K-Circle-Weekly-Quiz-June-2023.pptx

K-Circle Weekly Quiz
June-2023
Quizmaster : Pankaj Rodey

Infinite Pounce
Clockwise
(+10 / -5)

Diplomatic gaffes ….
In 1970, the president of country X was invited to the US as a part of the 25th
anniversary of the UN.
US president Nixon said to this guest that the time had come to restore diplomatic
relations between the US and X. This, he noted, would permit resumption of
American aid and one of its benefits might be the US's special capabilities in desert
farming.
The stunned visitor, who had come from a country with excessive rainfall, tried to
shift to a more promising subject. He inquired whether Nixon was satisfied with the
operation of the space tracking station the US maintained on his island.
Now it was Nixon’s turn to be discomfited as he set about frantically writing on his
yellow pad. Tearing off a page, he handed a note to his foreign policy expert, Henry
Kissinger, which read: “Why the hell do we have a space tracking station in a
country with which we do not have diplomatic relations?”
Nixon confused the island country X with another, similar sounding country Y, which
had broken diplomatic relations with US in 1967 as a result of U.S. support for Israel
during the Six-Day War.
1

Diplomatic gaffes ….
In March 2005, an African country _X_’s
government summoned the US envoy to the
country and requested clarification regarding
statements in the US senate that the USA had
carried out nuclear tests in that country.
The American administration sent assurances
to _X_’s government that the area where the
nuclear experiments and explosions took
place was an area _Y_ in Nevada State in the
USA and not the country _X_.
The reason for this confusion was a spelling
mistake committed by an editor of the Armed
Forces Committee at the US Congress, when
he mistakenly typed the word _Y_ as _X_ and
put it at the minutes of the committee.
2

Rhyming locations ….
In Jan 1945, US president FDR and Winston
Churchill of UK met at a place _X_ in the
Mediterranean sea.
The purpose of this meeting was to present a
united front in a meeting with Stalin which
was scheduled to be a few days later at the
location _Y_ in Eastern Europe.
Name the rhyming locations _X_ and _Y_.
3

Monuments …
In what authorities described as a tribute to a very
important part of the town’s history, this structure was
installed in Jan 2023 in which town?
4

Monuments ….
As a tribute to an object associated with this town since 56 years
now, in which town was this monument inaugurated in Feb
2020?
It weighs over 200 kilograms is embedded with colorful stones
and decorated by the city’s famous ‘zari’ embroidery.
5

BAREILLEY
Jhumka Gira Re from Mera Saya (1966)

Pakistan ….
Named for an honorific title given to a saint,
the logo of this team from Pakistan Cricket
Super League (PSL) features a saint performing
the Sufi Whirling Dance, a tribute to the Sufi
culture of the region that the team represents.
Which team?
Hence, what 3 words from a famous qawwali
written by Amir Khusrow appear at the bottom
of the logo?
6

Pakistan …..
During the devastating Turkey earthquake of 2023, Turkish authorities
found that the aid received from Pakistan was the same relief material
that Turkey had sent to Pakistan during June 2022 floods in Pakistan.
People on Twitter mocked Pakistan over the faux pas, with trolls dubbing
it a ‘-- -- moment’. The blanked sweet dish is known to be packaged and
repackaged as a gift during Diwali in India.
7

This political border between
Poland and USSR, proposed in
1919, was proposed by and
named after which person?
The person in question, is
probably more famous for
another geo-political
demarcation, earlier in their
career causing significant
political repercussions.
8

CURZON LINE (1905 partition of Bengal)

Fauna ….
At the Australian Linux conference in 2009 held at
Hobart, Linus Torvalds, Linux creator announced that
the official Mascot of the contemporary version of Linux
will be changed from the traditional penguin to this.
Which animal is this and what is the mascot called, a 1
letter change in the name of the original penguin?
9

TASMANIAN DEVIL
Tuz (Penguin mascot is called Tux)

Fauna ….
Name these 2 animals whose common names
are in top 2 in an ordered exhaustive list of
animals.
10

Aardvark, Aardwolf (First and second animal in
Dictionary)

“Sur” is a fictional short story by the American
writer Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in
1982. The subtitle is "A Summary Report of
the Yelcho Expedition"
The Spanish word “Sur” is the literal
translation of the single-word title of another
non-fiction literary work about a travelogue,
published in 1919.
So, what does Spanish “Sur” mean?
Who authored the 1919 work?
11

“SOUTH”
Shackleton’s description of his Antarctic expedition
from 1914 to 1917 is titled “South”.
(Chilean Navy's Yelcho, a small steamer was used to
rescue some men from the expedition stranded on
Elephant Island.)

