Final (s) Solution

Capital PunishmentThe Social Sciences Quiz

Rajagopal & Alagarsamy

The Shaare Shalom Synagogue (pic) in the Jamaican capital is one of five functioning synagogues in the world with sand floors.

The most common explanation is that the practice originated in the early 1600s in the northern region of Brazil, where Spanish-Portuguese conversos (forced converts) who had returned to Judaism were trying to retain their jewish traditions while subject to the hostile eyes of Iberian ecclesiastical authorities. Because synagogues were not permitted to operate, the conversos had no choice but to meet in private homes. As such, they put clay and sand on the floor of the prayer rooms to muffle the sounds made by the comings and goings of worshipers, and the prayers themselves.

What was the other important religious connection for having sand floor?

It is said that the sand symbolizes the terrain of the Sinai Desert, through which the Children of Israel wandered for 40 years after the Exodus

In medieval Europe the scribes-in-training were made to copy passages from Bible as part of their training. What was the equivalent source for the scribes-in-training in the middle east in ancient times? This source was discovered by Egyptologist Gustave Jéquier in 1901.

Hammurabi’s Code

As a tradition the referee in Sumo wrestling carries a ceremonial sword with short blade (called tanto) in his belt. What is the reason behind this custom?

In ancient times the referees were expected to commit seppuku if they made wrong decisions.

However, in modern days it is just a ceremonial accompaniement to signify that the referee understands the seriousness of the decisions he has to make and his symbolic willingness to commit seppuku if his decision is overruled by the shimpan (the judges).

For years, scientists and armchair philosophers have pondered on one of humanity's great evolutionary question: Why do humans _______?

Some of the theories propounded to explain this were:

It helped them expend less energyIt helped them in carrying more foodIt helped them control their temperature better by reducing the amount of skin directly exposed to the sun

What was this great evolutionary question?

Why did humans walk on two legs?

Ahnighito, also known as the Cape York Meteorite is a 4.5 billion-year-old piece of an asteroid that fell out of the sky and landed in Savissivik, about 10,000 years ago. Non-natives first heard about it in 1818. But it was first located in 1894 by Y, who achieved much greater fame later. For some reason, he thought it would be a great idea to take it back to the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Before he could get the meteorite onto a ship, he had to get it to the coast, and that required the construction of ________’s first and only railroad. It took three years to get all that done and transport the meteorite to its present location, where it sits on a special display stand whose supports are anchored into the bedrock beneath the museum. Identify the country and the person?

X – GreenlandY – Arctic Explorer Robert E Peary

D. R. Wijewardena, a press baron, and E. W. Perera, a prominent figure of the independence movement traced the location of this belonging to Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe, the last king of the Kingdom of Kandy to the Royal Hospital Chelsea where it was kept since the surrender of the Kingdom to the British in 1815. The recovered item became a focal point in the independence movement of Ceylon.

What are we talking about?

The Lion Banner

This ceremony is an integral part of certain country’s culture. What ceremony and which country?

Coffee CeremonyEthiopia

The Mystery of Picasso is a 1956 Documentary film made by the acclaimed French Director Henri-Georges Clouzot. This film looks in to Picasso’s creative process and captures him in the act of creating paintings for the camera.

While this was one of the greatest documentaries on art ever made what other important reason made the French Government to declare this documentary as a National Treasure?

All the paintings created by Picasso for this movie were subsequently destroyed so that they would exist only on film.

__________ is a category of foreign policies institutionalized by leaders who asserted that their nations' best interests were best served by keeping the affairs of other countries at a distance, as well as a term used, sometimes pejoratively, in political debates. Many advocates of this theory believe that limiting international involvement keeps their country from being drawn into dangerous and otherwise undesirable conflicts.

The America First Committee (AFC) was the foremost non-interventionist pressure group in US against the American entry into World War II. Peaking at 800,000 paid members in 450 chapters, it was one of the largest anti-war organizations in American history. Started in 1940, it shut down after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941.

FITB and Which well known American was the face of this committee and its most prominent spokesman?

IsolationsiamCharles Lindbergh

Language isolates are natural languages that have no known historical or linguistic relationship to any other languages. Since the language of Basque bears no similarity to Indo-European Romance languages spoken in the surrounding regions, it’s considered an isolated language.

