Mega-Whats 2015 Face-off - Semifinals 1

Mega-Whats 2015 The 6th National Open Quizzing Championships

Conducted by

The Karnataka Quiz Association Est. 1983

Set by

Arun Hiregange and Kiran Vijayakumar

The Rules

1. +10/-5 on the pounce; +10 on the bounce

2. No part points available on the pounce

The Design

Three rounds:

I. Clockwise 18

II. Written 5

III. Anti-clockwise 18

Clockwise

1 What is this cartoon depicting? And what does it seem to be presaging?

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1

Ambedkar’s leaving the Law Ministry over the failure to implement the Hindu Code bill.

Depicted Ambedkar as Siddhartha (Buddha) well before his conversion.

2

This is the last plane built by an aviator who is considered by his countrymen to be the first man to fly, rather than the Wright Brothers. He named the aircraft after this beautiful and delicate looking insect. Name either.

2

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2

Demoiselle / Damsel fly (built by Alberto Santos Dumont).

3

What later caused President Barack Obama to quip, "We donated a $60 million helicopter to this operation. Could we not afford to buy a tape measure?"

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3

After Osama Bin Laden was killed, they needed to measure his height (which was an abnormal 6’ 2” for an Arab) as one of the confirmations that it was really him. As they forgot to get a tape measure, a marine lay down next to him to approximate his height.

4

This is the 200-year old Shar Harahamim or Gate of Mercy Synagogue, the oldest in Mumbai, near a once thriving Jewish neighbourhood in Mumbai. Which railway station is named after it?

4

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4

Masjid (it used to be called Juni Masjid).

5

In Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, before their relationship blossoms, Catherine Heathcliff scorns Hareton Earnshaw's primitive attempts at reading, saying, "I wish you would repeat _____ _____ as you did yesterday; it was extremely funny!”

She is referring to a ballad about the Battle of Otterburn, which involved the Duke of Northumberland, Henry Percy (of Hotspur fame).

Be a comedian and fill the blanks.

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5

Chevy Chase.

6

The image shows a close-up of the central figure of a particular sculpture that has been acclaimed for its depiction of human agony. However, a famous 19th century scientist who made a lot of comparative studies of anatomy as part of his work was not impressed, and is said to have objected to this depiction, saying that the bulging eyebrows are physiologically impossible. Name the sculpture and the scientist.

6

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6

Laocoon and his Sons. Charles Darwin.

7

On the left is a French pastry in a butterfly shape, sometimes called elephant ears, French hearts, shoe-soles or glasses. Its name in French comes from the leaves that it resembles. On the right is a French cake, made in a traditional rectangular mold, which resembles a bar of gold. Another theory says that the cake became popular in the Bourse district of Paris surrounding the Paris stock exchange. Name both. Their names end in the same letters, indicating their French origin.

7

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7

Palmier. Financier.

8

Nepal is the only country in the world with a certain distinction. If you allow territories, then Chatham Islands (a territory of New Zealand) can be added to the list. Some countries that have a related distinction, though not as unique, are Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran and Venezuela. That’s an almost exhaustive list. So what makes Nepal unique?

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8

45 minutes offset from the hour with respect to GMT.

9

There are a few thousand cases of leprosy in the USA, and is most concentrated in southern states like Texas & Louisiana rather than northern or coastal states as shown in the map. Why is this?

9

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9

They are also the areas with a higher concentration of Armadillos, which can carry leprosy.

10

In 1973, a local hero (shown on the next slide) was playing a teenage heartthrob. This would prove be the first occurrence out of an exhaustive set of four. Local hero was declared the winner after a match winning serve. However the heartthrob disputed it. Local hero became an even bigger hero when he agreed to replay the point. But no, this didn’t prove to be a turning point and local hero did go on the win the match. Identify both and what was the first occurrence of?

10

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10

Roger Taylor. The first of only 4 defeats suffered by Bjorn Borg at Wimbledon.

11

This is a small, freshwater fish which is popular with anglers because of its readiness to feed. Even inexperienced anglers find it easy to catch. What adjective derives from this fish?

