7 % Solution

405. Identify

2010-11-09T07:43:00.002+05:30

These awards are the oldest media awards in Germany. They are awarded annually to recognize excellence in international media and television who with vision and creativity affected and inspired the German public that year. Michael Jackson, Sophia Loren, Armani, Shakira, Kate Winslet among others have been the awardees.

Name it.

404. Gift from God?

2010-11-07T10:14:00.001+05:30

His first name is Hebrew for "gift from God" and the surname is a corruption of the French term for "the ox" or "the beef".

Who?

403. Western Propaganda?

2010-11-03T12:03:00.001+05:30

He got his name from the title of a poem by the German children's writer Boy Lornsen: Der Tintenfisch ______ _______. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized him several times and accused the West of using him to spread "western propaganda and superstition.”

Who am I talking about?

402. Silenced?

2010-11-01T20:13:00.001+05:30

Athletes in Tudor England used church bells of various sizes for training purposes. To make it easy and ergonomic they removed the bell clappers and thus, in a way "silenced" them.

As a result what did we get?

401. Son of Goa?

2010-10-11T06:42:00.002+05:30

He was one of the earlier proponents of scientific study of hypnotism, departing from the earlier theory of animal magnetism by Franz Mesmer (after whom we have the word mesmerize). He was born in Goa to Saraswat Brahmin Christian parents who in turn were descents of Hindu Saraswat Brahmins. He along with his father had to escape to Paris when found involved in a plot to free Goa from Portugal. He has been immortalized by Alexander Dumas is his book The Count of Monte Cristo as a omniscient scholar who helps his fellow prisoner Edmond Dantès to escape from Château d'If?

Who is this son of Goa? (Picture above: His statue next to the Old Secretariat in Panaji, Goa)

400. Title, translated....

2010-10-07T19:41:00.004+05:30

The title by which we primarily know it today is a literal translation of the original. Which is a little bit unfortunate, as it may lead one to believe that it may be a reference to corporal punishment and also for the fact that the original expression actually stood for "raising hell".

So what am I blabbering about?

399. Cinema jigsaw?

2010-10-05T12:46:00.002+05:30

In 1966, this dude picked up clips from Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (literal English title: International Secret Police: Key of Keys), a Japanese spy film. Instead of translating the film, he added completely original dialogue that had nothing to do with the plot of the original Japanese film, put in new scenes and rearranged the order of existing scenes, to completely change the tone of the film from a James Bond clone into a comedy about a secret egg salad recipe.

Id the dude.

398. Tripartite?

2010-10-01T10:59:00.001+05:30

Dao Cao Dai (Caodaism in English) is the third largest religion in Vietnam (after Buddhism and Roman Catholicism)

They recognize three saints:

Sun-Yat-Sen (1866-1925), leader of the Chinese Revolution of 1911.
Trang Trinh (1492-1587), Vietnamese poet and prophet.

Who is the third?

397. For the love of literature

2010-09-28T10:55:00.001+05:30

Vladimir Bukovsky defined it as follows: "I myself create it, edit it, censor it, publish it, distribute it, and may get imprisoned for it."

Refers to the clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature or other media in Soviet-bloc countries. Copies were made a few at a time, and those who received a copy would be expected to make more copies. This was often done by handwriting or typing.

Identify.

396. d'Artagnan's loot...

2010-09-26T15:49:00.001+05:30

The thief was nicknamed d'Artagnan after the Dumas character because he used a magnet on a sword-like pole and was banned from the area in 2002 after 30 years of stealing from it.

Using this technique, at the height of the tourist season, in one week, he scooped out an impressive 22 kilos in just fifteen minutes.

Had d'Artagnan not been successful the loot would have been given to Caritas, a catholic charity that provides services for the poor.

Identify d'Artagnan's loot.

395. An oral tradition?

2010-09-23T10:58:00.002+05:30

X is derived from the Salvadora persica ,a small tree or shrub with a crooked trunk, seldom more than one foot in diameter, bark scabrous and cracked, whitish with pendulous extremities.

An important benefit to Muslims is also that the reward of prayer is multiplied 70 times if X is used before it. Although not mentioned in the Qur'an its use is frequently advocated in the Hadith.

What be X?

394. Everything for a reason....

2010-09-21T11:35:00.002+05:30

This term refers to the literary technique whereby an element is introduced early in the story, but whose significance does not become clear until later on. For example, a character may find a mysterious object that eventually becomes crucial to the plot, but at the time of finding, the object does not seem to be important.

