Take Se7en - 8

Hey All,

8th Edition goes here. Do post your feedback/suggestions.

1. A toughie to start with:
   _________ is the shortest English word containing three y 's. It is also the second-longest common English word containing neither a, e, i, o, nor u, being tied with rhythm. _______ means a kind of unity, especially through coordination or alignment. It is more commonly used in astronomy where it means the alignment of three or more celestial bodies in the same gravitational system along a straight line. Which word?
   
   
2. He is considered to be one of the greats of Carnatic music. His compostions were in "Vilambitha" Kala depicting Raga bhava completely. He was a scholar in "Jyothish-Sastra" and "Manthra Sasrtra"and his compostions give good knowledge of these "Sastras". He is supposed to have got the wonderful flow of music by the grace of Lord "Kumaraswamy" who put "Kalakanda" in his mouth. Soon he began to sing in praise of the Lord in a unique style. By singing a kriti "Anandamritha Varshini" in raga "AmruthaVarshini", he caused the thunderous clouds to gather over the sky and rain profusely when there were no rains in that region for the past one year and people were yearning for water. Identify him.
   
   
3. In olden days, their slogan was The Colored Card Game. Presently, they are using You know. Their motto is You get one, you get ______ . Fill in the blank or name the product.
   
   
4. Connect the cricketers.
   
   
   


5. Chemically, it is ((1-[4-ethoxy-3-(6,7-dihydro-1-methyl- 7-oxo-3-propyl-1H-pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidin-5-yl)phenylsulfonyl]-4-methylpiperazine citrate; (C22H30N6O4S • C6H8O7).Originally it was studied for use in hypertension (high blood pressure) and angina pectoris (a form of ischaemic cardiovascular disease). What is it?
   
   
   


6. It is a part of the soccer folklore now. In the 1990s, a team was invited to play in the European Championships when Yugoslavia refused to participate. This team went on to win the championships. Which country?
   
   
7. There are many forms of this game, with the earliest dating back to ancient Egypt. In 1930, British anthropologist Sir Flinders Petrie along with a team of archaeologists, discovered various primitive paraphernalia related to this game in the grave of an Egyptian boy dating to 5200 BC. However, some dismiss these findings, arguing that it originated in Germany in AD 300. The first written reference to this game dates to 1366, when King Edward III of England banned his troops from playing the game so that they would not be distracted from their archery practice. It is also believed that King Henry VII played this game using cannon balls. Which game?
   

You can mail your responses to jay.bis@gmail.com .

Ciao,
Jayendra.

Answers: Take Se7en - 7

1. Archimedes
2. Goo Goo Dolls
3. The path taken by Dag Hammersjkold's plane, both actual and the official path (as a decoy)
4. Corbis
5. Across the Universe
6. It contains fractals and its known as Pythagoras Tree
7. Scrabble

Take Se7en - 7

Here comes the 7th edition of this quiz:

1. He died during the Siege of Syracuse, when he was killed by a Roman soldier despite orders that he should not be harmed. At his request, his tombstone was carved with a sphere circumscribed within a cylinder and inscribed with the ratio of the cylinder's volume to that of the sphere as 3:2. This is because he considered the discovery of this ratio the greatest of all his accomplishments. Identify him.
   


2. This alternative Rock band was founded by John Rzeznik, Robby Takac and George Tutuska in 1986 under the name Sex Maggots. However, when a club owner booked the band, he requested them to change the name, as the local newspaper could not print their current name. The trio picked the current name out of a True Detective newspaper advertisement for a toy called a __________. Which band?
   
   
3. What is shown in this map? (Pic: 3)
   
   
   
   


4. X is a company privately owned by Bill Gates, who founded it in 1989 under the name Interactive Home Systems. One major reason for starting the company was Gates's belief that people would someday decorate their homes with a revolving display of digital artwork using digital frames. The company's name was changed to Continuum Productions in 1994 and to X a year later. X is a Latin word meaning "wicker basket'. Identify X.
   


