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Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:51 pm
The same one rule as ever: no internet searches. Hints are available on request.
1. The picture below is described as the best statistical graph ever drawn.
Created by French civil engineer Charles Joseph Minard, it depicts relative locations and distances, temperatures, geographical
features, the passage of time and number of people. What is the subject matter of this picture? In which year(s) did the events it depicts take place?
2. This famous politician failed the University of Oxford entrance examination with a particularly bad performance in Latin. It is rumored that tuberculosis was the factor behind the poor health this person suffered throughout early life. Once antibiotics became available widely, there came a dramatic improvement in health and greater involvement in politics. A powerful kingmaker of the day who is no longer widely remembered picked this politician to lead their party and country, primarily because of the latter’s image as a quiet and pliable person who could be controlled by the party’s leadership. Name the politician and the kingmaker.
3. Mars Climate Orbiter was a 338 kg robotic space probe launched by NASA in December 1998 to orbit Mars, observe its climate, and act as a communications relay in NASA’s program to survey the Martian surface.
The $328 million mission failed when the probe burned up in the Martian atmosphere. Subsequent investigations revealed that Lockheed Martin, which built the probe for NASA, was to blame. Lockheed Martin’s programmers had made a fatal error in the flight system software. What was the error?
4. This national flag was formed by combining three separate national flags, of countries that fought one another bitterly during the Middle Ages. The three flags that got smashed together all contained various crosses on them, dedicated to their national patron saints: George, Andrew and Patrick. Which country's flag is it, and what is it called?
5. The name of this princely state means “old fort.” It was among the few princely states in British India that had their own coastlines. The ancient temple of Somnath was located within its borders. Its last Dewan (chief minister of the princely ruler) was the grandfather of Benazir Bhutto and father of Zulfiqar Bhutto. The princely state was the birthplace of Parveen Babi. Name this princely state that was the only part of India that ever acceded to Pakistan.
6. She is considered the first notable woman in western mathematics. As a Neoplatonist, she headed up the Platonist school at Alexandria and taught mathematics, philosophy and astronomy. Her brutal murder at the hands of a Christian mob in the 5th century CE is considered by some scholars to mark the end of classical antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. She was the daughter of the last head of the legendary Library of Alexandria. Name this mathematician who was the victim of the first documented witch-hunt.
7. Article 352 of the Constitution of India allows the president to proclaim a state of emergency when the security of India is threatened by war or internal armed rebellion. The government of India used this article to declare an internal state of emergency once in its history, between 1975 and 1977. How many times did the government of India declare an external emergency?
8. The town of Iznik in modern Turkey is located in the western province of Bursa. It is a popular tourist attraction because of its impressive, ancient city walls and fortifications. Today Iznik is most famous for its pottery, with tiles produced at Iznik used in famous monuments like the Topkapi palace and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
However the most important historical contribution of Iznik was neither pottery nor defensive architecture. Back in the day, the city had a Greek name. It hosted the first-ever Christian ecumenical council which adopted a creed that is now shared by most Christian denominations, and established a process for deciding which gospels would be part of the official canon. What was the Greek name of Iznik?
9. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the SS during the Holocaust, this man’s responsibility was the complex logistics of the mass deportation of Jews across Nazi-occupied lands to concentration camps in eastern Europe. At the end of the war, he fled to Argentina using fraudulent Red Cross papers. In Argentina, he worked for Mercedes-Benz under a false identity until 1960. In an audacious operation in 1960, Mossad agents kidnapped him, drugged him to make him appear drunk, and dressed him as a flight attendant to fly him on a commercial flight from Buenos Aires to Senegal. After reaching Israel, he was tried for crimes against humanity, convicted, and hanged. Name this Nazi war criminal.
10. The worst defeat in the history of the English Royal Navy was inflicted on it at the Battle of the Medway in 1667. The main naval base of Chatham in southeastern England was attacked by a foreign navy. The attackers captured the town of Sheerness, burned three capital ships and ten other naval vessels, and in the biggest blow, towed away the HMS Unity and the HMS Royal Charles, the flagship of the Royal Navy. The success of this naval raid led England to quickly sue for peace, giving the foreign power favorable terms. Two hundred years later, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about this battle with the refrain: “And this the ____ men know!” the blank being the victors of that battle. Name the country that inflicted this spectacular defeat on England.
