Sunday, June 26, 2005
2005 Jaldi Quiz - 18
Its answer time yet again. The responses came from far and wide. This week also featured an all correct entry.
Congratulations to Amit Pandey for his perfect score. Jaldi regulars - Anukriti Pandey, Rakesh Taklikar missed the bulls eye by a whisker.
Sanjeev Mittal, Shiva Nath, Gaurav Sabnis - well tried.
As always, keep the responses and your suggestions flowing at aniruddhadutta@gmail.com
Questions:
1. David Cook and Roger Green, the founders of SeaCode have opened up new frontiers in Outsourcing. Programmers to be referred to as "seamen" so that they are protected by international maritime laws will churn out code on board a cruise liner. The ship would be stationed at a distance of 3.1 miles off the coast of El Segundo in California. The question is - What is the significance of these 3.1 miles ?
Ans: Because the international maritime waters start at 3 miles from the coast.
2. In 1900, the Devon City Wanderers, a combination of the old Boys of Blundell's School in Tiverton and Castle Cary CC beat All Paris by 163 runs in a 12 a side Cricket match at the Velodrome de Vincennes in Paris. They then received models of the Eiffel Tower. What was the historical significance of this match ?
Ans: Britain Vs. France Cricket Match at the 1900 Paris Olympics. The only time Cricket featured in the Olympics.
3. One of the oldest trademarks, this was introduced in 1898. It takes its name from the slogan meaning "Now is the time to Drink". It is also used to describe the appearance of someone obsese or wearing comically bulky clothing. Whom are we talking about ?
Ans: Bibendum - The Michein Man.
4. Which company has been the official sponsors of the Tennis balls used at Wimbledon since 1902 ?
Ans: Slazenger.
5. In the 1971 Lok Sabha elections NN Kailas of the Congress (I) won from the Bombay South constituency. Who was placed third after George Fernandes in that election ?
Ans: Naval Tata.
6. Visual Questions
6.1 This restaurant in New South Wales, Australia had to replace its older logo with this new one after protests by Indians. Who / What featured in the logo earlier ? Also identify the name of the restaurant.
Ans: Mahatma Gandhi. Name of the restaurant - Handi Ghandi.
6.2 Identify the movie from the poster.
Ans: Wimbeldon.
6.3 Identify this person who conceived something initially to be used for a memo pad but the creation ended up being something by which we identify the brand. (Hint: Tata Crucible)
Ans: Bobby Kooka - the man who conceived the Air India Maharaja.
6.4 Easy one, from the world of Rajasthani literature, identify the gentleman seated to the right, presently in the news for one of his works.
Ans: Vijaydan Detha - Paheli the film, is based upon his story - Duvidha.
Special Thanks to:
Mukundan Krishnaswamy (aka Thennavan in blogdom) of http://indibloggers.blogspot.com for including this site in his list of bloggers. Thanks are due also to all who have blogrolled me on their blogs.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
2005 Jaldi Quiz - 17
Hi All,
Another week has come and gone by and its answer time yet again. Not very many responses this time but the regulars were in business.
Rakesh Taklikar and Aditya Das taking the honours for this quiz.
Here come the Answers.
As always, mail your answers / comments / suggestions to: aniruddhadutta@gmail.com
Answers:
1. Located on Bhausaheb Hirey Marg in Mumbai, this structure was designed by architect Claude Batley in 1936.From 1948 to 1983, it was the residence of the British High Commission. The owner of this house was offered a monthly rent of three thousand rupees in exchange. How do we better know this structure ?
Ans: Jinnah House.
2. What was established in 1806 by Faiz Talab Khan ?
Ans: The princely state of Pataudi.
3. With which annual publication well known the world over would you associate HIT Entertainment ?
Ans: The Guinness Book of World Records.
4. Who rang the opening bell at the NYSE when the fictional newspaper "The New York Star" went public ?
Ans: Sarah Jessica Parker who played Carrie Bradshaw in the HBO Series "Sex and the City". The first episode of the final season began with Bradshaw's paper "The New York Post" going public. The shot also featured the then NYSE President Richard Grasso.
5. Which company calls it highway hospitality "dhabas" in Uttar Pradesh "Al Plazas" ?
Ans: Reliance.
6. Where in India (specific location) is the TJ Brand of Confectioneries (including Potato Chips/Wafers) manufactured ?
Ans: Tihar Jail.
7. Who becomes the first Pakistan football player in over 50 years to be invited to play for an Indian Club (though East Bengal says it is yet to make an offer)?
