1. What is unusual/remarkable abt the 267-page novel "Gadsby" by Ernest Vincent Wright, published in 1939. This is a representative paragraph in the first chapter.
If youth, throughout all history, had had a champion to stand up for it; to show a doubting world that a child can think; and, possibly, do it practically; you wouldn’t constantly run across folks today who claim that “a child don’t know anything.”A child’s brain starts functioning at birth; and has, amongst its many infant convolutions, thousands of dormant atoms, into which God has put a mystic possibility for noticing an adult’s act, and figuring out its purport.

Up to about its primary school days a child thinks, naturally, only of play. But many a form of play contains disciplinary factors. “You can’t do this,” or “that puts you out,” shows a child that it must think, practically or fail. Now, if, throughout childhood, a brain has no opposition, it is plain that it will attain a position of “status quo,” as with our ordinary animals. Man knows not why a cow, dog or lion was not born with a brain on a par with ours; why such animals cannot add, subtract, or obtain from books and schooling, that paramount position which Man holds today.

2. What is remarkable abt the book who's partial title is "2002" & was written by Nick Montfort & William Gillespie

3. What is the connection between Issac Newton, 25 December 1642 and Jan 04 1643 ?

4. William Congreve used weapons which were reverse engineered from those seized in battle in India, successfully in naval attack on Boulogne(1806), siege of Copenhagen(1807) and also against fort Washington(New York) during America independence war. What were these weapons and in what war were they seized?

5. What is Operation Overlord commonly known as?

6. He was born in London, homeschooled, got his Bachelor's from Caltech, Ph.D. from MIT, worked at Bell Labs, founded his own company and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956, appointed as prof in Stanford, changed field and formulated a theory called dysgenics, concluded that African Americans are inherently less intelligent than Caucasians, ran for senate, came in 8th, donated and supported a sperm bank for Nobel Prize winners, made it to Time's 100 scientists & thinkers.

7. Complete the series: Herberger,Feola,Moreira,Ramsey,Zagallo,Schon,Menotti,Bearzot,Bilardo

8. Who are the last Americans to be tried and executed for espionage?

9. Who when talking abt backmasking claimed to invent it and said "That one was the gift of God... of Ja actually-- the god of marijuana, right? So Ja gave me that one. Which song was it?

10. What is the monetary connection between Dame Nellie Melba, Mahatma Gandhi, Saddam Hussein, QE II, Benjamin Franklin?

11. Neil Young wrote "its still hard to believe i had to write this song. It's ironic that I capitalized on the death of these American students. Probably the biggest lesson learned at an American school of learning. David ----- cried after this take. What song was it and what was the event?

12. What is the story behind the song "Baba O'Riley" by The Who?

13. Which western country uses ATMs with instructions in a language older than 2500 years?

Theme: Next 4 qs have answers which are clues to a theme. Guess the theme.

14. In 1792, there was a competition to build two of the US' most important buildings. The then Secretary of State, reputedly entered two submissons under a pseudonym and lost both. One of the winners was an Irish architect named James Hoban. What building did he design? Who later ordered changes to be made to the building?

15. Which American president was known(reputed) to have killed a man himself (not in war)?

16. What is the name of the sequel to "The Hustler" (1961) starring Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason and Piper Laurie? Who directed it?

17. a bob is a shilling, what is a score?

18. Some portions of this mail envelope have been erased. Where has this mail originated from? Any other fundas?



Answers:

1. The letter 'e' is never used in the entire book Gadsby

2. 2002 is a palindrome. It was first published on New Years Day, 2002. On February 20th, 2002 it was published on the Web

3. Birthdays according to Julian and Gregorian calendars

4. Rockets, Mysore Tipu Sultan

5. The Battle of Normandy

6. William Shockley

7. Franz Beckenbauer (all FIFA World Cup winning coaches 1954-1990)

8. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

9. John Lennon, Rain

10.All are on 100 denomination notes

11.Ohio (CSNY).Kent State massacre

12. Pete Townshend "This was a number I wrote while I was doing these experiments with tapes on the synthesiser. Among my plans was to take a person put of the audience and feed information - height, weight, autobiographical details, abt the person into the synthesiser. The synthesiser would then select notes from the pattern of that person. It would be like translating a person into music. On this particular track I programmed details abt the life of Meher Baba and that provided the backing for the number" (Liner notes for My Generation-The Very Best of The Who)

13.Vatican City(Latin)

14. White House, Thomas Jefferson

15.Andrew Jackson

16.The Color of Money(1986), Martin Scorcese

17.20

Theme: The new $20 bill. It has Andrew Jackson on the front, the White House on the back and it's ad promo is called "The New Color of Money". Also it has more colors than the $20 bill it succeeded

18. Maitri is the Indian Base in Antarctica), Magdalena Oldendorff is a german ship that supplies the indian base. While doing so in june 2002, it got stuck in the ice with some 177 persons on board. It was winter in the SH. Ultimately it stayed there for the winter and was rescued only in november.