K circle qotm

K-Circle Quiz of the
month
November-2017
Quizmaster : Pankaj Rodey

Infinite Pounce
Clockwise
(+10 / -5)

The countries in Blue are primarily (though not all) territories once
included in the British Empire.
The only countries in Europe marked blue are UK, Ireland, Malta and
Cyprus.
What is this map?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jybUICy
cSKY
1

Countries that drive on left on road
(marked blue)

According to Alan Turing’s biography by Andrew Hodge, this tall
structure at Princeton graduate college was known by the name --
--- -----. This 2 word phrase may sound like a reference to the often
ethereal intellectual activity that the structure overlooked at
Princeton, but was actually a punny reference to the benefactor of
Princeton, a wealthy American businessman. The phrase was a
reference to the most famous product of the company led by this
businessman.
Name the businessman and the phrase.
2

Ivory Tower
Businessman was William Cooper Procter,
the leader of Procter and Gamble.
The famous product is Ivory Soap.

This town in Iraq, named after a legendary hunter
from Bible was excavated in 1950s.
The person who captured these photographs also
helped in preserving some of the objects excavated.
According to the autobiography of this person, the
objects used for preserving and cleaning these
excavated items were "a very fine knitting needle...
and a jar of cosmetic face cream for gently coaxing the
dirt out of the crevices“.
Name the town and the person whose famous
professional works were influenced by these
excavations?
3

Nimrud.
Agatha Christie.
Her works 'Death on the Nile' and 'Murder in
Mesopotamia‘ were influenced from her
experiences from the Nimrud excavations with
her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan.

Trichodesmium is a genus of filamentous
cyanobacteria. They are found thriving in
nutrient poor tropical and subtropical water
bodies.
The abundance of this species of bacteria in a
particular water body makes that water body
appear crimson-brown when viewed from
space.
Which country gets its name from the Latin
name of this water body?
4

Eritrea comes from Mare Erythraeum,
Latin for “Red Sea.”

In early 2016, the Telangana government
inaugurated an ambitious initiative to provide
piped water supply to every household aimed
at ensuring supply of 100 litres of drinking
water for each person staying in rural areas.
The popular name of this project is an allusion
to a mythological story and quite
appropriately highlights the mammoth effort
involved in the mission.
By what popular name is the project known?
5

Mission Bhagiratha
Bhagiratha, known
to have brought
the waters of
Ganga from heaven
to Earth.

In 2005, The Economist magazine, in an article,
called the then Canadian prime minister Paul Martin
Mr. _X_ for what the authors called his 'faltering
leadership'.
This word was a reference to a comic strip character
known for his chaotic nature and rapid change of
position and moods.
As a verb, in electronics, a relay is said to _X_ when
it bounces from one position to another due to
insufficient voltage to the coil.
Name _X_.
6

In November 2016, Larry Page's Alphabet Inc. announced
partnership with a global healthcare company to form a
company which would be 'dedicated to the development of
a new class of medicines consisting of miniaturised,
implantable devices'.
This new company is named after an 18th century Italian
scientist _X_ recognized as a pioneer in the research in the
convergence of biology and electronics through his famous
experiments with amphibians.
It is believed that a popular work of fiction, _Y_ in early 19th
century, about an ‘eccentric scientific experiment', was
influenced by the experiments of _X_.
Name the company X and the work of fiction Y.
7

This is the title page of a 16th century
book by Gustavus Selenus. According
to the proponents of a certain
controversial ‘theory’, this title page
is one of the several cryptic
references that prove the theory.
The lower part of the image shows an
author, believed to be _X_ writing
something and the upper left image
shows a middle man delivering the
manuscript of _X_ to _Y_, the ‘man
holding a spear’.
What is this theory about? OR
Identify __X__ and __Y__.
8

X : Francis Bacon
Y : Shakespeare
The theory that all works of Shakespeare
were actually written by Francis Bacon.

