Quest generalis 2017 prelims+finals

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS :
 Cotton college quiz club and the team of Pratyush .
 Dr. Vinay Upadhyay da for reviewing the set.
 Amitabh Sharma and Lucky Kaul for all the
inputs and the suggestions.
 All the participants for turning up, despite this being
the last quiz of the fest.

PRELIMS
 20 questions with 25 points.
 Qno 16 to 20 are star –marked with two pointers
and will be used to resolve ties(if any)
 In case of ties in the finals , the one with higher
marks in prelims will get the advantage.
 Top 8 teams qualify for the finals.
 .No e-devices allowed.

 (1) The fearsome reputation given to the great
white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) by
something around late 70s sparked a shark hunting
craze that dramatically reduced nearly all such
species over the following decades. In the waters
off the US eastern seaboard, populations reduced
by nearly 50% and in some areas it has gone down
by as much as 90%.
 What caused all the panic and subsequent decline?

 (2) According to scientists, the game’s immersive
simplicity makes it a potentially powerful therapeutic
tool.
 According to Prof Emily Holmes, an expert in
psychology at the University of Karolinska, it tapped well
into the visual memory owing to the colors, shapes and
movement involved.
 Their research and findings suggested that engaging in
very visually demanding tasks soon after a trauma(like
road accident or losing a dear one), can help block or
disrupt the memory being stored in an overly vivid way
thus overcoming them.
 What am I talking about?

 (3) The band members have a conflicting
explanation regarding the naming of the band. The
following are however commonly cited:
 (i) based on this delicacy that one of the band
member’s great grandmother used to make.
 (ii) nickname of the NBA star Mookie Blaylock.
 (iii) reference to how these creatures(belonging to
the phylum Mollusca) make something from grit.
 What band am I talking about?

 (4) One of the most bizarre sights on the Grammys
red carpet this year was that of signer CeeLo
Green dress. Due to its appearance what
appropriately did the Telegraph UK article
compared it to , that has been often jokingly
referred as mummy covered in chocolate and
nuts(pic next slide)

 (5) By playing off the famous rivalry between
Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, the Ad titled "The
Showdown" popularized the now-iconic basketball
saying "nothing but net" in the middle of the biggest
football game of the year.
 The catchphrase has become one of the most
recognizable phrases in the sports world with a lot
of parodies and remakes.
 Give me the company (the tagline of whose wont
certainly be approved by Grammar Nazis!)

 (6) The argument put forward for this phrase is
quite weak because they aren’t as dirty as people
make out them to be and the tactics adopted by
them aren’t unusual or unique to them.
 In recent times it has come to mean whether a
person is able to perform a certain feat at the same
level anywhere, at any time, as well as under
laboratory conditions.
 What very “chilling” statement of utter dispute am I
talking about?

 (7) From the honeymooning Kennedys, to parties
for Rihanna and Prince Albert of Monaco, the
legendary Beverly House had become nearly as
famous as those who have graced its rooms.
 Even though its a fantasy for many people but we
mostly remember it due to a nightmarish scene
from a movie involving a certain Equus ferus
caballus.
 What am I talking about(pic of the mansion next
slide)?

 (8)The Stanley cup has found itself in crazy
situations/places like Eddie Olczyk feeding his
horse out of the Stanley cup or Sylvain Lefebvre’s
daughter being baptized using the Cup as a
Baptismal font.
 But the craziest one probably happened when in
1940 the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup
and it somehow caught fire. With no suitable water
or extinguisher in sight, what “logical” things did the
players do?

 (9) According to historian Elizabeth Fenn George
Washington’s real opponent during most of the
American Revolution weren’t the bullets or the
rough weather but something more primitive that he
neglected.
 The matter got so serious that he based his entire
strategy on it and made sure to march his troop in
separate columns based on their present status.
 More interestingly, it reshaped North America more
than the revolution did because it prevent (saved)
Canada from becoming the 14th state of US. What
am I talking about?

 (10)The dermatologist associated with this legend,
Dr. Arnie Klein, told CNN that he suffered from
vitiligo, a disease that causes blotches of lightening
skin, as well as a form of lupus that led to rashes
and flaking of skin on his scalp. His was bad
because he began to get a speckled look all over
his body.
 Regardless of its origins, this item was never
viewed as anything other than fashion by his fans,
some of whom donned it to impersonate him.
 What am I talking about?

