BCQC Questionable Intelligence (Mar 2014) Finals

questionable intelligence . BCQC. 2014 . [email protected]

Questionable Intelligence

The March Open QuizFinals

16th March 2014

J. Ramanand


Prizes by


1: Quips (3)2: Questions (10)3: Queries (8)4: Qonnect (1)5: Quests (10)6: Quandaries (8)7: Quiescence (7)


Quips

3 questionsWritten+5/0

Identify things depicted in पु�णे�री�

cultural iconographic style*

*artist refuses to be identified


Though frequently ruled illegal, these hoardings are popular among local politicians whose supporters leave no stone, font, or gawdy colour untouched in their effort to show their loyalty on the said politician’s birthday/victory/routine bowel movement.

In the next slide, identify the 1911 achievement by the person at the left.


14 Dec 1911

दादा… हार्दिदा क शु�भे�च्छा

• Well Whishers *

Raje Haakon VII saaheb

Fridtjof rao Nilsen

Ragnar dada Frisch

On your extreme achievement on this day (night)…congos, congrates, congratulations…

Glacial retreat

Watchers consortium

Nordic panthers & polars party

Southern Husky

association

Det norske geografiske

Selskab


“Puneri Patya” or “Pune Boards” are irreverent, sarcastic, and attention-grabbing announcements made to the public. These are made to stick and hurt.

In the next slide, identify a sport with a rule that seems out of place with its macho ethos.


Please come with one handkerchief in your singlet. Do not spill any blood on the floor. We are not the Red Cross.


“Hou de kharcha” or “Let there be expenditure” is a Marathi internet meme that celebrates the victory of desire over good sense, of credit over debit, of attitude over certitude. A rhyming ‘punch line’ is usually part of the arrangement.

In the next slide, identify the entertainment vehicle which sunk a few ships.


One queen of beauty, one king of booty

हो�उ दे� खर्च !


Answers


Answers

1. Roald Amundsen, 1st to the South Pole

2. Wrestling; a “bloodrag” handkerchief must be carried by wrestlers to mop any blood cuts

3. “Roop ki Rani, Choron ka Raja” – such delay. much over budget. so flop. wow.


Questions

10 QsInfinite ReboundsOne-finite Pounce

+10/0A -> H


A tale from the 1980s.

Also in the fray were:

Naseeruddin Shah and Smita Patil

John Hurt and Bhakti Barve

If they lost, who won?

1/10

Image: Wikipedia


Answer

Ben Kingsley and Rohini Hattangadi(the casting of Gandhi and Kasturba in Attenborough’s film)


In 1950, Fred Titmus (later to become an English Test off-spinner) played his first game at Lord’s. Before the match, a announcement was made:

“Ladies & Gentlemen, a correction to your scoreboards: for “F.J.Titmus”, read “Titmus, F,J”

Why was this announcement made?

2/10


Answer

The convention was that for amateur players, initials (and honorifics such as “Mr.”) were applied before the name, while for professionals, they were largely referred to by surname and initials after the name. Titmus was a professional.


It’s not very difficult to identify and tell apart these two varieties. Usually, this is done by comparing a particular body part.

An anecdotal method to identify each, that children often hear of, is that the body part roughly resembles the shape of the geographical entity associated with each variety.

What?

3/10


Answer

African and Asian/Indian elephants, whose ears are said to resemble Africa and Asia/India respectively.

Image: Wikipedia, kimpluscraig.com


While it’s not very clear why this is done in an anti-clockwise fashion, popular internet explanations trace its roots to the following fact(oid)s:

• Objects in the universe orbit anti-clockwise• Blood circulates anti-clockwise• Electrons circulate around the nucleus anti-

clockwise• Planets revolve around the sun anti-clockwise• Earth’s rotation around its axis is anti-clockwise

What?

4/10


Answer

Why Muslims circumambulate the Kaaba in an anti-clockwise manner


Some examples of people taking (or not taking) advantage of an exclusive rule:

Benjamin Disraeli: brandy with waterGladstone: Sherry and beaten eggStafford Cripps: waterJames Callaghan: tonic waterGeoffrey Howe: gin and tonicGordon Brown: Highland spring water

What rule?

5/10


Answer

Alcohol is not officially allowed in the chamber of the House of Commons in Britain, except for the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Budget Day.


This “reform” committee headed by Meghnad Saha was set up in 1952.

In a preface to its report (1955), Jawaharlal Nehru wrote:

“They represent past political divisions in the country. Now that we have attained Independence, it is obviously desirable that there should be a certain uniformity […] and this should be done on a scientific approach to this problem.”

