1. Life, the Universe and Everything
The General Open Quiz
Ze Finals

2.  6 Rounds
 Round 1 – Write Bros – 8 questions
Round 2 – Clockwise Dry – 16 questions
Round 3 – List-It
Round 4 – Anticlockwise Dry – 16 questions
Round 5 – Theme
Round 6 – Differential Scoring

5.  Write Bros
 Topic – Rivers
 8 questions
 5 points per correct answer
 Bonus of 10 for getting all 8

6.  The two closest capital cities in the world are both located on
the opposite banks of a lake-like widening (known as Malebo
Pool) in lower reaches of a river.
 Name both cities and the river.

7.  What connects the following songs?
- Turn! Turn! Turn! By Pete Seeger/The Byrds
- 40 by U2
- The Lord’s Prayer by Janet Mead
- A George Frederic Handel composition that was played
at the opening of the Camp Nou in Barcelona in 1957
(and coincidentally, is a nickname of a current player)
 Which 1970 The Melodians’ song made famous by a 1978
cover version (by another band) can one add to this list?

8.  This island has a name that can be translated as "Island of
the Bowl" or "Island of the Big Bowl". It has about 4,000
inhabitants, is 2 km long and nearly 200 m wide at its widest
point.
 The island is most famous as the setting of a 1884 work of
art.
 Identify the island/work of art.
 Image in the next slide.

10.  “The last film that director Kapoor completed before his death in 1988 became
a smash hit that heartily reconfirmed, after several lukewarm releases, his
cherished epithet of ‘the Great Showman.’ It is an ingenious and epic-scale
allegory that synthesizes classical and mythic narrative, soft-core political and
social commentary (here condemning the corruption of politicians and
capitalists and championing the nascent environmental initiatives of Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi), and audacious display of the female self. Broadly
speaking, the narrative recapitulates the Shakuntala story—that first
appeared in the epic Mahabharata in the 3rd or 2nd century BC and then was
reworked, some 600 years later, by the poet Kalidasa into the most famous of
all Sanskrit dramas.”
 Excerpt from a study by Prof. Philip Lutgendorf of the University of Iowa.
 What is the subject of discussion here?

11.  Rio da Duvida (“River of Doubt”), then one of the most
unexplored and intimidating tributaries of the Amazon, was
renamed after X, once he traced its origin and course in a 1913-
14 expedition.
 This was the first non Amazonian-native party venture of its
kind, during which X fell ill from tropical fever and flesh
wounds (that worsened due to a bullet lodged in his chest from
a failed assassination attempt in 1912 that was never
removed). He soldiered on and completed the mission.
 Identify X, also the former holder of the Guinness World
Record for shaking hands (8,513 handshakes in 1907), a record
that was later broken in 1977.

12.  This location with over 3,000 inhabitants, had not received
the requisite maintenance for over the 30 years. Finally
someone was tasked for the same, with the promise of a
tenth of the inhabitants as a gift. The task was considered
virtually impossible, but it was accomplished easily with the
waters of the rivers Alpheus and Pineios.
 However, the agreement was not honored and eventually
resulted in the death of the person who wanted it done.
 What location? Also, according to one of the versions, what
did the person who accomplished the task do in order to
celebrate the same?

13.  Pictured is an amphitheater in the Bulfinch Building at the
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The location is
most famous for (and named after) a 16 Oct 1846 event, the
first of its kind, featuring one Mr. William T Morton and his
client Edward G Abbott. The event involved Morton
demonstrating the benefits of a product he called Letheon
(named after River Lethe, one of the five rivers of the
underworld, the name itself meaning “forgetfulness”). The
demonstration had Abbott reportedly saying - “Feels as if my
neck's been scratched”.
 What was the demonstration about? What was this product?

15.  “At that moment I knew, surely and clearly, that I was
witnessing perfection. He stood before us, suspended above the
earth, free from all its laws like a work of art, and I knew, just as
surely and clearly, that life is not a work of art, and that the
moment could not last.”
 These lines can be found at a location X. The quote is from the
film version of a semi-autobiographical work Y by Norman
Maclean that went on to win the 1993 Academy Award for
Best Cinematography and was nominated for two other
Oscars. The book and the movie, set around the Blackfoot
river, were also instrumental in popularizing the sport of fly
fishing.
 Solve for X and Y.

17.  The two closest capital cities in the world are both located on
the opposite banks of a lake-like widening (known as Malebo
Pool) in lower reaches of a river.
 Name both cities and the river.

