Q.2578

Scientist J. Craig Wheeler of UT Austin first let the cat out of the bag in Aug 2017 via a tweet, later apologizing for not waiting for the official process. In Oct 2017, the official announcement about GW170817 was made. What was this all about?

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The first time gravitational waves ('GW') from a neutron star merger was observed More here

Q.2440

What five word phrase (and its variants) have the companies BCCL and ARG Outliers separately applied for a trademark? They did so in November 2016 and January 2017 respectively, resulting the companies going at each other's throats, legally speaking.

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"The Nation Wants To Know" - BCCL owns the TV channel 'Times Now' and ARG owns 'Republic TV' which launched in May 2017. More here.

Q.2353

In 2017, which cartoon character's Wikipedia article had to be 'locked down' (i.e. editing of it was prevented) because the (non-human) character's gender was in question? The matter was finally settled by the cartoonist in question.

[+ Show Answer]

Garfield. More here

Q.2217

In Oct 2016, this 75-year old was named a honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls by the United Nations. Some UN staffers did not like the choices for reasons ranging from the lady's image, clothing, and inability to have an opinion, to be able to travel and be interviewed.

Who was this controversial choice?

[+ Show Answer]

"Wonder Woman", the DC character. More here

Q.2211

In Nov 2016, the Nat Geo TV channel premieres a part-fiction part-documentary mini-series simply titled 'Mars'. As you can guess, the series is about Man attempting to reach the Red Planet: the fictional part is set in 2033 while the documentary has scientists and technologists talking about the science that could get us there.

The fictional Mars crew is in a spacecraft named after a character in a famous Greek mythological story. He was a skilled creator who also tried to escape the bounds of Earth, and the father of a disobedient son. Which character?

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Daedalus, father of Icarus. Here's the famous Greek story, and here's a detailed look at 'Mars'.

Q.2201

Britisher Harnaam Kaur has a condition called "polycystic ovary syndrome". In Sept 2016, she entered the Guinness World Records as the youngest woman to have a full ____. In March 2016, Kaur, who is popular on Instagram and works in improving body confidence among people, also became the first such person to model during London Fashion Week.

What unusual side-effect of her condition got her into the record books?

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She has a full beard due to her condition. More here.

Q.2091

To celebrate which sporting achievement in June 2016 did Nike run a campaign called "#AlwaysBelieve"?

[+ Show Answer]

Cleveland Cavaliers finally winning an NBA championship, especially after coming back to win in Game 7. Here's the campaign.

Q.2088

Which famous video game was rebooted in 2016 and is set in Mars, in a "Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) research facility"?

[+ Show Answer]

"Doom". More here.

Q.2079

In 1766, this country passed a constitutional law against 'censorship'. To mark 250 years of that landmark law in 2016, the country's tourist association made public a telephone number. Call the number (note: it'll be an international call!) and you'll get connected to a random citizen of the country. You can chat about anything you wish.

Which country?

[+ Show Answer]

Sweden. Here's the website.

Q.2076

In a 2012 episode of the iconic TV series 'Top Gear', this guest recorded the fastest Celebrity Lap Time in a Kia Cee'd car, beating fellow comic actor Rowan Atkinson's time by a second. Which 'friendly' guest star, and why was he in the news for related reasons in 2016?

[+ Show Answer]

The FRIENDS star Matt LeBlanc; he became one of the co-hosts of Top Gear in 2016, in the post-Clarkson & co. era. More here.

Q.2050

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Lawyer, Jürgen, who's on the left above, founded this company in 1977, using his last name for it. In 1986, Ramon joined him, also lending his name to the company. In addition to being a lawyer too, Ramon is a politician and an award-winning novelist.

"John Doe" made their last names known widely all around the world in April 2016. What are their last names, and why?

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The company, from their last names, is 'Mossack Fonseca', whose leaked data resulted in the Panama Papers detailing potential misuse of tax havens by several rich and influential people. More here.