Ans: Mohammad Issa.
8. Accidentally invented by General Electric's James Wright when he dropped boric acid into silicone oil, what was used by the crew of Apollo 8 to secure tools in zero gravity ?
Ans: Silly Putty.
9. With whom would you associate "The ____ and Videocon School of Cricket" ?
Ans: Sourav Ganguly.
10. Easy one, with its headquarters in Raj Bagh in Srinagar, this "party" takes its name from the Arabic word meaning "Freedom". It even has the word "Freedom" in brackets in its signboard. Name the "party".
Ans: All Party Hurriyat Conference.
The 11th Question:
Connect Kokilaben Ambani's recently released statement on the settlement between the Ambani brothers to the form of Lord Krishna in which he lifted the Govardhan hill and subdued Indra who was sending an incessant downpour of rain, causing immense hardship to the cowherds of Gokul.
Ans: Sreenathji.
Visual Questions:
12.1 Identify the film from the illustration.
Ans: Pather Panchali.
12.2 A famous cricketer in his own right, he had to face the wrath of the spectators in Calcutta, when as a selector, he dropped Mushtaq Ali from the "Test match" against Australia. "No Mushtaq, No Test" is what the crowds demanded. Identify the man in the picture.
Ans: Duleepsinhji.
12.3 Identify the logo of this company from the world of television.
Ans: Geo TV , the leading news channel in Pakistan,owned by the Dawn Group.
12.4 Part of the team which created the jingle - "Bole Mere Lips, I love Uncle Chips", who is this person who has been in the limelight recently.
Ans: Shantanu Moitra who scored the music for Parineeta (2005).
12.5 Born in the 15th century, followers of this religious leader are in the news recently. Identify the person and the name by which his followers are known.
Ans: Jambho Ji, the religious leader of the Bishnois - the people who were behind the Chipko movement and also regard the Black Buck as sacred.
Highlights:
And there is another one called QuizVyasa.com , where Jaldi Quizzing and Wikipedia are the only sites that find a mention. And to top it all, the contents of the page are protected by Copyright (what Copyright !!). Kindly enlighten...
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Trivia Bite Round 1: Worms Worms Worms
Aloha Quizzards,
“The Best thing about computers, is that no matter how much ever information you pack into them, they don’t get more heavier“ – Bill Gates
So we start this episode of Trivia with some heavy words from the SATAN of computers, which I totally endorse .
This week’s trivia consists of Filling the Blanks.
Trivia of the Week:
No, Mr. Sullivan, we can´t stop it! There´s never been a ______ with that tough a head or that long a tail! It´s building itself, don´t you understand? Already it´s passed a billion bits and it´s still growing. It´s the exact inverse of a phage- whatever it takes in, it adds to itself instead of wiping... Yes, sir! I´m quite aware that a ______ of that type is theoretically impossible! But the fact stands, he´s done it, and now it´s so goddamn comprehensive that it can´t be killed. Not short of demolishing the net!
CLUE: “what man creates he himself destroys”, is the apt saying that comes to my mind, when I read these lines from John Brunner.
Answer:
“ WORMS ”; no this ain’t the latest production from Walt Disney or Pixar animation but the computer worm; remember MELISSA.
What is a computer Worm (Definition) :
A computer worm is a program that self-propagates across a network exploiting security or policy flaws in widely-used services. They are not a new phenomenon, having first gained widespread notice in 1988 [16]. We distinguish between worms and viruses in that the latter infect otherwise non-mobile files and therefore require some sort of user action to abet their propagation. As such, viruses tend to propagate more slowly. They also have more mature defenses due to the presence of a large anti-virus industry that actively seeks to identify and control their spread.
More info here : Worms
Creators of WORM : John Shoch and Jon Hupp at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center discover the computer “worm,” a short program that searches a network for idle processors. Initially designed to provide more efficient use of computers and for testing, the worm had the unintended effect of invading networked computers, creating a security threat.Shoch took the term “worm” from the book “The Shockwave Rider,” by John Brunner, in which an omnipotent “tapeworm” program runs loose through a network of computers.
Isn’t it an irony that what was created first as a potential usage for identification and utilization of idle computing power became a potent killer by residing in the computer memory and scavenging it like a parasite?
Act one : The first worm to attract wide attention, the Morris worm, was written by Robert Tappan Morris, Jr., who at the time was a graduate student at Cornell University. It was released on November 2, 1988, and quickly infected a great many computers on the Internet at the time. It propagated through a number of bugs in BSD Unix and its derivatives. Morris himself was convicted under the US Computer Crime and Abuse Act and received three years’ probation, community service and a fine in excess of $10,000.
