And we're back for episode #50 of Are You Quizzing Me?
It has been a year since we started this podcast, and I
don't think either of us were 100% confident that we would
reach this milestone. But we have 50 episodes in
Aditya. Thoughts.
Just the fact that we are here is astounding enough, and the
fact that we have not given up on each other or on this podcast
or on trivia in general is truly a remarkable thing.
I'm very impressed. Yes, we are impressed with
ourselves. I'm also very sleepy right now.
It is a recording at let's say 9:00 AM and which normally human
beings are awake. But I I claim then it is time to
sleep at 9:00 AM and not be awake.
So I I'm going to try my best to be awake for this special
episode, actually. Yes.
Can you tell our audience what's special about it?
Aditya. Well, it is the #50 and it is
the last episode for the year, so we need that.
I decided that we will treat each other and our audiences to
a special episode. And in this special episode,
what we're going to be doing is that we are going to be asking
questions from events that have happened in this year
exclusively. So Vineet is going to ask me a
question for something pertaining to January 2023.
I will take Feb, then he goes to March and so on and so forth.
Of course, we might take events in those specific months and use
that as an inspiration for a question slightly related.
And so it won't be a specific event that, hey, do you know
what happened in 2023, Jan? But something that happened and
hence inspired our questions. I'm very excited.
Let's see, because we both don't know what the other person is
prepared. Yes, and this will be an active
discovery process, but let's figure this out together.
Yes, this should be interesting. Let me start off with an
audience question and a question for our audience regarding
something that happened this year.
So in March of 2023, this company X posted earnings of
$161 billion for 2022, which makes it the highest ever
recorded annual profit by a publicly listed company.
And so let me repeat the question again.
In March of 2023, this company X posted earnings of $161 billion
for 2022, making it the highest ever recorded annual profit by a
publicly listed company. I need you are dear audience to
try and guess which company this is.
We will reveal the answer as usual at the end of today's
episode. And before we start off with
this 2023 extravaganza, we still have the small mark matter of
the question that Aditya had posed last week.
Aditya. I went and listened to the
episode again, and what I had asked was which town in Istanbul
has also sued another American Hollywood film.
Yes, I believe that was the question.
Word to word, yes. And we are, you know,
straightforward looking to that answer as to which town in
Istanbul. So there is a town in Istanbul
called Turkey. No, I'm kidding.
I I'm going to go to the fact that it is not just Istanbul,
and it's not just a small town in it, but it's in fact the
whole country of Turkey, which is sued not just American
movies, but American entertainment in general for
using Thanksgiving and turkeys in general as a common plot
device from every random bottle episode of Friends to
Thanksgiving movies. I believe that is an
infringement of Turkey's copyright.
So the entire country of Turkey has sued Hollywood, according to
me. I just made that up.
But it's true now, because I said it.
And while we get sued into oblivion by the country of
Turkey, before that, let's do this recording and at least push
out this episode. I'm not going to comment on that
answer because frankly, why would I?
Let's start off with today's episode.
As I mentioned, the format is going to be I'll do Jan, he'll
do Feb, then I'll do March, and so on and so forth until we
reach December. I'm going to start you off with
the question from January. X was named after something
which was described as human made avoidable.
In Jan of 2023, X was splashed across the news mostly in India,
and a few months later X would again be in the news, this time
in the US because of X's position with regards to Elon
Musk identify. XI have purposely made this very
vague so as to stump Aditya's stupendous memory.
So I believe the audience will be on my side on this.
Wait, let me clarify. X was described as something
human made but avoidable. Yes, X was named after something
which has been described as human made avoidable.
Oh, X was named after something that is human made but
avoidable. And what is the Musk connection?
So in 2023, in January 2023, X was splashed across the news,
mostly in India. And then a few months later, X
would again be in the news this time, but this time because of a
position it took with regards to Elon Musk.
Interesting. Is it a newspaper?
No, it's not a newspaper, but it is an organization.
I will give you that. It is an organization, a very
small organization. It only has nine employees as of
last, the last filing. And I mean the number 9, not the
German. No.
OK. And it is an Indian
organization. No, it is not.
But it was across the news in India in January.
No, I need a bit more of a clue. OK.
Let's just say that this is a company which is in the
financial space. Wait, OK, when you say human
made but avoidable, it sounds like it's not something great.
It's not a good thing. Am I on the right?
It's. Not, it's not, it's not
something great. Yes, the the name of the company
has been given very specifically because it's in a way quite
related to what the company does and it was huge news, huge news
in India and it caused something of a, you know, huge fallout
here in India as well. Is it some type of watchdog?
I have no clue at all. Yeah, so watchdog would not be
an unreasonable way to describe them, but then they also make
money of it. No I need another clue then.
When they did what they did in January, somebody in India lost
a lot of money. Adani, right?
Yes, Adani was featured in the report.
Yes, Adani was featured in this report of this company, which
was named after a human made but avoidable disaster.
Oh God, this is one of those piece of news that just.
I know, I know. So X is a company, is an
activist company, research company which takes up short
selling positions. So they took up a short position
against Adani and then later they did that same, you know,
against Elon Musk when? During the time of his takeover
on Twitter. So X is named after man made but
avoidable disaster. Can you tell me which one this
is? Man made but avoidable disaster
Is it the Hindenburg? Yes, it is the Hindenburg
Research Group, which only has nine employees.
They are a short selling activist research group which
releases reports about corporate fraud and malfeasance and then
takes short selling positions against those companies looking
to make money. Interestingly enough, people who
have heard of the Hindenburg, you all know that the Hindenburg
was a big Zeppelin right, which flew from Europe to America and
then burnt up in America causing the huge Hindenburg disaster.
Do you know that America is partly responsible for that?
How do you? I don't know how that is.
So there there's a lot of fuss made among quizzing circles and
people who know about this that the Hindenburg burnt up because
the the gas that they had used for keeping the Zeppelin afloat
was hydrogen, which is flammable, instead of using
something like helium, which is not flammable.
The fact is the Hindenburg was actually designed to use helium.
OK, interesting. But at that point of time, a
lion's share of the world's helium reserves were in
America's hands, and America refused to give it to the Nazi
government. They put up trade restrictions,
so Germany wasn't able to source enough helium to keep using the
Zeppelin, and because of that, they changed it to use hydrogen
instead of helium. And that ended up being this
huge disaster, one of the first live film disasters.
The video is still harrowing to see almost a century later.
So that disaster is was described by the founder of
Heinberg Research Group as being human made but avoidable.
And he says that's the same thing what they do.
They look for companies which have, you know, corporate fraud
and malfeasance, which is human made.
But they feel that if people pay attention, these could be
avoided. Right.
Interesting. Very cool.
OK, I had no clue about this.
All right, that was a great question actually, and very much
in accordance with our decided format.
I don't know if my question fits the bill, but let me try, OK?
Celestine Lawson is an American businesswoman, fashion designer
and philanthropist. She has been famous for her
work, but also for members of her family, being very famous.
Her maiden name was actually the result of a typo, and in a
podcast episode a couple of years ago she claimed that it
had racist origins. So I'm going to quote her here.
Celestine is talking about an instance where she confronted
her mother about the typo in her birth certificate.
So I said, well why didn't you argue and make them corrected?
And she said I did one time, the first time and I was told be
happy that you're getting a birth certificate because at one
time black people didn't even get birth certificate.
So the context here is that Celestine had a typo in her
birth certificate. When she asked her mother why it
wasn't corrected, her mother told her this that they
basically laughed her out of the office, saying that black people
didn't even get birth certificates at some point, so
they should be happy that they had a birth certificate.
Palestine also presumed that there was racism in the fact
that the typo wasn't a part of the name, which was French
origin, so they basically didn't even bother trying to verify the
spelling of that part of the name.
How do we know this part of the name?
And I will give you a hint based on the event in February 2023,
but I'm just checking if you already know the answer.
OK, I absolutely have currently no clue as to where this is
going. Celestine Lawson.