1. The picture below is described as the best statistical graph ever drawn.
Created by French civil engineer Charles Joseph Minard, it depicts relative locations and distances, temperatures, geographical
features, the passage of time and number of people. What is the subject matter of this picture? In which year(s) did the events it depicts take place?
2. This famous politician failed the University of Oxford entrance examination with a particularly bad performance in Latin. It is rumored that tuberculosis was the factor behind the poor health this person suffered throughout early life. Once antibiotics became available widely, there came a dramatic improvement in health and greater involvement in politics. A powerful kingmaker of the day who is no longer widely remembered picked this politician to lead their party and country, primarily because of the latter’s image as a quiet and pliable person who could be controlled by the party’s leadership. Name the politician and the kingmaker.
3. Mars Climate Orbiter was a 338 kg robotic space probe launched by NASA in December 1998 to orbit Mars, observe its climate, and act as a communications relay in NASA’s program to survey the Martian surface.
The $328 million mission failed when the probe burned up in the Martian atmosphere. Subsequent investigations revealed that Lockheed Martin, which built the probe for NASA, was to blame. Lockheed Martin’s programmers had made a fatal error in the flight system software. What was the error?
4. This national flag was formed by combining three separate national flags, of countries that fought one another bitterly during the Middle Ages. The three flags that got smashed together all contained various crosses on them, dedicated to their national patron saints: George, Andrew and Patrick. Which country's flag is it, and what is it called?
5. The name of this princely state means “old fort.” It was among the few princely states in British India that had their own coastlines. The ancient temple of Somnath was located within its borders. Its last Dewan (chief minister of the princely ruler) was the grandfather of Benazir Bhutto and father of Zulfiqar Bhutto. The princely state was the birthplace of Parveen Babi. Name this princely state that was the only part of India that ever acceded to Pakistan.
6. She is considered the first notable woman in western mathematics. As a Neoplatonist, she headed up the Platonist school at Alexandria and taught mathematics, philosophy and astronomy. Her brutal murder at the hands of a Christian mob in the 5th century CE is considered by some scholars to mark the end of classical antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. She was the daughter of the last head of the legendary Library of Alexandria. Name this mathematician who was the victim of the first documented witch-hunt.
7. Article 352 of the Constitution of India allows the president to proclaim a state of emergency when the security of India is threatened by war or internal armed rebellion. The government of India used this article to declare an internal state of emergency once in its history, between 1975 and 1977. How many times did the government of India declare an external emergency?
8. The town of Iznik in modern Turkey is located in the western province of Bursa. It is a popular tourist attraction because of its impressive, ancient city walls and fortifications. Today Iznik is most famous for its pottery, with tiles produced at Iznik used in famous monuments like the Topkapi palace and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
However the most important historical contribution of Iznik was neither pottery nor defensive architecture. Back in the day, the city had a Greek name. It hosted the first-ever Christian ecumenical council which adopted a creed that is now shared by most Christian denominations, and established a process for deciding which gospels would be part of the official canon. What was the Greek name of Iznik?
9. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the SS during the Holocaust, this man’s responsibility was the complex logistics of the mass deportation of Jews across Nazi-occupied lands to concentration camps in eastern Europe. At the end of the war, he fled to Argentina using fraudulent Red Cross papers. In Argentina, he worked for Mercedes-Benz under a false identity until 1960. In an audacious operation in 1960, Mossad agents kidnapped him, drugged him to make him appear drunk, and dressed him as a flight attendant to fly him on a commercial flight from Buenos Aires to Senegal. After reaching Israel, he was tried for crimes against humanity, convicted, and hanged. Name this Nazi war criminal.
10. The worst defeat in the history of the English Royal Navy was inflicted on it at the Battle of the Medway in 1667. The main naval base of Chatham in southeastern England was attacked by a foreign navy. The attackers captured the town of Sheerness, burned three capital ships and ten other naval vessels, and in the biggest blow, towed away the HMS Unity and the HMS Royal Charles, the flagship of the Royal Navy. The success of this naval raid led England to quickly sue for peace, giving the foreign power favorable terms. Two hundred years later, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about this battle with the refrain: “And this the ____ men know!” the blank being the victors of that battle. Name the country that inflicted this spectacular defeat on England.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by Kris Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:32 pm
charvaka wrote:The same one rule as ever: no internet searches. Hints are available on request.
