June 24, 2010

Longest tennis match in history

And it is not over yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trust Wimbledon to provide such drama.

Longest tennis match ever, 10 hours, suspended

Isner and Mahut are tied at 59 games apiece in fifth set at Wimbledon


The longest match in tennis history was suspended because of darkness at 59-59 in the fifth set at Wimbledon on Wednesday night.

The first-round match between 23rd-seeded John Isner of Tampa, Fla., and qualifier Nicolas Mahut of France already had been suspended because of fading light Tuesday night after the fourth set.

They have been playing each other for a total of exactly 10 hours — 7 hours, 6 minutes in the fifth set alone, enough to break the full-match record of 6:33, set at the 2004 French Open.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/37877953/ns/sports-tennis/

June 22, 2010

Answers

Well folks, you got them all, congratulations. Still, the answers are:

1. "After all, tomorrow is another day". The last line of 'Gone with the wind', and a line that defines Scarlett O'Hara-one determined young lady!

2. "Call me Ishmael". Only Poonam seems to have got this. The first line of 'Moby Dick: Or the Whale', a timeless and most human of classics. It is amazing how well the values of the book stand the test of time. A friendship between Ishmael, a white Christian and QueeQueg, a black cannibal would seem so unlikely today- their mutual respect, love and uncritical tolerance of their differences is pretty humbling. And the whale! The ultimate metaphor of nature striking back at its wanton exploitation- Avatar, anyone?

3. "The game is afoot",  as SLN said. From the The adventure of the Abbey Grange

4.  "Are there no prisons?". As SLN said, from "The Christmas Carol".  I was torn between "Bah! humbug!" and this phrase- which one epitomizes the inimitable Scrooge? In the end, I settled for this one.

5. "It was the best of times, and the worst of times". Full marks to Sudha. A great opening line to 'The Tale of the two cities', but I found the novel to be pretty loquacious- could never finish it. Give me The Christmas Carol any day.

6. Alastor Moody (but actually it is Barty Crouch Jr.) to Snape in the Goblet of Fire. Full marks to SLN. I like that phrase for its Lady Macbeth touch.

7. "Death is but the next great adventure". Most of us would have got it- Dumbledore in the Sorcerer's Stone. When I was browsing for phrases from the HP series, it is amazing how many classical quotes Rowling had produced in her books, specially for Dumbledore. I think that is the real secret of her success- she is actually a very good writer.

8. It is indeed from 'The Godfather' and said by Don Corleone. Was going for 'I will make him an offer he cannot refuse' but that would have been too easy!

9. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.".  All folks who went through the SSC education process should remember this- Pride and Prejudice was the non-detailed text in one of the senior years. This is the starting line of the novel. Apparently Jane Austen was less than 21 years of age when she wrote this, her second novel.

10. "All the world is a stage". Well, everyone got this one of course. It is from Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. It is play that is full of quotable stuff, even for Shakespeare.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so

The play's the thing

and many more.

11. It is certainly the inimitable Mark Twain- the book is 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' and the character is Huck Finn, who has got to be one of the most lovable characters ever written. A true American classic. Where is that lost art of the American novel now?

12. It is indeed from The Journey to the center of the Earth and the character is Alex, a reluctant hero and nephew of Prof Lidenbrock. Here is another author whose views are ever so contemporary. He wrote about the marvels of science, but always with a sense of impending doom, his heroes always playing with powers that they can barely understand.

Well that's it folks- Congratulations on cracking the quiz so quickly. I will follow soon with another round, or of course, others can put together one too.

June 20, 2010

Whose line is it anyway?


How well do you know your classics? Any Thomas, Richard or Harold can loftily quote 'To be or not to be, that's the question', but can they have identify it from its context? That is the challenge I pose to the Singampallis: Guess the classic quote from the sentences that preceed or succeed it. If the quote is relatively obscure, I wil give the quote itself as a clue- you just have to guess the book from which it has been taken.

