Question for 29th April, 2010

Identify the pics and and the person connecting them.

Question for April 15th, 2010

The following quotations/excerpts from letters were in reaction to the event X. Identify X and the speakers/writers.

"Your action is correct. Lieutenant Governor approves."

“We have to make it absolutely clear, some way or other, that this is not the British way of doing business."

“It seemed absolutely immoral, indecent, to use public school language, it was height of bad form."

"The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in the incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part, wish to stand, shorn, of all special distinctions, by the side of those of my countrymen who, for their so called insignificance, are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings."

Question for April 1st, 2010

What connects -

Musendrophilus, a night-singing tree mouse discovered by the famous naturalist David Attenborough in 1975 in Sheba Islands, a cluster of islands in the Pacific.

and

Kwotes, a seabird belonging to the guillemet family, found only in two islands of the Indian ocean, Caissa Superiore in the north and Caissa Inferiore in the south.

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 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 Feb 19th, 2010

In X, the medieval society was represented through concepts related to the church, military, merchants, and peasantry. The French method of using stencils dominated the German and eventually became de-facto standard throughout Europe. A certain set in X was initially represented by Solomon, Augustus, Clovic and Constantine. But during the 16th century, they became standardized to Charlemagne, David, Caesar, and Alexander. Another set was represented by La Hire, Ogier, Hector and Lancelot. However, the French revolution brought an end to all such representations. What is X.

Question for Jan 6th, 2010

What is common to the paintings -

Erased de Kooning Drawing.
The Blue Epoch.
First communion of anemic young girls in the snow.

Hint: Read into the names of the paintings.

Question for Dec 16th, 2009

X is a form of fiction that got its name because of the involvement of companies like P&G, Colgate Palmolive and Lever Brothers. Each part of X typically ends on some sort of cliffhanger. The earliest popular instances of Xs are The Coronation Street in UK and Guiding Light in USA, the longest X, that began in 1937 and ended just a few weeks ago, in 2009. Id X.

Question for Dec 6th, 2009

In the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1878, British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (a Conservative) gave a speech in which he referred to W. E. Gladstone (a Liberal) as a - "sophisticated rhetorician inebriated by the exuberance of your own verbosity".
In India, we have (most probably) heard the same words in a completely different context. Identify its use.

Question for November 21st, 2009

An old favourite of mine...

Though far apart in their political thought and philosophy, these two people (or rather, their namesakes) were made inseparable by a literary piece of work. Identify them.

Question for November 9th, 2009: Connect the following

The audio at this link: http://research.rutgers.edu/~ishanic/quiz

Question for Oct 25th

Hello people,
Apologies for being more than 24 hours late in posting the question. :-)
You will have time till tomorrow night to reply with an answer.
--
In July of 1714, during the reign of Queen Anne, the X Act was passed in response to the merchants and seamen petition presented to Westminster Palace in May. A prize of £20,000 was offered for a method of determining X to an accuracy of 30 miles.

To solve the X problem, Y produced 4 versions of Z. These were later named H1, H2, H3 and H4. H1 was a giant sized Z but H4 was only 13 cm in diameter. Captain Cook used a copy of H4 in voyage of three years, which ranged from the Tropics to the Antarctic. On returning he remarked that it had been "our faithful guide through all the vicissitudes of climates".

What is X Y and Z.
--

Question for October 13th - Ishani

Short and simple question about something that confused people all over the world for very long!

X goes by the name "hindi" in Turkey, "peru" in Portuguese, "Ethiopian" in Arabic, "French girl" in Greek, "india" in French and interestingly, "chameleon" in Persian.

What is X.

Question for Sept. 30, 2009

The name of this scientific field was coined by Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti and French physical chemist Hervé This.
This science is not new. Several 18th century chemists (mainly French) were interested in this field. Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier is perhaps the most famous among them—in 1783, he studied the processes of stock preparation by measuring density to evaluate quality. In reporting the results of his experiments, Lavoisier wrote, "Whenever one considers the most familiar objects, the simplest things, it's impossible not to be surprised to see how our ideas are vague and uncertain, and how, as a consequence, it is important to fix them by experiments and facts".
Another important figure was Benjamin Thompson, later knighted Count Rumford, who studied this field and made many proposals and inventions to improve them, for example by inventing a special coffee pot for better brewing.

Question for Sept 18th, 2009

The usual, connect the above images.

Question for August 25th, 2009 - Ishani

Find X,Y,Z.

X and Y, together planned most of the architecture in and around Z.
The location of two side buildings along Z were designed by Y,
whose gradient, X later realised, partially obscured the grand building designed by X.
This led to a bitter enmity with Y.
Even after pleading to the highest authority in his country, X
could not get the gradient modified. However, the critics till today are
unsure if the design of Z was indeed an grave architectural error or
a careless mistake that just adds to its aesthetics.

Hint: Think seats of power.

Question for August 12th - Ishani

Find a word that connects the following images -