
Monarchs jure uxoris in the medieval era include:
Rudolph of France
Phillip I of Navarre
Louis I of Naples
Phillip III of Navarre
Joan I of Castile, who was a claimant to the throne of Portugal
What does “jure uxoris” mean?
18. “BY RIGHT OF (HIS) WIFE”
Title of nobility held by a man because his wife holds it suo jure (in
her own right)
Rudolph of France, wife Emma was daughter of King Robert I of
France
Phillip I of Navarre, who was married to Joan I of Navarre
Louis I of Naples whose wife was Joanna I of Naples
Phillip III of Navarre, who was married to Joan II of Navarre
Joan I of Castile, who was a claimant to the throne of Portugal, by
virtue of his marriage to Beatrice of Portugal
19. 6
The X are a cultural group formed by early German-speaking
immigrants to ____________ and their descendants. Most emigrated to
the U.S from Germany and Switzerland in the 17th and 18th century.
The X maintained numerous religious affiliations, the most numerous
and well-known of which is perhaps Y.
The rules of the Y church, the Ordnung, must be observed by every
member and cover most aspects of day-to-day living, including
prohibitions or limitations on the use of power-line electricity,
telephones, and automobiles, as well as regulations on clothing.
ID X and Y.
22. 7
Known to be one of the longest titles ever in use (even longer than
Khaleesi), whose description follows?
X by the Grace of God, Queen of Castile, Leon, Aragon, of the two
Sicilies, of Jerusalem, of Navarre, of Granada, of Majorca, of Seville, of
Sardinia, of Cordoba, of Corsica, of Murcia, of Menorca, of Jaen, the
Algarves, Algeciras, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, of the East and
West Indies, Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea; Archduchess of
Austria; Duchess of Burgundy, Brabant, Milan and Aspurg; Countess
of Flanders, Tirol and Barcelona; Lady of Biscay and Molina.
25. 8
Whose itinerary is this?
The Island of the Lotus Eaters
The Island of the Cyclopes
The Island of Aeolus
Land of the Laestrygonians
Circe’s Island
The Underworld
The Island of the Sirens
Scylla and Charibdis
The Island of Helios
The Island of Ogygia
Island of the Phaeians
27. ODYSSEUS, ON HIS WAY BACK
HOME TO ITHACA
As told by Homer in the Odyssey
28. 9
During the Anglo Dutch Wars between England and Netherlands in
the 17th Century, the English language gained an array of insults,
such as:
X – person who issues frank, harsh, or severe comments and criticism
to educate, encourage or admonish someone.
Dutch cap – Y
Z – alcohol-induced bravery
Give X, Y and Z.
30. X – DUTCH UNCLE
Y – CONTRACEPTIVE DIAPHRAGM
Z – DUTCH COURAGE
31. 10
“The cartoons you are about to see are products of their time. They
may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were
commonplace in American society. These depictions were false then
and are still false today. While the following does not represent the
WB view of society, these cartoons are being presented as they were
originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as to
claim these prejudices never existed.”
This is a disclaimer that can be seen at the start of the Looney Tunes
Golden Collection DVD box sets.
It was, in fact, necessitated by concern over a specific character who
had been seen by many as depicting an offensive stereotype.
Which character?
34. 11
SPIDES is what may be described as a supermyth, i.e it is a myth that
was originally intended to bust another myth.
The original 32 year old myth was busted on the grounds of an
individual calculation mistake.
However, it was later found out that the mistake was not one of
calculation but had some other basis, as it was repeated in several
successive instances.
SPIDES was ironically perpetrated by the famous myth busting
nutritionist Professor Arnold E. Bender at Queen Elizabeth College.
What is SPIDES?/Put funda.
40. 13
J. K Rowling mentioned in an interview that X were inspired by the
phase of depression that she went through when broke and
homeless, before she became the successful woman we know her as.
She further hints, through Y, as to what kept her going through this
period.
ID X and Y.
43. 14
Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the foremost lab of
NASA for work on inter-planetary travel, discovered a new species of
bacteria on the filters of the International Space Station and named it
Solibacillus _______ to honour a renowned aerospace scientist.
Who?