The ancient Latin name of the island of Ireland as
used by Greek geographical accounts was Iverna.
According to folk etymology, this particular form of
the name was altered in Latin to _X_ as though it
meant "land of winter".
Word similar to _X_ is used in biology to represent
the dormant state of an animal or plant and
originates from Latin word for winter, which in turn
is cognate with the Sanskrit word for Winter or
snow.
_X_?
9

X : Hibernia
Hibernate is cognate with Sanskrit ‘Hima’
or ‘Hiva’

In May 2017, German research body The Fraunhofer
Institute which funded the MP3 technology, terminated its
licensing program for MP3-related patents.
Several tech portals and print media reported this news
with such headlines as to create an impression that the
MP3 format that has been around since the late 90s would
suddenly disappear. The truth, of course, is that while they
won’t grant licences anymore, there's nothing to stop
people making MP3s or MP3 software.
To highlight the way truth was obfuscated by tech portals,
Forbes published a fitting headline inspired by a 1897 quote
attributed to an author sent as a handwritten note to
journalist Frank White.
What was the headline?
10

Quote attributed to Mark Twain

October 18 every year is celebrated in this country
as the world ______ day. The blank is a type of
clothing accessory and the day actually
commemorates an element of national heritage for
the country since the country claims to have
pioneered this clothing accessory in the 17th
century.
The name of the clothing is the variation of the
demonym for the residents of the country.
Fill the blank.
A picture from the 2016 celebration.
11

World Cravat day.
Cravat is a wide strip of fabric worn by
men round the neck.
Cravat comes from French Cravate ‘Croat’
because of the scarf worn by Croatian
mercenaries in France.

According to biographers, these 2 revolutionary
Indians, connected by the same epithet were
inspired by 2 different American authors.
Following slides are the starting lines of the literary
works published in 1791 and 1849 by these
American authors.
The titles of these works also describes the social
movements led by these individuals in India.
Name the literary works or the authors.
12

The 1791 work:
“Among the incivilities by which nations or
individuals provoke and irritate each other, Mr.
Burke's pamphlet on the French Revolution is
an extraordinary instance. Neither the People
of France, nor the National Assembly, were
troubling themselves about the affairs of
England, or the English Parliament; and that
Mr. Burke should commence an unprovoked
attack upon them…..”

The 1849 work:
I heartily accept the motto, "That
government is best which governs least";
and I should like to see it acted up to
more rapidly and systematically….”

Rights of a man by Thomas Paine is believed
to have inspired Mahatma Jyotiba Phule to
lead anti-caste social reforms.
Civil Disobedience
By Henry David Thoreau
This essay was Gandhi’s inspiration to
promote Civil Disobedience against the British.

This Dutch lady died in Jan 2010 at the age of 100.
In this interview, she talks about the events that led to her
fame as the guardian of a famous manuscript. Who and
which manuscript?
13

Miep Gies talking about sheltering the
Franks.
She preserved the diary off Anne Frank.

These paintings were created
in 1920s by a Scottish man
using method, little known
those days.
According to some
biographical sources, the
discovery for which this
person won the Nobel Prize
in 1945 was the result of one
such painting.
Of late, several competitions
and forums promote this art
form.
a) How were these paintings
created?
b) Name the person.
14

Microbial art - Paintings created by culturing
microorganisms in certain patterns and colours.
Alexander Fleming
Each of the colonies of Staphylococci bacteria that
Fleming had inoculated on a Petri dish had grown
into a small shape resembling a planet in a night sky.
Among his wild planets was a larger, lighter body at
the top of the dish, the Penicillium fungus.

Herbal extracts for Rubber/Latex has played important
role in cultures of South and central America. So much
that some Pre-Colombian civilizations are named for
things related to these elastic extracts. Name these 2:
A) [1,200 BCE - c. 400 BCE] These people are known to
have extracted latex from the Panama rubber trees and
mixed it with the juice of a local vine to create rubber.
This civilization was named for Nahuatl word for rubber.
B) [500 BCE - 900 CE] According to OED, these people
were named after a tropical American evergreen tree
of the sapodilla family (the tree that grows Sapota fruit)
which is also a rich source of latex that yields chicle.
15

The name of this character in
Mahabharata comes from the Sanskrit
word for 'Pointed weapon/Spear'.
This Sanskrit word is also used in the
Ayurvedic term for a particular branch of
medical science. The literal translation of
the Ayurvedic term is 'a procedure
involving pointed objects'. What word /
which character?
16

Shalya.
The Ayurvedic term of surgery is
Shalyachikitsa
meaning 'a procedure involving Shalyas
or pointed objects'.

The lady in this
painting and the
painter, her
Russian-Indian
husband are both
Padma award
winners.
Name both.
17

If you visit the website
www.thetenthwatch.com you are directed to a
live video from a webcam installed in
university of Queensland, Australia.
The home page of the website says "if you’re
logged in when it falls, your name will make it
to the official record of the experiment".
So, why is this website, related to a ‘sticky’
research at this university called ‘the tenth
watch’?
18

The pitch drop experiment, the longest
running scientific experiment.
No one has seen any of the 9 drops that have
fallen so far.
The 10th drop is due to fall sometime in next
few years.

