The Asian Age

FUNDAMENTA­LS

- SENJAM RAJ SEKHAR

We are witnessing the most widespread adoption of technology in history. Check out how much you know about all things tech.

Write with your suggestion­s, questions (with answers) to senjam@gmail.com.

ALL THINGS TECH

1. Susan Bennett is the original voice of which product takes its name from a Scandinavi­an word that means beauty & victory and was the intended name for the first child of the developer of this product?

2. The oldest online translator that was later acquired by Yahoo! is named after a fish in Douglas Adams ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ which can do instant and automatic translatio­n. Name this predecesso­r of google translate?

3. What was unique about a message sent by Charley Kline of UCLA to his fellow programmer Bill Duvall on 29thOctobe­r1969?

4. Which design created by graphic designer Irina Blok is now part of everyday lives of millions of people across the world?

5. The headquarte­rs of Google in Mountain View, California has a series of large plastic statues all made by a New Jersey company named Themendous. What do the statues depict?

6. Lab 126 is a research subsidiary of Amazon that came up with the revolution­ary idea of Kindle. What is the story behind its unique name?

7. Which corporate headquarte­r is named after a supercompu­ter from the Seven Galaxy of light and Ingenuity from Douglas

Adams ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”? 8. What was born during a beach vacation in the Cayman Islands in Western Caribbean of Andy Rubin, a Silicon Valley engineer who once worked in Apple and founded a company called Danger?

ANYTHING GOES

1. Only one Indian Air Force officer to date has been honoured with the Param Vir Chakra. Who?(Dee Surendrana­th, Hyderabad)

2. John Bardeen is the only person to be awarded the Nobel Physics prize twice. He won in 1972 for his work in BCS theory of convention­al supercondu­ctivity. What did he win his first Nobel in 1956 for?(Miracle S, Secunderab­ad)

3. The opening ceremony of a rebuilt temple in 1951 became a bone of contention between Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Rajendra Prasad. Prasad attended the inaugurati­on despite Nehru’s objection. Which temple? (Somen Sengupta, Kolkata)

4. When James Naismith invented the game of Basketball, he wanted to use square boxes to use as goals. However, the school janitor gave him something that gave the game its name. What was it?(U Narasimha Murthy, Secunderab­ad)

5. Water-meal is not a meal. It is the smallest of its kind in the world. What is it?(Mohammed Soulath, Mumbai)

6. Eddie Eagan’s record at the Olympics is the only one of its kind. It is a rare record that has not been surpassed in 90 years. What?(B.K. Harinath, Mysuru)

7. Literally meaning "pick-me-up", this dessert was accidental­ly invented at the Le Beccherie in Italy as a result of a mistake made by the restaurant owner's wife Alba Campeol and chef Roberto Linguanatt­o while making vanilla cream. Name the dessert?(Bikram Keshari Jena, Nayagarh)

8. Tshering Phintso Denzongpa was given the name Danny by a classmate of his. Name this classmate who also went on to become a Bollywood star? (Nivriti Sreelekha,Secunderab­ad)

Succumbing to your emotions at the bridge table can be fatal. Whatever you’re feeling, get a grip! Easier said than done, of course. I’m usually pretty composed, but last week I felt an inexplicab­le sense of anxiety while playing on Jonathan Harris’s team. It’s always a privilege to be asked, and I felt acutely embarrasse­d that my underbiddi­ng led to two missed slams. I gave myself a stern talking-to afterwards, but what turned out to be a far better tonic was watching Marusa Gold — a regular on the team — display so beautifull­y the true importance of holding your nerve. She was South, North was her partner Todor Tiholov:

1♣ was ‘Precision’, showing 16+. 1♥ was game-forcing with 5+ hearts. After setting clubs as trumps and cue-bidding, Marusa bid 4NT keycard — she knew Todor had no keycards, but it was a clever way of making the next step (5♥) to ask for the ♣Q. Todor’s 5♠ confirmed the ♣Q

plus the ♠K, and Marusa bid the grand.

West led a club to her ♣7. She cashed the ♥A, played a club to dummy, ruffed a heart, club to dummy, and cashed the ♥K, West discarding a spade. Next she ruffed another heart (West threw another spade), cashed the ♦A, crossed to dummy’s ♠K and cashed the last two hearts, throwing diamonds. Dummy’s ♦10 was the menace Marusa needed: West discarded the ♠J and then an uncomforta­ble ♠10. Perfectly reading the situation, she played a spade to the ace, dropping his ?Q, and claimed. Superb!

 ?? ?? The Android logo
The Android logo
 ?? ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India