 (11) Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly known
as Sampdoria [sampˈdɔrja], is an Italian
association football club based in Genoa.
 The dark profile in the logo isn't that of a werewolf
or some furry-faced samurai, but that of a sailor,
which is appropriate for a club from Italy's largest
port city.
 Why was the logo in 2009 been criticized by a
group of people and how they wanted to modify it?

 (12) Chippewa Square was laid out in 1815 and
named in honor of American soldiers killed in
the Battle of Chippawa during the War of 1812.
 In the center of the square is a bronze statue of
Georgia founder General James Oglethorpe.
Chippewa Square is also home to First Baptist
Church (1833), the Philbrick-Eastman House
(1844),and The Savannah Theatre (1818).
 But the people who visit the park are always looking
for something (that never belonged to the place)
and was just a temporary jugaad! What am I talking
about?

 (13) According to him , his eye-catching ensemble
was a nod to his country’s history. He believed it
was important for them to get their culture out to the
world and hence wanted to march in with what
their ancestors wore 200 years ago .
 As far as the use of coconut oil is concerned(that
caused much of the glittering) it had cultural roots
and is considered an expression of ancestral ties to
his country and the symmetry of the human body.
 Who talking about which incident that made him a
celebrity overnight?

 (14) There was a story about how, before the
Second World War, a Nazi officer had been looking
at one of his masterpiece, and the officer asked
who had done it, to which he wittily replied that it
was more of their “creation” than his.
 What am I talking about whose courage to tell the
truth is probably more prominent today in the age of
“post-truth” and internet conspiracies?

 (15) The name of this place/location is a complete
misnomer because the 2nd part of its name doesn’t
come from the 6 letter word that we usually
associate it with but from the Latin word for “circle”
meaning a round open space at a street junction.
 While the first part of the name comes from this
type of collars that was fashionable in the late 16th
century to early 17th century(pic next slide)?

 (16) This movie had the same effect as LOTR in
Hollywood. After the movie was released, New
Zealand became a tourism hotspot for Indians. The
number of applications for visas and permits for
Indian students and tourists went up so much that
the visa office had to be enlarged to the tune of
US$500,000.Which movie?
 If by any chance you managed to watch it umpteen
times(and u deserve a medal for that), you must
have noticed that this brand was advertised
throughout the film in a subtle manner to the extent
that the hero was signed in as the new campaign
model. Which brand?

 (17) Who appropriately features in this meme(X),
making a clever reference to the GOT
character(Y)?
 The last time X did it, board exam results were
declared on a Sunday for the first time.

 (18) Rocco Morabito’s photo showing an electrical
worker trying to resuscitate a fellow lineman who
got electrocuted became the first spot news photo
ever to win a Pulitzer Prize.
 Take a good look at the photo(next slide) and give
me the three word title.
 While you are at it, tell me the Bollywood actor who
wrote a book by the same name( that perfectly
sums up his acting career!), describing his son’s
brave fight against paediatric cancer?

 (19) This new breakfast Instagram trend is about
shaping the egg white in a certain pattern with the
yolk served in the middle.
 They are popular among healthy eaters as they
contain around 160 calories and quite simple to
make.
 What is it called?
 While you are at it, this other creation is known as a
'unicorn toastie' and has made quite an impression
on social media in 2016, By what popular name is it
known(pics follow)?

 (20) In biophysics and Optical tomography, a photon
packet can be terminated from a scattering medium by
reemission because if the weight of the photon packet
has already decreased (due to many interactions),
further propagation is completely useless. But the catch
is in properly terminating it, so that energy is conserved.
 The most popular technique gives the photon packet
one chance in m(say m=10) of surviving with a weight
mW. In other words, if it does not sustain, it is
terminated with a weight set to zero; else the photon
packet increases in weight from W to mW.
 Based on the description above, what is the method
called? Also where would we have seen the most
famous application of it in an iconic 70s movie that was
India's second 70-milimetre, stereophonic-sound film?

