2. • RULES
• There are 3 Rounds in the Quiz
• Round I – 12 Qs Clockwise
• Round II – Written Round of 6 Qs
• Round III – 12 Qs Anti-Clockwise
• A Total of 30 Qs will be asked in the Quiz
• IB/IP for Round I&II - +10, 0, -5
• Written Round - +10, 0
• A huge shoutout to Major Chandrakant Nair and Abhinav Dhar to have reviewed this
Quiz in advance.
3.
4. • Q1.
• This 2007 Biographical Drama, directed by Jarett Schaefer and starring Jared Leto
(poster), chronicles around an incident that shook the
world.
• Why was the film titled as such?
• OR
• Why did the makers settle on this name?
• Image on next slide
5.
6.
7. • Chapter 27
• The title is a reference to JD Salinger’s “Catcher in The Rye” which has 26 chapters,
and this incident is suggested as a continuation of the book, since Mark David
Chapman was carrying the book when he assassinated John Lennon.
8. • Q2.
• A study by faculty members Sahadeb Sarkar and Anirban Banerjee of IIM Calcutta
with the tagline Innovative applications of statistical tools, has made a new revelation
to an already long time debatable/established number. Using their own methods, based
on the Weibull distribution model, the study claims to make a more accurate discovery,
landing on the number 109.42.
• As per them, the method is statistically more rigorous than the traditional one whose
estimated number (a lower one) is entrenched into record books. This is due to the
consideration of two major factors – Assumptions made that perfectly suit the present
day scenario in the ever-so changing nature of the profession; and measuring the
consistency of a performer throughout all conditions and against all opponents.
• Finally using the Mahalanobis distance (measures no. of standard deviations a point is
away from the mean of a distribution) they settled on the number.
• What were they studying?
11. • Q3.
• This British scientist, a former lecturer of Physics in Queens College, St Andrews,
Scotland, at Guy’s Hospital Medical School, UK also held a long-term position at the
University of the West Indies, sadly passed away in 2015.
• But more than 6 decades before his death, his greatest achievement was found while
working under his supervisor. The achievement was only met after several
unsuccessful attempts (which incidentally is incorporated into its name) and after
subjecting it to extreme humidity revealing its hydrated form, essential to the task.
• It was soon picked up by other esteemed members and went a long way in another
important, rather greater development. A decade later, the creators of this
development was honoured & felicitated, while also mentioning this scientist, but
sadly ignoring his supervisor whose work was at the core of the entire achievement.
• However, the supervisor finally got her due, in a sense, after a play written by this
American playwright debuted in 2015 in West End of London.
• Images follow ---
• Which play OR What achievement?
12.
13.
14. • Photo 51 OR Photograph 51
• The Photograph taken by Raymond Gosling under Rosalind Franklin’s supervision,
that went a long way in the development of DNA structure after being picked up by
Watson and Crick. The Nobel Committee awarded them the Prize in 1962 but left out
Rosalind Franklin who sadly passed away 4 years ago due to cancer.
• Anna Zeigler’s Play with Nicole Kidman as R Franklin, commemorates her role and
importance in the discovery of DNA
15. • Q4.
• Following is an excerpt taken from a late 1960’s context:
• “Billy and Lazzaro and poor old Edgar Derby crossed the prison yard to the theater
now. Billy was carrying his little coat as though it were a lady’s muff. It was wrapped
around and around his hands. He was the central clown in an unconscious travesty of
that famous oil painting, “___ ______ __ ‘__.”
• One could argue that the ‘Central Clown’ as mentioned, if seen with a drum would be
more appropriate to the painting.
• Where would we come across this excerpt?
• FITB.
16.
17. • Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Spirit of ‘76 by Archibald MacNeil Willard
18. • Q5.
• This 1998 French biographical film focuses on the
love affair of its protagonist with Suzanne Valadon.
• While preparing for the titular role in a 2018 film,
the lead male revealed taking obvious inspiration
from this film to portray one’s ability to deal with
similar restrictions. The film met with commercial
and critical failure.
• He also took inspiration from another film, this time
Indian, about the separation of two brothers in
childhood and avenging their fathers death.
• An image follows of the painter in Q, from another
film, that also has a numerical connect, by an actor
Vincent Menjou Cortes.
• Which 2018 film? Which Indian film serving as
inspiration? Which other film portrays the painter?
19.
20.
21. • SRK for Zero (SRK plays a dwarf just like Toulouse Lautrec)
• Appu Raja or Apoorva Sagodharargal (Kamal Hasan played a dwarf in the film)
• Midnight in Paris
22. • Q6.