19.  What connects the following songs?
- Turn! Turn! Turn! By Pete Seeger/The Byrds
- 40 by U2
- The Lord’s Prayer by Janet Mead
- A George Frederic Handel composition that was played
at the opening of the Camp Nou in Barcelona in 1957
(and coincidentally, is a nickname of a current player)
 Which 1970 The Melodians’ song made famous by a 1978
cover version (by another band) can one add to this list?

20.  Turn! Turn! Turn! – The Book of
Ecclesiastes
 40 – Psalm 40
 The Lord’s Prayer - Matthew 6,
verse 9-13
 Handel’s Messiah – Book of
Common Prayer
 Rivers of Babylon – Psalms 137:1-4
and 19:14

21.  This island has a name that can be translated as "Island of
the Bowl" or "Island of the Big Bowl". It has about 4,000
inhabitants, is 2 km long and nearly 200 m wide at its widest
point.
 The island is most famous as the setting of a 1884 work of
art.
 Identify the island/work of art.
 Image in the next slide.

24.  “The last film that director Kapoor completed before his death in 1988 became
a smash hit that heartily reconfirmed, after several lukewarm releases, his
cherished epithet of ‘the Great Showman.’ It is an ingenious and epic-scale
allegory that synthesizes classical and mythic narrative, soft-core political and
social commentary (here condemning the corruption of politicians and
capitalists and championing the nascent environmental initiatives of Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi), and audacious display of the female self. Broadly
speaking, the narrative recapitulates the Shakuntala story—that first
appeared in the epic Mahabharata in the 3rd or 2nd century BC and then was
reworked, some 600 years later, by the poet Kalidasa into the most famous of
all Sanskrit dramas.”
 Excerpt from a study by Prof. Philip Lutgendorf of the University of Iowa.
 What is the subject of discussion here?

26.  Rio da Duvida (“River of Doubt”), then one of the most
unexplored and intimidating tributaries of the Amazon, was
renamed after X, once he traced its origin and course in a 1913-
14 expedition.
 This was the first non Amazonian-native party venture of its
kind, during which X fell ill from tropical fever and flesh
wounds (that worsened due to a bullet lodged in his chest from
a failed assassination attempt in 1912 that was never
removed). He soldiered on and completed the mission.
 Identify X, also the former holder of the Guinness World
Record for shaking hands (8,513 handshakes in 1907), a record
that was later broken in 1977.

28.  This location with over 3,000 inhabitants, had not received
the requisite maintenance for over the 30 years. Finally
someone was tasked for the same, with the promise of a
tenth of the inhabitants as a gift. The task was considered
virtually impossible, but it was accomplished easily with the
waters of the rivers Alpheus and Pineios.
 However, the agreement was not honored and eventually
resulted in the death of the person who wanted it done.
 What location? Also, according to one of the versions, what
did the person who accomplished the task do in order to
celebrate the same?

30.  Pictured is an amphitheater in the Bulfinch Building at the
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The location is
most famous for(and named after) a 16 Oct 1846 event, the
first of its kind, featuring one Mr. William T Morton and his
client Edward G Abbott. The event involved Morton
demonstrating the benefits of a product he called Letheon
(named after River Lethe, one of the five rivers of the
underworld, the name itself meaning “forgetfulness”). The
demonstration had Abbott reportedly saying - “Feels as if my
neck's been scratched”.
 What was the demonstration about? What was this product?

33.  “At that moment I knew, surely and clearly, that I was
witnessing perfection. He stood before us, suspended above the
earth, free from all its laws like a work of art, and I knew, just as
surely and clearly, that life is not a work of art, and that the
moment could not last.”
 These lines can be found at a location X. The quote is from the
film version of a semi-autobiographical work Y by Norman
Maclean that went on to win the 1993 Academy Award for
Best Cinematography and was nominated for two other
Oscars. The book and the movie, set around the Blackfoot
river, were also instrumental in popularizing the sport of fly
fishing.
 Solve for X and Y.

35.  Dry Round
 16 questions
 Infinite Pounce
 +10 on the bounce
 +10, -5 on the pounce

36.  It is the general term given to a facilitation exercise intended
to help a group to begin the process of forming themselves
into a team.
 This term is also applied to a group of sailing vessels with a
specific capability, for e.g. NS Arktika, the first surface ship to
reach the North Pole, on August 17, 1977.
 What term?