 They urinated on the cup.
 This may be the first and only time the Stanley Cup
messes with fire and human urine during the same
night.

MICHAEL JACKSON'S SINGLE GLOVE, A TRADEMARK
IMAGE, STARTED AS A WAY TO HIDE HIS SKIN
CONDITION

AN ANTI-TOBACCO GROUP WANTED THE PIPE ON
THE SAILOR TO BE REMOVED!

THE “BENCH” IN FORREST GUMP

TONGA'S OILED-UP OLYMPIC FLAG
BEARER(RIO,2016) PITA TAUFATOFUA

PICCADILLY CIRCUS(THE COLLARS WERE
CALLED PICCADILLS)

X: AARON RAMSEY , Y: RAMSEY BOLTON

 Egg clouds
 Rainbow cheese toastie

GABBAR IN HIS HIDEOUT TAUNTS THREE OF HIS MEN ON A FAILED MISSION.
IN A FORM OF RUSSIAN ROULETTE, HE RANDOMLY REMOVES THREE OF THE
SIX BULLETS FROM HIS GUN AND HOLDS THE BARREL OF THE GUN TO A MAN'S
TEMPLE AND FIRES.

THE DEAL :
 There are 40 questions in the finals.
 For pounce,differential scoring will be used
throughout the quiz and the marking scheme is as
follows:
 (i) 7-8 teams : 5 points
 (ii)5-6 teams : 10 points
 (iii) 3-4 teams: 15 points
 (iv) 1-2 teams : 20 points
 On normal pass, it is 10/0, while a wrong answer in
the pounce is -10 throughout.
 No one answers, question go to the next team.

 (1)The People’s Choice Awards has been the
award show of the people, voted on by fans with
results that you wouldn’t necessarily see at the
Oscars, the Golden Globes, or the Grammys.
 The host for this year, Joel McHale made a clever
reference to a movie when he said 2016 was an
interesting year where all of us watched a long
time government insider squared off against an
egotistical billionaire.
 Which movie he was referencing , taking a clear
jibe at Trump?

 (2) Which three words have been blanked out in this
Economist article that tells us about the new school of
painting which was first exhibited in Paris around
1870s?
 Each of the adjacent words differ from the next by just a
letter. A very similar game called
wordladder/doublets/laddergrams was invented by a
person around 1878. The puzzle begins with two words,
and to solve the puzzle one must find a chain of other
words to link the two, in which two adjacent words (that
is, words in successive steps) differ by one letter.
 Example: For converting from Cold to warm, the steps
are: COLD → CORD → CARD → WARD → WARM
 Give me the three blanked out words and the person.

 (3) Professor C.V. Vishveshwara (77) was among
the early pioneers to study “black holes” even
before they had been so named and his
calculations gave a graphic form to the signal that
would be emitted by two merging black holes that
was later verified by the LIGO experiment.
 Known for his wit and sense of humour, what did
he want his nickname to be because of his
decorated discovery associated with black hole
(pic next slide). Co-incidentally the nickname is
same as that of the protagonist(19th century novel)
who has been played by Lon Chaney, Sr , Charles
Laughton to Tom Hulce?

“QUASIMODO” AFTER HAVING FIRST DISCOVERED THE QUASI
NORMAL MODES OF BLACK STAR.

 (4) Kai Kobold, a German antiques dealer whose
wares date back to the Neolithic era, bought a
fourteen-year-old object with more history, he
believed, than any other piece in his collection.
 It was the left leg of a statue whose toppling was
considered iconic and was even compared to the
fall of Berlin wall and collapse of the Iron curtain.
 Even though it couldn’t be proved whether it was
authentic or not due to its spotted past, it has
nevertheless garnered a lot of attention and was
sold to a new owner at about ten thousand Euros.
What am I talking about?

LEFT LEG OF A STATUE OF SADDAM HUSSEIN
FAMOUSLY TOPPLED BY U.S. TROOPS IN APRIL,
2003.