Some linguists have theorized that Basque language is a prehistoric language and to prove this they give the example of words such as "knife" (aizto), "axe" (aizkora) and "hoe" (aitzur) etc., Basque-type skulls discovered in Neolithic archaeological sites support this theory.

What is their argument in favour of this theory?

Words such as "knife" (aizto), "axe" (aizkora) and "hoe" (aitzur) are all derived from the word for "stone" (haitz), and have therefore concluded that the language dates to the Stone Age, when those tools were made of stone.

In most of the East European countries, Greece & Russia the surname based on this profession is very common and in fact it is the most popular surname in Romania & Greece. Which profession?

PriestPopa (Romania) Popescu (Romania) Papadopoulos (Greece) Popovic (Serbia & Croatia) Popov (Russia) Papp (Hungary)Prifti (Albania)

Who classified the Romance languages into three different groups solely based on how they said “____.”

In his De vulgari eloquentia, he wrote in Latin, "nam alii oc, alii si, alii vero dicunt oil“ thereby highlighting three major Romance literary languages - Occitan, French & Italian - that were well known in Italy, based on each language's word for “_____"

Dante AlighieriYes“For some say ‘oc,’ others say ‘si,’ others say oïl."’

Oc – OccitanOil - Oui – FrenchSi - Italian

Modern reading is a silent and solitary activity. Ancient reading was usually oral, either aloud, in groups, or individually, in a muffled voice.

What change in the writing system, introduced by the Irish monks at the end of the 7 th century, led to the development of silent reading?

The practice of transcribing Greek and Latin manuscripts without spaces, or in scriptura continua, made reading silently a mind-bogglingly difficult task. The task of separating the words in continuous written text became instead a labor of professional readers and scribes. It was only after the introduction of word separators by the Iris monks that the practice of silent reading became practical.

Introduction of Word SeparatorsAncientandmedievalmanuscriptslookedlikethisanditwaseasiertoreadthemaloud

During the prolonged civil war in the early part of 19th century, Henri Christophe (King Henry I) who ruled this country devised a novel monetary system. While poverty prevailed everywhere, he came to know that there was plenty of ______ in the farm fields and hence ordered, in fact commanded that the entire harvest of _____ be brought to treasury. He released this from treasury as currency and to this day the ______ of 100 centimes is the nominal currency of this country. Identify the country and the currency?

HaitiGourde

Till late 19th century some churches in US would hang a pinewood slab on the door with a comb hanging from a string. Why?

Discrimination against Blacks

A person could enter the church only if his or her skin was lighter than the pinewood and if they could run the comb through their hair without it snagging.

The earliest reported research in this area came from Welshman Rice Vaughan who examined this in his 1675 book A Discourse of Coin and Coinage. In 1707 Englishman William Fleetwood created perhaps the first true _____ ______.

An Oxford student who stood to lose his fellowship requested his help since a 15th century stipulation barred students with annual incomes over five pounds from receiving a fellowship. Fleetwood, who already had an interest on this subject, had collected a large amount of data going back hundreds of years. He argued on behalf of the Oxford students and published his findings anonymously in a volume entitled Chronicon Preciosum.

What very commonly used economic indicator did he create?

Price Index

While the coining of this phrase (X) by Y is usually thought to be in response to a pessimistic essay, it was infact first used by X in an 1849 essay called "Occassional Discourse on the Negro Question".

X was rebutting JS Mill's arguement that all races were equal and was arguing for the reintroduction of slavery as a means to regulate labour market in the West Indies and against supply and demand.

What is X? Who is Y?

X - Dismal Science Y - Thomas Carlyle

The Trial of the Pyx, established in 1279 by Edward I, It is one of the oldest statistical sampling inspections. It involves an independent jury meeting multiple times a year and choosing and assaying a random sample. It is named so for the box (pyx) in which the samples are placed. It is a plot point in Neal Stephenson's The System of the World. What is the Trial of the Pyx or what are sampled and tested?

Coins minted by the Royal Mint

“We are suffering from the ruinous competition of a rival who apparently works under conditions so far superior to our own for the production of X that he is flooding the domestic market with it at an incredibly low price; for the moment he appears, our sales cease, all the consumers turn to him, and a branch of French industry whose ramifications are innumerable is all at once reduced to complete stagnation.

