Cerebral Epiphany - Gen Quiz @ InnoVision '06

Hello

The following is the prelims questionnaire of Cerebral Epiphany - The General Quiz held at InnoVision '06.

1. In 2004, which American public corporation aimed at raising $2,718,281,828 (which is e billion dollars to the nearest dollar) from its initial public offering?

2. This football midfielder has announced that he will publicly reveal the time spent in his team’s camp during the World Cup through a commercial movie titled ‘Substitute’. Also, he has stated that he no longer wishes to play for his national team. Who?

3. ‘The Real X’ is a computer-based encyclopedia that runs on David Hodges' ex-Atari. Fans of X from all over the world have written the entries to this over several years. David takes his computer to conventions on invitation and traditionally produces a printout of ‘The Real X’ for auction. The printout is, of course, yours to peruse at your leisure, in bed, in the bath, during free fall sex, or whatever. Over 20 printouts exist. There are some 1000+ entries in ‘The Real X’ itself. What am I talking about?

4. For the first time in its 58-year history, which popular board game recently changed its color to pink, to raise money for research into breast cancer?

5. Till sometime back, Miss Asia 1987 Thawinan Khongkran had a low-profile public relations job at a TV station. But recently her responsibilities have increased manifold, as she has become the face of the new government of her country. Which country?

6. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde in six days and nights on a __________ binge.
Sherlock Holmes started using __________ as a student and became dependent upon his “seven-percent solution” of __________, using it three times a day at the start of The Sign of Four.
Sigmund Freud recommended __________ as a safe and useful remedy for things like depression and sexual impotence.
(All blanks are the same)

7.* Bookies and gamblers in the town of Junagadh in Gujarat pore over the Times of India every morning with a magnifying glass. Why?

8.* It was in a bar after work that Susan Rose first sketched X. Just 15 lines: with features as uncomplicated as a snowman's and eight locks of scary, stand-up hair, that was in 1985. X’s character was created by Joanna Ferrone to make other people feel comfortable: You are what you are and what you are is okay - that's the message. Identify X.

9. This term X literally means ‘a completely burnt sacrificial offering to a God’ in Greek. It is substituted to Ha-Shoah in Hebrew and Porajmos or Samudaripen in Romani. Identify X.

10.* Freescale : Motorola :: NXP : __________

11.* Corinna Betsch dated F1 driver X for four and a half years. Then they broke up and Corinna married Y, X’s arch rival during those days. The wedding took place at Mannheim, a couple of days after Y won his home Grand Prix. Now Corinna and Y are happily married with two kids. Identify X and Y.

12. It refers to - a festival held on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (The Three Wise Men). It is commonly used to indicate a sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something. What?

13. In 1997, the Tata owned company Trent Limited acquired the Britain-based Littlewoods retail chain. Littlewoods was renamed X. Today X has seven outlets, one each in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi and Kolkata. Deepika Padukone did her first print campaign for X, and currently X’s brand ambassador is Yuvraj Singh. Identify X.

14. __________ __________ leads a simple life. Among other things, she is a singer, actor, model and author. __________ __________ has accepted the title role in Malayalam director T. Rajeevnath’s film on Nobel Peace laureate Mother Teresa. Rajeevnath expects to get the blessings of the Pope for the film.

15. Joseph Goebbels (propaganda minister for Hitler) forged X’s quatrains predicting a victorious Germany which were dropped by planes over England in a form of "psychological warfare." To counteract the Nazi propaganda, the British began dropping pamphlets containing their own versions of X’s quatrains, predicting an Allied victory, over France and Belgium. Identify X.

16. X is a minister in the current UPA Government and is popularly known as ‘beedi king’ as his family runs the Number 27 beedi business, one of the largest in India. X’s company has started manufacturing and selling a nicotine chewing gum branded ‘New Life’ that helps folks who want to kick the smoking habit. ‘New Life’ comes in two flavours. One mint, the other a gutkha flavour, called Good Kha. "Look, I'm not just getting people to smoke. I'm also helping smokers kick the habit", says X. Identify X.

17. In Latin, this word means a female animal used for breeding. It was first used in English in the 16th century to refer to the uterus or womb. In biology, it is the intercellular substance of a tissue, and in geology it is the natural material surrounding a metal or gem or fossil embedded in the earth. Commonest use is however in mathematics.

18.* Identify the name of the football club corresponding to the stadium-
1) Estádo do Luz
2) St. Mary's Stadium
3) Delle Alpi Stadium
4) Majedski Stadium

19. X has several nicknames, including ‘(The) Woz’ and ‘Wizard of Woz’. ‘WoZ’ (short for ‘Wheels of Zeus’) is also the name of a company X founded. He also developed the initial prototype of the classic Atari game Breakout in record time. X’s autobiography is titled ‘iWoz’. Identify X.

You can post your answers as a comment to this post.

Total no. of teams: 180+
Prelims highest score: 11.0
Prelims cutoff: 9.0

Cerebral Epiphany (Finals)
1st: Debasish Misra (NSIT)
Jaideep S. Jagannathan (NSIT)

2nd: Harish Alagappa (Amity, NOIDA)
Nitesh Bhasin (BVCOE)

3rd: Anand Justin Cherian (NSIT)
Neha Dar (NSIT)

Organizers:
Apoorv Kamra
Anupriya Asthana
Kartik Joshi
Manik Chugh
& Abhimanyu Sanghi