39.  This annual observance begins with its traditional Palo jabon
(literally, ham-stick) that involves a greased wooden pole two
stories high topped with a delicious-looking ham. One brave
soul must climb the slick stick and retrieve the ham in order
for the events to officially begin.
 Which observance, that leaves its venue cleaner than before,
thanks to high acidity levels as per one hypothesis?

42.  By the maps that got published as a result, X became at the
same time a teacher, in printing a map of the contours of the
country - which was rare at least until the Great War - and
populist in portraying the country as a hexagon, a country not
only amputated from 1903 of its "lost provinces" but also its
overseas possessions like the island of _________, never
visited in a century and still missing from maps of the X.
 From a book by academic historians Jean-Luc Boeuf and Yves
Leonard who credited X with teaching the natives about the
geography of the nation.
 Identify X.

45.  Screenwriter Barry Morrow met with X in 1984. Drawing
inspiration from this, he went on to write a script that won
him an Oscar. This resulted in new-found fame for X, who
was requested media-appearances. Barry Morrow gave X his
Oscar statuette to carry around and show at these
appearances. It has since been referred to as the "Most Loved
Oscar Statue" as it has been held by more people than any
other.
 Who is X?

48.  Usually, one of the members of an execution firing squad is
issued with something known as the ‘conscience round’. No
member of the firing squad is told beforehand if he is using
this particular round or not.
 What is the specialty of this round? Why is it issued?

51.  This self-made businessman was the finance minister of Italy
from 1925-28. He negotiated and won huge concessions
from the U.S. and Great Britain in funding the Italian debts
after WW I. He was also instrumental in the stabilization of
the value of the Lira.
 He was forced to resign by Mussolini, but went on establish
something, that honors his memory, at the 11-km long
sandbar pictured, every year.
 What did he establish? Which location? How is his memory
kept alive?

55.  Studying in a Yeshiva allows for postponement up to 6
months. This can be extended for as long as the person is
studying, in installments of 6 months. This has been a
subject of much argument between the secular group and
the students, with demonstrations asking for involvement of
the student communities to share the burden. The 64 year
old exemption came to an end on 1 Aug 2012 and, as
expected, stirred up a hornet’s nest.
 What are we talking about?

58.  It looked like a giant, golden cotton bud and Andrew Strauss
didn’t really know what to do with it. He decided on a sly peck
on the baubled end, not a confident smacker but the kind of shy,
uncertain kiss that a schoolboy might try to sneak in behind the
bike shed during the first rousing of adolescence. For the first
time in the series, the England captain was unsure of himself.
 So wrote Mike Atherton on his website in Aug 2011.
 What is the ‘giant, golden cotton bud’ he’s speaking of?

61.  It was the result of a 1931 idea that was compared to
something similar, leading to the replacement of individual
units with ‘Bakelite’, ‘Amp’ etc. The creator was paid 5 guineas
for his idea and was employed on an annual contract till 1960.
The idea was pipped by a nose (by the Concorde) to the
second spot in ‘the favorite design of the last century’
competition.
 What was this idea? Also, connect it to the character pictured.
 Image in the next slide.

65.  For most of his later political career (1940-45), he lived in a
mansion that, ironically, he called “Gimle”, after the place in
Norse mythology where survivors of the great battle of
Ragnarok were to live.
 An April 1940 The Times article ensured that his name would
forever be discussed in quizzing circles.
 Who?
 Image in the next slide.

69.  The X were one of the four major ethnic groups into which
the Greeks of the ancient period considered themselves
divided (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans and Ionians).
 The X were the last tribe to migrate to Greece, and they are
described as real he-men with a very masculine culture. It is
regarded that homosexuality entered Greek culture with the
arrival of the X. There was even a battalion of homosexual
lovers called the Sacred Band in the city of Thebes.
 This homosexual aspect is also referenced in the name of a
character in a 1890 publication.
 Name the tribe/character.

72.  Considered unglamorous and mocked, it is a culinary practice
engaged in by a small subculture in the United States,
Southern Canada, the United Kingdom and a few other
Western countries. Many practitioners encourage it citing the
freshness, organic, and free nature of the meat involved. The
practice is even encouraged by PETA who call it ‘Meat Without
Murder’. There are even several cafes devoted to this practice
in existence.
 What are we talking about?
 Image in the next slide.

76.  A 1994 special edition of Der Spiegel commissioned 5 different
extrapolations to IT using Germany's best screenwriters. One of them,
by famous screenwriter Christof Schlingensief, even turned the scene
into a chainsaw massacre.
 The beginning of one of the extrapolations, by Jürgen Egger :
“The bar is filled sparse. The bartender has to supply only three guests: a
loner and a pair. The keeper seems to know the couple, he has just told
them a little joke. They chuckle about it.
LONER (VOICEOVER): Damn shit. Here I am again in this goddamn bar
and knocking back a gimlet after another into me. As always.
 So, what is IT?