This rival, which is none other than the Y, is waging war on us so mercilessly we suspect he is being stirred up against us by perfidious Albion ..We ask you to be so good as to pass a law requiring the closing of all .. openings, holes, chinks, and fissures through which the ... is wont to enter houses, to the detriment of the fair industries... “.

A 1845 Jonathan Swift-esque essay by Frederic Bastiat. Who is he writing the petition on Behalf of?

Candle Makers petition against the Sun

X is a type of medieval world map described by the 7th century scholar Isidore of Seville in his Etymologiae "The world is called 'round' after the roundness of a circle, because it is like a wheel ... Because of this, the Ocean flowing around it is contained in a circular limit, and it is divided in three parts, one part being called Asia, the second Europe, and the third Africa."

Two examples shown. What descriptive name is given to such maps?

T in O Map T and O Map Beatus or Beatine Maps Orbis Terrarum

The answer to the Needham Question given by Joseph Needham himself include antagonism between mental and manual work, failure of the rise of the merchant class to power, Confucianism and Taoism promoted a way of life incompatible with the objective of the question, respect to elders meant they couldn't be questioned meant doing things the tradtional way and discouraged new thinking.

Needham spent half his life answering the question. Other historians have criticized his answers and even the way the question was formulated.

So what is the Needham Question?

What were the inhibiting factors in their civilisation which prevented the rise of modern science in Asia?

(or)

Why did modern science emerge in the West and not China?

In his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon cites 2 main weakness (one internal, one external) of the Roman Empire that caused its fall. The External Weakness was the Barbarians attacking Rome.

What did Gibbon suggest was the internal weakness that caused Rome's ultimate fall?

Christianity

During a 1991 Congressional testimony, Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart said the following:

"Typically, people gather in X with others from the surrounding community. The X offers equality because there is no head or tail. It includes people of all ages. The main objective is to share rhythm and get in tune with each other and themselves. To form a group consciousness. To entrain and resonate. By entrainment, I mean that a new voice, a collective voice, emerges from the group as they ---- together"

The term X originated in the US in the 1960s and was used especially for counterculture groups. This practice can also be found among neotribals, neopagans and shamanic cults.

What is X?

Drum Circle

Robert Hall, in a paper from 1976, identified 2 distinct strains of macroeconomics (and economists)

- one group (X) who came out of universities located around the North American Great Lakes who held the Government was incapable of affecting level of economic activity and

- another group (Y) from universities on the American coast that Government is capable of affecting demand.

What name did he assign to two groups based on their geographic location?

X = Freshwater Economics/Economists Y = Saltwater Economics/Economists

The creator X of Y drew this map to give an idea to the decision makers where the action would take place. Id X and Y.

X = David Lynch Y = Twin Peaks

The word X referred to a toilet in medieval times. Clothes such as coats were hung over the toilet shaft as the ammonia fromn urine was thought to kill fleas and moths. So X literally meant a place to protect coats etc., This has lead to the modern word Y where clothes are stored. X or Y?

Garderobe or Wardrobe

The poem X by Lord Byron was about a world weary young man traveling in foreign lands seeking distraction. Part of its name comes from a medieval title for a young man who is a candidate for knighthood. Name the poem.

The following lines were penned against an early 1800s controversial act of a rival. What controversial act?

Let ABERDEEN and X still pursue The shade of fame through regions of Virtu; Waste useless thousands on their Phidian freaks, Mis-shapen monuments, and maimed antiques; And make their grand saloons a general mart For all the mutilated blocks of art.

Poem is Childe Harolde’s Pilgrimage

The lines were an attack on Lord Elgin for his removal of the Elgin Marbles from Parthenon.

Robert Putnam's book X Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community is about the collapse of social interaction in America since the 1950s. Putnam chose a particular example, which was usually a group activity - the number of people participating in this increased over the years but the number of groups or leagues decreased.

What is X, which was also part of the title of the unrelated 2003 Oscar for Best Documentary?

Bowling

• X described in Chapter 12 of his 1936 magnum opus a hypothetical game - consider a newspaper contest where entrants are to choose the most beautiful from a set of 6 photographs of women. Those who picked the most popular face would be eligible for a prize. The strategy is then to choose the one a majority of the others would consider the most beautiful face. X believed a similar behaviour was at play in stock market.

