Question - 624

This was recently auctioned off for more than $3 million dollars. What is it?

Answer: This is a panel from the window from behind which Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK. Siddarth Pai, Ameya, Matti Tapaninen, AJ, Raghu and Giantamoeba got it. Well done.

Question - 623

Today's question is courtesy Matti Tapaninen. Shown here is the start of what major event of the late 20th century?

Answer: The visual shows the British garrison in Falklands surrendering to the Argentinian forces thus starting the Falklands war. Ameya, Jaggi, Karthik and Siddarth Pai got it. Well done.

Question - 622

Hi all!!! This is Dinesh taking over for Raghu in his absence. Irregular updates and obscure trivia shall be the norm as always. Identify the blanked out portion in this airport shuttle.

Answer: This is the wiki-wiki shuttle bus that operates at the Honolulu airport in Hawaii. Wiki means quick in Hawaiian. The author of the first wiki, Ward Cunningham, was amused enough by the name to name his project after it. Wikipedia came much latter. Matti Tapaninen, Kapinjal Chowdhury, Kani, Jaggi, Krithi and Ajit got it. Well done.

Question - 621

A recreation (left) and a photograph (right) of the first few what of their kind?

Answer: These are the first few images transmitted on the television by John Logie Baird. Ameya, Iam, Divya Shankar, and Dinesh got it. Nicely done.

Question - 620

These plaster casts of the original discovery are a ghastly reminder of what natural disaster?

Answer: The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius leading to the destruction of Pompeii. Dniesh, matti tapaninen, Krithi, Iam, Sribharath, and rajeev got it. Nicely done.

Question - 619

The map on the left depicts an rating scale named after the person on the right. Identify.

Answer: The Sudanese telecom billionaire Mo Ibrahim (right)after whom the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (left) is named. Saket, Krithi, Divya Shankar, mekie, and Sribharath got it. Well done.

Question - 618

Connect. (Hint: The white arrows in the left image)

Answer: I was looking for Ghibli - the local name for the Sirocco wind in Libya (left picture), famously mentioned in the Oscar-winning English Patient (top right). It lends its name to the wonderful Studio Ghibli (Hayao Miyazaki et al.) which is famous for producing many animated features including Miyazaki's Totoro (featured on Studio Ghibli's logo). Only Anonymous got it.

Question - 617

This year's winner at what famous event?

Answer: The Sapporo snow festival. Jaggi and Krithi got it. Nicely done!

Question - 616

What is inscribed on this object?

Answer: The Code of Hammurabi. Saket, Iam, Manix, Royan, matti tapaninen, and Dinesh got it. Nicely done.

Question - 615

Connect through a term. The left-most person in the black-and-white picture is important.

Answer: The term is "bunga bunga" now popularized by the parties hosted by Silvio Berlusconi (top right). One of the earliest references to this term was in the Dreadnought hoax perpetuated on the British Admiralty by a team consisting of Virginia Woolf (left-most in the B/W pic and top left played by Nicole Kidman in The Hours). Sribharath, matti tapaninen, Abhishek, mekie, and Dinesh got it.

Question - 614

Identify and connect.

Answer: The character Bane (left) in the upcoming Christopher Nolan movie Dark Knight Rises will be portrayed by Tom Hardy (right). Ameya, Hari, matti tapaninen, cobra 2020 fan, Kate Spartan, and Iam.

Question - 613

What started this way?

Answer: The modern Miss Universe contest started out as the International Pageant of Pulchritude in Galveston, Texas in 1926. Ameya, matti tapaninen, Krithi, Dinesh, Saket, and Iam got it.

Question - 612

What does this map depict? (Note: "It" is measured on a 10-point scale)

Answer: The Democracy index, which measures the state of democracy in 167 countries. Deepanshu, mekie, and Saket got it. Well done!

Question - 611

Identify this historic structure.

Answer: Hadrian's wall, the Roman-era defense fortification in northern England. Ameya, Saket, mekie, Krithi, and Dinesh got it. Good job.

Question - 610

The world championships of which school-yard game?

Hint:

Answer: Conkers, "a game traditionally played by children in Britain, Ireland, and some former British colonies using the seeds of horse-chestnut trees." Only Anand got. Awesome!

Question - 609

Two different art forms dramatically depict what historical event?

Answer: The surrender of Vercingetorix, who tried to unite the Gauls against the Romans, to Julius Caesar. It is a central element in the Asterix comics plotline. Saket, Sameer Gauria, Mohan Phadnis, Dinesh, matti tapaninen, and Manix got it.

Question - 608

This is an illustration of which prevalent theory?

Answer: Hubbert peak theory or peak oil theory. Ameya, Sameer Gauria, KAMANASISH, Jamie, Sribharath, Saket, and Manix got it.

Question - 607

Identify and connect.

Answer: The connect is the Fountain of Youth. The map shows the 1513 voyage of the Ponce de Leon, who was famous for his quest for the fountain. The next installment of Pirates of the Caribbean (based on the book "On Stranger Tides" by Tim Powers) deals with a similar quest. Saket, Sribharath, matti tapaninen, Krithi, mekie, and Jamie got it. Good job.

Question - 606

Identify the non-uniformed participants in this infamous 1937 meeting.