Which term?

393. Which way the wind blows?

2010-08-27T08:41:00.004+05:30

"You don't need a ________ to know which way the wind blows"

Which radical left organization(logo above)took its name from the above Bob Dylan song?

392. The Guilty Mother.....

2010-08-17T12:07:00.000+05:30

If “The Guilty Mother” was Number 3 (as well as the last), what was No 1 and No 2 ?

391. Too fucking busy....

2010-08-05T10:22:00.001+05:30

“Too fucking busy, and vice versa"

[Reply to her editor who was bugging her for delivery of a manuscript while she was on her honeymoon]

Who?

390. Pepper Water?

2010-08-01T00:22:00.000+05:30

This curry flavored soup’s name is an anglicized corruption of the Tamil term meaning “pepper water”. Interestingly the name is a misnomer as pepper is not a vital ingredient of the soup.

Name please?

389. Shahjahani Flu

2010-07-28T16:11:00.003+05:30

In the mid-1600s, soon after the Mughal emperor Shahjahan established the capital city of Shahjahanabad, a major flu swept through the city, striking many including the emperor himself. The royal physician devised a spicy recipe to clear blocked sinuses and as an all-purpose remedy to keep the body warm, and a method of overnight cooking was utilized as a way to kill the germs in Delhi’s contaminated water lines.

So what resulted?

388. Hand of God?

2010-07-26T15:41:00.003+05:30

All of us have played this game at some point or the other! In the english speaking world, what is it called?!

387. The mullah with the lamp.....

2010-07-23T10:45:00.003+05:30

One theory behind the origin of the name of this place is that about six hundred years ago an Islamic preacher named Hazrat Badar Aawlia arrived in this city from the seas and chose Cheragi Pahar as his vantage point to spread the message of Islam among the locals. It was at the apex of this hill that the pious messenger lit a X(=lamp in the local language) and called out for people to join him in saying prayer to God.

Another theory is that the first group of Kulin brahmins to have settled in this region all belonged to a particular sub-caste.

Which place?

386. To hide a wrinkle or two....

2010-07-21T10:45:00.002+05:30

In the UK theatre circuit, a bright light placed at eye level, in front of the performer, which helps to hide wrinkles is named in her honor (because she always used to insist on one). Who?

385. Italian, German, French?

2010-07-19T02:51:00.001+05:30

X was created by the Italian Giovanni Maria Farina in the 17^th century. At the time Germany had stringent laws for immigrants but Farina was granted citizenship. As a result, to show his gratitude he named his creation in the honor of his new German home town. Farina gave his creation a French name as in the 17th and 18th century French was spoken in European high society and also used by tradesmen. In the absence of any trademark and patent laws X is now a generic name for a specific class of products. Identify X.

384. Detached?

2010-07-07T20:51:00.000+05:30

This sub-genre of alternative rock which originated in the United Kingdom during the late 1980s gets its name for the following facts. First, the band members stood relatively still during the live performances in a detached, contemplative and passive state with their heads down. Second, the bands made use of effect pedals using their feet. What music genre I am talking about?

Courtesy: Shashank

383. Mind and Body?

2010-07-01T06:27:00.002+05:30

This fitness physical system was designed by the German gymnast Joseph ______ during the First World War as a method to improve the rehabilitation program for the returning war veterans. The exercise regimen was based on the idea that the functioning of muscles is controlled by the mind and hence, he termed his method as Contrology. But today the method is known by the founder’s last name. Which is this one of the most popular fitness programs am I talking about?

382. A complex one

2010-06-28T13:23:00.002+05:30

Connect the following elements (not an exhaustive list)

a. Artur London, a Czechoslovakian communist minister arrested and tried for alleged treason and espionage in a "show trial" during the Stalin period.

b. US police official and alleged torture expert Dan Mitrione

c. An American journalist, Charles Horman, who disappeared in the bloody coup led by General Augusto Pinochet in Chile in 1973

d. The strange case of John Demjanjuk

e. The highly controversial 1963 play, Der Stellvertreter. Ein christliches Trauerspiel (The Deputy, a Christian Tragedy), by Rolf Hochhuth

381. Stampede of noisy elephants?

2010-06-13T08:08:00.001+05:30

The sound produced by them has been compared to "a stampede of noisy elephants," "a deafening swarm of locusts,""a goat on the way to slaughter"and "a giant hive full of very angry bees. Some Freddie "Saddam" Maake claims to have invented it by adapting an aluminium version from a bicycle horn after removing the black rubber to blow with his mouth. He later found it to be too short and joined a pipe to make it longer.
What am I talking about?

