iit madras open quiz 2014

IIT Madras Open Quiz 2014IIT Madras Open Quiz 2014

Presented by the Quiz Club of IIT MadrasPresented by the Quiz Club of IIT Madras

A big thank you to our sponsors!

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The RulesThe Rules

40 question preliminary roundQuestions 11 to 20 are starred and will be used to resolve tiesMaximum of 3 people in a teamPlease mention the category you are contesting in school/college/IITM/openPlease switch off all electronic devices and refrain from using them for any purpose during the quiz

Prelims with answers

1

Until recently, where would you have found Manikkanaar street, Ramaswamy Naicker street, Vali street, Tamilvaanan street, M.P. Sivagnaanam street, M.M. Ismail street, Harry Potter street, and Nelson Mandela street?

2014 Chennai Book Fair

2

In the 1920s, Kutol Products, a company specializing in soaps and cleaning products, came up with a pliable, putty - like substance used for cleaning soot from dirty wallpaper. Post World War II, there was a reduction in internal soot, as well as a change towards washable vinyl - based wallpaper, consequently reducing the demand for the product. However, someone at the company discovered that it was being used by school children for another purpose, and this led to the rise of a very commonly seen product.

What?

Play-Doh

3

X and Santiago Ramon y Cajal were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1906 in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system''.

While working in a psychiatric hospital, X discovered a method of staining individual neurons, which allowed him to see complex outlines of the shapes and was later used to visualise, for the first time, the branched connections between nerve cells.

X's most famous (and eponymous) discovery, however, was greatly doubted in his lifetime, with many arguing that it was merely an illusion created by the microscopy technique he was using. It was confirmed only with better microscopes in the 20th century.

Camillo Golgi

4They are known for their short stature, green hair, orange skin, and white pants with protruding knees. In early editions of the novel, they are shown as African pygmies. Following growing controversy and criticism, in later editions of the book, they are white skinned and golden haired. Originally called "Whipple-Scrumpets". This was changed just before the publication of the book.

They come from a small isolated area in West Africa. They would end up being preyed upon or attacked by Whangdoodles, Hornswogglers, and Snozzwangers, which also lived there if it were not for him.

He ended up inviting them to work at his factory and get away from their natural predators. In the book, they are the only people he will allow to work in his factory, because of the risk of industrial espionage committed by his rivals.

They are only knee-high, with astonishing haircuts, and are paid in their favourite food, cacao beans, which were extremely rare in their island. They insist on maintaining their native clothing: men wear skins, women wear leaves, and children wear nothing (in the 1971 film, they wore Germanic clothing with striped shirts and baggy lederhosen-like pants, in the 2005 film, they wore tribal clothing in their native land and typical factory worker uniforms in the factory).

They are mischievous, love practical jokes and singing, and are very good at improvising, sing moralizing songs accompanied by a drum beat, and tend to speak in rhyme.

Oompa-Loompas, Willy Wonka

5

In the erstwhile Soviet Union, many sports teams were affiliated to the central army, as a result of which they were called by a certain name. Even today, the name is seen in many sporting organizations in these countries.

What term?

6

Enshrined in the Navagraha temple are nine Shivalingams, representing the nine Celestial bodies, each covered with a colored garment symbolic of each of the celestial bodies, with a Shivalingam in the centre symbolising the Sun.

This temple is appropriately located in a city whose ancient name means The land of Astrology or The land of Eastern Astrology.

Which city? What is the ancient name we are talking about?

Guwahati

7

Witenagemot, also known as Witan was a political institution in Anglo-Saxon England which operated from before the 7th century until the 11th century. It was an assembly of the ruling class whose primary function was to advise the king and whose membership was composed of the most important noblemen in England.

Which organization gets its name from this?

Wizengamot from Harry Potter

8

On the evening of 3 June 1947, an official announcement of the acceptance of the partition plan was made by Lord Mountbatten, Jinnah and Nehru in a radio broadcast. Nehru, in a solemn voice, announced that Congress had accepted the plan. Jinnah gave a long address to the Muslim Nation. He ended his speech by uttering a celebratory phrase. However, many listeners took it to mean something else because of his accent.

