Sunday, January 26, 2014

Weekend Workout 02 (week starting January 26, 2014)


Beyond the Limelight

1. After achieving his most famous conviction in 1931, Elliot Ness was promoted to Chief Investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago and in 1934 for Ohio. Later, he was appointed Safety Director for the city of Cleveland, which put him in charge of both the police and fire departments. In this capacity, he oversaw the hunt for the Cleveland Torso Murderer, a vicious serial killer operating in the Cleveland area from 1935 to 1938. Some historians suggest his failure to solve the torso murders may have contributed to his exit from what was otherwise a remarkably successful career in Cleveland. What famous 1987 movie depicted the earlier, more famous part of Ness's career?
A. 'The Untouchables'
Ness headed the crack unit which took an unusual route to put gangster Al Capone in jail by going after his bootlegging operations and eventually having him convicted on tax evasion.

2. Versions of 'Guerrillero Heroico' have been painted, printed, digitised, embroidered, tattooed, silk-screened, sculpted or sketched on nearly every surface imaginable, leading the Victoria and Albert Museum to say that it has been reproduced more than any other image in photography. What or whom does it depict?
A. Che Guevara
Here's the original photograph by Alberto Korda.

3. In 2009, which international drug major was asked to pay a record $2.3 billion penalty over unlawful prescription drug promotions? The penalty included the largest criminal fine in U.S. history – $1.2 billion. Authorities called it a repeat offender, noting that it was the fourth such settlement of government charges in the last decade.
A. Pfizer

4. After the death of Walter Cronkite, whose voice replaced his doing the CBS Evening News intro? [Listen to the audio.]
A. Morgan Freeman.
I'm surprised more people didn't get this – I almost didn't put it thinking the voice was too distinctive. I just played it back for Anjali as a test, and the VO barely got past the first few words before she identified the voice.

5. It is often claimed (sometimes as a quiz question) that Isaac Asimov is the only person to have books published in all the categories of the Dewey Decimal System. This is not true – his books have been published in nine out of the ten categories. Given the list of categories – 000: Generalities; 100: X; 200: Religion; 300: Social Sciences; 400: Languages; 500: Pure Sciences; 600: Applied Sciences & Technology; 700: Arts; 800: Literature; 900: History & Geography – what is 'X', the only category under which Asimov never published a book?
A. Philosophy

6. Identify this member of the 1990s British national diving team, who placed 12th in platform diving at the 1992 World Championships.
A. Jason Statham

7. Lying on the Silk Road, it was a site of several Buddhist monasteries, and a thriving center for religion, philosophy and art. It was particularly known for the cliffside caves where monks lived as hermits. Many of the caves were embellished with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly colored frescoes. The most famous of these were built in the 6th century CE by the Kushans, under the guidance of local Buddhist monks. Name this place, which shot into the news in March 2001.
A. Bamyan.
The two most prominent statues were the giant standing Buddhas Vairocana and Sakyamuni, measuring 55 and 37 metres (180 and 121 feet) high respectively, the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world. They were blown up by the Taliban in March 2001. Here are before-and-after photos of the area.


8. In December 2006, he convened a group of experts in New Orleans to brainstorm building green affordable housing on a large scale to help those families most in need after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, which went on to become the Make It Right Foundation, a non-profit organisation. Who is he?
A. Brad Pitt

9. Which vessel was commanded by Christopher Pike in "The Cage", the original pilot episode of a famous television series? The pilot was never used once the series launched, though the character of Pike has surfaced a couple of times.
A. The Starship Enterprise from 'Star Trek'

10. In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the Pentapolis are five cities also collectively referred to as "the Cities of the Plain" since they were all situated on the plain of the River Jordan, in an area that constituted the southern limit of the lands of the Canaanites. Three of the cities were Admah, Zeboim and Bela. What were the names of the other two?
A. Sodom and Gomorrah

9 comments:

  1. 2. Che Guevara
    3. Pfizer
    6. Jason Statham
    8. Brad Pitt

    Lynn

    ReplyDelete
  2. Question 3 Merck, Question 5 Philosophy

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1. The Untouchables
    2. Che Guevera
    3. Pfizer
    4.
    5. Philosophy
    6.
    7. Bamiyan

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1. The Untouchables
    2. Che Guevara
    3. Pfizer
    4.
    5. Philosophy
    6. Jason Statham
    7. Baamiyan
    8. Jimmy Carter
    9.
    10. Sodom & Gommorah

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1. Capone
    2. Woman tennis player and her behind.
    3. Pfizer
    5. Sport.
    6. Peter Winfield
    7. Lhasa
    8. Al Gore
    9. Starship Enterprise
    10. Sodom and Gemorrah?

    Regards Paul

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1.
    2. Che Guevara
    3. Pfizer
    4.
    5. Philosophy
    6.
    7. Tora Bora
    8.
    9. USS Enterprise (Star Trek)
    10.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1. The Untouchables.
    2. Che Guevara.
    3. Ranbaxy?
    4. Morgan Freeman.
    5. Religion?
    6. ??
    7. Bamiyan.
    8. ??
    9. ??
    10. Jerusalem and ??

    ReplyDelete
  8. 1. The Untouchables
    2. Che Guevara
    3. Pfizer
    4.
    5. Finance?
    6.
    7.Bamian
    8.
    9.
    10. Sodom and Gomorrah

    ReplyDelete