2. This famous politician failed the University of Oxford entrance examination with a particularly bad performance in Latin. It is rumored that tuberculosis was the factor behind the poor health this person suffered throughout early life. Once antibiotics became available widely, there came a dramatic improvement in health and greater involvement in politics. A powerful kingmaker of the day who is no longer widely remembered picked this politician to lead their party and country, primarily because of the latter’s image as a quiet and pliable person who could be controlled by the party’s leadership. Name the politician and the kingmaker.
>>>Indira Gandhi, Kamaraja Nadar
4. This national flag was formed by combining three separate national flags, of countries that fought one another bitterly during the Middle Ages. The three flags that got smashed together all contained various crosses on them, dedicated to their national patron saints: George, Andrew and Patrick. Which country's flag is it, and what is it called?
>>>U.K, Union Jack
7. Article 352 of the Constitution of India allows the president to proclaim a state of emergency when the security of India is threatened by war or internal armed rebellion. The government of India used this article to declare an internal state of emergency once in its history, between 1975 and 1977. How many times did the government of India declare an external emergency?
>>>>Once
9. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the SS during the Holocaust, this man’s responsibility was the complex logistics of the mass deportation of Jews across Nazi-occupied lands to concentration camps in eastern Europe. At the end of the war, he fled to Argentina using fraudulent Red Cross papers. In Argentina, he worked for Mercedes-Benz under a false identity until 1960. In an audacious operation in 1960, Mossad agents kidnapped him, drugged him to make him appear drunk, and dressed him as a flight attendant to fly him on a commercial flight from Buenos Aires to Senegal. After reaching Israel, he was tried for crimes against humanity, convicted, and hanged. Name this Nazi war criminal.
>>>>Adolf Eichmann
10. The worst defeat in the history of the English Royal Navy was inflicted on it at the Battle of the Medway in 1667. The main naval base of Chatham in southeastern England was attacked by a foreign navy. The attackers captured the town of Sheerness, burned three capital ships and ten other naval vessels, and in the biggest blow, towed away the HMS Unity and the HMS Royal Charles, the flagship of the Royal Navy. The success of this naval raid led England to quickly sue for peace, giving the foreign power favorable terms. Two hundred years later, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about this battle with the refrain: “And this the ____ men know!” the blank being the victors of that battle. Name the country that inflicted this spectacular defeat on England.
>>>>Spain
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by Jeremiah Mburuburu Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:33 pm
3. . Mars Climate Orbiter... lockhheed martin's programming ah... er... aerospace engineers had failed to include a factor to correctly convert meters to feet or vice versa in the software that controlled the module's descent to the martian surface. Fail!
4. This national flag... that of the u.k.; the union jack.
6. She is considered the first notable woman in western mathematics... hypatia.
7. How many times did the government of India declare an external emergency? zero.
9. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the SS during the Holocaust... adolf eichman.
4. This national flag... that of the u.k.; the union jack.
6. She is considered the first notable woman in western mathematics... hypatia.
7. How many times did the government of India declare an external emergency? zero.
9. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the SS during the Holocaust... adolf eichman.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by artood2 Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:07 pm
Kris wrote:5 - Sialkot?
I think that is Junagadh
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by Guest Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:14 pm
of course artood2. i missed this quiz. i've been skipping trivia ever since blabberwock started posting them but did not realize this one was started by charvaka.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by Guest Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:19 pm
charvaka wrote:7. Article 352 of the Constitution of India allows the president to proclaim a state of emergency when the security of India is threatened by war or internal armed rebellion. The government of India used this article to declare an internal state of emergency once in its history, between 1975 and 1977. How many times did the government of India declare an external emergency?
1. sino-indian war.
