2014 Dec 2nd - Q123

23andMe is a California based private company. One of their products was chosen in TIME's 2008 Best Inventions List. Founded by Anne Wojcicki, Sergey Brin's wife, the company have recently started selling its products in the UK and Canada. Last year, it was banned by the FDA in the United States. With the company's name, identify what this company, or its product, is all about?

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=> Direct-to-consumer saliva genome testing - the company's named for the number of pairs of chromosomes in a human cell.

2014 Nov 30th - Q121

"Throughout the year, retailers would often record poor sales, and only in the holiday season would they receive considerable profits. By virtue of old accounting practices, red ink was used for denoting negative amounts in the record book, while black ink was used for the positive amounts."

The previous paragraph shows a plausible explanation for a phrase, which recently crossed-continents to the UK. What phrase?

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=> Black Friday

2014 Nov 12th - Q103

Almaty, the ex-capital of Kazakhstan and a contender for hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics, is often called the "southern capital of Kazakhstan". In an institute here, in 1969, Klim Ivanovic _________ and Svetlana Ivanovna __________ had developed few photographic plates. One of these plates seemed to be under-developed, with a tiny splotch of light in the centre. Considering it defective, Svetlana was about to discard the plate, when she thought against it and kept it back with all the plates. The fact of Svetlana not having discarded the plate, has proved effective.

How has it proved effective? OR give the surnames of the two. 

Svetlana, left, and Klim, with the photographic plates

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=> The surnames are Churyumov and Gerasimenko, in reference to the blanks - the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko is named after the two. Although the two astronomers were initially researching on comet 32P/Comas Solà, when they returned to Kiev, after calculations, the splotch on the "defective" plate turned out be a new comet altogether - the 67P comet. Recently, for the first time in history, the Philae probe of the Rosetta Orbiter mission has landed on the comet.

2014 Nov 8th - Q94

This was how Associated Press reporter Robert Geiger started off his April 15, 1935, dispatch : “Three little words achingly familiar on a Western farmer’s tongue, rule life in the X-Y of the continent — if it rains.” This is the first usage of X-Y to denote a certain series of natural [and man-influenced] disasters in the 1930s. 

For the 2014 sci-fi movie Interstellar, a dystopian and apocalyptic Earth is shown. The setting of Earth [ravaged and destroyed] was inspired by the X-Y disasters. X-Y?

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=> Dust Bowl, a series of dust storms in the 1930s in the United States.

2014 Nov 7th - Q92

On Benaras Hindu University professor KK Mishra's account: In the 17th century, when Mughal Emperor Aurabgzeb was on his binge of destroying temples, he was notified by his soldiers, of an old Hanuman temple in a Varanasi village. The idol of Hanuman in this temple was unqique, as it was black in colour. When the Mughal soldiers arrived, the villagers fought back valiantly, and forced the soldiers to a beating retreat. The village got its name after this victory.

Now, 450 years later, the village has got a 'second victory', according to its villagers. The temple is still called, literally, "the temple of the Black Hanuman". Name this village, and what is this 'second victory'?

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=> Jayapur - ''Jaya" meaning victory - the 'second victory' is Narendra Modi's adoption of Jayapur, under a new scheme wherein MPs of both houses, identify a village and try to develop it.

2014 Nov 1st - Q74

On 1st November 2014, coinciding with the 'Kannadiga Rajyotsava' celebrations, what change officially took place for Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore, Gulbarga, Hubli, Shimoga, Chikmagalur, Bellary, Bijapur, Hospet and Tumkur? The list is exhaustive.

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=> Shedding of Anglicised names of these cities - Their new names, as respective to the question are, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Kalburagi, Hubballi, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Ballari, Vijayapura, Hosapete and Tumakuru.

2014 Oct 31st - Q70

Halloween, celebrated every October 31st in the modern world, is said to have originated from the merging of the All Saints' Day or All Souls' Day [celebrated on November 1st and 2nd respectively] with which Gaelic festival - that is celebrated on October 31st? By one theory, the Gaelic festival has its etymological roots in the Sankrit for season or year - as the festival celebrates the end of the harvest season.

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=> Samhain

2014 Oct 29th - Q66

Called (as a sobriquet) the "heart of the scorpion", referring to the constellation Scorpius, this star's name literally means "equal to Mars". This is because of its red hue when viewed by an unaided eye, like planet Mars. Some also speculate that it may be named in relation to Antarah ibn Shaddad, the Arab warrior-hero celebrated in the Golden Mu'allaqat.

Name this star, in the news for the wrong reasons.

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=> Antares - this is the name of the recently exploded ISS supplier rocket of NASA.

2014 Oct 27th - Q62

In terrorism, this two-word term is used to refer to someone who, "commits or prepares for, or is suspected of committing or preparing for, violent acts in support of some group, movement, or ideology, but who does so alone, outside of any command structure and without material assistance from any group." 