What phrase? And what did the listeners hear it as?

Pakistan Zindabad, Pakistan's in the bag

9

The turkic word qaz meaning to wander gave rise to a Turkish word meaning adventurer or nomad. From this we get two words used to refer to two ethnic groups one of Slavic descent, and one of Turkic descent.

Name both words.

Kazakh and Cossack

10

The name of this element was derived from a German word meaning evil spirit, sharing its root with the word goblin. Some believed that the element polluted other mined elements, while others believed that the metal was put there by the evil spirits who stole silver from the mines. Which element?

Cobalt

STARRED QUESTIONS BEGINSTARRED QUESTIONS BEGIN

The common name given to this snake and others in the same genus is because of this distinctive action of theirs (swelling and contracting while making noises, video given).

What name?

11*

file:///home/aravindabharathi/openquiz/pics/snake.mp4

Puff Adder

12*

X, the largest chain of its kind in India, was started in 1877 by Emile Moreau and TK Bannerjee in Allahabad. Today it has more than 200 outlets throughout the country. Lalu Prasad Yadav had famously announced, Angrez chale gaye, ______ reh gaye in his October 2004 Budget speech.

Which iconic entity?

13*

In 1943, _____ attempted to buy out his contract, offering band leader Tommy Dorsey $60,000 to dissolve their relationship, but Dorsey turned him down. He wasn't about to sell his golden goose. That's when Dorsey received an unexpected visit from three gentlemen who made the bandleader an offer he couldn't refuse. Dorsey abruptly changed his mind and agreed to rip up the contract in exchange for one dollar.

____ played the diminutive Maggio who is beaten to a pulp by a vindictive sergeant played by Ernest Borgnine in a career changing performance.

Mario Puzo remained coy when it came to the topic of ____ and never actually came right out and said that this character wasn't based on ____, but it's a connection that is hard to deny.

Identify both.

Frank Sinatra, Johnny Fontane

14*

This panel from Asterix in Belgium portrays a speedy messenger. Which famous Belgian is it a reference to?

Eddy Merckx

15*

It is an island country spanning an archipelago of 10 volcanic islands in the central Atlantic Ocean. Portuguese explorers discovered and colonized the previously uninhabited islands in the 15th century.

Name this country, which gets its name from the Portuguese word for green.

Cape Verde

16.* Connect.

17*

This implement's name literally means self-boiler. Traditionally, it consists of a tap at the bottom and a metal pipe running vertically through the length of the vessel, which holds a solid fuel. The other important parts are a chimney, steam vent, and handles.

Name this vessel, which is used in Iran and Kashmir apart from its native Russia.

Samovar

18*

Of the 15 members of independent Indias first cabinet (other than Jawaharlal Nehru), 3 were open adversaries to the Congress for various reasons. One of them was Indias greatest legal mind at that point of time Dr B R Ambedkar.

Of the other two, one of them was Indias delegate to the World Monetary Conference at Bretton Woods in 1944.

The other quit the cabinet when the Liaqat-Nehru pact was signed in 1950 and started his own party. In the 1952 elections, his party won 3 seats.

Who are the other two?

R. K. Shanmukham Chetty and Syama Prasad Mookerjee

19*

Born in 1796, he was a military engineer in the army. When he was 28 years old, he published a memoir called Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire. He discussed the relative merits of air and steam as working fluids, the merits of various aspects of steam engine design, and even included some ideas of his own regarding possible improvements of the practical nature. His book received very little attention from his contemporaries and was largely ignored until 1834. Who?

Nicolas Lonard Sadi Carnot

20* FITB

Navajo Code Talkers

Zero and One

END OF STARRED QUESTIONSEND OF STARRED QUESTIONS

21

His grandfather claims that he was a foundling who was discovered by a civil servant, who gave him a surname derived from the Latin phrase ex caelis oblatus, meaning gift from the heavens.Identify this man, one of the foremost proponents of the concept of an open text, a work which allows multiple interpretations by readers.