A excerpt from a 2017 research:
We predicted that X convey information about the person and
context, similar to nonhuman vocal displays. Specifically, we tested
whether the fundamental frequency (F0) of X conveys static cues to a
person's sex, height, weight, and age, and varies dynamically with
body posture.
We also performed playback experiments using natural and
resynthesized stimuli to assess the perceptual relevance of X. The F0
of X predicted the performer's sex, but not age or body size.
Also, X produced later during the ‘performance’ had higher F0 than
those produced earlier. This suggests a possible role of physiological
and/or psychological factors manifesting early or even before the
‘performance’.
These findings indicate that X communicate information consistent
with nonhuman mammal vocalizations.
So, what is X?
19

Tennis Grunts, the ‘performance’ here
meaning the Tennis match.

A and B are group of islands in the Caribbean. A and B are antonyms and
the names are based on the geographical spread of these island groups.
X and Y islands are part of group ‘B’. X and Y are antonyms and the
names are based on a certain geographical phenomenon in the
Caribbean.
A
B
X
Y
20

Windward (X) islands and Leeward (Y) islands are
named based on their location with respect to the
trade winds. Leeward are further downwind than the
Windward.

An allusion to certain marine creatures, what 9
lettered word is used for this type of packaging?
21

What is the musical name of such fashion
used in skirts?
22

This is a type of road made by placing logs, perpendicular
to the direction of the road over a swampy area resulting in
an improvement over impassable path.
Such road takes its name from its resemblance to a textile
pattern. What are such roads called?
23

These individuals attended Stanford university at some point in their
studies. They have since founded technology companies such as Tesla
Motors, LinkedIn, Palantir, YouTube etc. Based on how they are dressed
here and the fact that they were employed in the same technology
company at some point, what 2-word nickname was used for this
group?
24

What character from the Looney Toons
animated series is known in the series by
various fictional Latinized species names
like Accelerati incredibilus, Velocitus
tremenjus, Birdibus zippibus, Speedipus
rex?
25

Rahul Gandhi, taking a jibe at the government.
This was an allusion to a fictional character from the 1970s
infamous for his ‘plundering’.
What is blanked?
26

Spell these 3 terms used in biological studies:
A) A study performed on living organism, this
term means ‘Within the living’.
B) A study performed outside normal biological
context, this term means ‘Within a glass’.
C) Employing advanced simulation models, this
term means “performed on computer or via
computer simulation” and alludes to the mass
use of a natural element in digital computing.
27

What word, used primarily in military parlance comes from
the common name of this bird (Gallinago stenura) and its
erratic flight pattern?
28

This is the Orion constellation
shaped like Orion, a legendry
hunter in Greek mythology.
The 2 brightest stars of these
constellation are named after
the anatomy of the hunter
figure.
Name of X is derived from
Arabic Bat-Al-Jauza meaning
shoulder of Jauza (the Giant's
shoulder).
Name of Y is derived from
Arabic Rijl Jauza meaning left
foot of Giant.
What are the common names
of these stars?
29

Spell these colourful words:
_X_ : according to Oxford Dictionary, this word comes from
money paid by people dwelling on Scottish borders to raiders
in return for immunity from raids and other harassment.
_Y_ : In mergers and acquisitions, this practice _Y_ is an anti-
takeover measure where the target company pays a premium,
to purchase its own stock shares back (at inflated prices) from
a corporate raider. _Y_ comes from the combination of words
_X_ and a slang for US dollar.
_Z_ : This is a strategy that a takeover target uses to try and
thwart an undesired takeover attempt. The target firm issues
a large amount of shares at below-market prices, which the
acquiring company will then have to purchase if it wishes to
complete the takeover.
30

Spell these 3 terms used in biological studies:
1) A study performed on living organism, this
term means ‘Within the living’.
2) A study performed outside normal biological
context, this term means ‘Within a glass’.
3) Employing advanced simulation models, this
term means “performed on computer or via
computer simulation” and alludes to the mass
use of a natural element in digital computing.
27

A) In-vivo-
B) In vitro-
C) In silico-

X : Blackmail
Y : Greenmail
Z : Whitemail

Infinite Pounce
Anticlockwise
(+10 / -5)

This short story written in 1903 and published
posthumously in 1950 is about a lesbian romantic affair of
the author involving several of the author’s female friends.
The title of this story is the abbreviation of a Latin phrase.
Translations of this phrase in some other languages are:
Dutch : wat te bewijzen was
French : ce qu'il fallait démontrer
German : was zu beweisen war
Italian : come volevasi dimostrare
Sanskrit : इित िसȠम्
Name the author and the Latin phrase.
31

