IBQC Open Quiz Prelims

IISER BHOPAL QUIZ CLUB

PRESENTS

IBQC OPEN QUIZ - 2017

Quizmaster :

Sreepadmanabh M

ACHTUNG, BABY !• The team beside you has written the wrong answer . Don’t bother peeking.

• Do not engage in Cybernetic Investigations of any kind .

• 1 point per question , 2 points per starred question . No negatives .

• Starred questions serve as tie-breakers . If not , then sudden death.

• Do NOT leave questions un-attempted . Doing so shall attract a penalty of -1.

• Guess wildly . Almost every question here can be worked out .

• You absolutely CANNOT write “Justin Bieber” “Donald Trump” “Kamaal R Khan “ or “Bigg Boss” as the answer to any question. Doing so , shall attract a penalty of -2 points

• 42 might be the answer to life , the universe and everything else other than the math end-sem paper , but no , its not the answer to any question here.

1.Where have we seen her ?

2. A matter of detail

The following slide shows 2 paintings by Raja Ravi Varma.

Both feature watershed scenes from Indian Mythology .

Find the common connect .

1. Shantanu and Ganga

2. Shantanu and Satyavati

3. Color me green

The monuments built by most Islamic dynasties around the world have the colors green and white largely significant in their architecture.

However , a large number of Mughal era mosques do NOT adhere to this pattern. Eg. Juma Masjid

The predominant usage of which particular building material during that period is considered the reason for this ?

Sandstone

4. Identify the common word

** 5 . Were you awake ?

The following slide shows 5 photos of a few things which can be used to make connections to particular places , events or people or whatever.

Basically I am just giving cues . ( NOT clues . That’s on-spot , if you ask me nicely enough )

Connect these to a particular event which took place pretty recently and was a major talking point .

You’ll get it if you have been reading the papers for more than Angelina Jolie’s breakup . (Though I read that too) .

6. Say the Word

In ancient Rome, two men taking an oath of allegiance held each other's testicles, and men held their own testicles as a sign of truthfulness while bearing witness in a public forum.

The Romans found a word X to describe this practice but didn't invent the practice itself. Other primates like male baboons had already been doing this for millions of years. This behavior has nothing to do with sex but it's a social ritual that primatologists call a "greeting."

The behavior of ancient Romans and male baboons can be explained by the Handicap Principle, an evolutionary theory according to which the most effective way to obtain reliable information about a partner's commitment in a relationship is to impose a cost on the partner and assess the partner's willingness to pay it.

7. Know your GK ?

Apart from the most recent one, this strategy had already been tried by the Indian government on two prior occasions—once in 1946 and then again in 1978.

In all these cases, the goal was the same. In 1946, it was the pre-independence government and in 1978, it was the Janata Party coalition government.

What is being talked about here?

8. A bit too far ?

United Colors of Benetton ( UAB ) came out recently with a remarkable advertising campaign tht ruffled more than a few feathers.

In fact , the Vatican itself issued a notice demanding a formal apology as well as rollback on specific segments / versions of this particular campaign .

The people featured included : President Obama , Hugo Chavez , Angela Merkel , Pope Benedict , a senior Egyptian imam , Nicolas Sarkozy etc.

What was the ad / What was the controversy ?

9. What’s being referred to here ?

**10. Specificities

The Reserve Bank of India issued the following set of notes in 1959 for a particular purpose.

Identify the reason .

Clue : NONE of the Mughal emperors would’ve got those notes had these notes been issued even from the 16th century onwards

Hajj

11. Man of the moment

Here’s a direct one :

The Time Man of the Year in 1982 was awarded to _________ .

Steve Jobs is reported to have cried when he read that particular issue of the magazine , allegedly because he expected to see himself on the cover .

12. Say my name (NSFW)

A particular adult website was forced to put up a notification in 2014 stating :

“Please stop uploading videos of X ….. Our Public Humiliation category is full”

What event was being referred to here ?

You most probably must’ve read it , it was THAT big a news .

13. My least favorite question

“Hello Thailand . Thank you all so so much for the support . I’m really glad that you like X “ said the artist of X.

The X appeared on a popular Thai Facebook page and very quickly spread all over the globe gathering an army of fans and haters (including me) alike.

The critics want it to be banned and have even signed petitions to social media websites in this regard. Identify X .

14. With malice towards one and all

The following slide features a sonnet written by Vikram Seth as a tribute to someone who recently passed away.

Identify this remarkable personality , who was one of the foremost of his profession in India .