• After receiving its patent for riveted Jeans in 1873, they produced their first product
titled ‘XX’ after the fabric they were made from by Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. in
New Hampshire. The name was later changed to ‘501’ which reflected the lot no.
Despite the jeans’ immense popularity even today, a large chunk of its history
documenting its creation, birth and subsequent usage, doesn’t exist today. They were
lost, along with many other things, more than a century ago.
• How were the documents listing the history of the company and its products lost?
• In 2014, the company setup a spectacular display of 18850 pair of donated jeans spread
across a field giving rise to the nickname ‘Field of Jeans’. This was done to encourage
its fans to donate their used jeans in a way of promoting recycle and reuse.
• Image follows
• Where exactly were these 18850 pair of jeans displayed, that gave away its naming
rights in 2013?
23.
24.
25. • They were destroyed in the San Francisco Earthquake in 1906 that also destroyed the
HQ of Levi Strauss.
26. • San Francisco 49ers Stadium in Santa Clara, California that was renamed as Levi’s
Stadium in 2013 after it brought the naming rights.
27. • Q7.
• In Seinfeld S7E13, George Costanza selects an unusual name for his child, for
whenever they decide to have a baby with his fiancé Susan. The name was eventually
picked up by Susan’s cousins Carrie and her husband Ken who were expecting, and
this ultimately infuriates George.
• The name is also same as that of a film that was doing well at the box office around the
time period this episode released; and was also used to describe the different zones of a
specific category of female anatomy, later on in another TV series.
• What name does George decide to name his yet unborn baby?
• Why does George settle on that name, which might not be hard to figure out given one
of George’s main occupation (among others) throughout the show?
30. • Mickey Mantle’s Jersey Number
• Mickey Mantle played his entire 18 year MLB career for New York Yankees, where
George Costanza worked.
31. • Q8.
• Ever since its establishment as a dark and gloomy connotation, it has been noteworthy
to point out the several incidents that share the commonality. The Smithsonian
Magazine even came out with an article pointing out 10 incidents that speak of the
negativity or ill-fate associated with it, 9 of which are listed below while the other
helped cement this connotation. They are:
• A Raid on Southern England by the French in 1360. The Samoan Cyclone in 1889.
Czar Nicholas II Abdicates his Throne in 1917. Germany occupies Czechoslovakia in
1939. A Deadly Great Blizzard in the Northern Plains (Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba,
Saskatchewan) in 1941. World Record rainfall in La Reunion, Indian Ocean in 1952.
CBS Cancels the Ed Sullivan Show in 1971. Disappearing Ozone Layer over Northern
Hemisphere in 1988. The SARS outbreak in 2003.
• What negative connotation and what led to its establishment?
• Also which was the latest tragic event to share this common trait in 2019 on a Friday
afternoon?
32.
33. • Ides of March – They all occurred on 15th March
• The Assassination of Julius Caesar helped establish this ill-fate association with it.
35. • Q9.
• It is a slang term from US military terminology, for an unspecified hour very early in
the morning, on that implies an unpleasant time to be awake.
• It also found its usage less than a decade ago, with regards to the gloominess and
secrecy that cloaked a decade-long expedition.
• What?
38. • Q10.
• Previously a gatekeeper, she later went on to be a personal secretary to this man at the
centre of it all. Less than 5 decades ago, she was asked to replicate a certain position
that was to validate her claim made towards her ‘mistake’ or ‘slip-up’ which would
prove her innocence.
• Seated at her desk, she reached far back over her left shoulder for a device, while her
right foot applied pressure to the pedal controlling a transcription machine. She had
previously claimed that the constant pressure on the pedal and the mistake of pressing
the wrong button on reaching for the device, resulted in the gap. Although when she
went on to check it, the gap had increased to a significantly large number. Her posture
was soon named after herself following the demonstration.
• What ‘Gap’, the justification of which, was demonstrated by this lady? What larger
misconduct was this a part of?
• Image of the lady in next slide --
39.
40.
41. • The ‘18 ½ minute Gap’ from the Nixon White House Tapes. It was initially 5 minutes.
• She is Rose Mary Woods who demonstrated her stretch in court, nicknamed the Rose
Mary Woods Stretch.
• Watergate Scandal
42. • Q11.
• Ivy Mike was the first full-scale thermonuclear device that was detonated on 1st
November, 1952 in Elugelab, Enewetak Atoll, in the now independent island nation of
Marshall Islands. It resulted in the first successful test of a hydrogen bomb.