Slimy worms and slithering Bugs… Man the life of a Software engineer can be quite Buggy… NO more comments people !!!!
Questions:
Mail your answers to : bhaskaran.deepak@wipro.com
1. Also known as “Mailissa”, “Simpsons”, “Kwyjibo”, or “Kwejeebo”, is a computer worm that also functions as a macro virus, hence making it a “multipartite virus”.
Ans: "Melissa" A Word macro virus that was unleashed in the spring of 1999. It sends an e-mail message with a list of pornographic Web sites. named by David.L.Smith after a LAP Dancer he met in Florida... Hmmm
2. In computer terminology what (or) who is 1977 Trinity ?
Ans: The 3 companies that came out with ready to run PCs in the year 1977. They were Apple, Tandy (Of RadioShack) and Commodore.
3. What is common to David Smith, Joe Popp and Christopher Pile? [Clue: Virus and Law and yes the list is not ending there …]
Ans: They are the only three virus writers who have been sentenced and served time in jail. David Smith for writing Melissa, Cristopher Pile also known as the "Black Baron" for creating a toolkit (SMEG) which could boost the impact of existing viruses by randomizing their code, and Joe Popp for mailing 20,000 copies of a Trojan Program.
4. OK.. just to go with the Trivia of the day, What is the name of the protagonist of “The ShockWave” by John Brunner ?
Ans: Niel Haflinger
5. 30 June 1945: The “First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC” was written and set the stage for computer architectural design for many years. This work included the concept of a “stored program” and this architectural style was named after him. What is the architectural style?
Ans: The inimitable "VON NUEMAN Architecture"; every Computer Professionals Bible.
6. This game was Atari’s comeback to Space Invaders and defined the genre of addictive video games. Employees had to be pulled away from the prototypes and made to work. The thrust, direction and hyperspace buttons were new concepts and it was the first game to save High Scores for all to see and went to smash all Space Invaders Records.
Ans: Asteroids.
7. Name another word which is also inspired by a similar play of words or from another Sci-fi Novel ? (Additional points for more Words )
Ans: YAHOO (Gulliver's Travels) or TROJAN ( Homer's epics) or VIRUS (H.A.R.L.I.E),etc etc
Monday, June 13, 2005
The IT Trivia Bite - from Deepak Bhaskaran.
Hi All,
Over quite some time, requests had been pouring in for having quizzes dedicated to a particular subject, IT in particular.
Well, here we are.
Deepak Bhaskaran from Chennai had been posting his IT quizzes on the popular Quizzing communities for quite some time.
This week, we bring to you the first set of his compilation.
Hope you find them interesting.
Folks, presenting the IT Trivia Bite from Deepak Bhaskaran.
Questions:
1. What was named Time man of the year in the year 1982 ?
Ans : The Personal Computer. (IBM’s PC)
2. Edgser Dikjstra laid the foundation stone in the march towardscreating structure in the domain of programming by writing, not ascholarly paper on the subject, but instead a letter to the editorentitled "---- Statement Considered Harmful". ?
Ans: “GOTO” ; in computer Terminology.
3.This game upon release was responsible for riots in Japan along with coin shortage. The country had to quadruple Yen production to keep up. In America, videogames were introduced in department stores for the first time to cope with its popularity? (Clue: Not Tetris, or PONG… Guess Guess Guess)
Ans: The Correct Answer is “Space Invaders” but even PACMAN fits the Bill.
4. Ok, A sitter for all you Game Freaks .. Expand “K.O” ?
(Clue: Remember all those Mortal Combat and D.O.A .. at last you have a chance to redeem yourself)
Ans: Knock Out (This phrase is the Only Consistent Keyword across every Fighter Games and also thanks to Boxing Mania)
5. Developed by 25 year old college graduate Jordan Mechner who created the story, characters and levels this game took four years to make. His father composed the music and he video taped his brothers motions in order to make the animation realistic. Initially produced on Appel II, it later made almost all platforms. What? [Hint: The game had to be completed in 60 minutes and cheat Codes are “Megahit”]
Ans: Prince Of Persia (The latest 3D Version is So Riveting, esp. on the XBOX)
6. Bell Telephone Labs joined a project with MIT and General Electricwhich it later dropped out of in April 1969. Two of its programmerscontinued working on a similar project on their own and even named itas a joke on their earlier project. They presented a paper on this workat the 1973 SIGOPS conference which won the best paper award that year. What was the project?
