QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–479

This one can be worked out easily.

Identify this sporting venue, which has been devastated by a natural calamity that killed lakhs of people. 

It was originally built in 1876 as a race course, and was known as “The Esplanade” till recently. It was transformed to cater to another sport in 1927, when it was officially declared a stadium only for that sport.

Pinpointing  the calamity first will always help. Hundreds of those affected by it eventually took up shelter in this sporting venue for several days.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Seven replies, and all correct! This is indeed the Galle stadium in Sri Lanka.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–478

A super-easy one for the day.

Give me a collective name for the four gentleman shown here, and also name the individual whose face you can’t see. Identifying this quartet will easily reveal the identity of the fifth gentleman. It’s a simple case of association.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Nine people replied, and only one was incorrect. That is indeed the Beatles with Maharshi Mahesh Yogi.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–477

A typical Kolkata-style question today.

Which shopping landmark in one of India’s four original metropolitan cities is named after this man? Additional info: The landmark has seen two blazes – in 1985 and 2011 – and risen from the ashes both times.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Six answers, and all but one correct! This is Sir Stuart Saunders Hogg, whose name was given to Hogg’s Market in erstwhile Calcutta. Kolkata now calls it New Market.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–476

This one can be worked out easily.

The epitaph shown above belongs to a Canada-born actor whose credits include the captain of the eponymous ship in 1972’s “The Poseidon Adventure”. However, we know him better for a specific brand of comedy that led noted film critic Roger Ebert to brand him the “Laurence Olivier of spoofs”.

Simply identify the gentleman.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Three answers, and all correct! This is indeed the epitaph of the incomparable talent that was Leslie Nielsen!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–475

This one can be worked out quite easily.

Depicted here is one of the earliest versions of the mascot of a now-famous multinational food chain. Yes, I heard you say “super easy”. But let others take a stab at it.

Simply identify the brand and the mascot. Pinpoint one, and the other is a dead giveaway!

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Four answers, and all correct. This is indeed the first rendition of Ronald McDonald. He sure has come a long way since then!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–474

A guessable one for the day.

What world-famous structure, designed and built by architect George Wittet in the Indo-Saracenic style, currently stands at this location, which is seen before the construction in this photo from 1905?

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Eight answers, and all but one are correct. This is indeed the place where the Gateway of India would be built!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–473

A very easy one for today.

This newly-unveiled statue in Tokyo shows agricultural scholar Hidesaburo Ueno, a noted contributor to Japanese society as a professor at the University of Tokyo, with his pet. Identify the canine.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Eleven replies, and all of them correct. This is indeed Hachiko, the dog who waited for his dead master at the train station for 10 years!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realm–472 [NSFW/NSFL]

A connect, after quite some time.

1. a. The profession itself does not matter. Concentrate on the disease.

b. Losing consciousness for a short span of time.

c. Focus on the profession, please.

d. The emotion matters

Connect these to a single person. Chances are that you won’t need a hint, but if you do, here’s an event:

You may also consider a number of this event’s namesakes as hints.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Three replies from two people, and both guys are correct! The connect is indeed St Valentine, whose day is coming up soon. Valentine is the patron saint of not only love but plague, against fainting, beekeeping, epilepsy and affianced couples, amongst other things. The photo is one of the several Valentine’s Day massacres that have taken place over the centuries.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–471

Another workable one for the day

The photo above is that of the Dugway Proving Ground, a US Army facility in the state of Utah. On October 15, 1991, an an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray was detected over it.

As Wikipedia puts it: “The particle was traveling very close to the speed of light—assuming the particle was a proton, its speed was only about 1.5 femtometers (quadrillionths of a meter) per second less than the speed of light, translating to a speed of approximately 0.999 999 999 999 999 999 999 9951c. At that speed, in a year-long race between a photon and the particle, the particle would fall behind only 46 nanometres, or 0.15 femtoseconds (1.5×10−16 s); or one centimetre every 220,000 years.”

It also adds: “The speed of the particle, if it was a proton, is so high that it would experience relativistic time dilation by a factor of about 320 billion. At that rate, the particle could have travelled for the entire duration of the universe's existence while experiencing less than 16 days subjective time.”

