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Conducted by:
Debasish Bhattacharjee
On March 4, 1960, the French freighter La Coubresuspiciously exploded in Havana Harbor, killing up to 100 people and injuring several hundred more.
The following day, President Fidel Castro blamed the CIA and called for a memorial service and mass demonstration at Havana's Colón Cemetery, to honor the victims.
Fidel Castro gave a eulogy for the fallen and delivered a fiery speech, using the words "Patria o Muerte" ("Homeland or Death") for the first time.
Apart from these, what was arguably the most talked about result of these events, which involved the rather good-looking person in the next slide?
ANSWER
The famous pic called Guerrillero Heroico
This is the larva of the wasp ReclinervellusNielseni. It has a rather tyrannical reputation as a “bad guest”.
What is it notorious for (depicted in the pic)?
ANSWER
Reclinervellus Nielseni wasps are known to snatch orb-weaving spiders, lay eggs on the arachnids and fly away. The spiders continue with life as usual—until the eggs hatch and the wasp larvae emerge.
A larva injects its host with potent venom that zombifies the spider by hijacking its nervous system. The tyrannical young wasp then forces the eight-legged zombie to get to work building the perfect nest. Once the project is complete, the larva eats its complacent seamstress.
These signatures could be seen on an object in the 1940s.
This object was fairly short-lived and only this photograph among others remain.
What are we talking about?
ANSWER
Tail assembly of the Fat Man bomb, that was dropped on Nagasaki.
The signatures are those of the crew members of the Bocks Car
X had actually coined the slogan at National Cash Registers (NCR) in 1911. “The trouble with every one of us is that we don’t ______ enough!” he shouted in a sales meeting, scrawling the word ______ across a chalkboard.
With permission from his boss, John Patterson, he had _______ signs made and hung in the office. When Watson left NCR, he took ______ with him, along with management strategies gleaned from Patterson, one of the earliest company presidents to establish sales training and incentives programs.
Either ID X or fill in the blank (all blanks are the same)
ANSWER
Thomas Watson Sr, who coined the THINK slogan, which was later popularized at IBM
In 1909, John X was in the midst of expanding his famed X department store in downtown Philadelphia and wanted something grandiose to christen his new 150-foot high grand court in the center of the store.
At the suggestion of his son, Rodman, X sent a technician to check out an object, still languishing in awarehouse.
After the technician’s report, X decided that the object was exactly what he was looking for, and he purchased it for a reported “next to nothing.” It was loaded piece-by-piece onto 13 freight cars and shipped to Philadelphia.
In 1911, X opened his new store to the public, with President William Howard Taft in attendance.
Either ID X or the object (pics in next slide).
ANSWER
John Wanamaker and the Wanamaker organ
X that is “hecho en México” (made in Mexico) contains cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup.
Hipsters and the trendy restaurants they patronize have known about Mexican X for some time now, and bodegas in Los Angeles have stocked it to appeal to their Mexican-American customers.
Connoisseurs swear there’s a discernible difference between X made with sugar and X made with high-fructose corn syrup—a truer, less “chemical-y” taste; a realer real thing.
What is X?
ANSWER
Kate Walker was the first lady of her kind in the USA. Walker's husband was originally assigned this task, but came down with pneumonia.
Before his death, his last reported words to her were “Mind the lights, Katie.”
After she temporarily took over the job, Walker ran against bias: The government thought she was too small to do the job, and looked for what they thought would be a hardier man. But after several men turned down the position because the location was too isolated, Walker was hired.
She not only performed her job to perfection but also saved 50 lives.
What was Katie’s job?
ANSWER
She was the light keeper at New York harbor; the first female light keeper in the US
Natura Vive’s Skylodge Adventure Suites, located near the city of Cuzco, is a hotel dangling above the Sacred Valley and the Urubamba River. In total, there’s room for up to eight people in the hotel's three capsules: Two of the capsules are divided into modules that contain sleeping arrangements for four, a dry toilet bathroom and a wooden folding table for meals. The third capsule is the service capsule, where guides prepare breakfast and dinner for the guests.
