Q.861

The XLVII Super Bowl championship for American football was held in February, 2013, and was won by the Baltimore Ravens who beat the San Francisco 49ers in an eventually close match marred by a power blackout.

Jackie Harbaugh, the mother of Ravens' coach John Harbaugh, when asked about the game before the event, half-jokingly said that she would prefer if the Super Bowl ended in a tie. Why did she say that?

[+ Show Answer]

Because the 49ers were coached by her other son, John's younger brother by a year, Jim Harbaugh. More here.

This day last year: Q.495

Q.860

The Crunchies are awards given out by the technology website TechCrunch. If the other finalists for the category of "Best Technology Achievement" were Google Glass, Baumgartner Jump, the event of SpaceX docking with the International Space Station, and the Tesla Supercharger Network, who won?

[+ Show Answer]

The Mars Curiosity rover, in yet another award for this amazing achievement. The list of winners is here.

This day last year: Q.494

Q.859

The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, Africa's continental soccer championship is being held in South Africa from January to February 2013. South Africa were originally the hosts for the 2017 edition of the Cup, but exchanged places with the winners of the bid for 2013 because of turmoil in that nation.

So who will now host the 2017 Cup?

[+ Show Answer]

Libya, because of the civil war in 2011.

This day last year: Q.493

Q.858

This week's IZzie

Much of this country's details were not available in Google Maps until January 2013. In an update to its data, Google Maps now shows details of various landmarks from this country whose geography may not be a mystery anymore, but almost everything else is.

Which country?

[+ Show Answer]

North Korea. See this report for more.

This day last year: Q.492

Q.857

This historian says he was almost killed by a sniper bullet while he was doing research in Kandahar for his latest book The Return of a King", set in Afghanistan.

Who is the author?

[+ Show Answer]

William Dalrymple. The book is about events during the first Anglo-Afghan war in the mid-1840s. More on this incident here.

This day last year: Q.491

Q.856

1995 was all about the events before a stellar object is first seen at the horizon. It took nine years (2004 for the mathematically disinclined) for us to find out what happens before the same stellar object disappears out of sight at the horizon.

2013 is the year when we find out what happens just before midnight. What are we cryptically hinting at (and being verbose and elliptical and talky-feely about?)

[+ Show Answer]

The latest installment in the "Before" series of films directed by Richard Linklater, and written (among others) by Linklater and the two leads Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke. The first two films were "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset". The latest is called Before Midnight". We are not inviting any guesses on what the next one (if there is one) will be called.

This day last year: Q.490

Q.855

One Today

One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,
peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces
of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth
across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.
One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story
told by our silent gestures moving behind windows.

Opening lines of a poem first heard in public on Jan 21, 2013. During what (usually quadrennial) event?

[+ Show Answer]

At the inauguration of Barack Obama's 2nd Presidential term. The poet Richard Blanco was invited to present this poem at the ceremony. The full poem is here.

This day last year: Q.489