79.  X is the art of making wooden staved vessels (casks, barrels,
buckets, tubs) bound together with hoops and possessing flat
ends or heads.
 Which sporting venue in India, home to two teams taking part
in the national league for the sport, is named after the art?

82.  Pictured is a Turkish steam bath, combining the functional
and structural aspects of Anatolian, Roman and central Asian
baths. A session here starts with relaxation in the warm room
allowing the bather to perspire freely. Bathers may then
move to the hot room, perform a full body wash, receive a
massage and finally retire to the cooling-room.
 How are these baths connected to the world of Indian
business?
 Image in the next slide.

86.  Samuel Purchas was a 15-16th century English cleric who
published several volumes travelogues.
 One of his famous works was Purchas, his Pilgrimage, or
Relations of the World and Religions Observed in All Ages and
Places Discovered, from the Creation to the Present, first
written in 1613. The book, among other things, contained
writings based on Marco Polo’s 13th century travels.
 A slight indisposition that lead to the prescription of an
anodyne resulted in the events that made this book famous.
Explain.

88. The point where he slept off read thus: “In Xanadu did Cublai Can build a stately palace,
encompassing sixteen miles of plain ground with a wall, wherein are fertile meadows,
pleasant springs, delightful streams, and all sorts of beasts of chase and game, and in the
middest thereof a sumptuous house of pleasure.”

89.  List-It
 There have been 26 recipients of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna
Award till date. Name all.
 2 points per correct answer. Bonus of 8 points for getting all
26.
 Total of 60 points.

91.  1991-92 – Vishwanathan Anand
 1992-93 – Geet Sethi
 1994-95 – Cdr Homi D Motivala
Lt Cdr PK Garg
 1995-96 – Karnam Malleswari
 1996-97 – Kunjarani Devi
Leander Paes
 1997-98 – Sachin Tendulkar
 1998-99 – Jyotirmoyee Sikdar
 1999-00 – Dhanraj Pillay
 2000-01 – P Gopichand
 2001-02 – Abhinav Bindra

92.  2002-03 – Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat
KM Beenamol
 2003-04 – Anju Bobby George
 2004-05 – Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
 2005-06 – Pankaj Advani
 2006-07 – Manavjit Singh Sandhu
 2007-08 – Mahendra Singh Dhoni
 2008-09 – MC Mary Kom
Vijender Singh
Sushil Kumar
 2009-10 – Saina Nehwal
 2010-11 – Gagan Narang
 2011-12 – Sub Maj Vijay Kumar
Yogeshwar Dutt

93.  Dry Round
 16 questions
 Infinite Pounce
 +10 on the Bounce
 +10, -5 on the Pounce

94.  Once an essential accessory for men, they were originally intended to help
Persian soldiers secure their stance to shoot the bow and arrow effectively.
 They were adopted by the European aristocracy as a result of the diplomatic
missions of Persia's Shah Abbas I, aimed at forging links with Western
Europe to help him defeat his great enemy, the Ottoman Empire. They were
especially popular with Louis XIV, who used them to hide his shortcomings.
 However, with the advent of the Enlightenment movement and the Great
Male Renunciation, they totally fell out of favour after the French
Revolution. They were re-adopted by pornographers in the early and mid
20th century, and it is this association with pornography that is believed to
have led to their re-acceptance by the public, this time by women.
 What are we talking about?

97.  This subject in religious art features three men dipping their
fingers in a vat of ____________ and tasting it.
 One man reacts with a sour expression, one reacts with a
bitter expression, and one reacts with a sweet expression.
Each man's expression represents the predominant attitude
of what they represent. X saw life as sour, in need of rules to
correct the degeneration of people; Y saw life as bitter,
dominated by pain and suffering; and Z saw life as
fundamentally good in its natural state.
 What are we talking about? OR FITB. Also identify X, Y and Z.

99. X – Confucianism
Y – Buddhism
Z – Taoism

100.  They have traditionally been viewed as a symbol of Germany
and this is referenced in their usage by cartoonists to ridicule
Germany. During World War I, their popularity plummeted
because of this association and they were prefixed with the
word liberty (by their owners similar to "liberty cabbage"
becoming a term for sauerkraut).
 This association with Germany also contributed to a first-of-
a-kind representation in the early 1970s.
 What are we talking about? Also identify the particular
representation in question.

