Which fictional character is used by economists to explain the model of a simple self-sufficient economy?

1

A few years ago, the TINA factor was much discussed in Indian politics.

What does TINA stand for?

2

The characters of which popular work did Umberto Eco describe as

“the monstrous infantile reductions of all the neuroses of a modern citizen of the industrial civilization”?

3

Jayasuriya recently became the oldest man to score an ODI century.

Whose record did he break?

4

The detective writer E C Bentley invented the Clerihew – a form of humorous verse of four lines, the first of which contains the name of a person.

Fill in the blanks.

“Sir _______ _______Abominated gravy.He lived in the odiumOf having discovered sodium.”

5

In computer architecture, the terms “big-endian” and “little-endian” are used to describe two possible ways of laying out bytes in memory.

The terms come from Gulliver’s Travels and refer to the conflict between two political parties of Lilliput.

Big end and little end of what?6

Bond girls often have suggestive names.

Which Bond girl’s name is a pun on a city and indicates her divided loyalties?

7

Connect

• a series of operas by Wagner• a horror novel by Koji Suzuki • a motorsport race track in Nurburg, Germany

8

“A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?"

The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: "Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead."

There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: "OK, now what?"”

What is the significance of this joke?9

A collection of poems by a Nobel Laureate was the basis of a Broadway musical that ran for over a decade.

Give the full name of this collection.

10

Connect Republican Senator John Warner, businessman Conrad “Nicky” Hilton, and singer Eddie Fisher.

11

Who is the only person to receive two Nobel Prizes, in different fields, without sharing either with another recipient?

12

In Oscar Wilde’s play An Ideal Husband, Mabel Chiltern says, “Well, Tommy has proposed to me again...At luncheon I saw by the glare in his eye that he was going to propose to me again, and I just managed to check him in time by assuring him that I was a bimetallist. Fortunately I don't know what bimetallism means. And I don't believe anybody else does either. But the observation crushed Tommy for ten minutes. He looked quite shocked.”

What does bimetallism mean?

13

The English name of which food item, commonly used in Indian cooking, is derived from its Arabic name meaning “Date of India”?

14

Who is the only Wimbledon champion to have also been World Table Tennis Champion?

15

In 2006, Guy Dolle accused someone of trying to pay with “Monkey Money”.

What did he describe as “Monkey Money”?

16

What was set up at the foot of the Kgale Hill in Gaborone, Botswana, with the proceeds from the sale of 180 heads of cattle?

17

In The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, Sherlock Holmes said, “In last year’s Anthropological Journal you will find two short monographs from my pen upon the subject.”

What was he referring to?

18

Apart from being eaten, what is common among coconut, oreo, and banana?

19

Facing immigration problems in the US, he announced on April Fool’s Day 1973, at a press conference in New York, “the birth of a conceptual country, Nutopia...Nutopia has no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people...” The Nutopian flag is plain white, and its national anthem was recorded as 3 seconds of silence.

Who created Nutopia?20

The Erdos number measures the “collaboration distance” in authoring papers with mathematician Paul Erdos (two persons are linked if they are coauthors of an article).

What additionally does the Erdos-Bacon number measure? Natalie Portman has an Erdos-Bacon number of 6, Richard Feynman 6, Stephen Hawking 7, and Carl Sagan 9.

21

The name of the title character of this book gave rise to a word meaning someone who is a cheerful optimist.

Name the book.

22

Why has Muntadhar al-Zaidi been in the news recently?

23

Originally titled Honest Jim, this account of a scientific milestone, even when toned down, caused offence to many, including one of its protagonists.

How is this book better known?

24

“ 'It seems very pretty,' she said when she had finished it, 'but it's RATHER hard to understand!' (You see she didn't like to confess, even to herself, that she couldn't make it out at all.) 'Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don't exactly know what they are! However, SOMEBODY killed SOMETHING: that's clear, at any rate' ”

Who / what was killed?25

Apart from being Shakespearian characters, what do Titania, Ariel, Oberon, and Miranda have in common?

26

The Pink-headed Duck has a unique status among Indian birds.

What status?

27

Which Russian novel inspired Vikram Seth to write The Golden Gate?

28

The Oscar Award ceremony has been postponed on only three occasions –

•in 1938, because of massive flooding in Los Angeles, •in 1968, because of the assassination of Martin Luther King, and •in 1981.

Why was it postponed in 1981?

29

Recently, Chris Anderson, the curator of the Technology, Entertainment, and Design conference in California, said that the next day’s headline on the conference website would read “X releases more bugs into the world.” Who is X and what did he do?

30

 What occasion did this recent Google logo mark?

31