King of the Columnists and prince of hosts,

Hero of cats (twenty at least) who feed

Under your aegis, trencherman of toasts —

Scotch, naturally, not French — God knows we need

Humour and courage, tolerance and wit

When hope is scarce and murder’s blessed by prayer,

And every bully, oaf and hypocrite

Nurtures his flock on hatred and hot air.

Threats to your life have not made you less bold.

Sexcess can’t spoil you. May you scatter your words

Inimitably on for decades more —

No less amused and generous than your old

Grandmother, standing by the courtyard door,

Halting her prayers to feed and chide the birds.

**15. What do these have in common

USA Bolivia SaudiArabia

Seychelles Colombia Marshall Islands

Venezuela Mauritius Nicaragua Philippines Rhodesia Saint Lucia

DominicianRepublic

San Marino

El Salavador

Georgia Kiribati Liechtenstein

Solomon Islands

Swaziland Uzbekistan St. Vincentand

Grenadines

Sao Tome and

Principes

Saint Kitts and Navis

Countries named after people

16. Last man standing

In biology , Gause’s Law (a.k.a the competitive exclusion principle) states that if two species compete for the same resources, then assuming all other ecological factors are kept constant , one of them WILL be driven to extinction.

A group of organism, however , seem to grossly violate this law. This continues to remain one of the biggest unsolved problems in Biology , and is known as the paradox of the ______.

Hutchinson , who pointed it out , believed that the conditions in which the various species existed were not exactly the same since there could be different gradients of light or turbulence.

Symbiosis , commensalism , differential predation etc. could also be possible explanations .

Identify the group of organisms.

Plankton

17. Elementary hai bhai

Greek Poet Simonides was at a banquet when he received word that two young men were requesting an audience outside. The moment he stepped out of the palace , the whole structure collapsed. The young men were apparently divine beings who had saved him out of appreciation for his work.

During the excavation of the rubble later , Simonides was called upon to identify the dead bodies, which had been crushed out of recognition. He achieved this gruesome task by correlating their identities to their positions at the table before his departure.

This is the story behind the origin of the name of a famous mnemonic device , which has become popular these days due to its usage by several beloved fictional characters. Name the technique.

Mind Palace , featured in Sherlock , The Mentalist and so on .

18. Love is a force of Nature

Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 movie , directed by Academy Award winner AngLee (remember Life of Pi ?) , starring Heath Ledger (yes , The Joker) and Jake Gyllenhall (the Donnie Darko guy whom you otherwise don’t know).

The plotline is basically the secretive and forbidden relationship between two cowboys . Ang Lee reportedly said that while designing the poster for the film , they looked at the posters of the 50 most romantic movies ever made , NOT posters of Western Films.

The following slide shows the poster for the movie . Which iconic romantic classic served as the inspiration for this poster ?

19. The movie within ( 1 each ) – get any 3

A wealthy white man with daddy issues sleeps and dreams with other men and a woman to solve his internal struggles .

A few members of the African-American community suffer a horrendous disaster after escaping together , discover their true selves ,and ultimately decide to accept themselves.

Catapulted to TV stardom after she is selected from a local contest , a poor but plucky girl teenage girl , who’s outrageously hot ( YES ) tries to survive in the spotlight as she balances boys , murderous kids etc.

An entrepreneur whose inventions promise to empower the public is ruthlessly hunted by an elite team that wants power to remain in the hands of those superior by birth .

1. Inception

2. Madagascar

3. The Hunger Games

4. The Incredibles

**20. Connect

Bay of Pigs Invasion

21. The Italian Stallion

After winning the silver in equestrian dressage , Swedish equestrian Bertil Sandstrom was demoted to last position even though he asserted that it was a creaking saddle making a particular sound .

What was the reason for his demotion ?

He was making clicking noises to encourage his horse to speed up

22. It’s a symbol yo !

Identify the organization from the description of its logo :

Kamadhenu represents auspiciousness.

Sun is the source of knowledge and vitality a living force.

India is the mother country.

Conch within the map of India symbolizes the voice of the people and used for announcing the news.

Lotus for purity and independence.

Blades of grass stand for multiplicity and fertility

Elephant represents strength and power

The Hindu

23. Identify the inventor and the purpose

Michael Jackson – anti gravity shoe

24. Not really a great idea

Recently , Microsoft received flak after its rather negatively oriented customer diversion tactics.

It basically consisted of a pop-up message appearing on Windows operating systems stating that using a particular Microsoft app could help save around 33% more battery than a popularly used app developed by a company Y .

A very famous person Z , was the vice-prez of the product management division for the product mentioned above when he joined Y in 2004.

Which IIT did Z graduate from and what’s his basic degree ?

IIT Kharagpur

Metallurgical Engineering