Question - 95

Identify and connect all visuals. If possible, identify the etymological significance of the connect. The etymology is in an Indian language and unless you know the language, it is probably hard to get that part of the connect.

Answer: The ship is the SMS Emden which bombed Madras during World War I. She had a much romanticized history of sinking or capturing nearly 30 allied warships before being run aground (the visual shows the grounded ship). The second visual shows some of the unexploded shells that are on display in the Madras museum. The third visual is Champakaram Pillai, the second in command on the German ship who sided with the Germans during WWI against the British Raj. His volunteer force was supposedly Subash Chandra Bose's inspiration for the INA. He was also the Prime Minister of the short lived Provincial Government of India which was based out of Afghanisthan. He was either poisoned or tortured to death by the Nazis in 1934. To this day, a sneaky street-smart person is referred to in Tamil and Malayalam(?) as an Emden. Manix and Keshav got it. Well done.

Question - 94

Shown is a picture from a yearly event in a small town in New Hampshire. Every year these people gather and attempt to break their own world record (Recently, they lost the world record to a similar event in Boston). What is the event?

Answer: This is the Keene pumpkin festival that happens yearly in Keene, New Hampshire where they try to collect the maximum number of jack-o-lanterns in a single place. Keshav and Rajesh got it. Well done.

Question - 93

The building in the first visual inspired a famous work. The building in the second visual was used in an adaptation of the work. Both buildings are now in the U.S National Historic Landmarks list. Identify both and the work in question.

Answer: The first visual is the Stanley hotel near the Rocky Mountains national park, Colorado. Stephen King was inspired to write "The Shining" after a stay here and based his Overlook hotel on this one. The second visual is the Timberline Lodge with Mt. Hood in the background in Oregon. Kubrick used this hotel in the movie adaptation. Raghu, Mekhala, Kr!sh, Rajesh and Rahul Trivedi got it. Well done.

Question - 92

The guy in the first visual invented something. He either named it after a legend surrounding the second visual or he himself invented the legend as well. There is also a less famous name for his invention that is named after the third visual. Identify all three visuals.

Answer: The person is the French mathematician Edouard Lucas who invented the "Tower of Hanoi" puzzle. The second visual is the tower at Hanoi, Vietnam after which the puzzle is named. The puzzle is also called the "Tower of Brahma" sometimes. Legend has it that Buddhist/Hindu monks have been moving 64 golden disks as per the rules of the puzzle and when they are done, the world will come to an end. Divya, Iam, Mekhala, QoD and Hirak got it. Well done.

Question - 91

Today's question is courtesy Mekhala. Identify what the map is about.

Answer: The map shows the legality of relations between two people of the same sex across the globe ranging from allowing same sex marriages (dark green) to death penalty (dark red). Divya, Rahul Trivedi and QoD got it. Well done.

Question - 90

This is a paradoxical concept in economics an example of which is shown in the price-demand curve in the first visual. Historically, the most famous example of this phenomenon is shown in the second visual. However, recently this has been debunked and the third visual is suggested as an example of this phenomenon. Identify the phenomenon.

Answer: The phenomenon is that of the Giffen good. The classic example was thought to be potatoes during the Irish famine but this was recently debunked. Gasoline is thought to be a modern example. See Swapnaa's comments for more details. Swapnaa, Rahul Trivedi, Hirak, Trevor Burnham, Iam and Raghu got it. Well done.

Question - 89

Identify the visuals and connect.

Answer: This is the memristor which by some definitions would be the fourth fundamental passive two terminal circuit element along with the inductor, capacitor and resistor. It has only recently been synthesized at the HP labs. The first visual is a picture of the device, the visual below is the symbol and the other visuals are the electrical characteristics of the device. Rahul Trivedi and Divya got it. Well done.

Question - 88

Today's question is courtesy Swapnaa. Connect the visuals.
Update: It has gone unanswered so far. Here is a hint: The connect is a certain act which is being performed in the second visual. The first visual shows the legal status of the act across the globe as of today. I will let the question run till tonight with the hint.