5. John Lennon wrote the first line of this song one night in 1967 in response to his wife “going on and on about something. I kept hearing these words over and over, went downstairs and it turned into some sort of cosmic song.” Forty years later, NASA decided to beam it across the universe on 4th February, 2008, which incidently coincided with 50th anniversary of NASA. The music was digitalised and beamed through NASA’s deepspace communications network on a 431-light-year journey to the North Star, Polaris, where it is scheduled to arrive in 2439. The song has an Indian connection since it was created at the time the Beatles were learning Transcendental Meditation from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which explains the salutation Jai Guru Dev, Om in the chorus of the song. Which song?
   
   
6. What does this figure represent? (Pic:6)
   
   
   
   


7. In 1938, an architect Alfred Mosher Butts created this game as a variation on an earlier game he invented which he called Lexiko. Butts worked out the scoring system of the game quite meticulously by counting letter usage from various sources including The New York Times. Since then, one hundred million sets of this game have been sold worldwide, and sets are found in one out of every three American homes. Which game?

You can send your replies to jay.bis@gmail.com.
Do post your comments and suggestions.

Ciao,
Jayendra.

Take Se7en - 6 : Answers

1. Apple's "Think Different" advertisement campaign
   
2. Cloverfield
   
3. NDTV Imagine
   
4. Beavis & Butthead
   
5. Romano Prodi, the PM of Italy
   
6. Bill Woodfull, the captain of Australian cricket team during the infamous Bodyline series. Anil Kumble took a leaf out of his book when he gave his now famous statement after the Sydney test.
   
7. Its "The Actor". The award is given by the American Actor Guild.
   

Do send your comments and suggestions.

Ciao,
Jayendra.

Take Se7en - 6

6th Edition goes here:

1. To start with a sitter:
   
   "Here’s to the crazy ones.
   The misfits.
   The rebels.
   The troublemakers.
   The round pegs in the square holes.
   The ones who see things differently.
   They’re not fond of rules.
   And they have no respect for the status quo.
   You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
   About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
   Because they change things.
   They push the human race forward.
   And while some may see them as the crazy ones,
   We see genius.
   Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world,
   Are the ones who do".
   
   Why is the above so famous?
   



2. This is a poster of a movie which made the date 01-18-08 so famous in the US. Which movie?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Which TV channel is being marketed with the punchline "Naya saal, nayaa channel" ?
   
   
4. Character X - Wears dental braces and has squinty eyes and a drooping nose with prominent nostrils. His top gums are often exposed due to a small upper lip, and he speaks nasally with a deep voice and a slight lisp, repeatedly punctuating his speech with "uhh…." Calmer, cockier, and marginally more intelligent than Y, X is oblivious of subtleties, but is usually 100% confident in everything he says and does, no matter how ridiculous or frivolous it is.
   
   Character Y - Has an underbite and a fixated stare on his face, which is almost always shown in profile. He grunts when he laughs, has a grainy, guttural voice and has a penchant for openly picking his nose. The more excitable of the two, he is oblivious of the obvious. He generally has a more passive demeanor in contrast to X's more dominant personality.
   
   Identify X&Y.
   
   
5. Identify this politician, who was in the news recently.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   







6. A sitter: Who uttered the following lines that are now a part of cricket history; "I do not want to see you, Mr. Warner. There are two teams out there. One is playing cricket and the other is not."?
   
   


7. Which award-trophy is this?
   
   

You can send your replies to jay.bis@gmail.com

Do post your comments and suggestions.

Ciao,
Jayendra.

Answers: "Old wine in an old bottle" quiz

Answers to the Ad-slogans:

1. Nintendo
2. GE
3. AOL
4. eBay
5. NYSE
6. Heineken
7. Schweppes
8. 7-UP
9. Pepsi
10. m&m
11. Taco Bell
12. Skoda
13. DuPont
14. DKNY
15. Evian
16. JW Black Label
17. Subway
18. American Express Card
19. British Airways
20. Omega

The "Old wine in an old bottle" quiz

Hey All,

Just to give the "Take Se7en" series a break for this week. I have to confess that this quiz is a "old wine in an old bottle" scenario. You would have seen all of the slogans below in quite a few quizzes in the past. Nevertheless, taking another look at some of the brilliant (and very innovative) ad-slogans.

