kcircle81-85

							Quiz #81
Dated - December 17, 1999
Raju
1. During his childhood days whenever his dad used to bring a new copy of
FORTUNE magazine he used to read it in the night secretly under the
blanket with the help of a flashlight. Who is this person?

2. Adolf Hitler said to a person " you have to look to nature to find out
what streamlining is " and asked him to do something. When this person
followed Hitler's advice to produce a masterpiece, Hitler called it as "
strength through joy ". What did this person do?

3.This creature gets its name from the Greek word for 'womb' because it
resembles the shape of the womb. Name the creature?

4. Etymologically it comes via Latin from Greek and it means 'folded
paper' and very frequently used in academic circles and in diminutive
form in the bureaucratic circles. Which word is it?

5.What is the Latin word for 'finger' or 'toe'? It's a common word
nowadays.

6. Process by which an unfamiliar or slightly outlandish foreign word is
deconstructed and then reassembled using similar sounding elements in the
host language .In this case the source was French 'dame-Jeanne',
literally 'lady Jane ', a term used in French for such a container since
the 17th century 'dame Jeanne' became 'demijohn' in the English language.
What do you call such process in the field of etymology?

7.What is the Hebrew word for 'adversary'? (Very common word: clue
Bible).

8. First Sanskrit work to be printed in the Devanagari script, at least
500 years old, its importance lies in the fact that it is the original
source of many of the folk tales of Europe. It was translated in 1787 and
was printed at Serampore in 1803. Which book is it?

9.What is the Latin word for 'poison'?

10. D.W. Mehra and (jimmy) JD Nagarvalla, J.L.Kapur. What is their claim
to fame?


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------

Answers to Quiz #81

1. Bill Gates.

2. He asked Ferdinand Porsche to design Volkswagen Beetle and then went
on to say that "It was to carry two adults and three children and to look
like beetle".
3. Dolphin. From Greek 'delphis'.

4. Diploma.

5. Digit.

6. Folk etymology.

7. Satan.

8. Hitopadesa.

9. Virus.

10. The investigating officers from the Crime Branch who submitted the
report of the commission of inquiry into the conspiracy to murder
Gandhiji. J.L.Kapur was the judge of the Supreme Court of India who tried
the case.



Quiz #82
Dated - December 25, 1999
G.V.S.Sreedhar
1. Lord Halifax was the British ambassador to the United States during
World War II. He is better known in India under another title - as the
viceroy who concluded a pact with Mahatma Gandhi. The Dandi March and
Bardoli Satyagraha were both during his tenure. Name him.

2. This ill fated queen was educated in France and loved golf. Her pages,
who followed her around the golf course, were all from noble families,
were called Cadets (pronounced Kah-Day in French) - from which we get the
word "Caddy". Name her.

3. The Gold Standard, in which currency was redeemable against gold, was
first perfected by the Master of the Royal Mint in 1717. Name this
official, who's more famous for his research into other areas.

4. When asked why he wrote only horror stories, what did Edgar Allan Poe
say?

5. To mix a drink called a "Flip", strong beer was mixed with sugar and
rum and stirred with a red hot poker. Bar-room brawls were often settled
using these pokers as weapons. So, what English phrase originated from
this poker's name?

6. Around the end of the 18th century, who commanded the army of the
Nizam of Hyderabad? Several years later, he shot to fame as one of the
greatest generals of all time in the world.

7. The ancient Romans were all avid acrobats - and acrobatics formed a
part of every gentleman's education. At a public performance, an acrobat
fell to his death at the feet of Marcus Aurelius. What did he order - a
practice which is still implemented now?
8. Which famous quiz show was sponsored by the Revlon company?

9. In 1885, what did Canada sell the State of New York for $150,000?

10. When this story was being translated into English from French, the
translator goofed and misread "en vair" as "en verre", a mistake that has
come down to us unchanged. What was this story?


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------

Answers to Quiz #82

1. Lord Irwin

2. Mary, Queen of Scots

3. Sir Isaac Newton

4. "Because they sell"

5. At Loggerheads (the poker was called a loggerhead)

6. Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington (the Iron Duke)

7. A safety net for the acrobats

8. The $64,000 Question

9. Niagara Falls

10.The story was Cinderella, where "en vair" (of fur) became "en verre"
(of glass) - leading to the popular fiction that Cinderella wore glass
slippers to the ball.