Q.E.D (quod erat demonstrandum) by
Gertrude Stien

‘Ultra-Ever Dry’ is a brand of hydrophobic paint. This
paint is applied on the wall as 2 coats. The upper coat
of this paint causes, on the surface, a complex pattern
of microscopic bumps, many thousand times thinner
than a human hair. If a water/liquid droplet hits the
surface, it can’t penetrate between the nano-bumps,
and instead, the H2O molecules cling together forming
a ball causing the droplets to bounce away from the
wall like a ball.
Such paints have come in useful in some US and
European cities to address a certain public health and
hygiene issue. How?
32

This paint is painted on walls, known to be the popular
destinations for public urination. The paint repels the urine
spoiling the trousers and shoes of the person acting as a
deterrent.

An online magazine called ‘Bored Panda’ collected what
they called ‘some of the most ridiculous examples of
cartoon logic’. So, according to them, what is grossly
incorrect and absurd about this episode of The Flintstones?
33

The backdrop of The Flintstones being Stone Age,
Jesus was not born then.

This railway station on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway was
possibly named by the British after a water meadow
alongside river Thames in London.
In March 1994, Indian PM Narsimha Rao on his visit to
UK, planted a commemorative oak tree near this
meadow. A commemorative plaque at the place says:
“As a tribute to the historic ----- -----, a source of
inspiration throughout the world and as an affirmation
of the values freedom, democracy and rule of law
which the people of India cherish and have enshrined in
their constitution.”
Name the railway station and fill in the blank.
34

Due to his specific exceptional skills, this comic
strip character is quite appropriately named for
a species of plants.
The name of the genus of these plants comes
from Latin word for ‘dragon’. The root of this
plant is highly hallucinogenic. The root
somewhat resembles human form and when
pulled from ground is said to produce a
shrieking sound.
What is the common name of this genus, also
the title of a Machiavelli play?
35

In this scene from a 2017 short film, the female actor reads a poem
written about the male character.
Which real life person is the male actor portraying?
36

Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the context of the
poem being the demarcation of the
Radcliffe line.

The common name of this hairstyle, _X_ comes from the
complex structures created by creatures of the genus Apis.
Developed by Margaret Vinci Heldt in 1960, this hairstyle
was inspired by such brimless felt hats, named after the
former capital of Morocco, _Y_.
37

In 1929, during a visit to Paris, American inventor Samuel
Morse met another inventor, _X_ and got interested in X’s
invention. Later, impressed by X’s invention, Morse wrote a
letter published widely in American press that described
the invention:
"The impressions of interior views are Rembrandt perfected.
One of Mr. D.'s plates is an impression of a spider. The
spider was not bigger than the head of a large pin, but the
image, magnified by the solar microscope to the size of the
palm of the hand, having been impressed on the plate, and
examined through a lens, was further magnified, and
showed a minuteness of organization hitherto not seen to
exist…...”
Who is _X_?
38

Louis Daguerre known for the
Daguerreotype photographic process.

A tribute to the scientific research
and a researcher at this university,
the name of which SI base unit of
measurement comes from the name
of a river that flows close of the
University of Glasgow in Scotland?
39

Kelvin.
Physicist Lord William Thompson was knighted
in 1892 and chose the title William Thomson,
1st Baron Kelvin as a tribute to the Kelvin river
that flows close to Glasgow university.

In 1939, when Soviets invaded Finland, to counter
Finnish forces, Russians dropped heavy cluster
bombs and incendiary weapons on Helsinki. When
this was reported in the press, the Soviet foreign
minister denied the reports and said that the only
items being dropped from air were food and drinks
for Russian troops fighting the Finnish forces.
Based on these Soviet claims, exhibiting a keen wit,
what 2 satirical phrases were used by the Finnish
forces to describe these weapons allegedly dropped
by the Russians from air?
40

The foreign minister being Vyacheslav Molotov, the
cluster bombs were called Molotov breadbaskets
and the incendiary weapon was called Molotov
cocktail.

