Dynamix 2008 Quiz and Crossword
Dynamix 2008 held at Ramjas, RK Puram, about which I had written earlier also, was the first tech symposium of the year for me and the both the events here for which I went (Quiz and Crossword) were sadly, rigged 
We did managed to get a 3rd position in the Crossword, but it was a really bad experience…
Here are the downloads (Quiz was totally copied from Past Exun archives) for Dynamix 2008 – With Solutions.
Do try out the crossword clues – because it had some weird god clues 
The finals of the Quiz were really bad and I just hope next year this fest is better!
Code Wars 2008 DPSVK Tech Quiz Prelims
Code Wars 2008 Quiz Prelims – Held at DPS Vasant Kunj
Tech Quiz
Date: 21 November 2008
1. * Decrypt this: “Bpqa qa vwb epib gwc bpqvs qb qa”
Ans: “This is not what you think it is”. The encryption system used here is ROT-8, not ROT-13.
2. What is the NASDAQ stock ticker symbol for Sun Microsystems?
Ans: JAVA
3. Of which US-based media organization is Microsoft the part owner of?
Ans: MSNBC
4. Who is the creator of eBay?
Ans: Pierre Omidayar
5. * One of the many nicknames that this person has is ‘Monkey Boy’. Who
is he / she?
Ans: Steve Ballmer
6. Digit magazine is owned by which company?
Ans: Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx
7. Connect: Dodgeball, Urchin, Jaiku, GrandCentral
Ans: All of these companies were acquired by Google. (Urchin was renamed as Google Analytics)
8. Name the web-based content management system software that is used
to run Wikipedia and many other similar wikis.
Ans: MediaWiki
9. For which operating system was Microsoft Office first released?
Ans: Mac OS
10. * Which company makes the processor for the Apple iPhone?
Ans: Samsung
11. * What is the name of Microsoft’s diagram and flowcharting software?
Ans: Visio
12. Name the GUI used on the OLPC XO laptop.
Ans: Sugar
13. Jelsoft Enterprises makes a product which is highly popular with web
developers. What is that product?
Ans: vBulletin (forum software)
14. * What was Yahoo! Widgets earlier known as?
Ans: Konfabulator
15. Glutamate Grape, Sugar-Free Radical, Beta Carroty, and Sero-Tonic
Water are different varieties of what?
Ans: Google Gulp flavors
16. Identify the person.
Ans: Sakina Arsiwala, International Manager of YouTube
17. Name Mozilla Labs’ new instant messaging project.
Ans: Snowl
18. What do you get when you multiply six by nine?
Ans: 42 (Forty-Two)
The sad part was we missed qualifying for the finals of this Quiz because we did not write 42 as the answer to the 18th question and then lost out to DPS Dwarka in the tie-breaker. Also made another big blunder, wrote Mac OS X instead of Mac OS for the 9th question and paid a heavy price. But Ankur did a great job for the finals (which was real tough!) and I enjoyed the quiz as audience.
Signing off,
Prateek
Warp 2008 – DPS MR Tech Quiz Prelims
Warp 2008 Quiz Prelims – Held at DPS Mathura Road
Tech Quiz – The Next Question
By Karmanya Aggarwal
Date: 19 November 2008
1. While Napster hurt the sales of many artists the most notable ones to raise their hands and call for mommy being Dr Dre and Metallica, it actually helped the sales of one band, when an album released by the band reached Napster 3 months before its official release and received over millions of downloads. In the October of 2000, the album in question captured the numero uno spot in the Billboard 200 sales chart in its debut-week. Name the band and the album.
Ans: Band – Radiohead, Album – Kid A
2. Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning round
Those three lines are part of the chorus of a song that reverberates through musical and technological history. Name the song or its relevance or its artist.
Ans: Fool On the Hill, by The Beatles – It was the first song to be played as a digital audio file
3. This audio codec can be referred to as MPEG-4 Part 3 It is the standard audio format for the Sony Playstation 3 and is supported by Sony’s Playstation Portable and the Wii. It can support over 48 channels and is one of Apple’s Favorites. Name the codec.
Ans: AAC
4. Google Doodles, created by Dennis Hwang (Google’s International Webmaster) are some of the most famous graphics in the computer industry. What does this one signify?