 (5) Carl Rollyson's impeccably researched, compulsively
readable life of Sylvia Plath is likely to remain for years
to come the definitive biography of this complex,
fascinating woman.
 Recognizing her intense, ultimately unsustainable
ambition to be a paramount force, just like her favourite
deity ( that literally turned a villain now!), what did he
appropriately name his book?
 In the book there has been a lot of comparison between
her and another lady , like their failing marriages, their
self-made mythologies, as well as the fact both had
what would be known today as Bipolar Type 2 Disorder.
Who is this lady with a bitter-sweet “birthday
connection”?

 (6) The initial idea was to make the particular
thing(say X) revolutionary, because the athlete
wanted something really lightweight and something
with amazing support. He wanted it to work with his
foot and the way it interacted with the track.
 One of the last prototypes was a fabric that was
metallic-type and reflected like a mirror.
 The idea was soon scrapped and something iconic
came in its place. What am I talking about?

MICHAEL JOHNSON’S GOLDEN SHOES AT
ATLANTA OLYMPICS 1996.

 (7) Dijkstra's algorithm is an algorithm for finding
the shortest paths between nodes in a graph, which may
represent, for example, road networks. It was conceived
by computer scientist Edsger W. Dijkstra in 1956 and
published three years later.
 His objective was to choose both a problem as well as
an answer (that would be produced by computer) that
non-computing people could understand. He designed
the shortest path algorithm and later implemented it for
ARMAC for a slightly simplified transportation map of 64
cities in the Netherlands .
 Why the number 64(or rather a set of number having the
same property)?

 64, so that 6 bits(i.e 2 to the power 6) would be
sufficient to encode the city number .

 (8) The Jordanian cabinet revoked Article 308 this April,
after years of campaigning by women's activists, as well
as Muslim and Christian scholars and others.
 With rape and sexual abuse impacting nearly a billion
women and girls over their lifetimes, a repeal in Jordan
and Lebanon is definitely crucial examples showing how
change is possible in the Arab region, and around the
world, for countries with similar exemptions.
 Which loophole(a similar plot in Rani Mukherjee’s debut
film “Raja ki aayegi baraat(1997)”) were they trying to
amend that has been the subject of lots of debate and
discussion ?

 (9) According to this person, it is not a work of art,
but rather an "advertising trick" since it was
sponsored by investment firm State Street Global
Advisers, and advertising firm McCann.
 His lawyers are requesting unspecified damages,
due to a "copyright violation” .They also believe that
his own work now is being perceived as “negative”
and have lost the artistic meaning and significance.
 Who and what according to him is creating all the
problems?

 (10) Angel Matos, suffered an injury to his
foot during a fight for the bronze medal in 2008
Beijing Olympics. The Olympic rule for any injury in
a taekwondo match is that the athlete only has a
brief window of time to stop the bleeding, put his leg
back on, etc. or else he is disqualified.
 Since he couldn’t treat his injury in the allotted time,
so the judge awarded the match to his opponent,
much to Mato’s disbelief and shock.
 To prove that his leg was functional and perhaps
because of a language barrier between Matos and
the Swedish judge, what “universal” language(pun
intended) did he use ?

HE KICKED THE JUDGED ON THE FACE TO
PROVE THAT HIS INJURY WAS GONE AND HE IS
READY TO FIGHT.

 (11) According to the studies conducted by Lead
scientist Dr Emma Wallace and her team , from the
University of York's Department of Psychology, music is
not something that is relevant to captive chimpanzees
and are supported by recent work with zoo-housed
orang-utans that were unable to distinguish music from
digitally scrambled noise.
 These results also highlight the possibility that music
appreciation is something that is a uniquely human trait,
even though chimps may share 96 per cent of human
DNA.
 What glaring error from the world of
Literature/Entertainment were they trying to point out?

 (12) By 1910, when the style was universally
adopted in this sport, the timings had dropped by
more than 5% and the improvement in the first
decade of the 20th century was greater than in the
hundred years since.
 The reduced aerodynamic drag is one of the
primary reasons while the contribution of reduced
vertical displacement is also a factor. As a result of
this, the weight is distributed evenly and no
unnecessary energy is expended making the
process more efficient and faster.
 Which sport and what change?