46. 15
X is a layman’s term for hyper-extensibility of the thumb.
Initially thought to be of two types based on the angle, it was later
found that thumbs can be morphologically described as a continuous
distribution.
It was subsequently decided that all thumbs with angle greater than
or equal to 50 degrees would be classified as X.
Give X.
51. 1
This is the grave of a 19th century gentleman X, who died in 1806,
aged 72. He is buried in the creepy Greyfriars Kirkyard near
Edinburgh, Scotland.
In spite of being the grave of a common (non-famous) person, the
gravestone is now surrounded by a flurry of penned notes, mostly left
by people belonging to a particular fandom, since the name X, and
his burial location, inspired something and someone in fiction.
Who is X?/What did it inspire?
Images on the next slide.
52.
53. 2
At Althorp, the Spencer family estate in Northampshire, England,
you’ll find sprawling acres of green, picturesque views and splendid
architecture. But the most appealing thing about the aristocratic
family’s grounds has been the burial site of X, who died in 1997.
X’s final resting place is said to be on an island in the center of a lake
called Round Oval. No visitor is allowed to set foot on the island.
Once a year, between July and early September, visitors are allowed to
visit the shrine near the island.
Who is X?
Image on the next slide.
54.
55. 3
This legend from Hoboken, New Jersey was buried near Palm Springs,
California, which is more near the place where he spent his entire
career. He was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a pack of
Camel cigarettes, two of his regular companions.
On the gravestone is carved the line “The best is yet to come”.
Whose gravestone is it?
Image on the next slide.
56.
57. 4
This cenotaph marks the original grave of X, who died on October 9,
1849, and lies in Baltimore, Maryland.
Theories as to what caused X’s death include suicide, murder,
cholera, hypoglycemia, rabies, syphilis, influenza among other things.
His body was reburied on November 17, 1875, where he currently
lies.
Who is X?
Image on the next slide.
58.
59. 5
A funeral ceremony took place in Sunset Park Cemetery, Albuquerque,
New Mexico in 2013, which was attended by around 200 people, and
raised around $17000 for charity.
An empty coffin was buried and a tombstone was placed over it.
Relatives of persons buried at Sunset Park expressed some dissent
about this whole affair, and officials agreed to move the headstone to
a nearby shopping mall instead.
Whose tombstone is it?
Image on the next slide.
62. 1
This is the grave of a 19th century gentleman X, who died in 1806,
aged 72. He is buried in the creepy Greyfriars Kirkyard near
Edinburgh, Scotland.
In spite of being the grave of a common (non-famous) person, the
gravestone is now surrounded by a flurry of penned notes, mostly left
by people belonging to a particular fandom, since the name X, and
his burial location, inspired something and someone in fiction.
Who is X?/What did it inspire?
Images on the next slide.
66. 2
At Althorp, the Spencer family estate in Northampshire, England,
you’ll find sprawling acres of green, picturesque views and splendid
architecture. But the most appealing thing about the aristocratic
family’s grounds has been the burial site of X, who died in 1997.
X’s final resting place is said to be on an island in the center of a lake
called Round Oval. No visitor is allowed to set foot on the island.
Once a year, between July and early September, visitors are allowed to
visit the shrine near the island.
Who is X?
Image on the next slide.
70. 3
This legend from Hoboken, New Jersey was buried near Palm Springs,
California, which is more near the place where he spent his entire
career. He was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a pack of
Camel cigarettes, two of his regular companions.
On the gravestone is carved the line “The best is yet to come”.
Whose gravestone is it?
Image on the next slide.
74. 4
This cenotaph marks the original grave of X, who died on October 9,
1849, and lies in Baltimore, Maryland.
Theories as to what caused X’s death include suicide, murder,
cholera, hypoglycemia, rabies, syphilis, influenza among other things.
His body was reburied on November 17, 1875, where he currently
lies.
Who is X?
Image on the next slide.
78. 5
A funeral ceremony took place in Sunset Park Cemetery, Albuquerque,
New Mexico in 2013, which was attended by around 200 people, and
raised around $17000 for charity.
An empty coffin was buried and a tombstone was placed over it.
