1. Visit us at: www.facebook.com/vitquizclub
The Battle of the Schools
-Prelims-
By:
Devang Mehta
Hosted by: Avneeth Srikrishna
Questions courtesy:
Anchit Bhagat
Khalil Dalvi
Sukalp Muzumdar
Maaruthy Kumaar
Slideshare!

2. Rules & Instructions
• Please write your names and cell nos. at the top
• Qualifying teams will receive a text message
• Finals are tomorrow, same time, same place
• Use only your pens, paper and brains
• Ties will be decided by
o A. Star Marked Questions (Qs 10-19)
o B. Sudden Death
• Every question is 1 point unless stated otherwise
• Quizmaster is God

3. Q1
• Which phrase, made famous by a fable, reflects the
distinguishing feature of a particular seed’s pod, which
bursts open when it reaches maturity?
• Incidentally the seed’s name is also part of the phrase.

4. Q2
• X is a masked anarchist who seeks to systematically kill
the leaders of Norsefire, a fascist dictatorship ruling
a dystopian United Kingdom.
• He is well-versed in the arts of explosives, subterfuge,
and computer hacking, and has a vast literary, cultural
and philosophical intellect.
• X is the only survivor of an experiment in which four
dozen prisoners were given injections of a compound
called Batch 5. The compound caused vast cellular
anomalies that eventually killed all of the subjects except
X, who developed advanced strength, reflexes,
endurance and pain tolerance.
• Who is X?

5. Q3
• It traces its history to the 1850s, when four Gujarati and
one Parsi stockbroker would gather under banyan trees
in front of Mumbai's Town Hall. The location of these
meetings changed many times, as the number of brokers
constantly increased. The group eventually moved to
Dalal Street in 1874 and in 1875 became an official
organization known as 'The Native Share & Stock
Brokers Association'.
• What do we now know this organisation as?

6. Q4
• X is described as being a foul-mouthed, wisecracking, no-
nonsense New York cop with an itchy trigger finger and a
never-say-die maverick spirit. X's marriage is in a constant
state of crisis, his vigilantism and disregard for authority have
put him in danger of losing his job more than once, and he is
a chain-smoker who is described as "two steps away from
becoming a full blown alcoholic", which X jokingly upgrades
to only "one step".
• He has been described in several ways: "The last thing X
wants is to be a hero, but he doesn't have a choice.” He is
also told "You're the wrong guy in the wrong place at the
wrong time", to which he replies, "The story of my life." He
says he gets involved in dangerous situations "because there
is nobody else to do it."

7. Q5
• X was formed on December 13, 1949 as the
"Central Institute for Coordination“. X’s former
motto, be-tachbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milchāmāh is a
quote from the Bible (Proverbs 24:6): "For by wise
guidance you can wage your war" (NRSV). The
motto was recently changed to another Proverbs
passage: be-'éyn tachbūlōt yippol `ām; ū-teshū`āh
be-rov yō'éts This is translated by NRSV as: "Where
there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an
abundance of counselors there is safety." Which
organisation X am I talking about?

8. Q6
• X nicknamed "Hitch”, was an English American author, essayist and journalist,
whose books, essays, and journalistic career spanned more than four decades.
He was a columnist and literary critic for The Atlantic, Free Inquiry, The Nation,
Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, World Affairs, and became a media fellow at the Hoover
Institution in September 2008. He was a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits
and in 2005 was voted the world's fifth top public intellectual in a Prospect/Foreign
Policy poll.
• X was known for his admiration of George Orwell, Thomas Paine and Thomas
Jefferson and for his excoriating critiques of Mother Teresa, Bill and Hillary
Clinton, Henry Kissinger and Britain's royal family, among others. His
confrontational style of debate made him both a lauded and controversial figure.
His departure from the established political left began in 1989 after what he called
the "tepid reaction" of the Western left following Ayatollah Khomeini's issue of a
fatwā calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie.
• His numerous editorials in support of the Iraq War caused some to label him a
neoconservative, although X insisted he was not "a conservative of any kind”
• ID X

9. Q7
What is being made fun of here ?

10. Q8
• This structure is
officially titled, “la
Liberté éclairant le
monde”.
• “JULY IV
MDCCLXXVI” is
inscribed on the left
hand of the structure.
• ID the structure.