Identify the brand/product for each of these:

1. Get N or get out.
2. Imagination at Work.
3. Welcome to the World Wide Wow .
4. Buy it. Sell it. Love it.
5. The World Puts Its Stock In US .
6. Refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach .
7. Schhh! You know who?
8. The Uncola .
9. Nothing official about it .
10. The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand.
11. Think outside the bun.
12. Obsessed with perfection since 1897.
13. The Miracles Of Science .
14. The official uniform of New York.
15. Your natural source of youth.
16. If you want to impress someone, put him on your Black list .
17. The Way A Sandwich Should Be .
18. Don't Leave Home Without It.
19. The world's favourite airline.
20. Fashion that ticks .

Do post your comments and suggestions.

Ciao,
Jay.

Answers: Take Se7en - 5

Answers to the 5th edition:

1. The recent controversy during and after the Sydney test match. An obvious reference to Bodyline and Bollywood.
   
   
2. Dakar Rally
   
   
3. Rubik's Cube
   
   
4. Chandrayan, the Indian space mission to moon
   
   
5. Carla Bruni, the much talked-about girl-friend of the French president. It remains to be scene how Indian media reacts to her presence when the duo is here next week.
   
   
6. A money mule is a person who transfers money and reships high value goods that have been fraudulently obtained in one country, usually via the internet, to another country, usually where the perpetrator of the fraud lives.
   
   
7. Asok, the Indian intern in Dilbert
   
   

Thanks all for participating,

Till next time,

Adios,
Jayendra.

Take Se7en - 5

Hey All,

Two new words have been added to the dictionary - Bucknor & Benson :


Bucknor: (n) (adj) :
1. Temporary blindness leading to missing out on the obvious.2. To be at the wrong place at the wrong time.3. Situations leading to grave judgmental errors.Usage: I feel bucknored by my boss; Life often throws a bucknor at you.

Benson: (n) (adj) :
1. Something that legitimises a severe bucknor.Usage: First they bucknored me and then they bensoned it! I am toast.Also see bucknor


With this wonderful vocabulary-enriching thought, fifth edition goes here:

1. In cricket, what is being referred to as "Bollyline"?
   
   
2. Which sporting event is being described here:
   "500 connards sur la ligne de départ" ("500 Assholes at the Starting Line") - By French singer Renaud.
   "Vulgar display of power and wealth in places where men continue to die from hunger and thirst." - By the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano
   "Colonialism that needs to be eradicated" - By a Green Party of France.
   
   
3. It is said to be the world's best-selling (and probably the most misspelt!!) toy with over 300 million of them sold worldwide. It was invented by an Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Erno ___ in 1974. It was originally called something else but it was renamed to the current name by Ideal Toys in 1980. In the same year it won the German Game of the year special award for the best puzzle. Identify X.
   


4. Which ambitious project is being sponsored by Tatas, L&T, Godrej, Walchandnagar Foundry (Satara), Venkateshwara Engineering (Coimbatore) and Shoma Industries (Bangalore)?
   
   
5. Who is this lady, in the news recently? (Pic 5)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   









6. In business parlance, who is a "money mule"?
   
   
7. Cartoon-character X was recently killed by its creator "while on a test of a moon shuttle prototype". X is tried to be cloned but its DNA gets mixed with a candy and it is cloned into a "half-human, half-snicker-bar". When Clone X finds out this, it uses its advanced shape-shifting and guided reincarnation skills to change into a regular peanut and chocolate-free X. Who is this X?
   
   

Comments and Suggestions welcome .....

Answers in a week,

Ciao,
Jay.