Quiz #83 [Millenium Quiz]
Dated - January 3, 2000
Sushil Chandani
1. Connect the year 1980 A.D. with the year 29,940 A.D.

2. By the 12-13th century, the practice of alchemy had declined in India,
while it continued to attract much attention (and brains) in the West.
Why ?

3. In 1546, the Spaniard Ynigo Ortiz de Retez sailed past this land, a
finding that it reminded him of an African shore that he had visited
earlier, named it after that place. What place are we talking about ?

4. Who was Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya's most famous disciple ?
5. TV broadcasts, when strong enough, were/are the first sign of life
emanating from earth that could be picked up by other civilizations
several light years away. What would they first get to see ?

6. In 1999, the Comdex is called "Technology's Main Event". What was
technology's main event in 1900 ?

7. Victrola sold the first affordable home phonograph machine in 1906.
What business strategy was used to ensure sales.

8. When MK Gandhi was the man of the year for the Time magazine in 1930,
a close second was an American named Albert Henry Wiggin, who was
described as being "sagacious, resourceful and confidence-inspiring".Who
was Wiggins?

9. To show that arthritis had a high tendency to natural cure, Gull and
Staton (1865) first used a method that has subsequently been used to
prove many other things in the medical sciences. What did they use ?

10. The use of rocket-propelled armaments in warfare got its main impetus
from the effect of what cause ?

11. The inaugural trophy of this event, first held in 1900, was won by
Gordon Bennet, a wealthy American publisher. The event continues to be
held
every year, though with a different goal. What event ?

12. Henry Stanley is remembered today mostly for a single encounter. But
his most significant contribution was the meticulous charting of what ?



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------

Answers to Quiz #83

1. Y2K-related bugs: In early Windows versions, if you typed in 01/01/00,
the OS assumed it was 1-1-1980; in the present MacOS, the Y2k-like bug
will occur in year 29,940. The Windows guys have still to deal with the
Y10K bug before that...

2. The wide-spread use of mercury in Indian medicine reduced the charm of
alchemy because it was the only weird, mysterious substance that could be
shown to gullible onlookers/venture-capitalists.

3. New Guinea - named after the Guinea Coast of Africa.

4. Amir Khusro.

5. Hitler's inaugural speech at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

6. The Paris Exposition.
7. They designed their products to look like household furniture, with
rich walnut fittings. Other models looked like bits of poorly designed
machinery, with wires and tubes sticking out at all angles.

8. In a depression-torn county, he was the Chairman of the Chase National
Bank, who helped arrest the depression. A sort of depression era Alan
Greenspan.

9. The were the first to use placebos. (Many symptoms that can be
associated with arthritis are weather-related, and may go away with or
without medication).

10. They were needed in Naval battles, as cannons tend to have large
recoils that can upset the ship.

11. The Paris-Lyon motor race. Now run as the Paris Dakar motor rally.

12. The 2000-mile courrse of the river Congo.


Quiz #84
[20 Questions Prelims, Mt. Carmel College, Bangalore]
Dated - January 9, 2000
Suresh Ramasubramanian
There are 30 questions here, which you have to crack in 20 minutes.
Starred questions count in case of a tiebreak. In the actual prelims, the
top score was 23, and the cutoff was 16.5. Good luck.

1. A Hard Day's Knight

2. The Horror, The Horror of his horrifying death *

3. We make all the gadgets used by Wile E Coyote

4. This movie made Amitabh a Star and Rajesh Khanna a Superstar

5. Ennio Morricone's music always announces this anonymous hero.

6. He owns the VVR Western Ghat Oil Company - but nobody wants his oil.

7. Gypsy guitarist didn't have two fingers on his playing hand.

8. Darth Vader's voice says "This is CNN"

9. Bobby Kooka's Airborne King.

10. Bellerophon's horse presented by Readers Digest.

11. You wouldn't want to treat Prince Vlad Tepes to a drink.

12. Obelix was impressed by her Nose.

13. The best actor of 1929 died in the arms of Jean Harlow. Rather a
beastly question *
14. Sir Miles Messervy gives him orders, and Major Boothroyd gives him
lots of gadgets