 Horseracing.
 Jockeys abandoned a comfortable, upright posture
for the hunched-over, short-stirrup style seen today
at racetracks

 (13) In one of the stone cold murders of 2017, it was revealed
that a guy called Udayan Das allegedly killed his parents and
buried them in the lawns of his house. Then, he allegedly killed
his ‘girlfriend’, entombed the body and carried out a stunning
impersonation of her. This story also was the inspiration behind
the Crime Patrol Satark episodes 799-801.
 When police raided his house they found multiple DVD copies of
a Hollywood movie , and he later confessed it to be his
inspiration behind the murder. Which 2013 movie, that is based
on the true Story of the three teenagers of West Memphis
accused of mercilessly killing three young boys?
In the west Memphis case,there was no credible physical
evidence nor any eyewitness against the three accused. It was
believed that the crime was committed as a of part Satanic ritual
because all three listened to heavy metal. Due to these factors,
what important and tragic event in American history was the
judiciary and legal system compared to?

 (14) The famous Canadian photographer David
Burdeny returned to the spot whose colourful hue
mesmerized him. He returned last year with a camera
and a homemade drone, but the contraption couldn’t
cover enough area and was no match for persistent
wind. The photos weren’t sharp enough.
 It was only when he returned the next year around
April(the time considered most suitable for viewing it),
that he was able to capture the color and symmetry
including the individual details.
 Which speculative bubble am I talking about that was
supposed to be present even before the gold rush , dot
com or the housing bubble?

THE FAMOUS TULIP GARDENS OF
NETHERLANDS

 (15) In what was arguably , one of the best one-
liners in Politics, this came from Vincent Cable, the
acting leader of the Liberal Democrats who
compared the transformation of Gordon Brown from
X to Y because of his ability to create chaos out of
order (as Y does) rather than order out of chaos.
 To help you get started, X and Y are surnames with
6 and 4 letters respectively and both the words end
with the same letter.

 (16) Madeline de Jesus was a track and field
athlete from Puerto Rico. At the 1984 Los Angeles
Summer Olympics Games, she injured her
hamstring during the long jump event and was not
in a position to run in the qualifying round of the
4x400 metres relay.
 What rather filmy “jugaad” did she arrange for , that
helped Puerto Rico advance to the next round but
ultimately being pulled out of the finals after the
hoax was revealed?

 Madeline enlisted her identical twin sister, Margaret,
as an imposter for a qualifying heat 

 (17) While most Rama temples have statues of
Hanuman kneeling in front in an act of prayer, the
Ammapalli temple, near RGIA airport Hyderabad,
has an idol of Kodandarama where Rama holds the
arrow in his right hand and a bow in the left.
 While there are very few Kodandarama
temples(without the statue of Hanuman), what very
apt and logical mythological reason is cited for this?
 Taking a cue from above, why is hanuman not seen
or absent in these temples ?

 Kodandarama temples are built only in places
where Sri Rama travelled or stayed during his 14
years of exile.
 The temple doesn’t have Hanuman sitting near
Rama as he didn’t join them till the end of exile !

 (18) In his dark comedy of 1893, this author tells us about a
lady called Mrs. Arbuthnot, a respectable woman with a
secret past, remark knowingly: “A ___ may ruin a human life.”
 But ironically, he had probably never imagined that it(the
blanked out word) could also ruin stone blocks of a tomb!
 The problem started in the late 1990s when the number of
visitors to his tomb rose appreciably, as it became a place of
pilgrimage within the cemetery. For years, visitors to his tomb
had limited themselves to leaving graffiti or little notes or
flowers. But then started the problem that became such a big
headache that the authorities had to erect a seven-foot plate
glass wall to keep ardent admirers at a distance.
 Who and what is the problem talked about/blanked out word?

 (19) 'I did it for many reasons,' said X. 'But I’ll leave it for
other people to figure out what it means. I’m sure people
can work it out.’
 Some of the probable “answers” might be his car being
confiscated more than 25 times, since he arrived or the
famous bib episode on the training ground.
 Who talking about what unusual celebration method that
has been cited as one the best T-shirt celebrations ever
presented in the modern era?

BALOTELLI’S “WHY ALWAYS ME?”