The name does not seem very familiar, and you said it's a
French surname, right? OK, so Celestine's maiden name
OK, was a French origin word. OK, yeah, and that is what had
the typo. That had the typo.
OK, you give me the event, or at least how it's tangentially
related to Feb. Maybe that'll spark a memory.
The last name, The maiden name of Celestine, is also the name
of the person who established the record of most Grammy Awards
in February this year. OK, so this would be Beyoncé
Knowles who got 32 Grammys in February of this year.
But Knowles, I don't know what the surname Funda is for this
one. OK.
Well, here's the deal. Celestine maiden name was
Beyoncé, except that the family name that Celestine came from
was spelled BEYINCE. Celestine is the only one who
has her maiden name as Beyoncé, and when Beyoncé was born, she
took her mother's maiden name as her first name.
Or rather, she was given the first name Beyoncé, and Beyoncé
Knowles is Celestine Knowles, Lawson's daughter.
OK. If not for that typo today,
Celestine's daughter might have had a whole different name.
And racism played a part in how one of the greatest stars of
today's pop culture got her name, got the moniker, which
frankly is one of those few instances in history where a
person doesn't even know that doesn't even need a last name to
be recognized. It is just Beyoncé.
And that's good enough. Exactly Queen bee, 32 Grammys.
That's impressive. 32 Grammys. Do you know who the person was
before? So who held the record before
Beyoncé broke it? I would have guessed somebody
like Michael Jackson. I would have thought so too.
I would have thought maybe some famous band or famous individual
artist. It is actually a Hungarian
British orchestral and operatic conductor what who served as a
long time music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
He goes by the name George Salty.
George. Salty.
Shalty, Shalty, shalty. Oh, nice, nice.
I really would have thought it had been The Beatles of Michael
Jackson or somebody like that. So yeah, but George Shalty had
31 Grammys and now Beyoncé has 30. 2 Which will only keep
going. So I don't think anybody's
breaking that record anytime soon.
OK, let's move on to March of 2023.
It's a little long question, but bear with me.
People representing this country X had attended 2 UN Committee
meetings in Geneva in February. The first was a discussion on
the representation of women in decision making systems
organized by the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women. They also participated in a
second session on Sustainable Development hosted by the
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
However, on March 2nd, 2023, the UN, in what is practically an
unprecedented statement, has said it will ignore statements
made by the representatives of this country at these two
official events. AUN official said their
submissions were irrelevant and tangential to the issues being
discussed. This is somewhat shocking on its
face, considering that Ex's permanent ambassador had asked a
question about indigenous rights and sustainable development
during the second session. Which country are we talking
about? So which country did the UN
quite flippantly dismiss? With good reason, I might add.
But on the face of it, when you just look at the facts without
knowing which country it is, it sounds quite rude and
diplomatically complicated. So I wanted to identify the
country. What was the occasion?
There was no special occasion, it was just UN committee
meetings being held and representatives of this country
just came in and attended those and they were public meetings so
that these countries could attend technically.
Wow, OK, tough questions this episode, Vineet, I must give it
to you. I will give you one clue which
should help you. The country has a very close
relation to India. Country has a very close
relation. Is it a good relation or is it a
bad relation? I wouldn't say it's a good
relation. Well then my instinct is
obviously you say Pakistan. No, obviously not.
The country's name has four words, let's put it that way. 4
words. So you would say the People's
Republic of China, right, That kind.
Of literally going to, say People's Republic of.
China. I know, that's why I went.
No, it's not that. Let's just imagine which kind of
country it should be that the UN basically just bit slaps them in
a statement saying that you are irrelevant.
I mean that would be a terrible stance for the UN to take, even
if even if it was a very small country.
Oh, it is a very small country. And doesn't have a great
relationship with India. Yes, India hasn't commented on
these events, but everybody knows where India stands on it.
Is it a neighboring country? No, quite far away from India,
actually. And here's the kicker, we don't
exactly know where it is. Technically.
We have an idea about roughly where it is, but we don't
exactly know where it is. Maybe the government does, but
none of us do. Like if I asked you to point it
out on a map, you would be very, it will be very difficult for
you. And also the fact that it's not
marked on a map. So confused because I was going
to say is it Wakanda or? Something technically you
wouldn't be wrong, but then how do you get you wouldn't be wrong
when you said it's a country like Wakanda.
So I'll give you a clue. This should help you.
OK, now this country's leader, let's say their leader of
government, holds the record from the Asia Book of Records
for the most number of traditional yoga poses performed
in the span of one hour. And this is on the country's
official website. It's even happening.
I'm so confused. I'm so confused by the hint that
we don't exactly know where this country is it is.
OK, I'll give you a clue somewhere near Ecuador.
Somewhere near Ecuador. What?
I'm that much we know, but exactly where is it difficult?
It's an island nation. When you said that we are not
quite sure where this country is, do you mean like a general
person might not be able to pinpoint it?
Or do you mean in act like in actuality people don't know
where this country is? I see the governments have not
specifically mentioned it, but I can tell you that the general
public have no clue where exactly this country is like.
If you wanted to fly there, I think it would be a little
difficult unless you are within the inner circle.
What is even happening? I'm so confused.
No beneath. No.
I have no clue whatsoever. What is this?
So I'll give you one last clue about this before I give you the
answer. The Permanent Ambassador to the
United Nations who visited and whose remarks and questions were
so callously disregarded by the UN.
The ambassador's name is Vijayapriya Nityananda.
Again, doesn't help me at all, I I know.
OK, I'll give it to you. Have you heard of the United
States of Kailasa? No, I've not heard of this.
OK, so you've heard of Swami Nityananda.
Oh, of course, yeah. Yeah, the So Swami Nityananda,
when he was going to be arrested for his sexual misdeeds, fled
the country and set up a new country called Kailasa, also
known as the United States of Kailasa.
We just know that it's somewhere, it's an it's on an
island somewhere off the coast of Ecuador.
He's established his own central bank currency and whatnot and
he's been trying to get recognition for the same he's
wanted in India for, you know, sexual abuse and rape, and he's
claiming diplomatic immunity now.
Jesus Christ, oh God. Yeah, and he still releases
videos on social media in between.
It's one of those videos you should really watch when you're
little, high or drunk, because you would honestly think you
were going mad all. Right.
But can you explain how do they have official representatives
like? No, no.
This is just like, see, it's like me putting up a flag in my
apartment and calling it the United States of Vineet's
apartment. And then my roommate, I sent him
to the UN saying that you are the official representative of
the United States. But he's done a lot of it.
There is a website. There is a United States of
Kailasa. They have a Wikipedia page.
They have ambassadors and he has.
He actually hoodwinked US town into believing that he was an
actual country and that the mayor of that town had to walk
back his comments and the tie up that the town had done with the
this fictional country. So the United States of Kailasa
shortly called Usk Usk. All right, Usk this.
Is a massive TIL for me. I think I vaguely knew of some
of this, but wow, I had no idea it was so concrete.
OK. It's so bonkers, man.
It's so bonkers. Just crazy.
Concrete is the wrong word. Bonkers is the right word.
Yeah. Yeah.
OK. All right.
So let us move on to, I believe, April.
Yes, that's your month, April. On April 16th of 2023, a
Broadway production played its final performance.
It was the longest running show in Broadway history.
Why is the core prop, the main prop in this Broadway production
very different from the one that appears on the poster?
So the one that appears on the poster is very different from
the one that is used during the production.
So I guess you have to figure out what production I'm talking
about and what is the prop. What is the date again?
You said April. It ended on April 16th, 2023.
April 16th, 2023, this was the longest running Broadway
production. You said right?
And you're asking me the main prop is different from what is
actually used, or at least what's on the poster.
The main poster, the actual official poster, has a prop
prominently featured on it, but the prop that it shows up in the
production is significantly different.
OK, Broadway productions that have been going on for that
long. Is it rent?
Is it rent still being played? No, it's not rent.
The Lion King is still being played.
I know that. And they've stopped playing it.
