Question - 651

What's the lady's name?

Hint: No attempts on this one so far. The thing to her left is named after her and is reasonably famous.

Hint2: No love still for this question. The thing to her left is a dinosaur fossil.

Answer: Sue Hendrickson, an amateur fossil hunter who discovered the most complete T-Rex skeleton to date - the Sue skeleton in Chicago. Matti, Divya and Karthik took pity on the QM and answered it. Well done.

Question - 650

What is happening here?

Answer: Obama retaking his Presidential oath for the second time because he spoke a word out of sequence the first time around. Krithi, Rajesh K, Jamie, Matti, Divya, Divya Shankar, Krishna, Karthik and giantamoeba got it. Well done.

Question - 649

Where would you find this?

Answer: The town of Riverside, Iowa which declared itself the birthplace of James T. Kirk. Siddarth Pai, Krithi, Matti, Jamie, Divya, Deepanshu, Saket, Sharmistha Dutta and Divya Shankar got it. Well done.

Question - 648

Identify the painter.

Answer: Abbott Handerson Thayer - the man who studied and wrote about protective coloration in the animal kingdom which eventually led to the concept of military camouflage being used in WWI. Siddarth Pai, Krithi, Jamie, Divya and Divya Shankar got it. Iam did not. Well done.

Question - 647

Who wrote this to whom?

Answer: A young Fidel Castro writing to FDR. If only FDR had given him the twenty dollars....Divya, Iam, Krithi, Divya Shankar, Matti, Trooper, Siddarth Pai, Saket, Jamie, Rajesh K, Deepanshu, Hari, Krishna and Kani got it. Well done.

Question - 646

Identify the instrument and the player.

Answer: Lydia Kavina playing the theremin, an instrument known for its eerie sound. Divya Shankar, Matti, giantamoeba, Siddarth Pai and Krithi got it. Well done.

Question - 645

Who was fined and why? When and how was the fine repaid?

Answer: To quote giant amoeba, The US was fined for littering when parts of the skylab fell over Esperance, western Australia. The fine was paid in April 2009, when radio show host Scott Barley of Highway Radio raised the funds from his morning show listeners, and paid the fine on behalf of NASA. Iam, Saket, Swapnaa, Jamie, Raghu, giantamoeba, Divya, Matti and Krithi got it. Well done.

Question - 644

What famous location?

Answer: The real "field of dreams". I thought if I ask the question, you will answer. Rajesh K, Krithi, Swapnaa, Matti, Jamie and Divya got it. Well done.

Question - 643

What game is this? The game isn't well known or even particularly famous but I like how this game has not featured any "goals" since 1909.

Answer: The Eton wall game - spoofed memorably by Terry Pratchett. Swapnaa, giantamoeba, nitinsunny and Matti got it. Well done.

Question - 642

What does this illustrate?

Answer: The American flag as would be perceived by people with different degrees of color blindness (Daltonism). Raghu, Siddarth Pai, Krithi, Iam and Divya Shankar got it. Well done.

Question - 641

Identify.

Answer: Vostok 3KA-2, a spacecraft similar to the one Yuri Gagarin went to space in. It recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Siddarth Pai, Matti, Iam, Akhilesh, Siddharth, Divya, Rajesh K, Krithi and Raghu got it. Well done.

Question - 640

What are the squiggly white characters on the cover?

Answer: The Shavian alphabet - a simple, phonetic alphabet for the English language that would avoid the complications of the current spelling system. It was posthumously funded and supported by G.B.Shaw but eventually there was only enough money to publish one book in this alphabet. Krithi, Divya, giantamoeba, Saket and Matti got it. Well done. Trooper has link to a very nice quiz blog in the comments.

Question - 639

Identify the guy.

Answer: Frank Zamboni, the guy who invented the eponymous ice resurfacer. Siddarth Pai, Iam, giantamoeba and Matti got it. Well done.

Question - 638

Identify the blanked out portions. The blanks are different but related.

Answer: The comic is about Maxwell's demon - a thought experiment about a possible violation of the second law of thermodynamics. Anon, Krithi and Divya got it. Well done.

Question - 637

Connect.

Answer: Surtsey - a newly formed volcanic island off the coast of Iceland was named for Surtur, a fire giant of Norse mythology. Matti, giantamoeba, Siddarth Pai, Krithi and Divya got it. Well done.

Question - 636

This is a 3-D false colour rendering of a small extra-terrestrial mountain. What is its claim to fame?

Answer: This is a high resolution image of the "face on mars" - a pareidolia captured by Viking 1. Siddharth ravi, Matti, Siddarth Pai, Kaushik, anon, Divya Shankar, giantamoeba, Krithi and Iam got it. Well done.

Question - 635

Identify the man. Something named for him has been in the news for the past 3 weeks.

Answer: Rolf Sievert, the man after whom the unit of dose equivalent ionizing radiation is named. In the news after the Japan nuclear accidents. This was a toughie and only Matti and Raghu got it. Great job guys.