What was the committee’s main recommendation?

6/10


Answer

Choosing the Saka calendar as the unified national calendar


Users of these devices, which have caught on in the last couple of years, are called ‘vapers’. Manufacturers are willing to customize them, leading to a niche segment of enthusiasts.

What are these devices? (L-R: made from a Atari joystick, the MoFaux, steampunk version, skull-tipped)

7/10


Answer

e-cigarettes (these kinds are called ‘personal vaporisers’)


Known by his initials, “D.A” got into politics after the death of his elder brother “D.M”. D.M wore a brown (uttariya-like) shawl to symbolize the millet crop “kurakkan” (most of us know this as “ragi”).

D.A. also adopted it, as have his four sons, who have also joined politics.

What is their surname?

8/10


Answer

Rajapaksa

D.A. is Don Alwin

His sons are Chamal, Mahinda, Basil, and Gotabaya


Carlo’s family was a great mix of art and engineering.

His father Giovanni was an architect and sculptor.

Carlo was acclaimed for furniture designs.He wanted his sons Rembrandt to become an engineer and the other son to become an artist (the exact opposite happened).

Rembrandt became famous for his animal sculptures (seen on the right). Some of his work was used by his more famous brother. Who?

Image: Wikipedia, Christies

9/10


Answer

Ettore Bugatti, creator of the Bugatti automobiles. The elephant design was used for the Bugatti Royale.

Image: Wikipedia


This shade of colour is named after him because, in the 1940s, he observed that ships with this colour seemed to be less obviously seen during twilight hours.

(Later experiments showed this to be incorrect, and if anything, the colours could make things more obvious)

Who?

10/10


Answer

Lord Louis Mountbatten (Mountbatten Pink)


Queries & Quandaries

16 QsWritten Attempt: 15/-5

Direct & Pass: 10/0School quiz-style Passing (starting from

direct)Pick 1 from 16 topics

Team last in passing picks for direct


In April 2013, Guan Tianlang, a 14 year old Chinese golfing prodigy became the youngest player at the Augusta Masters.

During the competition, he also became the first-ever player in Masters history to be penalized (one stroke) for something (this decision was widely criticized). It was put down to inexperience, as it could not be put down to age.What for?


Answer

Slow play – taking too long to play a stroke.


Hans Redl played for the Austrian Davis Cup team in 1937, and then Germany until 1939.

He served with distinction during WWII. Despite suffering injuries, he returned to play for Austria from 1948 till 1955.

What change was made to the rules of tennis on his account after his return? Images: shootingparrots.co.uk

TENNIS


Answer

He lost his left arm and could only serve by placing the ball on the racquet before tossing it in the air. This would violate the “don’t hit the ball twice” rule, which was modified to allow this form of service.


E.W.Barton-Wright studied various arts in the Orient, which he combined into his own style in the 1890s. This was illustrated in magazine articles. This received an unexpected boost in popularity thanks to a passing mention elsewhere.

The cover of a recent compilation of these articles with a more catchy title is seen on the next slide. Fill in the blanks.


Image: IvyPress


Answer

Bartitsu was a mash-up of many arts such as Jujitsu and Fencing. In “The Empty House”, Holmes says he used “Baritsu” to defeat Moriarty.


The Ganjifa is a game involving playing cards. It was popular in parts of India including Maharashtra.

It consists of round playing cards with elaborate paintings: suits and different grades of cards as in other playing card sets.

The Mughal variant was quite popular, with 96 cards (8 suits). A Hindu version (with 120 cards) emerged, especially associated with the town of Savantwadi in Maharashtra.

What was depicted on these cards?


Answer

Dashavataram figures

Image: dollsofindia.com


This is Vogue’s 2013 September issue, devoted to the future of fashion.

This resulted in some online commentators being critical of a company’s tie-up with Vogue to make what fashionable?


Answer

Google Glass. It prominently features Google Glass as a fashion accessory


The Nijo Castle in Kyoto, Japan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is particularly known for being the best example of something in it named after a nightingale.

Hear the sound, and explain what is going on, and why this is so created.

[Audio removed]


Answer

Nightingale Floors, which squeak by design when someone walks on them. Serves as a warning when someone approaches the inner chambers.


Del Kathryn Barton won Australia’s highest art award, the Archibald Prize, in 2013.

This features a portrait of a 1981 graduate from Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art. One of his first notable performances was in 1984, when he enacted the role of arguably one of Australia’s greatest villains.

