Mood Indigo General Quiz 2012 Final

mood indigo 2012 || j ramanand || conundrums – the general quiz || final

Conundrumsmood indigo 2012

omniscience

the general quiz

Finalconducted by j. ramanand


Results8 team final

The quiz was won by Abhishek (IIM Indore) & Suraj (XLRI,

Jamshedpur)

2nd place: NIT, Calicut

3rd place: IIT-H+BITS Pilani


Gratitude

Harish KumarAditya GadreOther QMs

Mood Indigo Organizers


Format5 rounds

one (6)two (16)three (1)four (16)five (7)


Round 1written+5 each

+5 bonus for getting 5 or more

people in scientific nomenclature of organisms


Carabid beetle“Agra ________”

“In reference to the markedly developed (biceps-like) middle femora of the male”


Jumping Spider“Bagheera _____”


Horsefly“Scaptia _____”

Discovered in 1981, when she was born.Named because of the golden part of the abdomen


Isopod (a crustacean)“Cirolana _____”Found off the coast of Zanzibar


BacteriaDiscovered in the stratosphere by an ISRO balloon“Bacillus isronensis”“Bacillus aryabhata”“Janibacter _____”

Described in a paper by Jayant Narlikar et al.


Lower Keys Marsh Rabbits“Sylvilagus Palustris _____”Named for the funding by the corporation that he runs


Arnold SchwarzeneggerRudyard KiplingBeyonce KnowlesFreddie MercuryFred HoyleHugh Hefner


Round 2passing1 → 810 points each


The Washington Post awards these ratings. These are most often seen on entries in a Post column called “Fact Checker" run by the Pulitzer-winning journalist Glenn Kessler. This blog checks facts on various topics, and has been particularly busy during the US Presidential elections. Both sides fib a lot, and so these ratings are awarded depending on the extent to which they have been 'economical with the truth'.

In what units are these facts rated?


Pinocchios


The MoM, Eng v Ireland, 2011 World Cup

Adam Gilchrist v India, MCG Boxing Day Test, Dec 2007

Matthew Hayden v India, MCG Boxing Day Test, Dec 2007

SCG, 3rd day of Test v India, Jan 2012

NFL referees, New York Jets v Miami Dolphins, Oct 2012


Sporting pink for cancer awareness


From “2010: Odyssey Two” by Arthur C. Clarke

Dr. Floyd (talking about HAL's demise in the first book): “Dr Chandra informs me that, in tech terminology, HAL became trapped in a X-Y loop”

X: American scientist, author, the son of a Nobel Laureate in Physics

Y: German mathematician


Douglas Hofstadter, August Moebius

Answer behind thisClick to see


What is this Qantas 737-800 plane, first revealed in November 2011, nicknamed?


The Movember Plane, in support of the Movember initiative in which men wear moustaches to draw attention to men's health issues.


Both the colour and the association with Oriental empires spread from the popularity of the product produced by an Austro-Hungarian company at the end of the nineteenth century.

The product was named after one of the most famous jewels ever.

It is said that the Oriental references echoed the fact that the principal raw material came from mines in Siberia.

What product?


Pencils. The popularity of the Koh-i-Noor pencil lead to other brands such as the Mongol and the Mikado.


“Reduplication” is a linguistic phenomenon defined in one source as: “a morphological process in which a root or stem or part of it is repeated”

This phenomenon is seen commonly in many language families, and is often used in languages like English, Romance languages, Persian, African languages, East Asian, and South Asian languages.

What has all this got to do with a lady named Vaishali who runs a pickle business from Pune?


The film “English-Vinglish”. The protagonist's role is inspired from this lady, director Gauri Shinde's mother.


In the early 2000s, which consumer product was boycotted in some countries such as Egypt after rumours that it was named after a leader that they opposed, and its logo was a modified form of a symbol that they hated?


Ariel. The then Israeli PM was Ariel Sharon.


This is Rhianna (no, this is the right spelling). As a writer, her primary contributions have been to fantasy video game scripts, including Prince of Persia.

She will be inheriting something, once the inevitable happens. She is already co-writing a BBC series based on it.

What?


Discworld. She is Terry Pratchett's daughter.


There are only three instances of this.

Green: Earth Day, April 2008: Somewhat like the Iwo Jima photograph

Black: ?

Silver: September 2011: Tribute in Light memorial


TIME magazine covers not to have a Red border.

Black: September, 2001


James Cisco is a meteorologist with the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and credited with coining the nickname that 2012's Hurricane Sandy was dubbed with.

He wrote:

“The winds from Sandy will be incorporated into a hybrid vortex [...] should settle back toward the interior Northeast through Halloween, inviting perhaps a ghoulish nickname for the cyclone along the lines of 'Frankenstorm,' an allusion to Mary Shelley's Gothic creature of synthesized elements."

However, given some of the hurricane's attributes, some NASA scientists said the name ought to be tweaked by prefixing a phrase.

What?


“Bride of Frankenstorm” since Sandy was a female name in the list of Atlantic hurricanes.