Umberto Eco

22

Who designed this logo? All he charged for it were a few good books to read.

Satyajit Ray

23

Which Asian sportsperson is the leader of the Peoples Champ Movement?

Manny Pacquiao

24

The erstwhile name of this capital translates to estuary. Its name was changed to its current name, which translates to 'Eastern Capital'. This is in reference to the previous Capital which was situated in the western part of the country, and which meant 'Capital'.

Name both the current and the previous capital cities, whose names are anagrams of each other.

Tokyo, Kyoto

OD5839484E09

____, Alex J.548 Primrose Ln,Detroit, MI

Grade: 1 00 33Service: 7

Merit:Miranda AwardGD ConductBRVRY

25. Identify

1. Serve the public trust

2. Protect the innocent

3. Uphold the law

4. Classified

Robocop

26

They trace their belief system back to Yemen, where it evolved from the Fatimid Caliphate and where they were persecuted due to their differences from mainstream Sunni Islam and Zaydi Shia Islam. Around 1530 CE, the Dawat was relocated to India. The word ______ itself comes from the Gujarati word vehru ("trade") in reference to their traditional profession, while the term _______i refers to their support for Dawood Bin Qutubshah in the 1592 leadership dispute which divided the Tayyibi sect, creating the ___________________.

Dawoodi Bohras

27

This disease gets its name from the bacteria which cause it, which are in turn named for their narrow, coiled shape. It is one of the most common zoonotic infections, i.e., those which are spread from animals to people.

Most transmission of the disease occurs because the skin, eyes, or mucous membranes come in contact with contaminated animal urine.

What disease is this?

Leptospirosis

28

Recently, the International Hockey Federation brought back a rule after it was tried on an experimental basis for two years. The rule discouraged skilful, well-crafted moves and instead promoted ugly, 'hit-and-hope' styles of play.

What was the rule change?

Ban on Own goals

29

Yusuf Meherally, who was a freedom fighter and socialist leader, founded the National Militia and the Bombay Youth League. He also played a leading role in peasants' organisations and trade unions. He was imprisoned eight times during the freedom movement. It was during his stint in Lahore jail that he was elected the Mayor of Bombay in 1942. Perhaps, he is most famously remembered in popular consciousness for having coined two of the most famous slogans which were used at different points in the freedom struggle. Identify both the slogans (half points).

Quit India and Simon Go Back

30

X featured as Surya Prakash Singh in the Indian adaptation of a British satirical sitcom, which was telecast on Star Plus with permission from the BBC. The plot lines were the same as those of the original, with suitable changes in the Indian context.

Identify X and the British sitcom or its Indian adaptation.

X-Farooque ShiekhY- Yes Minister/Jee Muntreejee

31

Founded by Wallace Dodd Ford in Detroit in 1930, this movement's goals are to improve the conditions of AfricanAmericans in the United States and all of humanity. Critics accuse it of being black supremacist and anti-semitic. Famous (current and former) adherents include Louis Wolcott, Malcolm Little, Benjamin Chavis and Snoop Dogg.

Name the movement.

Nation of Islam

32

Identify the subjects of these Ravi Varma paintings. The subjects are connected in some way.

(Pictures on the next slide)

Two wives of Shantanu

First painting: Shantanu and Ganga Second painting: Shantanu and Satyavati

33

The first time this team qualified was in 1988. The team consisted of Devon Harris, Dudley Stokes, Michael White, and Nelson Stoke. They returned in 1992 and 1994. They recently qualified in 2014 and but lacked funding.

The cryptocurrency Dogecoin community raised on the team's behest $30,000 of the approximately $40,000 required within two days. Which team?

Jamaican Bobsled team

34

It is commonly believed that this river gets its name from the word Elyu-Ene meaning large river. A famous political leader is said to have taken his alias from the name of the river when he was exiled in the region.