The debris from the massive eruption of Tambora
volcano of 1815 caused ‘A year without summer’.
Crops were killed - either by frost or a lack of
sunshine. This caused food to be scarce and
expensive.
Because the price of oats increased, it was more
expensive for people to feed their livestock and lack
of crops also caused massive slaughter of livestock
for human consumption.
This is considered to have been a factor that
inspired a German man named Karl Drais to invent
what?
12

BICYCLE. A primitive version of early bicycles was
called Draisine

The present day New York City traces its
origins to a trading post founded on the
southern tip of Manhattan Island by European
colonists in 1624. The settlement was then
named New _X_ for a European city.
The city came under British control in 1664
and was renamed for the Duke of York.
In 1673, the city was regained by the
European power and was renamed New _Y_
for one year, as a tribute to a ruling king.
13

According to a series of papers in 1916 by Albert Einstein,
when more atoms occupy a higher energy state than a lower
one under normal temperature equilibrium, it is possible to
force atoms to return to an unexcited state by stimulating
them with the same energy as would be emitted naturally.
The practical scientific application of this theory forms the
foundation of 2 technologies _X_ and _Y_ for which the Nobel
prize in Physics in 1964 and the one in 2018 were respectively
awarded.
In Electrical Engineering, a _Z_ is a scaled line whose length
represents an AC quantity that has both magnitude and
direction (phase) which is frozen at some point in time.
Name the rhyming words X, Y, Z.
14

X: MASER,
Y: LASER (Magnetic/Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
Z: PHASOR

Name this country with
the Sisserou parrot at
the center of the flag.
Name this national capital, home to one of
the tallest flagpoles in world.
And connect
15

DOMINICA (MEANS SUNDAY).
TAJIKISTAN CAPITAL IS DUSHANBE (MEANS
MONDAY)

According to a popular legend, which
national flag was inspired from the colors
of the Parihuanas flamingos sighted by
General Jose de San Martin along the
coast of the Paracas peninsula?
16

Words like Enclave, (a territory enclosed within
foreign territory), Conclave (a meeting in a closed
place) come from Latin clavis meaning which object
of everyday use?
The bone Clavicle shown here is probably named so
due to its resemblance to this object.
17

Anatomy ….
_X_ is a long bone in the arm that runs from the
shoulder to the elbow.
According to a theory, the common name for _Y_ is a
misnomer and is thought to be a pun, based on its
proximity to the bone _X_.
X
Y
18

X: Humerus
Y: Ulnar Nerve (Common name is Funny Bone)

2 of the neighboring countries of
Turkey have currencies whose names
are anagrams of the name of
currency of Turkey.
Name both countries and the
currencies.
1

2
Whose biography is
this?
His second name is
the anagram of the
name of the current
ruling political party
of Canada. Which
party?

First proposed by Carl Jung, in psychology what name is
given to a period of development during which a girl has
increasing love for her father and increasing animosity
toward her mother, usually between the ages of 3 and 6. It
is named after the daughter of Agamemnon in Greek
mythology and is a girl's analogous experience to the
Oedipus complex.
What word X is used for any uncrystallized syrup made
during the refining of sugar, the most common forms of
such syrup are golden syrup, a pale variety, and a darker
variety known as black X, similar to molasses?
3

Professor Abraham ---- is a fictional character
from a work of British literature of the 1890s.
In the book, he is described as a doctor,
professor, lawyer, philosopher, scientist and
metaphysic.
His last name comes from the name of a
province in central Sweden and may also
sound like the name of the national capital of
another Nordic country. What is his last
name?
4

What word is used for this type of material
used for roofs and such beaches that consists
primarily of pebbles rather than sand?

