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Tuesday, 2 August 2011

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Have a rice day!

Nalaka Gunawardene and Vindana Ariyawansa They say that if an alien spaceship were to land on Earth at a randomly selected place, the chances are that it will descend on a paddy field - and the first humans they encounter would be paddy farmers! That's how widespread rice cultivation is in Asia, as well as in parts of Africa, Latin America and even southern Europe. So today we pay tribute to this world's most pervasive staple.

1. More than half of the world's population depends on rice as a staple food and Asian countries produce over 90 per cent of all the rice in the world. Which two countries in Asia Maccount for over half of the world's rice production according to 2008 figures? (Sri Lanka is nowhere in the top 10.)

2. The world's top producers of rice mostly consume their rice within the country, so the top rice exporting countries are different. According to 2010 figures, which Southeast Asian country was the world's largest exporter of rice, selling 8,500 metric tons of rice overseas that year?

3. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is a non-profit, independent research and training organization based in a rice growing Asian country. IRRI develops new rice varieties and rice crop management techniques that help rice farmers everywhere to improve the yield and quality of their rice in an environmentally sustainable way. Where is the headquarters of IRRI located?

4. Well known English novelist and futurist Aldous Huxley's final novel describes the experiences of a cynical journalist who is shipwrecked on the fictional island of Pala. The culture of Pala merges the best of the East and West; the Palanese have adopted a selective attitude towards technology, and practise a restrained form of industrialization. The novel addresses issues of overpopulation, ecology, modernity, democracy and mysticism among others. Some call this Huxley's own vision of a utopia. What was the novel's title?

5. New Guinea Island is the second largest island in the world by land area. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it covers an area of 786,000 square kilometres. Politically, the western half of the island comprises two Indonesian provinces: Papua and West Papua. The eastern half forms the mainland of which independent country?

6. Name the influential German language novelist who said: "A book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our soul."

7. The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the 'Commonwealth' and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of 54 independent member states. All except two of these countries were formerly part of the British Empire, out of which it developed. The head of the Commonwealth is the ruling British monarch, who at the moment is Queen Elizabeth II. Who is the Secretary General of the Commonwealth who heads the Commonwealth Secretariat in London?

8. In June 2011, the American actor, film maker, screenwriter and film director Sylvester Stallone was inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame for his Rocky movie series. "I've never pretended to be a boxer. I don't possess those skills," he said in accepting this honour. What was the full name of the fictional boxer character that Stallone played in a series of popular films from 1976 to 2006. This character was named the 7th greatest movie hero by the American Film Institute.

9. In late June 2011, Thailand announced it was withdrawing from UNESCO'S World Heritage Convention because of a row with neighbour Cambodia over a disputed 900-year-old temple, which the Convention was going to discuss. This temple is at the centre of a border conflict between the two countries that left 28 people dead earlier in 2011. Cambodia has also launched a legal bid at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) seeking to force Thailand to pull troops from disputed land near the temple ruins. What is this disputed temple's name?

10. HACCP is a systematic preventive approach to food safety and pharmaceutical safety that addresses physical, chemical, and biological hazards as a means of prevention rather than finished product inspection. HACCP is used in the food industry to identify potential food safety hazards, so that key actions, can be taken to reduce or eliminate the risk of the hazards being realized. What do the letters HACCP stand for? 11. Name the playwright, poet and novelist who said: "Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious"? 12. The Emperor of All Maladies is a recent book that offers a 'biography' of cancer and of those who have fought it throughout history. Who is its author, an Indian-born, US-based cancer specialist currently working at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Centre at Columbia University, New York? The book won the Pulitzer Prize in the general non-fiction category for 2011.

13. He was the sixth and best known ruler of the first dynasty of Babylon. He is better known for compiling a code of justice which demonstrated his desire to be a just ruler. Who was he?

14. This Norwegian Chess Grandmaster recently became the youngest world number one in FIDE history at the young age of 19. Who is he?

15. In terms of comparing its length to its width, this Latin American country is regarded as the narrowest country in the world. It measures 4,345 km in length and is only 175 km wide at its widest point. What is this country?

Answers will be published next week.

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