Relatives of persons buried at Sunset Park expressed some dissent
about this whole affair, and officials agreed to move the headstone to
a nearby shopping mall instead.
Whose tombstone is it?
Image on the next slide.
84. 1
A 19 year old X once met a “huge and terrifying” Hell’s Angel biker at
a pub in England, who sat beside her before discussing his garden
and “how his petunias had been very bad that year.” This biker
became the inspiration for a very popular fictional character Y.
Give X and Y.
87. 2
Pat Hines is an amateur comic artist, who published his first ebook,
“Camp Redblood and The Essential Revenge” recently.
He claimed, “I suck at Photoshop and other programs.” He hence
illustrated his book with the help of a different technique never
before used to illustrate comics, an art he mastered while working
long nights at a hospital reception desk.
What did he use?
Images on the next slide.
91. 3
X is one of the 17,508 islands that make up Indonesia. It has a
surface area of 390 sq. km., and has a population of around 2000.
The people of the island are descendants of former convicts who were
exiled to the island.
In spite of its ‘blink and you’ll miss” presence, it is one of the most
visited places in the region. Reaching X is itself very hectic as one has
to change flights and ferries multiple times to reach there from the
nearest big town in the island of Bali.
What is the reason for its popularity?
Image on the next slide.
95. 4
Disney’s first foray into television animation was “Adventures of X”, a
1985-1991 series that aired on Saturday mornings and featured a
troop of benevolent Xs with magical powers, who help a young
human boy oppose a tyrannical duke looking to seize their potent
magical juice.
In the real world, Xs originated in Germany, and are now found all
over the world. They are usually 2cm long.
What are Xs?
98. 5
During a tournament in Sharjah in 1987, when the Indian team were
on the verge of playing Pakistan, X sauntered into the Indian team
dressing room and told them that if they manage to defeat Pakistan,
every one of them will receive a car from X.
To this, Kapil Dev replied, “Chal bahar chal!”
Who is X?
101. 6
Tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry, a fine jewelry retailer in Japan is known for
creating memorabilia for fans, with a replica of Messi’s left foot, and
a Gundam Robot being their past creations. Recently they have
created a solid 24 karat gold replica of __________, priced at $1.4
million.
It weighs 33 pounds, and was on display at Tanaka Kikinzoku’s outlet
in Tokyo, and went on sale on the 4th of May.
What is this object?
104. 7
One of the world’s most prolific authors, James Patterson has
maintained constant presence in the bestsellers list by relying on a
stable of lesser known co-authors.
However, for a new novel, he is teaming up with a writer, who is far
more famous. The novel, titled “The President is Missing”, which
comes out in June 2018, will represent a rare foray into fiction for this
famous co-author. The novel is described as “A unique amalgam of
intrigue, suspense and behind the scenes global drama that will be
informed by ‘insider’ details.”
The co-author is a prolific saxophone player and ventured into
uncharted territory by playing the sax on “The Arsenio Hall Show” in
June 1992, on his way to becoming what he is most famously known
for.
107. 8
When criminals wounded Barbara Ketch, her brother Dan carried her to a
junkyard. With Barbara’s innocent blood on his hands, Dan touched a
mysterious ______, and became the new X.
The rogue angel Zadkiel convinced Dan to collect the power of the spirits of
vengeance all around the world-including John’s (the old X)-as it turned out
that these spirits came not from demons but angels. However, Zadkiel was
actually using Dan to gather the power for himself so he could launch an
assault in the walls of Heaven itself. Dan and John reunited with the other
spirits of vengeance to topple Zadkiel from his stolen throne.
Thus goes the storyline of a popular Marvel comic, featuring the main
character X. X has been the alter ego of many fictional characters, including
the above mentioned Dan and John.
Give X.
113. 10
This word comes from an Italian word, which is the past participle
form of “to say”.
This word gained steam in the early 20th century with a duplicating
machine produced by X Inc. The company’s logo is a single set of
quotation marks.
It is now used as a shorthand to repeat something that’s already been
said.
Give the word X.
116. 11
According to a conspiracy theory, this TV series is based on a girl
(whose name is unknown to the audience) who suffers from Multiple
Personality Disorder.