Which river?

Lena (Lenin)

35

Its name is commonly believed to have been derived from the words for river and forest. Its name may also refer to a forest of fig trees. The town's strategic location has led to it being repeatedly contested and prompted the construction of a formidable fortress.

Which historically important town are we talking about?

36

Zhang Chongren was a Chinese artist and sculptor. Born in 1907 and orphaned at an early age, he learnt French at a Jesuit orphanage and later studied art. He went to Europe to study at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts, where he befriended a European of his own age. Their conversations had a profound impact on the Europeans portrayal of China in one of his later works. Who was his friend, and how do we remember Zhang today?

Herge

Herge named Chang Chong-Chen after Zhang Chongren.

37

The names of both these food items literally translate to little cake or little pie, albeit in two different European languages.

Identify both.

Tortellini and Tortilla

38

He was a French mathematician and inventor. To a quadrant with a primary scale in half degrees he proposed to attach a movable sector, thirty-one half degrees in length but divided into thirty equal parts. In measuring an angle, minutes could be easily reckoned by noticing which division line of the sector coincided with a division line of the quadrant.

Who?

Pierre Vernier

39

Ueli Pager, the son of a Swiss hotelier created this along the lines of premium-quality food for urban people in hurry. Picking up something quickly, like a seagull, and moving on was how he wanted his customers to be. What did he start?

Mvenpick

40

Identify both male voices.

file:///home/aravindabharathi/openquiz/pics/song.mp4

Shankar Mahadevan, SP Balasubramaniam

IIT Madras Open Quiz 2014IIT Madras Open Quiz 2014

Presented by the Quiz Club of IIT MadrasPresented by the Quiz Club of IIT Madras

A big thank you to our sponsors!

THIS PORTION INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

Structure

Round 1 Written 20 dry Round 3 LVC 20 dry Finish

The RulesThe Rules

40 dry questions40 dry questionsChennai bounce rules will be followedChennai bounce rules will be followed+10/0 on the bounce+10/0 on the bounce+10/-10 on pounce+10/-10 on pounce

Finals Round 1

1

Because of his expertise in restaurant work, during WWII, he was given a chance to sign up at Cook and Bakers School at Fort Benning, Georgia, eventually rising up to the post of Staff Seargent.

After the war, he worked as a cook at Hobby House where his boss handed over 4 failing KFC franchises. He managed to turn them around by methods such as reducing the number of items on the menu, focussing on a signature dish and so on.

Eventually, he quit the company and went on to found his own.

Who/which company did he go on to found?

NO PEEKING!NO PEEKING!

2

The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 comprised of 4 CCD detectors, each having a resolution of 800x800 pixels.

Three of these CCDs, arranged in an L-shape made up the Wide-Field Camera, and completing the square was the Planetary Camera, which had a narrower focus than the other three, due to which the top right quadrant of the image showed a more magnified view than the other three quadrants.

Due to this, the images taken by the WFPC2 had to be processed in a way which lent the images we saw from it a certain peculiarity.

Where would we have found WFPC2, and what was the peculiarity?

Hubble Space Telescope, stair-step shape

3

He was one of the most decorated American soldiers in World War I. Originally a conscientious objector, but later drafted. He received the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine gun nest, taking 32 machine guns, killing 28 German soldiers, and capturing 132 others.

This action occurred during the U.S.-led portion of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France.

Was the subject of the 1941 Howard Hawks film, with Gary Cooper in the title role in an Oscar winning performance, that told about his life and Medal of Honor action. (picture on the next slide)

Sgt. Alvin C York or Sergeant York

4

Arguably one of the most widely sung Carnatic compositions, this song composed by Thyagaraja has a pallavi and six charanams, and is in the raga Saurashtram. However, the most popular version does not involve the rendition of the entire song, but only the first charanam, followed by the pallavi, followed by the last charanam.

What song is this, or how do we know it better?

Thyagarajas Mangalam, the song most commonly used to end kutcheris.