• What is this kind of game called?

Keynesian Beauty Contest

The Nolli Map, by Giambattita Nolli, of Rome from 1748 is considered a landmark in Urban Planning - measure 7 x 6 ft, it showed the city's street network and was the most accurate map of the city since Roman times. It was used in city planning till the 1970s and is in use even now.

What now common practice in map making did Nolli establish?

• He portrayed the entire city from above without a single focal point - so it looks as if the cartographer is above every single block

Sociologist Robert Merton coined the term XY as per which "public definitions of a situation (prophecies or predictions) become an integral part of the situation and thus affect subsequent developments". Philosopher Karl Popper used a mythology-derived term Z for the same.

What is XY? What is Z?

XY = Self-fulfilling Prophecy Z = Oedipus Effect

If the law of large numbers from probability theory is one of the keystones of the insurance industry, Nobel-winner X's work shows that people make mistaken economic decisions because they believe in "the law of small numbers", that is they make decisions based on small sample size.

X found this in his own behaviour while evaluating candidates for office training in the army. Who?

Daniel Kahneman

Construction on this began in 1248 AD. Its completion in 1880 AD, 632 years later was celebrated as a national event. This UNESCO World Heritage site is Germany’s most visited landmark, with over 6 million visitors annually.

Various church building had stood at this site since 4th Century AD and it was sought to be expanded to accomodate the crowd and be fit for worship for the Holy Roman Emperor. Damaged during WW II, allies supposedly let it stand to use it as a navigational aid. What?

Cologne Cathedral

Surveyors preparing for a Hydroelectric dam project in the Samanalawewa in 1988 discovered multiple 1st century AD industrial sites – the structures at the site indicated that a previously undiscovered technique of using the monsoon wind to keep charcoal fires consistently stoked.

Constant supply of oxygen was key to the process, something other ancient cultures had not yet mastered. The output of these sites were shipped thousands of kilometers west to make what world renowned object?

Damascus Steel Swords were made from the high quality steel exported to West Asia. Syrian records show swords being made from steel received from a "sivhala", thought to refer to Sri Lanka.

Co-designed by Robert Hooke and Christopher Wren, it is a doric column, it doubled as a scienctific instrument – the central shaft could be used a zenith telescope (to look straight up at the sky) and for gravity and pendulam experiments.

Built to commemorate the Great Fire of London and completed in 1677, what?

London Monument

X was a League of Nations Mandate under Britain and after WW II, a UN Trust Territory. It existed as an independent republic between 1962 to 1964.

Y was under the Sultanate of Oman since the 17th century and the Sultan of Oman moved there in 1840. It was an important port for Arab slave trade. It came under British Protectorate on the condition that the slave trade ended. Y got independence from Britain in 1963 and endured a month of bloody revolution.

X and Y then merged under a portmanteau name Z. Give X &Y or Z.

X = Tanganyika Y = Zanzibar

Z = Tanzania

With the civil war in progress, Secretary of Treasury Salmon Chase received a number of appeals from the general public in 1861 to make a particular gesture.

However, an 1837 act of US Congress prohibited him from doing so. On Chase’s request, the US Congress permitted the minting of a 2 cent coin for the purpose and permitted Chase to make what gesture?

Adding a motto recognizing God on US coins – “In god we trust” was added to the 2 cent coin for the 1st time in 1864 and in various coins and currency notes since.

The first in 1960 was code named Gerboise Bleue. Gerboise Blanche and Gerboise Rouge soon followed, all named as a nod to the Jerboa( a desert rodent found in North Africa among other places) and to the tricolor.

The first one elicited a “Since this morning, she is stronger and prouder” message.

What are we talking about?

First 3 French atomic bomb test in Sahara Desert.

The tricolors are of course the colours of the French Flag.

Marcelino de Sautuola and his daughter Maris were out exploring at a place where bones of extinct animal were found when Maria shouted “Look Papa, Bulls”.

Having seen something similar at the World Exposition in Paris in 1878, Sautuola with an archaeologist published the results of rhir finding at Prehistoric Congress in Lisbon in 1880 but they were ridiculed and accused of forgery. Academics later apologised to Sautuola and recognized his claims.

What Maria saw inspires the protagonist in Agantuk to study tribals. What did Maria and her father discover?

Cave paintings at Altamira