Answers to last week's quiz (#368)

1. What was branded as Hassan Nasarallah after the leader of Lebanon's Hizballah in 2006, president Obama in 2009 and martyrs of the revolution & Tahrir square in 2014?
   
   Every year in Egypt, the best dates are given catchy names by their vendors during Ramzan. In 2006, after Israel's war against Lebanon, the best dates were called Hassan Nasrallah after the leader of Lebanon's Hizballah. In 2009, after the US president made a visit to Cairo, it was called Obama. This year, it is called Martyrs of the Revolution.
    
2. In the 1960s, the founder of this management consultancy divided his firm into three minifirms called the red, blue and green after reading books on Darwinian Anthropology. He set them to compete with each other. Virtually his blue unit by far most successfully decamped to set up another firm. Name the founder and his firm and also the present name of his runaway blue unit.
   
   Bruce Henderson of the Boston Consultancy Group. The runaway blue unit went on to become Bain & Company.
    
3. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute is famous for its top 100 listings. What are these listings?
   
   The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's listing called the SIPRI - 100 is a list of the world's 100 largest arms-producing and military services companies (excluding Chinese companies), ranked by their arms sales.
    
4. Pepper can respond to emotions and Jimmy can tweet. Who are they and who introduced them?
   
   Both are Robots. Pepper was launched by SoftBank and Intel and Trossen Robotics have partnered to create Jimmy, a 3D-printed, open-sourced robot that can walk, talk, tweet, & can take pictures.
    
5. Which company and its logo draw inspiration from a modernising and enterprising naval trading company founded in Nagasaki in 1865. It operated during the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan. It had capabilities of gathering advanced information and knowledge and served as a catalyst for Japan's transformation into a modern, free-thinking & boldly decisive state. Name the company and also the present day company that adopted its logo.
   
   SoftBank founded by Masayoshi Son in Japan adopted the Naval trading company Kaientai's logo.
    
6. This college professor of Chemistry is known as the plastic man and his college holds a patent for his technique but often licenses it for free. So far 5,000 kms in 11 states in India have been covered using his technique. Name him and his innovation.
   
   The 'Plastic Man,' is Rajagopalan Vasudevan, professor of Chemistry, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, near Madurai. His technique helps transform common plastic liter, from thicker acrylics to bottles and grocery bags, into a substitute for bitumen in asphalt for making roads.
    
7. Which company is spearheading an effort to develop a chat tool called "Babble"? It is an internal messaging service for its bankers and traders to keep in touch with their customers at pension funds, hedge funds and asset managers.
   
   Goldman Sachs.
    
8. This event originated in the early 1900s in France as a circulation booster for a newspaper. A Yellow jersey handed out in this event was instituted probably to reflect the distinctive yellow newsprint on which it was published.
   
   The French newspaper L'Auto originated the Tour de France cycling stage race in 1903 as a circulation booster.
    
9. What is microwaiting? It is a buzzword generally used in offices.
   
   The time spent in front of the microwave in the office pantry by an employee while his/her lunch heats up. Regularly occurs a few minutes before the lunch hour begins.
    
10. Who uses this logo?
    
    Google Shopping Express.

There were 35 correct entries for quiz No. 368. Debasis swain from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, wins Rs 2,000. The winner is chosen on the basis of the first correct entry received.