Question for March 31, 2010

Connect the following,

A)

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

B) C)

Only death could stop him - Mar 30, 2010

As per legend, he was sent from the battlefield of X to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the battle of X, which took place in 490BC.

He burst in to the assembly shouting 'we have won' and then he dropped dead.

The modern world still commemorates X.

Guess X.

Question for March 29 - PS

What is happening in this video, and why?

(don't go to the actual youtube URL, the comments there would reveal the answer)

Question for Mar 26

Add one more to complete the list shown in the visual. The order of the list is of no relevance.

Question for 25th Mar, 2010

This is a "figuring out" of a different kind. Simply identify the artist and the song here:
Song

A Middle Kingdom First- March 24 2010

In 1979, as the ravages of the cultural revolution were fading, Zhang Humei became the first officially recognised X of its kind in modern China. Celebrating that moment, a newspaper recently called her "X number one". From those baby steps, X has flourished in China and the country is today becoming a haven even for Xs from around the world. Identify X

Question for March 23, 2010

X is the earliest surviving piece of its kind (circa 1790 BC). One nearly complete example of X is inscribed on a seven foot, four inch tall diorite stele in the Akkadian language. The stele was discovered in 1901 by Gustav Jéquier in what is now Khūzestān, Iran and is currently on display at the Louvre. X is eponymous of the king who enacted it. The king claimed that he was chosen by the Gods to bring about the rule of righteousness in his land. X is thought of as a precursor to one of the fundamental tenets in the modern world, though X is less encompassing than what we have today. The king is depicted in several U.S. government buildings. He is shown along with others in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives in the United States Capitol, and also on the south wall of the U.S. Supreme Court building as receiving X from the Sun God.

Identify X.

Question for Mar. 22nd -- Dev

Posting early due to travel plans...

X became a single city occupying both banks of the river Y with a unification in the year 1873. The name X is a concatenation of the names of the two cities on either side of Y.

Regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, its extensive World Heritage Site includes the banks of the Y, Heroes' Square and the Millennium Underground Railway, the second oldest in the world. Other highlights include a total of 80 geothermal springs, the world's largest thermal water cave system, second largest synagogue, and third largest Parliament building.

Identify X and Y.

Question for March 19th, 2010

It all started with a simple story about a hod carrier living in Walkin' Street.

But by mixing references from tomes like New Science(La Scienza Nuova) and the Egyptian Book of the Dead it went on to become this...(the first and last lines of X)

"A way a lone a last a loved along the" ......"riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs."

The title of X can be literally interpreted as "End again".

What is X ?

New:: clue1: X is a book.
clue2: The title of X and very loosely, its idea is derived from a folksy ballad.
clue3: Hope you had a happy St. Patrick's day ?

Question for March 18, 2010

X is a mythical sea monster of gargantuan size, said to have dwelt off the coasts of Norway and Iceland. The sheer size and fearsome appearance attributed to the beasts have made them common ocean-dwelling monsters in various fictional works. The legend may actually have originated from sightings of real giant squid that are variously estimated to grow to 13–15 m (40–50 ft) in length, including the tentacles. These creatures normally live at great depths, but have been sighted at the surface and reportedly have "attacked" ships. The name X is a Scandinavian word designating an unhealthy animal, or something twisted. In modern German, X means octopus.

A representative early description is given by the Swede Jacob Wallenberg in his book Min son på galejan ("My son on the galley") from 1781:

... X, also called the Crab-fish, which [according to the pilots of Norway] is not that huge, for heads and tails counted, he is no larger than our Öland is wide [i.e. less than 16 km] ... He stays at the sea floor, constantly surrounded by innumerable small fishes, who serve as his food and are fed by him in return: for his meal, if I remember correctly what E. Pontoppidan writes, lasts no longer than three months, and another three are then needed to digest it. His excrements nurture in the following an army of lesser fish, and for this reason, fishermen plumb after his resting place ... Gradually, X ascends to the surface, and when he is at ten to twelve fathoms, the boats had better move out of his vicinity, as he will shortly thereafter burst up, like a floating island, spurting water from his dreadful nostrils and making ring waves around him, which can reach many miles. Could one doubt that this is the Leviathan of Job?

Identify X.

Younger than π

The number X is, compared to π, a relative newcomer on the mathematics scene. The first approximation to X was found by Jacob Bernoulli, who while looking at the problem of compound interest found that the number must lie between 2 and 3.

The notation that we use for the number today was given by a great mathematician, who some claim derived the notation from the first letter of his name. Others say that the claim is ridiculous. The mathematician is also responsible for a lot of other notation we use.

In its IPO filing in 2004, Google announced its intention to raise X billion dollars, rounded to the nearest dollar.

On 2010 February 21 we knew 500,000,000,000 digits of X.

What number is X? Who is the mathematician?

Question for March 16 - PS

Who's patent is this?

Question for Mar 15

The "Self-Operating Napkin" (refer visual) is activated when the soup spoon (A) is raised to mouth, pulling string (B) and thereby jerking ladle (C) which throws cracker (D) past parrot (E). Parrot jumps after cracker and perch (F) tilts, upsetting seeds (G) into pail (H). Extra weight in pail pulls cord (I), which opens and lights automatic cigar lighter (J), setting off skyrocket (K) which causes sickle (L) to cut string (M) and allow the pendulum with the attached napkin to swing back and forth, thereby wiping chin.