Guest- Guest
Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by artood2 Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:19 pm
Huzefa Kapasi wrote:of course artood2. i missed this quiz. i've been skipping trivia ever since blabberwock started posting them but did not realize this one was started by charvaka.
haha. BW's last trivia seemed like a victory lap over the search algorithms of the world.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by artood2 Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:19 pm
Huzefa Kapasi wrote:charvaka wrote:7. Article 352 of the Constitution of India allows the president to proclaim a state of emergency when the security of India is threatened by war or internal armed rebellion. The government of India used this article to declare an internal state of emergency once in its history, between 1975 and 1977. How many times did the government of India declare an external emergency?
I think external emergency was applied twice during the wars.
1. sino-indian war.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by Guest Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:22 pm
artood2 wrote:haha. BW's last trivia seemed like a victory lap over the search algorithms of the world.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by indophile Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:23 pm
# 5 --- Junagadh
# 9 --- Eichman
# 9 --- Eichman
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:54 pm
Don't want to comment on the answers themselves just yet, but I have to say this one had me laughing hard enough to prompt my colleague to ask me what was so funny.Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:3. . Mars Climate Orbiter... lockhheed martin's programming ah... er... aerospace engineers had failed to include a factor to correctly convert meters to feet or vice versa in the software that controlled the module's descent to the martian surface. Fail!
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by Mosquito Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:11 pm
1. Napolean's march. Have the rest all been answered?
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:57 pm
No, will post an update soon.PseudoIntellectual wrote:Have the rest all been answered?
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:59 pm
Correct.Kris wrote:2. Indira Gandhi, Kamaraja Nadar
Correct.Kris wrote:4. U.K, Union Jack
No.Kris wrote:7. Once
Correct.Kris wrote:9. Adolf Eichmann
No.Kris wrote:10. Spain
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:01 pm
Close enough, although not exactly right. They failed to convert thrust from metric to US units.Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:3. . Mars Climate Orbiter... lockhheed martin's programming ah... er... aerospace engineers had failed to include a factor to correctly convert meters to feet or vice versa in the software that controlled the module's descent to the martian surface. Fail!
Correct.Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:4. This national flag... that of the u.k.; the union jack.
Correct.Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:6. She is considered the first notable woman in western mathematics... hypatia.
No.Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:7. How many times did the government of India declare an external emergency? zero.
Correct.Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:9. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the SS during the Holocaust... adolf eichman.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:02 pm
No.Kris wrote:#8 -Gnostos? wild guess
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:02 pm
No.Kris wrote:35 - Sialkot?
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:02 pm
Correct.artood2 wrote:Kris wrote:5 - Sialkot?
I think that is Junagadh
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:03 pm
Both are correct.indophile wrote:# 5 --- Junagadh
# 9 --- Eichman
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:03 pm
Napoleon's march is correct. March to where? And when did it take place?PseudoIntellectual wrote:1. Napolean's march.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:05 pm
This was indeed one of the occasions when the president of India proclaimed an external emergency.Huzefa Kapasi wrote:charvaka wrote:7. Article 352 of the Constitution of India allows the president to proclaim a state of emergency when the security of India is threatened by war or internal armed rebellion. The government of India used this article to declare an internal state of emergency once in its history, between 1975 and 1977. How many times did the government of India declare an external emergency?
1. sino-indian war.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by artood2 Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:09 pm
charvaka wrote:Close enough, although not exactly right. They failed to convert thrust from metric to US units.Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:3. . Mars Climate Orbiter... lockhheed martin's programming ah... er... aerospace engineers had failed to include a factor to correctly convert meters to feet or vice versa in the software that controlled the module's descent to the martian surface. Fail!
it was unit of force that was messed up (Newton vs lbf).
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by Mosquito Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:36 pm
charvaka wrote:Napoleon's march is correct. March to where? And when did it take place?PseudoIntellectual wrote:1. Napolean's march.
Russia 1812-13?
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:49 pm
Correct.PseudoIntellectual wrote:charvaka wrote:Napoleon's march is correct. March to where? And when did it take place?PseudoIntellectual wrote:1. Napolean's march.
Russia 1812-13?
