QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 41

Technorati Tags: quiz

A simple one for the day, and apologies for the inferior picture quality.

There are several hints in the picture. What is being pioneered here? Or what happened due to this?

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Cracked by several people.

This is one of the pictures of the Trojan Room Coffee Pot. It was the world’s first webcam, born out of the necessity to find out whether there was enough coffee in the pot to make a journey to the coffee room, because many a times people had ended up in the coffee room only to find that the pot was empty!

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 40

Technorati Tags: quiz,connect

This one is dedicated to all my pals.

Connect:

A

B

C

D

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Just one answer here so far. So here are a few hints. The gentleman in the defence clothes is Ronald Ross, the ‘lady’ is Monica Lewinsky and that’s a baby kangaroo.

And yes, question remains open for another day.

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Cracked!! The connection is FRIENDS!

The first picture is that of a self portrait of Rembrandt.

The second picture is that of a baby kangaroo, also known as a Joey.

The third picture is that of Monica Lewinsky.

And the fourth picture is that of Sir Ronald Ross.

The song ‘I’ll be there for you’ was written and performed by a group called the Rembrandts, and Joey, Monica and Ross are all characters in the sitcom.

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Technorati Tags: quiz,identify

Simple one for the day.

Identify the location.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Two answers, and both of them were waaaaaaaaaaaaaay off he mark.

Look for something closer, boys. This is the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai!

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Technorati Tags: quiz,connect

This one is simpler than you it appears.

A

B

C

Simply connect.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Just one answer to this one so far. So methinks I will let it simmer for another day.

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Cracked by all three people who answered! The connect is Barack Husein Obama!

The first is a specimen of the Portuguese Water Dog breed. The breed gained popularity after the Obamas moved into the White House with one.

The second is a photograph of Alfred Nobel. Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize recently. However, many think that it may have been too premature.

The third is a photoshopped cover of Obama’s book “Dreams from my father”.

Meanwhile, here are two cartoons spoofing Obama being given the Nobel.

1

2

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Technorati Tags: quiz,connect

Here’s a straightforward connect.

A

B

C

D

E

F

Shouldn’t be too difficult to string together.

Happy connecting, and have a nice life, folks!

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NINE replies! Wow! And cracked by all!

Coming after a question that has not been answered at all, this is definitely a refreshing change.

And yes, this was an easy one. They all died in aircraft crashes. Some were in planes, others in helicopters.

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Technorati Tags: quiz

This one may be a bit tricky.

From the Asterix comics, you will definitely recognise the two ladies. But the gentleman in the picture appears in only one story. What’s his name?

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Still no replies here. Ok, here’s a hint. WHAT’S HIS NAME?

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Looks like this one was a toughie, although unintended. But there was a reason why I put the question in bold, and those following this blog must know by now that I only put the answer in bold.

The reason for that is this: the Indian ‘fakir’ shown in the picture is known by the name of “Whatziznehm”! Yes, and it sounds exactly like “What’s his name?”

Here’s more proof:

And the names of the other Indian characters are no less humorous either!

All these characters appear in Asterix and the Magic Carpet.

There is, incidentally, a tenuous but twofold connection of this comic to the 1998 Football World Cup. The mascot at that WC was a rooster named Footix, and the naming style clearly depicts the influence of Asterix. However, when it was first unveiled after the 1994 World Cup, many people did not know its name, and started asking “What is it?” That gave it the name “Watzit”, which is also the name of the king in the comic.

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Technorati Tags: quiz,connect

A simple connect here. Once again, I have not changed the names of the pictures for your convenience.

A

B

C

This is simpler than it appears. Try googling a bit, and studying the pictures a bit more intently.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Two responses: one correct, and the other on the right lines. The answer is Jaipur.

The first picture is that if Alecia Beth Moore, better known as Pink. Jaipur is known as the Pink City.

The second is obviously Sudha Chandran, who has Jaipur Feet, prosthetic legs which were pioneered in Jaipur.

The third is the layout of the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur.

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Technorati Tags: quiz,identify

Here’s a dry question for a change.

The following are hints about a certain person who is considered a legend in his field.