Identify the inventor.

Question for 12th March, 2010

X was originally composed by Y as "A Time for Tony", a lullaby for the Y's son Tony. X has been heard since 1964 and has now inserted itself into popular culture. X is often used at baseball stadiums when the manager goes out to the pitcher's mound to discuss a replacement, or during instant replay reviews, or at short-track races when officials are trying to ascertain the cause of an accident which may result in a penalty. On numerous shows, including The Jerry Springer Show and Boston Legal, X (or some variation thereof) is heard when a choice has to be made or a result is being awaited. Y estimated that the X earned him royalties of over $70 million.

What's X? Bonus points for identifying Y.

Map again! March 11th 2010

What does this map represent? Be as specific as you can.

Question for Mar 10, 2010

The term X entered the Oxford Dictionary in 1990, though the term was known for more than a decade prior to that. In 1976, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley conceived X as a prank, and in 1978, using planks, rope, hats and wire as their only tools, created X. When this did not receive significant publicity, they repeated it in 1981. When it was claimed that X was due to natural phenomena, the two created more and more complex versions of X. Others created their own versions of X, which led to groups of people attributing extra-terrestrial or other paranormal activity as the source of X, even in the face of documented proof of a human hand in X. In 1999, a researcher studied X, and concluded that 80% of all X were man-made, but could not account for the remaining 20%. The controversy over its origin continues to rage.

Identify X.

QOTD - 9th March - Hari

The X, also called "Emily", "Silver Lady", was designed by Charles Robinson Sykes. The first version of X called "The Whisper" was made at the personal request of John Walter Edward Scott-Montagu. Sykes chose Eleanor Thornton, Montagu's secret lover as the model for his work.

The subsequent more famous version of X was nicknamed "Ellie in her Nightie" by critics, suggesting Eleanor's influence as Sykes' muse.

Sykes described X as "A graceful little goddess, the X, who has selected ________ as her supreme delight and alighted on the _________ to revel in the freshness of the air and the musical sound of her fluttering draperies."

Identify X.

Question for March 8th

Posting early...

Below is a drawing made by Picasso of two characters from a very famous novel. As a founding work of modern Western literature, this novel regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published.

Different ages have tended to read different things into the novel. When it was first published, it was usually interpreted as a comic novel. After the French Revolution it was popular in part due to its central ethic that individuals can be right while society is quite wrong and seen as disenchanting—not comic at all. In the 19th century it was seen as a social commentary, but no one could easily tell "whose side the author was on." By the 20th century it had come to occupy a canonical space as one of the foundations of modern literature.

The novel is also responsible for the adjective X, which is behavior that is noble in an absurd way, or the desire to perform acts of chivalry in a radically impractical manner.

Identify the novel and the word X.

Question for March 5th 2010

The first edition of his most famous work was published by himself and didn't carry his name. Instead in the body of the text he described himself as -

"X, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos, disorderly, fleshly, and sensual, no sentimentalist, no stander above men or women or apart from them, no more modest than immodest."

He kept adding and revising this work till his death in 1892, in Camden NJ.

One of his popular poems was written on the death of Y -

O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;

Recently, Levi's used one of X's poems in their advert -

"COME, my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready;
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp edged axes? Pioneers! O pioneers!"

The video can be found at this link. http://goforth.levi.com/downloads
Try not to scroll down as that would give away the answer !

Id X and if possible, Y ?

Question for March 4, 2010

X was one of several famous French mathematicians during the time of Napoleon. His most famous contribution, which was actually developed to solve heat equation but is now used in the original form or some derived form in almost every applied mathematics field. The original article was submitted to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, but was heavily criticized by the reviewers (most strongly by Lagrange among others including Laplace, Legendre and Malus). In their report, the committee concluded: "the manner in which the author arrives at these equations is not exempt of difficulties and [...] his analysis to integrate them still leaves something to be desired on the score of generality and even rigour." He later succeeded Laplace as the president of Academy of Science and his work including the previously rejected work was then published in what is now considered a classic.

Identify X and the contribution.

The pigeons were gone but not the noise.

A now famous antenna was used to listen to satellites. Also, it was to help listen to the universe. Listening to the universe needed quiet. However, all that was heard was a strange noise, a maddening hum.

The noise was first thought to be due to pigeons nesting inside the antenna. The pigeons were trapped and released many kilometers away, but they kept coming back to the antenna.

The pigeons were finally killed but the noise remained. Later, it was realized that the noise could be the residue of the event X. The noise has been called the most important scientific find of the 20th century and won the discoverers a Nobel prize.

What is the event X?

Question for March 2 - PS

We've had lots of "whats this map" style questions, here's a small twist, a "whats this graph" question.

The above graph was part of a paper in 2004 in the American Journal of Sociology, by researchers from Columbia and Washington. The paper, and specifically this graph, got lot of media attention, and subsequently was studied by researchers in diverse other fields.

Identify the graph (try to be as specific as possible).

Question for Mar 1

The X line , is a 10-km long defensive line made of dragon's teeth (see visual) that was built during the second world war between Bassins and Prangins, in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. The purpose of the line was to stop tank invasions. The 9-ton concrete blocks that make up the defences are similar to the shape of X, which gave its name to the line.

Identify X.