Question - 310

Which alien life form is shown?

Update: There has only been one correct response so far. Here are some additional hints. The visual is an artist's impression of an alien life form from a novel written by the guy in the first visual below. There have been two movie adaptations of this novel and a screen shot from the newer one is shown in the second visual. I suppose the answer can't be worked out even with the clues unless you already know it but I wanted to draw attention to one of my favorite science fiction novels/theme.

Answer: The alien life form is the mighty, unknowable, truly alien Solaris from Stanislaw Lem's novel by the same name. One of Lem's favorite themes is the fundamental impossibility of meaningful communications with an alien species. There were two famous movies made out of this novel - one by legendary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and more recently one by Steven Soderbergh starring George Clooney. Srivats was the only one to get it without the additional hints. tsp, Prachi, Hasan, Manix, Swapnaa, Rajesh, Ajinkya, Raghu and Divya got it with the hints. Well done all.

Question - 309

Today's question has two disparate parts. First, which paradox does the cartoon allude to? Second, what issue is the cartoon dealing with? Note that some text has been blanked out in the bottom left.

Answer: The paradox is that of Buridan's ass which refers to a hypothetical situation when an ass placed exactly in the middle of two hay stacks of equal size will starve to death unable to decide which one to start eating. This is named after the 14th century French philosopher Jean Buridan. The cartoon refers to the US government's indecision between choosing Nicaragua or Panama to build the canal connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific. Ultimately, Panama was chosen but there is some colorful history involved in the decision process. Karthik, Ramji, Ajinkya, Iam, Major Shankar, Hari, Manix, Hasan, Suchitra, Srivats, nice try and Hirak got it. Well done.

Question - 308

Which famous farewell message is this?

Answer: This is the message BJ leaves for Hawkeye in the final episode of M*A*S*H. You can see the shadow of Hawkeye's chopper in the bottom left. As of 2009, this episode still remains the single most watched television broadcast in US history. Karthik, Raghu, Iam, Ajinkya, Rajeev, Trevor Burnham and Adi got it. Well done.

Question - 307

Satellite image of what famous location?

Answer: This is the temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, one of the largest temple complexes in the world. The temple is supposed to be a representation of Mount Meru with the five towers symbolizing the five peaks and the moat symbolizing the ocean. Srivats, Raghu, Iam, Rajesh and Manix got it. Krithi came close but went with the other famous Khmer temple in Thailand. Well done. Here is the link to a recent National Geographic article on one of the plausible causes for the downfall of the Khmer civilization.

Question - 306

Who are these? What controversy resulted?

Answer: Gary Hart was the front runner for the presidential nomination from the Democratic party in 1988. However, his presidential campaign came to a halt when photos of him with model Donna Rice aboard his aptly named yacht Monkey Business surfaced. This was only days after he dared reporters who accused him of infidelity to his wife to follow him and claiming that they would get very bored. Ajinkya, Iam, Hirak, Anshul, Karthik, rajeev, Divya and Srivats got it. Well done.

Question - 305

Connect the three visuals.

Answer: The connect is Edvard Munch's famous painting Scream. The first visual is the movie poster of the movie "Scream" where the killer's mask is designed after Munch's painting. The second visual shows the recent theft of the painting from Munch's museum in Oslo. The third visual is Krakatoa whose famous and catastrophic eruption in 1883 suspended so much particles in the atmosphere that sunsets all over the world were spectacularly reddish during that year. There is a theory that the reddish color of the sky in Munch's painting is due to this. Ajinkya, Srivats, Iam, Anshul, Adi (almost), Raghu, Manix, Divya, Rajesh, Major Shankar and Hasan got it. Well done.

Question - 304

The three visuals show the progression of what annual event?

Answer: This is the annual dyeing of Chicago river as part of the St. Patrick's day celebrations. This becomes the most answered question of the blog showing that most of the blog's followers are either Irish or like to drink. Anon, Rajesh K, Swapnaa, anon, Krithi, Srivats, mekie, Karthik, Raghu, nice try, Hirak, Hasan, Adi, Ajinkya, anshul, Mihir, Manix, Iam, Divya, Vetti and Schmetterling got it. Well done.