103.  Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy features a person named
Sinon in the Tenth Bolgia of the 8th Circle of Hell where along
with many others, he is condemned to suffer a burning fever
for all eternity.
 Sinon’s fault was that he was the only person who
volunteered to deal with a product of 3 days’ work, a fact
that is referenced primarily in Virgil’s Aeneid (and not in the
expected source).
 So, what exactly did Sinon do? OR What was this product?

106.  A part of 11% of the total material and aimed at making
visibility easier and simpler, they’ve been around for half a
decade, the first one signifying an open-to-the-public
alternative to Foo Camp, which is an annual invitation-only
participant-driven conference hosted by Tim O'Reilly.
 They made their mark locally thanks to the October 2007
California wildfires and internationally as a result of Green
Revolution.
 What are we talking about?

109.  They were symbolic of the good relationship and
cooperation between USA and Japan and had been awarded
to Mr. Daniel J. Quigley, Mr. John D. Laurey, Mr. H. Vormstein
and Lt. Stephen Jurkis among others. They were, however,
returned in small pieces to their donors in Tokyo by Lt. Ted
Lawson at noon on April 18, 1942.
 What are we talking about? How were they returned?

112.  “They used to tank cod from Alaska all the way to China. They’d
keep them in vats in the ship. By the time the cod reached China,
the flesh was mush and tasteless. So this guy came up with the
idea that if you put these cods in these big vats, put some
___________ in with them and the __________ will keep the cod
agile. And there are those people who are ___________ in life.
And they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing, they
keep you thinking, they keep you fresh. And I thank god for the
_________ because we would be droll, boring and dull if we
didn't have somebody nipping at our fin.”
 Explanation given in a 2010 documentary about the origin of
the name of the documentary. Why/How has this term now
entered common parlance recently?

115.  The Burr–Hamilton duel, one of the most famous personal conflicts in
American history, was a duel between two prominent American
politicians, the former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton
and sitting Vice President Aaron Burr, on July 11, 1804. It was the
culmination of long-standing political and personal bitterness that had
developed between the two men over the course of several years.
Tensions reached a bursting point with Hamilton's journalistic
defamation of Burr's character during the 1804 New York gubernatorial
race in which Burr was a candidate. In the duel in New Jersey, Burr shot
and mortally wounded Hamilton, who passed away the next day.
 How is this incident the first-in-line in a project that traces its origins
back to 1993?
 Image of the (loading) homepage of the project in the next slide.

118. Video removed
Link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLSsswr6z9Y

120. A phrase derived from the lines shown in the picture is used to
describe a ‘penalty’ of sorts in a sport.
What phrase? What is the sporting connection?

123.  The actual number of victories required to officially qualify as
a X has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more.
 The man pictured, Y, is the first ever X and Medal of Honor
recipient of the US in World War II. His heroics resulted in
something named ‘Orchard Field’ being renamed after him.
 Y had a famous father, whose claim to fame is all thanks to
his legal and business collaborations with a client that he
met in the 1920s.
 Identify X and Y. What is Y’s father’s claim to fame?
 Image in the next slide.

127.  The Burke and Hare murders were a series of murders
perpetrated in Edinburgh over a period of ten months in 1828.
From their method of killing their victims came the word
"burking", meaning to smother and compress the chest of a
victim, and a derived meaning, to suppress something quietly.
 These murders are the subject of extensive media portrayals and
popular culture because of the way the bodies were disposed
off, with the help of an accomplice (of sorts) named Robert
Knox.
 So, what was their modus operandi?

129. Up the close and down the stair,
In the house with Burke and Hare.
Burke's the butcher, Hare's the thief,
Knox the boy who buys the beef.

130.  The flehmen reaction is a physiological gesture seen in many
mammals, with the purpose of facilitating the transfer of
pheromones and other scents into the vomeronasal organ
located in the roof of the mouth.
 It is primarily an olfactory mechanism for identifying the
reproductive state of females of the same species based on
pheromones in the female's urine or genitals.
 This phenomenon is offered as the explanation for the
specific appearance of something that had its first popular
appearance in the mid 1860s. What?

133.  This is the St. Mary Magdalene Church in Pallithura, a fishing
Hamlet in Kerala.
 Sometime in the early 1960s, the church building was taken
over by a group of people. The bishop's house was converted
into the principal working area. The cattle shed nearby
became the breeding ground for the first ever outputs by
these people. A permanent handing-over ceremony of the
building and adjacent land took place in 1963, with the
erstwhile church building today serving the role of a museum.
 What today exists here? Image in the next slide.