Who, and what role?Image: Australian.com.au


Answer

Hugo Weaving, who played the role of English Test captain Douglas Jardine in “Bodyline”.

The artwork is called “Hugo”.Image: trumpercricket.blogspot.com


Some apartment buildings in the USA boast of having some of the slowest elevators in the world. That has resulted in some people hacking them to make them more efficient. (video removed)

Why are these elevators so slow?


Answer

Sabbath elevators for observant Jews whose faith prevents them from operating electric devices. These stop at all floors, making them very slow. Hacks like these let people who’ve missed the regular elevators to mess with the Sabbath elevators.


A well-worn story, especially told during the days of the Soviet Union, was that Karl Marx, supposedly an admirer of this person, offered to dedicate a volume of Das Kapital to him.

This person politely refused, the story goes, to respect his wife’s Christian views.

(In reality, no such offer was made, though there was correspondence between these two.)

Who?


Answer

Charles Darwin


Upon his death, Osama bin Laden was buried at sea:- to ensure that his final resting place did not

become a memorial of sorts- it would be hard to find a US-friendly nation to

accept the remains

This mirrors another incident in 1962, when the remains of a person were scattered in the Mediterranean because the country where he died did not want him, and did not want a memorial to come up.

Which person?


Answer

Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi officer who was captured and executed by Israel.

Image: Wikipedia


The Reserve Bank of India has been trying to increase the life of rupee notes in India. Among their many directives have been to discourage banks and people from stapling notes, scribbling on them etc.

They admitted that a specific directive (issued in 2008 and reiterated later) had been a failure, and that this was a problem specific to one major region.

What?


Answer

Practice of putting notes in garlands during weddings and other functions in North India


In every Swedish election, a small, yet significant number of people vote for Kalle Anka as a protest against available options. Though not officially affiliated to Kalle Anka, the Kalle Anka Party has been around for the last decade, as a kind of protest joke.

Kalle Anka is a popular icon in Scandinavia, and his show on Christmas Eve is a national tradition.

How do we better know him?


Answer

Donald Duck


This is a still from “Major Chandrakanth”, a 1966 Tamil film by K.Balachander. The man in the middle, the actor Sunderrajan who played the title role, is even today called ‘Major’ Sunderrajan.The actor on the left is A.V.M.Rajan, who plays the Major’s son and a negative character.

How was his character’s name reused a few years later?


Answer

The actor Shivaji Rao was given the name “Rajinikanth” by K.Balachander from this character’s name.


Satyajit Ray’s film “Shatranj ke Khilari” has an animation scene in its opening minutes that summarises the situation of Awadh in 1856 (images on the next slide).

Ram Mohan, the animator, says:“The animated scenes were essentially political cartoons and Ray was very clear about how he wanted these visualized.He suggested the _____ _____ style for the character designs and the limited, staccato movement of the cut-out animation inserts one saw in ___ ____ shows”.

a. The style: a form of artistic styleb. An entertainment show

What were the inspirations?


Answer

a. Company Drawingb. Monty Python


Connect

Images: voxpopvanguard.wordpress.com, mymusicmoviesandmutterings.blogspot.com, the hitchcockproject.wordpress.com


Answer

Joseph Conrad books

“Nostromo” – the spaceship in Alien

“Lord Jim” – Amitabh’s character and narrative arc in Kala Patthar resembles “Lord Jim”

“The Secret Agent” – Sabotage is based on it


"____ of Benares" is a documentary made in 2002 by Nasreen Munni Kabir, a noted author and film-maker on subjects of Indian film and culture. But for many years. the documentary could not find a distributor in India and hence was never released. In 2010-11, she was working on another biography and mentioned this movie to the subject of that biography.Being a great admirer of the first, the second person put in a word with Sony and the film got released in 2011 in India.Who are these two people?


Answer

Bismillah Khan, A.R.Rahman


Qonnect

4 slidesNon-exhaustive set

Written+25/00+20/-5+15/-5+10/00


+25/001/4


+20/-5

2/4


+15/-53/4


+10/00

4/4


Answer

Types of diplomacy

Sauna, Dollar, GunboatCricket, Ping-Pong, ShuttlePanda, Track-II, Guerilla, Cheque BookTin Cup, Summit, Cowboy


Quests

10 QsInfinite ReboundsOne-finite Pounce

+10/0H -> A


The story goes that Adrian, a writer, had never even solved a crossword, but he became the first to set crosswords for The Times.

