Sunday, March 11, 2018

10Q (March 11, 2018)

[For most of the images, larger versions can be viewed by clicking on them]

1. La Madone des Motards, known in English as the festival of the Madonna of the [X] (it's a plural word), is promoted as the largest “pilgrimage” of its kind in France. Begun in 1979 by a local abbot as an event for himself and 37 friends, it annually attracts 10,000-plus participants from across Europe to the fields of Porcaro, population 650, in Brittany. What is [X]?

2. In biological studies, 'in vitro' refers to studies or experiments conducted outside the living body and in an artificial environment. In contrast, 'in vivo' refers to studies or experiments that are performed in the living body of a plant or animal. What are experiments conducted 'in silico', a term coined by mathematician Pedro Miramontes in his 1989 report "DNA and RNA Physicochemical Constraints, Cellular Automata and Molecular Evolution"?

3. A former industrialist born and raised in a conservative Hindu family in Burma, S.N. Goenka (photo above) stumbled upon this form of meditation while searching for a ‘cure’ for his migraines. He reached out to local teacher U Ba Khin, who refused him at first, chiding him for looking at an ancient way of meditation for something so mundane. Not to be deterred, Goenka handed over his business to his family, and spent the rest of his life learning and teaching the techniques. In 1969, he came back to India and re-introduced it here (the teaching had been lost over the years) and set up the first meditation centre.
(a) What technique? (b) In which small town in Nashik district in Maharashtra did he set up the first centre?

4. Betta splendens, also known as the betta, is a popular species of freshwater aquarium fish (photo above). The name of the genus is derived from ikan bettah, taken from a Malay dialect. The wild ancestors of this fish are native to the rice paddies of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam and are called pla-kad (meaning 'biting fish') in Thai. Tending to be rather aggressive, they have been used for 'battles' since prior to the 19th century in south-east Asia. Seeing the popularity of these encounters, King Nongklao started licensing and collecting these fish in the 1840s. What common name are they known by in English?

5. Developed for US military use in the late 2000s by a team at Ekso Bionics under a licensing agreement from Lockheed Martin, what kind of device / mode of transport is the Human Universal Load Carrier, or HULC?

6. The blurb on this non-fiction book cover is by its author's well-known sister, whose name and description have been blanked out. Name her.

7. Having been forgotten on the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, this tiny principality remained legally at war with Germany till 1958, when it formally 'declared peace'. Which country nestled between two larger nations?

8. A vaquero is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that originated on the Iberian Peninsula, and remains a part of the doma vaquera, the Spanish tradition of working riding. Vaquero traditions that developed in Mexico from these Spanish antecedents also became the foundation for the North American cowboy. This is reflected in what word for a cowboy, especially one in the California region of the US, that derives from the word 'vaquero'?

9. I was asked this year to be one of the judges for the Publishing Next Award for Cover of the Year. This was one of the designs submitted. Identify the author. [Enlarge the picture to read the author bio.]

10. These are two early-life memoirs of which famous author?


Answers
1. Bikers
2. Biological experiments carried out entirely in a computer simulation
3. (a) Vipassana (b) Igatpuri
4. Siamese fighting fish
Nongklao was King Rama III of the Chakri dynasty, predecessor and half-brother of King Mongkut or Rama IV, whose life was the subject of the book 'Anna and the King of Siam' (also made into a film), and the subsequent musical 'The King and I'.
5. An exoskeleton
It is an un-tethered, hydraulic-powered anthropomorphic exoskeleton, designed to help soldiers in combat carry a load of up to 90 kg at a top speed of 10 miles per hour for extended periods of time.
6. Mindy Kaling, whose real name is Vera Mindy Chokalingam
7. Andorra
8. Buckaroo
9. M. Veerappa Moily
10. Roald Dahl

18 comments:

  1. 7. Andorra
    8. Gaucho
    Paul

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1. Mustard?
    2. In computer simulation
    3.vipassana
    4. Siamese fighter fish
    5. A robot that carries your luggage?
    6. Mindy kaling
    7.luxembourg
    8.rodeo
    9.
    10. Roald dahl