Her MPD originated in her early childhood when she was bullied by
her elder brother (whose name is also unknown), who is manifested
in the girl’s hallucinations as X, the main antagonist in the series.
Which TV series? Who is X?
119. 12
Hotel Arbez, in the tiny French village of La Cure, is a 2-star hotel,
owned and managed by a private landowner. Originally used as a
grocery store and a pub, it has now been developed into a hotel.
Mostly used as a stopover place for travelers, it has gained huge
popularity due to a particular reason.
There is a special craze for spending a night in the Honeymoon Suite
of this hotel.
What is the reason for this strange popularity?
Images on the next slide.
122. THE HOTEL IS BISECTED BY THE BORDER
BETWEEN FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND. IN
THE HONEYMOON SUITE, ONE WILL SLEEP
WITH ONE HALF OF THE BODY IN FRANCE,
AND THE OTHER HALF IN SWITZERLAND.
123. 13
Sunburn
Skin Damage from UV rays
Blisters
Sprains, fractures, broken bones
Addiction, behavioral problems
This is a battery of symptoms which can manifest in a person due to
particular activity. The list is non exhaustive, mentioning only the top
5 injuries/conditions.
What activity?
126. 14
Cybele is the only known Phrygian Goddess, and she was accepted by
the Greeks long back as one of their Goddesses, and that’s how the
character spread in the Western civilizations.
The image is of the Cybele fountain, present in a major European city.
Every year, ranging from 0-3 times, a ceremony is held, which
involves a person kissing the face of Cybele.
What is this ceremony? Who is this person?
Images on the next slide.
130. 15
The director of the movie X described the character Y as “Martian-
like…Watching what people did and trying to work out the right way
to behave.”
The actor portraying Y, Z, while watching a David Letterman episode,
saw Tom Cruise, who was the guest in that episode. A strange thing Z
noticed was his “intense friendliness” that had “nothing behind the
eyes”. He thought “Look at that creepy guy. That guy is a goddamn
corpse factory. I just know it. A perfect model for my character”.
Give X, Y and Z.
135. 1
The falcon headed Horus was the God of the Sky in Egyptian
mythology, seen as a protector and a symbol of power, as well as the
God of hunting and war. One of the most enduring symbols of
Egyptian mythology is the ____ of Horus, used as an emblem for
protection and guidance in jewelry and sculpture, as well as painted
onto the bows of ships.
This emblem served as an inspiration for something very famous in
fiction, something which we all are familiar with. What?
136. 2
How are Apollo and Uranus unique in mythology?/What unique
feature connects Apollo and Uranus?
137. 3
Given below is a list of Norse Gods and Goddesses:
Tyr- God of justice
Odin- God of war, wisdom and poetry
Thor- God of protection and thunder
Frigg- Goddess of foreknowledge and wisdom, wife of Odin
These Norse Gods and Goddesses have given rise to something which
we all use in our day to day lives. What?
138. 4
X is a benevolent and auspicious creature in Chinese mythology,
whose graceful flight and magical abilities make it a revered augur of
prosperity.
It is a hybrid of several animals- a tiger’s paws, the eyes of a hare,
the horns of a stag, the scales of a carp and so on.
They are associated with moisture, rain and clouds. Their breath is
said to produce clouds, their swirling flight to generate storms, and
their wrath can bring both floods and drought, depending on their
whim. They are the guardians of weather, the seasons, and even of
the passing of day and night.
What is X?
139. 5
In Egyptian mythology, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys and Set were siblings.
When Nephthys betrayed Set to form an union with Osiris, Set
murdered his brother.
Isis and Nephthys went in search of Osiris’ body, and Isis’ tears of
grief as she searched in vain for her brother and husband, couldn’t
stop. Her grief was rewarded when they found his body, and with the
help of Anubis, they managed to resurrect his body.
This incident is believed to be the reason for an annual occurrence,
because of which, Osiris, in spite of being the God of afterlife, is
worshipped for a completely different thing.
What annual occurrence?
141. 1
The falcon headed Horus was the God of the Sky in Egyptian
mythology, seen as a protector and a symbol of power, as well as the
God of hunting and war. One of the most enduring symbols of
Egyptian mythology is the ____ of Horus, used as an emblem for
protection and guidance in jewelry and sculpture, as well as painted
onto the bows of ships.
