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Tuesday, 8 November 2011

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The Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world’s oceans (after the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans), it covers approximately 20 per cent of the water on the Earth’s surface. As the youngest of the major oceans it has active spreading ridges that are part of the worldwide system of mid-ocean ridges. Scientists say it is also the warmest of the oceans.

The Indian Ocean ‘rim’ consists of 29 littoral countries and six island countries. For us living in maritime Asian countries, the Indian Ocean provides the larger backdrop to our history, culture and biological heritage. Much of what we have assimilated as our own has come across the Indian Ocean at one time or another in our history and pre-history.

We start off today with some questions on the Indian Ocean.

1.The Indian Ocean has been called various names in history. For example, it was referred to as Hindu Mahasagara(m) in Indian languages. It was also called a very specific name in the ancient Sanskrit literature which literally meant ‘the maker (creator) of gems’. What was that name?

2. The Indian Ocean used to be larger until the year 2000, when the International Hydrographic Organisation created the newest world ocean, by demarcating the southern portions of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. What name was given to this new ocean that completely surrounds Antarctica? It stretches from the coast of Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude.

3.Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and The Future of American Power is the title of a new book that was first published in October 2010 about the Indian Ocean region and the future of energy supplies and national security in the 21st century. Who is the author of this book, an American journalist currently a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly?

4.She was the world’s first purpose built aircraft carrier (ship). Launched in 1919 and commissioned in 1924, she was part of the British Royal Navy fleet for nearly 30 years. When the Japanese air raid on Colombo took place on April 5, 1942, this ship was part of the Eastern Fleet and was sent to Trincomalee.

On April 9, 1942, in open seas near Batticaloa, she was attacked by several dozen Japanese dive bombers. The carrier and her escorting destroyer were quickly sunk by the Japanese aircraft. Over 300 men died; most of the survivors were rescued by a nearby hospital ship that the Japanese did not attack. The wreck of this aircraft carrier is in relatively shallow waters and one of the most interesting sites for divers. What is the name of this ship?

5.Galle International Stadium is located near the Galle fort. Fringed on two sides by the Indian Ocean, it is considered to be one of the most picturesque cricket grounds in the world. The ground was built in 1876 as a race course, and is the home ground of the Galle cricket club.

Recently, UNESCO – which manages the World Heritage programme – has decided to carry out a special investigation to assess whether the development of the Galle Cricket Stadium had any adverse effect on the historical Galle Fort, a famous World Heritage site. Before being upgraded to international cricket standards, the ground was known by what name?

6. ‘SAARC Summit 17: Building Bridges’ has been chosen by the Government of Maldives as the theme for the 17th SAARC (Heads of State Summit to be held in the Maldives on November 10 to 11, 2011. The Maldives had, in the past, conducted the 5th Summit (November 1990) and 9th Summit (May 1997), both of which were in their capital of Malé. In contrast, the venue of 17th Summit is the southernmost atoll (group of coral islands) in the archipelago nation. Where?

7. On October 4, 2011, Apple announced that a new (digital) personal assistant application for iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, will be incorporated in iPhone 4S, the fifth generation smart phone developed by Apple.

The application uses natural language processing to answer questions, make recommendations and perform actions by delegating requests to an expanding set of web services. It allows voice interaction with the iPhone related to reminders, weather, stocks, messaging, email, calendar, contacts, notes, music, clocks and maps among other things. What is this personal assistant named as?

8. Some information technology analysts say Apple’s new digital personal assistant, released with iPhone 4S, is taking the world one small step closer to realising the highly intelligent and interactive computer named HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey created by Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick in 1968. In that science fiction story, HAL is an artificial intelligence that interacts with the astronaut crew of the Discovery One spacecraft and was represented as a red television-camera eye found throughout the ship.

HAL 9000 speaks in a soft, chatty voice unlike the crewmen, David Bowman and Frank Poole, who speak tersely and with little emotional inflection. Name the Canadian actor and narrator who voiced HAL, which is probably the most famous computer in popular culture.

9. Walt Disney company is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its all-time classic animation movies Dumbo by releasing a digitally remastered version on DVD and Blu-ray. Released theatrically on October 23, 1941, Dumbo was Disney’s fourth animated film. And at just 64 minutes, the movie was also the shortest and least expensive produced by the Studio. The adorable baby elephant has been flapping his extra-large ears and flying into our hearts for seven full decades. In the story, Dumbo was the unkind nickname given to him by jealous aunts. What was his real name as given by his own mother?

10.Kumara Sangakkara scored his 8th double century in the first Test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in October 2011. Donald Bradman is on top of the list of the most double centuries in a career (with 12), followed by Brian Lara with 9. Sangakkara currently ranks third in this list. There are another two Sri Lankans in the Top Ten of most double centuries scored. Who are they?

11.Lankan performing artistes have regularly held musical concerts in different countries of Middle East, Europe, North America and Australia. In mid 2011, who became the first Sri Lankan music performers to hold a concert in Russia when they performed at Patrice Lumumba University?

12.The American computer expert and cognitive scientist who was responsible for the coining the term “artificial intelligence” (AI) died on October 23, 2011 aged 84. He invented the programming language called Lisp, and contributed substantially to the early development of AI. He received the Turing Award and many other honours. Who was he?

13.What is the term used to describe a single diamond (or, in fact, any gem) set in a piece of jewelry? It is also the term for a series of frustrating card games that can be played by a single person.

14.American film maker John Hughes (1950 – 2009) was a director, producer and screen writer whose feature films resonated strongly with youth in the 1980s. He directed and scripted some of the most successful films of the 1980s and 1990s, including National Lampoon’s Vacation, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, Some Kind of Wonderful, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Beethoven, Uncle Buck, Career Opportunities, 101 Dalmatians, Home Alone and its sequels. He also wrote screenplays using a pseudonym which was the protagonist of Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo. What was this pseudonym?

15.Sesame Street is an American children’s television programme that has gained worldwide popularity for two generations.

The series premiered on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) TV stations in the US in November 1969 and has been running for over 40 years with various innovations and changes. Sesame Street was an early attempt to combine entertainment and education and used a variety of methods including muppets, animation, short films, humour, song and dance and other cultural references.

Name the two America co-founders of Children’s Television Workshop, the non-profit organisation that produces Sesame Street.


Last week’s answers

1. Nova Scotia province, Canada
2. The Russell–Einstein Manifesto (it became the Pugwash Conferences’ founding charter)
3. Jayantha Dhanapala
4. The board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
5. Rwanda
6. Lake Ellsworth
7. Varindra Tarzie Vittachi (1921 – 1993)
8. Winston Groom
9. Seven Years in Tibet
10. Alexander Pope
11. Charles Henry Dow (1851 – 1902)
12. Godfather (1972) and Godfather II (1974)
13. Vilasnee Tampoe-Hautin
14. Arne Birkenstock
15. Thierry Dusautoir (Captain of France)

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