1. The name that we know him by has no proper meaning in his own language, but is the name of a goddess in another language, and a name related to his profession in Irish.
2. His real name was an inspiration from Thomas Alva Edison.
3. His given name was the cause of his mispronunciation of his favourite person in the same field in which he would achieve legendary status.
4. He has appeared in several films, including one with Michael Cane and Sylvester Stallone, about a bunch of prisoners of war during the World War II.

Enough hints. Who is he?

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Answered by several of you out there. And four correct answers! Five, actually, if one counts Rajiv Sen’s answer on Facebook.

Yes, its Pele! And Pele incidentally happens to be the name of a Hawaiian volcano goddess, and the Irish word peile means Football.

His full name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento. The first name is an insipiration from Thomas Alva Edison, but the parents did not want the ‘i’ in the name, so it became ‘Edson’. However, a ‘mistake’ in his birth certificate included the ‘i’, and the ‘Edison’ continued.

His favourite footballer, as a child, was Bile, a goalkeeper from the local club Vasco da Gama. However, he could not pronounce it properly, and said ‘Pele’, which stuck on as his name. Legend has it that he disliked this new name so much that he even punched and broke the nose of a friend who kept addressing him by that name! But the angrier he got, the more the name stuck to him!

The film, meanwhile, is a World War II drama named ‘Escape to victory’. It starred many footballers other than Pele, and Gordon ‘Black Octopus’ * Banks, himself credited with making the ‘save of the century’ against a Pele shot in real life, coached Sylvester Stallone, who was the goalkeeper of the prisoners of war. Bobby Moore was also part of the film.

* Sorry about this gaffe. ‘Black Octopus’ was a nickname given to legendary Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin, who would invariably wear a black T-shirt while playing, and was reputed to have arms as long, as flexible and as numerous as an octopus!

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Technorati Tags: quiz,connect

Here’s another connect.

A

B

C

D

Identify the first three and connect all four.

It may seem cryptic, but it is not all that difficult.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Two days of waiting and two replies later, I am happy to say that the answer is Ronald Reagan, as cracked by Akhil and Jaydeep.

The first picture is that of Jodie Foster, the actress.

The second picture is that of John Hinkley Jr, who, in an attempt to impress Jodie Foster, planned to assassinate Reagan.

The third, obviously, is Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Reagan’s Russian counterpart when the Cold War ended.

The fourth is a duck and is woven in thus: Hinckley got close enough to fire six shots at Reagan, but only the sixth shot hit him, and even that was a ricochet. Reagan recovered from it. And when his wife came to visit him at the hospital, he famously said, “Honey, I forgot to duck!”

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Technorati Tags: quiz

A straightforward identification question for the day.

Identify this gentleman:

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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No answers to this one yet. So I’ll keep it open for a few more days.

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Wait is over, but only one answer. This is indeed Charles Richter, the creator of the Richter scale that measures the degree of earthquakes.

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Technorati Tags: quiz,connect

Yet another connect, and this should be an easy one.

A

B

C

D

The names of these pictures hold subtle hints to the answer.

Happy connecting, and have a nice life, folks.

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Jaydeep and Akhil got the connect, but both of them got the name of one band wrong each. These are indeed the names of the different bands.

A. This is Lincoln Park, which inspired LINKIN PARK.

B. This is a medieval torture device known as the IRON MAIDEN.

C. This is a poster of the film BLACK SABBATH by Boris Karloff. The band with the name saw this poster when they were playing under the name ‘The Earth’, and were being confused with another band. They saw this movie poster at a theatre, and decided to change their name.

D. These are THE CRANBERRIES!

I hope your queries are answered, Sunnie. Please identify yourself.

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Technorati Tags: quiz,questions

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I will put in three questions, one each for April 16, 17 and 18. Answers will be given out day after tomorrow.

1. This famous US singer composed a song that went on to become the song for the state he was born in. The song also featured the name of the state. In his early career, he traded his surname for his middle name Charles, and became famous by his first and middle names. Who, and why did he dump his surname?

2. Connect:

A

B

C

3. An easy one, and I have already asked this question at a hundred other quizzes. (Well, almost a hundred.) Which famous royal family of ancient India derived their name from what is now India’s national bird? Hint: The Indian Machiavelli.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Two questions cracked perfectly, but the pictorial clues seem to be a tad bit difficult. Nice try, Jaydeep and Akhil.

Here are the answers.