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:49 pm
Correct.artood2 wrote:charvaka wrote:Close enough, although not exactly right. They failed to convert thrust from metric to US units.Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:3. . Mars Climate Orbiter... lockhheed martin's programming ah... er... aerospace engineers had failed to include a factor to correctly convert meters to feet or vice versa in the software that controlled the module's descent to the martian surface. Fail!
it was unit of force that was messed up (Newton vs lbf).
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by Mosquito Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:50 pm
External emergency- the other was 1971 war?
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:50 pm
Correct.PseudoIntellectual wrote:External emergency- the other was 1971 war?
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by Mosquito Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:51 pm
charvaka wrote:Correct.PseudoIntellectual wrote:External emergency- the other was 1971 war?
My suspicion is 1947 is also very likely.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:52 pm
The constitution didn't exist back then -- otherwise they probably would have invoked it.PseudoIntellectual wrote:charvaka wrote:Correct.PseudoIntellectual wrote:External emergency- the other was 1971 war?
My suspicion is 1947 is also very likely.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:18 pm
Here is an update with hints.
8. The town of Iznik in modern Turkey is located in the western province of Bursa. It is a popular tourist attraction because of its impressive, ancient city walls and fortifications. Today Iznik is most famous for its pottery, with tiles produced at Iznik used in famous monuments like the Topkapi palace and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
However the most important historical contribution of Iznik was neither pottery nor defensive architecture. Back in the day, the city had a Greek name. It hosted the first-ever Christian ecumenical council which adopted a creed that is now shared by most Christian denominations, and established a process for deciding which gospels would be part of the official canon. What was the Greek name of Iznik?
Hint: The Turkish language has a thing for i- prefixes, which northindians have picked up (e.g. iskool for school). This applies mostly for words that begin with an s sound (e.g. the ancient Greek city of Smyrna became the modern Turkish city of Izmir), but in the case of Iznik, the Greek name did not begin with an s sound.
10. The worst defeat in the history of the English Royal Navy was inflicted on it at the Battle of the Medway in 1667. The main naval base of Chatham in southeastern England was attacked by a foreign navy. The attackers captured the town of Sheerness, burned three capital ships and ten other naval vessels, and in the biggest blow, towed away the HMS Unity and the HMS Royal Charles, the flagship of the Royal Navy. The success of this naval raid led England to quickly sue for peace, giving the foreign power favorable terms. Two hundred years later, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about this battle with the refrain: “And this the ____ men know!” the blank being the victors of that battle. Name the country that inflicted this spectacular defeat on England.
Hint: It was not Spain -- the Spanish Armada was defeated. Less than a century before this attack, though, this country was part of the Spanish Empire.
8. The town of Iznik in modern Turkey is located in the western province of Bursa. It is a popular tourist attraction because of its impressive, ancient city walls and fortifications. Today Iznik is most famous for its pottery, with tiles produced at Iznik used in famous monuments like the Topkapi palace and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
However the most important historical contribution of Iznik was neither pottery nor defensive architecture. Back in the day, the city had a Greek name. It hosted the first-ever Christian ecumenical council which adopted a creed that is now shared by most Christian denominations, and established a process for deciding which gospels would be part of the official canon. What was the Greek name of Iznik?
Hint: The Turkish language has a thing for i- prefixes, which northindians have picked up (e.g. iskool for school). This applies mostly for words that begin with an s sound (e.g. the ancient Greek city of Smyrna became the modern Turkish city of Izmir), but in the case of Iznik, the Greek name did not begin with an s sound.
10. The worst defeat in the history of the English Royal Navy was inflicted on it at the Battle of the Medway in 1667. The main naval base of Chatham in southeastern England was attacked by a foreign navy. The attackers captured the town of Sheerness, burned three capital ships and ten other naval vessels, and in the biggest blow, towed away the HMS Unity and the HMS Royal Charles, the flagship of the Royal Navy. The success of this naval raid led England to quickly sue for peace, giving the foreign power favorable terms. Two hundred years later, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about this battle with the refrain: “And this the ____ men know!” the blank being the victors of that battle. Name the country that inflicted this spectacular defeat on England.
Hint: It was not Spain -- the Spanish Armada was defeated. Less than a century before this attack, though, this country was part of the Spanish Empire.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by indophile Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:40 pm
#3 - a comma was missing in the FORTRAN code?