137.  Prayag Raj, the son of eminent poet Ram Das 'Azad', is a veteran
Bollywood personality who’s made his mark as an actor, writer,
lyricist, composer, director and (struggling) singer.
 He made his stage debut with Prithvi Theatres and went to make
vital contributions to blockbuster films like Phool Bane Angaarey,
Saccha Jhutha and Juari (as writer), Jab Jab Phool Khiley (as overall
assistant), Kundan, Chor Sipahee, Ponga Pandit and Coolie (as
director), Hero Hindustani and Allah-Rakha (as lyricist), Aag, Awaara
and Shakespeare-Wallah (as actor).
 His everlasting fame, however, rests arguably in a 1961 connection
with someone who was the amongst the first to use Internet in India
(way before VSNL brought it to India) and was the founding chairman
of Internet Users Community of India (IUCI).
 What are we talking about?

139. Video removed
Link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDH8uzVcRds

141.  Welspun India Ltd. had acquired a leading British brand called
Christy, in 2006. This enabled Welspun to exploit a core
market that usually has its peak in mid-year.
 In 2011, the Vapi factory of Welspun produced 92,493 items,
while the number rose to 99,500 in 2012. These items come
in 2 varieties. The first one had shades of purple and green
with lettering in a color called "buttermilk." The second one
is done up in new colors each year, the 2012 version being
raspberry, purple and buttermilk.
 What are these coveted keepsakes?

144.  The Voyager Golden Records aboard both Voyager spacecraft,
launched in 1977, contain sounds and images selected to portray
the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any
intelligent extraterrestrial life form.
 The audio section starts with greetings. The first audio section
contains a spoken greeting in English from the Secretary General
of the UN, Kurt Waldheim. The second audio section contains
spoken greetings in 55 languages. The third audio section was
special in that it contained greetings sourced from a famous 1967
discovery by American scientist Roger Payne.
 What language was the greetings in? OR What was this discovery?

147.  Closed theme
 Non-exhaustive
 9 questions
 5 points for individual answers
 Points for the theme
1-2  + 25
3-4  +20
5-6  +15
7-8  +10
9  +5
 Uniform negative of minus 5 throughout for wrong attempts
at the theme

148.  It is the medical term for an abscess larger than a boil, usually
with one or more openings draining pus onto the skin. It
supposedly is named after the appearance of fiery red
gemstones like garnet.
 The term is also used today to describe modernist architecture
not conforming to its surroundings after a famous 1984
outburst by Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales.
 What term? Image in the next slide.

150.  In 1997, the owner of this car tried to help the Second
Division English football club Exeter City win a crucial end of
season game by placing "energy-infused" crystals behind the
goals at Exeter's ground. However, Exeter lost the game 5–1.
 He was later appointed co-chairman of the club in 2002,
following which club was relegated to the Football
Conference in May 2003, where it remained for five years. He
has since severed formal ties with the club.
 Who? Image in the next slide.

152.  Featured is a menu from the 1989 edition of an annual Feb 12 observance
by the worldwide scientist/academician community :
Mammalia: Minke Whale meat
Aves: Smoked Turkey slices
Teleostoma: Pickled Herring
Bivalvia: Mya from mouth of the Honna River
Gastropoda: commercial escargot
Malacostraca: commercial shrimp
Pteridophyta: commercial fern fiddleheads
Monocots: Onions, rice
Dicots: Pecans, spinach
Fungi: Commercial Agaricus
Bacteria: Villi (Finnish Longmilk)
 What are these called? Why is it organized?

153.  The first ever explanation of this phenomenon was given by
Alessandro Volta in 1776. Today, it is generally accepted that it
is a result of the oxidation of phosphine (PH3), diphosphane
(P2H4), and methane(CH4).
 The phenomenon also lends its name to a custom that has its
origins in Ireland and for which turnips were used initially.
 What phenomenon/custom? What is used instead of turnips in
the modern world?

154.  The Bronx cheer is a noise signifying derision, real or feigned.
It is made by placing the tongue between the lips and
blowing to produce a sound similar to flatulence.
 By what other name is this sound known? Where is this
second name most famously used in this sense?
 Image in the next slide.

