No one was more likely to deliver an unplayable ball - July 23, 2010

On X:

"Batsmen didn't know quite what to expect from him and sometimes neither did X himself."

X won the Wisden's "Indian bowling performance of the century" award in 2002.

X? Why did X not know what to expect himself?

What words? --- July 12, 2010

"The words can be seen scripted at the entrance of many big and small business establishments. They are also inscribed on the cash-ledger of new books of account, when the Indian commercial calendar traditionally commences."

What words?

The practice of X? -- June 29

In ancient economies X was in the form of people helping each other. X, in the mordern sense of distributing risk, was practised by Chinese and Babylonian traders as early as 2000 BC.

"Chinese merchants travelling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessel's capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c. 1750 BC, and practised by early Mediterranean sailing merchants."

Benjamin Franklin helped to popularize and make standard the practice of X. He also started a company for the same.

What's X?

Greatest health tool or a hazard? - June 16

X?

A few facts about X quoted below:

X became one of the greatest public health tools of the 20th century.

Overuse harmed its efficacy -- and made it politically unpopular.

Population control advocates blamed X for increasing third world
population. In the 1960s, World Health Organization authorities believed there
was no alternative to the overpopulation problem but to assure that up to 40
percent of the children in poor nations would die of the disease that X
controlled spread of. As an official of the Agency for International Development
stated, "Rather dead than alive and riotously reproducing."

X amongst other things was alleged to have thinned bird egg shells.

A Masterpiece --- Question for June 4

A trademark identified with Y is the white stylised six-pointed star with rounded edges, representative of the X snowcap from above, the symbol being adopted in 1913. The number "4810," an attribute of X, is also a commonly recurring theme.

What are X and Y? What is X's claim to fame?

Hint: Y is mightier than the sword.

Heritage food ---- Question for May 23, 2010

Posted earlier than usual... will be over the Atlantic soon. Now the Q:

1945 - The soldiers brought with them a taste for X.

1957 - Frozen X were introduced and found in local grocery stores. X soon became the most popular of all frozen food.

December 9, 2009 - The European Union established a ruling to protect a certain type of X. The EU's ruling said that the kind of X was now part of Europe's food heritage, and that all those making X must comply to strict traditional standards...

What is X? Also, any guesses on what kind/type/make of X is protected?

RIP in 2014 -- Question for May 11

What is X?

Below is a timeline of its pretty long life!

X will finally RIP in 2014.

(Please click on and zoom into image to see clearly.)

An amazing race for the clinically insane

X is an international event self-styled as 'an amazing race for the clinically insane'. The simpicity of Y, its high center of gravity, and the diversity of landscape requires smart and brave partcipants.

One of the more extensive and demanding routes taken under X passes through famous beach destinations such as Goa.

X and Y?

One for every hundred - April 13, 2010

About 300,000 little-seen workers (Y) perform a vital role (X) for the Indian capital. Most Indian cities have no formal system of X. In many cities Y provide the service. According to some estimates Y provide the service for 80% of Mumbai. Y are not paid by the state, relying instead on donations from the communities they serve and on meager profits from the sale of discarded items.

For every hundred residents of Delhi, there is one person engaged in X.

X and Y?

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.

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?

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?

Is it the wolf or is it hunger?

United States is the nation with the largest per capita rate of X in the world. Religious opinions have often shaped views towards X. Opposition to X was perhaps best expressed as early as 1461 by Francois Villon in his Le Testament, and I quote in part, ".... and because of hunger wolves leave the woods".

"Human Rights Watch believes the extraordinary rate of X in the United States wreaks havoc on individuals, families and communities, and saps the strength of the nation as a whole."

X?

Hint: The quote implies that those who are against X condone the wolves' acts once they leave the woods. The argument being that the wolves are forced into committing the acts as a result of hunger.

What's the phrase?

X refers to a dilemma first described by Garrett Hardin and published in the journal Science in 1968. Typical solutions to X include government regulation and privatization.

Ostrom, the winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics, in her work has showed that X was not a given whenever people shared resources, which had no owners or were publically owned, and that resources can be successfully managed by groups using it and without government regulation or privatization.

X has relevance to varied fields like that of economics, pshychology, game theory, sociology and etc.

What's the phrase that X is a placeholder for?

The original prince...

He was famous for his riches. An Indian cricketer, his invention changed cricket from being a predominantly one-side game.

The prince amongst batsmen. Who was he and what did he invent? What else is famous and currently named after him?

King of the world

"He changed the world of sports and went on to change the world.... He would become the most recognized face on the planet"

During a famous fight he kept asking his oponent, and I quote, "What's my name, Uncle Tom ... What's my name?"

Who is he? What did he want his opponent to call him and what had the opponent called him?

Textured, anyone?

Although X had been known to be used for various purposes in China in the 2nd century BC, the first use of X as Y dates back to the 6th century AD, in early medieval China.

X dare not be used as Y if it had on it the names of sages.

Y now-a-days comes in varieties of thickness, colors and smells.

X and Y, please?

Indian art form?

The ephemeral nature of its creation is thought to be a metaphor for the impermanance of life in Hindu philosophy. It is one of the most commonly found art forms in India and is known by different names in different parts of the country.

What am I talking about?

10 to 16 million years old

It evolved millions of years ago. Philosophers have tried explaining it for over 2000 years and science may finally have an explanation.

Certain experiments have concluded that it may just be an "automatic response to a situation rather than a result of concious strategy".

Although it may seem uniquely human, that may only be because of the changes that have happened over millions of years. In others it occurs too, however in forms that maybe confusing and difficult to identify.

What's it?

The man who knew infinity

Below is an edited version of what Y had to say about X, whom he discovered:

The stories, true and false, of what happened when I read the letters have been well spread --- like how I first stored them in my wastepaper basket before retrieving them for a second look, and so on. Only someone of the highest class could have written them. They had to be true, for if they were not, no one would have the imagination to invent them .........

At another time, upon hearing of a famous incident involving X, Y and Y's preferred mode of transport, Littlewood, also Y's collaborator, had commented that every positive integer was one of X's personal friends.

Who is X, the man who knew infinity?

Any Guesses on Y and the famous incident?