Identify the term, used frequently in news nowadays, owing to the Canadian shooting at Parliament Hill.

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=> Lone Wolf or Lone-Wolf fighter - it is a common term for solo quizzing too.

2014 Oct 27th - Q61

Which ongoing horror movie, whose name literally means "yes-yes", is sponsored by three companies, including Hasbro? 

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=> Ouija - the movie is based on Ouija boards, which is a trademarked product of Hasbro (who own Parker Brothers). Ouija gets its name from the French and German words for yes - "oui" and "ja".

2014 Oct 25th - Q54

Identify XY, where XY is the stage name :

Born X Roger Stephens, this artist became a chart-topper in early 2014 with a single. Popular early on for his collaborations, X got the idea of his stage name from a remark by poet J. Ivy. Ivy had reportedly said : "I heard your music and it reminds me of that music from the old school. You sound like one of the legends. As a matter of fact, that's what I'm going to call you from now on! I'm going to call you XY."

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=> John Legend

2014 Oct 24th - Q50

In a match between Argentinean teams Estudiantes de la Plata and Rosario Central in 1948, Ricardo Infante scored a goal using a certain move. The football magazine El Grafico set up a cover showing Infante as a pupil with the caption : "El infante que se hizo la _______". This was a pun on Infante (meaning "infant" in Spanish) and literally meant "the boy who played hooky". _______, meaning to play hooky or to bunk classes, has stuck with this move since. Name this move, recently used exquisitely for a goal by Erik Lamela.

Note : The blanks contain the required name.

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=> Rabona - a method of kicking the football whereby the kicking leg is wrapped around the back of the standing leg. Lamela scored the mentioned goal in the Europa League against Asteras Triplois F.C.

2014 Oct 24th - Q49

Having broken down a deal with Irish rivals Fyffes, this company is expected to go in a deal with Brazil's Cutrale and Safra. Which company is being talked about, whose name literally means "Little Girl" in Spanish, and has a mascot that is a cartoon of the following picture? 

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=> Chiquita (Bananas) - the company may also be named after the Chiquita river in Venezuela, around where their banana plants grow.

2014 Oct 22nd - Q37

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was, in a recent press release, confirmed as to play the arch-enemy of which superhero, with the film to be released in 2019? The following picture is a big clue to the superhero.

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=> Shazam (or Captian Marvel) - Johnson will star as Shazam's enemy, Black Adam. Shazam is apparently named for having the powers of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury (S-H-A-Z-A-M) - depicted in the clue as Solomon's Temple, Hercules, Atlantis, Temple of Zeus, Achilles Tendon, and Mercury.

2014 Oct 8th - Q24

Which term, being used a lot in light of certain current events, is etymologically concerned with the number of days, any ship and its crew, in the mid-14th century, would be kept secluded in the coastal city of Dubrovnik, as a method of disease prevention against the Black Death?  

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=> Quarantine - in light due to the Ebola affairs.

2014 Oct 7th - Q18

This hotel XY is being sold to Chinese insurance group Anbarg by Hilton, who had owned the hotel since 1949. The hotel's X comes comes a German town, one of the richest in Europe, known also for housing SAP's headquarters. Y is the family name of John Jacob Y IV, the richest man in the US until he died aboard the Titanic. The family is considered the most famous of the town of X. The hotel's name XY was earlier seperated by a hypen, as X-Y, which gave rise to the popular expression and song : "Meet Me at the Hyphen!" There was since a double hyphen X=Y, which was cancelled out by Hilton in 2009. Name this prominent New York City landmark XY. 

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=> Waldorf Astoria - Waldorf being the German town, and Astor being the family name. The earlier site of this hotel now belongs to the Empire State Building. It is believed that the Waldorf salad was invented by the maître d'hôtel of the Waldorf Astoria in 1896.

2014 Oct 6th - Q17

With a publicised view of reducing the British Airways' monopoly on domestic flights in the UK, X (an established airlines), started off a new airlines network Little Red from March 2013 in coalition with Aer Lingus. This new network was solely for intra-British travels. But due to financial losses, Little Red is expected to fold up within six months. Name X, from whose logo Little Red gets its name.

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=> Virgin Atlantic - according to Virgin : "We own ‘red’ as a colour and an attitude, it’s true to our values by providing our domestic services with a point of difference. It safe guards our long haul brand, helping to set an expectation that the experience will be great but different." 

2014 Oct 5th - Q10

On October 4th, the shortlists for the Saltire Society Book awards were announced. The nominees included broadcasters Kirsty Wark and Sally Magnusson. As per the society that hands out the prizes (Saltire Society), the awards deal with "living authors of Scottish descent or residing in Scotland," or which deal with "the work or life of a Scot or with a Scottish question, event or situation." From who/what does the Saltire Society get its name?

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=> Flag of Scotland (Saint Andrew's Cross). Often informally referred to as "the Saltire".