It's like, this is it. We're not going to play this
anymore. The original Broadway production
played its final performance on April. 16th 2020 OK, so the
original production with the original cast and crew and all
that. OK, fine.
Well, obviously the cast has changed.
It has been going on for a very long time, yeah.
How long would you be able to give me a time frame of how long
this has been running? Yes, I can.
I can tell you that it premiered on October 9th, 1986. 8637 years
and you said a prop is the Phantom of the Opera.
Well, you're right actually, but let me just quickly clarify.
It opened in London in 1986. In Broadway, it opened in 1988.
It is Phantom of the Opera. You know what prop I'm talking
about. I've not watched the Phantom of
the Opera Player Broadway thing. The only thing I know about it
is what they adapted for the movies.
And in the movies he always has that kind of half mask thing.
Is it that? Perfect.
Yeah, so do you know how it is different from the one that
features on the poster? I know how it is different the
original. The original was given to
Shahrukh Khan to use in Jawan. Oh, it is true.
Yeah, you have absolutely cracked this question in a very
other way, but not in an actual answer.
Way. So it is the mask.
Can you visualize what the poster looks like?
He's wearing this kind of white half mask which covers like half
his face. It's like diagonally cut off.
That's all I can vision. That is, what is the mask is In
the production, the poster features a full mask.
It is actually a full mask that would not be diagonally.
Oh, I didn't know that. I've.
I don't care because I've only I, as I said, I've not seen the
poster or the Playbill or anything like that.
But I remember the movie had that thing, that iconic kind of
half mask. I think it was Gerard Butler.
It was Gerard Butler which was a controversial choice for playing
the character. It is the case that the Finder
of the opera, even in the theater productions, has a half
mask on, so this should be fairly straightforward.
There isn't anything too convoluted about it.
Why would they go with the half mask instead of the full mask?
Because or to emote better. It's very difficult to emote in
a mask, right? You could not have phrased it
any more accurately. The biggest concern was
regarding the Phantom's ability to emote.
There are also some practical consideration of miking and
stuff like that, because of course it is a musical and they
do sing. So it was easiest to do it with
a half mask, and that's how the iconic mask came to be.
And the mask on the poster is still the full mask, which is a
very interesting choice. Oh, I didn't know that.
I would stop asking the question here, or rather I would move on
to the next month, but I genuinely want to ask you at
least one more question. So let me see if I can get to
this very quickly. OK, OK, great.
On April 20th, there was an attempt that failed by one of
the largest companies in the world or let's say one of the
most prominent companies in the world.
They tried something and they failed at it.
OK. The owner of the company was
blamed for Rushing to hold this event on the given date.
Very vague, but if you want to take a guess.
Wait, that's it? It that something happened and
it failed in the OR the company the owner was blamed?
Dude, that could be anything of 100 companies.
Failed up, but the owner was blamed for trying to rush to do
it on this specific date because he thought it would be funny.
Or at least it is alleged that it would given his
predisposition to. What date are we talking about
as, as you mentioned? April 20th.
I'm guessing this is an American company.
It is an American company. Yeah, because it's 420, right,
Americans, right. The month first.
So this will be 4/20, which is, which has very different
connotations in India. But yeah, 420 would be
marijuana, right? So yeah, something failed
because this has to be Elon Musk when it cannot be.
You know what? I'll give it to you, Elon Musk.
SpaceX tried to do a rocket launch on April 20th, and that
it was going to be one of the largest rocket launches at that
point of time. And it failed.
And a lot of people blamed Elon Musk for rushing this, allegedly
because he wanted to do it on 4/20.
He has denied it, but well knowing Elon Musk, it is.
Yeah, this is the guy who went and smoked marijuana on Joe
Rogan's show. He did he.
Did smoke again. Yeah, OK.
Nice question. I'm let's move on to May.
Very eventful, May and this is a very long question.
It's a very indulgent question because I came across this piece
of trivia on a podcast and it kind of fascinated me, may not
be as interesting to most other people.
So let me just put that caveat up front.
But I've put enough clues that this you can work it out.
If you don't know it, you should probably be able to work it out,
right? So this is a story about a
stone. It's an oblong block of red
sandstone having a long and rich history.
Some even claim it's the biblical stone of Jacob.
However, in reality it is more likely to have been quarried
from a mine near the village A. OK, the first thing is a village
which I'm giving an appellation of A in the country X.
It was seized. The stone was seized and taken
away by the country Y as spoils of war in 1296.
In 1914 suffragettes planted a bomb next to it.
The explosion actually split the stone into two.
However, this was not discovered until 1950, when four students
stole the stone and whisked it away covertly back to the
country X4. Months later, however, the stone
was returned to the country Y. In 1996, the stone was
permanently returned to X on one condition.
That condition was fulfilled in May 2023.
The stone was again in news in November of 2023 when three
members of an environmental activist group smashed the
stones protective glass case and spray painted the word is tresa
tuat na tiguerna. OK, now as I mentioned, the
stone is named after the village near which it probably was
mined, right? A if you remember, you would
probably know the name. A.
Because it's the name of a baked good, it is usually made out of
either wheat flour or oatmeal, with baking powder as a living
agent and baked on sheet pans, often sweetened and occasionally
glazed with egg wash. So see if you can work out which
the which countries are we are talking about, whether it's and
what X, which countries X which countries Y and see if you can
work out the name A because it's known as the Stone of.
AX was the country where the suffragettes attacked it, and
why was the country where it was returned to?
No, no. X is the country from which it
was taken as spoils of war in 1296.
OK, more than 700 years ago. Right?
In 1914. So then from since 1296 it's
been in the country. Why?
And in 1914, suffragettes planted a bomb to, you know,
destroy it. But it didn't happen.
It covertly split into two, but nobody realized it until there
was a theft made of the stone by four students in 1950.
However, it was returned four months later.
Country. Why, after almost 700 years in
1996, which was the 700th anniversary, returned the stone
back to its original country, but with one condition.
And that condition was fulfilled in May of 2023.
Was it May of 23 or did it say November 2023?
May, May. We are only May, right?
You just finished April. I'm in May.
In November, it came into the news again.
It came into the news again in November when environmental
activists defaced the stone. Oh, sorry.
OK, that was the context from November 23.
Got it. See if you can work out the
countries 1st and then we'll go to the name.
OK, so 'cause you said suffragettes, I'm gonna take a
guess. Is it the UK?
Yeah. So which countries?
Which is which countries are we talking about?
Whichever country was the one which is displaying it, which
had taken away, taken it as spoiler force.
So why? I believe, right?
Why was the one which took it? OK then.
Why would be UK 1296? I was thinking India but none of
the colonial expansion makes sense worth that time frame.
Oh, then it would be, I wanna say Scotland, but could be Wales
or Ireland because I'm not very sure as to when.
It is Scotland. It is Scotland.
I was actually going to give you a clue, the line from Ted Lasso.
How many countries are in this country?
Yes. So yes, you worked it out.
It is X was Scotland which makes YY.
Was England. England.
So, yes, fantastic. So not UK, but England.
Got it. Stone, which is named after the
village it was buried next to. Called Still the Stone of a
Right, It was taken as spoils of war in 1296, and then it was
brought to England. It was damaged in 1914.
It was stolen in 1950 and then in 1996, seven hundred years
after it was taken away, it was returned to Scotland, but on one
condition. That condition was fulfilled in
May of 2023. Can you guess what that was?
Can't have anything to do with the Brexit.
No. Something massive happened in
May of 2023. Something huge.
Lot of pomp and circumstance. Oh, since you're talking about
the UK and pomp and circumstance, was the king
crowned in May? Yes, the coronation of King
Charles the Third happened in May of 2023, so the stone was
brought down for that. Now, before I tell you the whole
story, do you know what the stone is called?
It is named after some baking. Good.
Now I'm thinking of. Actually, the name we know it
because it also shares the name with the baking good.
It's not actually named after the baking good.
Right, right, right, right. Not named after the baking good,
but it has The name is the same English pie, Shepherd's Pie.
