Jul 31, 2012
Q.670
Jul 30, 2012
Q.669
This government department functions under an Act of Parliament that was created in 1962; hence it is commemorating 50 years of the Act. As part of this, this stamp was released to mark the contribution of this department to the country.
Which department? Image: Indianstampghar.com
Jul 29, 2012
Q.668
"Mr Mukherjee has never been a Congress president or PM. But his decades of activity in critical all-round roles make his exit both a structural and generation shift.The other person referred to above had, like Mukherjee, held positions as Union Minister for Defence as well as Finance, before becoming President of India . Who?With him, the last of the Congress triumvirate - along with Rao and ____ - who formed the core team of Indira/Rajiv regimes bows out."
Jul 28, 2012
Q.667
"Transport for London" is the government body that governs and manages various London transport systems. To mark the Olympics, they issued a map honouring three hundred and sixty one top sportspeople. Called the "Olympics Legends Map", it was designed by Alex Trickett and David Brooks.
This is a map of something iconic to London, in which the principal entities have been replaced by these sportspeople's names. What map?
Jul 27, 2012
Q.666
India is sending its largest ever contingent to the Olympics, with an 80+ member squad. The chef de mission for the squad is a former Olympian - a hockey player from the famed village of Sansarpur who won the bronze medal with the Indian team at the 1968 & 1972 Games. He also led the national team on several occasions.
But for some reason, he hasn't showed up at the Games yet, plunging the squad into unwanted controversy. Who is this?
Jul 26, 2012
Q.665
A vIZual question: what connects these veteran competitors?
This day last year: Q.299
Jul 25, 2012
Q.664
From a business angle, Telefónica Europe (the telecom company that uses the brand name "O2"), the British retailing group Sports Direct, and Ricoh (the Japanese electronics company) will suffer a loss of a certain kind during the London 2012 Olympics. This will be restored once the Games end.
What loss and why?
Jul 24, 2012
Q.663
The participation of Philipine van Aanholt, Liemarvin Bonevacia, and Reginald de Windt (all from Curacao), Fawaz Al Shammari, Md. Al-Azemi, and Ali Md. Al-Zinkawi (all Kuwait) and Guor Marial (South Sudan) in this year's Olympics will be quite unusual. In doing so, they will join the squad of Olympians to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics from the former Yugoslavian countries, and two sportsmen from East Timor in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
What is unusual about their participation?
They will be competing as Independent Olympic Athletes because, at this point, they have no parent Olympic Association. South Sudan, having just become
independent, doesn't have one yet, Kuwait's was suspended (see IZ Q.59)while the dissolution of the Netherland Antilles union in 2011 saw
Curacao have no association of its own.
Jul 23, 2012
Q.662
The second in our series marking Olympics week
This is how the medal for the Summer Olympics will look like. On the obverse (front) side, you can see a representation of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. On the reverse side is the logo of the London 2012 Games, a set of lines that symbolises "the energy of athletes and a sense of pulling together", and the River Thames.
All these medals will have purple ribbons. This is to commemorate another 2012 event. Which event?
Image: Wikipedia
Jul 22, 2012
Q.661
As the sporting world counts down to the 2012 London Olympic Games, this week of Infinite Zounds has seven questions on the topic. On your marks?
Given the history and drama that athletes like Spyridon Louis, Dorando Pietri, Abebe Bikila, the Marathon is one of the show-piece events of any Olympics, and the London Games will be no different. As is traditional, the Men's Marathon will be the one of the last medal events on the closing day.
But what other tradition will the 2012 Marathon not follow?
Jul 21, 2012
Q.660
The acronym by which the act is known is an apt nod to what it seeks to encourage, and could also be stretched to read as a compliment to someone who is usually an inspiration to many startups.
What's the acronym?
Jul 20, 2012
Q.659
Rufus was found a few days later and was able to resume duties at Wimbledon once again. He usually goes to work in the mornings before and evenings after play.