11. Q9
• Some of the greatest mathematical minds of all ages, from
Pythagoras and Euclid in ancient Greece, through the
medieval Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa and the
Renaissance astronomer Johannes Kepler, to present-day
scientific figures such as Oxford physicist Roger Penrose,
have spent endless hours over this simple ratio and its
properties. But the fascination with the
__________________is not confined just to mathematicians.
Biologists, artists, musicians, historians, architects,
psychologists, and even mystics have pondered and debated
the basis of its ubiquity and appeal. In fact, it is probably fair
to say that the _____________has inspired thinkers of all
disciplines like no other number in the history of mathematics.

12. Q10*
• It all started in Baie-Saint-Paul, a small town near bec City in
Canada. There, in the early eighties, a band of colourful characters
roamed the streets, striding on stilts, juggling, dancing, breathing
fire, and playing music. Initially named Les Échassiers, they toured
Quebec in 1980 as a performing troupe and encountered financial
hardship that was relieved by a government grant in 1983 as part of
the 450th anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier's discovery of
Canada.
• The X was a success in 1984, and after securing a second year of
funding, Laliberté hired Guy Caron from the National Circus School
to re-create it as a "proper circus". Its theatrical, character-driven
approach and the absence of performing animals helped define X as
the contemporary circus that it remains today.
• More than 100 types of occupations can be found at X.
• X’s creations have received numerous prizes and distinctions,
including a Bambi Award in 1997, a Rose d'Or in 1989, Drama Desk
Awards in 1991 and 1998, three Gemini Awards, four Primetime
Emmy Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• ID X

13. Q11*
• The three component crosses that make up the X are as
follows:
o The red St. George's Cross width is 1/5 of the flag's
height with a 1/15 flag height fimbriation
o The white diagonal St. Andrew's Cross width is 1/5 of
the flag's height and the broader white diagonal's
width is 1/10 of the flag's height
o The red diagonal St. Patrick's Cross width is 1/15 of
the flag's height and the narrow white diagonal's width
is 1/30 of the flag's height
• What is X?

14. Q12*
• Z geometry is a mathematical system attributed to the Alexandrian Greek
mathematician Y, which he described in his textbook on geometry: the
Elements. Y’s method consists in assuming a small set of intuitively
appealing axioms, and deducing many other propositions (theorems)
from these. Although many of Y's results had been stated by earlier
mathematicians, Y was the first to show how these propositions could fit
into a comprehensive deductive and logical system.
• For over two thousand years, the adjective ”Z " was unnecessary
because no other sort of geometry had been conceived. Y's axioms
seemed so intuitively obvious that any theorem proved from them was
deemed true in an absolute, often metaphysical, sense. Today, however,
many other self-consistent non-Z geometries are known, the first ones
having been discovered in the early 19th century. An implication of
Einstein's theory of general relativity is that Z space is a good
approximation to the properties of physical space only where the
gravitational field is not too strong.
• Y is commonly considered the “Father of Geometry”

15. Q13*
• This person when asked about his actions said “They
are never prescripted. They just come differently
depending on how I feel, what I ate, the noise of the
crowd, the heat, the kind of shots that are played. I
myself don’t know what I will do next so how will anyone
else know.” Who?

16. Q14*
• This song by Pink Floyd, the title track of their ninth
studio album released in 1975 is about the detached
feeling most people go through life with. It is a
commentary on how people cope with the world by
withdrawing physically, mentally, or emotionally. In the
commentary of The Wall, Roger Waters states that the
inspiration was Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett
and his ordeal with schizophrenia induced by his
addiction to LSD.