5. FITB. Connect for 5 points.

___ ___ ___ Deadbeat Evidence Fugitive Gumshoe Homicide Innocent Judgment Killer Lawless

Malice Noose Outlaw Peril Quarry Ricochet Silence Trespass Undertow Vengeance Wasted

Alibi, Burglar, Corpse

Sue Grafton's Alphabet series

6

This 1969 triptych was sold recently for $142.4 million, the highest price attained at auction for a work of art when not factoring in inflation.

Margaret Thatcher described the artist as "that man who paints those dreadful pictures". The subject was his close friend and rival. Identify both artists.

Francis BaconThree Studies of Lucien Freud

7

Atatrk, as part of his programme of modernisation, made a certain change to something in the Turkish language. Many scholars felt that the language was better off after the change, and so it was adopted as the standard in all Turkic languages.

Later, in the 1930s, Stalin was afraid of the growing power of the Turkic-speaking nations, and so imposed changes in the same thing.

After independence, most Turkic nations have reverted to the original change made by Atatrk. What were these changes?

Scripts

Ataturk changed it from Perso-Arabic to LatinStalin changed it from Latin to Cyrillic, with minor variations in the way each language was written to hinder communication between Turkic speaking populationsThey have now reverted to using the Latin script.

8

X comes from the story of a fisherman named ____. He was not very good at fishing and his brothers did not allow him to go fishing with them.

So he hid at the bottom of a boat. They refused to give him bait with which to fish so he broke his nose and dripped blood onto his grandmother's magical jawbone. He then cast it out to sea and caught the biggest fish of all, namely X.

Y comes from the name of a district whose native name literally translates to place of greenstone. This refers to the jade deposits found in the district. An alternate name for Y literally translates to The canoe of ____.

What do X and Y together make up?

New Zealand

X - Te Ika-a-MuiY - Te Waipounamu

9

'We want to become the first ____ to play for India. It is a very tough ask, but we know we are capable of that. We want to be known as the X _____. Yes we admire the Y _____ P and Q a lot."

This is an excerpt from a 2012 interview with a particular sportsman, who recently scored a double hundred in his debut Duleep Trophy game.

Fill in the blank and identify the speaker.

Twins

Baba Aparajith. His twin is Baba Indrajith.

10

Most forms of calligraphy use a broad nib, and the thickness of the stroke is determined by the angle at which the pen is held.

However, this style uses a sharp-pointed and flexible nib whose stroke-width varies based on the pressure applied while writing.

It gets its name from the fact that it was usually used to make engravings on one particular kind of surface.

What is it called?

Copperplate

11

Murray Pletz, an industrial design student, took the help of his then - girlfriend (and later wife) Jan Lewis and entered a design contest.

She helped him with sewing and their prototype won the contest.

After this, Pletz convinced his cousin Skip Yowell to join them, and they started a company.

Which company?

12

These are some of the reasons given for something. What?

1. Hunting by Mughal emperors including Akbar

2. Habitat degradation due to salt activities

3. Grazing by the Maldhari tribe4. Diseases including surra5. Invasion of the Prosopsis juliflora shrub

Reduction in the numbers of the Indian Wild Ass

13

This trilobite fossil, discovered in China in 2005, is the only member of its genus. The original paper says that the discoverer, Samuel Tuvey, named the genus after the largest ethnic group in China, while the species was so named because it was the youngest fossil of its kind found till date, making it the last surviving member of its kind.

However, Tuvey has said elsewhere that he named it on a dare from his friends, who wanted him to name it after a character from a popular franchise.

What?

Han solo

14

The X marches are a series of 5 marches for orchestra written by Edward Elgar over a period of years. Elgar took the title from Shakespeares Othello, Act 3 Scene 3 in which Othello bids farewell to his soldiers profession, his warrior-like character undermined by the mistaken belief in Desdemonas infidelity:

Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars,That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,The royal banner, and all quality,Pride, _____ _____ _____of glorious war!