380. Life beyond Second Life?

2010-06-03T16:00:00.002+05:30

Where would you encounter the following entities?

Solaria
Mayuravaas
Noom
Turqua
Snowflash
Re-Janm

379. Escaping the wrath?

2010-06-01T20:28:00.000+05:30

This term gets its origin from the 17th Century French practice of signatories to petitions against government officials adding their names on a document in a non-hierarchical circle so that none can be identified as a ring leader. The term finds frequent usage in various areas especially in sports.

Which term?

378. A quick one, that does not conform!

2010-05-31T13:06:00.001+05:30

If that which does not conform is called treif, then what would you call that which conforms?

377. Sheepish ;)

2010-05-27T13:00:00.004+05:30

One of the largest breeds of sheep the Ovis ammon polii (seen in the pic above) was first described by Indian zoologist Edward Blyth.

Why polii?

376. Watered down by prior art?

2010-05-19T17:54:00.003+05:30

When Charles Hall approached the US Patent Office in 1968 for patenting one of his recent inventions - the water-bed - , his application was refused because descriptions of a waterbed constituting “prior art” had already appeared in at least three novels by this writer.

Which writer?

375. Twins in infinite universes?

2010-05-17T11:53:00.001+05:30

Wincanton, a small town in south Somerset, England is unique in the fact that it was twinned in 2002 with a town Y which can only be found in the fictional universe X.

On 5 April 2009, a number of roads were retitled with names taken from Y , such as Peach Pie Street and Treacle Mine Road. There is also a shop in High Street called The Cunning Artificer, which sells collectors items relating to the fictional universe of X.

X and Y please.

374. Perpetual Motion?

2010-05-14T19:17:00.001+05:30

In his search for a perpetual motion machine, Blaise Pascal devised the primitive form of which game?

373. Word of Honor?

2010-05-12T02:54:00.001+05:30

This common term in the legal parlance means “(spoken) word” in French. It gets its origin from the Anglo-French chivalric practice in which the prisoners were released based on their word of honor to abide by certain restrictions.

Which word?

372. Fair and Lovely?

2010-05-10T13:11:00.005+05:30

What you see in the picture is a practice (X) of cleaning and thickening fabrics such as wool by beating it with the foot. By the medieval period, a material (Y) occurring in nature was discovered to be pretty effective in doing this cleaning up, and gradually replaced the manual process to a large extent. As a consequence the material Y came to be named after the process X that it replaced.

Nowadays this material typically surfaces in stuff that the fairer sex smears on their faces.

Identify the material Y.

371. Shake a leg?

2010-05-07T14:46:00.002+05:30

Famous scene from a famous movie. Identify the movie and what is the lady trying to do?!

370. Beer - Bringing people together, since eternity!

2010-05-05T12:07:00.004+05:30

This is Pakistan’s premier beer brand. It is named after the location of the original brewery, started in 1860 to cater to the requirements of British troops stationed there. The original brewery was closed down due to a water scarcity problem in the 1920s and brewing shifted to Rawalpindi and Quetta.

The company – now owned by Parsis - also happens to be the oldest continuing industrial enterprise in Pakistan.

Which beer brand?

369. The Yank who kept the doctor away?

2010-05-03T11:46:00.003+05:30

Gentleman above has TWO primary claims to fame.

1) He was the only American citizen to have faced imprisonment for participation in Indian's freedom struggle.

Which is the other?!

368. Building looks like a painting....

2010-04-29T22:54:00.003+05:30

Museum dedicated to the life and works of a painter. Which?

367. Every dog has his biography?

2010-04-27T11:47:00.003+05:30

The person who wrote it based it on his real-life pet. He can be briefly seen in the book cover. Who?

366. Ineptitude?

2010-04-23T16:56:00.003+05:30

Which term referring to an inept person/sportsperson comes from the comic strip character shown alongside?

365. The real 7% solution?

2010-04-19T10:58:00.001+05:30

An exhaustive list of 7 entities. By what collective term would you refer to them?

