General Quiz Questions

This Broadway musical was inspired by the classic Don Quixote, by Cervantes?
Ans: Man of La Mancha

What does the weather service call the boundary between two air masses?
Ans: A front

Name the writer/director of the film "American Graffiti"?
Ans: George Lucas

Rembrandt's ground breaking painting The Night Watch hangs in what city?
Ans: Amsterdam

Name the statesman that declared, Peace is at hand?
Ans: Henry Kissinger

What country provides the setting for Shakespeare's Macbeth?
Ans: Scotland

What is Canada's largest city?
Ans: Toronto

Name the man who invented the stock ticker in 1870?
Ans: Edison

What is the name of the rock that has a black shiny appearance?
Ans: Obsidian

A perfect game in tenpin bowling is?
Ans: 12 strikes

Topic: Apple

Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and he found Apple Computer. He renounced his stake in the company two weeks after it was founded. Who?

Ans: Ron Wayne

Another easy one to end with! Who directed the 1984 Apple Mac ad?

Ans: Ridley Scott

Steven Levy titled his book about the development and history of the Mac, "Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything." Why?

Ans: It was a catch phrase that Steve Jobs used.

A supposedly biographical movie was made movie on the lives of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. What was it called?

Ans: Pirates of the Silicon Valley

This machine came in 1983 with an unprecedented 1MB of RAM (the Apple II has shipped with 48K and the popular Commodore computers of the mid-1980s only shipped with 64K or 128K). It featured a built-in screen, two floppy drives, a menu bar, windows, the ability to run multiple applications at once, a universal copy and paste feature (something that some operating systems don't even have fully implemented today), a hierarchal file system complete with icons and folders, and a completely new device in personal or corporate computing called a mouse. It also had a price tag of $9995, which placed well out of the range of most companies. Just name it!

Ans: Lisa

The project was codenamed Macintosh. It was intended to produce a low cost computer aimed at home users (funny how that sounds like a description of the iMac all these years later). Who envisioned it?

Ans: Jeff Raskin

Simple! Who replaced Jobs At Apple?

Ans: John Sculley

The Apple 1 is introduced and sold at a computer store called the Byte Shop. It sold with no case, monitor, keyboard, or other "enhancements" and was little more than the basic motherboard. How much did it cost?

Ans: $666

It was the first laptop to offer the array of power saving and management features that we find commonplace today. It was also the first laptop that could be docked to a desktop and appear as an external hard drive for easy and fast file transfers.

Ans: The Powerbook

HP, Commodore and this company were all offered the chance to purchase the Apple I and all rejected the offer. Name this company.

Ans: Atari

SAAB-Viggen the car manufacturer cum aeroplane company belongs to which country?

Ans: Sweden

Topic: Airlines

What is unique about Blue Dart and Elbee Express services apart from being popular courier services?

Ans: Services operating Airlines specifically for courier service

What type of aircraft is the SOKOL-3?

Ans: Hang-glider

Which Russian made combat plane has been assigned the suffix 'Fishbed' by the USAF?

Ans: MIG-21

India's first regular passenger flight on Nov. 26,1935 carried two passengers between which cities?

Ans: Bombay-Trivandrum

A certain arcade game by Novalogic Inc. has given the Russian KA-50 strike helicopter a unique name. What?

Ans: Werewolf

What has the Indian Air Force(IAF) rechristened the MIG-29 as?

Ans: Baaz

Coming to fundamentals now. The burning of additional fuel for a short duration in the jet pipe to provide for additional thrust,is assigned what common term ?

Ans: After-Burners

In the Falklands war(1982) British Sea-Harriers accounted for shooting down 38 Argentine aircraft. What is the salient feature of these combat aircraft?

Ans: Vertical Take-off and landing(VTOL)

The first flight of FLYER I in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina(1903) by the Wright Brothers lasted for what duration?

Ans: 12 seconds

Which Commercial Airlines does not operate on Saturdays?

Ans: El Al

Which Indian tycoon was the first to make a solo flight to the UK by flying from Karachi to Cryoden?

Ans: JRD Tata

In Naval aircraft, what is the Steam-catapult employed for?