Pomp and Circumstance

15

This novel by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee deals with the story of a spurned woman who leads a gang of dacoits against the British, and later rejoins her husband.

When Satyajit Ray wanted to film this, he had Suchitra Sen in mind for the lead role. However, some of Rays terms were not acceptable to her, and she did not take up the offer. As a result, Ray never made the movie.

In 1974, however, a film adaptation of the novel was finally made, also starring Suchitra Sen. Which novel?

Devi Chaudhurani

16

Elena Ceausescu, the wife of Romanian dictator Ceausescu, was supposedly a PhD in polymer chemistry.

Later though, many scientists claimed that they had been arm-twisted into submitting their results in her name, and that she had no academic merit of her own.

Codoi, a Romanian word incidentally meaning big tail, was one of her nicknames. The origin of this nickname was due to one of Elenas alleged habits, quite ironic considering her qualifications. How did the nickname originate?

Due to her alleged pronunciation of Carbon Dioxide as codoi.She used to call is codoi (with doi being the Romanian word for two), in effect calling it Co-2.

17

This term refers to a geographic area seen at the base of mountains.

The term is also used as the name of a region in Italy, as well as that of several cities in the United States. Alabama, California, Missouri, South Dakota, Wyoming and Arizona all have cities of this name.

What?

Piedmont

18

This was banned in the 1930s for safety reasons, but reintroduced after World War II due to a lack of people. The ban was reinforced in 1974, and has stuck since then.

The governing body in the United States had this to say, to explain this:

Imagine youre driving merrily down the road when all of a sudden, coming straight at you, is a crazed Englishman driving on the left side of the road. The panic youd feel in that situation is just __________________.

What?

Left-handed players in Polo

19

As part of his efforts to trace out someone, X traversed the forests in the south and reached Malanada hill. By that time he was very tired and went to a nearby house to the north west of Malanada and asked for drinking water. It was Kaduthamsserry Kottaram, where Malanada Appoppan, the priest and ruler of the land was staying. An elderly woman gave him toddy which was customary at that time as a mark of respect. The king enjoyed the drink, but realized after seeing the Kurathali worn by the woman that she belonged to an untouchable lower caste by name _______.

19. continued

The king consoled himself and appreciated the divinity of the place and its people who possessed supernatural powers. Thereafter, in furtherance of his Rajadharma, the king sat on the hill and worshipped Lord Siva, praying for the welfare of his people. As an act of charity he gave away hundreds of acres of agricultural land and paddy fields as freehold to the Devasthanam. Even now the land tax of the above property is being levied in Xs name. Who is worshipped in the Poruvazhy Peruviruthy Malanada Temple in Kerala?

Duryodhana

20

The Pokemon seen (Pokemon 605 and 606 respectively) are called Elgyem and Beeheeyem. Elgyem evolves into Beeheeyem. Why were they named so?

L.G.M. and B.E.M., terms used to refer to aliens.

Theme RoundTheme Round

21

A few years ago Vijendra Shekhawat went to a shrine atop a hill in Jaipur. While he was walking at the foot of the hill, he realized that most of the pilgrims preferred the ride on the back of elephants.

He observed a couple of elephants and got the idea for a particular product.

What product? And which brand originated thus?

22

First proposed by Edsgar Dijkstra, this algorithm is used for converting infix expressions to postfix format. The expression keeps moving back and forth during the algorithm, resembling something seen in the railways, which is how the algorithm gets its name.

Which algorithm?

Shunting Yard Algorithm

23

Dear Mr. ____,

I saw your films Open City and Paisan, and enjoyed them very much. If you need a _____ actress who speaks English very well, who has not forgotten her German, who is not very understandable in French, and who in ____ knows only ti amo, I am ready to come and make a film with you.

____ ______

Stromboli

25

X and Y were members of successive generations, and both wrote in the vernacular, opposing the scholarly conventions of their time.

X was among Y's earliest biographers. Y's most famous work's title initially consisted of just an article and a noun, but X added in the adjective, giving it the name by which we know it today. The addition was supposed to reflect the work's content and also celebrate its greatness and significance.

