Second set of questions from the Prelims at Kurukshetra 08. The quiz was held in January, and that may be a relevant input while attempting the questions. The answers are available in the comments section. Before, we get into the questions, I would like to recommend the website http://www.quizblogs.com. It is a very useful site for quizzers trying to keep pace with the quiz updates. Good job Naveen and Sujith!
11. There is a World Heritage in Danger list which features 30 sites in danger due to war, development, population etc. There is one Indian site in this list placed here in 1992 due to insurgency. Though situation has improved it is not yet completely out of danger. Which one?
12. The scientific name of this is creature is Struthio camelus which when translated from Greek is ‘camel sparrow’. Which creature?
13. To commemorate what event did Tata Steel come out with this ad? The text of the ad reads: “To the grand old lady of Mount Road, greetings on her new make-up. May she continue to render outstanding service for many, many years to come!”
14. Two of the three Indian states not connected by Railways are Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. Name the third.
( Read more... )
The BT Acumen Quiz travels to Bangalore next weekend (Nov 7th & 8th), the venue is IIM B. The Alumni quiz prelims and finals are both on Nov 8th (so Chennai, Bangalore quizzers can make it without bunking work). Details at http://www.btacumen.com/eventformat.php.
Get into top form by trying out these questions from the Alumni prelims at Mumbai (Which saw good turnout and high standards of quizzing). Answers in the comments.
1. The unregulated nature of a class of asset-backed securities called CDOs has been severely implicated in the recent meltdown of Wall Street investment banks. What are CDOs?
2. Which social news service was founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, 22-year-old graduates of the University of Virginia, and named by the latter from an overheard phrase at the university’s Alderman Library?
3. Which company, now a part of McGraw-Hill, traces its history back to 1860, with the publication of the History of Railroads and Canals in the United States, which tried to compile comprehensive information about the financial and operational state of U.S. railroad companies?
4. In 2005-06, land rates in a particular area around the NH-2 were about Rs. 3-5 lakhs an acre. By 2007, prices had skyrocketed to Rs 25-30 lakh per acre. In August 2008, the prices further escalated to Rs 50-60 lakh per acre. Prices have come down to below 2005-06 levels now. Where and why?
( Read more... )
14. What was created by Royal Charter in 1600, replaced by the British Crown in 1858, and dissolved by an Act of Parliament in 1874?
15. What, according to its creator, has no meaning but is simply a "treasured and carefully-guarded point in the space of four-character strings?"
16. Which famous art gallery is named in honour of a sugar refiner who made it big after buying the patent on the manufacture of sugar cubes in 1872?
17. The world record is held by the Agricultural Bank of China unit at Naqu. In India, till recently, the record was held by the UTI bank unit at Thegi, but it has been overshadowed by the Union Bank of India unit at Sherathang. What are we talking about?
( Read more... )
The answers to the first video quiz. The quiz can be found at http://quizician.livejournal.com/1420.ht
1) Two brand extensions of cigarette brands forced to change their name due to social activism/governmental pressure. Gold Flake Expressions greeting cards are now marketed as Expressions greeting cards while Red & White bravery Awards have changed to Godfrey Philip Bravery Awards.
2) The line is Beijing huanyíng ni, which means "Beijing welcomes you. The names of the five fuwas also signify this welcome message: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini.
3) The Usual Suspects and Play it again, Sam both had its titles inspired by various lines in Casablanca
4) All the street signs (in the Jewish quarter of Tomania) are in Esperanto. Nazis carried out a strong campaign against what they considered an "impure" language.
5) "Splash" was supposed to be produced by Walt Disney. However, they were concerned that the occasional nudity would not go down well with their image. They launched "Miramax", an independent label, for the purpose.
1. E85 as an automotive fuel is widely used in Brazil and Sweden and is becoming common in the United States, mainly in the Midwest where corn is a major crop and is the primary source material. What is E85?
2. A total of 1,110 rockets were fired into the sky from Beijing and Hebei Province in two rounds on the afternoon and evening of August 8, 2008. Why?
*3. Bajaj recently unveiled plans of taking on the Tata Nano with its own small car that is expected to offer 34 km per litre and cost between 2-5 lakh. What is it called?
4. In 1911, which oil giant was split by orders of the US Supreme Court into 34 smaller companies, owing primarily to the muckraking journalism of Ida M Tarbell, whose own father had been pushed out of the oil business by the company?
( Read more... )
14. What is officially an acronym formed from the words Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, and not a tribute to a famous writer?
ASIMO (HONDA’S ROBOT)
15. The two ‘i’ s in this brand name is meant to resemble two people standing side by side, representing players gathering together. The name was chosen so as to make remembering the name easier as also to remove ambiguity in its pronunciation. Identify.
Wii
16. Which website labels its movie reviews as “Certified Fresh”?
ROTTEN TOMATOES (.COM)
*17. Which famous menthol lozenge brand was created by James Lofthouse in 1865 to relieve various respiratory problems suffered by crews of deep sea herring-boats working off Iceland?
FISHERMAN’S FRIEND
18. This company founded in 1761 in Nuremburg invented the pencil, of which it is the largest manufacturer today. Its name combines the German word for “craftsman” and the Latin word for “castle. Name it.
FABER-CASTELL
( Read more... )
1. Whose tomb did Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose visit after giving his famous "Delhi Chalo" call?