Question - 303

Today's question is courtesy Ankur Patel. Visuals 1 through 6 form an exhaustive list (arranged chronologically). Identify Y and the connection.

Answer: These are all teams from various sports and eras that have been nicknamed "The invincibles". The teams are 1) 1888-89 Preston North end side, 2) 1924-25 New Zealand Rugby Union team, 3) 1948 Australian cricket team, 4) 1974 British and Irish lions, 5)1982 Australian Rugby league team and the 6th team would be the 2003-2004 Arsenal team who went undefeated in the Premier league. Karthik, Anon, Rajesh K (its going to be the 2010 wolverines), Raghu, Gokul and Rajesh got it. Well done.

Question - 302

Today's question is courtesy Manix. What is being depicted in the visual?

Answer: The spots on the globe are gigantic islands of plastic waste that have been concentrated in one spot due to ocean currents. About 20% of this is waste thrown from ships or oil platforms. The rest come from land. Karthik, raklodramA, Srivats, Mekie, Raghu, Vetti, Krithi, Rajesh and Shweta got it. Well done.

Question - 301

Where is the picture taken? Who is the person in the middle and what is he presenting?

Answer: This is Adlai Stevenson, the US ambassador to the United Nations during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. After getting the USSR to deny categorically any military operations in Cuba, Stevenson proceeded to show aerial photographs of the precise soviet missile locations in Cuba. As Krithi mentions, this is also when the US's ability to take aerial photos through unmanned spy planes was made public. Krithi, Manix, Rajesh K, Raghu, Vijay, Rajesh and Srivats got it. Well done.

Question - 300

Connect the monument in the first visual to the other two visuals. Update: On looking at the question again, it seems like I might have made it too obscure. So let me be more explicit in saying the connect is a phrase to which the first two visuals are directly related while the third obliquely so.

Answer: The phrase I was looking for is Molon Labe, a Greek phrase that means "come and get them". The Greek phrase was famously uttered by Leonidas during the Battle of Thermopylae. The same phrase was used in the flag of the Texas Republic during the war with Mexico. The phrase is frequently used by the NRA and its supporters and a variation of the phrase ("from my cold dead hands") was used by Charlton Heston during an NRA assembly shortly after the Columbine high school massacre. The question was solely put for the sake of it being the 300th question. Raghu, Iam and Rajesh got the whole thing. Vetti, Hirak, tsp and Krithi were almost there. Well done everyone and apologies for the contrived question.

Question - 299

The relic shown in the second visual is located atop the mountain shown in the first visual. This mountain is sacred to almost all major religions of the world. According to Islam, this relic is the remnant of a certain person's descent to earth and thus named for him. The geographic feature in the third visual is also named for the same person. Identify all visuals.

Answer: The mountain is Adam's peak in Sri Lanka also known as Sivan Adi Padam. The relic on top is shaped as a footprint which various mythologies attribute to various religious figures (Siva - Hinduism, St. Thomas - Christianity, Adam - Islam, Buddha - Buddhism). According to Islamic myth, Adam did a penance on one foot for 1000 years at this location to atone for his eviction from the garden of Eden. After the penance, he traveled via the Adam's bridge shown in the third visual into Idnia and then beyond. I had always wondered why the sand bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka was called Adam's bridge (also known as the infamous Ram Setu). Now I know. Srivats, Raghu, Hari, tsp, Mekie, Krithi (way to go appa), Ramki, Iam and Arun got it. Well done.

Question - 298

These two women met and reconciled some 50 years after a confrontation that has since become an iconic moment. Who are they and what was the event?

Answer: The women are Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Massery, the key characters in this famous photo taken by Will Counts outside Little Rock Central High School on September 4, 1957. Massery faced a lot of negative publicity as the photo caught her screaming at Eckford. To her credit, she came forward voluntarily to apologize to Eckford. The above photo was taken again by Will Counts as part of the 40th anniversary of the event. The women supposedly became thick friends after this only to fall out soon after. For more details, head to wiki. Srivats, Hari, Vetti and Swapnaa got it. Well done.