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:43 pm
No, one of the modules of the code spat out thrust in SI units (N) while another module took thrust inputs in US units (lb-f). They forgot to convert the numbers correctly.indophile wrote:#3 - a comma was missing in the FORTRAN code?
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by Guest Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:06 pm
artood2 wrote:Huzefa Kapasi wrote:of course artood2. i missed this quiz. i've been skipping trivia ever since blabberwock started posting them but did not realize this one was started by charvaka.
haha. BW's last trivia seemed like a victory lap over the search algorithms of the world.
R2 , you mocking snob! For your information, ALL the questions from that set were answered within a few hours.
HK, be nice.
PI, you may attempt all the questions without checking what's been answered.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by artood2 Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:25 pm
blabberwock wrote:artood2 wrote:Huzefa Kapasi wrote:of course artood2. i missed this quiz. i've been skipping trivia ever since blabberwock started posting them but did not realize this one was started by charvaka.
haha. BW's last trivia seemed like a victory lap over the search algorithms of the world.
R2 , you mocking snob! For your information, ALL the questions from that set were answered within a few hours.
HK, be nice.
PI, you may attempt all the questions without checking what's been answered.
I was just admiring your success at creating google-proof trivias.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by Kris Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:57 pm
#8- Nicosia? Don't think this is it, unless this was an old name for the place.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:45 pm
Correct.Kris wrote:#10 - Dutch?
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:50 pm
Not quite. Now I wonder whether Nicosia was named after this town.Kris wrote:#8- Nicosia? Don't think this is it, unless this was an old name for the place.
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Re: Wednesday Trivia #18: Mar 21, 2012
by charvaka Sun Mar 25, 2012 3:36 am
Here are the answers.
1. The picture below is described as the best statistical graph ever drawn.
Created by French civil engineer Charles Joseph Minard, it depicts relative locations and distances, temperatures, geographical
features, the passage of time and number of people. What is the subject matter of this picture? In which year(s) did the events it depicts take place?
Answer: The picture depicts Napoleon's March to Moscow in 1812-'13. It overlays on a to-scale map of western Russia (from the then Polish border in the west to Moscow in the east) the movement of Napoleon's troops. The width of the band indicates number of people. The map clearly shows the enormous death toll suffered by the campaign at the hands of the Russian winter.
2. This famous politician failed the University of Oxford entrance examination with a particularly bad performance in Latin. It is rumored that tuberculosis was the factor behind the poor health this person suffered throughout early life. Once antibiotics became available widely, there came a dramatic improvement in health and greater involvement in politics. A powerful kingmaker of the day who is no longer widely remembered picked this politician to lead their party and country, primarily because of the latter’s image as a quiet and pliable person who could be controlled by the party’s leadership. Name the politician and the kingmaker.
Answer: Indira Gandhi (who was called goongi guDiya by Ram Manohar Lohia) was the politician and K. Kamaraj was the kingmaker who was the Congress president when Lal Bahadur Shastri died.
3. Mars Climate Orbiter was a 338 kg robotic space probe launched by NASA in December 1998 to orbit Mars, observe its climate, and act as a communications relay in NASA’s program to survey the Martian surface.
The $328 million mission failed when the probe burned up in the Martian atmosphere. Subsequent investigations revealed that Lockheed Martin, which built the probe for NASA, was to blame. Lockheed Martin’s programmers had made a fatal error in the flight system software. What was the error?
Answer: A botched conversion from SI to American units.
4. This national flag was formed by combining three separate national flags, of countries that fought one another bitterly during the Middle Ages. The three flags that got smashed together all contained various crosses on them, dedicated to their national patron saints: George, Andrew and Patrick. Which country's flag is it, and what is it called?
Answer: United Kingdom, the Union Jack. The flags of England, Scotland and Ireland were combined to create this flag. When England and Scotland play competitive sports, they still use their old flags instead of the Union Jack.
+ 
= 
+ 
= 
5. The name of this princely state means “old fort.” It was among the few princely states in British India that had their own coastlines. The ancient temple of Somnath was located within its borders. Its last Dewan (chief minister of the princely ruler) was the grandfather of Benazir Bhutto and father of Zulfiqar Bhutto. The princely state was the birthplace of Parveen Babi. Name this princely state that was the only part of India that ever acceded to Pakistan.