2. Which was the first genetically engineered drug that was approved by USA's FDA in 1982?
3. When an element is heated to a very high temperature, the electrons in its atom get enough energy to break free from the atom. This process is known as Thermal ionization. The formula for this is considered by Scientific American to be the foundation for field stellar astrophysics. Who was the scientist who proposed this formula and also interestingly prepared the original plan for the Damodar Valley Project?
4. "The Truth About ___ _____: 400 facts about the World's Greatest Human" was published by Penguin in November. The book capitalizes on "mythical facts" that have been circulating on the Internet since 2005 that poke fun at this person. It includes such humorous "facts" as “____ ____’s tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried" and “____ ____ does not sleep. He waits" as well as “___ ____can charge a cell phone by rubbing it against his beard.” Who?
( Read more... )
A) Something that has entered the realm of absurdity. This was on the lines of 'jump the shark'; the reference was to the film 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' in which Indiana Jones escapes from a nuclear test by hiding in a refrigerator.
The remaining questions from the Alumni quiz in BT Acumen Delhi, 2008. Answers in a week. Here goes:
14. What is officially an acronym formed from the words Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, and not a tribute to a famous writer?
15. The two ‘i’ s in this brand name is meant to resemble two people standing side by side, representing players gathering together. The name was chosen so as to make remembering the name easier as also to remove ambiguity in its pronunciation. Identify.
16. Which website labels its movie reviews as “Certified Fresh”?
( Remaining questions! )
1. This San Francisco-based company which trades on NYSE now under the symbol V raised $17.9 billion in March 2008 to complete the largest IPO in U.S. history – name it.
visa (it helped prop up the wobbly financial services industry)
2. In 1907, 19-year-old Jim Casey founded the American Messenger Company in Seattle, Washington with $100 borrowed from a friend. This was the beginning of which giant nicknamed the “Big Brown?”
united parcel service (ups)
3. Which couple are the promoters of the Hitech Group of companies, with a turnover of Rs. 300 crores with interests in agro and dogfood-processing, computer gaming, livestock genetics and pharmaceuticals?
Dr. Apjit and Babli Bindra (parents of abhinav bindra)
4. In 1786, Antonio Benedetto Carpano from Turin created a concoction inspired by a German wine flavored with wormwood, a herb most famously used in distilling absinthe. What did he name it?
vermouth (from the german word wermuth, meaning ‘wormwood’)
( More answers! )
1) Identify the location.
2) Identify movie and game being played.
( More questions! )
Well it has nothing to do with antagonism towards pasta.
It is an Italian term for ‘hors d'oeuvres’(hors d'oeuvre means literally ‘outside of work’—hence, a ‘dish served outside of the ordinary set of courses in a meal, side dish’) and is derived from anti-, ‘before’ and pasto, ‘meal’.
Hence its an appetizer or the first course and typically includes sausages, olives, cured or smoked meats, fresh or pickled vegetables and cheese.
Buon appetito!!
We have been doing the BT Acumen quiz for 7 years now. It is a business quiz with a difference. The content is serious, the connects are intelligent yet the quiz is fun. Don't take our word for it. Check the Mumbai round for yourself on the 3rd and 4th of October (more details at http://www.btacumen.com/datevenue.php and http://www.btacumen.com/eventformat.php). Too lazy or too far away to do that, take a shot at the Delhi Alumni prelims (asterisks were used as tie-breakers; answers and second part of the prelims in a week):
1. This San Francisco-based company which trades on NYSE now under the symbol V raised $17.9 billion in March 2008 to complete the largest IPO in U.S. history – name it.
2. In 1907, 19-year-old Jim Casey founded the American Messenger Company in Seattle, Washington with $100 borrowed from a friend. This was the beginning of which giant nicknamed the “Big Brown?”
3. Which couple are the promoters of the Hitech Group of companies, with a turnover of Rs. 300 crores with interests in agro and dogfood-processing, computer gaming, livestock genetics and pharmaceuticals?
4. In 1786, Antonio Benedetto Carpano from Turin created a concoction inspired by a German wine flavored with wormwood, a herb most famously used in distilling absinthe. What did he name it?
*5. His original name was Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky, and he was born in Kuressaare on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, then part of the Russian Empire. He died of a heart attack in a bathroom in Pennsylvania Station in New York, and wasn’t identified for three days. The Jatiya Sansad Bhavan in Dhaka is considered his masterpiece. Who?
*6. Local tradition in south-east Birmingham names Adil's Restaurant as the inventor of this kind of food in 1977. Loyd Grossman’s curry sauce jar claims on its label that the term comes from a word for "hubcap," since Indian truckers would cook their food in a hubcap. Which style of cooking?
7. A roughly triangular area bordered on the north by Canal Street, on the east by Broadway, on the west by the Hudson River and on the south by Vesey Street, it is now one of the most fashionable areas of New York – so much so that there is a Subaru sedan named after it. Name this area famous for a film festival.
As a team we do roughly 10 quizzes in a year which adds to over 1500 questions. In our individual capacities we contribute another 1000 or so questions and we have been at this for more than 7 years.
In this blog, we will share some of these questions, get your feedback on what works and try and set better questions in the future. We also plan to do an online quiz competition to celebrate our return, in a while.
Bookmark this page, subscribe to the RSS feed, keep your comments coming.
(and somebody buy us our domain back from those evil black-hatters!)
Team Quizician
(Anustup Datta from Bangalore, Gopal Kidao from Chennai, Movin Miranda from KL and Rajiv Rai from Mumbai)
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