Surprised scientists gave it a name that many may see as a nod to the Higgs-boson. What’s the name?

***

Two answers, and Ali seems to have not had the patience to read the full question. Santanu is correct, though. This is indeed the Oh-My-God particle.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–470

A workable one.

The photo above shows something created by E A Johnson in 1965 at the Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern, United Kingdom. Quite ahead of its time, the concept was soon adopted by air-traffic controllers in the UK, and remained in use till the 1990s. Today, a large chunk of mobile phone users encounter this technology regularly.

This was the first example of what? And it’s really easy to work out from the image, despite its quality.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Three answers, and all correct! This is indeed the world’s first touch screen.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–469

A relatively easy one for the day.

As most people know, Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo created the famous characters of Asterix and Obelix. At the peak of their creativity, they churned out albums of these beloved characters at a rate of one every six months. However, after Goscinny’s death in 1977, Uderzo brought out albums at an increasingly slower rate, till transitioning to retirement.

These days, Uderzo still does the occasional sketch, depending on a situation or to highlight something. The sketch above falls in the above category. On what specific occasion, or as a tribute to whom, was it drawn?

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

One answer again, and Abhinav Vaid has nailed it. This is indeed Uderzo’s tribute to the “Charlie Hebdo” cartoonists after the terror attack on their office.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–468

Aaaand we are back after nearly a week!

This image is of the cover of a book whose name, as well as that of the author’s, is amply clear. Kerry Wendell Thornley, a United States Marine, wrote the manuscript of this book in 1962, but it was lost. It was rediscovered in the 1990s, and printed for the first time only then. The story is about “a disgruntled marine who defects to the Soviet Union”.

The interesting thing about the book is, Thornley based this book on a fellow marine. The book turned out to be the first to be written about or based on this individual, and a full year before he gained global notoriety. Identify this marine.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Ali has the only answer, and he is correct! The marine is indeed Lee Harvey Oswald, who would would go on to kill US President John Kennedy in 1963, a full year after the the book was written.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–467

Try this one.

The gentleman highlighted by the red circle was a celebrity responder to the 9/11 attacks, and worked tirelessly with the search and rescue teams on the ground. He clearly did not want any publicity out of it, and hence, this is probably the clearest photo of him we have from the day. Identify him.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Five answers, and all have correctly identified Steve Buscemi!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–466

A workable one for the day.

The cover shown above is one from the 20 albums this versatile performer has released since 1984. He has sung in a number of languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Taiwanese and English.

In fact, one of his songs was incorporated into the recruitment advertisement of the Royal Hong Kong Police in 1994. He also recorded a song in 2007 to mark the one-year countdown to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He performed this song at the 2008 Summer Paralympics.

Surprisingly enough, these are only his smaller claims to fame! Name him.

***

Four answers, and all correct! This is Jackie Chan.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–465

This is one of those non-workables.

Identify the older gentleman, who has left behind him a legacy of contact combat that started with fighting the Nazis and ended up being used by all across the world, especially in urban self-defence.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Five answers, and all correct! This is Imre Lichtenfeld, aka Imi Sde-Or, the creator of the martial art Krav Maga.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–464

A slightly difficult one for the day.

Identify this gentleman, who was the first head of an Indian organisation that was formed in 1968 because its need was felt after the country’s loss to China in the 1962 war.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Five replies, and only a couple seem to have paid attention to the question. I had asked the name of the gentleman; the part about the organisation was meant only as an indication as to who he was. This is indeed R N Kao, the first chief of India’s spy agency Research and Analysis Wing.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–463

A quirky one for today.

Give me the name of the calculating old woman who wrote this book, which happens to be the first of its kind written by an Indian citizen. PS: Sorry for the small photo. Will post a bigger one if I can find it.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Seven answers, and all spot on! The “calculating old lady is indeed Shakuntala Devi, the famous mathematician for whom the statement “mind faster than a computer” actually held true.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–462

A super-simple one for the day.

Lots of clues on the gravestone as to the identity of the person laid to rest here. Just tell me his name.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

A dozen replies, and all correct, bar one. Yes, this is Mel Blanc, the voice behind the beloved characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn and oodles of others!