Question - 297

What just happened?

Answer: Monica Seles has just been stabbed at the Hamburg open by Gunter Parache, an obsessed Graf fan. Rajeev, Srivats, Mihir, anon, Ajit, Vetti, Raghu, nice try, Schmetterling, Iam, Rithwik, anon (sure take all the extra points you need :)), rajesh and Srini got it. Well done.

Question - 296

Shown is a simple example of a particular algorithm. What is the algorithm?

Answer: This demonstrates Google's pagerank algorithm which calculates the search rank of a page based on the number of links into the page and the origin of the incoming links. raklodramA, Schmetterling, Iam, Rajesh and Srivats got it. Well done.

Question - 295

Connect the two comic strips to the guy in the right.

Answer: The humor in both strips is based on Pascal's wager - a reasoning developed by Blaise Pascal (on the right) to convince agnostics/atheists of the logic of believing in God. For more details on the wager and the atheistic rebuttals, go here. Anon, Raghu, Kr!sh, Trevor Burnham, Rajesh, tsp and Rajeev got it. Well done.

Question - 294

What is happening? Identify all the people.

Answer: This is Sachen Littlefeather declining the Academy award for Best Actor given to Marlon Brando for Godfather in 1972. Brando wanted to attract attention to the discrimination of Native Indians in Hollywood and mainstream media. The two confounded people are Roger Moore and Liv Ullman. Watch the video here. Mekie, Hari, Raghu, Rajesh K, Vetti, raklodramA, nice try, Mihir, Hirak, Iam, Shyaps and Rajesh got it. Well done.

Question - 293

Visual 1 shows an instance of a wide spread phenomenon in a certain geographical area in the early 20th century. Visual 2 is a screen shot from a famous movie. Identify the phenomenon, the movie and the connection.

Answer: The visual is a dust storm that was widely prevalent in the Oklahoma/Texas region in the 1930s which led to the area being nicknamed the dust bowl. The movie Grapes of Wrath tells the story of an Oklahoma farmer family that had to migrate from the dust bowl in search of greener pastures. Mekie, Anshul, Hirak, Trevor Burnham, Rajesh, Vetti and Rajesh K got it. Well done.

Question - 292

The unfortunate event in the first visual also gave the man in the second visual a dubious distinction as the only American to do something. Identify the event, the man and the distinction.

Answer: The first visual shows the mass suicide at Jonestown, a cult community in Guyana formed by people who moved there from America. The second visual shows Congressman Leo Ryan who went to Jonestown shortly before the mass suicide to investigate if anybody is being held in the town against their will. He was shot dead as he was leaving Guyana by some cult members thus making him the first and thus far only U.S Congressman to die in the line of duty. The whole story is too convoluted and frankly too weird to recount here. Head to wikipedia for more details. Rajesh K, anon, Raghu and Manix got it. Well done.

Question - 291

Connect the two visuals.

Answer: The connect I was looking for was Toblerone chocolates. The anti-tank embankments in the first visual are called Toblerones (or more commonly, dragon's teeth) while the second visual shows the Alpine peak Matterhorn whose shape the chocolates are designed to resemble. Iam and Srivats got it. Well done.

Question - 290

Today's question is courtesy Manix. Connect the two images.

Answer: The first visual shows the impact craters when comet Shoemaker Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter back in 1994. Last weekend, a similar impact event happened which left a bruise the size of the Pacific ocean near Jupiter's south pole. This was first discovered by Anthony Wesley, an amateur astronomer in Australia. Iam, Mekie, Anshul and Rajesh got the second visual while the first one goes uncracked. Well done all.

Question - 289

Identify the city.

Answer: Duckburg in the state of Calisota (California + Minnesota). The tower with the dollar sign is that of Scrooge McDuck, the world's wealthiest duck. Raghu, Hari, Anirudh Patil, tsp, nice try, anshul, rajeev, Trevor Burnham and Iam got it. Well done.

Question - 288

The old man throwing the punch did so because he was so offended that the man in the dark suit questioned the authenticity of something he did 40 years ago and which he is most famous for. With due apologies to the poor visual quality, tell me who the people involved are and what the fight is about?