Ans: Invention of the first laser
5. On the 25th of September of this particular year, Apple Inc. released its OS X v10.1 (Puma). This was followed by the release of the iPod on the 23rd of October of the same year and Microsoft released its (then) latest Operating System 2 days later. Which year am I talking about?
Ans: 2001
6. Identify.
Ans: The Konami Code
7. This one time patent attorney experimented with photoconductivity and while doing so, created a machine that revolutionized documents and printing. The first product of this machine was the words “10-22-38 Astoria”. Name the inventor.
Ans: Chester Carlson
8. Who Created-
1. A-O – Grace Hopper
2. B – Ken Thompson
3. Colossus – Tommy Flowers, Allen Coombes
4. Electric Pencil – Michael Shrayer
5. GNOME – Miguel Icaza, Federico Menca
6. Sketchpad – Ivan Sutherland
7. SpaceWar! – Martin Graetz, Steven Russell
8. The Audion – Lee De Forest
9. The Optical Mouse – Steve Kirsh, Richard Lyon
10. UNIMATE – George Devol
9. Ramanathan V. Guha is an Indian Computer Scientist. An IIT-Madras Graduate, he currently works for Google. In 1995, Guha at Apple Computers, helped create the Meta Content Framework. Later in 1999, he created the first version of something that today, is of immense importance to bloggers and blog readers everywhere. What did he create?
Ans: RSS
10. What does it mean to give a computer “The Finger”?
Ans: The Finger is actually a UNIX utility that returns a users real name, the user name, IP etc.
11. Who Was Shakey? (Be Specific)
Ans: First Robot to use Artificial Intelligence (AI)
12. In December 1982 John Warnock and Charles Geschke founded a company. In 2007 the company ranked as the 9th largest software company in the world and the 31st best company to work for in the US. This company has revolutionized the field of Graphics. Name the Company
Ans: Adobe
13. In the foundation series by Isaac Askimov, Hari Seldon was a genius. What field did he virtually create?
Ans: Psychohistory
14. Everyone knows of the Apple Advertisement in 1984 that announced the Macintosh to the world. The commercial, directed by Ridley Scott and written by Steve Hayden and Lee Clow, alluded to a novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” which described a dystopian future ruled by a television Big Brother. Who Wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four?
Ans: George Orwell
15. What is WINE?
Ans: Stands for Wine is not an emulator, basically it emulates Windows on Linux systems to run Windows apps.
16. This mythical Greek God, called Vulcan by the Romans, was personified by his anvil and tongs. Rumored to have created “Automatons” that resembled Modern Day Robots.
Who am I referring to?
Ans: Hephaestus
17. Hoarders may get piles of money,
That is true, hackers, that is true.
But they cannot help their neighbors;
That’s not good, hackers, that’s not good.
Recognize these lines?
Ans: The Free Software Song, By Richard Stallman
18. What are the memoirs of Lou Gerstner called?
Ans: Who said Elephants Can’t Dance?
19. Tag That Line-
- Stronger Than Dirt – Ajax
- We’re Moving Beyond Documents – Xerox
- From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia – Wikipedia
- Solutions for a small Planet - IBM
- Search, Ads & Apps – Google
20. Who is Commander Taco?
Ans: Rob Malda, The Founder of Slashdot
21. Who is the current CEO of Intel?
Ans: Paul S Otellini
22. Entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia co-founded Hotmail. He also founded a not so popular domain. What domain am I talking about?
Ans: Arzoo.com
23. The DivX codec is very well known in the P2P world today. DivX however also refers to Digital Video Express. This was created partly by Circuit city and an entertainment law firm to create an alternative to video rental in the United States. Name the firm.
Ans: Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca and Fischer
24. Who said “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” ?
Ans: Arthur C Clarke
25. What does United Linux refer to?
Ans: It was a Consortium of Linux vendors, most prominent of its members being SUSE. You can read more here
26. Who coined the term “Cyberspace”?
Ans: William Gibson
27. What is “Strange Brew”?
Ans: It was the First Java Virus
28. What does Minix or Freeix refer to?
Ans: MINIX is a Unix-like computer operating system based on a microkernel architecture. Andrew S. Tanenbaum wrote the operating system to be used for educational purposes; MINIX also inspired the creation of the Linux kernel. Its name derives from the words minimal and Unix.