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11

Chub Chubby.

12 “I was working for General Electric at the time, right after World War II , and I saw a milling machine for cutting the rotors on jet engines, gas turbines. This was a very expensive thing for a machinist to do, to cut what is essentially one of those Brancusi forms. So they had a computer-operated milling machine built to cut the blades, and I was fascinated by that. This was in 1949 and the guys who were working on it were foreseeing all sorts of machines being run by little boxes and punched cards. ______ was my response to the implications of having everything run by little boxes. The idea of doing that, you know, made sense, perfect sense. To have a little clicking box make all the decisions wasn't a vicious thing to do. But it was too bad for the human beings who got their dignity from their jobs.” Who about what?

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12

Kurt Vonnegut about Player Piano.

13

If the first to discover a moon of this planet was X, the second was Y and X-Y has discovered a further eight, identify the planet, X and Y.

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13

Cassini; Huygens. (Cassini-Huygens and Saturn.)

14

In his manifesto regarding “declaration of revolutionary war”, a self declared Field Marshal wrote, “The name ______ is taken from the word ______ and we define its meaning as a body of dissimilar bodies and organisms living in deep and loving harmony and partnership in the best interest of all within the body.” His assumed name was derived from the Swahili word for “prophet” and the name of the leader of the Amistad slave rebellion. The two blanks are similar. Who & what did he found?

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14

Symbionese (Liberation Army).

Mtume Cinque.

15

This piece by a Czech composer has the name of a profession in its title. Due to the fact that it is used as an introduction or ‘screamer’ in a particular field of entertainment, the piece’s original title is usually forgotten and it is associated with another profession (or that field of entertainment). Get both: the actual title and what it is associated with nowadays.

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15

Entry of the Gladiators. Now used as circus or clown entrance music.

16

A world record being broken. By whom? And what is the weight being thrown, named after a common kitchen appliance because of how it looks?

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16

Kettle Bell. Hafthor Bjornsson, who plays The Mountain in Game of Thrones.

17 Driving X: 1 X Cleek: 2 X Mid Y: 3 X Y X: 4 X Y: 5 X Spade Y: 6 X Y Z: 7 X Pitching Z: 8 X Z: 9 X On the left are the terms used until the 1940s, when the numbering system on the right was formalized. What are X, Y, Z? Perhaps knowledge of a particular genre of P.G. Wodehouse stories will help.

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17

Iron; Mashie; Niblick.

18 “By day I would be the genial, white-coated Dr. _____, but at nightfall I would exchange my white coat for my motorbike leathers and, anonymous, wolflike, slip out of the hospital to rove the streets.” In 1962, he took a residency at UCLA, where he became a regular at Muscle Beach and set a California state weightlifting record with a 600-pound power lift: “I was known as Dr. Squat,” he says, “which rather pleased me.” And he continued to motorbike, riding solo and loaded with amphetamines as far as the Grand Canyon, stopping only for gas. One day, a patient paralyzed from the neck down and blind from neuromyelitis optica heard he was a biker, and asked to come along for a ride; with the help of weightlifting friends, he abducted her from the hospital, strapped her against his own torso, and rode up and down Topanga Canyon.

18 Identify this person.

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18

Oliver Sacks.

Written

1

Identify this British TV series from its theme music.

1

Inspector Morse.

Composer Barrington Pheloung utilises a motif based on the Morse code for "M.O.R.S.E."

2

In 1929, the book publisher George Macy founded The Limited Editions Club (LEC), an imprint tasked with publishing finely illustrated limited editions of classic books. In the years to come, Macy worked with artists like Matisse and Picasso, and photographers like Edward Weston, to produce books with beautiful illustrations on their inner pages. Sometimes The LEC even turned its design focus to other parts of the book. Identify this book from its1946 edition created by Clarence P. Hornung.

2

2

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.

3

Identify the movie.

3

Helvetica.

4

His love of the Baltimore Colts were featured in the December 13, 1968 issue of LIFE. Entitled "My Colts, Verses and Reverses", the issue includes his poems and photographs by Arthur Rickerby. Featured on the cover is Dennis Gaubatz with the following description. Who?

