Some critics wonder whether this will add an additional factor of luck to the outcome of points, but others feel it will all even out. What tiny yet significant change is this?
Sep 30, 2012
Q.731
Sep 29, 2012
Q.730
The sale has kicked off an incredible row, with a hate triangle involving Japan, China, and Taiwan. What's the fuss all about, and what are these places part of?
Sep 28, 2012
Q.729
Give the dimensions of what is being transported, the plan is to move street lights and power lines etc. out of the way. If trees are going to be removed, then either they will be replanted or replaced (take it easy, all you tree-huggers), or they were already part of a different urban plan to move them.
What is being moved?
Sep 27, 2012
Q.728
She has won Emmies thrice, one each for these TV series. The latest was for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series" in the 2012 Emmy Awards, for "The Veep". Her previous win was in 2006 for "The New Adventures of Old Christine". Which actress?
Sep 26, 2012
Q.727
Sep 25, 2012
Q.726
What name?
Sep 24, 2012
Q.725
In this picture (taken on Sept 02, 2012), you see Australian sports minister Kate Lundy, an avid rower, who has just finished rowing 1000 meters at the rowing course at Eton Dorney, in England. Curiously, she is wearing Team Great Britain colours (red and blue).
Why is that so?
Image: AFP/The Australian
Sep 23, 2012
Q.724
Who?
Image: The Telegraph
Sep 22, 2012
Q.723
Sep 21, 2012
Q.722
In this visual, you see a picture of one such protestor. Which province and which country?
Image: Kippelboy/Wikimedia Commons
Sep 20, 2012
The Infinite Zounds 2012 Survey
17 Sept update: I have received 135 responses. Since not all readers visit the blog that regularly, I will keep the survey open for a week and bump it up in the order of posts so that you, my irregular heartbeat of a reader, can tell me all. Thanks :-)
Hello there. You may have noticed that Infinite Zounds is now in the 700s, and if you do the numbers, you'll know the blog is also a couple of weeks away from notching up two years on the board.
Milestones such as these always inspire some introspection: we at IZ aren't immune to this tendency. To help us understand you, our reader, better and to take a few more steps in what looks like the right direction, we have a little survey for you.
OK, "little" is perhaps not the most apt adjective, for there are more than a few questions in this survey. But they aren't very taxing (at least, not as taxing as IZ questions :-) ), and you should be done in a jiffy. I can't emphasise how useful the value of your input will be to us.
So could we get you to click on this link and take the survey when you have some minutes to spare?
Thank you,
Ramanand
Q.721
Sep 19, 2012
Q.720
"A civilised society must show gratitude when people can sense it, or it is no gratitude at all and if our country does not stand and salute [him] with a Bharat Ratna, I don't know who else deserves it."
About whom was he talking about?
Sep 18, 2012
Q.719
The last Ambassador to die in harness was Arnold Raphel, who died in a plane crash in 1988. You probably remember the Head of State who died in the same crash. Who?
Sep 17, 2012
Q.718
Which word?
Sep 16, 2012
Q.717
According to Apple's slogan for this promotion, the iPhone is "the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since ___". What?
Sep 15, 2012
Q.716
Inspired by the one of the moves in the dance to the "Y.M.C.A" song, what pose is this?
Image: The Rambling Man and Kim Ratcliffe of Think Equestrian/Wikimedia Commons
Sep 14, 2012
Q.715
Here are two such replicas: identify both these landmarks.
Images: AsiaOne Relax, Macaron Magazine
Do you know the 2012 IZ survey is in progress? Do give us your feedback about this blog - the survey is here.
Sep 13, 2012
Q.714
"Bombay, which obliterated its own history by changing its name and surgically altering its face, is the hero or heroin of this story, and since I'm the one who's telling it and you don't know who I am, let me say that we'll get to the who of it..."
which is just the beginning of something very unusual - so my question is, what's so different about the opening of the book?
(I should have been playing Shankar Mahadevan's "Breathless" while writing this)
Now, I will now go recover from what I tried to do in the question - safe in the knowledge that the Booker jury will not be giving it any prize. You go rest too.
Do you know the 2012 IZ survey is in progress? Do give us your feedback about this blog - the survey is here.
Sep 12, 2012
Q.713
* Bossa Nova: a distinctive style of Brazilian music; influenced by both jazz and samba music; known for distinctive rhythms.
* Carnavalesca: an adjective meaning "of or related to the carnival"
* Brazuca: an informal term for a Brazilian; can be used to denote 'national pride in the Brazilian way of life'.
Brazuca won, by the way.
Sep 11, 2012
Sep 10, 2012
Q.711
"Look up at the stars and not down at your feet.", he said on this occasion. What was the occasion (timeline: August 29, 2012)?
Image: The Telegraph
Sep 9, 2012
Q.710
Now set to return to the Indian cultural scene this year, what was this album's song-of-the-year?
Sep 8, 2012
Q.709
Which Olympiad is this?
Sep 7, 2012
Q.708
Which country was showcasing its talents thus?
Sep 6, 2012
Q.707
What is the more common name of this bird?
This day last year: Q.341Sep 5, 2012
Q.706
In 1994, during a NATO training course in Budapest, a soldier named Ramil Safarov from one of these two countries killed a soldier (Gurgen Margaryan) from the other country. He was sentenced by Hungary. However, in August 2012, he was extradited back to his home country after that country promised to continue his sentence, much to the protests of Margaryan's country. But, in a provocative gesture, Safarov was not only pardoned, but promoted and feted in his home nation.
The other country has now broken off all diplomatic relations with Hungary. Which are these two countries?
Sep 4, 2012
Q.705
Incidentally, Shinde was preceded and then succeeded as CM by the person. He too was in the news a couple of weeks later. Who?
Sep 3, 2012
Q.704
What post?
Sep 2, 2012
Q.703
This occured during a programme where a veteran Tamil music director duo were being felicitated. Jayalalitha mentioned how she had requested that their names be considered, but that had been ignored. Several of her movies had had music by the duo, arguably two of Kollywood's greatest music figures.
Which pair?
This day last year: Q.337Sep 1, 2012
Q.702
This is not only an observation tower, but also a work of sculptural art. Designed by the artist Anish Kapoor and the designer-architect Cecil Balmond, and located in the Olympic Park, London, the "Orbit" was shown to the world in May 2012, in time for the London Olympics. Apparently the biggest piece of public art in Britain, it was also considered as a possible destination for the Olympic flame.
Principally funded by Britain's richest person, the name prefixed to "Orbit" is one of his best known companies. What's the full name of this sculpture?
Image: you_only_live_twice/Wikimedia Commons