This is a distributed key-value data store that Jay Kreps, an engineer at LinkedIn, invented.

Of the choice of name, he writes:

“I thought, 'that sounds like a distributed system'. I don’t know whether it is nerdier to be reading _____ or to be wondering what kind of consistency protocol ____ uses when keeping all his pieces up-to-date, but regardless, the name stuck.”

What's this project called?


Project Voldemort

“I should probably also mention how it got its name, since that is something I got a lot of questions about. I wanted to come up with a name that was distinctive and a little self-deprecating (projects shouldn’t take themselves too seriously). At the time I was reading the last Harry Potter book, and Voldemort had split himself into many pieces each of which had to be destroyed to kill him. I thought, “that sounds like a distributed system”. I don’t know whether it is nerdier to be reading Harry Potter or to be wondering what kind of consistency protocol Voldemort uses when keeping all his pieces up-to-date, but regardless, the name stuck.”


Bush House was the iconic headquarters for the BBC World Service for over fifty years. In 2012, the lease ran out and the BBC moved out.

It also had a literary connection: an author, who was briefly part of the Eastern Service (and reportedly hated his time there) was inspired by some of the rooms (including a canteen) and included them in one of his best known books.

Which author, and which book?


George Orwell, 1984An example is the dreaded Room 101


Europe defeated the US on a thrilling last day of this year's Ryder Cup. On that day, all team members had donned similar clothes: navy blue sweaters and white shirts. The sweaters had some lettering on it too.

Earlier, the US team had planned to wear blue, but after Europe captain José María Olazábal made a request, they generously deferred to the Europeans.

Why this choice?


A tribute to Seve Ballesteros (who died last year), with whom the outfit was associated.


In Sept 2010, the artist Jitesh Kallat unveiled an art installation at the Art Institute in Chicago, on the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. This consisted of some words in five colours.

This is a reference to something that happened exactly 117 years ago.

What?

Why these colours?

Images: Timeout Chicago, Newcity.com


From Swami Vivekananda's speech to the Parliament of Religions on Sept 11, 1893

Colours from the then five-colour Homeland Security Advisory System


What is the significance of this 2009 prize winning essay by Clara Ma, a 12 year old:

“____ is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. ____ is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. When I was younger, I wondered[...]”


The Mars rover was named “Curiosity” after Clara Ma's prize winning entry.


In 2012, Nike (which is not an Olympic sponsor) launched its “Find your Greatness” campaign that featured amateur sportsmen around the world (in places like Jamaica, Ohio, Qatar, Nigeria, and Norway).

This made the IOC mad as it was yet another example of Nike's clever strategy that just fell short of ambush marketing.

What was in the campaign that slyly associated itself with the Olympics without overtly saying so?


All the places were called London or associated with London.


Round 3Connect


+30/-10


+20/-10


+15/-5


+10/0


Hosts of TV Quiz Shows

Set 1: Sue Barker (“A Question of Sport”), John Humphries (“Mastermind”), Groucho Marx (“You Bet Your Life”), Magnus Magnusson (“Mastermind”), Hamid Sayani (“Bournvita Quiz Contest”)

Set 2: Jeremy Paxman (“University Challenge”), Govinda (“Jeeto Chappad Phad Ke”), Chris Tarrant (“Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”) UK), Bamber Gascoigne (“University Challenge”), Victoria Coren (“Only Connect”), Anne Robinson (“The Weakest Link”)

Set 3: Tom Berenger (“Hollywood Squares”), Stephen Fry (“QI”), Regis Philbin (“…Millionaire?” (US)), Alex Trebek (“Jeopardy!”), Ameen Sayani (“Bournvita Quiz Contest”)

Set 4: Amitabh Bachchan (“KBC”), Suriya (“KBC” (Tamil)), Sourav Ganguly (“Dadagiri Unlimited”), Shah Rukh Khan (“KBC”, “Paanchvi Paas…”), Neena Gupta (“Kamzor Kadi Kaun”), “Siddhartha Basu (“Quiz Time” et al.)


Round 4reverse passing8 → 110 points each


Bru Exotica is a range of premium coffees from Bru. There are three versions, denoting where the source is from. Two are Bru Exotica – Colombia and Bru Exotica – Brazil. The third is named for a geographical feature, where Bru claims the coffee is cultivated “under the shade of banana trees”. What's the third name?


“Kilimanjaro”


The reason Frank Neuhauser was often sought for his autograph was because he was the first winner of something in 1925, where he won a bike, some gold, and a trip to the White House.

That experience also began a life-long associated with the 'gladiolus' flower: he was greeted with bouquets of gladioli at home after his win, and raised them later in life.

What was he the first winner of? Image: Washington Post


America's first Spelling Bee. He spelled “gladiolus” to win the contest.


On the next slide, you will see a special edition Monopoly board that was created in 2012, with support from Google, who sponsored the first 1000 boards. This is named after a person who once theorised about ways to win at Monopoly. He played the game with William Newman, who has co-designed this special edition set.

Who is the person?




What do these symbols stand for?