Who is he and what does he do?
Jul 19, 2012
Q.658
Like any surface in a top sport, the livery of a Formula One car is prime property to place a brand or advertisement. The Lotus F1 team carries a lot of names on its cars, including an anti-dandruff product.
For the 2012 British Grand Prix in July, the car took on one more name (masked by a splotch of yellow in the above image - click to see a bigger image): that of an upcoming film. A vehicle from the film was also on display during the GP.
Which film?
Image: Rich Jones/Wikimedia Commons
This day last year: Q.292Jul 18, 2012
Q.657
He soon found out he was rather good at it. Who?
Jul 17, 2012
Q.656
(Click to see a bigger picture)
This cool poster was commissioned by a Hollywood production house to celebrate its hundredth anniversary. DKNG, the design firm, came up with this design, consisting of icons depicting a hundred of its best films.
Which studio?
(Image: DKNG Studios)
More on the studio here. Identifying each film in the poster is left as an exercise to the interested reader :-)
Jul 16, 2012
Q.655
Both the leads (i.e. the actors playing the wife and the husband) have been in the news in mid-2012; the movie's plot now evokes irony and tragedy in equal measure.
Who are these actors?
Jul 15, 2012
Q.654
This was the cover for the European edition. Who does everybody love to hate?
Image: TIME.com
This day last year: Q.288Jul 14, 2012
Q.653
The last two have the eminently boring identifiers of "S/2011 (134340) 1" and "S/2012 (134340) 1", denoting when they were found. "S/2012 (134340) 1" was located in July 2012.
What are these five?
Jul 13, 2012
Q.652
Which beloved fictional character did he thus influence?
Jul 12, 2012
Jul 11, 2012
Q.650
Jul 10, 2012
Jul 9, 2012
Q.648
Jul 8, 2012
Q.647
The Flying Wallendas are a family that have been indulging in crazy acts for about a century. Examples include trapeze acts without safety nets, human pyramids, and other high-wire acts. Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation Wallenda, thought nothing of getting into safer professions such as accountancy or feeding sharks. Here he is, successfully crossing something in June of 2012 by walking a tightrope.
The authorities in charge of the place were at first opposed to the idea, not wanting to encourage such stunts, but finally gave in. Over what did he walk?
Image: Brendan Bannon/The New York Times
Jul 7, 2012
Q.646
- "Chokra Jawan Re" - Ishaqzaade
- "Dhan Te Nan" - Kaminey
- "Ek Lo Ek Muft" - Guru
- "Doli Mein Bithai Ke Kahar" - Amar Prem
- "Yeh Raat Yeh Chandni Phir Kahan" - Jaal
The other singer-music composers are:
- "Chokra Jawan Re" - Ishaqzaade: Vishal Dadlani for Amit Trivedi
- "Dhan Te Nan" - Kaminey: Vishal Dadlani for Vishal Bhardwaj
- "Ek Lo Ek Muft" - Bappi Lahiri for A.R.Rahman
- "Doli Mein Bithai Ke Kahar" - S.D.Burman for R.D.Burman
- "Yeh Raat Yeh Chandni Phir Kahan" - Hemant Kumar for S.D.Burman
Jul 6, 2012
Q.645
This eventually led to a change in the core element of the logo, something that's been around for almost two decades. Which logo?
Microsoft's Windows. Its newest version "Windows 8", which follows a set of design principles called "Metro" (see Q.431), now has this logo which just looks like a window. More on the decision at this blog post.
Jul 5, 2012
Q.644
This is a photo of Liu Yang with her husband in tranquil, domestic settings. With which divine vessel (nothing to do with her kitchen) was she associated with for thirteen days in June 2012?
Image: Xinhua/China.org.cn
Jul 4, 2012
Q.643
In May 2012, the other company, though flattered, asked Atlassian to stop using this name.
Which is this other company?
Jul 3, 2012
Q.642
Images: Wikipedia This day last year: Q.276