This invention, patented in 1938, in its modern form can
be described thus : It has a sphere made of a tungsten
carbide pellet, which is ground between plates using a
grinding paste to form the spherical shape, a process that
can last up to 60 hours. The finished ball is less than 1mm
in diameter and as hard as diamond, ensuring that it will
not pit or develop 'flat' areas on its surface during use.
The barrel is made hexagonal for a better grip and has a
small hole to allow air into the capillary tube so the
rotating ball creates only a partial vacuum.
Name this ubiquitous invention and the inventor, a
Hungarian Jewish migrant to Argentina, whose birthday is
celebrated as Inventors day in Argentina.
41

Very few (possibly only 2) national flags feature
replica of man made buildings:
1) Adopted in 1948, this flag features the tomb of a
12th century king that, according to modern
research, also served at some point as an
astronomical observatory.
2) Adopted in present form in 1862, this national flag
features three towers named Guaita, Cesta and
Montale located on the three peaks of Mount Titano
and constructed between 11th to 14th century.
Name the 2 countries.
42

In the preface of this play written by an Irish Nobel
Laureate in 1912, the author mentions that the main
character of the play, Peter Higgins is based on an
erstwhile professor of phonetics at university of
London, X.
In 1860s, X had published several works on techniques
to help the deaf learn and improve aural speech. As a
tribute to X, in one of the acts of the play, character
Higgins mentions the work of X saying : “I'll show you
how I make records. We'll set her talking; and I'll take it
down first in X’s visible Speech; then in broad Romic…..”
Name the play and the professor X.
43

Pygmalion by G B Shaw
The character Peter Higgins is based on
Alexander Melville Bell, father of
Alexander Graham Bell, who developed a
system of phonetic symbols called ‘Visible
Speech’.

According to Oxford English dictionary, this
British gold coin, worth 21 shillings, first
minted in 1663 was made using gold
imported from a region, then under British
control. The coin was named after this
region.
Name this region, a word that appears in
the official names of 4 countries, former
name of at least 1 country and the name
of a water body.
44

Guinea
Republic of Guinea
Republic of Equatorial Guinea
Republic of Guinea-Bissau
Papua New Guinea

In May 2017, for raising funds for a charity
for migrants and refugees, authorities from a
city in Europe put some items for sale by
auction.
These items were collected by the city
authorities en masse in 2015 when these
items resulted in a collapse of a structure
and apparently posed a similar hazard for
several other famous structures in the city.
Which city and what items were auctioned?
45

This is the emblem of the
national military
intelligence agency of an
European country.
From the logo, name this
organization.
From the predominant
green and red colours
that also appear on its
national flag and from the
political map at the
centre, name the country.
46

KGB / KDB
Intelligence agency of Belarus, it is one of
the few organizations that kept the
Russian name "KGB" after the dissolution
of the Soviet Union, albeit it is lost in
translation when written in Belarusian
(becoming KDB rather than KGB)

This painting depicting Battle of Haldighati shows Maharana Pratap
attacking Akbar’s general.
As seen in the painting, it was customary for the Rajput warriors to
put a cover on the body of the battle horses.
Such cover on the horse body was designed to have a specific shape.
This was part of an important war strategy of the Rajputs that would
put them at an advantage in combats like the one depicted here.
So, what was the strategy?
47

The cover was designed to have a false trunk
making the horse appear like baby elephant.
Appearing as baby elephants, the elephants carrying
the enemies would instinctively not attack them,
giving the Rajputs an advantage of attacking first.

In May 2017, a poem written by Marathi Poet Keshavsut,
titled after the Marathi word for a musical instrument, was
added to this list that includes among other works:
Agniveena and Kandari by Kazi Nazrul Islam,
Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
Godaan by Munshi Premchand
Jnaneshwari by Poet Dnyaaneshwar
Kamayani by Jaishankar Prasad
Thirukkural by Thiruvalluvar
What is this list and which poem?
48

Trains named after literary works.
In May 2017, Dadar-Sawantwadi
train was renamed ‘Tutari Express’

The literal meaning of this Sanskrit term _X_ is ‘Rise of
the most inferior’. The philosophy known by this word
was popularized by Jan Sangh leader Deendayal
Upadhyay. This philosophy emphasized on a
governance system aimed at uplift of the lowest rungs
of the society.
Several schemes launched by the central government
are named for this philosophy like:
A scheme for helping the poor by providing skill
training is called Deen Dayal _X_ yojana.
Overnight trains with completely Unreserved/General
coaches are called _X_ express.
49

Tokyo, Japan Los Angeles, US
Courbevoie, France Mexico City, Mexico
50 Connect

Haifa, Israel Kingston, Jamaica
Brussels, Belgium Sofia, Bulgaria

The slabs of the Berlin Wall, sold and
gifted by Germany to various parts of
the world.

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