Answer: Junagadh.
6. She is considered the first notable woman in western mathematics. As a Neoplatonist, she headed up the Platonist school at Alexandria and taught mathematics, philosophy and astronomy. Her brutal murder at the hands of a Christian mob in the 5th century CE is considered by some scholars to mark the end of classical antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. She was the daughter of the last head of the legendary Library of Alexandria. Name this mathematician who was the victim of the first documented witch-hunt.
Answer: Hypatia of Alexandria.
7. Article 352 of the Constitution of India allows the president to proclaim a state of emergency when the security of India is threatened by war or internal armed rebellion. The government of India used this article to declare an internal state of emergency once in its history, between 1975 and 1977. How many times did the government of India declare an external emergency?
Answer: Twice, during the 1962 war with China and the 1971 war with Pakistan.
8. The town of Iznik in modern Turkey is located in the western province of Bursa. It is a popular tourist attraction because of its impressive, ancient city walls and fortifications. Today Iznik is most famous for its pottery, with tiles produced at Iznik used in famous monuments like the Topkapi palace and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
However the most important historical contribution of Iznik was neither pottery nor defensive architecture. Back in the day, the city had a Greek name. It hosted the first-ever Christian ecumenical council which adopted a creed that is now shared by most Christian denominations, and established a process for deciding which gospels would be part of the official canon. What was the Greek name of Iznik?
Answer: Nicaea. The first ecumenical council of Nicaea was where the Nicene Creed was developed.
9. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the SS during the Holocaust, this man’s responsibility was the complex logistics of the mass deportation of Jews across Nazi-occupied lands to concentration camps in eastern Europe. At the end of the war, he fled to Argentina using fraudulent Red Cross papers. In Argentina, he worked for Mercedes-Benz under a false identity until 1960. In an audacious operation in 1960, Mossad agents kidnapped him, drugged him to make him appear drunk, and dressed him as a flight attendant to fly him on a commercial flight from Buenos Aires to Senegal. After reaching Israel, he was tried for crimes against humanity, convicted, and hanged. Name this Nazi war criminal.
Answer: Adolf Eichmann.
10. The worst defeat in the history of the English Royal Navy was inflicted on it at the Battle of the Medway in 1667. The main naval base of Chatham in southeastern England was attacked by a foreign navy. The attackers captured the town of Sheerness, burned three capital ships and ten other naval vessels, and in the biggest blow, towed away the HMS Unity and the HMS Royal Charles, the flagship of the Royal Navy. The success of this naval raid led England to quickly sue for peace, giving the foreign power favorable terms. Two hundred years later, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about this battle with the refrain: “And this the ____ men know!” the blank being the victors of that battle. Name the country that inflicted this spectacular defeat on England.
Answer: The Netherlands. The refrain of Kipling's poem went: "And this the Dutchmen know!"
1. The picture below is described as the best statistical graph ever drawn.
Created by French civil engineer Charles Joseph Minard, it depicts relative locations and distances, temperatures, geographical
features, the passage of time and number of people. What is the subject matter of this picture? In which year(s) did the events it depicts take place?
Answer: The picture depicts Napoleon's March to Moscow in 1812-'13. It overlays on a to-scale map of western Russia (from the then Polish border in the west to Moscow in the east) the movement of Napoleon's troops. The width of the band indicates number of people. The map clearly shows the enormous death toll suffered by the campaign at the hands of the Russian winter.
2. This famous politician failed the University of Oxford entrance examination with a particularly bad performance in Latin. It is rumored that tuberculosis was the factor behind the poor health this person suffered throughout early life. Once antibiotics became available widely, there came a dramatic improvement in health and greater involvement in politics. A powerful kingmaker of the day who is no longer widely remembered picked this politician to lead their party and country, primarily because of the latter’s image as a quiet and pliable person who could be controlled by the party’s leadership. Name the politician and the kingmaker.
Answer: Indira Gandhi (who was called goongi guDiya by Ram Manohar Lohia) was the politician and K. Kamaraj was the kingmaker who was the Congress president when Lal Bahadur Shastri died.