Answer: The old man is Buzz Aldrin who was confronted by the moon landing conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel. Sibrel repeatedly hassled Aldrin who finally had enough when Sibrel called him "a coward, a liar and a thief". Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Rajesh K, Hari, Iam, Schmetterling, Raghu, Hirak, Rajeev, Manix, nice try, Srivats and Mihir got it. Well done.

Question - 287

Where is this marker located? What is the significance of the number on it?

Answer: This is the end of the Trans-Siberian railway at Vladivostok. The number on the marker is the distance the trail travels from Moscow to Vladivostok. Srivats, Schmetterling, Hari, Iam, Renuka, Raghu, Vetti, Swapnaa, Adi, Rajesh and Anshul got it. Well done.

Question - 286

This is the zoology department at a very famous university. Why is the statue the way it is?

Answer: The statue is that of the poor zoologist Agassiz whose fate it is to be buried head first at the entrance to the department in Stanford University. His statue fell off the pedestal during the notorious 1906 San Francisco earthquake and it has been left as such as a memorial to the event. Vetti, Iam, Anand, Renuka, Srivats, anon, Schmetterling, Adi, Hirak and Rajesh got it. Well done.

Question - 285

Identify the woman in the picture.

Answer: This is Agatha Christie with her second husband, the renowned archaeologist Max Mallowan. She accompanied him on several expeditions and many of her novels such as Death on the Nile draw inspiration from these trips. Srivats, Raghu, Rajeev, Rajesh and Hirak got it. Well done.

Question - 284

This art piece is a reference to what?

Answer: This is a map of the London underground metro system (the tube) helpfully painted from a tube. The map is famous for being topologically rather than geographically accurate. Arvind, Hari, Swapnaa, Johnny Walker, Anand, anon, nice try, Rajesh K, mekie, Schmetterling, Vijay, Raghu, Srivats and Mihir got it while tsp came up with a wonderful guess. QM flicking away tears of joy at two consecutive days with more than 10 attempts. Well done all.

Question - 283

This cartoon is a reference to the introduction of which famous policy?

Answer: The New Deal by FDR that brought America out of the great depression. Iam, Hari, Schmetterling, Raghu, Vetti, Rajesh K, nice try, Vijay, Srivats and Samrat got it. Well done.

Question - 282

The sketch is from the diaries of a very famous person. Who is it and what is this sketch the very first example of?

Answer: The sketch is from the diaries of Charles Darwin and is the first example of an evolutionary tree or a "tree of life" as Darwin himself called it. Iam, Vetti, Srivats and Divya got it. Well done.

Question - 281

Early Sears catalogs contained a number of advertisements such as the one shown here as part of a marketing campaign for which fictional company? (all blanked words are the same).

Answer: The company is Acme from the roadrunner cartoons. The name supposedly stands for A company that makes everything. Rajesh, Raghu, Hirak, anon, nice try, Schmetterling, tsp, Divya and Srivats got it. Well done.

Question - 280

Who is the creator of this chart? The person in question developed a modified version of the pie chart (of which the shown visual is an example) and is the first female member to be elected to the Royal Statistical Society.

Answer: The chart was developed by Florence Nightingale and is known as the Nightingale rose diagram. The chart shows the casualties experienced by the British forces in the Crimean war. Florence Nightingale rose to fame for her services as a nurse during this war. Hari, Vijay, anon, Vetti, nice try, Anshul and Adi got it. Well done.

Question - 279

Which role is the character in the TV screen playing? Where is this screenshot taken from?

Answer: This is big brother from Apple's famous ad (directed by Ridley Scott) during the 1984 super bowl. The ad is widely regarded as one of the best of all times and is influenced by Orwell's classic 1984. Hari, Iam, Raghu, Rajeev, Hirak, Trevor Burnham, Renuka (who went for the equally correct 2004 ad which had an ipod digitally added to the hammer thrower) and Johnny Walker got it. Well done.

Question - 278

Connect the two paintings.