4

“Look at Number 53,

Dennis Gaubatz,

that is he,

looming 10 feet tall

or taller

above the Steelers'

signal caller...

Since Gaubatz acts like

this on Sunday,

I'll do my

quarterbacking Monday."

4

Ogden Nash.

5

Seems, a company based in Tokyo, is now manufacturing fire alarms intended for use by the deaf, who can’t hear the wail of conventional smoke detectors. According to researchers at Japan’s Shiga University Medical School, who tested a wide range of potential wake-up odors (among them rotten eggs, banana, coconut milk, and peppermint), a jet of ______ jolts hearing-impaired sleepers awake in less than two minutes. The nose-searing punch of allyl isothiocyanate is so distinctive that ______ is the base for these fire alarms. What base?

5

Wasabi.

Anti-clockwise

1

When this art work began its residency at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2007, curator Gary Tinterow hung the following three paintings alongside in the gallery. Which art work? New York Times’ Roberta Smith used the tagline of a 1978 movie sequel as the title of her review of the show. Identify the tagline.

1

By Francis Bacon

1 By Winslow Homer

1 By John Singleton Copley

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1

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living by Damien Hirst.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe (from Jaws 2).

2

As part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of a brand, this world record breaking model was unveiled on March 8, 2015 at Chicago. Now touring across various American cities, it is the largest measuring cup ever made. Identify the brand.

2

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2

Pyrex.

3

Don Quixote contains stories that do not directly involve the two main characters, but which are narrated by some of the picaresque figures encountered by Don Quixote and Sancho Panza during their travels. The longest and best known story is El Curioso Impertinente (The Impertinently Curious Man), which is read to a group of travelers at an inn, about a Florentine nobleman, Anselmo, who becomes obsessed with testing his wife's fidelity, and talks his close friend to attempt to seduce her. The friend’s name has survived in various languages and denotes someone who obsessively seduces and deceives women. What?

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3

Lothario.

4

During the early part of the twentieth century, complimentary tickets used in the theatre business were often referred to by a nickname, after a person. Such tickets traditionally had holes punched into them to prevent them from being resold. Which person?

4

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4

Annie Oakley.

5

Multiple theories about which bird?

1. Referring to King John, who in honour of his patron saint St. John, frequently used the device of an eagle. The sprig of broom initially shown in the bird's beak, broom being a symbol of the royal family of Plantagenet.

2. Referring to the name used for a 17th century mace; with later confusion arising by assuming this term is related to the old Low Dutch word lefler, meaning spoonbill.

3. It being a cormorant, the sprig in the mouth being a particular type of seaweed, thus implying that the bird's appellation comes from the sprig.

(In short, the bird which appears to have originally been intended to be an eagle is now officially a cormorant.)

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5

Liver bird.

6

Duramold is a composite material process developed by Virginius E. Clark. Birch plies are impregnated with phenolic resin, such as Haskelite and laminated together in a mould under heat (280°F) and pressure for use as a lightweight structural material. Such materials were considered critical during periods of material shortage in World War II, replacing scarce materials like aluminum alloys and steel. For example, a cylinder made of duramold is 80% stronger than a cylinder made of aluminum. Which mid-twentieth century project (its popular name being a misnomer) was the largest to use the duramold process?

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6

Spruce Goose (Hughes H-4 Hercules).

7

Dialogues from the movie Kingsman: The Secret Service between the characters played by Taron Egerton (Eggsy) and Michael Caine (Arthur). Fill in the blanks with 3 names.

7

[Eggsy sits down while Arthur looks at JB]

Arthur: Pretty dog. What's his name?

Gary 'Eggsy' Unwin: JB.

Arthur: As in J____ B____?

Gary 'Eggsy' Unwin: No.

Arthur: J____ B____?

Gary 'Eggsy' Unwin: No. J____ B____.

Arthur: Oh.

[pauses]

Arthur: Bravo. It pains me to admit it, Eggsy, but one day, you might be as good a spy as any of them.

