MEC SCHOOL QUIZ - Finals

PERSONALITIES

1. He was born June 13 1928, an American mathematician who works in game theory, differential geometry, and partial differential equations, serving as a Senior Research Mathematician at Princeton University. It was E.T. Bell's book, Men of Mathematics—in particular, the essay on Fermat— that first sparked his interest in mathematics. At the age of 12, he was carrying out scientific experiments in his room. It was quite apparent at a young age that he did not like working with other people, preferring to do things alone. He returned the social rejection of his classmates with practical jokes and intellectual superiority, believing their dances and sports to be a distraction from his experiments and studies.
John Nash

2. Born in Pietermaritzburg, X, a Bcom holder, joined Standards Bank as a business banker in 2004. X was chosen to go to the '92 Barcelona Olympics as part of the South African Hockey team. He was called for trials in the '96 Olympics, but was ruled out due to a hamstring injury. X has also played for the Irish cricket team, first-class cricket for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, KwaZulu-Natal and Natal. X is a born-again christian. Who is X?

Jonty Rhodes

3. His middle name is Walker. He co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where he played baseball, and was the head cheerleader at the all-boys school during his senior year. Following in his father's footsteps, he attended Yale University, where he received a Bachelor's degree in history in 1968. As a college senior, he became a member of the secretive Skull and Bones society. He became a senior partner or chief executive officer of several oil companies, such as Arbusto Energy, Spectrum , and, later, Harken Energy.

George Walker Bush

4. Born in Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy. Initially pursuing a career as a lawyer, by modeling she helped finance her tuition while at the University of Perugia. She speaks Italian, French, and English fluently, semi-fluent in Spanish and has acted in each of these languages, as well as Aramaic. In 2004, while pregnant with her daughter, she posed nude for the Italian Vanity Fair Magazine in protest against Italian laws that allow only married couples to use in-vitro fertilization and that prevent the use of donor sperm.

Monica Bellucci

5. His first name and middle name is Satyanarayan Gangaram. He was born in Titlagarh, Orissa, is an inventor, entrepreneur and policymaker. He is the Chairman and CEO of World-Tel Limited, an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) initiative. He is the founder and CEO of C-SAM, Inc, which has developed a suite of patented mobile transaction technology called OneWallet.

Sam Pitroda

6. Her last name means "daughter of ____________" (Sanskrit) and it is not the family name. Her first name is '____________' which is derived from Sanskrit word for raincloud, as it was raining when she was born. Biju Patnaik, an eminent Indian leader named her on the request of father. In 2004, she was ranked number 8 on Forbes Magazine's list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.

Megawati Sukarnoputri

7. He was the 2003 recipient of The National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He has written under the pen names Richard Bachman and (once) John Swithen. One of his first ideas was of a young girl with psychic powers, but he grew discouraged and discarded it. His wife later rescued it from the trash and encouraged him to finish it. After completing the novel, he titled it Carrie and sent it to Doubleday. He received a $2,500 advance (not large for a novel, even at that time) but the paperback rights eventually earned $400,000. He played guitar for the rock band Rock Bottom Remainders, several of whose members are authors.

Stephen King


COMICS & “Graphic Novels”

1.If Peter Parker is to Spiderman and Clark Kent is to Superman, then Bruce Banner is to -

The Incredible Hulk

2. “Spaceman Spiff”, “Stupendous Man”, “Tracer Bullet”. Connect

Alter Egos of Calvin (Calvin & Hobbes)

3. What is the contribution of Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge to the world of comics?

They are the English translators of Asterix series.

4. He was raised by single father and fading boxer "Battling Jack" Murdock. He is unable to handle the bullying he received at school, and is branded with a sarcastic nickname which he assumes as his hero name. His mentor is a blind man named “Stick”. Who is he?

Daredevil

5. After his Aunt X is shot, Y searches for help in saving her life. Y meets the demon Mephisto, who offers to save her life if Y gives him his marriage. He and his wife Z agree, and this part of their history is erased from all memory so that they have never been married.

Aunt May, Spider-man, Mary Jane Watson

6. V T Thomas says he had named his characters after two children in the neighbourhood. “This took place after these two naughty children thwarted every attempt of mine to prevent them from jumping the fence around my house and walking through the kitchen, on their way to school.” What is the name of his creation?

Bobbanum Mollyum by Toms(V T Thomas)

7. Name the only fictional character to be selected by Time magazine as
one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Name the
creator as well.
bart simpson.the creator is of course matt groening






ETYMOLOGY

1. The term _________ comes from the Greek for oikos (house) and nomos (custom or law), hence "rules of the house(hold)."

Economics

2. Perhaps the first, recorded use of the term '________' was in 1920, by Ethel Snowden, in the book Through Bolshevik Russia, but its metaphoric, non-Soviet use appeared in Scandinavian books as early as 1901, moreover, H. G. Wells used __________ in describing 'enforced privacy' in The Food of the Gods. German politician and Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels was the first to refer to an "_____________" coming down across Europe after World War II, in a manifesto he published in the German newspaper Das Reich in February 1945

Iron Curtain

3. The Arabic word _____ means "resurrection" as in the party’s founder Michel Aflaq’s published works "On The Way Of Resurrection". Their beliefs combine Arab Socialism, nationalism, and Pan-Arabism. The mostly secular ideology often contrasts with that of other Arab governments in the Middle East, which sometimes tend to have leanings towards Islamism and theocracy.
Ba'ath

4. The term is believed to relate to former West Indian spin bowler Ellis "Puss" Achong. in the 1933 Old Trafford Test match, Achong, a left-arm orthodox spinner bowled an unexpected wrist-spin delivery turning from off to leg, and had the English batsman Walter Robins stumped by Ivan Barrow as a result. Legend has it that Robins, as he walked back to the pavilion, remarked "Fancy being done by a bloody _______________"

Chinaman, the bowler was of Chinese ancestry.

5. The word _____ is derived from the Ancient Greek meaning "a learning or knowing by inquiry, record, narrative." The Latin form means "narrative, account”.

History

6. The word comes from the name of a sturdy fabric called serge, originally made in Nimes, France, by the Andre family. Originally called serge de Nimes, the name was soon shortened to ________

Denim

7. The term derives from a militant Ismaili Muslim sect, active in the Middle East from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries. This mystic secret society killed members of the Abbasid and Seljuq élite for political and religious reasons.

Assassin