15. Narya the Wise is an expert in making fireworks.

16. She couldn't seduce Arjuna and so cursed him to become an Eunuch.

17. John Hinckley tried to impress her by shooting Reagan. *

18. His operation flooded India.

19. Who the hell composed the first Rock Opera?

20. Mosaic meets Godzilla

21. The Whole Woman followed the Female Eunuch. *

22. Still Going Strong - since 1820.

23. He was hanged for murdering Ahmed Raza Kasoori. Log kehte hain woh
bekasoor tha.

24. Dogs Bite, Bees Sting, She Thinks.

25. Tombstone had enough tombstones for the Clanton brothers after this
event. *

26. The White Star never expected she would go down.

27. He counted on the sex life of rabbits to give him an idea.

28. Eccentric terrier keeps wickets *

29. This Indian chief inspires charging US Marines

30. Dev Anand, Kalpana Kartik, Robert deNiro and Jodie Foster (debut).


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------

Answers to Quiz #84

1. Paul McCartney

2. Colonel Kurtz (Apocalypse Now) or Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)

3. The Acme Company (almost all their gadgets are labeled "Does not work
on Roadrunner")

4. Anand (dir: Hrishikesh Mukherjee, dedicated to Raj Kapoor and the city
of Bombay)
5. The Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood in the Sergio Leone "No Name"
trilogy)

6. P. Ramar Pillai (Herbal Petrol scamster)

7. Django Reinhart

8. James Earl Jones (also Mufassa in The Lion King)

9. The Air India Maharaja

10. Pegasus (Readers Digest best ad award)

11. Count Dracula (he'd likely drink your blood)

12. Cleopatra

13. Rin Tin Tin the dog

14. James Bond (Sir Miles - M and Major Boothroyd - Q)

15. Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings)

16. Urvashi. So Arjuna could become Brihannala during the "Agnyatavaas"

17. Jodie Foster

18. Dr. Verghese Kurien (Operation Flood - Amul)

19. The Who (Tommy)

20. Mozilla / Netscape

21. Germaine Greer

22. Johnny Walker scotch whisky

23. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

24. Baroness Maria von Trapp (Julie Andrews) - The Sound of Music.

25. Gunfight at the OK Corral

26. The Titanic

27. Fibonacci (Fibonacci Series based on the family tree of a pair of
rabbits)

28. Jack Russell (Jack Russell Terriers, former - rather eccentric -
England wicket keeper)

29. Geronimo
30. Taxi Driver (hindi - Dev and Kalpana - where Kalpana dresses up as a
boy, english - deNiro and Jodie Foster)


Quiz #85
Dated - January 15, 2000
Arun Subramanian
1) This Indian company started off as a single unit manufacturing a
single product - hermetically sealed panel Meters. Now it is a billion
dollar company. What is it?

2) Her "Harry Potter" trilogy has created a sensation in the New York
Times bestseller lists. For the first time ever, the top 3 slots have
been occupied by books written by the same author. Who is this wonderful
lady? Also, try to name at least one of the Harry Potter books.

3) This music director acted in two movies , one was a hilarious
performance in Bhoot Bangla , and the other a cameo in Pyaar Ka Mausam .
He also made lyricist Anand Bakshi sing in three movies - Balika Badhu,
Sholay and Maha Chor. Who was he?

4) This is a change in frequency observed when light is scattered in a
transparent material. What is this popularly known as?

5) Which famous T.S.Eliot poem ends with these words- "shanti, shanti,
shanti"?

6) In 1972 Henry Kissinger justified the presidents action of ordering
the invasion of cambodia by saying : "after all we are ___ ____ _________
_____ " what?

7) After the first Viking photographs of the surface of Mars were beamed
back to earth scientists found an anomaly. On the Martian surface was the
impression of a human face. Not only that, there were numerous other
anomalies showing geometrical patterns. what is the name given to this
area?? (sorry for this really vague one)

8) In literature what is the unique position occupied by the day 16 June
1904?

9) If you were reading a book with a two headed guy caleed Zaphod
Beeblebrox in it and wich describes Earth as "mostly harmless" which
would it be?

10) He was, in his chequered career, an Ambulance driver, a successful
writer, ... He married four times and died of self inflicted gunshot
wounds. His posthumous memoir is "True at first light". Name him.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------

Answers to Quiz #85
1) BPL in Palakkad

2) The books are - The Prisoner of Azkaban, The Sorcerer's Stone and The
Chamber of Secrets

3) Rahul Dev Burman

4) The Raman Effect

5) Wasteland

6) All the President's Men

7) Cydonia

8) James Joyce's Ulysses - the entire massive story takes place on this
day, in Dublin

9) Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

10) Ernest Hemingway