Fun fact: When Blanc slipped into coma after a car accident, a lot of people lost hope as he was not responding. Two weeks after the accident, a neurologist, probably having failed all ways to elicit a response, and in a sort of last-ditch effort, asked him how Bugs Bunny was. Apparently, he answered through his coma, “Myeeeeh, what’s up, doc?” It took seven months for him to recover, but this is probably one of the most inspiring incidents of a creation saving his/her creator.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–461

A really simple one for today.

Simply identify this eminently recognisable polymath, who happens to be a modern-day stalwart in the performance arts today. Apologies in advance for the photo quality.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Five guesses from three people, and two correct answers. Santanu gets it right the third time. This is indeed Saurabh Shukla, still somehow most recognisable as “Kallu Mama” from the film “Satya”.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–460

A connect after a long time.

1.

2.

3.

Connect to a single person. Shouldn’t be all that difficult. If you need a further clue: “Crane”.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Six replies, and all correct, despite a few wayward guesses at the clues. The answer is indeed Kiran Bedi—Ramon Magsaysay Award-winner, anchor of “Aap ki Kachehri”, based on the show “Judge Judy”, and inspiration behind the film “Kartavyam”. Oh, and she was called “Crane” Bedi during her tenure as a police officer. Read it up. It’s super-inspirational!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–459

A somewhat easy and difficult one for the day, depending on your interests.

This was the director’s vision of a certain component in a trilogy of films. He hand-moulded some play-dough to give it a basic shape, and the designers did the rest. It has bean described in the canon as originally being a prototype armoured tank designed as a bridging vehicle for the military, including weaponry and the ability to boost into a rampless jump. This version o the vehicle, in fact, is the current evolution of something that first appeared in print in 1939.

Simply tell me what we are talking about. If possible, name both this and the earlier version.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS: As has been pointed out to me, some people might find this NSFW-ish because of the shape. There is nothing NSFW about the finished product, unless you are on the wrong side of the law.

***

Nine answers, of which seven are correct. This is indeed the Tumbler, the updated version of the BatMobile depicted in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. And yes, that play-dough is Nolan’s own handiwork.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–458

An easy one for the weekend.

Simply identify the brand Amitabh Bachchan is advertising for. Hint: Ironically, all that talk about India and being Indians is for a firm which has a very un-Indian component to its name.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Seven replies from six people, but only four are correct. As user “ARVIND” has pointed out, the hint is in the tagline. The brand is BPL, and the un-Indian component therein is the fact that it expands to British Physical Laboratories.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–457

A somewhat different one for the day.

This gentleman has achieved cosmic greatness today, but is seen in this photo as a strapping young wrestler from his college days. Just identify him. Oh, and sorry for the photo quality, but this is the best I could get.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Nine replies, of which six are correct. This is Neil deGrasse Tyson, the gentleman responsible for the demotion of Pluto from the status of “planet”, and the man who has hosted the latest edition of the TV series “Cosmos”.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–456

Sorry for the unintended break in questions.

Here’s an intriguing one to start with. Identify the gentleman. Hint (Yes, you need one): Look very closely.

Photo credit: Arthur Sasse / Albert Einstein Sticking Out His Tongue (1951), 2014 © Sandro Miller. Image courtesy of Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Four answers, and all correct! This is indeed actor John Malkovich posing as Albert Einstein.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–455

A somewhat humorous one for the day.

This is probably one of the best examples of why a good sub-editor or copy editor of a newspaper is much more than a glorified spell-checker, as some detractors may claim. It is also a good example of what happens when a novice is over-zealous what the spell-check tool, or trusts it more than his or her abilities.

The question, however, is quite easy. Simply identify the gentleman being referenced.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Thirteen replies—a dozen and one more to spare! And all of them are on the correct track. This is indeed Benedict Cumberbatch. However, there should actually be nothing “elementary” about him. That word, which we so often associate with him, is never actually spoken by the character in all the books or stories he appears in. It was actually the product of a TV show that was made much later.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–454

This should be easy.

Identify this gentleman.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Six answers, but I still can’t figure out exactly from which angle this looks like Satyajit Ray, as an anonymous individual has guessed. As for the others, kudos for correctly identifying Pranab Mukherjee, our current President, in a relaxed, suave avatar!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–453

A somewhat quirky one for today.