Having acquired an international reputation as
bankers and lenders, the natives of the Lombardy
region of Italy began arriving in England in the 14th
century, establishing themselves in London.
Soon the term Lombard was being used for
“lenders”. Lending also involved pawning goods as
security for loans. Pawn Shops often incorporated
warehouses for their larger objects.
Hence the word _X_ which is derived from the noun
‘Lombard’ is still used for “surplus or disused
articles”.
5

What is this type of road safety feature called?

In 2010, the body of this Danish was exhumed.
Greenish stains around a specific part of the corpse
contained traces of copper and zinc, indicating that the
famous prosthetic was made of brass rather than a
precious metal, as was widely believed. Who?
As a part of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, when
Germany was required to pay 10s of Billions in gold, this
prolific German scientist who won the Nobel prize in
Physics in 1918, led a major pseudoscientific project to
secretly recover gold from seawater to pay off
Germany's war reparations. Who?
6

Turkey Lira
Iran Rial
Georgia Lari

2
Whose biography
is this?
His second name is
the anagram of the
name of the
current ruling
political party of
Canada.

Infinite Pounce
Counter clockwise
(+10 / -5)

In his 1851 book, German philosopher Arthur
Schopenhauer describes a philosophy called the _X_
dilemma.
Schopenhauer conceived this metaphor to describe
what he considers to be the state of the individual
in relation to others in society.
The _X_ dilemma suggests that just like too many
_X_s coming together for warmth can not stay
together without harming each other, despite
goodwill, human intimacy cannot occur without
substantial mutual harm, and what results is
cautious behavior and weak relationships.
25

This is a typical night
time photo of a city,
taken from space.
The Right part,
illuminated by sodium
vapor lamps appears
yellow and the Left part,
illuminated by mercury
vapor lamps appears
white. Which city?
26

“What used to be East Berlin still utilizes nearly
40,000 sodium-vapour lamps, which appear orange,
while what used to be West Berlin has upgraded to
mercury vapour, fluorescent or LED lamps that
appear white.”

Which Englishman was one of the first members of the so-called
Geological society of London and the author of these books published
in 1811 and 1822?
He is more famous as an eponym in a totally different and unrelated
field and as the author of a groundbreaking essay published in 1817
in that field.
27

JAMES PARKINSON, THE EPONYM FOR PARKINSON’S
DISEASE

In his immensely popular book Cosmos, Carl Sagan says:
“Only once before in our history was there the promise of a brilliant
scientific civilization. Beneficiary of the Ionian Awakening, it had its
citadel at _X_, where 2,000 years ago the best minds of antiquity
established the foundations for the systematic study of mathematics,
biology, astronomy, literature, geography and medicine: We build on
those foundations still.
From the time of its creation in the third century B.C. until its
destruction seven centuries later, it was the brain and heart of the
ancient world.”
What is X and what specific ubiquitous technology takes its name
from X?
28

LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA
AMAZON ALEXA

What is the highest award of the
Department of Posts at National level for
overall performance and excellence?
This award is aptly named for a literary
work which involves an unusual mode of
long-distance communication.
29

In a 2009 TED talk about India’s emergence as
world’s prominent “soft power” and talking
specifically about India’s “soft power” influence in
Afghanistan, Shashi Tharoor said that, in early
2000s, in Afghanistan, there was a spike in the sale
of generator sets, Late evening wedding banquets
had to be canceled or rescheduled and reportedly,
there was an increase in theft crimes in late
evening, much to the annoyance of conservative
religious leaders.
What was the reason for this?
30

In the 17th century, Calculations conducted by English mathematician
Edmund Halley suggested that the comet seen in 1680 swung by the
Earth every 575 years. Working backward, another mathematician
William Whiston noted that one such cosmic encounter occurred in
2342 B.C.
Whiston argued that when this comet passed close to Earth, the
gravitational pull of the comet fractured the planet’s crust.
He argued that the fractured crust of Earth, the saturation of the
upper atmosphere with excess water due to the vaporous tail of the
comet and the tidal forces caused by the comet were the reasons
behind a specific event that he argued occurred around 2342 B.C.
These conclusions documented by Whiston allegedly cost him the
prestigious Cambridge Lucassian chair of Mathematics.
Which event did Whiston attempt to explain?
31

40 days of rainfall and Noah’s flood

According to this
biographer, the most
famous work for which
this person is known
came out of his
obsession with ‘lists’
which he created as a
way to cope up with his
bouts of depression.
Whose biography?
32