• The debris from the explosion was initially studied by a team from Berkeley in collab
with the Argonne and Los Alamos National Labs. The study was aided by the analysis
of filter papers flown in by airplanes through the explosion cloud, which was helpful in
isolating the coral debris of the atoll.
• After a successful study, the Berkeley team faced a tough competition from a renowned
institute based out of Stockholm in their quest of earning a privilege. However, due to
its publications preceding that of the Swedish article and being based on the
previously undisclosed results of Ivy Mike, the Berkeley team was prioritized.
• What privilege was earned by the Berkeley team, that was jokingly nicknamed
something after ‘Project Panda’, since the efforts that led to the design of Ivy Mike was
codenamed so?
43.
44. • The Discovery and Nomenclature of Einsteinium (99) by Alberto Ghiorso & team from
University of California, Berkeley. It was jokingly called PANDAMONIUM.
• Fermium (100) almost fits but it wasn’t given such nickname.
45. • Q12.
• Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade wrote the poem ‘Farewell to Seven Falls’
expressing his dismay over its disappearance. Thousands of visitors flocked to see it for
one last time before it ceased to exist. A suspended footbridge that afforded the
spectacular view was overweight with the large footfall and therefore collapsed, killing
dozens of tourists. An excerpt from the poem (translated from Portuguese) goes:
• “Here, seven visions, seven liquid sculptures vanished through the computerized
calculations of a country ceasing to be human in order to become a chilly corporation,
nothing more. A movement becomes a ___.”
• What led to the disappearance of this stunning marvel of nature?
46.
47. • The Guairá Falls between Brazil and Paraguay was completely submerged after the
Itaipu Dam came up in 1982.
49. • WRITTEN ROUND
• Levan Patsinashvili and Davit Babiashvili are a designer duo based out of Georgia,
Europe. Besides creating advertising campaigns at Saatchi and Saatchi Tbilisi, they
have created a project titled D1G1TAL CHRON1CLES – a series of pictograms that
visualize major historical events using digits from the year they occurred in.
• Following are two examples from their list:
• Then follows 6 such pictograms for this round to be answered.
• +10, 0
72. • Johannes Gutenberg. He introduced printing to Europe. Look at the shift in the
depiction of numbers at his year of birth to his year of death being much more
computerized and less hand-written
74. • Q19.
• After being immensely popular with people who had depression, it found praise from
several critics and psychologists alike for its depiction of the illness. People who never
had this illness said they understood it better now.
• Jonathan Rottenberg, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of South
Florida, said in ‘Psychology Today’, “I know of no better depiction of the guts of what
its like to be severely depressed.”
• Ros Johnson, a Rhode Island clinical worker believes the reason it resonates so well, is
because certain aspects are explained in such a clear, well-articulated manner, which
the people with this illness cannot normally describe.
• What, that is a retelling of its creators’ (pic on next slide) life, stories from her
childhood and the challenges she faced as an adult, found such high praise from the
world of Psychologists?
75.
76.
77. • ‘Hyperbole and Half’ by Allie Brosh (A combination of webcomic and blog)
78. • Q20.
• Ex-Machina is a 2014 sci-fi psychological thriller starring Oscar Isaac (Nathan), Alicia
Vikander (Ava) and Domnhall Gleeson (Caleb). It follows a programmer invited by his
CEO to administer the Turing Test to an intelligent humanoid robot.
• During a scene, Nathan states to Caleb, that our preferences are refined by us over
time giving us a certain freedom to choose who we are. He says, “The challenge is not
to act automatically. It’s to find an action that is not automatic”, thereby referencing
something in front of them. He means to suggest that it would have never come into
existence had the person only done what he already knew, thereby using it as an
example of object lesson for Caleb. This is in contrast to how an AI comes to know,
which is essentially via consciousness and epistemology, thus emphasizing the problem
raised by Nathan.
• The film was made on a budget of $15-16.5 million, and the object used was likely a
replica, since the original would’ve cost around 9 times the film’s budget after
adjusting for inflation.
• What was used as an example of object lesson?
81. • Q21
• Semantic Dementia is a clinical syndrome and a neurodegenerative disorder
characterized by a progressive breakdown of conceptual knowledge (semantic memory)
in the context of relatively preserved day-to-day (episodic) memory in both the verbal
and non-verbal domains. It is considered one of the main variants of the
frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Although it was initially described in the late
1800s to early 1900s by Arnold Pick, it was only first recognized in 1975 after being
characterized by Professor Elizabeth Warrington.