This emblem served as an inspiration for something very famous in
fiction, something which we all are familiar with. What?
147. 3
Given below is a list of Norse Gods and Goddesses:
Tyr- God of justice
Odin- God of war, wisdom and poetry
Thor- God of protection and thunder
Frigg- Goddess of foreknowledge and wisdom, wife of Odin
These Norse Gods and Goddesses have given rise to something which
we all use in our day to day lives. What?
149. NAMES OF 4 DAYS OF THE WEEK
Tyr- Tysdagr- Tuesday
Odin- Odinsdagr- Wednesday
Thor- Thorsdagr- Thursday
Frigg- Frjadagr- Friday
150. 4
X is a benevolent and auspicious creature in Chinese mythology,
whose graceful flight and magical abilities make it a revered augur of
prosperity.
It is a hybrid of several animals- a tiger’s paws, the eyes of a hare,
the horns of a stag, the scales of a carp and so on.
They are associated with moisture, rain and clouds. Their breath is
said to produce clouds, their swirling flight to generate storms, and
their wrath can bring both floods and drought, depending on their
whim. They are the guardians of weather, the seasons, and even of
the passing of day and night.
What is X?
153. 5
In Egyptian mythology, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys and Set were siblings.
When Nephthys betrayed Set to form an union with Osiris, Set
murdered his brother.
Isis and Nephthys went in search of Osiris’ body, and Isis’ tears of
grief as she searched in vain for her brother and husband, couldn’t
stop. Her grief was rewarded when they found his body, and with the
help of Anubis, they managed to resurrect his body.
This incident is believed to be the reason for an annual occurrence,
because of which, Osiris, in spite of being the God of afterlife, is
worshipped for a completely different thing.
What annual occurrence?
155. FLOODING OF THE NILE
It is believed that the tears of Isis cause the flooding of the Nile each
year, and hence, Osiris is worshipped for bringing life and fertility to
the region.
158. 1
San Pedro is the largest of its kind in Bolivia. About 6000 people
reside here in 8 hierarchically divided housing sections.
There are high end apartments with kitchens, private bathrooms,
Cable TV to single rooms accommodating 5 people. Hospitals, hotels,
churches and large labs producing cocaine are a common feature
here.
The state supplies their basic day to day needs, and they are led by
elected leaders. The primary source of income is from sale of cocaine
base to tourists and renting accommodations.
A few years ago, it also featured in ‘Lonely Planet’ as ‘World’s
weirdest tourist attraction’.
Give Funda.
162. 2
When Richard Dawkins coined this word in his 1976 book ‘The Selfish
Gene’, he wanted a word that conveyed the way in which ideas and
behavior spread within society by non-genetic means.
“The new soup is the soup of human culture. We need a name for the
new replicator, a noun which conveys the idea of a unit of cultural
transmission, or a unit of imitation. ‘______’ comes from a suitable
Greek root but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like ‘gene’.”
Examples of X are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways
of making pots or building arches.
Give X.
165. 3
Silbo Gomero, is a method of communication in which the Spanish
language is replaced by two ________ vowels and four consonants.
It is perfectly suited to the landscape of deep valleys and steep
ravines in which it is used, and has the ability to travel up to two
miles, with less effort than shouting.
It was primarily used as a method of resistance during the Civil War
as well as under Franco’s dictatorship.
Since then steps to revitalize the language has been taken and it is
thriving once more, particularly among young people. It has been
compulsory in schools for some years now and there is a growing
population of new speakers.
How do they communicate?
168. 4
Carlos Bilardo had forbidden his midfielders to celebrate goals in
order to save energy.
On the TV pictures you can still see them looking awkward and
confused as ______ screams behind his hand to get over there and
hug him like it’s all normal and fine.
_______ later recalled in celebratory passage that, as he ran off
punching into the air, he was also frantically hissing under his breath,
pleading with his team-mates to come and mob him.
What occasion?
171. 5
One of the most popular quotes attributed to Newton – “If I have seen
further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” might actually have
been a passive-aggressive swipe at X.