1. Ray Charles. His full name was Ray Charles Robinson, and he began his career as Ray Robinson. However, he soon chose Charles over Robinson so as not to be confused with Sugar Ray Robinson.

2. Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy aka B C Roy. He was the first chief minister of West Bengal, and is also one of the few people whose date of birth and death are the same: July 1 in this case. In India, doctors’ day is celebrated in his honour.

a. Mangal Pandey’s rebellion took place in Barrackpore, which was the first constituency of Dr B C Roy. He defeated Surendranath Bannerjee (S N Bannerjee).

b. Pather Panchali was only half-finished when director Satyajit Ray ran out of funds. He approached B C Roy, the then chief minister of West Bengal, and was given the requisite money under the head of ‘road development’, because the name of his film meant ‘song of the road’!

c. R G Kar College and Hospital was established by B C Roy.

3. Easy one. Mauryas.

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Technorati Tags: quiz,connect

This one is a very dry, very serious connect. Try it out.

A

B

C

D

The clues may seem to arbit, and so, I have not changed their filenames. Take a stab.

Happy connecting, and have a nice life, folks!

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As usual, just 1 answer, and as usual, Akhil aka asherxai is correct.

The connect is Sant Singh Chatwal. Praful Patel was one of the two ministers who forwarded the recommendation for a Padma Bhushan for Chatwal

Chatwal donated a lot towards Hillary’s campaign against Obama in the race to becoming the democratic candidate.

Inder Kumar Gujral boycotted a high-profile dinner in the US just because Chatwal was present, and he did not want to be associated with Chatwal in any manner.

Chatwal’s son Vikram Chatwal played the gay guy who got married to Sandhya Mridul in Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, the film.

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Technorati Tags: quiz,identify

Henceforth, I have decided not to give out the answer to a question unless I have two or three replies.

And in keeping with yesterday’s unintended toughie, here’s a relatively easy one. Simply identify.

Shouldn’t be too difficult.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Just one answer here, but since this was sooooooooper easy, I will let it pass the ‘2-3 answers’ clause.

Akhil is correct. These are indeed Tensing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary.

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Technorati Tags: quiz,connect

Here’s yet another filmy connect.

A

B

C

Its really simpler than you think.

Happy connecting, and have a nice life, folks!

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Akhil answered this one, but didn’t get it. Strangely enough, this one was right up his alley, even though he specialises in the Hindi film industry!

The answer to this one is that the names of all three of these English films have also been used in Hindi films! They are Wanted, Soldier and Click.

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Technorati Tags: quiz,connect

Friday
June 11, 2010 : New York
(Nassau Coliseum)

Saturday
June 12, 2010 : Atlantic City, N.J.
(Boardwalk Hall Arena)

Sunday
June 13, 2010: Washington D.C.
(Patriot Center)

Friday
June 18, 2010 : Chicago, Ill
(Sears Centre Arena)

Saturday
June 19, 2010: Detroit, Mich.
(Pontiac Silverdome)

Sunday
June 20, 2010 : Toronto, Ontario
(Air Canada Centre)

Saturday
June 26, 2010 : San Francisco, Calif.
(Oracle Arena)

Sunday
June 27, 2010 : Los Angeles, Calif.
(The Forum)

Wednesday
June 30, 2010 : Vancouver
(PNE Collesium)

Saturday
July 3, 2010 : Houston, Texas
(Houston Toyota Center)

Sunday
July 4, 2010 : Dallas
(American Airlines Center)

Friday
July 16, 2010 : Zurich
(Hallen Stadion)

Saturday
July 17, 2010: Paris, France
(Parc des Expositions, Porte de Versaille)

Sunday
July 18, 2010: Amsterdam
(Amsterdam Arena)

Friday
July 23, 2010 : Birmingham
(LG Arena)

Saturday
July 24, 2010: London
(O2)

Sunday
July 25, 2010 : London
(Wembley)

I know this is a looooooooong list. But what special thing connects these venues?

BTW, I know that this is eminently google-able, but couldn’t resist.

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Akhil and Jaydeep answered, and both have gotten this one correct.

These dates are indeed of A R Rahman’s ‘Jai Ho’ World Tour, to begin later this year.

Random - 3

I had not planned to post anything other than questions and fundaes here. Looks like that plan is out for a toss today, because I want to lash out at some people. The first are those who generalise the ‘media’, and the second are those very people who are within this ‘media’ and give it a bad name.