Very stereotypical tea snack, at least for England.
Biscuit doesn't make sense. Oh, Scone.
Yes, very good. So it is indeed the stone of
scone. I think it's pronounced.
Scone. But let's I'm just going with
Scone because it's Stone of Scone sounds better.
So let me just give you a little bit of feedback and I apologize
to our audience who felt this might have been a long winded
question but then I need to put some of these in to satisfy the
inner nerd. So the Stone of Scone, also
known as the Stone of Destiny, is an oblong block of red
sandstone which was originally used in the coronation of the
monarchs of Scotland and after the 13th century, the coronation
of the monarchs of England, Great Britain and the United
Kingdom. It's also known as Jacob's
Pillowstone and the Tanis Stone. Historically, the artifact was
kept at the now ruined Scone Abbey in Scone, near Perth,
Scotland. It was seized by Edward, the
First forces during the English invasion of Scotland in 1296,
and was used in the coronation of the monarchs of England as
well as the monarchs of Great Britain and the United Kingdom.
Monarchs used to sit on the Stoner Scone.
So if you go to Westminster Abbey, the coronation where it
happens for hundreds of years, English kings used to be crowned
when they were sitting on the Stoner scone.
It was only in the 17th century that they added a wooden
platform just about that, so that they could sit a little
more comfortably. In 1914, suffragettes, in their
struggle to get equal rights for women, planted a bomb next to
the stone. The explosion actually split the
stone in two, but they didn't realize it.
In 1954 students by the name of Ian Hamilton, Gavin Vernon, Kay
Matheson and Alan Stewart stole the stone.
So while they were trying to steal the stone it split into
two. They thought it was because they
broke the stone but anyway they managed to get the two pieces
across the border back to Scotland and then four months
later it was returned on the 700th anniversary.
They said that OK, you can take it back now and the British
government returned the stone to Scotland and when not in use in
coronations and it was transported Edinburgh Castle
where now it is kept with the Scottish Crown Jewels.
OK, fascinating. That's really cool.
I just found it really interesting, the image of the of
a king being crowned just because he's sitting on a block
of sandstone, which is of course quite meaningful culturally to
them. But the image was a little funny
to me. Yeah, well kings have been
crowned for much stupider reasons, so not too much of A
stretch. OK, your question.
OK, so this question has relevance to the month of June,
but the relevance will be made known a bit later.
So let us start off with a very simple but interesting example
of an occurrence of a phenomenon.
OK, and here I'm talking about a very specific celebrity.
To exemplify the situation, the celebrity was born on 30th
December 1995. Two days later, he was two years
old. Who is the celebrity, if you
want to take a guess? Or what am I talking about?
What phenomenon am I talking about?
So I actually know this. I don't know the celebrity
you're talking about, but there was there used to be this thing
in South Korea where if you are born on the new year, you
automatically become one year older.
Like your birthday is always considered as 1st of January or
something like that. So they that happens wherever,
whenever they're when they're born on 30th.
And you know, I'm, I'm in the ballpark, right?
I will give it to you. I will give it to you.
I think the specifics are a bit off, but you know what we need.
I said I'm impressed and I'm going to take it back because
you knowing random, obscure trivia doesn't impress me
anymore. That's routine.
I was impressed that you were going to tell me which K pop
celebrity I. No, no, no, no, no.
I have absolutely no, no, I I don't know which K pop celebrity
this could be. I was going to be blown away
that Vineet is all caught up on Is K Pop.
OK, well this one goes out to all the Army and BTS fans out
there. I don't know any of the BTS
people, men. So the reason that he became
famous or rather he is obviously already famous but his birthday
became famous was because phenomenal stature of this
particular individual has been part of BTS.
His name is Kim TE Hyung and I might be mispronouncing but Kim
TE Hyung also known as V and super famous Guy part of BTS and
he was in the news media a lot, especially in June because on
20th June S Koreans scraped that particular law of counting age.
I'll explain what the way is, but Kim Theung's birthday is
30th December 1995 S 2 days later he was on 1996 first
January. He was already 2 years old.
And the reason for this is because S Koreans used to count
and not the South Koreans. Actually a lot of East Asian
countries and societies used to do this, but South Korea was the
only major country still doing it as of this year.
When they finally removed it was that they used to count ages
starting from one from the day you were born.
That would be your age when you were born and then another
number was added. Or rather you became two years
old on the 1st of January of the next year.
So regardless of when your birthday falls during the year,
on the 1st of January of every year your age increased by one.
And this was used very commonly even in some official places,
and of course led to a lot of confusion because the
internationally agreed way of deciding your age is based on
your birthday and not the birth year, and especially not counted
as one from the day you were born so in.
On 20th June this year, a bunch of South Koreans became younger
under this new age counting law and they finally decided to
remove that other way of counting, at least from any
official places and sources. And President Yun Sook UL
actually pushed strongly for this change when he ran for
office last year. So this was one of his campaign
on his platform. Yeah.
And he delivered on it pretty quickly.
Tehung became one of the poster Childs for why this is a very
confusing system and why Korean is to scrap it.
OK. And this happened in June of
this year. Nice.
I knew this fact.
It wasn't very clear in my head, but I knew the fact that they
counted years. Very weird.
Tehung is familiar, I think I've read it.
So I know that BTS exists as a band.
I've seen their performances. It's just amazing.
But if you ask me about any of those individual people in
those, the individual band members, I would be hard pressed
to name even one. But I have to say from what
videos I have seen they their synchronicity is fantastic.
Yeah, and because the BTS is often compared to Beatles in
terms of just the what share screen.
Yeah, yeah. Oh, BTS is very much considered
The Beatles of, well, whatever, today's generation in the way
that they have shaped pop culture and the amount.
Of like Beatlemania, doesn't you mean the fan following thing?
The fan following and the impact that they have had on music and
culture in general. The same way that The Beatles
came in with their mop of hair and the British invasion
happened the same way K Pop and their fashion choices and
especially BTS obviously has made a global impact.
So BTS is compared to Beatles. But I do wonder because BTS
individual members have very strong followings and this might
be because of the prevalence of social media, but I wonder if
Beatles every individual member had that stronger personality
that the world knew. No, I Yeah, Lennon definitely
did Lennon and McCartney definitely did.
George Harrison had, let me put it this way.
He had a more cult following, like people like me.
I mean, you wouldn't find his name as you know, the most the
favorite Beatle of all time. That's usually just McCartney
or, you know, Lennon. As for Ringo, well, I think The
Beatles said it best during an interview.
I think it was a press conference or something.
And a journalist asked them, do you think that Ringo is one of
the best drummers in the world? And I remember somebody from the
band actually replied. Ringo's not even the best
drummer in this band. I think I've heard of this
before. Yeah, and a quick throwback.
A quick throwback to a question from earlier this year with
regarding Best of The Beatles. You can go find that by
listening to all of our episodes, because I don't
remember which episode it was or moving it myself.
What does Best of The Beatles mean and how is it a funny
little piece of trivia? OK, we need your question.
OK, so we are halfway through moving on to July.
This is a silly question, but it's one of those weird but
wonderful human things that happens, You know, of what
humans are capable of and that kind of thing.
In July of 2023, A-Team of 30 people, 30 that's three zero, 30
people broke two world records when they travelled 7
kilometers, taking more than 12 hours to do so.
They had travelled from Mandora to Mintle Beach.
Do you have any idea what records they broke?
Nothing strikes a bell. No, it's not mainstream news,
obviously, but it is just one of those fascinating pieces of
trivia that I've had. I've never had a kind of reason
to ask it until now. Obviously lots of clues will be
given. So this is in Australia and a
group of 30 people travelled 7 kilometers, taking more than 12
hours to do so. Does it have anything to do with
the Uluru? No.
But you said beach, right? Yeah, so Middle Beach and
Mandora, they're both on the waterfront.
Yeah, then Uluru doesn't make any sense.
Both are on the waterfront and it's just it's a distance of
seven kilometers, but they took 12 hours, but they broke two
world records when they did so. Does it have anything to do with
the geographical formation the 12 apostles?