364. Which medical condition?

2010-04-17T02:42:00.003+05:30

This bizarre and painful medical condition is named after a Greek god, who was noted for his disproportionately large and permanent erection. In the condition the erect penis or clitoris does not return to its flaccid state, despite the absence of both physical and psychological stimulation, within four hours.

What medical condition am I talking about?

363. One Charles wrote about it, the other Charles popularized it?

2010-04-13T04:22:00.000+05:30

First described by Charles Dickens in his 1857 novel Little Dorrit, this particular type of fraudulent investment operation was named after Charles ____, who became notorious for using the technique in early 1920. The scheme in question pays returns to separate investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned. The scheme allures new investors by offering returns other investments cannot guarantee, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. The scheme came to light last year when some notorious fellow became the largest operator of such scheme. What fraudulent scheme am I talking about?

362. The Madras Triple Helix?

2010-02-20T17:24:00.002+05:30

The “Madras triple helix” is the name assigned by scientific communities in the West to the proposed molecular model of what?

It is quite possible that the name came about due to the difficulty faced by western scientists in pronouncing the names of the Indian scientists who came up with the break-through.

361. It will make a damn mess?

2010-02-11T10:41:00.000+05:30

This dish originated in Quebec, Canada, in the late 1950s with several Québécois communities including Drummondville, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and Victoriaville claiming to be its birthplace. According to an often-cited tale the dish was invented when a customer ordered French fries while waiting for his cheese curds from the Kingsey cheese factory in Kingsey Falls. The exclamatory remark- ça va faire une maudite _______ ("it will make a damn mess") by one Mr. Fernand Lachance in response to the customer's order led to the origin of the name of the dish.

Which dish?

360. Lord, Have Mercy!

2010-02-08T14:08:00.001+05:30

The Bogomils (from bog - Lord and milui - have mercy - in the Bulgarian language) were a Gnostic sect, the members of which supposedly indulged in unlawful sexual activities.

What term comes down to us from the name of this sect?

359. Nonclockwork orange....

2010-02-03T17:13:00.001+05:30

This architectural entity is not of the color indicated by its name. Instead it bears a color called “International Orange” which was chosen for its visibility in fog rather than for any aesthetic reasons.

Identify.

358. All about choices. Yeahs or nays?

2010-02-01T20:42:00.002+05:30

Identify what is in the picture. Also, inspiration for what?

357. Dangerous Diversions....

2010-02-01T18:13:00.003+05:30

If you encountered the following in some order,

Golf Course
Three Blind Mice
Daniel's Dip
Sweet Sixteen
Marine Drive
Roller Coaster
Double Trouble
Club House
Black Money

what would you be upto? And where?

356. Created from a twig?

2010-01-26T11:44:00.003+05:30

Which term is derived from the Greek word meaning "twig or branch" referring that a new plant can be created from a twig or a branch ?

355. Sip the "black" dragon, live by the sea....

2010-01-25T17:15:00.004+05:30

Which word meaning “Black Dragon” in Chinese is used to refer to the dark, long and curly entity shown below?

344. Gandhi's friend?

2010-01-21T00:14:00.002+05:30

He was European correspondent for the Chicago Tribune from 1925 to 1932, covering assignments in Europe, the Near East and India. In India he formed a close friendship with Gandhi and later on also wrote a book called "Gandhi: A Memoir".

He has also written - Love and Hatred: The Troubled Marriage of Leo and Sonya Tolstoy and The Sinking of the Bismarck but these are not why he gained world wide acclaim.

Who is this gentleman and name his most famous work!

343. Back after a hiatus

2010-01-19T15:42:00.000+05:30

When orange trees were transplanted to ________ from Spain in 1527, they did not take to the climate and soil of the southern Caribbean too well, and evolution dictated that they take a green and inedible bitter form called the Laraha.

The dried peels of the Laraha, however, were discovered to be quite pleasantly fragranced, and subsequent experimentation with the extracts of these peels led to the creation of ________ .

Both blanks are the same. Please to fill

342. The sedative salt of Homberg?

2010-01-04T12:40:00.001+05:30

This was first prepared by Wilhelm Homberg (1652-1715) and was given the name sal sedativum Hombergi ("sedative salt of Homberg")

Used in a myriad variety of ways – Antiseptic for minor burns and cuts, Insecticide, Flame retardant, In nuclear power plants to control the fission rate of uranium etc

More known by the masses in India (at least) for a slightly different usage.