 (20) Academics at the University of Northumbria have
found that simply being in a room diffused with the smell
of this plant boosted memory test scores by 15 per cent.
Although it might not seem much, but it could mean the
difference between remembering to take medication, or
not, which could prove life-saving.
 While further investigation is required to understand the
potential benefits of these aromas throughout the life
span, English folklore had advised long ago slipping
this herb into the pocket of an errant lover to help them
remember their vows or Ophelia’s confirmation that the
herb is ‘for remembrance’ in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
What am I talking about?

REVERSE GEAR
Same rules but questions pass in the opposite
direction.
The final 20 questions of the quiz.

 (21) Said to be the biggest second world war
reconstruction ever , the original event was definitely a
watershed moment for history and finally shaping the
outcome of the war.
 The country’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, was
among 5,000 spectators who watched(the reenactment)
men dressed as soldiers attacking a mock-up of the
enemy’s iconic landmark. State television showed
dramatic footage that included explosions, planes
circling overhead, gunfire and men dressed up in
military uniforms burn to the ground in flames.
 The whole process took up a lot of meticulous effort and
about 6 months to prepare. Which historic moment were
they trying to recreate?

 (22) The townspeople of Buttevant, County Cork
have claimed that it was Irish bred and sold at the
town's renown Cahirmee fair, from where it found
its way to fame and hence it should be returned to
them .
 The National Army Museum in Chelsea, (where it
currently belongs) said the matter would be dealt
sensitively , keeping in mind its debated origins and
their obligation to protect and safeguard collections
for future generations.
 On the next slide you can see Derek Bell, a
professional prop maker giving it a more lifelike
stance.

 (23) This poem as they say is about “inviting in” dark
thoughts. The person(X) says it helped him get through
his notorious ‘uncoupling’ when he was depressed and
overwhelmed.
 He believed that the poem had a profound impact in his
life because it made him realize that self-doubt and
depression as well as all the joyful feelings are useful if
we know how to harness them.
 What is the poem named?
 How did he include the poem as a sort of tribute in one
of his/their work, clearly deviating from the previous
ones?

 A Head Full of Dreams is having a spoken word
section in the form of “The Guest house” .
 Chris Martin did it as a tribute to the profound
impact it had in his life.

 (24) Who is this “attractive” man seen as an
exception to the illusive Nash equilibrium in this
xkcd strip? Maybe someday science will get over its
giant collective crush over him!

 (25) 157 minor accidents were reported, of which
only 32 involved personal injuries, with only a
handful serious.
 On the positive end, cautious behaviour caused a
major decrease in road fatalities. Indeed, fatal car-
to-car and car-to-pedestrian accidents dropped
sharply as a result, and the number of motor
insurance claims went down by 40%.
 What caused all these problems/benefits? While
you are it give me the use of the gloves in the next
slide?

DAGEN H(THE RIGHT HAND TRAFFIC
DIVERSION) IN SWEDEN

 A pair of colored gloves used in 1967 by Swedish
authorities in order to remind drivers they should
drive on the right as the traffic was changed

 (26) The noted film critic, the late Philip
French who, when writing about a work that
transformed his world, promised that if he were the
Minister of Health, he’d see that chemists were well
stocked with cassettes of <Insert Movie Name> and
encourage doctors to prescribe it for depressed
patients.
 Which classic(whose name might remind you of the
only thing Shraddha Kapoor is probably good at
!)from (around) mid 20th century was supposed to
fizz you with joy?

 (27) When initially approached for the role of this
character, he was quite nervous as he wasn’t a
typical voice actor nor did he have a traditional
theatrical background.
 While looking for possible inspiration to prepare for
the audition, he saw his cat coughing up a fur ball.
The cat’s entire body was rippling from head to toe
and it started to vomit with much discomfort and
commotion.
 Who was thus inspired that went down as an
iconic one?

GOLLUM(ANDY SERKINS TALKING ABOUT THE
INSPIRATION)

 (28) Since the character he potrayed had very little
or no dialogue, so he decided to do a Moari Haka
dance just before the auditions in order to show the
ferocious and manly nature of his character . Co-
incidentally he was able to impress because the
crew present there actually got real scared.
 Which undefeated “warlord” am I talking about from
the world of popular culture?