Q.2041

What two word phrase from the world of performing connects these three:

* Gmail's 2016 April Fool-special feature that tanked

* Basketballer Kobe Bryant's last game (Apr 2016)

* US President Barack Obama's last White House Correspondents Dinner (Apr 2016)

[+ Show Answer]

A 'mic drop' - see this and this.

Q.2040

This Facebook post and an update of someone's relationship was posted in Feb 2016. What was it promoting, and who's the other person in this relationship?

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The 2016 film 'Captain America: Civil War'; the other person is 'Iron Man'. More here.

Q.1952

A tweet by this celebrity in Jan 2016 read:

Eat bread. Lose weight. Whaaatttt? #ComeJoinMe [...]

Containing a link to diet company Weight Watchers (in which she has a stake), this tweet is said to have influenced its share price going up by 20% by the end of that day.

Which influencer?

[+ Show Answer]

Oprah Winfrey. More here.

Q.1810

The cartoon by John Shakespeare parodies a political situation. ‘The sheep’ depicts the man who on 14th September 2015 became the Prime Minister by replacing ‘The goat’.

Identify both.

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Malcolm Turnbull replaces Tony Abbot

In the ballot, Abbott received 44 votes while Turnbull received 54 votes. Malcolm Turnbull became the 29th Prime Minister of Australia.

Q.1806

Kaloji Narayana Rao or Kalanna was an Indian poet, freedom fighter, anti-fascist and political activist of Telangana. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1992. On his 100th birth anniversary on 9th September 2015, the state Government of Telangana decided to honour him by declaring the first of this kind of ‘special day’.

Thus, what will be celebrated on every 9th September?

[+ Show Answer]

Telangana Language Day

First Telangana Language Day (Telangana Bhasha Dinosthavam) was observed on 9 September 2015. Besides, the state Government also awarded its first ever Kaloji Award on renowned litterateur Dr Ammangi Venugopal for his contribution to the literary world of Telangana.

Q.1799

This is the logo of the Theatre de Liege designed by the Belgian graphics designer, Olivier Debie. He accused a certain organizing committee of plagiarizing this logo after it was unveiled on 24th July 2015. The emblem’s designer, Kenjiro Sano, defended the design, stating that he had never seen the Liege logo. However, Sano was found to have had a history of plagiarism.

For what specific event did Sano design the logo?

[+ Show Answer]

Logo for 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games

Eventually, the logo that was based around the letter T and a red circle (representing a beating heart) which resembled the Japanese Flag was scrapped on 1st September 2015.

Q.1778

This show began broadcasting in 1954 and it has had six official hosts. The first one was Steve Allen. Johnny Carson is the longest-serving host to date. He’s pictured here along with Ray Charles.

Who is the current host described by NBC as ‘the best there is’ and which show are we talking about?

[+ Show Answer]

Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show

Fallon on 13th August 2015 was signed by NBC for 6 more years. He completed one year as a host some days prior to this signing.

Q.1777

Uttar Pradesh Government on 11 August 2015 approved the amended guidelines for a certain award. The award will be annually awarded to singers of ghazal, dadra, and thumri who have achieved a milestone in these forms of music. The singer should not be less than 40 years of age.

This award is named after the ‘Queen of ghazals’. Who?

[+ Show Answer]

Begum Akhtar

Akhtari Bai Faizabadi was born in UP. She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for vocal music, and was awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. She was also given the title of Mallika-e-Ghazal.

Q.1764

Talvar is a 2015 Bollywood movie written by Vishal Bharadwaj and directed by Meghna Gulzar. The film is based on the 2008 Noida double murder case, in which a teenage girl and her family servant were found murdered, and her parents were convicted for the murders.

Talvar presents three contradictory accounts of the case, which variously portray the parents as guilty or innocent. The style of the story-telling is similar to that of an epic 1950 Japanese movie. However, this storytelling style is designed to show the parents in sympathetic light, is what multiple reviewers say.

What is this style?

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Rashomon (by Akira Kurosawa)

The film is known for a plot device that involves various characters providing alternative, self-serving and contradictory versions of the same incident.