Answer: The connect is abortion. The first visual shows the legal status of abortion in different countries and the second shows a Bas-relief from Angkor Wat depicting a demon performing an abortion by pounding a mallet into a woman's belly. Went unanswered.

Question - 87

This phenomenon is named for the man shown in the top left visual. The other four visuals also show people who are supposedly victims of this phenomenon. What is the phenomenon and why has it been in the news recently?

Answer: The phenomenon is called the Bradley effect and it is the false high poll popularity enjoyed by a non-white candidate when running against a white candidate due to the tendency of many pollsters to name the non-white candidate as their choice while not actually voting for them. The people shown are (from top left clockwise) Tom Bradley, Douglas Wilder, Jesse Jackson, David Dinkins and Harold Washington - some supposed victims of the effect. It has been in the news because of Barack Obama but there is also a theory that Obama might enjoy a reverse Bradley effect. Swapnaa, Vikrant, Rajeev, Anand, Raghu, Rajesh, Manix, Hirak, Kr!sh, Ramji and Iam got it. Well done.

Question - 86

Identify the two men in the first visual and connect them to the second visual. Think literature.

Update: The question might have been too hard as originally stated. I have added a hint and will let it stay for another day.

Answer: The first visual shows Herge, the creator of Tintin and Chang Chong Chen. Chen introduced Herge to various foreign cultures and made Tintin a more politically aware cartoon. The second visual shows the infamous Mukden incident which features in the Tintin comics "Blue lotus" a scene from which is shown in the third visual. Swapnaa's comment has more information. Iam, Swapnaa, Manix, Ramji, Hirak and Rajesh got it. Well done.

Question - 85

Identify all visuals and connect.

Answer: The dying lion statue in Lucerne commemorates the defense of the Tuilerias palace by the Swiss guards during the Paris commune. Adi, Divya, QoD, Hirak, Iam and Rahul Trivedi got it. Well done.

Question - 84

The second visual gets its name from the first. Identify both.

Answer: The first visual shows the Iron curtain countries in red. The second visual shows the defensive line of the 1970s Pittsburgh steelers that was nicknamed the steel curtain and helped the steelers win 4 super bowls. Arvind, Adi, Iam + Ram, Manix, Raghu, RajeshK, QoD, Rajesh and Rahul Trivedi got it. Well done.

Question - 83

Identify the visuals and their significance.

Answer: This is the Trojan room coffee pot at Cambridge. A bunch of computer scientists tired of walking to the coffee pot only to find it empty set up a camera that captured images of the pot every few seconds and made them available at the world wide web. Thus was born the world's first webcam. The second visual shows the final visual taken by the webcam before it was turned off in 2001. Hirak, Iam, QoD and an Anon got it. Well done.

Question - 82

Two pictures taken at two different times. Identify the place and its specialty.

Answer: This is the Bay of Fundy which has the highest tidal range in the world due to a tidal resonance phenomenon. Swapnaa and QoD were the only ones to get it. Well done.

Question - 81

What does the tattoo signify?

Answer: This is a configuration from Conway's "Game of Life" called the glider. This is the hacker emblem for the free software and open source community. Anirudh Patil and Iam got it. Well done.

Question - 80

Identify the "doctor".

Answer: Radovan Karadzic - the Serbian leader charged with genocide in Bosnia was hiding under the alias Dr. Dragan Dabic. Keshav, Mekhala, Raghu, Adi, Swapnaa, Iam, Hirak, Suchi, Rajesh and Rahul Trivedi got it. Well done.

Question - 79

Today's question is courtesy Shyaps. Identify all visuals and connect.

Answer: The connect is death by immolation. The pictures are Shiva with the corpse of Sati after the Daksha yagna, Joan of Arc and the Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc who famously immolated himself protesting the Vietnam war. Iam, Vikrant, Rahul Trivedi and Keshav got it right. Well done.