No. I was wondering if they there
are a bunch of rocks. Yeah, yeah, I.
Know what you're talking about? No, this has nothing to do with
that. OK, let me just give you another
clue. If you stood at the Mandora boat
ramp and looked across the Bay, you would see Mental Beach and a
straight line as the crow flies. The distance in that fashion is
around 7 kilometers. Wait, you'd be able to see it
and the straight line distance is 7 kilometers.
Yes. Again, I have no clue as to why
that would break records, no. I'll need some sort of a hint
over here. OK, so they travelled
underwater. So the seven kilometers were
travelled underwater, but why would that be a record?
Underwater and you said they took 12 hours, so.
More than 12 hours. They had to do more than 12
hours because while traveling only one person could do
something and that person had to be changed out every 15 minutes
because of the water pressure. So basically I'm asking you to
guess what they traveled in. Did they travel on foot across
the No? No, that I think no, no that.
No, not that. What did they travel in?
They traveled in something. They traveled in, you know, a
form of transportation underwater from from Mandora to
Middle Beach. Yeah, OK.
Did the as an homage to the official animal of Australia,
did they one person create a pouch in the front of his belly
and the other person in it? No.
This is an actual, actual,
mechanized form of transportation.
No, no, I have no clue. I think there are no more clues
to give, and frankly, this is just a fun question.
It's not something that I would expect anybody to know unless
they are crazy like me. But the vehicle that they used
was from 1978 and it had been planned to do something like
this in the mid 80s but that did not work out.
So they try to do it now and they were successful and they
broke 2 records. Like what are the modes of
transportation that come to mind?
In the nineteens, 80s, seventies, right?
Yeah, that's just an additional fact.
Like just think of what kind of transport and obviously I
wouldn't ask you if this was a submarine, right?
I there's no point in me asking you if it's a submarine.
So it's obviously not a submarine.
What other crazy? And remember, this is Australia.
You also said water pressure, so I'm assuming it is something
underwater. Yeah, it was basically they
travelled 7 kilometers underwater between Mandora to
Mintle Beach in a mechanized form of transport.
OK, I will give it to you. Yeah, no, I have no idea.
Yeah, they travelled between Mandora to Mineral Beach in in
1978 Toyota Land Cruiser. Oh, what?
Why? So this established the record
for the longest and deepest underwater drive.
So they drove from Mindel Beach to Mandora underwater on the
seabed. The driver had to be changed out
every 15 minutes to avoid problems with the underground
water pressure. It was a team of 30.
They had changed out the engine with a waterproof electric
engine and replaced the tires with 150 KG water filled tires.
And they drove underwater for seven kilometers, making giving
them the record for the longest and deepest underwater drive.
That is so strange. OK.
Now I just love, you know why I I particularly love this piece
of trivia is because do you did you used to watch Top Gear and
this heyday? And when I mean heyday, when
Jeremy Clarkson and all were hosting it.
You know, I have heard so much about it.
I knew a lot of friends who used to.
I've only seen clips of it, so I can't claim to have watched.
So there was this amazing episode many many years ago
where they tried to destroy a car, and the car in question was
a Toyota Hilux. OK.
OK, so the first thing they did was they tried bashing it
against walls, against trees. That didn't work.
Then they dropped something on it that also didn't work.
It was still functional. And then finally what they did
was not. Finally then what they did was
they parked it out on the harbor during low tide.
The tide came in, the car was completely submerged and then
after the tide went out and they brought the car back, a mechanic
was able to get it started without replacing any parts, so
it was still functioning. So they were like, we have not
managed to destroy this car, so now we will have to absolutely
destroy this car. So they took the car and put it
on top of a building which was due for demolition.
The entire building had been rigged up with explosives to
implode. You've seen those videos of the
buildings? Being.
They put this Hilux on top of that and they imploded it.
The car was buried on on so much rubble.
They dug it out and the car started again.
Oh my God. So finally they decided, OK,
this car is just too valuable, so we are going to put it in the
museum and they have a Top Gear, Top Gear museum and that car is
still there, the indestructible Hilux.
So I was really, you know, I saw the similarities that they
picked a Toyota Land Cruiser, which is I think on the same
platform. It's not the same thing, but
it's the same platform as the Hilux, so they had to pick the
indestructible car for the same thing.
They had to. I love it.
Yeah, which is why the Hilux is the preferred vehicle of
transportation for terrorists everywhere.
Oh, wow. OK, I'm surprised you know this,
Vineeth, but sure, let's move past that red flag.
Seriously, this is an accepted fact.
Look up any kind of footage. Yeah, you look up any kind of
footage. And I'm telling you, this is, I
mean, you don't even need any statistics to do so.
Look up any kind of footage from the past 30 years and you will
always find, especially in the Middle East and Afghanistan and
all, you will find terrorists travelling around in Hilux
pickups. They always travel in Toyota
Hilux pickups. It's like how how the preferred
mode of transportation for kidnappers is the Omni.
Omni van yeah. OK, fair enough.
Fair enough. OK.
All right. So my next question again starts
off with general trivia, but the connect to August 2023 will be
apparent soon enough. OK, right.
Hit me in cost. Par was an organization set up
in India in 1962. How was the founder commemorated
this year? OK, so Inco Spire was the Space
Research and atomic organization which was initially built to
coordinate events for the atomic and the Space Research program
in India. So I would let me, I would think
it would be Sarabhai or Baba, but how they were?
How were they commemorated this year?
Is it Rocket Boys 2? The audience members can't see
it, but I'm making a very annoyed face right now because
right, right. To make this tough.
How do you, how do you challenge this man?
This man just refuses. Refuses.
To be no, no, I, I, I, I, I went down the rabbit hole after
watching Rocket Boys one and two.
And there was also this excellent podcast by Harsha
Bogley on the early years of ISRO.
So yeah that's but I haven't answered the question.
I just told you what in course part is right?
So is it? What is the answer?
Is it Rocket boys? Is that how you're?
No, no, not Rocket boys. The context is or the relevance
to August of this year is that a massive event happened on 23rd
of August. Massive event happened on 23rd
of August. Which in a way commemorated the
founder of in cost. Chandrayan 3.
Yeah, right. They're landing on the moon,
right? But.
Landed on the moon. So Vikram Sarabhai then.
Vikram Sarabhai but how is he commemorated did?
They name the place or something after them.
Sarabhai create I think something like that.
Close enough, I'll give it to you.
The Lander on Chandrayaan is called Vikram.
Oh, oh, yes. Yes.
Now it comes back to me. Yes, the Lander was called
Vikram. Yes.
And this was the perfect year they could have They could have
blasted the soundtrack to Vikram while the Lander was coming
down. You know, you could have become
OK, you've not seen the movie. So then.
No, no. Even if I've even if I would
have seen this movie. It is very tough to reconcile.
But you're such an intelligent man and.
Stop it. Absolutely ridiculous.
Stop it. Ridiculous is right.
Yeah, but I was going for funny. But anyway, no.
But yeah, so it was. It was.
It was frankly the best. It would have been so awesome if
when the Lander was landing like this.
Blasted. Because ISRO finally, again,
ISRO has a large population of Tamilian scientists, right?
So it would make absolute sense for them to blast the soundtrack
to Vikram from the speakers of ISRO while it is landing.
Now that would have been bad ass.
You and I were not there. Maybe they did that, you know.
No, I don't think they did. Not with Modi there, no with the
Prime Minister. Modi, that I don't think they
would have done that. Lot more decorum and protocol
has to be observed when you have the Prime Minister in the House.
Well, that's where you get noise cancelling headphones and you
blast it in your room and make sure nobody else can hear it,
yeah. Yeah, OK.
I don't know why I complained about you making terrible jokes
when that seems to be the entire purpose of me on this phone.
No, no, no. OK, this is an easy one, I
guess. I'm I'm fairly sure you'll crack
this quickly. Costing $2.3 billion, that's
billion with AB. It is the largest of its kind
and currently the only one in the world.