The quote comes from a 1967 letter to X, at a point when the pair were
already arguing over proper credit for some work in optics.
X was described as a very short, even hunchbacked, and one theory is
that Newton’s mention of giants was his way of saying X had no
influence on his work.
X was an English polymath, often called ‘England’s Leonardo’. His
microscopic analysis of petrified wood led him to conclude that these
and other fossils were in fact remains of living beings.
He was the first scientist to suggest that air is made up of small
particles separated by relatively large distances, and also put forward
the idea that matter expands when heated. X was also the first one
come up with the idea of the inverse square law for gravity.
Give X.
174. 6
In January 1913, a man with a dark complexion and a large peasant’s
moustache disembarked from the Krakow train at Vienna’s North
terminal station carrying a basic wooden suitcase.
His passport bore the name Stravos Papadopoulos, and the person he
had come to meet wrote years later, “ I was sitting at a table when the
door opened with a knock and an unknown man entered. He was
short, thin, his grayish-brown skin covered in pockmarks. I saw
nothing in his eyes that resembled friendliness.”
The writer of the above lines was a dissident Russian intellectual,
editor of the radical newspaper ‘Pravda’.
Who is describing whom?
Bonus : Another 24-year-old from Austria whose dreams of studying
painting at the Vienna Academy of fine arts had been twice dashed,
spent his time painting many views of the Opera House. Who?
177. 7
A pharmacist who fought in the American Civil War as a soldier of the
Confederate Army sustained a near-fatal sabre wound to the chest and had
to use Morphine as a pain killer for an extensive period of time. He soon
developed a crippling Morphine addiction.
To develop a cure he started experimenting with various plants, and in
1866 developed an alcoholic drink advertised as a painkiller, an anti-
depressant and aphrodisiac and gained considerable popularity.
However, in 1886 Atlanta County prohibited residents from producing,
buying or selling alcohol. This affected his enterprise and he was forced to
turn his drink into a non-alcoholic beverage. They initially intended to
advertise the drink as a medicine but finally decided to advertise it as
refreshing soda.
The drink did not cure his morphine addiction and he died of stomach
cancer in 1888, terminally ill and penniless, not witnessing the immense
popularity of the drink.
What is this beverage?
180. 8
Satyajit Ray met fellow sci-fi author X for the first time on the sets of _______,
which was a movie adaptation of X’s story ‘The Sentinel’.
The subject of conversation turned to Ray’s desire to make a sci-fi film. He
outlined a story to X, in which an alien visits Earth, but isn’t hostile, antagonistic
or intent on conquering.
X introduced Ray to a common friend Mike Wilson and Ray set about writing a
story for ‘The Alien’, centering around a humanoid alien who lands its spaceship
in a lotus pond in a village in Bengal.
Columbia Pictures agreed to back the movie and Peter Sellers, Steve McQueen and
Marlon Brando were a few keen to be a part of it.
But somewhere down the line a whole stack of copies of the script of Alien were
mimeographed and were in circulation in Hollywood and the project was put on
the back-burner.
Then in 1982, Y released and Ray finally gave up any hope of ever making ‘The
Alien’. Martin Scorsese said in an Interview in 2010, “ I have no qualms in
admitting Y was influenced by Ray’s Alien.”
183. 9
Annie Leibovitz on her 1980 photograph:
“I sometimes think of that photo as 10 years in the making. I met
them in New York in the early part of my career. It was 1980 and the
cover of Double Fantasy had both of them kissing. And I was so
moved by the kiss. So, for the photo I wanted to take, I imagined them
some how together with their clothes off. But at the last moment ____
changed her mind. So, we went ahead with the picture and it was a
striking picture of X clothed against a naked Y. And later that
afternoon _____, and it is an excellent example of how circumstances
change a picture.
What happened that afternoon?
186. 10
Ken Kasey was a muse of the hippie strand of the cultural tapestry. After
graduating from the University of Oregon, he went to the bay area in 1958
as a graduate student in Stanford’s creative writing program.
While there, he worked the overnight shift at a mental hospital and signed
up to be a guinea pig in a CIA-funded series of experiments, which he ended
up liking very much.
