The Prelims of the General Quiz conducted on 29th March, 2016 by Quizzing, IIT Roorkee.

1. THE BLACK SWAN
QUIZ
ROUNAK BANIK

2. PRELIMS

3. RULES
■ 25 questions in the prelims.
■ 10 points for each correct answer. No negatives on incorrect or unanswered questions.
Please guess away.
■ 6 teams in the finals.
■ Half of what you score carries over to the finals. For example, if you score 120, then
you start the finals with an initial score of 60.
■ Quizmaster is God. He'll give hints as and when he pleases. Please do not argue with
him and/or piss him off.

5. 1. And then there were four.
■ Jonathan Small
■ Dost Akbar
■ Abdullah Khan
■ Mahomet Singh
Who/What?

6. 2.Toh kya main nachu?
X is a dance form that originated in the 1880s along the
River Plate, the natural border between Argentina and
Uruguay. It considered by many, along with Salsa, as
the most intimate dance form in the world.
ID X.

7. 3. Speed thrills but kills.
This is an excerpt from an article from TheTelegraph published on 8th July, 2013 (Date is not
significant. It might even be misleading).
"According to the testimony of Maryam, the wife of Ibrahim al-Kuwaiti, __ ___ _______
___ _______ __________, they would make occasional visits to the local bazaar.
She told investigators that on one trip their car was pulled over for ________ by a
policeman, but that her husband “quickly settled the matter”. Whether the police officer
was paid off or simply failed to ____________________ is not explained."
What is she talking about?

8. 4.Think Facebook?
This is James Naismith, a Canadian
physical education instructor. In 1891, he
invented something that would serve as a
substitute to the more injury prone
football and at the same time, condition
young athletes in cold weather conditions.
What did he invent?

9. 5. Main haddu nahi hoon.
Connect.

10. 6.Would have fit better as first question.
This is the home page of X.
ID X and tell me what's so special
about it.

11. 7. Fun with Rounak.
Although often misinterpreted as being from the Mughal times, X is actually a dish
invented by Kundan Lal Jaggi and Gujral of Moti Mahal Restaurant in New Delhi in the
1950s.
ID X.

12. 8. Babe, what are
your measurements?
What has been blacked out?

13. 9. Shanti se padho toh aa jayega.
X was produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for the Second
World War. It was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with
widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities. Although 2.45 million copies were
printed, and although the Blitz did in fact take place, it was little known until a copy
was rediscovered in 2000 at Barter Books, a bookshop in Alnwick.
What am I talking about?

14. 10.Ye toh nahi pata tha.
■ Video

15. 11.The elevator
X is a device invented by Lab126, a subsidiary ofY.
The naming of X was devised by branding consultants, Michael Cronan and Karin Hibma.
They suggested X, meaning to light a fire, which they felt was appropriate to the kind of
purpose the device served.
Give me X andY.
Bonus points for telling me what I'm alluding to in the title of this question.

16. 12. 12th mein Eco lena chahiye tha.
X is a term used for goods which violate the law of demand.
In other words, X is a good whose demand increases as its price increases and vice versa.
Till date, there is no conclusive proof of such goods existing (although a 19th century Irish
famine is commonly cited as an example in Economics textbooks) and is a constant source
of debate in the world of Economics.
Just give me X.

17. 13. I never shut down my computer.
X is a psychological phenomenon which states that you're more likely to get help from a
stranger if he/she is the only person present with you at a time of crisis.
In other words, the probability of you getting help is inversely proportional to the number
ofY.
X became a hot subject of study in the 1960s after the Kitty Genovese incident, when a 22
year old woman of the same name was murdered in open public in front of an apartment.
The event was spectated by over 20 people but none came to her rescue as a result of X.
What is X?

18. 14. Joote khaoge?
Why did this scene from the 1994
movie The Lion King cause
controversy?
Or
What has been blacked out?

19. 15. Don't stop, please don't stop.
The AVN Awards, sometimes known as the PornOscars, are handed out every year to
male and female porn actors for their services to the porn industry (and the world).
The award has been given out since 1993 but only one female star has managed to win the
award more than once, winning it both in 2010 and 2011.
Complex placed her on top of its list of '100 Hottest Pornstars'. She, however, ranks only 22
on Pornhub.
Name this lady.