Which one?

341. Tale of Two Kings?

2009-12-26T21:44:00.001+05:30

Legend has it that the name of this famous place was an outcome of the conversation between two kings. According to the legend, Raja Bir Singh Deo, sitting on the roof of his palace at Orchha (in Madhya Pradesh, India) with his friend, the Raja of Jaitpur asked the latter whether he could discern this new fort that he built on Bangara hill, he replied that he could see it ‘_______’ (meaning rather indistinct). The answer in course of time became corrupted to _____.

Which place?

340. Sign of God?

2009-12-20T21:05:00.001+05:30

It is Arabic for "sign of god." The name originates from the Quran where human beings can also be regarded as signs of God, the literal translation of the title. 51:20-21 of the Quran states:

On the earth are signs (___) for those of assured Faith,

As also in your own selves: Will ye not then see?

But, the fact that a rock or a tree is just as much a sign of god (_____) is a sobering notion at times lost.

What word?

339. Good deed for the day?

2009-12-18T14:34:00.002+05:30

The term probably derives from the name of a 19th century American railroad superintendent, George R. _______ who, in 1886, devised what was then an innovative system of merits and demerits for employees on the Fall Brook Railway in New York state. Accounts of his system were published in railroad journals, and adopted by many leading U.S. railroads.

American railroad employees soon began referring colloquially to ______ _____ and at some point, the term entered the general vocabulary.

What term?

338. Clockwork Symphony?

2009-12-08T12:31:00.001+05:30

Which four piece vocal ensemble that fuses Romani, Greek, Slavic, Bolero, Mariachi music with American punk and folk roots take their name from Anthony Burgess' Nadsat word for "young girl” ?

337. The right mixture of the orient and the occident?

2009-12-03T20:57:00.002+05:30

Her mother was, at a point of time, married to LSD guru Timothy Leary. Her father was the first western Tibetan monk and is currently the Jey Ksong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University.

She is named after an Indian goddess.

Who?

336. In the beginning there was fire....

2009-12-01T14:41:00.001+05:30

In the Rig Veda, this person is mentioned to have been the first mortal to make fire by rubbing together two pieces of sticks.

Who was this person and what in Hindu theology is named after him?

335. Bucklestrapping?

2009-11-27T14:53:00.001+05:30

In 1912, Tokuji Hayakawa founded a metal workshop in Tokyo and innovated the first of his many inventions: a snap buckle named 'Tokubijo'.

Couple of years later he came up another invention, a mechanical pencil – which became a best seller – and ended up lending its name to that of the Company.

Which one?

334. Herbacious?

2009-11-25T16:20:00.000+05:30

Which herb, whose name literally approximates to “mountain hollyhock”, now mostly available in paste or powdered form and forming a vital component of a particular cuisine, is best ingested post grating it with a grater made of sharkskin?

333. What's Wrong?

2009-11-23T00:54:00.003+05:30

Photo: Oravanh Thammasen

What is so odd about the traffic lights at Tipperary Hill, Syracuse, NY? Explain.

332. Sudoku anyone?

2009-11-20T10:24:00.002+05:30

Easy one. What is the following format of Sudoku called?

331. The name of the rose

2009-11-18T21:46:00.002+05:30

In 1893, a clipping from a rose tree was transplanted from near a grave in Nishapur in Iran to another grave in Boulge, Suffolk.

So what is the name of this rose?

330. Wot, No Coffee?

2009-11-11T12:02:00.002+05:30

At Cambridge University, a coffee dispenser used to be kept in a corridor just beside the Trojan Room and people from all over the building used to come and consume coffee at that point. The Trojan room housed the notorious Computer Science Hackers who used to guzzle coffee like there's no tomorrow and so most of the time the other people had to return back disappointed from the dispensing machine after having walked an exhausting floor or two. To put the other guys out of their discomfort, what innovation/first did the Trojan Room inmates come up with in 1991, thereby giving rise to a widespread internet phenomenon today??

329. In memory of Alexis Helmer......

2009-11-09T19:20:00.000+05:30

What was written in the form of a French rondeau by John McCrae after he witnessed the death of his friend Alexis Helmer, only 22 years old, the day before in 1915?

328. Alcohol Number One?

2009-11-03T18:27:00.003+05:30

No 1 is based on Gin. No 2 on Scotch Whiskey. No 3 on Brandy, No 4 on Rum, No 5 on Rye and No 6 on Vodka.