Incidentally, X's most famous work was among the major influences of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Giovanni Boccaccio, Dante Alighieri

26

After winning the silver in equestrian dressage, Swedish equestrian Bertil Sandstrm was demoted to last position even though he asserted that it was a creaking saddle making the sounds. What was the reason for his demotion?

He made a clicking noise to control his horse to win encouragement

27

Identify this weapon originally used by the burgher militias of Medieval Flanders in the 14th century. Essentially a combination of a club with a spear.

Used with great effect against heavily armoured French Knights in 1302 during the Battle of the Golden Spurs. Accompanied with a greeting to sweeten the blow.

Geodentag

28

Adventures in the _____ _____ is a little - known 2012 movie, describing the misadventures of a teenager who lends his van to his friends for their amorous activities.

______ ______ is also a rhyming term used to describe a feature present in some sports, most notably ice hockey.

What feature? Also, fill in the blanks.

Sin Bin/ Penalty box

29

On the next slide is an image of the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. The traditional Falu red countryside cottage is an artist's rendition of Swedens tradition combined with its technological prowess.

He intends to recreate a similar cottage somewhere else. However, this representation of that intention contradicts what the Globe represents. Explain.

He intends to recreate the cottage on the Moon. Yet, the Globe represents the Sun in the Sweden

Solar System.

30

VG Suryanarayana Sastri was a professor of Tamil at the Madras Christian College. One of the early activists for the Tamil language, he was the first to propose that Tamil be declared a classical language.

What personal change did he undergo, in keeping with his fiery passion for the Tamil language, and why?

He changed his name from Suryanarayana Sastri to Parithimar Kalaignar, as he felt that Suryanarayana Sastri was a Sanskritized name.Parithimar Kalaignar was the literal translation of Suryanarayana Sastri into Tamil.

31

Stock Market regulator SEBI in 2010 had come out with minimum share holding norms for listed companies. It stated that private companies must have a minimum public shareholding of 25% and PSUs 10%, setting a timeline of August 2013 for complying with this order.

However, this did not go down well with employees of Neyveli Lignite Corporation where around 3.5% of the shares were to be sold to meet this rule. Local political parties also objected to this sale stating that it was move towards privatisation and would hurt workers' interests.

What was the solution arrived upon for this problem?

The TN government directed state PSUs to buy the shares, thereby indirectly keeping them with

the government

32

In Biology, Gauses law, or the competitive exclusion principle states that if two species compete for the same resources, assuming all other ecological factors are constant, one of them will be driven to extinction.

A group of organisms seem to grossly violate this law. This is one of the biggest unsolved problems in Biology, and is known as the paradox of the ___.

G. Evelyn Hutchinson, who pointed it out, believed that the conditions in which the various species existed were not exactly the same since there could be differing gradients of light or turbulence. Symbiosis, commensalism, differential predation, and other such varying environmental conditions may also be explanations. Fill in the blanks.

Plankton

33

The first attempt was made on September 15, 1954 in the presence of Joe DiMaggio, who grew increasingly embarrassed and frustrated with each repeated attempt.

He was very angry that it had to be done in the presence of over 500 onlookers, who were whistling and cheering.

However, the noise of the crowd made the whole thing unusable, and it was later recreated in a quiet place. What?

Marilyn Monroes dress billowing in The Seven Year Itch

34

Henry Montgomery __________ was a British soldier and statesman who died defending Lucknow during the Indian rebellion of 1857. While engaged in matters of concern to the British Government of India like the revenue system, the canal system, and roads, the worry that was always with him was the future of the orphans of British soldiers. This worry took the form of the four asylums.

What did he establish?

Lawrence Schools (Sanawar, Lovedale, Mount Abu and Ghora Gali)

35

Although he managed to visit many Islamic countries and establish relations between them and his home country, he never actually managed to visit Mecca. Having the title of Grand Imperial Eunuch, his was the last great expedition from his country. One of the reasons for this was because of invasions from the North, which resulted in significant resources being diverted for the purpose.