Only rule: No Googling the quote. However, if you have a hunch that it is part of a specific classic, you can pull up that classic and confirm the hunch. So this is a sort of an open book exam. Approximate answers are OK.

SAMPLE QUESTION: ------------------:- whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?

ANSWER:  To be or not to be, that's the question
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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1. “Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. ___________________________"

2. "___________________________. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world."

3.  It was on a bitterly cold night and frosty morning, towards the end of the winter of '97, that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder. It was Holmes. The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face, and told me at a glance that something was amiss."Come, Watson, come!" he cried. "_______________________"

4. "At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time.  Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir." "_________________________?", asked Scrooge.



``Plenty of prisons,'' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

5. ______________________________, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair...

6. "I say there are spots that don't come off.... Spots that never come off, d'you know what I mean?" Which character and which book?

7. "After all, to the well organized mind, ________________________"

8. "Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold". Character and book?

9. ____________________________________. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

10. ___________________________, And all the men and women merely players

11. "But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before". Character and book?

12. "Was I to believe him in earnest in his intention to penetrate to the centre of this massive globe? Had I been listening to the mad speculations of a lunatic, or to the scientific conclusions of a lofty genius? Where did truth stop? Where did error begin?"  Character and Book?


Please post your answers as comments- I will publish results in a couple of days.

June 16, 2010

Shivanahalli Again

In birding, the variety is not just in the avian species, but also in homo sapiens. Just like the birding checklists, I am tempted to make a one of the various types of folks I have met on these jaunts. A sample:

- Ornithologist (the real McCoy!)
- Architect
- Design Student
- Entrepreneur
- Retired Govt Employee
- Active Govt Employee
- S/w Professional
- Electronics Professional
- Visiting foreign tourist
- Kids of various ages and backgrounds

and so on. The latest addition to this list was Deepa, an effervescent lady reporter/avid amateur naturalist, probably of Gauri Pinni's age, always full of jokes. She lives right next door too. With her and Chandu, who it the expert that we usually tag along with for birding, I had visited the Shivanahalli Ramakrishna Mission School the last weekend. Apart from the usual birding fun, we also got to lead a dozen local kids on the nature trail.  Uncannily, they had remembered my name which I had told them casually 5 weeks back! All in all, an interesting experience. The list (of birds):

  1. Ashy Prinia
  2. Long tailed Shrike
  3. Common Hoopoe
  4. White breasted Kingfisher
  5. Red vented Bulbul
  6. Red whiskered Bulbul
  7. Indian Robin (male and female)
  8. Tickell's Flower Pecker
  9. Indian Bush Lark
  10. Shikra
  11. Indian Hawk Cuckoo (heard) 
  12. House Sparrow (M&F)
  13. Asian Koel (M & F)
  14. Black Kite
  15. Tickell's Blue Fly Catcher
  16. White Cheeked Barbet
  17. Copper Smith Barbet (heard) 
  18. Oriental White Eye
  19. Rose Ringed Parakeet (by me)
  20. Small Green Bee Eater
  21. Oriental Honey Buzzard
  22. Common Tailor Bird
  23. Black Drongo
  24. Jungle Fowl (heard)
  25. Indian Roller (by Deepa)
  26. Jungle Crow
  27. Rufous Tailed Lark (by Deepa)
  28. Small Minivet (by Deepa)
  29. Red Wattled Lapwing
  30. Spotted Dove
  31. Small Brown Dove
  32. Purple Heron
  33. Purple Rumped Sunbird
  34. Common Iora
  35. Pied Bushchat (male and female)
  36. Brahminy Kite
  37. Large Grey Babbler
  38. Greater Coucal

Some snaps (not mine):

Asian Koel (female)


 Long tailed Shrike:


Oriental honey Buzzard:

June 14, 2010

Vuvuzelas

Arrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

It is like a million bees constantly buzzing. Soooooooooooooooooooo annoying that I stopped watching the game!!!!!!

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/worldcup/story/vuvuzela-drone-killing-world-cup-atmosphere?GT1=39011