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.

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.