17. Q15*
• X is a retired Italian footballer. Widely regarded as one
of the finest footballers of all times (4th at the FIFA
internet poll; member of the FIFA World Cup Dream
Team), X won both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World
Player of the Year in 1993. He is the only Italian player
ever to score in three World Cups. He is also one of the
top 5 all-time goalscorers for Italy. X is known as Il Divin
Codino (The Divine Ponytail), for the hairstyle he wore
for most of his career and his Buddhist background.
• X has played for Italian clubs like Fiorentina , Milan,
Inter, Juventus, Bologna, Brescia.

18. Q16*
WTGW
• In 2006, X was listed as number 6 on TV Land's list of
the 100 greatest television catchphrases.
• The spoken word X is a sound trademark of 20th
Century Fox.
• Since 2001, the word has appeared in the Oxford
English Dictionary.

19. Q17*
• Mark Taylor’s highest score was 334* . He declared the
innings on this score despite a lot of support from the
crowd to ahead and break the then highest test score of
375 by Brian Lara. Why did he declare?

20. Q18*
• ID this iconic book cover.

21. Q19*
• _____________ is a phrase used to describe the 1920s,
principally in North America, but also in London, Berlin and
Paris for a period of sustained economic prosperity. The
phrase was meant to emphasize the period's social, artistic,
and cultural dynamism. "Normalcy" returned to politics in the
wake of World War I, jazz music blossomed, the flapper
redefined modern womanhood, Art Deco peaked, and finally
the Wall Street Crash of 1929 served to punctuate the end of
the era, as the Great Depression set in. The era was further
distinguished by several inventions and discoveries of far-
reaching importance, unprecedented industrial growth,
accelerated consumer demand and aspirations, and
significant changes in lifestyle and culture.

22. Q20
• The first edition of X appeared on the 26th of February
2012. X has been billed by Rupert Murdoch, the owner
of X and News Corp. as a replacement to NOTW, which
was shut down after a phone hacking scandal. It
employs many former NOTW employees. X?

23. Q21
• From the story “The Greek Interpreter”: There are many
men in London, you know, who, some from shyness,
some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company
of their fellows…It is for the convenience of these that
the _____ _____ was started, and it now contains the
most unsociable and unclubable men in town. No
member is permitted to take the least notice of any other
one, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed,
and three offences, if brought to the notice of the
committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My
brother was one of the founders, and I have myself
found it a very soothing atmosphere.

24. Q22
• X’s law is an adage that states that “if you write anything
criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of
some kind in what you have written”
• The name is a deliberate misspelling of Y’s Law.
• ID X & Y

25. Q23
Connect:

26. Q24
• What famous blog post is this article talking about?

27. 2 points Q25
• X was founded in Palo Alto, California, United States in
October, 2003 by Y (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-
founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.), Nick Sears (once
VP at T-Mobile), and Chris White (headed design and
interface development at WebTV) to develop, in Y words
"...smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its
owner's location and preferences". Despite the obvious past
accomplishments of the founders and early employees, X
operated secretly, revealing only that it was working on
software for mobile phones. That same year, Y ran out of
money. Steve Perlman, a close friend of Y, brought him
$10,000 in cash in an envelope and refused a stake in the
company. Identify X

28. Q26
• Connect:

29. Q27
Put Funda
• Begin the entry in the works-cited list with the author's
real name and, in parentheses, user name, if both are
known and they differ. If only the user name is known,
give it alone.
• Next provide the entire text of the tweet in quotation
marks, without changing the capitalization. Conclude the
entry with the date and time of the message and the
medium of publication

30. Q28
• Painter, poet, songwriter, rock musician and has been
around since the start of the cold war till date. His
original name is Robert Allen Zimmerman . Much of his
most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he
was, at first, an informal chronicler and then an
apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest.

31. Q29
ID

32. Answers

33. Q1
• Which phrase, made famous by a fable, reflects the
distinguishing feature of a particular seed’s pod, which
bursts open when it reaches maturity?
• Incidentally the seed’s name is also part of the phrase.