Ans: Launching Aircraft from Carriers

Expand BCAR (Hint:Something to do with regulation of Aeronautical manufacturing standards).

Ans: British Civil Airworthiness Requirements

What type of aircraft was 'Enola Gay', the plane that dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima?

Ans: B-52 Statofortress

The F-16 Fighting Falcon featured prominently in which of these Hollywood flicks?

Ans: Iron Eagle

Thomson-CSF are reputed manufacturers of which essential component in modern aviation?

Ans: Radars

The TU-142M is used for what purpose?

Ans: Long Range Maritime Reconaissance/Anti-Submarine warfare

Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to fly past the sound barrier on a Bell X-1 on October 14,1947 named his plane after his wife. What was the striking name?

Ans: 'Glamorous Glennis'

The Simon Bolivar International Airport serves which capital city?

Ans: Caracas

Gary Powers was flying a 'stealth' aircraft in May 1960 when a Russian SA-2 SAM detected his plane and sent a missile which exploded periliously close to his wing, thereby forcing him to eject. Which aircraft was he flying?

Ans: Lockheed U-2

Which philanthropist cum aviator re-created the myth of Daedalus by pedalling his plane from Crete to Santorini for a record 74 miles?

Ans: Kanellos Kanellopoulos

During World War II the Chance-Vought F7U-3 Corsair was mostly used in which theatre of war?

Ans: Pacific Ocean and East Asia

The first non-stop flight around the world in 1986 was made on an aircraft designed by Burt Putan which had a revolutionary carbon-fibre design that carried a fuel weight which was five times that of the aircraft itself. What was it called ?

Ans: Voyager

What is the actual designation of the Stuka Dive Bomber?

Ans: Junker JU 87 D

The French Bleriot XI holds what claim to fame?

Ans: First aircraft to cross the English Channel

The Fieseler Fi 156 Storch was brought into mass-production by the Third Reich for which speciality?

Ans: Quick-start

The Klemm Kl 35 trainer aircraft was first fown in which European Nation?

Ans: Germany

The U.S. Navy built 10346 of these sports cum training aircraft from 1937 onwards. Which one?

Ans: Stearman Kaydett

The F-4 Phantom is predominantly used by the Naval forces of which nation despite being originally designed in another nation?

Ans: United Kingdom

Topic: Computer Hard Disk

When disturbed slightly above the stipulated shock level of the hard disk, the Hard disk...

Ans: Develops bad sectors and then crashes

What is the Maximum number of hard disks you can have in a machine of only 2 IDE ports?

Ans: Four

Which unit is used to measure seek time?

Ans: Seconds

How many Bytes make a kilobyte?

Ans: 1024

Which of the three emits the most amount of heat when in use?

Ans: Processor

The main difference between a SCSI Hard disk and IDE hard disk is...

Ans: Bandwidth

The rotation speed is measured in ________?

Ans: Revolutions per Minute

It is not recommended to attach two hard disks of different specifications to the same IDE cable because...

Ans: Speed of the faster one will be toned down to suit the speed of the slower one

Which of this is absent in a Hard disk?

Ans: RAM

Which of these three companies first made the IDE 80 GB hard disk?

Ans: Maxtor

Topic: Computer Graphics

The technique of giving an image a 3D perspective by adding highlights and shadows is...

Ans: Bevel and embossing

Art obtained by multiplying or resampling definite geometric patterns in different directions or dimensions is termed as...

Ans: Fractal-art

The most portable of these formats for high-end image applications is...

Ans: RAW

The Process of mixing colours to yield new colours that were not initially available is called as...

Ans: Dithering

When resampling a picture, the interpolation technique to add colour values to the newly created pixels is termed

as...

Ans: Bi-cubic interpolation

Images that use grids or pixels to display picture composition are called as...

Ans: Raster images

When line drawing algorithms were first implemented, it was observed that oblique lines had ugly jagged edges.

This problem was termed as the...

Ans: Stair case effect

The process of giving dark spots a 3D look especially used in character models is...

Ans: Bump mapping

The method where in equally shaded regions of cyan, magenta and yellow ink are replaced with black in order to

conserve ink is termed as...

Ans: Under colour removal

The process of smoothing jagged outlines by creating partially shaded pixels is...