No 2, No 4 and No 5 are extinct. No 3 is available in a variant form seasonally. No 6 can be sometimes found.

Sales of No 1 peak every year typically in a 2 week period mid-year.

What am I talking about?

327. Guest Question!

2009-10-31T12:56:00.002+05:30

Who is the inventor of the US Patent whose abstract is as follows

"A system for allowing a shoe wearer to lean forwardly beyond his center of gravity by virtue of wearing a specially designed pair of shoes which will engage with a hitch member movably projectable through a stage surface. The shoes have a specially designed heel slot which can be detachably engaged with the hitch member by simply sliding the shoe wearer's foot forward, thereby engaging with the hitch member."

Courtesy: Nagesh Subrahmanyam, School chum, author of red books and an extremely inquisitive personality!

326. The Gang of 5?

2009-10-28T14:16:00.002+05:30

On the basis of Ownership, what can be categorized neatly into the following 5 groups:

Shubert (17)
Nederlander (9)
Jujamcyn (5)
Roundabout (3)
Others (6)

325. Wealthy fortunate follower of religion?

2009-10-24T14:14:00.003+05:30

He was originally called "Namgyal Wangdi", but as a child his name was changed to one meaning "wealthy-fortunate-follower-of-religion".

His exact date of birth is uncertain, but he knew it was late May from the weather and the crops. Later, he decided to treat 29 May as his birthday, as it was on this date that he performed a momentous feat.

Who? And why 29th May?

324. A Jerusalem in Ethiopia?

2009-10-21T14:11:00.001+05:30

This town, now a UNESCO world heritage site for its unique rock hewn monolithic churches was named after Saint Gebre Mesqel X, a member of the Zagwe Dynasty, who ruled Ethiopia in the late 12th century and early 13th century. (The saintly king was given this name X due to a swarm of bees said to have surrounded him at his birth, which his mother took as a sign of his future reign as Emperor of Ethiopia)

X is said to have seen Jerusalem and then attempted to build a new Jerusalem as his capital in response to the capture of old Jerusalem by Muslims in 1187. As such, many features of the town have Biblical names - even the town's river is known as the River Jordan.

Identify.

323. Party time?

2009-10-19T10:28:00.001+05:30

This style of rhythmic music gets its name from the local creole of French meaning 'party' or 'festival'. It traces its origin from the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Haiti, St. Lucia, and Dominica. In Africa, it is popular in francophone and lusophone countries. In Europe, it is particularly popular in France, and in North America in the Canadian province of Quebec.

Which style of music?

322. Lucky Charm?

2009-10-15T02:10:00.003+05:30

X is a term commonly encountered in the African-American folk belief of hoodoo. It is a type of magic charm, often of red flannel cloth and tied with a drawstring, containing botanical, zoological, and/or mineral curios, petition papers, and the like. It is typically worn under clothing. In modern usage X is increasingly being used to refer to possessing a magical touch of creativity or charm.

Which term?

321. The place where the Old Lady lived....

2009-10-13T12:35:00.002+05:30

According to a one theory, the name is made up through the combination of a word meaning "place" and the name of an old woman known for her honesty and who once upon a time lived in the region.

Travelers would entrust this woman with any belongings for which they had no use on their return trip to the north. On returning home, if asked where he left his/her belongings behind, he would answer: "I left them at "the place where lived"! The two terms ended up fusing into one word, thus giving this place its name.

Identify.

320. Name the game?

2009-10-09T11:38:00.001+05:30

This game was created by Leslie Scott while using children's wooden building blocks which her family purchased from a sawmill in Ghana.Though a British national, Scott was born in East Africa where she was raised speaking English and Swahili, before moving to live in Ghana. This explains the Swahili name of the game meaning to 'to build'.

Identify the game.

319. Unwanted advice?

2009-10-07T13:41:00.001+05:30

This is the Yiddish term for a meddler who offers unwanted advice to others

Now mostly encountered to specify a hanger-on/spectator in a game of bridge or chess, offering (often unwanted) advice or commentary.

Which term?

318. Bringing back to life?

2009-10-05T13:16:00.003+05:30

This cinematic effect is most commonly used by makers of documentaries on subjects where principally still material (photographs, paintings etc) is available. To bring the still material to life, for example, the camera zooms in on subjects of interest and then pans from one subject to another, finally coming to rest on the element which is the subject of the voice-over narration.