29. Why was Moore Noyce Electronics changed to Intel?
Ans: Because it sounded like “more noise”
30. _____, We Cann, He Cann, She Cann, They Cann
Simply fill in the blanks.
Ans: ICANN
Some really interesting questions in this one, It also had questions from the world of music and literature, covered tech companies, taglines, and CEOs also. A very well-made paper. Thanks are due to Karmanya for sending in this one. The finals of this Quiz were very bad, and really disastrous, according to me, but we still managed to finish 3rd somehow. If there are any discrepancies/errors in the questions or answers, do point out as comments or write in to me.
Signing off,
Prateek
Inter-School General Quiz – 16th January Details
This post is about a General Quiz being organised by Cradle Sports on 16th January, 2009.
About Cradle Sports: Please read here
Cradle Sports and Quizzing :
- Creators of the IMS QUOTIENT ( IQ) – India’s biggest Inter College Quiz
- Redefined the MOD QUIZ in 1990.
- Instrumental in redefining the way Corporate Quizzes happen in Mumbai
This organization is a DDCA backed Sports Management and has a philosophy of promoting Sports Literacy.
Title Sponsors for the Event : Academy of Animation and Gaming
Support Sponsor : IMS
Event Details
Date : 16.1.2009
Nature of the Quiz : General
Format : The first phase shall be a written elimination round. The Top 12 or 16 teams shall qualify for the Semi Finals followed by the Finals.
The Semis and Finals will have a special round dedicated to cartoons, animation and gaming.
Team Size : Maximum of 4 members per team – (A team can also sit as a single member entity)
Number of teams: Unlimited Teams Per School Allowed
Venue : A School Auditorium in South/Central Delhi (Would be posted here by 5th January 2009)
Time: 8:30 AM Onwards
Total Prize Money : Rs 20000/-
For more info, please contact – Mr. Arindam Bhattacharya at 9312600283 or Mr. Anirudh Sharma at 9999772096.
If you have any further queries, about the details, please feel free to contact me.
This Quiz would be followed by an OPEN Quiz, the details of which I would be posting soon.
So hope to see you at the Quiz!
Regards
Prateek
Merry Christmas!
Wishing all the readers a Merry Christmas,
Hoping that Santa Claus shall fulfill all your wishes this Christmas 
Rite, here’s a Quiz Question – You have to simply identify the person in the pic. Flow in the comments!
Limca Book of Records Quiz 2008 Prelims
After a long hiatus of 2 months+, I am back with a bang! Winter hols now for some days, and that means I can make some new posts – So stay tuned!. Pictures, Reviews and more stuff later, but for the meantime:
Posting Questions from the LBR 2008 Quiz Prelims, New Delhi – Conducted by Derek O’ Brien and Associates – Held at DPS, RK Puram – on 22nd December 2008 (Full story later)
Please note: This is recreated from memory/notes. I have tried to stick to the crux of the questions) Hope you enjoy this compilation.
1. If Dilshad Gardens is the 1st Station on Line 1 of the Delhi Metro, then which is the last station?
Ans: Rithala
2. Which Bharat Ratna awardee is often known as Madiba, an honorary title adopted by elders of his clan?
Ans: Nelson Mandela
3. Which sport called “Mintonette” was created by William G Morgan, a YMCA physical education director, in 1895, in Holyoke, Massachusetts (USA), as a pastime to be played, preferably indoors and by any number of players? The game took some of its characteristics from tennis and handball.
Ans: Volleyball
4. Eristalis gatesi thompson is a flowerfly named after which famous American?
Ans: Bill Gates
5. Which dish is described in the Oxford English Dictionary as “An Indian dish consisting of meat in onion sauce”?
Ans: Dopiaza
6. Which big cat, unable to roar or growl, makes a unique, bird-like “chirrup” sound when it is excited?
Ans: Cheetah
7. The Nagarjuna Sagar Dam – the world’s tallest masonry dam (at a height of 124 metres) is built across which river?
Ans: Krishna River
8. Who is the first cricketer to have taken a hat-trick in a T-20 International?
Ans: Bret Lee
9. Which allotrope of Oxygen is resposible for the distinctive smell after a thunderstorm, most often as a result of lightning?