Answer: Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson (in the news through the movie "The King's Speech") meeting Hitler in 1937. Saket, matti tapaninen, mekie, Krithi, Dinesh, and Kaushik got it. Well done.

Question - 605

What was this curious event?

Answer: Tulip mania. The figure charts the price of tulip bulb contracts showing the tulip bubble burst dramatically in February 1637 (as Dinesh pointed out, a history-of-the-day question courtesy Wikipedia). Ameya, Dinesh, and Kaushik got it. Great job.

Question - 604

What is this? (via: Manix)

Answer: Internet traffic from Egypt during the January revolution. Sameer Gauria, Shyaps, Saket, arvind, and Jaggi got it. Well done.

Question - 603

Connect (non-exhaustive).

Question - 602

Connect the woman (in B/W) to the two images on the left.

Question - 601

Identify this famous building.

Answer: The United States Bullion Depository, commonly called Fort Knox -- Google Maps link. Dinesh, Ameya, matti tapaninen, Divya Shankar, and Rajesh K got it. Nicely done.

Question - 600

What began this way?

Answer: DC comics. Manasi, Saket, Riskit got it. Dinky cracked the meta connect (DC=600). matti tapaninen and Ameya came close by identifying the protagonist of the first DC comic, Jack Woods.

Question - 599

Connect.

Answer: The US State of Ohio has special days named after the three people in the picture (clockwise): Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, and (oddly enough) the singer Shreya Ghoshal. Ameya, mekie (wrong singer), Dinesh, Kaushik, and Manasi got it. Nicely done - especially give the obscurity of this piece of trivia.

Question - 598

Identify and connect.

Question - 597

A map from the 1650's perpetuating what cartographic error (and its associated mythical nomenclature)?

Question - 596

Cricket question courtesy Anand. Connect the top two players (in B/W) to the one below (in color).

Question - 595

What does this map depict?

Question - 594

An illustration of what biblical concept?

Question - 593

Connect.

Question - 592

Connect.

Question - 591

What does this map depict?

Question - 590

Connect.

Answer: Tourette's syndrome. Only Divya Shankar got it. Bravo!

Question - 589

Before and after pictures of the first recipient of what? (This week's questions are courtesy KQA)

Answer: Leonard Thompson was the first recipient of an insulin injection. Only Dinesh and Divya Shankar got it. Nicely done.

Question - 588

What are they doing?

Answe: NORAD tracking Santa. Rajesh K, Dinesh, Iam, Manix, Hari, and mekie got it. Well done.

Question - 587

What is this interesting object?

Answer: The Rosetta stone. Divya Shanker, Anand, Manix, ReedArmOwl,v.chandrashekar, Anirudh Patil, Hari, and matti tapaninen got it.

Question - 586

What does this map depict? (courtesy: Manix)

Answer: The map depicts areas of high-levels of Chromium in tap water. Vetti alone got it right. Bravo!

Question - 585

What is the claim to fame of this piece of glacial erratic?

NOTE: Sorry about the erratic posting over the last week. I will be out of town from this weekend, so if anyone wants to take over during the Christmas break, please let Dinky or me know.

Answer: Plymouth rock, site of the arrival of the Mayflower Pilgrims in 1620.

Question - 584

Who is the guy in the middle upending the table?

Question - 583

"Map Tuesdays" are back by popular (read Iam) demand. What does this map depict? (courtesy: Manix)

Question - 582

What curious location for the starry symbology?

Question - 581

Fill in the blanks with a public phenomenon.

Answer: Percent of people in those country who paid a bribe . Dinesh, mekie, Jaggi, Krithi, and Vetti got it. Nicely done.

Question - 580

What is the significance of these color mappings? (courtesy: Dinky)

Answer: The cardinal directions (NESW and Center -- the columns in the color matrix) in Far-East cultures were associated with certain colors that were used to name various geographical features, e.g. Red Sea, Black Sea etc. Krithi, Dinesh, Manix, Divya Shankar, and mekie got it. Well done.

Question - 579

What does this map depict? (courtesy: Manix)

Answer: United States of Autocomplete. Google's autocomplete feature applied to the names of each state (as of Dec 3, 2010). AJ, Krithi, Dinesh, mekie, and jamie got it. Nicely cracked.

Question - 578

What does this map depict? (courtesy: Manix)

Answer: The Missouri Compromise (and its extensions) between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions that prohibiting slavery in western territories north of the 36°30' parallel (green line) except in the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri (left blank). Krithi, mekie, Iam, jamie got it. Well done.

Question - 577

What amazing discovery?

Answer: The sensational, and now disputed, discovery of microbes in Mono Lake, CA, that switched Phosphorus for Arsenic in their DNA. matti tapaninen, NJ, Jaggi, Dhruv, AJ, mekie, IamAlwaysDemethylated, Dinesh, Mihir, Divya Shankar, and Hari got it. Nicely done.

Question - 576

What is the significance of the highlighted spot?

Answer: The spot marks the location on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama on DEcember 1, 1955, where Rosa Parks sat when she was asked to move to the back of the bus. Dinesh, illiteratepoet, matti tapaninen, Divya Shankar, and Manix got it. Well done.