Who was this seafarer? And what was the reason that no great expedition was undertaken after his/what were the resources diverted for?

Zheng He

Resources were diverted for the Great Wall of China, which ate into the naval budget.

36

Christened the Gandhi of Architecture, he moved to India in 1945 in part as an architect associated with a leprosy mission and continued to live and work in India for over 50 years.

He became an Indian citizen in 1989 and resided in Thiruvananthapuram from 1963 and founded an organization called COSTFORD (Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development) to spread awareness in low-cost housing. Name this architect.

Laurie Baker

37

He was an was an Austro-Hungarian, later Czechoslovak chess player, chess author, and composer of endgame studies. He is a famous for defeating the then world champion Jos Ral Capablanca using an opening he created, named after him.

This opening was used recently by Magnus Carlsen against Vishwanathan Anand in game 1 and game 3 of the FIDE world chess championship. Who?

Richard Rti

38

It is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States.

Popular theory says that the word was derived from a Spanish contraction of Hah-quah-sa-eel, a Yuma word meaning "running water which is salty".

It gives its name to a species whose scientific name is Heloderma suspectum. Name the river and the species.

Gila river, Gila monster

39

This condiment is a product of Italy, and is protected under the EU's Protected Designation of Origin laws.

The first word in the condiment does not refer to a certain class of plants, but rather to the fact that the condiment is supposedly restorative or curative in nature.

Which condiment?

Balsamic Vinegar

40

Nearly 400 acres in size, this island is located off the eastern coast of India.

In May 2013, there were concerns about the change in the island's topography, owing to sand erosion. Since then, the situation has been monitored by the National Institute of Ocean Technology and the DRDO, owing to a particular purpose served by this location.

Which island is this?

Wheeler Island

So long, and thanks for all the quiz!So long, and thanks for all the quiz!

IITM OPEN QUIZ round

I

Written in the fifth century BC, this book was written by the classical Greek physician Ctesias purporting to describe ________.

I

If Bahlul Khan was the first and Sikandar was the second, who was the third and last?

T

Owned by Associated British Foods, it holds the worlds oldest continually-used company logo, and is Londons longest-standing rate-payer, having occupied the same premises on the Strand since 1706. Which brand?

M

What is the name of the monster that characterizes the evils of industrial civilization in Allen Ginsbergs poem Howl?

O

Which river, over 2140 km long, flows through the South American countries of Venezuela and Columbia?

P

Judi Dench has been nominated for the 2014 Academy awards for the portrayal of which character?

E

Who was the wife of Orpheus, whom he purused all the way into the underworld?

N

What is the name given to nocturnal birds of the family Caprimulgidae which are also referred to as goatsuckers?

Q

What was invented by Tony Hoare, a visiting student at the Moscow State University, when working in a project on machine translation for the National Physical Laboratory?

U

Meaning pictures of the floating world, it is a genre of woodblock prints and paintings which flourished in Japan primarily from the 17th to 19th centuries. Name this art form.

I

Which American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor was born James Newell Osterberg?

Z

Which coach of the Japanese national team was born Arthur Antoines Coimbra?

LVC

Finite, inexhaustive

Scoring given on the slide

+20/-10

+19/-9.5

+18/-9

+17/-8.5

+16/-8

+15/-7.5

+14/-7

+13/-6.5

+12/-6

+11/-5.5

+10/-5

+9/-4.5

+7/-3.5

+5/-2.5

+3/-1.5

Answer follows

Twenty shades of blue

Egyptian Blue

Cerulean Blue

Alice Blue

Cobalt blue

Mayan Blue

Steel Blue

Persian Blue

Midnight Blue

Denim Blue

Dodgers Blue

Klein Blue

Baby blue

Bondi blue

Prussian blue

MS blue

Tiffany blue

Turquoise

Navy blue

Sky blue

iit madras open quiz 2014

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