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1. Poets
    2. Computer simulation
    3. a. Vipassana b. Igatpuri
    4. Siamese Fighter
    5. Ekso skeleton
    6.
    7. Lichtenstein
    8.
    9. Mallikarjun Kharge
    10.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 2. computer simulation
    4. angel fish
    5. exoskeleton
    7. Liechenstein
    10. Roald Dahl :)

    Julian D'Costa

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1. Motorcycles?
    2. Experiments conducted on androids?
    3. (a) Vipassana? (b) Pass
    4. Peking Piranha? :P
    5. Some kind of Segway?
    6. Mindy Kaling
    7. Andorra
    8. Quick-draw?
    9. Siddaramaiah?
    10. Roald Dahl

    -Aditya Mallya

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1. Montagnards
    2. They are experiments that are conducted on the computer or suchlike. They are basically simulations.
    3. Vipassana / Igatpuri
    4. Dragon Fish
    5. Full Body Armour with wheels
    6. Leichtenstein
    9. Veerappa Moily
    10. Roald Dahl

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1. Don’t know
    2. Inside a computer chip (going by ‘silico’)?
    3. Don’t know
    4. Guppies
    5. Don’t know
    6. Don’t know
    7. Liechtenstein
    8. Wrangler?
    9. Moily
    10. Roald Dahl?

    -- (Doc) Shekhar

    ReplyDelete
  8. 1. Motorists
    2. In computer, silicon chips
    3.Unani
    4.Khukri, Sikhs
    5. Carry loads for humans.
    6.Mindy Kaling
    7. Andorra
    9.Veerapa Moilly
    10. T.E Lawrence

    ReplyDelete
  9. 1. Zombies
    2. Conducted on a computer, using a software model.
    3. a) Hath Yoga, b) Deolali
    4. Thai Fighters (LOL. Gimme points for best wrong answer)
    5. A manned drone?
    6. M. I. A.
    7. Lichtenstein
    8. Cowcatcher?
    9. S. M. Krishna
    10. Roald Dahl

    ReplyDelete
  10. 1. Bikers? (Motards sounds like motor head...)
    2. Theoretically in a silicon based life form. As opposed to a carbon based in invivo. In theory, silicon can replace carbon while creating a life form... So something to do with that
    3. Vipassana (I think a question on similar lines has featured in Icoat before)
    4.fighter fish
    5. Jet pack?
    6. Arundhati Roy?
    7. Luxembourg?
    8.
    9. SM Krishna.
    10. Bill Bryson?

    ReplyDelete
  11. 1.
    2. Through virtual simulation?
    3. Vipasana
    4.
    5.
    6.
    7.
    8. Buckaroo
    9.
    10. Roald Dahl

    Payal Desai

    ReplyDelete
  12. 9 s m krishna
    7 Luxembourg
    4 barracuda
    6 jayanti natarajan?
    3 vipassana igatpuri

    ReplyDelete
  13. 1. Veils
    2. Where most of the equations, experiments or process is also mainly worked out on a blackboard or whiteboard
    3. Vipasanna; town is Vipasi
    4. Pedicure fish
    5. A toilet/mobile toilet
    6. Mindy Kaling
    7. Monaco
    8. Rancher
    9. Jairam Ramesh
    10. Lawrence something (the guy on whom Lawrence of Arabia is based)

    ReplyDelete
  14. 1. Bottles
    2. in the egg under the sand
    3. Vipassna in Igatpuri
    4. Warrior fish
    5. Golf Cart
    6.
    7. Andorra
    8. Whacko
    9. S M Krishna or Bangarappa
    10. Stephen Fry

    ReplyDelete
  15. 1.
    2. In glass - so test tubes, beakers, etc.
    3. Ravalgaon
    4. Duel fish
    5. A bionic suit with mechanical legs that a man can sit in. Kinda like from the edge of tomorrow.
    6. Mindy Kaling, the Kaling is short for Chockalingam
    7. Luxembourg
    8. Walker
    9.
    10. Roald Dahl

    ReplyDelete
  16. 1.
    2. In test tubes (or glass containers)?
    3. a. Vipassana?
    4.
    5. Segway?
    6. Mindy Kaling?
    7. Luxembourg?
    8.
    9. Moily?
    10. Gerald Durrell?

    ReplyDelete
  17. 1.Motorcars
    2. In test tubes
    5.Segway
    9.Siddaramaiah
    10.Roald Dahl

    ReplyDelete