Answer: The paintings are "Liberty leading the people" by Eugene Delacroix and "Viva la vida" by Frida Kahlo. The connect is Coldplay's latest album Viva la vida whose album cover featured Delacroix's painting. Mekie, Hari, Raghu, Hirak, Iam, Rajeev, tsp, Rajesh and Swapnaa got it. Well done.

Question - 277

Artist's conception of what place that is currently under construction in Abu Dhabi?

Answer: The answer I had in mind was the Ferrai theme park that is now under construction (as signified by the distinctive red color of the roof). I have since learnt that the new F1 track in Abu Dhabi also is located in the same place and so either answer is acceptable. Vetti, Iam, Hari and Vijay got it. Well done.

Question - 276

The visual in the left is the cover of the book written by the woman on the right. A phrase that appears in the title of the book (which also summarizes the book's main thesis) is now often used to describe similar political events. Identify the author and the phrase.

Answer: The book shown is Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt who reported on Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker. Based on her observation that apart from a desire to improve his career, Eichmann showed no anti-semitism or psychological trauma, she posited in the book that the great evils in history (and the holocaust in particular) had their roots not in psychopaths but in "normal" people who accepted their actions as routine. She coined the phrase Banality of Evil to describe this notion and this phrase gets used quite a bit now in the mainstream media. Iam is the only one to get this. Bravo.

Question - 275

This massive structure has been in construction since 1882 and is not expected to be finished till 2026. Identify it and its architect.

Answer: This is the Sagrada familia church designed by the renowned Catalan architect Gaudi. When asked about the length of construction, Gaudi is said to have remarked "my client is in no hurry". Do check out the fantastic architectural details of the church through Google images. tsp, Hari, Raghu, Vetti, Iam, Rajesh, Krag and Johnny Walker got it. Well done.

Question - 274

The image shows a famous monument that biannually attracts even more crowds than usual. This picture shows one such day. What monument is this and what is the significance of this day?

Answer: This is the El Castillo in the ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico. On both equinoxes, the shadows resemble a crawling serpent, an illusion further heightened by a sculpture of a serpent head at the base. The serpent is a reference to the Mayan God Quetzalcoatl. Iam, Hari, Mekie, Rajesh K, Manix, Raghu and Rajesh got it. Well done.

Question - 273

Give me a phrase that connects all the images.

Answer: The visuals are (from the top anticlockwise) the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Bobby Thomson's walk-off home run that won the New York Giants the 1951 world series, Gene Sarazen's albatross in the 1935 Masters tournament, the Minute Man statue commemorating the battle at Old North Bridge in Concord, MA and Paul Caligiuri whose goal against Trinidad and Tobago propelled the US into the 1990 FIFA world cup. All these events have been described by the phrase "the shot heard around the world". Rajesh K and Raghu got it. Well done.

Question - 272

Identify the man.

Answer: August Dvorak who designed the Dvorak layout, an alternative to the standard QWERTY layout. Hari, Manix, nice try, Rajeev, Iam and Vetti got it. Well done.

Question - 271

The first visual shows a (now very small) religious group who are mainly known for their association with the tale depicted in the second visual. The third visual is also connected to the tale depicted in the second visual. Identify all visuals and connect.

Answer: The religious group is the Samaritans (now numbering less than 1000). The parable is that of the good Samaritan who helps an injured traveler. Most legal systems have a "good Samaritan" law which absolves those who choose to aid others who are injured or ill of any liabilities. In Seinfeld's finale, the four main cast members are arrested for violating the good Samaritan law by making fun of rather than helping a fat man getting robbed. Many of you made an alternate Seinfeld connection to an episode called the good Samaritan but the picture is from the finale. Hari, Avi, Mekie, Srivats, Raghu, nice try, Hirak and Rajeev got it. Well done.

Question - 270

Whose statue? Which not so common idiom is a literal description of the statue?

Answer: The statue is that of the ancient mariner from the famous Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In the poem, bad luck follows the mariner who kills an albatross and the rest of the crew force the mariner to wear the dead bird around his neck. This gave rise to the idiom albatross around the neck meaning an unwelcome burden. Hari, nice try, Schmetterling, Raghu, Srivats, Swapnaa and Adi got it. Well done.