Though maybe not for long because more are planned for
London, Abu Dhabi and a few other cities.
Paul Hewson and Co conducted the inauguration in September of
2023. Can you tell me what I'm talking
about? What is it that cost?
$2.3 billion is the largest of its kind and may soon have
similar ones in Abu Dhabi. London and Paul Houston and Co
were the ones who inaugurated the place.
Inaugurated a place so it is a place that we're.
Talking, yeah, it is OK. I I kind of gave that away, but
yeah that it's fine. It's still fine.
It's something that cost. It's obviously a venue or
something that cost $2.3 billion to make, and Paul Hewson and Co
inaugurated it in September. No I will need a hint.
I have no clue as to what this. OK, the clue would be to for you
to try and guess who Paul Hewson and Co are.
Obviously they are not known by that name.
Paul Hewson Hewson How do you spell Hewson?
Hewson. Hewson.
Obviously it's not the name we know him by, which is why I ask
it with such confidence. Yeah, exactly.
I'm just, I'm just trying to figure out where he could be
from. Also based on the name, but now
that does not seem to be this group of people inaugurated
something venue or location. Yes, in September of 2023,
largest of its kind. Well, because it is a birth name
versus something that we probably know this person by and
you said and core, so I'm guessing there are more people.
So I'm guessing it has to be maybe a band?
Yes, very good. OK.
You're on the right track. Band inaugurated, Then I guess
it'll have to be, oh, I was going to say a venue,
performance venue, but I'm going to go with the some sort of
musical Hall of Fame. Well, it can be the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame, because that already exists.
Going colder, going colder, You are closer with venue.
You were actually very hot with venue.
Oh, so they inaugurated the venue.
Oh, interesting. Something that costs $2.3
billion. $2.3 billion and they oh, but it doesn't have to be a
musical venue, is it? Is it a musical?
No. They can do a lot of things
there. It can.
It's like Madison Square Garden. You can use it for boxing.
You can use it for venue. Sorry, where was this venue
again? I did not mention where it is
because the moment I tell you where it is, there is only one
answer. Now, OK, that's what.
Can you give me A country or even the US would be too much of
A give up. No, I'm quite, I'm quite lost.
OK, Paul, Hewson and Cole OK, this is a cryptic clue, like a
cryptic crossword clue. They come with a from a place
where the streets have no name. The.
Streets have no name. Oh oh, this sounds so familiar.
Yeah. Need the music is not my.
Paul Hewson has a very famous fashion choice, and not many
people know that that fashion choice is actually because of a
medical condition. OK, I'm.
I'm just taking a wild guess here.
Is it by any chance you too? Ha ha, very good.
It is you too. So which, so which venue are we
talking about? Sorry, but before that I'm going
to clarify what is the fashion choice though.
The glasses that he wears. Bono, right?
Bono. Yes, Bono.
Paul Hewson is Bono. Bono always wears dark glasses.
It's not actually a fashion choice.
He suffers from glaucoma, which is increased pressure in your
eyes. So then he always wears those
glasses because of that. But people think it's like one
of those fashion choices. He's a rock star, so he always
wears the best glasses anywhere. I mean, like, have you ever seen
his eyes? You always see him with those
glasses, right? Interesting, so Bono
inaugurated. You two, basically you 2
inaugurated. They were the first one to
inaugurate this venue. It was in Las Vegas.
Is it the eye? Close enough.
It's the sphere. The Las Vegas sphere, it became
viral because of. Yeah.
It became viral because they put the picture of an eye outside of
it and people just went crazy because it was just so.
The sphere is a huge spherical venue with the largest LED
screen in the world, with the highest largest LED resolution
LED screen in the world. It can accommodate 18 to 20,000
people on standing room. And it has a huge wrap around
screen and YouTube performed the video of YouTube performing
there. And that's like, wow.
I actually remember this, you do inaugation thing now that you
said, yeah go ahead. It's just fantastic.
So the Sphere was conceived as a partnership between Madison
Square Garden Company, that was my hidden clue over there, and
the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. The project was launched in
2018. The interior of the Sphere is
fitted with the world's largest and most complex LED screen,
measuring 15,000 square meters. It features a 16 K resolution
wrap around display. And the exoskeleton is fitted
with approximately 54,000 square meters of LED display space.
There are 1.2 million packs, each containing 48 individual LE
DS that can display 256,000,000 different colors, transforming
the exterior, transforming the exterior into a monumental
billboard. And they're planning one for
many other cities, including London, Abu Dhabi.
So, yeah, we can probably see one of those over there.
OK, very interesting. Very cool.
I mean, like, given the monumental cost, I don't know
how they're ever going to break even.
Like $2.3 billion, man. Whoa.
If I'm not wrong, I I remember reading reports of how it was
running in a loss for the first few months also.
Yeah, no, it'll have to be. No.
It's such a huge cost. No, I don't even mean the fixed
cost. I believe the operational costs
are also oh. OK, yeah.
I mean, like just the electricity bill, man.
My God. That, yeah.
But anyways, OK, fun, fun question.
We have moved on to October 2023.
Yes. So this is an event that
happened on the 2nd of October 2023.
A little Gandhi Jayanti celebration.
Well, no, it wasn't a Gandhi Jayant celebration, but it
happened on 2nd of October. Two people were again
commemorated. Let me give you a little
background about these two people and you tell me how they
were honored and commemorated. Caitlin was born and raised in
Hungary in a small home without running water, refrigerator,
television, and from there pursued academics and at some
point found herself in University of Pennsylvania.
What did you say the name again? Caitlin.
Caitlin, OK. She found herself in the
University of Pennsylvania. Her field of choice was
something that wasn't looked upon as being very promising.
So before seeing the very fruitful results that obviously
eventually happened from her research, she had been demoted,
her pay had been cut, and she was described herself as not
being of faculty quality, never granted tenure as well.
This is the first person Caitlin, the other individual is
this gentleman called Drew. Drew was born in Massachusetts
in the US. He, through his education and
hard work at some point also found himself in the University
of Pennsylvania working alongside of Caitlin.
In a chance encounter where both Caitlin and Drew were
photocopying some documents, they met at the photocopy
machine. They realized and they were
discussing how their field of studies completely ignored and
not given enough importance, not given enough funding, and they
decided to start working together.
These two individuals were commemorated in 2023 on 2nd of
October. How were how were they
commemorate? I have one question.
Is the Drew in this question Drew Wiseman?
Beneath man, just just why? Why don't you just ask the
questions? I'm going to stop.
I'm just I'm not going to ask any more questions.
No, I'm see. See, to be fair, I was quite
deep into this for two years because as people may or may not
know, I work in the diagnostic industry.
So knowing the name of the people who got the Nobel Prize
for developing the mRNA vaccine is not unfair.
No, because most of the time, I my, my, my problem has always
been that, not problem per SE. The Nobel Prize always rewards,
you know, discoveries made maybe decades ago or there was a tiny
discovery or there's something that is very difficult for
people to relate to, especially when it comes to Physiology and
medicine and even physics. But this year, the medicine
award, the Nobel Prize of Physiology, went to something
that made a palpable impact on everybody's lives.
No, for sure. And you know, when I came up
with the question, I was like, oh, it's going to be a great
piece of trivia. But yeah, well, I was asking the
question. I realized I'm asking we need
who not only knows so much trivia, but is also from that
field. So fair enough.
You, you were only obliged to crack this very quickly.
But lovely, lovely crack. I'll give you the full names you
already mentioned. Drew Wiseman.
I don't remember the other lady, Caitlyn.
I don't remember her last. Name Carico Carico, who's a
Hungarian American biochemist. She had been studying RNA for a
very long time. In the 90s, I believe this
particular field lost its team. Most people thought it did not
hold too much promise. At the point where she joined
with Wise Men and they couldn't start collaborating, they
realized that there was a lot of potential in the vaccine space
for RNAs. They overcame a bunch of hurdles
and finally published a very landmark paper in 2005.