156.  The ceremony at the Harvard University Memorial Hall
includes, as per official pamphlets, “Two grand Paper Airplane
Deluges, one at ceremony's beginning, the other at the
midpoint.” It's a time-honored tradition to make and throw
paper airplanes at the ceremony.
 What is this ceremony all about?
 Image in the next slide.

158.  John Steinbeck had a habit of signing letters and books with
a tiny drawing of X, accompanied by the Latin phrase ‘ad
astra per alia porci’. X was meant to symbolize Steinbeck
himself as “earthbound but aspiring…a lumbering soul but
trying to fly…(with)…not enough wingspread but plenty of
intention.”
 X please.

159.  Paul Clifford is a 1830 novel
that tells the life of Paul
Clifford, a man who leads a
dual life as both a criminal
and an upscale gentleman.
 The claim to fame of this
otherwise rarely read book
lies in that it was the first one
to use one of the most widely
known incipits in English
literature.
 What was this line?

160.  Only twice has a non-English contestant won the UK edition
of Celebrity Big Brother.
 One was Swedish TV personality Ulrika Jonsson in 2009.
 Who was the second person, who won the 2007 edition?

162.  It is the medical term for an abscess larger than a boil, usually
with one or more openings draining pus onto the skin. It
supposedly is named after the appearance of fiery red
gemstones like garnet.
 The term is also used today to describe modernist
architecture not conforming to its surroundings after a
famous 1984 outburst by Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales.
 What term? Image in the next slide.

165.  In 1997, the owner of this car tried to help the Second
Division English football club Exeter City win a crucial end of
season game by placing "energy-infused" crystals behind the
goals at Exeter's ground. However, Exeter lost the game 5–1.
 He was later appointed co-chairman of the club in 2002,
following which club was relegated to the Football
Conference in May 2003, where it remained for five years. He
has since severed formal ties with the club.
 Who? Image in the next slide.

168.  Featured is a menu from the 1989 edition of an annual Feb 12 observance
by the worldwide scientist/academician community :
Mammalia: Minke Whale meat
Aves: Smoked Turkey slices
Teleostoma: Pickled Herring
Bivalvia: Mya from mouth of the Honna River
Gastropoda: commercial escargot
Malacostraca: commercial shrimp
Pteridophyta: commercial fern fiddleheads
Monocots: Onions, rice
Dicots: Pecans, spinach
Fungi: Commercial Agaricus
Bacteria: Villi (Finnish Longmilk)
 What are these called? Why is it organized?

170.  The first ever explanation of this phenomenon was given by
Alessandro Volta in 1776. Today, it is generally accepted that it
is a result of the oxidation of phosphine (PH3), diphosphane
(P2H4), and methane(CH4).
 The phenomenon also lends its name to a custom that has its
origins in Ireland and for which turnips were used initially.
 What phenomenon/custom? What is used instead of turnips in
the modern world?

172.  The Bronx cheer is a noise signifying derision, real or feigned.
It is made by placing the tongue between the lips and
blowing to produce a sound similar to flatulence.
 By what other name is this sound known? Where is this
second name most famously used in this sense?
 Image in the next slide.

175.  The ceremony at the Harvard University Memorial Hall
includes, as per official pamphlets, “Two grand Paper Airplane
Deluges, one at ceremony's beginning, the other at the
midpoint.” It's a time-honored tradition to make and throw
paper airplanes at the ceremony.
 What is this ceremony all about?
 Image in the next slide.

178.  John Steinbeck had a habit of signing letters and books with
a tiny drawing of X, accompanied by the Latin phrase ‘ad
astra per alia porci’. X was meant to symbolize Steinbeck
himself as “earthbound but aspiring…a lumbering soul but
trying to fly…(with)…not enough wingspread but plenty of
intention.”
 X please.

180.  Paul Clifford is a 1830 novel
that tells the life of Paul
Clifford, a man who leads a
dual life as both a criminal
and an upscale gentleman.
 The claim to fame of this
otherwise rarely read book
lies in that it was the first one
to use one of the most widely
known incipits in English
literature.
 What was this line?

182.  Only twice has a non-English contestant won the UK edition
of Celebrity Big Brother.
 One was Swedish TV personality Ulrika Jonsson in 2009.
 Who was the second person, who won the 2007 edition?

185.  Carbuncle Cup – Given to the ugliest building in the UK completed in the
last 12 months.
 Bent Spoon Award – Given to the perpetrator of the most preposterous
piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle. The name of the award is a
reference to the spoon bending of Uri Geller.
 Darwin Awards – They recognize individuals who have contributed to
human evolution by self-selecting themselves out of the gene pool via
death or sterilization due to their own actions.
 Turnip Prize – It satirizes the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize by rewarding
deliberately bad modern art.
 Golden Raspberry Awards – Presented in recognition of the worst in
film and precedes the corresponding Academy Awards ceremony by one
day.