20. 16. Pyaar kiya koi chori nahi ki.
“One day I was in San Francisco in a coffee shop, and I was thinking X is a
good name. And then a waitress came, and I said do you know about X?
And she said yes. I said what do you know about X, and she saidY. And I
said yes, this is the name!Then I went onto the street and found 30 people
and asked them, ‘Do you know X?’ People from India, people from
Germany, people fromTokyo and China…They all knew about X. X —Y. X —
Z. X is not aW. X is a kind, smart business person, and he helped the village.
So…easy to spell, and global know. XY for small- to medium-sized
companies.We also registered the nameW, in case someone wants to
marry us!
Give me X. Bonus points if you also give meW.

21. 17. C'est simple.
What is Derek Hockbridge and Anthaea Bell's contribution to the world of comic books?

22. 18. Couldn't resist. Sorry.

23. 19.Thoda socho.Yaad aa jayega.
The Bollywood 100 Crore Club is an unofficial designation given by trade pundits to
Bollywood movies that have grossed more than 100 crores worldwide.
Although Bollywood has one of the largest audiences in the world and its Hollywood
counterparts such as Titanic have earned more than $2 billion dollars (approx. 12,000
crores) in net gross, the first entrant into this club was X, released in 2008.
X (obviously) went on to become the highest grossing Indian movie of all time, beating the
previous holderY released in 2006. X, in turn, was beaten by 3 Idiots in 2009.
Give me X andY.

24. THE BOOKS ROUND
■ Questions 20-24 will feature lines/pictures from very famous books. For each question,
the answer is the book and its author.
■ 5 points for the book, 5 for the author.
■ Starred questions.Will be used to settle ties.

25. 20. Not The Alchemist.
Mr. And Mrs. X ofY were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank
you very much.

26. 21.That's a boa constrictor, by the way.
'

27. 22.When death tells a story, you listen.

28. 23.When hatred becomes an obsession.
Call me Ishmael

29. 24.When dreams become delusion.
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some
advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you
feel like criticizing anyone," he told me, "just remember that all the
people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."

30. 25. Iss pe ek question toh banta hai.
The X theory was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to explain:
1. The disproportionate role of high-profile, hard-to-predict, and rare events that
are beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance, and
technology.
2. The non-computability of the probability of the consequential rare events using
scientific methods (owing to the very nature of small probabilities).
3. The psychological biases that blind people, both individually and collectively, to
uncertainty and to a rare event's massive role in historical affairs.

31. ANSWERS

32. 1. And then there were four.
■ Jonathan Small
■ Dost Akbar
■ Abdullah Khan
■ Mahomet Singh
Who/What?

33. The Sign of Four (Sherlock Holmes #2)

34. 2.Toh kya main nachu?
X is a dance form that originated in the 1880s along the
River Plate, the natural border between Argentina and
Uruguay. It considered by many, along with Salsa, as
the most intimate dance form in the world.
ID X.

35. Tango

36. 3. Speed thrills but kills.
This is an excerpt from an article from TheTelegraph published on 8th July, 2013 (Date is not
significant. It might even be misleading).
"According to the testimony of Maryam, the wife of Ibrahim al-Kuwaiti, __ ___ _______
___ _______ __________, they would make occasional visits to the local bazaar.
She told investigators that on one trip their car was pulled over for ________ by a
policeman, but that her husband “quickly settled the matter”. Whether the police officer
was paid off or simply failed to ____________________ is not explained."
What is she talking about?

37. Osama Bin Laden caught overspeeding
in Pakistan in 2002-03.

38. 4.Think Facebook?
This is James Naismith, a Canadian
physical education instructor. In 1891, he
invented something that would serve as a
substitute to the more injury prone
football and at the same time, condition
young athletes in cold weather conditions.
What did he invent?

39. Basketball

40. 5. Main haddu nahi hoon.
Connect.

41. Marina Beach Road Statues

42. 6.Would have fit better as first question.
This is the home page of X.
ID X and tell me what's so special
about it.

43. Symbolics.com
The first registered domain on the Internet.

44. 7. Fun with Rounak.
Although often misinterpreted as being from the Mughal times, X is actually a dish
invented by Kundan Lal Jaggi and Gujral of Moti Mahal Restaurant in New Delhi in the
1950s.
ID X.

45. Butter Chicken.

46. 8. Babe, what are
your measurements?
What has been blacked out?

47. Metric

48. 9. Shanti se padho toh aa jayega.
X was produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for the Second
World War. It was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with
widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities. Although 2.45 million copies were
printed, and although the Blitz did in fact take place, it was little known until a copy
was rediscovered in 2000 at Barter Books, a bookshop in Alnwick.
What am I talking about?

50. 10.Ye toh nahi pata tha.
■ Video

51. The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest (1957)
The BBC Hoax Documentary on Spaghetti will also fetch you points.