34. Answer
• Open Sesame

35. Q2
• X is a masked anarchist who seeks to systematically kill
the leaders of Norsefire, a fascist dictatorship ruling
a dystopian United Kingdom.
• He is well-versed in the arts of explosives, subterfuge,
and computer hacking, and has a vast literary, cultural
and philosophical intellect.
• X is the only survivor of an experiment in which four
dozen prisoners were given injections of a compound
called Batch 5. The compound caused vast cellular
anomalies that eventually killed all of the subjects except
X, who developed advanced strength, reflexes,
endurance and pain tolerance.
• Who is X?

36. Answer
• V from V for Vendetta

37. Q3
• It traces its history to the 1850s, when four Gujarati and
one Parsi stockbroker would gather under banyan trees
in front of Mumbai's Town Hall. The location of these
meetings changed many times, as the number of brokers
constantly increased. The group eventually moved to
Dalal Street in 1874 and in 1875 became an official
organization known as 'The Native Share & Stock
Brokers Association'.
• What do we now know this organisation as?

38. Answer
• Bombay Stock Exchange

39. Q4
• X is described as being a foul-mouthed, wisecracking, no-
nonsense New York cop with an itchy trigger finger and a
never-say-die maverick spirit. X's marriage is in a constant
state of crisis, his vigilantism and disregard for authority have
put him in danger of losing his job more than once, and he is
a chain-smoker who is described as "two steps away from
becoming a full blown alcoholic", which X jokingly upgrades
to only "one step".
• He has been described in several ways: "The last thing X
wants is to be a hero, but he doesn't have a choice.” He is
also told "You're the wrong guy in the wrong place at the
wrong time", to which he replies, "The story of my life." He
says he gets involved in dangerous situations "because there
is nobody else to do it."

40. Answer
• John Mclane from Die Hard

41. Q5
• X was formed on December 13, 1949 as the
"Central Institute for Coordination“. X’s former
motto, be-tachbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milchāmāh is a
quote from the Bible (Proverbs 24:6): "For by wise
guidance you can wage your war" (NRSV). The
motto was recently changed to another Proverbs
passage: be-'éyn tachbūlōt yippol `ām; ū-teshū`āh
be-rov yō'éts This is translated by NRSV as: "Where
there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an
abundance of counselors there is safety." Which
organisation X am I talking about?

42. Answer
• The Mossad – The Israeli Secret Service

43. Q6
• X nicknamed "Hitch”, was an English American author, essayist and journalist,
whose books, essays, and journalistic career spanned more than four decades.
He was a columnist and literary critic for The Atlantic, Free Inquiry, The Nation,
Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, World Affairs, and became a media fellow at the Hoover
Institution in September 2008. He was a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits
and in 2005 was voted the world's fifth top public intellectual in a Prospect/Foreign
Policy poll.
• X was known for his admiration of George Orwell, Thomas Paine and Thomas
Jefferson and for his excoriating critiques of Mother Teresa, Bill and Hillary
Clinton, Henry Kissinger and Britain's royal family, among others. His
confrontational style of debate made him both a lauded and controversial figure.
His departure from the established political left began in 1989 after what he called
the "tepid reaction" of the Western left following Ayatollah Khomeini's issue of a
fatwā calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie.
• His numerous editorials in support of the Iraq War caused some to label him a
neoconservative, although X insisted he was not "a conservative of any kind”
• ID X

44. Answer
• Christopher Hitchens

45. Q7
What is being made fun of here ?

46. Answer
• Angelina Jolie’s leg slip at the Oscars

47. Q8
• This structure is
officially titled, “la
Liberté éclairant le
monde”.
• “JULY IV
MDCCLXXVI” is
inscribed on the left
hand of the structure.
• ID the structure.

48. Answer
• The Statue of Liberty

49. Q9
• Some of the greatest mathematical minds of all ages, from
Pythagoras and Euclid in ancient Greece, through the
medieval Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa and the
Renaissance astronomer Johannes Kepler, to present-day
scientific figures such as Oxford physicist Roger Penrose,
have spent endless hours over this simple ratio and its
properties. But the fascination with the
__________________is not confined just to mathematicians.
Biologists, artists, musicians, historians, architects,
psychologists, and even mystics have pondered and debated
the basis of its ubiquity and appeal. In fact, it is probably fair
to say that the _____________has inspired thinkers of all
disciplines like no other number in the history of mathematics.

