Monday 29 November 2010

Question for Nov 29

The visual shows the timeline of which event?

Friday 26 November 2010

Question for 25th Nov 2010

A celebrated poem appeared in Punch on Saturday, 9 September ____. The first verse, quoted most frequently, reads:

Well done, Cornstalks! Whipt us
Fair and square,
Was it luck that tript us?
Was it scare?
_____ Land's 'Demon', or our own
Want of 'devil', coolness, nerve, backbone?

The poem is talking about something which has been subsequently immortalized. Something all of us know about. What?

Wednesday 24 November 2010

X- the great leveler for November 24

The first X, introduced in 1827 by George Shillibeer for a ___ ___ at Abney Park in Stoke Newington, north-east of London (UK), was designed ___ ___ 25 children.

R:G:B :: 255:216:0

In April 1939, Dr. Frank W. Cyr, a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York organized a conference that established national X construction standards for the U.S., including the standard ___ ___ ___ the X. It became known officially as "National X Chrome." The ___ was selected because ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ easiest to see in the semi-darkness of early morning.

Glean X from the 3 clues above. Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday 22 November 2010

Question for Nov 22, 2010

The 1956 Summer Olympics Games almost descended to a complete farce due to various problems including controvery over selection of the host city, problems with venue preparation, boycotts due to political reasons, and even clashes between the players of Soviet Union and Hungary during a water polo game. Just days before the games were to end, the organizing committee received an anonymous letter with a suggestion to prevent the games from being a complete failure. The idea was implemented and became a great success. It has been maintained as an Olympic tradition ever since. The author of the letter, John Ian Wing, a Chinese student in Melbourne at the time, has since been given many accolades, including an Olympic medal and the naming of the John Ian Wing Parade in the Olympic Village in 2000.

What was the suggestion?

Friday 19 November 2010

Qn. for Nov. 19th

What does the partial map depict?


Thursday 18 November 2010

Question for Nov 18 - PS

Connect the two:

1) A live frog levitates inside a 32 mm diameter vertical bore of a Bitter solenoid in a magnetic field of about 16 teslas at the High Field Magnet Laboratory

2) An atomic-scale honeycomb lattice made of carbon atoms.

Monday 15 November 2010

Question for Nov 15

The visual depicts the downtown of which place?

Friday 12 November 2010

Identify X & Y: 12th November 2010

X drank a "recovery shake" and took an ice bath. He later had "three boxes of pizza, all sorts of chicken and mashed potatoes". He said that he was so hungry he could have eaten "12 Big Macs" but reported that drinking coconut water helped him rehydrate and avoid cramping as he had experienced in the past. He slept for less than four hours before arising.

Y on the other hand slept for very few hours, had a cold bath and a massage.

The next morning, Y was seen practicing and X was seen on a treadmill.

Who are X & Y? The above description is from this year.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Those far-flung states- Nov 10th 2010

Connect the following-

Alaska, Maine, Hawaii, Maine, Hawaii and Florida.

The order is not important. Repetitions are not to be ignored.

Clue: The total of 6 is one less than 7.

Clue#2: Think Geography! There are 7 _____s on earth.

Monday 8 November 2010

Question for Nov 8, 2010

X is ubiquitous in USA, where it is easily recognized by its classic design using red and black colours. However, the ISO standard for X is very different from the American version. In fact, outside of USA (and a few other countries), this form of X is not considered to be an acceptable version, mainly because of the choice of its colours, and also because of its language specific nature.

In 1980, Japan submitted a design for X to ISO, which was approved over a very similar looking design submitted by USSR because of the extensive testing that was performed in Japan. Japan's design is in green and white, without any lettering, and is considered to be the form of X that is most easily recognizable by people. Even in places where Japan's design is not used, a variation of it is used. The American version, by contrast, has few takers outside the country. However, within USA, there has been strong opposition to the Japanese design and the codes within USA specify the use of the American design. There are signs, however, that acceptance of the Japanese design is slowly increasing, and that this might be seen alongside the American design till it eventually gains complete acceptance.

Identify X.

Edit: Added text to the question. The American version of X has red text against a black background, while the ISO standard shows a green figure against a white background. The reason the ISO standard is considered better is that it has no text, while the American version is helpful only to those who are familiar with English.

Sunday 7 November 2010

Thursday 4 November 2010

Qn. for Nov. 5th.

X's work was stimulated by the Italian anatomist and physiologist Y, who in 1780 noticed that dissected frog's legs would twitch when struck by a spark from a Leyden jar, an external source of electricity. In 1786 he noticed that twitching would occur during lightning storms. After many years Y learned how to produce twitching without using any external source of electricity. In 1791 he published a report on "animal electricity." in which he detailed his creation consisting of frog's legs (FL) and two different metals A and B, each metal touching the frog's leg and each other, in the formation A-FL-B-A-FL-B...etc.

Within a year X made the requisite change in Y's creation and invented ___________. Who were X and Y? What did X invent?

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Question for Nov 3

Identify the mathematician X and his famous theory Y.

X's theory of Y was originally regarded as so counter-intuitive—even shocking—that it encountered resistance from mathematical contemporaries such as Leopold Kronecker (his doctoral advisor) and Henri PoincarĂ©, while Ludwig Wittgenstein raised philosophical objections. Some Christian theologians (particularly neo-Scholastics) saw X's work as a challenge to the uniqueness of the absolute infinity in the nature of God, on one occasion equating the theory of Y with pantheism. The objections to his work were occasionally fierce: PoincarĂ© referred to X's ideas as a "grave disease" infecting the discipline of mathematics, and Kronecker's public opposition and personal attacks included describing X as a "scientific charlatan", a "renegade" and a "corrupter of youth." Writing decades after X's death, Wittgenstein lamented that mathematics is "ridden through and through with the pernicious idioms of Y," which he dismissed as "utter nonsense" that is "laughable" and "wrong". X's recurring bouts of depression from 1884 to the end of his life were once blamed on the hostile attitude of many of his contemporaries, but these episodes can now be seen as probable manifestations of a bipolar disorder.

The harsh criticism has been matched by later accolades. In 1904, the Royal Society awarded X its Sylvester Medal, the highest honor it can confer for work in mathematics. X believed his theory of Y had been communicated to him by God. David Hilbert defended it from its critics by famously declaring: "No one shall expel us from the Paradise that X has created."

Monday 1 November 2010

Question for Nov 1

The visual depicts the map of which place?