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.