186.  IgNobel Prize - A parody of the Nobel Prizes and given each year in early
October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research.
 Pigasus Award – Seeks to expose parapsychological, paranormal or
psychic frauds over the previous year.
 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest – For composing the worst possible
opening sentence to a novel.
 Big Brother Awards – They are awarded yearly to authorities,
companies, organisations, and persons that have been acting particularly
and consistently to threaten or violate people's privacy, or disclosed
people's personal data to third parties.

187.  Differential scoring
 8 questions
 Scoring pattern
1-3 teams - +20
4-6 teams - +15
7-8 teams - +10
 Negative of minus 10 for wrong answers

188.  During sports drafts, especially in North American sports, a
special room is set aside at the draft sites for invited top
prospects to await their selection with their families and
agents. Getting an invitation to this area is an honour in-and-
of-itself, as only the top 12-16 prospects are invited in an
effort to avoid the awkwardness of a player sitting alone,
waiting to hear his name called.
 The name assigned to this place is borrowed from a totally
different field. Just name it.
 Image in the next slide.

192.  It is perceived as fast-flickering black bugs on a cool white
background. It is referred to as myrornas krig in Swedish,
myrekrig in Danish, hangyak haboruja in Hungarian, and semut
bertengkar in Indonesian, all of which translate to “war of the
ants” or “ant soccer”.
 It was also made use of by Neal Stephenson in the title of his
third novel that presents the Sumerian language as the
programming language for the brainstem, which is
supposedly functioning as the BIOS for the human brain.
 What are we talking about?

196.  It is the modern remnant of one of the two main east-west
routes in a city built by Emperor Hadrian and starts just
inside the Lions' Gate at the Umariya Elementary School. The
total distance is approximately 600 metres and has 9
landmarks enroute, with five additional markers at the
terminal point.
 What are we talking about?

199.  He once famously gave a talk on the shapes of stories (which
he had covered as part of his thesis topic as a student), the
transcript of which was published in its entirety in his almost-
memoir A Man Without a Country under a section titled “Here
is a lesson in creative writing”.
 The stories are mapped along the “G-I axis” of Good Fortune
and Ill Fortune and the “B-E axis” of Beginning and End.
 Pictured is an infographic in this regards portraying his
opinion of the shape of a popular story.
 Who? Which story?

203.  It is a unique ecosystem, twice the size of Rhode Island. The
health of wild animal species is usually judged by their
numbers rather than the conditions of individuals, so the
wildlife here is considered healthy. According to all the
population counts performed by over the past 27 years, there
is enormous animal diversity and abundance.
 The existing animal populations have multiplied and rare
species not seen for centuries have returned, for example lynx,
wild boar, wolf, brown bear, bison, Przewalski's horse, white-
tailed eagle and eagle owl.
 This amazing story has been the subject of documentaries on
Animal Planet and the BBC and a central theme of the book
Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of ___________.
 Identify the ecosystem/FITB.

206.  We have our tea, and as I’m leaving, the bird dealers tell me
that in Dari and Pashtu, the two most important languages in
Afghanistan, a new Spanish word has come into use of late.
Anything that one perceives as horrible or unbearable is
described as ‘______________.’
 Excerpt from a 2010 article titled Camping In Kabul, that
featured in The Caravan magazine, describing life in the
capital city.
 So, what is the slang for a horrible/unbearable experience in
Kabul?

209.  During the development of an embryo, formation of organs
is tightly controlled by specific genes. In the case of breasts,
this process controls the development of two breasts in
humans but this can go awry, resulting in fewer, extra or
misplaced breasts or nipples.
 What did scientists (at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research in UK in 2005)
name the gene, which when mutated, triggered the
development of extras nipples or breasts in mammals?

211.  The Frankfurt Book Fair is one of the world’s largest book
fairs and has a tradition spanning more than 500 years. Since
1976, a guest of honour (author/country), or a focus of
interest is named for the fair. India, in 2006, became the first
country to be invited to the fair for a second time (first time
in 1986). The inaugural address was given by Mahasweta
Devi who moved the crowd with a passionate speech. The
speech was notable for her emphasis on patriotism and love
for the country.
 How did she express her feelings?

213. Video removed
Link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wjGc1zGWBc