• However less-than-a-decade prior to its recognition in 1975, several medical experts
found that Semantic Dementia is remarkably similar to the cognitive impairments
experienced by the inhabitants of a town. Typical of the syndrome, the effects and
results of certain kinds of degeneration in the brain’s frontal and temporal lobes are
also accurately described in the same context.
• Where did we come across this impairment eerily reminiscent of Semantic Dementia?
82.
83. • One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel
Garcia Marquez
• Insomnia Plague strikes Macondo with its
most devastating symptom being ‘Loss of
name and notion of things’.
84. • Q22.
• There are several theories as to why and when the association of ‘13’ with bad luck
began. One of the most popular theory being the ‘Last Supper’ where there were 13
people around the table, and the 13th apostle Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. Another one
cites King Philip IV of France whose arrest order of the Knights Templar on a Friday,
13 October, 1307, led to most of the Knights being tortured and killed.
• However, as per a myth, the earliest known reference to 13 being unlucky, was only
established in a 1910 translation by L.W. King and edited by Richard Hooker, whose
omission of a 13th article, led to the perpetration of this myth in popular consciousness.
• What known reference?
85.
86. • Hammurabi’s Code where supposedly the 13th law is missing, but it is likely a myth
since the original code has no numeration.
87. • Q23.
• While having dinner with his family at a Wild Thyme restaurant in South Pasadena,
California, D Povenmire simply drew a quick sketch of a triangle doodle, and named it
‘_______’. Drawn in a design borrowed from Tex Avery, it was wrought with geometric
shapes. The triangle being the dominant feature, with two oval shaped ‘O’s lying on top
of one of its sides, while a small ‘3’ is added to the other side of the triangle forming the
distinguishable traits of this character.
• Which character?
• Who is he named after, a result of an often misspelling/mispronunciation of its name,
from an 1870s context?
88.
89. • Phineas from ‘Phineas and Ferb’
• Phileas Fogg (Around the World in 80 Days) often mis referenced as Phineas Fogg
90. • Q24.
• ‘Big Hero 6’ is a 2014 computer animated 3D superhero film that tells the story of Hiro
Hamada, a young Robotics prodigy, and Baymax, his late brothers healthcare provider
Robot, who forms a superhero team to combat a masked villain.
• Amazed by the technological developments at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology,
Hiro decides to apply, to enrol in which, he needed to sign up for the school’s showcase
event. His project is ‘Microbots’ - swarms of tiny robots that can link together in any
arrangement imaginable using a neurocranial transmitter.
• The movement of Microbots was designed and animated by the production team after
watching several videos of something that inspired them.
• Watch the clip and tell me what inspired the movement of the Microbots?
94. • Q25.
• It starts by seeking guidance and strength through prayer and meditation from God or
a higher power of their own understanding; take a moral inventory with care to
include resentments; get ready to remove character defects after listing them; list and
make amends to those harmed; continuing to pray, meditate, take moral inventory and
try to help others recover. This forms the first half.
• The second half includes mostly ‘personal stories’, which are subject to additions,
removals and name change, aiming towards a more redemptive autobiographical
account.
• What are we talking about, something that has been a pop culture stable for many
years, and played major part in TV series’ such as Grey’s Anatomy?
97. • Q26.
• One of the attractions of the University of California, San Diego is a 560-foot-long slate
tile path that winds towards its main Library building, the Geisel Forum. Designed by
Alexis Smith, the “Snake Path”, as it is called, symbolizes the conflict between
innocence and knowledge. It passes through a small ‘Garden of Fruit Trees’ and a giant
granite replica of a “Literary Masterpiece”, that inspired the path’s design in the first
place.
• The first version of this Literary piece was published, comprising of 10 books. However,
7 years later the second edition followed, this time arranged in a different manner. The
total number of books was slightly more than 10, and this was done keeping a specific
manner of imitation in mind by its author.
• Which Literary Masterpiece?
• How many divisions were they arranged in, and what did it imitate in doing so?
• Image follows --
101. • Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’
• It was arranged into 12 Books for its 2nd edition, as an imitation of ‘Aeneid’ which is
also arranged in 12 Books.
102. • Q27.
• In 2011, the British Medical Journal published a study after sampling a group of young
people with similar backgrounds. The study concluded that although there seems to be
a spike in risk around the noted ‘mark’, it still simply varies to-and-fro around it.
There doesn’t seem to be any definite cause to worry at the ‘settled value’, but a larger
bracket in-and-around it does seem to raise the curve. This study was further
strengthened by a 2015 article in ‘The Independent’ that provided statistical evidence
regarding the same.