50. Answer
The Golden Ratio

51. Q10*
• It all started in Baie-Saint-Paul, a small town near bec City in
Canada. There, in the early eighties, a band of colourful characters
roamed the streets, striding on stilts, juggling, dancing, breathing
fire, and playing music. Initially named Les Échassiers, they toured
Quebec in 1980 as a performing troupe and encountered financial
hardship that was relieved by a government grant in 1983 as part of
the 450th anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier's discovery of
Canada.
• The X was a success in 1984, and after securing a second year of
funding, Laliberté hired Guy Caron from the National Circus School
to re-create it as a "proper circus". Its theatrical, character-driven
approach and the absence of performing animals helped define X as
the contemporary circus that it remains today.
• More than 100 types of occupations can be found at X.
• X’s creations have received numerous prizes and distinctions,
including a Bambi Award in 1997, a Rose d'Or in 1989, Drama Desk
Awards in 1991 and 1998, three Gemini Awards, four Primetime
Emmy Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• ID X

52. Answer

53. Q11*
• The three component crosses that make up the X are as
follows:
o The red St. George's Cross width is 1/5 of the flag's
height with a 1/15 flag height fimbriation
o The white diagonal St. Andrew's Cross width is 1/5 of
the flag's height and the broader white diagonal's
width is 1/10 of the flag's height
o The red diagonal St. Patrick's Cross width is 1/15 of
the flag's height and the narrow white diagonal's width
is 1/30 of the flag's height
• What is X?

54. Answer
The Union Jack

55. Q12*
• Z geometry is a mathematical system attributed to the Alexandrian Greek
mathematician Y, which he described in his textbook on geometry: the
Elements. Y’s method consists in assuming a small set of intuitively
appealing axioms, and deducing many other propositions (theorems)
from these. Although many of Y's results had been stated by earlier
mathematicians, Y was the first to show how these propositions could fit
into a comprehensive deductive and logical system.
• For over two thousand years, the adjective ”Z " was unnecessary
because no other sort of geometry had been conceived. Y's axioms
seemed so intuitively obvious that any theorem proved from them was
deemed true in an absolute, often metaphysical, sense. Today, however,
many other self-consistent non-Z geometries are known, the first ones
having been discovered in the early 19th century. An implication of
Einstein's theory of general relativity is that Z space is a good
approximation to the properties of physical space only where the
gravitational field is not too strong.
• Y is commonly considered the “Father of Geometry”

56. Answer
• Euclid

57. Q13*
• This person when asked about his actions said “They
are never prescripted. They just come differently
depending on how I feel, what I ate, the noise of the
crowd, the heat, the kind of shots that are played. I
myself don’t know what I will do next so how will anyone
else know.” Who?

58. Answer
• Billy Bowden

59. Q14*
• This song by Pink Floyd, the title track of their ninth
studio album released in 1975 is about the detached
feeling most people go through life with. It is a
commentary on how people cope with the world by
withdrawing physically, mentally, or emotionally. In the
commentary of The Wall, Roger Waters states that the
inspiration was Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett
and his ordeal with schizophrenia induced by his
addiction to LSD.

60. • Wish you were here

61. Q15*
• X is a retired Italian footballer. Widely regarded as one
of the finest footballers of all times (4th at the FIFA
internet poll; member of the FIFA World Cup Dream
Team), X won both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World
Player of the Year in 1993. He is the only Italian player
ever to score in three World Cups. He is also one of the
top 5 all-time goalscorers for Italy. X is known as Il Divin
Codino (The Divine Ponytail), for the hairstyle he wore
for most of his career and his Buddhist background.
• X has played for Italian clubs like Fiorentina , Milan,
Inter, Juventus, Bologna, Brescia.