Ans: Anti-Aliasing

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In the musical scales, which is the highest adult male voice?

Alto

Nicholas Breakspeare became famous under the title Adrian 4. What was his claim to fame in history?

First and only English Pope

This famous writer left a fortune for the establishment of a new phonetic language to assist spelling in his will.

Name him.

GB Shaw

Name the first known person to die of radiation poisoning.

Marie Curie

Who are ‘steel-collar workers’?

Robots

‘Gaggle’ is the collective noun for which animal/bird?

Geese

Name the oldest known alcoholic beverage made.

Mead

According to English legend, who was the only knight to survive King Arthur?

Bedivere

The French call it ‘La Manche’. How do we better know it?

The Chunnel

What is the claim to fame of the River Churun, in geographical terms?

Is the river with the Angela Falls

History and myth

The former name of this country was ‘Belgian Congo’. How do we better know it now?

Zaire

Who was the President of the Congress Party the maximum number of times?

Nehru

In Indian constitutional history, who was the first ‘Prime Minister’ to be dismissed?

Sheikh Abdullah

Which Roman god is the equivalent of Ganesh, as he is the guardian of doors and is invoked at the beginning of any

new project?

Janus

Who did Alexander the Great bequeath his empire to?

The strongest

This English city is currently the capital of Wessex and was the capital of England before London. Name it.

Winchester

Which bird was used by the Roman Empire as a symbol of its power?

Golden Eagle

In WW2, what was common to Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal?

All remained neutral

In Greek myth, she was the symbol of fidelity as, during her husband’s absence, she was pursued by many suitors

but she discouraged them using many strategies. Name her.

Penelope

In Hindu myth, ‘apsaras’ were born of one of the elements. Name it.

Water

1. Which is the shortest verse in the Bible?

2. On which Shakespeare play is the musical "West Side Story" based?

3. In Tintin, Captain Haddock is a member of SSS. Expand SSS.

4. If Rama's wife was Sita, who was Shatrugana's wife?

5. Which drink is nicknamed "scandal broth"?

6. What is Dennis' surname in the comic strip "Dennis the Menace"?

7. Which famous English city has the sobriquet "City of Dreaming Spires"?

8. What was the Rashtrapathi Bhavan initially called?

9. What are Isohels?

10. Which element, after Oxygen, is most abundant on earth's crust?

11. Which multiple-Oscar-winning actor once handled fan mail for Tom and Jerry?

12. What does the phrase "play opossum" mean?

13. Who was the first President of India to have died in office?

14. "1,000,000", "Rotary Ten" and "Driver 8" are some of the "numerically inspired" songs of which group?

15. In 1964, which two places merged to form Tanzania?

Answers

1. "Jesus Wept"; 2. Romeo and Juliet; 3. Society of Sober Sailors; 4. Shrutakirti; 5. Tea; 6. Mitchel' 7. Oxford;

8. Vice- Regal Lodge; 9. Lines on a map joining places with equal sunshine; 10. Silicon; 11. Jack Nicholson; 12. A

person "acting dead" when attacked/criticised; 13. Zakir Hussain; 14. R.E.M.; 15. Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

Which English football club lost 8 of its players in a plane crash in 1959?

Manchester United

Which Hrishikesh Mukherjee movie made Amitabh Bachchan a Star and Rajesh Khanna a Superstar?

Anand

What is the name of the Egyptian Sun God?

Ra

Which company invented the Walkman?

Sony

In which ad would you expect to hear Mozart`s 25th Symphony?

Titan

Which Indian player won a Bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996?

Leander Paes

Who coined the term `Non Aligned` to describe countries that, during the Cold War, aligned neither with the United

States nor with the Soviet Union?

Krishna Menon

Name the first Indian to win the Commonwealth Prize for Literature?

Nayantara Sehgal

Who is the only player to have won the Junior Tennis Grand Slam - the Australian, French, Wimbledon and U.S. Open

Junior Singles?

Stefan Edberg

Which company gave Santa Claus his traditional dress?

Coca Cola

Traditionally, the leaves of what tree are supposed to improve your singing voice?

Neem

Which creature gets its name from the Greek word for `womb` because it resembles the shape of the womb?

Dolphin