JASON MOMOA PORTRAYING “KHAL DROGO”
IN GAME OF THRONES

 (29) Barbados was playing Grenada in the Group
round of the Caribbean Cup and was winning 2-0
with seven minutes to go. Grenada then scored,
making it 2-1. Even though Barbados was still
winning, they were actually losing. Their win would
tie the two teams in the standings, but Grenada
would win the tiebreaker based on having scored
more in previous matches.
 (a) What did they(Barbados) do next, that has gone
down as one of the most bizarrely hilarious
sequences in sports history?
 (b) What equally questionable and idiosyncratic
Caribbean cup rule/policy were they trying to take
advantage of ?

 (a) They deliberately scored a own goal to push it to
the extra time(the goalie standing there and picking
his nose the entire time!)
 (b) Each goal in extra time had two points instead
of one and the team to score it first, wins the
game(which the Barbados apparently did making a
mockery of this otherwise beautiful sport)

 (30) The printed palazzo pants(on the next slide) is
inspired from the painting on the right. He was what
you might call an armchair traveller and his
paintings of tigers in lush green jungles were
inspired by his time in Mexico.
 For the printed trousers(following slides), the
inspiration behind the design is a giant monstera
deliciosa, a swiss cheese plant which this artist
used to keep in his studio and it served as the
inspiration for many other paintings.
 In each of the case, name the painter.

 Henri Rousseau and the painting in the right is
Tiger in a Tropical Storm
 The painter in the other slide is Henri Matisse.
 (the answers are in the order in which they appear
in the slides)

 (31) According to a study by Irina Pugach of the Max
Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, a group
of Indian adventurers probably came to Australia about
4,000 years before Captain Phillip and his merry men
arrived (in 1788) .
 Unlike their European successors, these earlier settlers
were assimilated by the locals and they brought with
them one of Australia’s iconic animal that is believed to
have exterminated the Tasmanian tiger. What?
 The second evidence which further validates the theory
is the way in which cycad nuts were cultivated and was
very similar with the way done in Kerala. A popular
method is called “fire-stick” and was used to burn trees
competing with the ones bearing the nuts. What other
essential purpose did this method serve ?

 Dingo, the Australian wild dog. Their resemblance
to certain breeds found in India is well known.
 Cycads nuts contain toxins, so burning(or heating
it) is necessary to detoxify it and make it edible.

 (32) The chess puzzle(pic next slide) originally
composed by sir Roger Penrose has been devised
to defeat an artificially intelligent (AI) computer but
is solvable for humans.
 This puzzle has been set up to study an important
quality of human being, that has baffled
neuroscientists for ages and one physicist has even
proposed it to be a state of matter! What?
 What other similar event about 75 years ago was
this puzzle compared to that invited readers to pit
their wits against a new conundrum to find the
quickest minds?

THE ORIGINAL BLETCHLEY PARK CROSSWORD,
PUBLISHED IN THE TELEGRAPH IN 1942

 (33) Thom Bogaard and Rolf Hut of Delft University of
Technology have been aiming to understand how this
mighty watercourse moves, how it mixes, how it might
disperse and dilute pollution if faced with such a
problem.
 It being a relatively poor country so they did not use the
fancy, high end equipments as commonly seen in the
west but took their inspiration from a popular(fictional)
game wherein they attached colored balloons and
bicycle lights to about 300 coconuts. It is then allowed to
drift in the river and observations are made as they pass
through specific points that reveal important information
about water current and sediment content.
 Which river and the inspiration behind the innovation?

 (34) The 1999 French open women’s single final is known for
reasons more than one. While Martina Hingis was just three
points away from victory, the way things unfolded from that
point is probably no less thrilling and full of drama. Hingis lost
her cool when a line judge made a bad call in Steffi Graf's
favour, even though it should not have mattered as she was
miles ahead of her opponent.
 (a) Whatever she did next, not only gave crowd the reasons to
hate her but she also committed an etiquette offense that
people consider just slightly above shitting on the court. What
?
 (b) Upon utter frustration from the constant jeering and boos
from the French crowd, what other folly did she commit
probably trying to repeat what Michael Chang did against Ivan
Lendl in 1989 ?