Ans: The Paper Being Presented was on Unix.
7. Which British computing brain died of Cyanide poisoning after being arrested and tried for homosexuality?(Clue: Go Step By Step, in a State wise manner)
Ans: Yes, ALAN TURING. (The Turing Machine is a State wise machine wherein the Next progression depends on the output of the previous state.)
8. What method of signaling with two flags, used at sea, called?
Ans: Semaphore (Semaphore, is the method using for Various Synchronization Mechanisms, wherein any operations being performed on same resources are done in a Simultaneous methodology to avoid any Clashes, etc)
9. The HAL 9000 computer, the inimitable star of the classic Kubrick and Clarke film "2001: A Space Odyssey," Was and is the computer of the FUTURE. But what we don’t realize is that HAL was named due to a specific reason …. WHAT ???? (CLUE: MENSA and the next Question)
Ans:
(a) In the standard English alphabet, the letters H, A, and L immediately precede the letters I, B, and M, respectively.
(b) IBM is the technology giant in question, a company often mistakenly credited as the basis for the HAL 9000's three-letter name. In the standard English alphabet, the letters H, A, and L immediately precede the letters I, B, and M, respectively.
The coincidence is so striking that many have often assumed that the HAL initials are a veiled reference to Big Blue. The fact that a number of fake IBM products appear in the film—including several monitors and a spacesuit control—only served to reinforce this assumption.
In actuality, HAL's real-world creator, Arthur C. Clarke, and his instructor in the novel, Dr. Chandra, both profess that the HAL name is shorthand for heuristic algorithm, purportedly the mathematical principle that serves as the basis for HAL 9000's artificial intelligence. Clarke has also gone on record to say that, had he noticed the IBM-HAL connection before the release of the film or novel, he would have named the computer something else.
If there's any actual connection between HAL and IBM that's intentional, it's perhaps the one most cleverly obscured. As embattled astronaut Dave Bowman slowly disconnects the HAL 9000's processors, the computer noticeably regresses in intelligence, ultimately clinging to one of its first "lessons" in human interaction—a song.
That song, "A Bicycle Built for Two," was actually the first song "sung" by any computer—a feat accomplished at Bell Laboratories in 1961 by an IBM 7094 computer. The touch is a subtle nod to computer history, if not IBM itself.
And just to hammer home the point, when Clarke penned the sequel to 2001 in 1982, 2010: Odyssey Two, he didn't name HAL's twin the HAL 9001 or the HAL 9000-B but instead chose SAL 9000. Whether that will put the HAL-IBM issue to rest is a matter of debate—and of great Geek Trivia.
10. Incorporated as Computing-Tabulating-Recording company in 1911, it formally changed its name in 1924. How do we better know this company today?
Ans: IBM
11. Released on 22 March 93.. Ted Hoff and Fedricco Faggin designed the first one for usiom of Japan. It was originally to be called 80586, Razor,Prochip & Intellect. What are we discussing?
Ans: Pentium . Well, it seems that there was an open contest for Naming this among all the company employees and this was the Winning Entry.
12. The phrase was originated by John Seybold and popularized at Xerox PARC during the late 1970s when the first WYSIWYG______ editor, Bravo was created on the Alto. The Alto monitor (72 pixels per inch) was designed so that one full page of text could be seen and then printed on the first laser printers. When the text was laid out on the screen 72 PPI font metric files were used, but when printed 300 PPI files were used -- thus one would occasionally find characters and words slightly off, a problem that continues to this day. (72 PPI came from the standard of 72 "points" per inch used in the commercial printing industry.) Seybold and the researchers at PARC were simply re-appropriating a popular catchphrase of the time originated by "Geraldine", a character on The Flip Wilson Show, (1970-1974). What phrase did Seybold coin ?
Ans: What You See Is What You Get
13. A word origin question: William Gibson, in his famous novel Necromancer, coined a word that has become very popular. What word?
Ans: NEUROMANCER
14. What is the Middle Name of Linus Torvalds?
Ans: Benedict.
15. Invented by IBM engineer, Alan Shugart. It was used initially to hold microcode and diagnostics for the IBM mainframe computer systems. It got a nick name due to its flexibilty and that is the name by which we know it today. What? (Clue: a Cheaper cousin of what we discussed today)
Ans. The FLOPPY DISK
16. In 1983, the subscribers of PC World received a free demo floppy with the magazine. This was probably the first time in history that a magazine featured a floppy bind in. Now a days this practice is pretty common with magazines giving away CDs instead of floppies. What product was introduced to the subscribers via that floppy?