They have published a bunch of other ones as well, but 2005 is
the one that is considered the most important in their field of
research. Yes, you're right.
They were given the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine
for the discoveries concerning nucleoside based modifications
that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against
COVID-19. Very, very well deserved Nobel
Prize. Yes, you're right.
Yes, no, because we have to understand that what the work
they did basically gave us a template to deal with diseases
where you want a vaccine quickly, but the traditional
methods would take years if not decades.
This gives us a template to do to develop vaccines very, very
quickly. The only thing is how long and
what effect these kind of vaccines have in the long term.
Obviously will take decades for us to still understand, but this
was ground breaking work what they did.
The pattern that came out of their research was the exact
pattern that was given to Moderna when they developed
their vaccines. So it is pretty much a very
direct impact of what they've done.
What actually blew my mind was the fact that her work was met
with so much skepticism and obstacles and.
Unfortunately, this is quite true.
If you are a woman in academia, this is not unheard of.
Sad state of affairs, but hey, at least well deserved.
What really shocked me was the amount of pushback that she
faced. Like literally being demoted and
having a pay cut is it sounds pretty insane.
I don't know much about the feeling of academia, but sounds.
No, because especially in the US and all, most of these academic
departments run on donations and grants and funding.
So if you're going to be studying or doing research on
something which is not going to bring in eventual money to the
department, they're not going to look upon you with favor.
Well, the world has them to thank because Caitlin decided to
stick with it. And yeah, we are all alive now.
OK. So I'm moving on to November.
We are reaching the end of 2023 in November, when this song
charted at #1 at the UK Singles Chart, it set the record for the
longest gap between #1 singles by any musical act.
If possible, tell me the name of the song, or if you can just at
least tell me the ACT and what was so special about the song.
Did the band get back together after a very long time?
No, no, no. That would have required an act
of God. Oh, so I'm assuming people are
dead. Yes.
In this particular band I know, Kate Bush had this, but that
would have been last year when? No, that was.
Running up the hill. Stranger things.
But no, this was actually a new single.
I'm not talking about an old single.
Get charting again. This was a new single.
I'll give you a clue. The gap.
Longest gap between #1 singles by any music act.
The record that was set is for 54 years.
Wow, 54 years. So from 2023, that means we are
talking 1969. Yeah, 1969.
Oh boy, that was a good decade for music and a lot of famous
bands. Yes, I will give you a clue.
As with everything else this year, AI played a role.
Oh, I remember this, they they had some of the original
recordings or something and they tried to recreate the entire
music and they got a bunch of new artists to come and
collaborate on it to step in for.
Do you remember the band? Do you remember which band it
was? Since it's a 1969 and that was
the last time they topped the charts, I'm just going to guess,
is it Beatles? Yes, it is The Beatles.
OK. OK, the song's name is called
Now and Then, so I'll give you a little bit of the history of the
song. So Now and Then is a soft rock
ballad that was written by John Lennon and recorded solo in
1977, long after the band had broken up.
He wrote it as a solo record and he recorded it at home.
It was He recorded a small demo at home, but left it unfinished.
Three years later, Lennon died and the song was then considered
as a potential third Beatles reunion single for their 199596
retrospective project called The Beatles and the Anthology.
So what happened was the quality of the record that was recorded
by Lennon at home was so bad that even though they did some
overdubs from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and guitar tracks by
George Harrison, they basically had to abandon it because the
quality was really, really bad. OK, so then George Harrison died
in 2001 to the session. So this we only had the overdub
recordings in the guitar tracks about them.
Now what has happened is 54 years how many years later they
used a machine learning assisted audio restoration technology
which was commissioned by Peter Jackson for his 2021 documentary
The Beatles Get Back and like McCartney, wrote some additional
lyrics, few additional lyrics. They used some of the recordings
they had done in 1995, the overdubs and everything, and
they put everything together to make the song Jackson.
Peter Jackson also recorded the music, directed the music video
for now and then the song received universal acclaim from
critics who felt it was a worthy finale for The Beatles.
It topped the charts in the UK, Germany and Austria and reached
the top ten in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, the
Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the US.
It is the only Beatles UK number one single that is not
attributed to the Lennon McCartney songwriting
partnership. Very cool.
Do you find it interesting that despite this being the year of
AI and the year of climate change, neither of us chose a
question from AI and climate change?
I swear, OK, so I found this lovely website which had a bunch
of events from every single month.
And I was just going through that trying to find relevant
trivia. And I was bombarded firstly a by
the number of Trump legal issues and then of course the very
depressing Russia, Ukraine war updates and the very depressing
Israel Gaza situation that was all over the news.
And then climate change, Oh my God, the number of
record-breaking things that happened to regarding climate
change this year it I don't know how to not be doomed here and
and completely lose your shit. No.
Seriously, I mean same thing when I went back and I was going
through, you know, Wikipedia and all the dates and months and all
those things, you know, the number of climate change events,
the hottest temperatures recorded and all 56° in Iran,
which is beyond what humans can tolerate.
Cyclones landing where they've never landed before.
Exactly. Yeah, hottest ever week or month
recorded in hundred 200 years is this and it seems to be just a
yearly thing now every year is throwing up new the.
Question is, are we, will we breach A tipping point or we
will just adapt? I don't.
I don't know if I want to find out.
No, no, I do. I do.
I'm. I'm a very optimistic person at
heart, so I believe in humanity. OK, let's end on a happy note.
Let's end on a happy note for December.
December isn't over yet, but something lovely happened
earlier this month. And again, this is a news which
involves two people. So I'm going to tell you what
these two individuals are famous for in chronological order, and
I will stop short of the last one in the list.
There are five items on the on the list, and I will tell you
the first four. If you can't figure it out, I'll
give you the fifth one. Tell me what happened earlier
this month. OK, the first on the list is
Greenberg in 2010. The next is Francis Ha 2012.
Then we have Mistress America 2015.
Before I reveal #4, do you want to take a guess?
Oh, no, I'm I'm, I'm blanking right now.
OK, All right then let me give you #4, which might be a good
clue. White noise, 2022.
White noise 2022 OK. And I haven't told you what
number one is. No you haven't.
I am clueless right now. You will have to like white
noise. These aren't bands, right,
Greenberg? Oh, OK All right.
So let me just guide you further along.
These are movies. These are movies, no?
OK, so let me give you a further clue.
I said it's news involving two people it these are two people
who have collaborated on all of these movies, let's call them
X&Y. And let's give you a very quick
rundown. Greenberg, which was released in
2010. The director was X.
The writer was also X. It's starred Y Francis Hart,
which came out in 2012. Director X, Writer X&Y starring
Y. Mistress America. 2015, Director
X, Writer X&Y starring Y. One more time.
White Noise In 2022, Director was X, Writer was also X,
starring Y. So none of these have been
directed by Y. A lot of them have X as the
director and the writer Y has some writing credits.
And a lot of acting credits, yeah.
And you want me to guess what is the one in December 2020?
Three. No.
Something happened between these two people in December 2023, but
I haven't given you #5, the fifth of their The 5th movie,
which was their collaboration. Guessing these are art house
movies and not like mainstream, You know, airport time killers,
the usual kind of thing I watch. You would be surprised because
#5 #5 no, the rest of them are indie darlings, but #5 was the
first time in this list. Not the first time ever, but the
first time in this particular list or in their collaborations
that Y directed. And the writers were again,
X&Y&Y did not have an acting credit in this.
Actor directed a movie released in 2023 December.
OK, sorry, let me also clarify. I did not say the movie released
in December 23. Movie was released in 2023.
Something happened between the two of them.
All right, you know what? Let me tell you what happened.
This isn't KNPL, right? KNPL.
No, this is not KNPL. No.
Here's where it helps to know what happened between the two of
them. The two of them got married in
December. When you see that kind of
collaboration, something that goes back that far, directors
married to actors. There's Aaron Taylor Johnson,
but he's already been married for a long time.
There's Emily Blunt and John Kaczynski.