Question - 269

Identify the blanked word in the cartoon on the left (this cartoon is the first instance when the word in question was used). The word is related to the committee whose typical meeting is shown in the top right. A group of famous people persecuted by the said committee are in the bottom right. Identify the committee and the group's nickname.

Answer: The cartoon gave rise to the word McCarthyism. The visual on the top right is the HUAC (House UnAmerican activities committee) which investigated suspected communists. Among the people investigated were some relatively well known Hollywood persona (shown in the bottom right) who were nicknamed the Hollywood ten. Though senator McCarthy wasn't directly involved in the activities of HUAC, the two phenomena were definitely interlinked. tsp, Mihir, Kr!sh, Iam, Hari, Raghu, Schmetterling, Vijay, nice try, Srivats, Rajeev, Mekie, Vetti and Swapnaa got it. Well done.

Question - 268

This is a very famous location that is now emblematic of an island. It even served as an emperor's private swimming pool once. Identify.

Answer: This is the blue grotto in Capri, Italy which once served as Emperor Tiberius' private swimming pool. Rajeev, Iam, Raghu, Hari, adityam, Vetti and Anshul got it. Well done.

Question - 267

Connect the key rings to the equation in the right.

Answer: The equation is the expression for Brun's constant which is the sum of reciprocals of twin primes (primes p such that p+2 is a prime as well). This constant is often studied in relation to the conjecture that there are infinitely many twin primes (for ex., irrationality of the constant would prove the conjecture). Thomas Nicely, a math professor, was using a cluster of computers to evaluate the constant when he noted some inconsistencies which he ultimately traced down to the Intel pentium chipset. Due to some missing values in a look up table, the chip was returning erroneous outputs for very few operations. Intel's handling of the crisis was heavily criticized leading to the recall of all processors using the chip. Andy Grove, then CEO of intel, made a few of these chips into keychains as a memento. Rajeev, nice try, Avi and adityam got it. Well done.

Question - 266

What is this the map of?

Answer: This is the layout of everyone's favorite childhood show Crystal Maze. Hari, Mihir, tsp, gas, Mekie, Raghu, Vetti, nice try, Avi, Hirak, Johnny Walker, Iam, Schmetterling, Srivats and Rajeev got it right. Well done.

Question - 265

Memorial for what (in)famous event? There are clues in the picture.

Answer: This memorial commemorates the zeppelin Hindenburg crash site. Hari, Iam, Srivats and tsp got it. Well done.

Question - 264

Addition of which two people to this list makes it exhaustive and what connects these men?

Answer: Agassi and Federer will complete the list of men who have won the career Grand Slam. The men in the visual are Don Budge, Fred Perry, Roy Emerson and Rod Laver. I wanted to post this question a couple of days back but didn't want to jinx Federer's chances in a Nadal-less French open. Mihir, Hari, Vetti, Rajesh K, nice try, Hirak, Srivats, anon, A new thought, Vijay and Arvind got it. Well done.

Question - 263

Who is the man caricatured in the top left?

Answer: This is a page out of the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy (the actual guide, the blanked word at the top is Galactica) and showing up as one of the publishers from the Sirius cybernetics corporation is none other than Douglas Adams himself. Iam is the only one to get it. Bravo.

Question - 262

Identify the "famous" musician whose lost works were "discovered" by the man in the right over a span of four decades earning him four Grammy awards.

Answer: The picture is that of a fictional musician P.D.Q. Bach (the initials standing for pretty damn quick), an invention of the musical satirist Peter Schickele. P.D.Q. Bach even has a fictional biography. Through him, Schickele has released albums parodying the conventions of classical music. Srivats and Trevor Burnham got it. Well done.

Question - 261

Identify the tree and its connection to the role portrayed by the actor in the second visual.

Answer: The tree is the Major Oak in Sherwood forest, Nottinghamshire, England under whose shade Robin Hood and his merry men often took shelter. The second visual shows Douglas Fairbanks playing the role of Robin Hood. Srivats, Hari, Raghu, nice try, Iam, Avi and Manix got it. Well done.