The combustible combination of creative writing, ______ and working as an
orderly in an asylum led to his first novel.
He used the proceeds from his book to form a commune of hippies, ‘The
Merry Pranksters’. Tom Wolfe tried to recapture the technodelic essence of
the Merry Pranksters and their psychedelic symphony in his seminal work of
New Journalism, The Electric Kool-Acid Test.
What were the CIA experiments about?
Give the book by Ken Kasey.
189. 11
February 22, 1950 edition of the El Paso Herald-Post.
There is a bloke on the train. He sees a package, and asked what it is. Man
says it’s a ________. Other man asks, what is a _______? Other cove says it is
an apparatus for trapping lions in the Adirondacks. ‘But there are no lions in
the Adirondacks,’ other bloke says. Then this is no _______, second lad says.
According to some, the concept dates back to Homer’s Iliad, almost 3000
years ago, where the ______ was the Helen of Troy and her great beauty.
Angus MacPhail, a scenario editor is often credited with bringing this into
popular use in the 1930-40s.
While a few directors believe it doesn’t matter what it does, George Lucas in
particular felt that it should be well defined and something the audience
should care about.
What concept/idea?
192. 12
10 pm in the Madrid neighbourhood of La Latina, one of the city’s
oldest areas, and the cobbled streets thrum with people enjoying
plates of ‘gambas al ajilio’(garlic prawns) and ‘cocido Madrileno’
(chickpea and pork stew).
Restaurants are bustling at an hour when, in most other countries,
chefs would be hanging up their aprons for the night.
While travelers might attribute Spain’s late mealtimes to the country’s
laidback Mediterranean attitude, the real reason is a little more
peculiar.
Give the real reason.
195. SPANIARDS ARE LIVING IN THE
WRONG TIME ZONE
Spain is along the same longitude as UK and should be in GMT, but it
goes by the Central European Time.
In 1940, General Franco changed Spain’s time zone moving the
clocks one hour forward in solidarity with Nazi Germany, and the
clocks were never changed back, bestowing them with gloriously long
summer evenings and 10pm sunsets.
196. 13
__X__, __Y__ and ___Z___ are the earliest forms of written
communication.
X is a term used by the early Greeks to describe the Egyptian system
of writing. Ancient Egyptians are best known for writing them on
papyrus.
Y on the other hand are pictures carved onto the surface of rock such
as sandstone and basalt. Because they are carved, they are more
permanent and last longer than X.
Z are also referred to as Intaglios. They are large scale ground
drawings generally constructed with stones, stone fragments, gravel
or earth.
Give X,Y and Z.
199. 14
In the 1970s, science fiction films weren’t very popular. 1968’s 2001:
A Space Odyssey led the way for the genre, but made just $56
million at the box-office.
So when a young director was trying to sell a script based on ‘Flash
Gordon’ space serials not many studios were eager. The film finally
received backing by 20th Century Fox, because of the success of the
director’s previous venture.
So he decided to visit a friend shooting his own sci-fi movie in
Alabama. After spending a couple of days on set, he said “ Oh my
god, your movie is going to be so much more successful than mine.
This is gonna be the biggest hit of all time. I can’t believe this set. I
can’t believe what you are getting.”
His friend replied, “ All right! I’ll tell you what, I’ll trade some points
with you. I’ll give you 2.5% of _____, if you give me 2.5% of _______.”
And surely they gambled to that.
His friend’s gamble paid off and he made nearly $40 million on the
202. 15
Mary Anning and her family had a rather unusual way of earning a living
which involved digging up fossils and selling them to people who visited the
coast as curios.
Anning and her brother mastered the art of recognizing, collecting, labelling
and cataloguing the fossils and remains at a very young age. They unearthed
their findings out of the Jurassic coast along the southern-most edge of
England.
When she was just 12, she and her brother unearthed the skeleton of a four
foot Ichthyosaur, getting worldwide attention. She also unearthed fossils of
Plesiosaurs and Pterosaurs which brought clear evidence of the process of
extinction. All this was years before Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Annie died of cancer at 47. Charles Dickens praised her in a wandering
tribute, 18 years later.
Terry Sullivan first recorded _______ about her life in 1908, which ended up