 (a) One cannot cross over to the opponent’s side of
the net, according to rules. Hingis not only lost the
point, she was penalized a point for venturing into
her opponent's domain.
 (b) Underhand serve and it is struck below
shoulder level. Although this serve is legal, it may
be seen as unsportsmanlike in adult tennis.
 Interestingly, when Michael Chang did that against
Ivan Lendl, the French crowd applauded. But for
Hingis, they jeered.

 (35) There is a long ongoing tussle over which shade(the
lighter or the darker) should be used in the national flag.
 Researchers having examined silk threads from what is
thought to be the oldest surviving flag and concluded that it
should have been the darker one(in place of the lighter shade
currently used)
 The Federalists, led by Juan Manuel de Rosas, fought for
decentralised government under the darker shade colours
while the Unitarians, who wanted a strong central government
rallied to the lighter one. After the Unitarians’ triumph, most
countrymen adopted the lighter version(inspite of not being
sure if they really used the lighter version and chemical
analysis like x-ray spectroscopy further disproving the theory)
and this is how it has continued to remain till date.
 Which country?

 (36) The Fiesta de Santa Marta de Ribarteme is an
annual event that takes place on July 29th every
year in Spain. A procession of family and friends of
the ‘celebrants’ makes its way though the streets of
the town, all dressed appropriately for funerals. The
literal English translation of the festival is what the
festival is all about. Take a good look at the picture
next slide and tell me what is happening.
 The unconventional pilgrimage is led by the effigy
of Santa Marta . Keeping in with the context of the
festival, Santa Marta is appropriately the sister of
whom?

 This festival is about people give their thanks to the
Saint after surviving a close brush with death
during the previous twelve months.
 In Biblical terms Martha is the sister of Lazarus
who was brought back from the dead by Jesus.

 (37) In the Rolling stone’s “The 500 Greatest
Songs of All Time”, (a) which is the most frequent
word used in the songs' lyrics, with 1057
occurrences, followed by I'm (1000 uses), oh (847
uses) know (779 uses), baby (746 uses), got (702
uses), and yeah (656 uses)?
 (b) Described as "one of the most
popular instrumental rock and soul songs ever” ,
this is the only instrumental in the list(say AB). The
title is not a marijuana reference(as believed by
many) and according to the front man of the band it
was named so because it was the nastiest thing he
could think of and it's something people usually
throw away. Give me AB.

 (38)This rolling stone cover of Julia Dreyfus was
controversial for all the obvious reasons . Probably
the more prominent one was what was written on
her back that needed certain “amendment”.
 What was the glaring error rolling stone committed?

 John Hancock didn’t sign the U.S.
Constitution(as seen in her back).
 He actually signed the Declaration of
Independence.

 (39) Data Scientists believe that true innovation cannot be
driven by data alone. Data can lead to insight into behaviour,
but to predict what will be truly successful , we need to use the
factors with best possible predicted outcome according to the
data, and add creativity, independent insight and take a leap
of faith if necessary.
 This is possibly best explained by the two following TV shows.
Roy Price and his team after having collected necessary data
and processing them , came to a conclusion that Amazon
should do a sitcom about four Republican US senators(that
turned out to be a major disappointment).
 Meanwhile however at the same time at some other company,
another executive did manage to land a top show(with similar
theme as above one but different genre) based on data
analysis and the company almost nailed it with that show(at
least for first two seasons  )
 Which two TV shows am I talking about?

 (40) Dr. Elina Bodner invented something for which
she was awarded the Ig nobel prize in 2009. During
an emergency, it can be quickly separated into a
pair of protective face masks. One to save one
own’s life and own to save the life of some lucky
bystander(pun intended). What?
 She was a young medical university graduate when
something happened(in the late 20th century) that
led her to this innovation which provides a person
with enough time to escape from a life-threatening
environment and maintaining necessary balance
while running. Which event/incident?

FOR BOUQUETS AND BRICKBATS :
 Bedanga Kashyap Das
 bedangakdas@gmail.com
 bedanga@iitk.ac.in
 +91 84748 99363

Quest generalis 2017 prelims+finals

Quest generalis 2017 prelims+finals

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Quest generalis 2017 prelims+finals

Similar to Quest generalis 2017 prelims+finals (20)

More from Bedanga Das

More from Bedanga Das (7)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Quest generalis 2017 prelims+finals