This effect is also present in many professional and home software applications (the iPhoto, iMovie etc from Apple) and is named after the guy who popularized it in some epoch making documentaries.

What is this effect called?

317.Only If he drove a Volkswagen?

2009-09-30T10:22:00.004+05:30

Fill in the missing blank. Also, an allusion to which incident?

316. Rules for Spontaneity?

2009-09-27T12:05:00.002+05:30

When asked how he wrote 'Spontaneous Prose' he replied back with his thirty 'essentials':
1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for your own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside your own house
4. Be in love with your life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Don't think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You're a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven

Who?

315. Hercules's victim?

2009-09-23T15:48:00.003+05:30

According to Greek myth, this geographical entity is named after the daughter of Bebryx, who after being raped and impregnated by Hercules, decided to track down Hercules, was lost in a storm and was finally eaten by wolves.

Hercules not knowing exactly where she was, built a great tomb for her which became this entity. Which one?

314. Fresh Fruits

2009-09-21T09:35:00.003+05:30

Created in 1966 by Ron Karenga, X is a week-long holiday celebrated in the United States honoring African heritage and culture. The name of the festival is derived from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya X", meaning "first fruits". Each of the seven days is dedicated to Nguzo Saba or 'The Seven Principles' described as Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith).

The week day celebration is marked by lighting a kinara (candle holder) and pouring of libations, and culminating in a feast and gift giving. The greeting for each day of is "Habari Gani", Swahili for "What's the News?"

The US stamp (pic), created by artist Daniel Minter, shows seven figures in colorful robes symbolizing the seven principles.

Which celebration am I talking about?

313. Banished from Venice....

2009-09-18T14:21:00.002+05:30

In 1291, practitioners of this art-form were forced to move from Venice to a neighboring island (name blacked out in the figure) as most of Venice was made up of wooden buildings.

Which art-form? Which neighboring island?

312. In the court of King Neptune?

2009-09-16T13:54:00.001+05:30

Those who accomplish the feat are nicknamed Shellbacks and those who have not are nicknamed Pollywogs.

After accomplishing the feat, Pollywogs receive subpoenas to appear before King Neptune and his court (usually including his first assistant Davy Jones and her Highness Amphitrite and other assorted dignitaries), who officiate at the ceremony marking their transition to a Shellback.

What feat are we referring to?

311. The new Pheidippides?

2009-09-14T18:16:00.002+05:30

The Athens Classic Marathon, an annual event was established in 1983 and has been run annually since, normally in November.

The marathon is dedicated to the memory of someone (pic above), who amongst other things, held the national Greek record for Long Jump for 23 years and whose death caused a symbolic piece of graffiti to come up all over Athens.

Identify this person.

310. Product-displacement?

2009-09-11T22:53:00.001+05:30

In the post production for this movie, in opposition to product placement, the editors had to resort to something called product displacement,and digitally remove several logos from various artifacts in the movie (at a cost of several thousand pounds).

Many companies such as Mercedes refused to allow their products to be used in non-flattering and squalid settings which the movie demanded.

Identify this fairly contemporary movie.

309. The road to enlightenment....

2009-09-10T00:41:00.002+05:30

What is the following an example of:

In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat
hacking at the PDP-6.

"What are you doing?" asked Minsky.

"I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-tac-toe," Sussman
replied.

"Why is the net wired randomly?", asked Minsky.

"I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play," Sussman said.

Minsky then shut his eyes.

"Why do you close your eyes?" Sussman asked his teacher.

"So that the room will be empty."

At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.

308. Off with his head (but they couldn't get rid of his shadow)...

2009-09-07T16:02:00.002+05:30

The Turkish-Greco school of shadow puppetry gets its name from the name of a labourer (the name translates into Blackeye in English) active during the construction of a mosque in Bursa during the reign of Orhan I. The labourer and his compatriot (who is also an integral part of these plays) used to entertain other labourers during construction time and were executed for the resulting delay of the work. The saving grace was that they became folk heroes!!

The plays themselves are structured into four parts – Mukaddime (the introduction), Muhavere (the dialog), Fasil (the main plot) and Bitiş (the conclusion).

Identify this art form which is especially associated with the holy month of Ramzan.