But again, they've only done those kind of major things.
Spielberg was famously married to an actress.
But no, I've no, no, you'll have to.
This is going to be something simple.
You've definitely heard of it. OK, the biggest movie of 2023.
The biggest movie of 2023. Oppenheimer.
Yeah, yeah. Wait, Barbie.
Greta. Greta.
Govig. Yeah.
Do you know who she's married to?
No, I don't. I wait.
Greta Govig is married to some actor.
OK, No, wait, she acted. No, a director.
I never said that X ever acted. OK.
Yeah. OK.
Greta Govig was an actor. OK, who is she married?
To So let me just tell you on on December 20th of 2023, get a
Govik and Noah Bomback announced that they're married after 12
years of dating Noah. Do you know of this individual?
No, I maybe one of those people I know by sight, but Noah
Bomber. Have you watched The marriage
story? No, I have not.
I was going. I remember I want to watch it
and a friend told me it is extremely depressing.
Don't watch it. It is.
It is not an easy watch, but it is a lovely movie and of course
he has to his credit, a bunch of films.
He has been active for a very long time.
Marriage story. Francis Howe already mentioned
White Noise, The Squid and the Whale, Greenberg, a bunch of
very famous Mrs. America. All of these are Noah Baumbach
films. Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig
have been collaborating for a very long time since they first
met, and obviously Guadagovic has directed movies before this,
but Barbie is her biggest film and this time around when they
collaborated, she was on directing it and Noah was just
writing in. The film turned out to be the
biggest success of their collaborative efforts.
Maybe this is something more commonly known to Big Syrup
Files, which you probably are as well, but yeah, no.
No, it's still a great fact. Great fact, if you had told me
last year that a movie based on Barbie would be the biggest
movie of the year, I would have laughed in your face.
You know what is freaking me out is that they have greenlit a
bunch of films based off of just random toy product lines.
Like, I think there is a Monopoly film that has been
greenlit. Yeah, and the Monopoly still
sounds like there's some character that I remember.
There was some other ridiculous ones which are greenlit.
And I was like, how are we going to make a movie out of this?
And yeah, I'm not. I'm not very.
Optimistic, because the gold standard for making a movie out
of a game or this kind of property is still clue.
Oh, what a great film. What a great.
Film that was just a fantastic film and the blueprint of what
not to do would be the GI Joe films.
You know what? I'll tell you it was a guilty
pleasure of mine for a while. I used to actually enjoy this
film, and then I think I grew out of, grew out of it.
But yeah, Barbie I think did a fairly good job in working a
great story, a fun little script and great acting performances
into a promotion material for what is basically a 2 hour long
ad for a toy. And wow, that brings us to the
end of 2023, both literally and figuratively.
And this has been a long episode, so it's a bumper, I
think. It's fair.
I think it's fair. 50th episode you have to do something
special, but wow, 50 episodes and the end of 2023.
Did you expect us to reach this point, Vineet?
Hi, To be honest, I was hopeful, but I always expected at some
point because both of our lives are so busy that you know it's
very difficult to get both of us synced up as you know.
That is true, that is. True.
If we try to sync up 12 times, we might sync up maybe twice out
of two out of 12. I think would be a generous
estimation of how often we are able to find free spots.
But yeah, so I always expected that.
Might be here. There we are.
Not very regular, but yes, we
are here. You know what?
Out of the 52 weeks, we only missed it twice.
So I'll give us the pat on the back.
Yeah, not too bad. Not too bad.
So yeah, so that's the end of this year.
So before we end the episode, there are a few things that we
do at the end of every episode. First things first is Aditya,
what is going to be your question for the new year?
So remember that this will be the next question or the first
question of the next year. So it has to be decent.
I I think I already know what your answer will be, but is
there any way that we can leave this trend behind in 2023?
Absolutely not. Too many people enjoy this.
Oh boy. Like this is the one thing that
everybody says they like, so then I'm not getting rid of it.
Oh, I I really question our audience.
No, no, no, no, I'm kidding. Please keep listening to our
podcast. OK, So the question will
obviously be Elon Musk. Man continues to dominate the
news and the whole 420 thing that he did.
What else has Elon Musk done in his juvenile attempt at humor in
his business career? You know what, I don't even
think I'll have to make up an answer for this.
I think I'm just going to find an actor.
You. Just have to wait a week.
You just have to wait a week, he'll find.
Something he will do something. He will do something.
That's great. So that's the question for next
week. And now let's move to the
audience question. In March of 2023, this company X
posted earnings of 161 billion dollars for 2022, making it the
highest ever recorded annual profit by a publicly listed
company. Before I reveal the answer,
Aditya, do you know which this is?
161 billion. Yeah, that's the profit.
We're not even talking about anything else.
That's the profit. Oh boy, no.
I have no clue whatever whatsoever this could be.
This is Aramco. Have you heard of Aramco?
Isn't it the oil and gas company?
Yes, it is the Saudi Arabian Oil and Gas Company, which was
originally founded as a collaboration between America
and Saudi Arabia, the Arab American oil corporation, so
that eventually became Saudi Aramco, now known as Saudi
Aramco. It is the company which listed
the highest ever recorded annual profit.
Yeah, that is insane. Aditya, what is your pop culture
recommendation for this week? Pop culture recommendation.
I'm going to keep it very short and sweet.
It's the end of the year. It is something that I look
forward to every single year. As much as people do a Spotify
rap and whatnot. I look forward to the Vox Rewind
or Vox review of the year. It is usually a decent
compilation of, well, mostly American centric news, but World
News as well and quick snippets of news.
And I remember every year that I've watched it, I have geared
up. Was it just, it's such an
overwhelming experience to be exposed to all of these things
that happened over the entire year.
So Vox Revine for 2023 is a fun watch.
I just watched it earlier today and I encourage viewers to go
check it out and listeners to go check it out.
Great. For me, the end of this year and
the beginning of another takes me back to the fact that I am
growing older every year, more Gray than black in the hair and
beard going forward. So it just makes me a little
more nostalgic for, you know, better times or whatever.
So the show that I'm going to recommend is a show called
Psych. I don't know how many of you
have actually heard of it, but it's this amazing show which I
still believe was ripped off by The Mentalist because the basic
concept is the same. Slightly different though.
In Psych there is a hyper observant character who's been
trained from childhood to be to observe everything like Sherlock
Holmes but big. But because people his skill is
so great that people don't believe him.
He pretends to be a psychic and works for the police. the IT is
a buddy comedy with the James Roday and the lead fantastic
comedy, especially if you are somebody who grew up in the 80s
and nineties. 90% of what they what comes out of James Roday's
mouth are references from the 80s and the 90s.
So it's nostalgia built on nostalgia.
It's a fantastic show. The show has a very big cult
following and following that. They have three follow up
movies, so please try and catch Psych.
It's just an amazing show. It will feed your nostalgia
train, even if you're from the 2000s or if you're from the 90s
In the 90s, it will definitely feed your nostalgia train.
And it's and it's pretty damn funny.
Pretty damn funny Mysteries combined with comedy.
You can't just beat that. Fun.
So that is the end of today's episode.
The last episode for 2023. Thank you for listening in.
We hope you enjoyed the show and learned something new.
A lot of people listen to our show, but very few people are
actually subscribing compared to the number of people who listen.
So please take a few seconds to subscribe to our podcast and
leave us a review on the podcast platform.
You're listening to us right now.
It helps us reach a wider audience and allows more people
to discover and enjoy the show. We'd also love to hear from you.
Feedback, suggestions, Trivia. If you're listening on Spotify,
there's a question underneath in the show notes asking you what
you thought of the episode. Please feel free to answer that
there. If there are questions you want
asked on the show, you can send us an e-mail at
ruquizzing.me@gmail.com with the name of the quiz master who you
want to ask the question in the subject.
You can also reach us on Instagram at Ruquizzing Me.
We appreciate your support and look forward to sharing more
episodes with you in the future. Thank you for again for tuning
in and have a great day and a happy new year.
See you guys next year.