The toilet has the best view, even though people usually draw the curtains closed.
What touristy activity does it help fulfil, the answer to which can be found in a timeless classic composed by Daniel AlomíaRobles?
ANSWER
Watching the endangered Andean condor soar over Peru’s Sacred Valley along the Inca Road in southern Peru.
Legend has it that the diagram of Jorn Utzon’s design was found in the rejection pile by Eero Saarinen.
Utzon was likable, but had some habits that made working with him difficult. He took "long, idyllic holidays at crucial junctures," was reluctant to ask for help, didn’t have a plan for how to support the weight of his design and took on other projects while his main project dragged on.
Utzon left in 1966 (actually, he climbed over a back wall after submitting his resignation to avoid the press). He was owed $100,000, and the project ended up 1457 percent over budget.
What was the final product of this project, which was obviously a “failure in project management terms”?
ANSWER
The lead-up starts with a meal of steak, eggs and cake. A last-minute poker game is also part of the ritual.
It is standard for the participants to bring along a stuffed toy for good luck.
A new poster is designed featuring the participants modeled after popular sci-fi movies.
Of late carrying a towel for good luck has also become an integral activity.
Who follow these rituals?
ANSWER
American astronauts embarking on a mission
Canadian physician Christopher Charles had iron lumps molded into the shape of the “try kantrop”, a fish considered lucky in Cambodian culture.
This resulted in the use of the “lucky iron fish” skyrocketing.
Charles had intended to address a dietary issue with the sale of this “fish”.
How?
ANSWER
In Cambodia, nearly two-thirds of women and children are iron deficient.
Fish-shaped iron ingots are being distributed to rural Cambodian households with instructions to place the fish in their cooking pots while preparing meals.
The iron from the “fish” leaches into the food and raises iron levels in the blood.
In 1787, Congress authorized the first U.S. cent, known as the Fugio cent, made of copper. It featured an image of a sundial, and underneath, stated “___ ____ ______.” These were the wise words of Benjamin Franklin, who is credited with designing the coin.
ANSWER
Mind Your Business
The bill was never circulated and was reserved only for use by the Federal Reserve for large transactions.
A total of 42,000 certificates were produced and later discontinued in 1935. All but a dozen or so were destroyed.
It is illegal to possess the bill, which is why we’ve probably never seen one.
What are we talking about?
ANSWER
This event took a hiatus during World War II as energy and resources were directed toward the war effort.
When the event returned in 1946, the pics in the next slide were taken.
It was held in Des Moines, Iowa, and the winner was John McKinney.
Which event that has undergone a sea change, but where the expressions remain the same?
ANSWER
Scripps National Spelling Bee
X was fatally shot by an army sergeant as the barn he was hiding in burned to the ground.
Some conspiracy theorists maintained that X escaped to Texas, and that the man shot outside that barn had merely been a look-alike.
In Finis L. Bates’ 1907 book, the author contends that X assumed a new identity, John St. Helen, and lived in exile until taking his own life in 1903.
Following the success of his book, Bates began to display the mummified cadaver he claimed was X’s at traveling carnivals. The mummy, was for some reason “always clad in khaki shorts,” changed hands several times, “bringing bad luck to its owners.”
ID X (Images in the next slide can be slightly disturbing. Viewer discretion is recommended )
ANSWER
John Wilkes Booth
For three quarters of a century, the supposed feud between two sisters was the stuff of tabloid dreams. Only 15 months apart, the sisters pursued the same career, competed for the same Oscars and even cozied up to some of the same men.
One of them even adopted her stepfather’s surname as “two __ ____’s on the marquee would be too many”.
In 1942, they were nominated for Best Actress, becoming the first pair of siblings to compete for an Oscar.
ID both.
ANSWER
Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine
After X, he married the photojournalist Inge Morat and they had a son. The kid was born with Down Syndrome and he hid it. Despite his wife begging, he never wanted to see him.