307. The insights of one Alan Greenspan....

2009-09-03T21:10:00.002+05:30

As chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan was known for using quirky, proletariat metrics to judge the temperature of the economy. The most famous of these, as recounted by NPR's Robert Krulwich in January 2008, were the sales of X.

"If you look at sales of X it's just pretty much a flat line, it hardly ever changes," Krulwich recounted after the publishing of Greenspan's book, "The Age Of Turbulence." "But on those few occasions where it dips, it is almost always a prescient, forward impression that here comes trouble.'"

So what did Greenspan identify as the perfect recession indicator?

306. The Palace and the Classic?

2009-09-02T02:04:00.006+05:30

The palace is the central plot of a 1964 classic of the same name. Identify the movie/palace.

305. The farewell ride?

2009-08-31T15:46:00.003+05:30

So tenderly
Your story is
Nothing more
Than what you see
Or
What you've done
Or will become
Standing strong
Do you belong
In your skin
Just wondering
Gentle now
The tender breeze
Blows
Whispers through
My ____ ______
Whistling another
Tired song

From the soundtrack of a movie(possibly the last and the most successful box office grosser in one stupendous career).

Identify the movie.

304. The Morea and the reinstated Morte!

2009-08-27T18:50:00.002+05:30

During the Middle Ages, this peninsula forming the southern most part of Greece was known as the Morea, primarily because the Crusaders found the region densely planted with mulberry trees used by the flourishing silk industry.

But it derives its current (as well as antique) name from an ancient hero who was ritually brought back to life after his father fed him to the Gods in a savage banquet.

Identify this geographical entity.

303. The Biscuit and the Mountain?

2009-08-24T12:39:00.004+05:30

The US version can be associated with the following elements:

a. A modified Zero Haliburton model
b. An Operation code-named “Dropkick”
c. “Gold codes” carried on “The Biscuit”
d. The "Yankee White"

The Russian version is named after the mountain highlighted in the map below:

What am I referring to?

302. Connect?

2009-08-23T09:12:00.003+05:30

Connect the two musical instruments apart from the fact that they are stringed instruments.

301. Stuck in the place?

2009-08-22T13:42:00.003+05:30

Identify the guy and the place.

300. Hot Gates?

2009-08-21T15:46:00.001+05:30

The place means "hot gates" in Greek. This is derived from the myth that Heracles had jumped into the river in an attempt to wash off the Hydra poison imbibed in the cloak that he could not take off. The river was said to have turned hot and stayed that way ever since. The place is best known for a certain number of people put up a stiff resistance against the Persians.

Which place?

299. Which sport?

2009-08-18T08:10:00.001+05:30

This sport was invented by David N. Mullany of Fairfield, Connecticut on August 14th, 1953 when he designed a ball that curved easily for his 12-year old son. It was named when his son and his friends would refer to a strikeout as 'X'.The sport is designed for indoor or outdoor play in confined areas. The game is played using a perforated, light-weight, rubbery plastic ball and a long, plastic bat.

Which sport?

298. French, German, Eqyptian or Moroccan?

2009-08-17T11:27:00.001+05:30

There are multiple theories about the origin of this term. The Oxford English Dictionary mentions three probable theories:

the word is derived from the combination of the French for "yes" and the German for "yes"
inventor Charles Kennard claimed it to be an Ancient Egyptian word meaning "good luck"
the word was inspired by the name of a Moroccan city

Which term?

297. Schweitzer + Gauguin = ?

2009-08-16T18:32:00.003+05:30

"Described by his contemporaries as a cross between Albert Schweitzer and Paul Gauguin, he was a man of contradictions, at times taking on the role of evangelist, social worker, political activist, poet, government worker, and more. Intensely political, the Oxford-trained scholar tirelessly defended the rights of the indigenous and despite the deep religious influences of St. Francis and Mahatma Gandhi on his early career, staunchly opposed Hindu and Christian puritans in the debate over the future of India's X"

Identify the gentlemen.

296. Where's George?

2009-08-13T22:28:00.001+05:30

Where's George? is a unique website established in December 1998 by Hank Eskin, a database consultant in Brookline, Massachusetts. Although the primary focus of the website is something else, the findings of the website has been utilized for research purposes. More recently, data from the website have been used to attempt to predict the rapidity and pattern of projected spread of the 2009 swine flu outbreak.

What does the website do?

Hint: TrackGandhi, the Indian version