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7

James Bond, Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer.

8

This medical term, as described in 1978 by Sally Duensing and Bob Miller, is a “binocular rivalry” which causes stationary objects seen in one eye to disappear from view when an object in motion crosses in front of the other eye. Each eye sees two different views of the world, sends those images to the visual cortex where they are combined, and creates a three-dimensional image. It occurs when one eye is fixated on a stationary object, while the other notices something moving. Since one eye is seeing a moving object, the brain will focus on it, causing parts of the stationary object to fade away from vision entirely. What?

8

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8

Cheshire Cat Effect.

9

During an appearance on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson in the 1980s, Robert Altman said that while he only made US $70,000 for having directed the movie, his son had earned more than a million US dollars from the venture. Which movie? How did his son earn the amount?

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9

M*A*S*H.

Mike Altman wrote the lyrics for the song "Suicide Is Painless".

10

(A) is a trade name of the most commonly prescribed opioid in the United States (and the rest of the world perhaps). (B) is the second-most predominant alkaloid in opium, at up to three percent. Its name is derived from the Greek word for "poppy head". According to some sources, (A) gets its name because it is six times more potent than (B). Identify both.

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10

Codeine, Vicodin.

11

This mountain range stretches across northwestern Africa extending about 2,500 km. Identify this range whose name is believed to be derived from the term for ‘mountain’ in some Berber languages. According to an alternate theory, which other geographical entity is said to take its name from this range? (As per the competing theory, both the range and the geographical entity take their names from the same person.)

11

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11

Atlas Mountains.

Atlantic Ocean.

12

When engineer E.W. Barton-Wright returned to England after a foreign trip, he brought with him something whose essential principles he published in an article in Pearson’s Magazine in March 1899:

1. To disturb the equilibrium of your assailant.

2. To surprise him before he has time to regain his balance and use his strength.

3. If necessary to subject the joints of any part of his body, whether neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, back, knee, ankle, etc. to strain which they are anatomically and mechanically unable to resist.

What? Why do people refer to it wrongly most of the time?

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12

Bartitsu.

Conan Doyle termed it "baritsu“ while explaining how Sherlock Holmes had managed to avoid falling into the Reichenbach Falls with Professor Moriarty .

13

This clip is from the 1981 demo LP called The Incredible Sounds of Synclavier II published by Denny Jaeger Creative Services, Inc and sold by New England Digital, makers of the Synclavier. Why is sought after by some record aficionados?

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13

Michael Jackson's Beat It opening is a direct lift.

14

What you see here is a jump shot in croquet. The name given to a shot that causes the ball to jump several times (at least more than twice) recalls an invention that served the British well. What name?

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14

Dambuster.

15

Chris Brougham has been a regular setter of crosswords for The Spectator since 1996. The name he uses while setting is Dumpynose. Why Dumpynose?

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15

Anagram of ‘pseudonym’.

16

The idiomatic usage of this phrase (especially in horse races) refers to a situation that is so evenly matched that the advantage shifts from one to the other, and the outcome is uncertain. A suggested origin is from fencing referring to a light and a heavier touch, with the latter originating from the Italian for ‘touch’. In the late 20th century, it was applied to tailoring to refer to a small adjustment. This sense got adopted in an unrelated field and has become popular – pop culture fans may be familiar with this, though in a virguled form. What?

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16

Nip and tuck.

17

Alfie Bradley created this statue in 2014. ‘Raw material’ was collected from various countries and the construction was funded by British Ironworks Centre. Who commissioned the work?

17

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17

Uri Geller.

18

This atoll in the North Pacific Ocean is roughly equidistant between North America and Asia, and lies almost halfway around the world longitudinally from Greenwich, UK. One of the most important battles of the Pacific campaign was fought between June 4 and 6, 1942. The United States Navy defeated a Japanese battle group marking a turning point in the war in the Pacific Theater. It was Japan's first naval defeat since the Battle of Shimonoseki Straits in 1863. Name the atoll.

18

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18

Midway Atoll (where the Battle of Midway was fought).

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