Boiledbeans

Drama! Intrigue!! Geekiness!!!

December 2010

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Is this statement a lie?

—srikanth @ 23:59

Identify the source of the extract.

Pseudo-bonus points for identifying the specific item being talked about in this clip :)

Cracked by: apar, jowens, udupendra, Pawankumar Hegde, vijayaraghavan, shrey, dineshk, Aparna, Rogi, Shwetha Maiya, Logik, Piyush, Bharath, Manish Achuth, byslexia, vinayaknp, Moju21, Dibyo, Thejas V R, Siddarth Pai, Sumanth Patlolla, krudebox, shrik, Ananth, stinky94, mankuTimma, duriel, AmK, SS, Vishnu and Hari Parameswaran

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Logicomix, a graphic novel that follows the life of Bertrand Russell and talks about some foundational concepts of mathematics.


Cool dude.

—devadutta @ 23:59

Identify this Nobel laureate.

Hint:

Cracked by: apar, Pawankumar Hegde, Piyush, Kaustubh, shrik, Rogi, stinky94, Ananth, Dibyo, Bharath, jowens, Thejas V R, raklodramA, Manish Achuth, vinayaknp, udupendra, Moju21, lanu, Nanda, Nishit, mankuTimma, Raghuvansh, v.chandrashekar, xeqtor, Shwetha Maiya, Qbrain, Sumanth Patlolla, Mukul, Tushar S, dineshk, Aparna, Abhiram Bharadwaj Diddigi, Logik, Anjul, SS, byslexia, Vrashabh, krudebox, duriel, shenoyvarun86 and AmK

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Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, liquefied Helium, discovered superconductivity. Super cool dude.


Friday, December 10, 2010

Probably won't last as long though.

—srikanth @ 23:59

Modern day replica of what?

Cracked by: Kaustubh, jowens, dineshk, apar, Pawankumar Hegde, shrik, Rogi, Dibyo, Shwetha Maiya, aditthya, Moju21, Martin Antony, Manish Achuth, Piyush, stinky94, Ananth, Thejas V R, raklodramA, udupendra, Raghuvansh, mankuTimma, Qbrain, Sumanth Patlolla, Aparna, Mikey, Logik, SS and byslexia

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A fully functional replica of the Antikythera mechanism built out of Lego parts, by a certain Mr Andrew Carol


Thursday, December 9, 2010

Purple ink

—devadutta @ 23:59

Guest question from udupendra %gqh%. Thanks saar!

Identify this person pictured here with an award that calls him a pioneer, and what is his claim to fame?

Sorry for the delay folks. Question will be kept open longer.

Cracked by: udupendra, Raghuvansh, Ananth, shrik, jowens, Dibyo, apar, SS, Pawankumar Hegde, dineshk, aditthya, Moju21, Rogi, Manish Achuth, vkamath, Piyush, Logik, Thejas V R, raklodramA, Shwetha Maiya, Qbrain and Sumanth Patlolla

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Quoting udupendra: Hari Krishna Prasad Vemuru, who discovered security flaws in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in Indian elections. He was awarded an EFF Pioneer award for his efforts.


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The list

—devadutta @ 23:59

Sitter. Top 5 of which list?

Cracked by: dineshk, Kaustubh, SV, apar, Rogi, Pawankumar Hegde, Piyush, Anjul, Bharath, Dibyo, Manish Achuth, jowens, Ananth, vinayaknp, raklodramA, mankuTimma, Thejas V R, Vinay Nair Karath, krudebox, shrik, shrey, Moju21, stinky94, aditthya, Logik, theJoker, Rajath V S Moodithaya, SS, udupendra, Vijay, prasanth, Sumanth Patlolla, Raghuvansh, Abhiram Bharadwaj Diddigi and Shwetha Maiya

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Google Zeitgeist 2010


Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Cumuloblogus

—srikanth @ 23:59

Alright, let’s get this question out of the way before it becomes another tech-quiz cliche :p. Who is the author?

Cracked by: Pawankumar Hegde, apar, Kaustubh, Bharath, shrey, Mikey, jowens, Anjul, Dibyo, dineshk, Rogi, Ananth, lanu, Piyush, shrik, Thejas V R, Logik, aditthya, duriel, krudebox, Vinay Nair Karath, Moju21, SS and udupendra

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Image is the cover of “With a little help”, Cory Doctorow’s self-published short story collection. The image on the cover is, of course, one of the recurring characters on XKCD - a stick figure that represents Cory.


Monday, December 6, 2010

Self-answering question

—srikanth @ 23:59

A guest question from Piyush who gets the shiny.

What’s special about this formula?

PS: Sorry for the delay, folks.

Cracked by: apar, Rogi, jowens, Raghuvansh, dineshk, Dibyo, Pawankumar Hegde, Anjul, shrey, mankuTimma, shrik, ShivAnantTayal, lotuseater, SS, Ananth, Achyuth Sanjay, Debasish, Logik, duriel and Murari

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A self-referential formula defined by Jeff Tupper that, when graphed in two dimensions, can visually reproduce the formula itself.


Sunday, December 5, 2010

Very Small

—devadutta @ 23:59

What are these molecules known as?

** **

Cracked by: apar, Kaustubh, Mikey, Pawankumar Hegde, wanderlust, KK, stinky94, Rogi, Raghuvansh, duriel, aditthya, Ananth, Manish Achuth, dineshk, jowens, Bharath, Goyal, Shwetha Maiya, Moju21, Nanda, v.chandrashekar, krudebox, Thejas V R, Dibyo, shrik, Piyush, Rahul Rajeev, lotuseater, pavan, Logik, Vijay, udupendra, SS, mankuTimma, lanu, Qbrain, raklodramA, Abhiram Bharadwaj Diddigi and Rohit

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Nanoputian – Molecules whose structural formulae look like humans!


Saturday, December 4, 2010

2250

—srikanth @ 23:59

Computer history trivia: Look at the picture, and tell us what the computer on the right is called.

Bonus points for naming the famous bearded man.

Cracked by: Pawankumar Hegde, Piyush, Dibyo, duriel, apar, Rogi, Moju21, krudebox, Vijay, dineshk, Raghuvansh, v.chandrashekar, shrik, Abhiram Bharadwaj Diddigi, stinky94, santoshG, jowens, Logik, Ananth, Bharath, Thejas V R, Shwetha Maiya, lotuseater, udupendra and SS

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In 1977 at Bell Laboratories, Ken Thompson (beard) and Joe Condon developed a custom chess-playing computer called “Belle”


Friday, December 3, 2010

Poison?

—devadutta @ 23:59

Sitter. Recent discovery. What is special about these microbes?

Cracked by: Kaustubh, jowens, Anjul, v.chandrashekar, Pawankumar Hegde, Logik, stinky94, Dibyo, apar, shrik, Bharath, Goyal, Shwetha Maiya, Vijay, Rogi, shrey, Piyush, aditthya, Sumanth Patlolla, Manish Achuth, Thejas V R, krudebox, Martin Antony, Aparna, SS, duriel, dineshk, Raghuvansh, rohit, Mikey and Ananth

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NASA Researchers in Mono Lake, California, have discovered a microorganism (pictured) that uses arsenic instead of phosphorous to thrive and reproduce. This shatters a lot of our current beliefs about what environments can support life.