• Besides the growing importance of media, an interview of this woman (pic on next
slide) taken in 1994 for The Daily World in Aberdeen, Washington, was responsible for
its propagation and revival in public perception.
• However, with passing time, it slowly started to die down in people’s mind before
finding a renewed swell of attention in media again around a decade ago.
• What did BMJ study? What led to its propagation in 1994? What caused its renewal
around a decade ago?
106. • Kurt Cobain’s Death (She is Wendy Fradenburg Cobain O’Connor – K Cobain’s mother)
• Amy Winehouse’s Death in 2011
107. • Q28.
• Lotte Reiniger was a German film director and one of the foremost pioneer of
silhouette animation. Her scissor cut and silhouette style of animation are so naïve
and graphical, that it inspired many in this field.
• Another fascinating aspect would be from the Asian shadow plays and puppetry, one
that involves very crudely articulated puppets on sticks.
• Clearly inspired by both these styles of animation and shadow play, a certain Ben
Hibon decided to merge both of them and create this wonderful visual. However, one
small hurdle remained in its creation with relation to its larger context. It was only
overcome by using a 360-degree floating camera through layers of paper and
transposing shadows.
• What creation of Ben Hibon, that found fruition a decade ago?
108.
109.
110.
111.
112. • The Three Brothers Sequence in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part I
113. • Q29.
• This British synth-pop group came into existence and subsequently rose to fame in the
late 1970s - early 80s.
• Here is a single, the only one from their 1980 album, that addresses a certain event
from the past.
• A line from the song’s 4th stanza goes, “Is mother proud of ______ ___ today”, where a
perfect pun has been used with regards to the event.
• Another line from the 3rd stanza goes, “It’s Eight-Fifteen, And that’s the time it’s
always been.”
• Listen to the song, and tell me the following:
• 1. Name of the song, whose origins lie in the ‘Mother’s’ name, that her son further used
to name another entity he was in charge of.
• 2. FITB with the pun.
• 3. What is the line from the 3rd stanza, in its entirety, a reference to?
• Image follows
114.
115.
116. • Enola Gay – Paul Tibbets, the pilot who flew the aircraft that carried the atomic bomb
detonated over Hiroshima, named it ‘Enola Gay’ after his mother.
• Enola Gay – A song by the British Band “Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark”
referencing the event.
117. • Little Boy (Pun on Mother’s Little Boy and the nickname of the Bomb)
• ‘It’s 8:15, and that’s the time that it’s always been’ references the exact time the Bomb
was detonated over Hiroshima, and everything went ‘frozen’ by the effect of the blast
and remained the same ever since, hence ‘That’s the time that it’s always been.’
118. • Q30.
• The earliest known examples date back to the mid-18th century, constructed by
European craftsmen and cutlery makers. The English-made ones incorporated a ‘Pen
Release’ where the main spring activated the edgier part instead of a central handle
button. After undergoing generations of modifications throughout entire Europe, it’s
final design was developed and patented by a New York toolmaker, George Schrade in
1892. The design stuck, and every commercial development was based on it ever since.
• 6 ½ decades after this item was patented, it found itself in the midst of a serious
dilemma. It’s availability in poor, rough neighbourhood combined with its uniqueness
as initially presumed, strengthened the decision of the majority; however when later
clues come to light such as its ‘non uniqueness’, the difference in its mode of operation
between a professional and an amateur, and the impact created by it; their decision
gets swayed to the other side.
• Such was the importance of its role in the said context, that it’s silhouette was
incorporated into an image forming a ‘Point of Division’ with regards to the context.
• What item? Where did it play a major role?
124. • Q.
• He was a student at Cornell University in the 1950s, where he audited the Literature
class of a famous author. A year before he graduated, the author published his book
that introduced a certain word to its readers, to describe a sexually attractive girl
between the ages of ‘Nine and Fourteen’. In the following years though, mainstream
usage altered its meaning now applying to describe older girls.
• A decade later, this student published his own book with the following excerpt, paying
a nod to the author and his famous novel by inducting the word and another character
from it into his book. The excerpt goes:
• “What chance has a lonely surfer boy For the love of a surfer chick, With all these
_______ _______ (repetitive words) cats Coming on so big and sick? For me, my baby
was a woman, For him she’s just another _______ (the word described above).”
• Following is an image from the later novel, which was seen with the label ‘W.A.S.T.E’
and has been ubiquitous as a symbol of withdrawal from recognized society -
• Id both the novels. What word was introduced?
125.
126.
127. • The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon (The ubiquitous muted horn symbol)
• Lolita – Nymphet and Humbert Humbert (the main antagonist)
