Question - 260

A famous event during the cold war. Identify the participants and the name given to the event.

Answer: This is the famous kitchen debate between the then US vice president Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The two men debated the merits of their respective economic systems (capitalism vs socialism) in a model house that supposedly every American could afford. The emphasis Nixon placed on household devices such as washing machines etc earned the debate its name. Nice try, vetti, Manix, Rajeev, Iam, Hari, Johny Walker, Trevor Burnham, Srivats and Pappu pimp got it. Well done.

Question - 259

The first visual shows a public art work near Seattle where a series of metal tubes make eerie moaning sounds when wind blows through them. Identify the place and connect with the second visual.

Answer: The art work is called a sound garden from which the Seattle based band takes its name. Srivats, Iam, Vetti, Raghu and Rajeev got it. Well done.

Question - 258

This is the last in a series. What is the first?

Answer: This is the last painting in Hokusai's 36 views of Mt. Fugi. The first painting in the series is the famous The great wave off Kanagawa. Srivats, Raghu and Iam got it. Well done.

Question - 257

What do these visuals represent?

Answer: These are the Acid tests for testing whether browsers render html correctly. Srivats, Iam, nice try and adityam got it. Well done.

Question - 256

This question is courtesy Manix. The visual in the top left was created from measurements made by the visual in the top right. Certain correlations in this data have been named after the highlighted portions shown in the bottom. Identify all and connect.

Answer: The top visuals are the WMAP (Wilkinson microwave anistropy probe) image of the cosmic microwave background radiation and the satellite that measured it. The map in the bottom are the "axis of evil" countries (Iran, Iraq and North Korea). The background radiation was recently found to have certain features clustered along certain axes. This has major implications on the evolution of the universe and such axes have been christened as axes of evil. Srivats and Raghu got it. Well done.

Question - 255

Connect the movie roles. To the best of my knowledge, the list is exhaustive. In fact, the visual in the bottom right doesn't quite fit into the connect in the same way as other but I included it since it can serve as a good clue.

Answer: These actors/actress portrayed the same role in two different movies and got nominated for Academy awards for both portrayals. The people are Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler and The color of money, Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O'Malley in Going my way and The Bells of St. Mary's, Peter O'Toole as King Henry II in Becket and The lion in winter, Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The golden age and Al Pacino as Don Corleone in Godfather I & II. One of Pacino's nominations was for the best supporting actor though. Srivats and Sankalp got this one. Well done.

Question - 254

Memorial commemorating what? Where is it located?

Answer: This is the memorial for the fallen astronauts located in the moon. It commemorates the memory of all the astronauts who died in the advancement of space exploration. It is possibly the only art work on moon. Srivats, Vetti and Iam got it. Well done.

Question - 253

The xkcd strip is a reference to what?

Answer: This is a reference to everyone's favorite encyclopedia Wikipedia where "citation needed" is a frequently used disclaimer in many articles. The comic strip doesn't satirize any particular speaker as far as I know. Srivats, Vetti, nice try and Trevor Burnham got it. Well done.

Question - 252

Identify all people. They are among the first and most famous people in something. What?

Answer: The people are Gene Roddenberry (of star trek fame), Timothy Leary (of LSD fame), Eugene Shoemaker (of the comet fame) and Clyde Tombaugh (0f Pluto fame). They are among the first people to have their ashes dispersed in space making space burial the common theme between them. Despite the question being up for two days, Srivats was the only one to crack this. Bravo.

Question - 251

A recent controversial event. Identify.

Answer: A Russian submarine is planting a Russian flag on the north pole claiming the seabed. Global warming has melted enough polar ice to make prospecting for fossil fuels in that area possible. Talk about a positive feedback loop. Hari, Srivats, Raghu, Adi, Vijay, Iam, Harish and Rajesh got it. Well done.

Question - 250

Identify the two men, the occasion and what the bearded man is holding. The second visual can be taken as a clue.

Answer: The visual shows Linus Torvalds shaving the 27 year old beard of open source guru Bdale Garbee in a program to raise awareness about the deadly facial tumor decimating the Tasmanian devil population. As part of this, Linux also changed its logo from Tux the penguin to Tuz the Tasmanian devil (shown in Garbee's hand). The second visual is the Disney character, Taz, the Tasmanian devil. Swapnaa, tsp, Manix, Raghu, nice try, Rajesh, Hari, Johnny Walker and Adi got it. Well done.

Question - 249

Identify both.

Answer: The giant rat is splinter, the sensei of the teenage mutant ninja turtles. The man in the visual is Hamato Yoshi, a martial arts expert who taught splinter his skills. In one version of the comics, Yoshi himself mutates into a giant rat (splinter) while in another, he is just the owner of splinter who gets killed in a gang fight and whose death splinter avenges using the turtles. Trevor Burnham, Raghu and vs got it. Well done.

Question - 248

Identify the two gentlemen and the location.

Answer: The picture shows Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir in Yosemite. John Muir is a Scottish born American naturalist whose early conservation efforts (especially in the Sierra Nevada range) helped preserve many of America's current national parks. He also founded the Sierra club which is one of the foremost conservation organization in America today. Yosemite captured Muir's imagination like no other place and of it he said, "No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite". Srivats, Iam and Rajesh got it. Well done.

Question - 247

The first visual shows a military tactic used mainly by soldiers hailing from the kingdom shown in green in the second visual. Identify the tactic or the country. A corruption of this tactic is now a common word in the English language.

Answer: The kingdom is Parthia and the military tactic which demanded great equestrian skills was to pretend to flee the war scene but turn around and shoot arrows at the pursuing enemy. This was called the Parthian shot which later was corrupted to become parting shot. Incidentally, such corruption is called a mondegreen which itself has a fascinating etymology. tsp, Mekie, Srivats, Raghu, Manix, Rajesh, Avi and Adi got it. Well done.

Question - 246

Identify the sport.

Answer: This is the Basque sport Jai Alai - supposedly the fastest ball game in the world. Anand, Raghu, Manix, nice try, Iam, Vetti, Rajeev and Srivats got it. Well done.

Question - 245

Today's question is courtesy Rajesh K. Identify all the images and connect the two rows.

Answer: The people are Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Ustad Vilayat Khan and Romila Thapar. The awards shown in the bottom are Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan. These people (in that order and among others) have turned down these awards for various reasons. Vetti, Iam and Rajesh got it while Adi came close. Well done.

Question - 244

Today's question is courtesy Swapnaa. The visual in the left is a self-portrait of a man and a very famous work of his is shown in the second visual. Identify both.

Answer: This is Albrecht Durer with his famous "praying hands". If you came across any story that the hands belong to Durer's brother who had to work in coal mines to put Durer through some art school, it is bunkum. Mekie, Raghu, Srivats, Vetti, Iam and Rajeev got it. Well done.

Question - 243

Considering the lateness of this post, I decided to go with this howler of a question. Connect the two visuals. Here is hoping that the questions don't get any worse than this one.

Answer: The visuals are the Brahma temple at Pushkar and a butte named Brahma temple at the Grand canyon. Ashwin, Mekie, Swapnaa, Iam and nice try got it. Everyone was nice enough to mutter expletives under their breath and refrain from posting them as comments. Well done.