62. Answer
• X= Roberto Baggio

63. Q16*
WTGW
• In 2006, X was listed as number 6 on TV Land's list of
the 100 greatest television catchphrases.
• The spoken word X is a sound trademark of 20th
Century Fox.
• Since 2001, the word has appeared in the Oxford
English Dictionary.

64. Answer
• X= d’oh by Homer Simpson

65. Q17*
• Mark Taylor’s highest score was 334* . He declared the
innings on this score despite a lot of support from the
crowd to ahead and break the then highest test score of
375 by Brian Lara. Why did he declare?

66. Answer
• Wanted to share the record with Don Bradman.

67. Q18*
• ID this iconic book cover.

68. • The Great Gatsby

69. Q19*
• _____________ is a phrase used to describe the 1920s,
principally in North America, but also in London, Berlin and
Paris for a period of sustained economic prosperity. The
phrase was meant to emphasize the period's social, artistic,
and cultural dynamism. "Normalcy" returned to politics in the
wake of World War I, jazz music blossomed, the flapper
redefined modern womanhood, Art Deco peaked, and finally
the Wall Street Crash of 1929 served to punctuate the end of
the era, as the Great Depression set in. The era was further
distinguished by several inventions and discoveries of far-
reaching importance, unprecedented industrial growth,
accelerated consumer demand and aspirations, and
significant changes in lifestyle and culture.

70. • The Roaring Twenties

71. Q20
• The first edition of X appeared on the 26th of February
2012. X has been billed by Rupert Murdoch, the owner
of X and News Corp. as a replacement to NOTW, which
was shut down after a phone hacking scandal. It
employs many former NOTW employees. X?

72. • The Sun on Sunday

73. Q21
• From the story “The Greek Interpreter”: There are many
men in London, you know, who, some from shyness,
some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company
of their fellows…It is for the convenience of these that
the _____ _____ was started, and it now contains the
most unsociable and unclubable men in town. No
member is permitted to take the least notice of any other
one, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed,
and three offences, if brought to the notice of the
committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My
brother was one of the founders, and I have myself
found it a very soothing atmosphere.

74. Answer
• The Diogenes Club

75. Q22
• X’s law is an adage that states that “if you write anything
criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of
some kind in what you have written”
• The name is a deliberate misspelling of Y’s Law.
• ID X & Y

76. Answer
• X- Muphry
• Y- Murphy

77. Q23
Connect:

78. Answer
Clockwise from Top Right:
Quentin Tarantino
Robert Rodrigues
Tim Roth
Alexandre Rockwell
Allison Anders
The four directors

79. Q24
• What famous blog post is this article talking about?

80. Answer
• An Open Letter to A Delhi Boy

81. 2 points Q25
• X was founded in Palo Alto, California, United States in
October, 2003 by Y (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-
founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.), Nick Sears (once
VP at T-Mobile), and Chris White (headed design and
interface development at WebTV) to develop, in Y words
"...smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its
owner's location and preferences". Despite the obvious past
accomplishments of the founders and early employees, X
operated secretly, revealing only that it was working on
software for mobile phones. That same year, Y ran out of
money. Steve Perlman, a close friend of Y, brought him
$10,000 in cash in an envelope and refused a stake in the
company. Identify X

82. Andy Rubin

83. Q26
• Connect:

84. Answer
• Hugo

85. Q27
Put Funda
• Begin the entry in the works-cited list with the author's
real name and, in parentheses, user name, if both are
known and they differ. If only the user name is known,
give it alone.
• Next provide the entire text of the tweet in quotation
marks, without changing the capitalization. Conclude the
entry with the date and time of the message and the
medium of publication

86. • Standard MLA format to cite tweets in academic papers

87. Q28
• Painter, poet, songwriter, rock musician and has been
around since the start of the cold war till date. His
original name is Robert Allen Zimmerman . Much of his
most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he
was, at first, an informal chronicler and then an
apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest.

88. • Bob Dylan

89. Q29
ID

91. Q30
• What is this Simpsons clip parodying?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=367Nd07eF9E