ANS : WORD for MSDOS 1.0
17. It could have been: Calex, Elcal, Calecom, Elcom, Calcomp, Digicom, Tronicom, Comptek, Computek, Esscotek or Ectek. But what name was finally chosen for this startup?
Ans. Intel
18. How and where would you most probably read the following:
“And the beast shall come forth surrounded by a roiling cloud of vengeance. The house of the unbelievers shall be razed and they shall be scorched to the earth. Their tags shall blink until the end of days.”
Ans. Anything ranging from the “BOOK of MOZILLA” or in case you TYPE “about:mozilla” upon either NETSCAPE, FIREFOX, etc etc …
19. What from the Robyn and Rand miller created a revolution in the Gaming industry? What is their latest creation?
ANS: “MYST “ The first interactive game which entirely ran on the CD (or I could be wrong).
Robyn and Rand found the Cyan Corporation. With their Stupendous animation and intellect these people created Games which stimulated the Brain rather than degraded it with Guns, etc..
20. Akio Morita wrote “Made in Japan”; an amazing bio wherein he lists out his struggles at bring SONY to the current standards, etc, etc. Who wrote “Made in America” ?
ANS: Sam Walton.
21. Back in late 50s, John W. Backus lead an IBM team of talented programmers to produce a mathematical Formula Translating system. Backus proposed a programming language that would allow users to express their problem as a mathematical formulae and it was initially meant mainly for scientific programming. How do we better know it ?
Ans. FORMULA TRANSLATION. FORTRAN…
Sunday, June 05, 2005
2005 Jaldi Quiz - 16
Hi All,
The time has come to give out the answers for Round 16. Responses were overwhelming to say the least.
However, this time, we have a new winner in Shiva Nath from Delhi who beat the field by 0.5 points.
Congratulations are due to Amit Kumar Aditya Das, Rakesh Taklikar and Anukriti Pandey who came pretty close.
And yes, Jaldi Quizzing now has over 5000 hits with around 450 hits measured during the course of this round.
Praising myself... Maybe !!
Useless Trivia:
In addition to having the Bachchan father-son pairing for the first time on screen in the con caper "Bunty aur Babli", Bunty also happens to be Big B's estranged brother Ajitabh Bachchan's pet name at home. Amitabh on the other hand responds to "Munna".
Another interesting observation -
The Times of India's latest offering in Mumbai - Mumbai Mirror calls its Readers' feedback section - Mirror Blog.
Well, much as I deliberate my offerings here being termed as a blog, could Mumbai Mirror's feedback section qualify as a blog !!
Answers:
1. One of the most loved Umpires in World Cricket - David Shepherd is officiating in his final Test in the West Indies currently. Incidentally, his retirement comes 200 years after the Battle of Trafalgar - Lord Nelson's most famous military campaign. The question is - Name the county for which Shepherd once played County Cricket.
Ans: Gloucestershire.
2. This organization is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. Though it receives funds from the government, more than half of its income is self generated - through teaching English, conducting examinations and managing aid and development projects. Has a good presence in the Indian metros as well. Name the organization.
Ans: The British Council which completes 70 years of its existence this year.
3. If it is "Daily Desher Kotha" in Tripura, "Theekathir" in Tamil Nadu and "Prajashakti" in Andhra Pradesh, what is it in West Bengal and Kerala ?
Ans: Ganashakti - West Bengal and Deshabhimani - Kerala. They are all dailies brought out by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
4. Where would you be if you reached 2650 Virginia Avenue, Washington DC, USA ?
Ans: The Watergate Hotel in Washington.
5. Which company, in the news a year earlier, published Rudyard Kipling's "The Phantom Rickshaw and other Eerie Tales" in 1888 ?
Ans: A H Wheeler.
Visual Questions:
6.1 Identify the connection between the gentleman and the lady. (Hint: The gentleman is not a movie star).
Ans: The gentleman is W. Mark Felt identified as the Deep Throat in the Watergate controversy. The lady is Linda Susan Boreman better known as Linda Lovelace, who starred in the film "Deep Throat".
6.2 Identify the connection between Greg Chappell and the lady.
Ans: The lady is Sudha Shah. The connection - Coaches of the Indian Cricket Team (Eves and Mens').
6.3 Identify the logo.
Ans: British Council (again).