52. 11.The elevator
X is a device invented by Lab126, a subsidiary ofY.
The naming of X was devised by branding consultants, Michael Cronan and Karin Hibma.
They suggested X, meaning to light a fire, which they felt was appropriate to the kind of
purpose the device served.
Give me X andY.
Bonus points for telling me what I'm alluding to in the title of this question.

53. Amazon Kindle
Stephen King's quote: Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.

54. 12. 12th mein Eco lena chahiye tha.
X is a term used for goods which violate the law of demand.
In other words, X is a good whose demand increases as its price increases and vice versa.
Till date, there is no conclusive proof of such goods existing (although a 19th century Irish
famine is commonly cited as an example in Economics textbooks) and is a constant source
of debate in the world of Economics.
Just give me X.

55. Giffen Goods.

56. 13. I never shut down my computer.
X is a psychological phenomenon which states that you're more likely to get help from a
stranger if he/she is the only person present with you at a time of crisis.
In other words, the probability of you getting help is inversely proportional to the number
ofY.
X became a hot subject of study in the 1960s after the Kitty Genovese incident, when a 22
year old woman of the same name was murdered in open public in front of an apartment.
The event was spectated by over 20 people but none came to her rescue as a result of X.
What is X?

57. The Bystander Effect.

58. 14. Joote khaoge?
Why did this scene from the 1994
movie The Lion King cause
controversy?
Or
What has been blacked out?

60. 15. Don't stop, please don't stop.
The AVN Awards, sometimes known as the PornOscars, are handed out every year to
male and female porn actors for their services to the porn industry (and the world).
The award has been given out since 1993 but only one female star has managed to win the
award more than once, winning it both in 2010 and 2011.
Complex placed her on top of its list of '100 Hottest Pornstars'. She, however, ranks only 22
on Pornhub.
Name this lady.

61. Tori Black.

62. 16. Pyaar kiya koi chori nahi ki.
“One day I was in San Francisco in a coffee shop, and I was thinking X is a
good name. And then a waitress came, and I said do you know about X?
And she said yes. I said what do you know about X, and she saidY. And I
said yes, this is the name!Then I went onto the street and found 30 people
and asked them, ‘Do you know X?’ People from India, people from
Germany, people fromTokyo and China…They all knew about X. X —Y. X —
Z. X is not aW. X is a kind, smart business person, and he helped the village.
So…easy to spell, and global know. XY for small- to medium-sized
companies.We also registered the nameW, in case someone wants to
marry us!
Give me X. Bonus points if you also give meW.

63. Alibaba and Alimama

64. 17. C'est simple.
What is Derek Hockbridge and Anthaea Bell's contribution to the world of comic books?

65. EnglishTranslators of Asterix.

66. 18. Couldn't resist. Sorry.

67. Batman Inspirations.

68. 19.Thoda socho.Yaad aa jayega.
The Bollywood 100 Crore Club is an unofficial designation given by trade pundits to
Bollywood movies that have grossed more than 100 crores worldwide.
Although Bollywood has one of the largest audiences in the world and its Hollywood
counterparts such as Titanic have earned more than $2 billion dollars (approx. 12,000
crores) in net gross, the first entrant into this club was X, released in 2008.
X (obviously) went on to become the highest grossing Indian movie of all time, beating the
previous holderY released in 2006. X, in turn, was beaten by 3 Idiots in 2009.
Give me X andY.

69. X- Ghajini,Y- Dhoom 2

70. 20. Not The Alchemist.
Mr. And Mrs. X ofY were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank
you very much.

71. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's
Stone.
J.K.Rowling

72. 21.That's a boa constrictor, by the way.
'

73. The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint Exupery.

74. 22.When Death tells a story, you listen.

75. The BookThief
Markus Zusak

76. 23.When hatred becomes an obsession.
Call me Ishmael

77. Moby Dick
Herman Meville

78. 24.When dreams become delusion.
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some
advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you
feel like criticizing anyone," he told me, "just remember that all the
people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."

79. The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald

80. 25. Iss pe ek question toh banta hai.
The X theory was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to explain:
1. The disproportionate role of high-profile, hard-to-predict, and rare events that
are beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance, and
technology.
2. The non-computability of the probability of the consequential rare events using
scientific methods (owing to the very nature of small probabilities).
3. The psychological biases that blind people, both individually and collectively, to
uncertainty and to a rare event's massive role in historical affairs.

81. Black Swan

82. THE END
Please stay back for the finals. Interesting hoga.
Promise.