Ans: Ozone
10. The Thar Desert is spread across four Indian states – Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and _________. Fill in the Blanks.
Ans: Punjab
11. Which Mughal emperor’s mother was Hamida Banu and stepmother Haji Begum?
Ans: Akbar
12. Which precious gemstone takes its name from the Greek for “green gemstone”?
Ans: Emerald
13. Which current Constitutional Authority has the distinction of not having lost a single elction till date?
Ans: The President of India, Pratibha Patil
14. Which sweet biscuit derives its name from the Dutch word “koekje” or (informal) “koekie” which means – little cake?
Ans: Cookie
15. LE Waterman is credited with the invention of the first practical version of which writing instrument?
Ans: Pen (Fountain Pen)
16. According to the Mahabharata, who was raised by Hiranyadhanus, the leader (King) of the Nishadhas (foresters)?
Ans: Eklavya
17. Which ancient Greek epic has come to be described as a term for a great adventure or quest?
Ans: Odyssey (By Homer)
18. The First Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded in 1901 was given for the invention of which medical technique, used even today?
Ans: X-Ray (By William Roentgen) – Called Roentgen Rays
19. The Chief Engineer of this bulidng was Hugh Keeling. There were many Indian contractors who were involved in the construction of this building – Haroun-al-Rashid, Sujan Singh and his son Sobha Singh built most of the work of the main building. Who was the main architect?
Ans: Edwin Lutyens (The buliding is the Rashtrapati Bhavan)
20. The planet Uranus has a system of rings. True or False?
Ans: True
21. In which part of the body would you have a Root Canal treatment?
Ans: Teeth
22. The “sushira vadya” is the Indian classification of which type of musical instruments? Wind, Percussion or String?
Ans: Wind
23. What is the most widely used material for packaging worldwide? Jute, Wood, Carboard, or Polythene?
Ans: Cardboard
24. This widely used computer symbol is named after a small freshwater snail with no tentacles in Korea? (There was some more info on this)
Ans: The @ Sign used in E-Mail Addresses
25. Which famous seafaring comic character has an expandable chest? (In this, the chest sizes were also given)
Ans: Popeye the Sailorman
26. Visual – Banyan Tree
27. Visual – Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
28. Visual – Pankaj Advani (Same visual used)
29. Audio Clip – Identify the Voice. Barack Obama
30. Audio Clip – Voice of which Indian actress? Madhuri Dixit
Happy Quizzing,
Prateek
P.S We topped the Prelims in the Delhi Round with a score of 21 Cut-off was 18.
Intra-School Olympics Quiz 2008
I had conducted the Intra-School Olympics Quiz in my school on 26 August 2008. The Prelims were followed by 6 teams in the Finals. The Quiz was an open one – Anybody from Classes 6-12 could participate. I am uploading the Questions of the Quiz – You can click on the links below to download (I know this is coming pretty late, but better late than never!)
Feedback about the Quiz is welcome.
Cheers
Prateek
Quiz Files
Here are the some of the much awaited Quiz Files. Some files have been compiled based on memory – So there could be slight errors/rephrasing of questions. Do put your comments if you have any queries, questions etc. Enjoy! Click on the links below to download.
HT Pace Inquizitive 2008 Prelims
Microsoft Office HT-Pace Inquizitive 2008
15th September 2008
Hindustan Times Inquizitive 2008 – Sirifort Auditorium
This was my 3rd time at the Quiz and the first ever time I qualified for the finals. One of the best and biggest inter-school Quizzes in Delhi, this one is special because it is conducted by Siddhartha Basu (Though the research and preparation is done by his team the “Tree of Knowledge”). Tripathi Sir accompanied us in an auto. 6 teams make it to the finals after a Written Preliminary Round. The questions are mostly easy, but because of the large number of teams involved, the cut-offs are quite high and many teams are eliminated due to the “(*) starred questions. Deepesh and I had prepared a lot during the last 2 days, mostly Current Affairs and from some random quiz books. The venue had changed this time, from Talkatora Stadium to Sirifort as Talkatora is currently under renovation for the Commonwealth Games. Though Talkatora is a much better venue, I was happy that it was being held at Sirifort this time – Might just prove to be lucky for us (Quite a lot of happy memories at Sirifort). And it did. We not only qualified for the finals, but also came 2nd – Losing out to Vivekananda School on the tie-breaker….There were around 8-9 Rounds in the Finals – Headlines, Camouflage, Direct Questions, Audio, Video, True/False Propositions, All or Nothing. They had some of their familiar/trademark round and a new one called Camouflage – Where we had to find the answer out from many letters in 30 seconds after a clue (Like Mud Pit to Medal – Was Sushil Kumar. We managed to give some really good answers..Including 3 Dry questions in a row. We had pretty much led throughout the Quiz – closely followed by other schools….but messed it up in the All or Nothing Round where Vivekananda scored 30 Points. As usual, for the nth time this season, it all boiled down to a tie-breaker…But it was a satisfying experience. Having made it to the top 6 finally and then coming 2nd felt good. It’s not everyday that you come 2nd in a Sid Basu Quiz………. We won iPods and Backpacks for ourselves – Which they still have not sent us. They did not even mention which iPod they are talking about – I just hope it’s not Shuffle! It turned out to be a memorable day. You can read more about the Quiz here.