He became a pioneer of the cryptic crossword style.

His son became a reporter and an MP.

Most of us have probably read his daughter’s works, who clearly inherited her father’s talents.

Who is this daughter?

1/10


Answer

Anthea Bell, who along with Derek Hockridge, translated books like Asterix into English.


In 1915, the Antrobus family of Cheshire auctioned an estate in Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK. “On a whim”, Sir Cecil Chubb bought it for his wife for about 6600 pounds.

She didn’t care much for it.

In 1918, he gave it to the United Kingdom with a few conditions.

What?

2/10


Answer

Stonehenge

Image: Wikipedia


“The Living Room Sessions Part 1” by Pt. Ravi Shankar won a Grammy for World Music.

This has the maestro playing 4 ragas: 3 of them are Malgunji, Khamaj, and Kedara.

The 4th was created in tribute to a friend and occasional musician. Who?

6/10


Answer

Raag Satyajit, for Satyajit Ray


In 2000, the director of “Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar” was publicly humiliated by Shiv Sainiks in Mumbai after an alleged insult to Shivaji.

How was this incident used in a visual sense for an acclaimed 2013 film?

8/10


Answer

Poster of “Shahid” which shows the protagonist’s face blackened. The director of both these films is Hansal Mehta.


The first meeting was held from 1st Aug-8th Aug 1907The location was Brownsea Island, off the south of England. Such a relatively remote place was chosen to keep the press away, as the organizer was a famous person.

There were 20 participants The organiser’s aim was to test a few experiments, which would form the basis of a book in 1908

It began with a hoot from a “kudu” horn (made from an antelope’s antlers), owned by the organizer.

What was this the first of?

4/10


Answer

Boy Scout camp (it was organized by Robert Baden-Powell)


Joe Arpaio is a sheriff in Arizona and calls himself “America’s Toughest Sheriff”.

He is controversial for many of his jail policies, such as:

Serving only food collected as surplus from other placesBanning possession of magazines such as PlayboyMoving men to tents in an open yard during summers

He is perhaps best known for creating an unusual version of handcuffs and underwear for jail inmates, which he also sells as memorabilia at fund-raisers.

What is this version?

5/10


Answer

He makes prisoners wear pink handcuffs and pink underwear.


Members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian denomination, have had legal trouble in many countries when laws or customs collide with their beliefs.

In India, three children were expelled from a Kerala school for refusing to do something. The case eventually found its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled the children’s fundamental rights had been violated, and directed their re-admission.

What did they refuse to do?

7/10


Answer

Sing the national anthem


This is the Coat of Arms of an organization.

The motto “Nullius in Verba” literally translates from Latin as “In no words” (or “nothing in words”).

Which organization, and how does this group want the motto to be interpreted?

3/10


Answer

The Royal Society, a British scientific organization.

The motto is used in the sense of “don’t take anyone’s word for it”, implying verification of facts without deferring to authority.

Image: Royal Society’s website


Though the following were blamed

The DevilSteam from trainsThe electric telegraphGuano-based fertilizers

the real culprit was an organism called ‘Phytophthora infestans’

What event?

9/10


Answer

Irish Potato Famine


Each pair denotes the first and last location in a category.

These are the 4 most prominent categories. What?

10/10


Answer

First and last match venues of Sachin Tendulkar in various forms of cricket

Tests: Karachi, MumbaiODIs: Gujranwala, DhakaT20s: only 1 match at JohannesburgDomestic First Class: Bombay, Lahli


Quiescence

7 QsWritten+10/-5


In recent times, the fourth day after Thanksgiving in the USA is the biggest online shopping day in that country. What is the two-word marketing phrase for it?

1/7


Identify the book (poster is from the film adaptation)

2/7


This is a Sri Lankan remake of which film?

3/7


A detective series – who is the detective?

4/7


What fashion concept are both these cartoons referring to?

5/7


In 1992, on which show did Sinead O’Connor controversially tear up a photo of the then Pope?

6/7


Appearing once a week, what phrase was used to describe comic strips such as these:

7/7


Answer

1. Cyber Monday2. Tuesdays with Morrie3. A Wednesday4. Thursday Next5. Casual Friday6. Saturday Night Live7. Sunday

comics/strips/funnies


Finals EndI quiz-blog at

Infinite Zounds

J. Ramanand

http://infinitezounds.blogspot.com/

BCQC Questionable Intelligence (Mar 2014) Finals

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Transcript of BCQC Questionable Intelligence (Mar 2014) Finals