Unlike monarchies like the UK, Thailand, Denmark
etc. who have a King, Queen or equivalent as the
head of the state, 3 prominent countries -
Liechtenstein, Andorra and _X_ are officially ruled
by a regnant-monarch with a title different from
that used by the head of the state of other
monarchies.
Hence, what word is used in the official names of
these countries?
Which is the 3rd country, _X_, also the name of a
product by Parle?
33

“PRINCIPALITY” AS THESE STATES ARE RULED BY A
“PRINCE” OR “PRINCESS”
MONACO

What connects:
• The mythological discovery of the dye “Tyrian Purple”,
dye, depicted in a 17th century painting by Flemish
painter Peter Paul Rubens.
• A famous scientific study about “Classical conditioning”
published in 1890s.
• In 1940, the discovery of the 17000 years old Lascaux
cave paintings in France.
• The inspiration for the invention - by Swiss engineer
George De Mistral in 1941 - of a product whose name is
still used as a genericized trademark.
34

DOGS WERE INVOLVED IN THESE DISCOVERIES

Dogs ….
For ancient Greek astronomical observers, the
appearance of this bright star in the sky just before
sunrise was an indication of the onset of hot, sultry
days of summer, epidemic diseases, lethargy and
bad luck.
In ancient literature, the days following the spotting
of this star were called “dog days of summer”, a
phrase still used to indicate the most uncomfortable
part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
Which star and why the phrase “dog days”?
35

SIRIUS.
DOG BECAUSE SIRIUS IS A PART OF CONSTELLATION
CANIS MAJOR.

Established in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, who won
the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909, what
organization is this the logo of?
36

Corporate strategies …..
In business strategy, this is a tactic used by a firm that is
the target of a potential hostile takeover by another
firm.
As a part of this tactic, in an attempt to scare off the
would-be acquirer, the target company may sell off its
assets and dip into cash reserves to acquire enough
funds to buy a majority stake in the other company,
thus effectively turning the tables and gobbling up the
firm making the attempt of hostile takeover.
This strategy is aptly named after which agile fictional
character, first created in Japan in 1980?
37

Corporate strategies …..
In 2022 when Elon Musk announced a hostile takeover of
Twitter, Twitter board announced a “limited duration
shareholder rights plan”.
Under the plan, if any person acquires ownership of 15% or
more of Twitter’s outstanding common stock without the
board’s approval, other shareholders will be allowed to
purchase additional shares at a significant discount.
Such a strategy of dissuading an outside takeover attempt
by either making the company less desirable, is aptly named
after what object that would be used by undercover spies if
they thought they were about to be caught?
38

In South Korea, every year, 2nd Thursday of
November is the day of Suneung.
On this day, the stock market opens a few
hours late, local churches and temples see
unusually large crowds, the government
grounds aircrafts or reroutes flights to keep
the noise levels low and a free police escort is
arranged for anyone getting stuck on the road.
What exactly is Suneung?
39

In 2012, Britain's National Army Museum conducted
an online poll of around 8,000 people which
produced a short-list of five men to compete for the
title of “Britain's greatest military enemy”.
The criterion for the contest was that each
commander needed to have personally led an army
on the battlefield against British forces.
Beating Napoleon, Mustapha Kemal and Erwin
Romel, which person got maximum votes in this
poll?
40

George Washington.
Other 4 were: Napoleon, Mustapha Kemal, Michel
Collins, Erwin Romel

In UK, the suffix –wich in the names of places like
Northwich, Middlewich, Nantwich etc refer to the
prevalence in these places of mines of what
commodity?
Many of these –wich towns were established as
settlements in Anglo-Saxon England and were
characterized by extensive artisanal activity and trade.
These settlements were also known by another 8
lettered word. This word also appears in the names of
several small shops in India and defined in dictionary as
“a store carrying many different kinds of merchandise”.
Which word?
41

Which country’s currency is named
“Balboa” in the honor of the Spanish
explorer Vasco De Balboa?
Its neighboring country, Costa Rica
has a currency called colón. What is
the origin of the word “colón”?
42

PANAMA
Cristóbal Colón, Spanish name of CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS

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