But one day they met by chance. He was giving a conference in defense of a mentally handicapped person, who had been sentenced to death after a forced confession. Amidst the public was his son with Down Syndrome. After the conference, the son went to the stand and hugged his father effusively.
The father had no idea how to shake that man off, until the unknown man released him and told him: "I'm your son Daniel and I'm very proud of you, dad".
This is a real life incident that finds a significant mention in the movie "Los Abrazos Rotos" by Pedro Almodovar.
Who was the famous father?
ANSWER
Arthur Miller; X was Marilyn Monroe
In Paris, Pablo Picasso entertained a distinguished coterie of friends including André Breton, poet Guillaume Apollinaire, writer Alfred Jarry, and Gertrude Stein.
When Apollinaire was arrested in 1911, he pointed to his friend Picasso as a likely suspect.
Picasso was also brought in for questioning, but both were later exonerated.
The culprit was found to be Vincenzo Peruggia.
But what was the crime that Picasso was suspected of?
ANSWER
Theft of Mona Lisa from the Louvre
It was painted in 1872, depicting a Le Havre port landscape. The art critic Louis Leroy, in his review, "L'Expositiondes __________," which appeared in Le Charivari, coined a related term. It was intended as disparagement but the ___________ appropriated the term for themselves.
ANSWER
Impressionism; the painting is called “Impression, Soleil Levant”
Dear Mr Hill,
Seeing that ... I have seen your fantastically entertaining and award-winning film The Sting, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, and enjoyed it very much, it is all together fitting and proper that you should ‘discover’ me. Now, right away I know what you are thinking: ‘Who is this kid?’ and I can understand your apprehensions. I am a nobody. No one outside of Skyline High School has heard of me ... My looks are not stunning. I am not built like a Greek God, and I can’t even grow a mustache, but I figure if people will pay to see certain films ... they will pay to see me.
Let’s work out the details of my discovery. We can do it the way Lana Turner was discovered, me sitting on a soda shop stool, you walk in and notice me and – BANGO – I am a star.
Or maybe we can do it this way. I stumble into your office one day and beg for a job. To get rid of me, you give me a stand-in part in your next film. While shooting the film, the star breaks his leg in the dressing room, and, because you are behind schedule already, you arbitrarily place me in his part and – BANGO – I am a star.
All of these plans are fine with me, or we could do it any way you would like, it makes no difference to me! But let’s get one thing straight. Mr. Hill, I do not want to be some bigtime, Hollywood superstar with girls crawling all over me, just a hometown American boy who has hit the big-time, owns a Porsche, and calls Robert Redford ‘Bob’.
Respectfully submitted,
Your Pal Forever,
Thomas J Hanks
Who wrote this letter in 1974?
ANSWER
Dear Mr Hill,
Seeing that ... I have seen your fantastically entertaining and award-winning film The Sting, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, and enjoyed it very much, it is all together fitting and proper that you should ‘discover’ me. Now, right away I know what you are thinking: ‘Who is this kid?’ and I can understand your apprehensions. I am a nobody. No one outside of Skyline High School has heard of me ... My looks are not stunning. I am not built like a Greek God, and I can’t even grow a mustache, but I figure if people will pay to see certain films ... they will pay to see me.
Let’s work out the details of my discovery. We can do it the way Lana Turner was discovered, me sitting on a soda shop stool, you walk in and notice me and – BANGO – I am a star.
Or maybe we can do it this way. I stumble into your office one day and beg for a job. To get rid of me, you give me a stand-in part in your next film. While shooting the film, the star breaks his leg in the dressing room, and, because you are behind schedule already, you arbitrarily place me in his part and – BANGO – I am a star.
All of these plans are fine with me, or we could do it any way you would like, it makes no difference to me! But let’s get one thing straight. Mr. Hill, I do not want to be some bigtime, Hollywood superstar with girls crawling all over me, just a hometown American boy who has hit the big-time, owns a Porsche, and calls Robert Redford ‘Bob’.