Geological Periods:

Pre-Cambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleogene, Neogene


"The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965) was directed by George Stevens & tells the story of Jesus Christ. The person who played the lead role as Christ is, arguably, best known for two famous screen appearances. In both, he is battling spiritual antagonists.

Who? (and name any one film)


Max von Sydow

The Seventh Seal, The Exorcist


Abbe Gosset of the Catholic University of Louvain introduced them to each other. The first image is earlier in life, the second after their reunion in the 80s.

Identify both.


Georges Remi aka Herge and Zhang Chongren (Tchang Tchong Jen).The character of “Chang” in the Tintin comics was based on the latter.


This hereditary post remained in the Sanson family of Paris from the 17th to the 19th century. It began with Charles Sanson in 1684, and passed to his namesake son.

The third in line Charles John Baptiste Sanson was only 6 when his father died, and so the day-to-day duties were conducted by Francois Prudhomme until the boy became 20.

The last Sanson to hold the post did so until 1847.

Which post?


Executioner of Paris.


Though most people know him for his somewhat dreamy short stories, he was also a illustrator for The New Yorker, producing covers and other sketches for the magazine.

This despite being near blind. Who?


James Thurber, who wrote stories such as “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”.


Considered one of the best examples of the work of Piet Mondrian, this art piece is named after two things:

1. a street2. a type of music related to jazz

From MoMA's description:“These atomized bands of stuttering chromatic pulses, interrupted by light gray, create paths across the canvas suggesting the city's grid, the movement of traffic, and blinking electric lights, as well as the rhythms of jazz.”


“Broadway Boogie Woogie”


One of the fairy tales of the 1992 Olympics was the bronze medal win of the Lithuanian Basketball team. A team was hastily put together after the Soviet Union's dissolution, but they hardly had any money to fund practice and uniforms. Help arrived from an unexpected direction, from a group that had nothing to do with the sport until then. Who? (one more image on the next slide)


Mario Miranda cartoon figures were used to depict the customers.


The Grateful Dead


The painter Henri Matisse was fond of keeping birds. One of them was even used as a model by a friend of his. Who was the friend, and more importantly, how was it immortalised?

Images: http://lisawallerrogers.wordpress.com, Henri Cartier Bresson


The friend was Pablo Picasso who created a lithograph called “La Colombe” (Dove) which was adopted by the World Peace Congress as its emblem of peace. He developed the theme further in many other drawings.


This is Suman Sridhar, whose Bollywood forays include a remix of “Khoya Khoya Chand” (“Shaitan”) in 2011 and “Muskanein Jhoothi Hai” (Talaash) in 2012.

She has a long-standing musical collaboration with someone who was also in the news in 2012. (Some may say, given his name, only somewhat victoriously.)

Who?

Image: nh7.in


Jeet Thayil. Called “Sridhar/Thayil”, she sings his poetry while he strums the guitar and does some vocals.

He was nominated for 2012's Booker for his work “Necropolis” and won some other literary awards.

Image: b69.in


Film critic Roger Ebert's audio commentaries for films such as Citizen Kane and Dark City have often been listed in the best commentaries of all time.

To what other use have they been put to?


Roger Ebert lost his voice after being operated for thyroid cancer. A company called CereProc created a speech synthesis model for him that could speak in his voice. For this, they used samples from his audio commentaries.


The Swahili word for “blessing”

+

The Arabic for “handsome” or “good”

+

Swahili for “to bend”; those Luos who converted to Islam


Barack Hussein Obama


Michael Bierut, a design consultant about a logo made by a company:

“They’ve eliminated the common element, the vertical stroke, so it’s only the horizontals that differentiate the two letters. I think it’s a nice balancing act — the idea of tradition with this serif font and modernity with the missing parts of the letters, asking your mind’s eye to fill in what’s not there.”

(The image shows the only other time something like this has been made by the company)



“Yaadein” was an experimental film by Sunil Dutt: experimental for being a one man film. On two occasions, there is the presence of other people.

One one occasion, we hear and see the silhouette of a lady (both Nargis Dutt).

The second happens when Sunil Dutt visits a restaurant.

What method was used to indicate other customers?


Mario Miranda cartoon figures were used to depict the customers.


Round 5Buzzers+10/-5

in case of a negative, other teams attempt the answer for +5

7 questions with a linking theme


1. Fill in the blanks:

You ain't been blue; no, no, no.You ain't been blue,Till you've had that ____ ____.That feelin' goes stealin' down to my shoesWhile I sit and sigh, "Go 'long blues".


“Mood Indigo”

From the lyrics to the song.


This is the flag of which region in the South of Africa which was independent from 1854 to 1902?


Orange Free State


What is the segment in blue commonly referred to as?


The Green Line


The US President lives in the White House. Where does the South Korean President stay?


Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae)


The German physicist Johann Ritter called them “oxidising rays” and then “chemical rays”. How do we know them today?


Ultra-violet rays


Aedes aegypti, the vector for diseases like dengue is also known as the ______ mosquito. What?


Yellow-fever


Which story?


The Red-Headed League

[The underlying theme for the buzzers was VIBGYOR – not in order]


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