Identify EXACTLY what you are seeing here. Hint: This is a cross-section of a bigger object.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Three answers, and all correct! This is indeed a cross-section from an aloe vera.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–452

A little bit of pure trivia for today.

Simply identify the bank that is advertising its pioneering service of drive-in banking through this vintage TV ad.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Well, there seems to be no taker for this question here. It was answered on the Facebook links, though. This, ladies and gentlemen, was a service by the Indian Overseas Bank.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–451

Another somewhat easy one.

Identify her. Yes. Just that much.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Eleven answers—just one shy of a square dozen—and all but one of them are correct. This may certainly look like Sitara Devi, but it’s actually actor Zohra Sehgal!

In reply to someone’s query posted while answering: I’m afraid there’s no prize YET, either for guessing or answering questions bang on. But with your support, a little luck and some more elbow grease from yours truly, that can be a reality too!

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–450

A slightly difficult one for the day.

Identify the young girl from this grainy photo. Sorry for the poor image quality, but this is the best of this photo I could find.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

So seven answers came in, and all of them are bang on!! This is, as has so succinctly been put on Facebook, “Momta Di”, aka Trinamool Congress chief and West Benngal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–449

An easy one to help you tide over those Monday blues.

Simply identify the film from this minimalist poster. To be honest, if ever a film deserved a minimalist poster, it was this one. And it also seems to have the most of them around. Of course, I have been known to be wrong, but this one is just my observation. So that’s it: Simply identify the film!

Happy quizzing, and have nice life, folks!

***

Six answers, and all of them are bang on! “Aap Gyaani hain, Antaryaami hain, Shaktimaan hain, Buddhimaan hain; balki main to yeh bhi kehta hoon ke aap Purush hi nahi… (awkward pause) Mahapurush hain, Mahapurush!” Am I fanboying too much about Andaz Apna Apna?

PS: I honestly do not know who created this minimalist poster, and would have no qualms about giving him/her due credit. If you come across/know this person, please direct them to me, or me to them.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–448

A somewhat easy one for the day.

The photo above is a combination of the game “Adventure” (left), released by Atari in 1979-80 for its 2600 video game console. On the right is a hidden room in the game, which shows the words “Created by Warren Robinett”, a bit of code put in by Robinett himself. A probably apocryphal story goes that he thought he would not get credit for his work, and so chose to put this in.

When Atari was finally made aware of this code bya 15-year-old gamer after its release, the company, after considering other options, decided to keep it in the game, and assured customers of more such features in future products.

By and large, what word or phrase is thought to have originated from this entire incident?

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Three answers, and all correct! This incident is indeed the origin of the term “Easter Egg”, as used in the context of electronic media and software.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–447

A somewhat easy one today, given that the year’s first weekend is starting.

We have the origin of something or someone in this image. Just tell me exactly what it is. That’s it.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Only one answer here. And Tauseef Warsi is correct! The soft toy is indeed the inspiration for Winnie the Pooh.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–446

Let’s continue with the habit this New Year.

The poem above has been written by an individual named Yuen Ren Chao in Classical Chinese, along with its English translation. What is the claim to fame of these otherwise ridiculous verses? Hint: Think pinyin or Mandarin Chinese.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Three answers, and all correct! This entire poem, in Mandarin Chinese or pinyin, consists of the syllable or sound “Shi”. As Wikipedia puts it:

« Shī Shì shí shī shǐ »

Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.

Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.

Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.

Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì.

Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shìshì.

Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì.

Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.

Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.

Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī shī, shí shí shí shī shī.

Shì shì shì shì.

QR–Cure–Quizzing Realms–445

Let’s start off the New Year with a slightly difficult question.

The photo above purportedly shows Abyssinian royals in their full regalia. Truth is, these were all British people who presented themselves as emissaries from Abyssinia and tricked the Royal Navy into showing their flagship, the battleship HMS Dreadnought, led by Irish poet and noted prankster Horace de Vere Cole. Your job is to identify the individual to the far left.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

***

Two answers, and both correct. That individual is indeed Virginia Woolf. Yes, THE Virginia Woolf. How many else are there?