More Quizzes and competitions….
29th August 2008
TAPS FEST General Quiz at Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan
Managing around 18-20 events on a single day always becomes a difficult task, but then the TAPS Fest is always like that. The GK Quiz Prelims were held in a classroom, and we got 13 on 20. The highest was 14 – By DPS Dwarka. We qualified easily into the finals and finally finished 3rd (After 4 tie-breaker questions with DPS Dwarka). Obviously, needless to mention, the host school won the Quiz
My Rating of this Quiz – 4/10.
5th September 2008
Ozone Science Quiz
Held at the Indian Social Institute, this Quiz is organized every year by the Ozone Cell. I had come 2nd in this Quiz when I was in Class 8. But this year the Quiz had changed its venue, and I believe the paper-setters also. It’s a one-stage quiz (20 Multiple Choice Qns on Ozone Science). It was an extremely boring and absurd question paper, and I must have managed to get around 10-12 correct. There was negative marking too. Anyways, Pranav Kumar from our school came 1st in the Quiz. He has been taking part in this Quiz from many years now and is an expert at Ozone Sciences and all environmental issues.
6th September 2008
Times NIE Quiz Wizard – Doon Public School, Paschim Vihar
We came 2nd in this Quiz in 2006 (Sahil and I). This time, my partner was Deepesh from Class XII. This Quiz is organized by Times NIE and Doon Public School, Paschim Vihar. Mostly schools from West Delhi take part in this Quiz. The Prelims were conducted through a “High-Tech Self Assessment System”, where in the Question was shown on the screen (EduComp) and we had to press the correct option number on our remotes. Yes, they had given remotes to each school! 30 Qns in the prelims – And we got around 16 of them correct. There were around 15-16 schools in all. We qualified for the finals. And easily won this one. We got a bouquet of flowers!!!!, A trophy for the school, and a Pair of Binoculars each (Made in Russia)…..Well yes strange but true!
8th and 9th September 2008
Dynamix Fest – Ramjas RK Puram
We participated in the Quiz and Crossword here. Day 1 had the Quiz and Crossword Prelims. Quiz Prelims were quite easy. And we managed to solve quite a lot in the Crossword also. The Crossword clues were absolutely cryptic and it was fun to solve them…Some real tough ones had left our grey cells tickling!
Day 2 – The Finals of the Quiz and Crossword. Dynamix has had some really good students in its clan, amongst them Roshan Shariff, Uma Damle (Now at NIFT Bangalore) and Prashanth Khanduri (These are the only ones I know). This fest is organized totally by students, with the teacher announcing there that – “Not even an iota of help was given by the teachers to the students”. But then the students messed it up….Bigtime! The Quiz finals were absolutely crap, the less said about them the better. Though the Crossword Finals were good, actually both these events were “fixed” beforehand. And this fact is quite well known now and I am sure about it. This was not quite needed. And it was extremely irritating – This team (Sanchia Khurana Harsh Dalal) from New Green Fields school got a perfect score in the Crossword Finals and knew almost each answer in the Quiz Finals. We came 3rd in the Crossword and were just “Finalists” in the Quiz. Results and Solutions of the Dynamix 2008 Fest can be seen here.
My rating of the Quiz – 3/10.
And for the Crossword – 5/10.
