The Illuminati Quiz 2008 - Prelims

PrelimsThejaswi Udupa

KQA

8 December 2008 All contents © The Illuminati, Model Engineering College

Rules

• 30 questions, answer them.• Questions 25-30 are *ed to help

resolve ties• That’s all, really!


1. What middle name was given to Obama in this political cartoon?


Answer• Barack ‘Usain’ Obama


2. In particle physics, denoted as S, it is a property of particles, expressed as a quantum number for describing decay of particles in strong and electro-magnetic reactions, which occur in a short period of time.

The concept was introduced by Murray Gell-Mann and Kazuhiko Nishijima to explain the fact that certain particles, such as the kaons or certain hyperons, were created easily in particle collisions, yet decayed much more slowly than expected for their large masses and large production cross sections. It was postulated that a new conserved quantity, dubbed S because of the above queer behavior, was preserved during their creation, but not conserved in their decay.

Identify.


• Strangeness


3. If Karnataka, Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are “Super” (formerly “Elite”), then what is Kerala?


Answer

• ‘Plate’ – leagues in Ranji


4.


Answer• Reboot


5. Identify her.


Answer

• Baby Shamili


6. Which company/brand recently modified their logo to the above?


Answer


7. Subject of a 1999 Gideon Haigh book called ‘Mystery Spinner’, identify this bowler from the 1950s with a weird grip, who’s now back in the news, thanks to Ajantha Mendis.


Answer• Jack Iverson


8. Identify the subjects of this fan-art masterpiece.


Answer


9. In mathematics, a X-Y pair consists of two consecutive integers (e.g. 714 and 715) for which the sums of the prime factors of each integer are equal:

714 = 2 × 3 × 7 × 17

715 = 5 × 11 × 13

and 2 + 3 + 7 + 17 = 5 + 11 + 13 = 29

These numbers were named by Carl Pomerance for X and Y because X’s career regular-season home run total was 714, a record which Y eclipsed on April 8, 1974, when he hit his 715th career home run. Pomerance was a mathematician at the University of Georgia at the time Y broke X’s record, and the student of one of Pomerance's colleagues noticed that the sums of the prime factors of 714 and 715 were equal.

Solve for X and Y.


Answer• X – Babe Ruth• Y – Hank Aaron


10. Identify the product.


Answer


11. Identify him


Answer• Allan Stanford


12. Whose death?


Answer


13. Identify the book by its cover.


Answer


14. xkcd parody of which famous short story?


Answer• The Gift of the Magi


15. Whose wedding?


Answer

• Vijaya and Chandrika Kumaratunga


16. Identify the boy, and the man he’s riding.


Answer

• Hamlet and Yorick• Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio;

a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is!


17. Pazuzu was an Assyrian and Babylonian demonic god of the first millennium BC. He normally has a dog-like face like here, and where his body is depicted he has a scaly torso, a snake-headed penis, the talons of a bird and usually wings. He is often regarded as an evil underworld demon, but he seems also to have played a beneficent role as a protector against disease-bearing winds (especially the west wind).

Why did this demon come into popular consciousness in 1973?


Answer

• The Exorcist


18. Identify this ageing rockstar.


Answer

• Axl Rose


19. Identify the common name of this decorative flower.


Answer

• Cockscomb


20. Who led this sports team of the 1920s?


Answer

• Jim Thorpe


21. Identify this legendary musician heard here making a cover of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ in his own inimitable style.


Answer

• Frank Zappa


22. It’s usually said that the human tongue can detect only four basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter and salty, and that all tastes are combinations of these. In recent years some researchers have added a fifth taste, umami, to the other four, though western food scientists are divided about whether it really exists or not.

What ingredient is usually used to provide the umami?


Answer

• Aji no moto


23. The world’s first ICBM (Inter Continental Ballistic Missile) was the R-7 Semyorka which was successfully tested in August 1957. Less than two months later, it was put to its most famous use. What?


Answer

• Launch of Sputnik


24. Identify the band. And who was responsible for the sudden surge in the popularity of this song in 1992?


Answer

• Fleetwood Mac• Bill Clinton


*25. When Indian forces drove away the Portuguese from this colony, it became in the eyes of international law, an independent country. The residents of the colony requested the Government of India for administrative help. Mr. K.G. Badlani, an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) was sent as the administrator. In 1961, Mr. Badlani was, for one day, designated the Prime Minister of the ‘country’, so that, as Head of State, he could sign an agreement with the Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, and formally merge the ‘country’ with the Republic of India.

Identify this former Portuguese colony.


Answer

• Dadra and Nagar Haveli


*26. Who connects?


Answer

• Saurav Ganguly


:

: ?(1996)

(1997)

*27.


Answer

• Sushmita Sen played herself in her debut movie Dastak


*28. Which book connects?


Answer


*29. Given below is a list of real women bedded by which fictional character?

• Jind Kaur, Dowager Maharani of Punjab • Lakshmibai, Dowager Rani of Jhansi (a dancing girl

may have taken the rani's place)• Lily Langtry, actress and mistress of Edward VII• Masteeat, Queen of the Wollo Gallas • Lola Montez (Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert

James) • Queen Ranavalona of Madagascar • The Silk One (a/k/a Ko Dali's daughter), consort of

Yakub Beg• Yehonala, Imperial Chinese concubine, later the

Dowager Empress Ci Xi


Answer

• Sir Harry Paget Flashman


*30. Identify the artist. Also, name the song for which this is roughly a sequel to.


Answer

• David Bowie• Space Oddity


Thank You

Education

The Illuminati Quiz 2008 - Prelims