3. Mars Climate Orbiter was a 338 kg robotic space probe launched by NASA in December 1998 to orbit Mars, observe its climate, and act as a communications relay in NASA’s program to survey the Martian surface.
The $328 million mission failed when the probe burned up in the Martian atmosphere. Subsequent investigations revealed that Lockheed Martin, which built the probe for NASA, was to blame. Lockheed Martin’s programmers had made a fatal error in the flight system software. What was the error?
Answer: A botched conversion from SI to American units.
4. This national flag was formed by combining three separate national flags, of countries that fought one another bitterly during the Middle Ages. The three flags that got smashed together all contained various crosses on them, dedicated to their national patron saints: George, Andrew and Patrick. Which country's flag is it, and what is it called?
Answer: United Kingdom, the Union Jack. The flags of England, Scotland and Ireland were combined to create this flag. When England and Scotland play competitive sports, they still use their old flags instead of the Union Jack.
+ = + = 5. The name of this princely state means “old fort.” It was among the few princely states in British India that had their own coastlines. The ancient temple of Somnath was located within its borders. Its last Dewan (chief minister of the princely ruler) was the grandfather of Benazir Bhutto and father of Zulfiqar Bhutto. The princely state was the birthplace of Parveen Babi. Name this princely state that was the only part of India that ever acceded to Pakistan.
Answer: Junagadh.
6. She is considered the first notable woman in western mathematics. As a Neoplatonist, she headed up the Platonist school at Alexandria and taught mathematics, philosophy and astronomy. Her brutal murder at the hands of a Christian mob in the 5th century CE is considered by some scholars to mark the end of classical antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. She was the daughter of the last head of the legendary Library of Alexandria. Name this mathematician who was the victim of the first documented witch-hunt.
Answer: Hypatia of Alexandria.
7. Article 352 of the Constitution of India allows the president to proclaim a state of emergency when the security of India is threatened by war or internal armed rebellion. The government of India used this article to declare an internal state of emergency once in its history, between 1975 and 1977. How many times did the government of India declare an external emergency?
Answer: Twice, during the 1962 war with China and the 1971 war with Pakistan.
8. The town of Iznik in modern Turkey is located in the western province of Bursa. It is a popular tourist attraction because of its impressive, ancient city walls and fortifications. Today Iznik is most famous for its pottery, with tiles produced at Iznik used in famous monuments like the Topkapi palace and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
However the most important historical contribution of Iznik was neither pottery nor defensive architecture. Back in the day, the city had a Greek name. It hosted the first-ever Christian ecumenical council which adopted a creed that is now shared by most Christian denominations, and established a process for deciding which gospels would be part of the official canon. What was the Greek name of Iznik?
Answer: Nicaea. The first ecumenical council of Nicaea was where the Nicene Creed was developed.
9. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the SS during the Holocaust, this man’s responsibility was the complex logistics of the mass deportation of Jews across Nazi-occupied lands to concentration camps in eastern Europe. At the end of the war, he fled to Argentina using fraudulent Red Cross papers. In Argentina, he worked for Mercedes-Benz under a false identity until 1960. In an audacious operation in 1960, Mossad agents kidnapped him, drugged him to make him appear drunk, and dressed him as a flight attendant to fly him on a commercial flight from Buenos Aires to Senegal. After reaching Israel, he was tried for crimes against humanity, convicted, and hanged. Name this Nazi war criminal.
Answer: Adolf Eichmann.
10. The worst defeat in the history of the English Royal Navy was inflicted on it at the Battle of the Medway in 1667. The main naval base of Chatham in southeastern England was attacked by a foreign navy. The attackers captured the town of Sheerness, burned three capital ships and ten other naval vessels, and in the biggest blow, towed away the HMS Unity and the HMS Royal Charles, the flagship of the Royal Navy. The success of this naval raid led England to quickly sue for peace, giving the foreign power favorable terms. Two hundred years later, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about this battle with the refrain: “And this the ____ men know!” the blank being the victors of that battle. Name the country that inflicted this spectacular defeat on England.
Answer: The Netherlands. The refrain of Kipling's poem went: "And this the Dutchmen know!"
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