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Saturday, February 9, 2013

Question set 8

Continuing the Q & A

1) Supposed to have been named after 'Tyros', the Greek word for milk, which national capital has an international airport, named after Mother Teressa?



Tirana (Capital of Albania)



2) The geopolitically significant 38th parallel passes through which geographical structure that features in Hollywood films 'Die another day' and 'Salt'?



Bridge of no return (The bridge on millitary demarcation between North and South Korea).



3) Possible origins of this sport term is from its earlier use in playing cards from the phrase "playing the game for the obsession of playing", meaning "nothing in the way of stakes".
Another possible origin is form the french word for 'egg'.
What term used in a particular sport?




'Love' as used in Tennis for '0'.



4) Which Roman goddess, depicted with three heads, often called Diana of the Crossroads, is considered to be the goddess of witchcraft, and survives in the English language as a 6-lettered word?



Trivia.



5) Name this German scientist:



Heinrich Barkhausen



6) Widely used in flavouring Asian cookery, which fruit takes its English name from the Arabic phrase for 'A date of the Hindus'.



Tamarind (from Tamar-u-hindu)



7) In September 2012, Stephen King announced that in Setember 2013, a book titled 'Doctor Sleep' will take up the story of a middle-aged Dan Torrance, a man who has "been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father's legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence".
Of which immensely popular 1977 thriller novel is this a sequel?



The Shining



8) Which comic character created by Lee Falk has an uncanny resemblance to Lee Falk himself, especially the characterestic short moustache?



Mandrake the Magician



9) The name of this African town is used in English language as a metophor for a 'Mysterious and faraway place'.
In January 2013, this town flashed into international news when the town was recalimed back from Islamist millitants by 1000 strong French forces. Which town?



Timbuktu.



10) "राष्ट्रीय समता दिवस ", the National Equality day is celebrated in India on April 5 to commomemorate the birth anniversary of which Nationalist leader?



Babu Jagjivan Ram



11) When a company listed on NYSE is involved on bankruptcy proceedings, the Securities and Exchange Comission (SEC) modifies the stock ticker symbol of the company slightly. What is this modification?



Letter Q is appened to the stock ticker of the company.



12) Continuing its trend of using the samll lettered 'i' in product nomenclature, in June 2010, Apple Inc renamed their operating system called iPhone OS to 'iOS'. However, this name was used by another company for almost two decades for an equally popular product and to avoid any potential legal issues, Apple licensed this brand name from the company. Which company?



Cisco.



13) Which clsssical form of Sufi poetry is named after the Arabic word for 'Group'?



Kafi.



14) The name of Chapter 11 (अध्याय 11) of the Bhagvatgita is the cause of much debate recently. What is the name of this chapter?



Vishwaroop darshan yoga (विश्वरूप दर्शन योग), the inspiration of Kamal Hasan's much-in-news movie.



15) The country Eritrea in the horn of Africa was part of which country, before its independence in 1991?



Ethiopia.



16) In October 2012, which country entered the Guinness Book of World records for the most number of people singing a national anthem simultaneously, surpassing the earlier record held by India?



Pakistan.



17) Name the West Indies cricketer who died in a car accident when Sir Gary Sobers was driving the car.



Collie Smith.



18) In Mathematics, the prime numbers of the form (2^p - 1) are called _______ Prime numbers, named after a French monk who studied such numbers.
Such prime numbers are very rare and it takes intensive computational power to determine whether such numberis actually prime.
In January 2013, the largest known prime number of such form was discovered. FITB.






19) Which color is named after the Arabic word for 'dust'?



Khaki, which comes from Khakh, the Arabic word for dust.



20) The name of this historically significant bay in Cuba is "Bahía de Cochinos" in Spanish. Its popular Eglish name comes from the Spanish word "Cochinos", which is actually a reference to the Cuban Triggerfish, but is also used to refer to another animal. What is the popular English name?



Bay of Pigs.