Question - 78

Identify.

Answer: Captain Joseph Hazelwood of the notorious Exxon Valdez. The ship spilt nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The spill spread over 11,000 square miles of ocean. Iam, Adi, Rajesh, Raghu, Mekhala, Vikrant and QoD got it. Well done.

Question - 77

Whose statue is it? What is the significance of the location? The lake shown is just beyond the location shown in the first visual.

Answer: The statue is that of Henry David Thoreau in front of a replica of the log cabin in which he lived for two years. He wrote the famous transcendentalist book Walden while here. The lake is the Walden pond. Rahul Trivedi, Raghu, Hirak and Rajesh got it. Well done.

Question - 76

Identify all visuals and connect.

Answer: The people are Osamu Shimomura (top left), Martin Chalfie (bottom left) and Roger Tsien, the 2008 chemistry Nobel laureates. They studied a green fluorescent protein (GFP) produced by the Jellyfish Aequorea Victoria and modified it to serve as a cell marker. The green mice are a result of such experiments as are the spectacular "brainbows" shown in the bottom right. The gene that creates the GFP was first isolated by Douglas Prasher of the Woods Hole Oceonographic institute which he freely provided to both Tsien and Chalfie. Sadly, Prasher lost his job due to lack of grants and now drives a courtesy shuttle for a car dealership in Huntsville, Alabama. Arvind, Divya, Mekhala, Hirak, RajeshK, Ashwin, Iam, Adi and Rahul Trivedi got it. Well done.

Question - 75

Identify the award shown.

Answer: This is the Chess Oscar statuette nicknamed The Fascinated Wanderer. The award is presented annually to the best chess player as judged by a poll conducted among chess players and chess experts around the world. The effort is coordinated by the Russian chess magazine 64 and a small logo of the journal can be found at the base. Vikrant and Raghu got it. Well done.

Question - 74

Connect the visuals. When there are multiple people, only one would be relevant to the connect.

Answer: From top left clockwise - David and Goliath by Caravaggio, Charlemagne, Alexander the great and Julius Caesar. The four kings in a pack of playing cards are modeled after these kings. Rajesh was the only one to crack it. Bravo.

Question - 73

The blanked out region in the map gets its name from the geographical features shown in the first visual. Identify.

Answer: The Thermopylae pass where the 300 spartans made their famous last stand. The name means "hot gates" and derives from the hot springs found in that area. Divya, Keshav, Mekhala, Iam, Swapnaa, Rajesh, QoD and Rajeev got it. Well done.

Question - 72

I was a bit unwell yesterday and could not update the blog. Regular updates resume today. Connect the visuals.

Answer: Jimmy Hoffa is the connect. The logo is that of International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union organization he was the head of. The second visual is the Machus red fox restaurant in Michigan where he was last seen alive. Spirit airlines ran an ad campaign called "Hunt for Hoffa" where players were asked to dig for Hoffa's body by clicking grids on the airline's website. This idea was good enough to land the 8th place in CNN's 101 dumbest moments in business. Rajeev, Raghu, Iam and Divya got it. Well done.

Question - 71

Third visual is an artist's interpretation of what happened to the statue shown in the first visual after the event in the second visual. Etymological significance?

Answer: Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a statue made of many different materials (starting with the nobler ones and becoming baser as one goes down) which is destroyed by a fireball hurled from the heavens. The feet of the statue are made of clay and the statue is destroyed. Daniel interpreted this dream as the progression of various empires which are all ultimately destroyed. More details can be found here. The statue is inspired by this dream. The phrase "Feet of clay" takes its meaning from this incident. Raghu and Vateez got it. Well done.

Question - 70

Identify the building and the purpose of that green light that comes out of this building.

Answer: The building is the Greenwich observatory. The red stripe that runs through the building's facade is the prime meridian. The green laser also highlights the same line. Iam, Rajeev, Vateez, QoD, Divya, Hirak, Manix and Adi got it. Well done.