Respectfully submitted,
Your Pal Forever,
Thomas J Hanks
A four-minute video by the band the SkaVengers takes its title, Frank Brazil, from an alias used by X during an undercover trip overseas.
It traces his life from Punjab to London 21 years later.
Who is the subject of this video?
ANSWER
Udham Singh, who killed General O’Dwyer in London
In a surprise blog post, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, announced a radical shake-up of the company’s corporate structure and management, handing control of its core search engine business to rising star Sundar Pichai.
Not above poking a little fun at itself: embedded in the script on the blog post was a link to another company’s website.
Which one?
ANSWER
Hooli, the fictional version of Google from the HBO comedy Silicon Valley
Kiran Gandhi is a touring drummer with musician M.I.A.
Earlier this year, she ran the London Marathon clocking a finish time of 4:49:11.
Lauded in many circles, she has been vilified as well for an “excessive feministic stance”.
What exactly did she do (or not do) while running the marathon?
ANSWER
Deliberately ran a “free flowing” race without tampons
Hisao Horiyama confided “We finished our training and were given a slip of white paper giving us three options: to volunteer out of a strong desire, to simply volunteer, or to decline”.
Horiyama was part of a dedicated unit of ideologically conditioned warriors.
The choice never had to be exercised by Horiyama, owing to prevailing circumstances, which is why he could recount this incident.
Who were these “conditioned warriors”?
ANSWER
Kamikaze
Two countries’ designs look similar, with just a scattering of stars to differentiate them.
This has led to some new designs being submitted, which will be put to a referendum later this year.
Some of the more grotesque ones are shown in the next slide.
What will the chosen design be used for?
ANSWER
The New Zealand flag
X asked his Twitter followers to send him ____s in which they gave the Vulcan salute, the famous greeting associated with Leonard Nimoy’s pointy-eared alien character in Star Trek.
He did not say what it was for. The images have all been put together in a huge mosaic to create a picture of Nimoyhimself, as Spock, making the Vulcan salute.
ID X and fill in the blank.
ANSWER
William Shatner asked his followers to send in selfies with the Vulcan salute
"After a fortnight's work he will swagger about for a month or two with a sword at his side and a servant following him, from one ball-court to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or an argument," wrote one observer about the painter Caravaggio.
An analysis of Caravaggio’s suspected bones have recently revealed a probable cause of his death, which could also explain the eccentricities of Goya and Van Gogh.
What was revealed, which has a significant recent Indian connect?
ANSWER
Caravaggio suffered from lead poisoning, from his paints
There was some early talk of this city – which means “capital” in the local language – being named after the president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Since independence, he has been the only president of the country, with an electoral victory earlier this year in which he received a whopping 97.7% of votes.
With an emphasis on “infrastructure”, very few of the buildings in the capital city seem to have been designed with practicality in mind. (Pics in next slide)
ID this capital city.
ANSWER
Askan, the capital of Kazakhastan
It is an assignment that Kate Moss, who has appeared on the cover of British Vogue 36 times, described as “the best job ever”. Clive Arrowsmith, who has taken portraits of everyone from Michael Caine to the Dalai Lama, likened it to “a knighthood of photography”.
A key part of the legend is that it is not available to purchase, but sent to a secret list of high-rollers and international public figures. This exclusivity is now entirely academic – the images are widely published on the internet – but it sets a context no less powerful for being imaginary.
What are we referring to?
ANSWER
The Pirelli calendar
After X died in 1991, his widow, Audrey Geisel, gathered a collection of sketches and drafts into a box and forgot about them. A couple of years ago, the now 93-year-old Geisel, her longtime assistant and Cathy Goldsmith, the designer who worked on the last six books, rediscovered them.
It turns out they were the skeleton of a complete story. Out of a collection of black-and-white drawings and the faded, typed rhymes taped to the pictures, the team has recreated a story entitled “What Pet Should I Get?”
Who is X?
ANSWER
Dr. Seuss