Of course, this diatribe is entirely in an individual capacity, and no ‘media’ should be held responsible for anything that I, Arkadev Ghoshal, have written as a matter of personal opinion.

To those who generalise the media, some points:

• Do you even know that the word ‘media’ is a plural, and the singular form is ‘medium’?
• The next time you blame the ‘media’ for something, make sure you mention the exact newspaper, television channel or film that is ‘guilty’ of offending you! I bring up this point because as a newspaper journalist, I have more than once been asked to comment about if we have feel any remorse when showing ‘objectionable’ things on television. My friend, should I hold you responsible if your neighbour, or someone in your neighbourhood, does something ‘objectionable’?
• My point here is this: ‘media’ consists of different constituents. Newspapers, magazines, periodicals, television channels, internet, paintings, theatre, songs, films: they all are media! Hell, even oil-paint, crayons, acrylic colours and water colours are different ‘media’ for painting!
• If you are so riled about what you see, why don’t you file a public interest litigation (PIL) against it?
• And here’s another piece of advice: please do not try to put in UNINFORMED OPINIONS about things, just because you want to go one up in a group of peers! There have been lots of times when the media has tried to put forward informative and really helpful topics, but who’s listening?! It is EXACTLY this kind of mentality amongst viewers that gives a handful of television channels the right to say “we show what the people want to see”, and then go ahead and air all sorts of crap, like “swarg ka dwaar mil gaya (the door to heaven has been found)!”
• The next time you say ‘media’, try to specify which media. And which publication or broadcast medium. Think of what you, the ‘common man’, will feel like if someone groups you along with the worst of criminals in the world. Please, SPECIFY!

To those who are in the ‘media’ and give it a bad name:

• Please be more specific when airing a show or printing a report. Can’t we have a separate adults’ section and a children’s section? and time slots for that matter? Of course, this will mean that we are keeping the children away from news in the name of ‘shielding’ them, bit isn’t that necessary if we do not want them to be exposed to daily news about rapes and murders?
• Please introduce and make more use of phrases like ‘developing news’, ‘initial report’ and ‘top story’ in your news channels. This goes specifically for the vernacular channels.
• Please do not load us with crap like “kya duniya 2012 mein khatam ho jayega (will the world end in 2012)?” For heaven’s sake, we have had dozens of other disaster and catastrophe films from Hollywood, and many of them have been far more successful than our current subject!
• Please use terms like ‘alleged’ and ‘accused’ more often, rather than conducting a media trial of your own and branding a person as a culprit and a convict even before he is tried in court! You can indeed attract unwanted legal hassles if someone, who has been on the receiving end of this, takes serious offence to your deeds! This caveat is for the vernacular channels too. Most English channels are much more careful in this matter.

Happy reading, and have a nice life, folks!

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Technorati Tags: quiz

I have already asked this question in a quiz. But here it goes again. John Montagu, an Earl, was so fond of playing cards that he wouldn’t even get out of his seat for a meal! Thus it was that he asked his food to be brought to him by his servants. However, the food on his hands soiled and stained the cards. So he issued another order, and this time the food was brought to him in such a manner that it wouldn’t stick to his hands.

What name or term has come into the English language from this train of incidents?

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Cracked by Akhil and Odyssean. This is indeed the venerable Sandwich, named after Montagu, who was the Earl of Sandwich.

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Technorati Tags: quiz,identify

Simple one for the day.

Identify.

Hint: The name we know him by is the abbreviated inverse of his real name!

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Three answers, and only one correct! This indeed is Georges Remi, or Herge, as we better know him. His creations include Tintin, Lucky Luke, and Jo, Zette and Jocko.

As for the abbreviated inverse part, here’s the funda. His initials are G and R. Invert their order and it becomes R-G, pronounced Herge.

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Technorati Tags: quiz,connect

Here’s the latest connect question. No need to identify the pictures. Just connect what they mean or signify.

A

B

C

D

E

It’s more fun than you think!

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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And another one goes unanswered! The answer to this one was Zynga, the organisation responsible for a lot of gaming applications on Facebook.

These include FARMville, FISHville, PETville and YOville. And the name Zynga means warrior princess in Swahili. Hence Lucy Lawless as Xena. It was also the name of the company founder’s dog.