# Episode 046 - Watches, Word Games & Tamil

An episode of [Are You Quizzing Me?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1663104901), 27 Nov 2023, 47 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/d7afa960/podcast/play/79179410/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2023-10-27%2F357297448-44100-2-73df45803628b.m4a

Do you know which company derives its name from the Japanese for "House of Exquisite Workmanship"? Which game derived its name from an overheard interview between an actor and his agent? Do you know which state in India adopted Tamil as its co-official language despite having an almost non-existent Tamil speaking population? Tune in to find out! You can reach us at Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/areyouquizzingme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/areyouquizzingme Email: areyouquizzingme@gmail.com

## Transcript

[0:01] Welcome to Are You Quizzing Me? I'm Vineet Myer with my Co host
[0:05] Aditya Kashim. This is a quizzing trivia
[0:07] podcast show. Join us as we dive deep into
[0:10] history, science, sport, pop culture, and so much more.
[0:13] Desk and Quizzing. And we're back for episode #46
[0:19] of Are You Quizzing Me? Your Favorite Quizzing Trivia
[0:22] Podcast Show. Aditya and I are back for
[0:25] another round of quizzing, and let's start off today's episode
[0:29] with first an audience question. So the audience question for
[0:33] today is as follows. This musical by Jonathan Larson
[0:37] was written as an autobiography about going into his 30th year
[0:41] and how the anxiety of growing old felt like a bomb waiting to
[0:45] explode. The title of the musical
[0:47] contrasts this with the fact that he unfortunately died just
[0:50] before the 1st Broadway performance of his famous
[0:53] production RENT. The Musical also recently got
[0:56] adapted as a movie directed by Lin Manuel Miranda.
[1:00] What is the name of the musical? I'll repeat the question.
[1:03] This musical by Jonathan Larson was written as an autobiography
[1:07] about going into his 30th year and how the anxiety of growing
[1:10] old felt like a bomb waiting to explode the title.
[1:14] Contrast this with the fact that he was only unfortunately died
[1:17] just before the 1st Broadway performance of his production
[1:21] print. This musical also recently got
[1:23] adapted as a movie directed by Lin Manuel Miranda.
[1:27] What is the name of the musical? We'll answer this question at
[1:30] the end of today's episode and now we have to go to Aditya for
[1:36] his question from last week. So Aditya, what is your question
[1:40] and what's your answer? So my question was, what if Die
[1:45] Hard was made in India? What is an iconic part of Die
[1:48] Hard That will have to change? To adapt it to an Indian
[1:52] context, and I was thinking of maybe a famous dialogue or or
[1:57] perhaps changing the location of Nakatomi Plaza to.
[2:01] But here's when I realized The Die Hard is more than just its
[2:06] iconic dialogues and its location setting, or even the
[2:09] fact that it's a Christmas movie.
[2:11] It is perhaps even more than John McLean.
[2:13] And that's because Die Hard is very much defined by Hans
[2:16] Gruber. Hans Gruber perhaps deserves the
[2:19] most credit for making Die Hard what it is.
[2:22] Which begs the question, if Die Hard was made in India, how
[2:26] would you make Hans Gruber more Indian?
[2:29] And here we can just change his name to be more Indian?
[2:32] And do you know what Gruber means?
[2:34] We do not. This is actually fact.
[2:36] I'm not making this up. Gruber is a German surname which
[2:40] basically refers to a person from a geological depression,
[2:43] mine or pit. It's a topographic name.
[2:46] It is the most common name in last name in Austria.
[2:50] So Gruber refers to somebody from a mine, and if you were to
[2:54] think of mine in Urdu, that would become a Khan, OK?
[2:59] So I believe Hans Gruber should be Hassan Khan in India.
[3:05] And that would be a very good way to pay homage to that
[3:08] economy. And that, friends, is how I
[3:10] would have for a second. I was thinking you were going to
[3:12] go for from Hans Gruber to Gulshan Grover.
[3:15] Somehow that perhaps might be have been a better answer, but
[3:19] let's pretend like mine was the right answer for that question.
[3:23] Yes, it is, of course, of course.
[3:26] So let's go crack on with our regularly scheduled programming
[3:29] of quizzing. Aditya, why don't you start us
[3:32] off for today? X was invented in 1953 by
[3:36] Leonard Stern and Roger Price. Stern and Price created X but
[3:41] could not agree on a name. A name was not chosen until five
[3:45] years later, when, in 1958, Stern and Price were eating eggs
[3:50] Benedict at a restaurant in New York City.
[3:53] While eating, the two overheard an argument at a neighboring
[3:57] table between a talent agent and an actor.
[4:01] The actor said that he wanted to.
[4:04] Why? In an upcoming interview.
[4:08] The agent who disagreed with the actor's suggestion, retorted
[4:12] that. Y would be crazy.
[4:17] Would be a stupid choice. What is X and what is a very
[4:21] related word Y which eventually inspired the name X?
[4:26] OK, I have absolutely no idea where this is going now do can
[4:32] you give me a clue? Something to point me in the
[4:34] right direction as to which area I should be thinking of.
[4:38] OK. So Y&X actually both.
[4:41] Are two words, and Y is technically a Latin phrase that
[4:48] has been adapted into English. Wow.
[4:56] Actually, maybe right now you don't even know the space that
[4:59] you should be thinking, and so let me give you something along
[5:01] those lines as a hint as well. X is a game.
[5:06] It's a game. It's a game.
[5:08] OK, so we're we're talking the 1950s, so it's obviously not
[5:12] some sort of video game. So it'll have to be a board
[5:14] game, I'm guessing. Or are we talking like a sport?
[5:18] Neither actually, but closer to a board game.
[5:22] It's not a board game, but close to a board game.
[5:25] So something in the actor said that X is something derived from
[5:30] Latin, and Y is something that the actor said that he was going
[5:33] to do, you said in an interview. In an interview?
[5:37] In an upcoming interview, OK, let me give you one more clue.
[5:41] The agent's response was, to be more precise, was that that
[5:46] would be mad if he chose to do Y.
[5:49] If he chose to do Y. This isn't like Cards Against
[5:53] Humanity or anything, right? It is closer to a game of that
[6:00] sorts, yes. It's very close to a game of
[6:02] that sorts. Mad Libs is the right answer.
[6:05] Well done Mad Libs. Do you know what Y is?
[6:09] Do you want to take a guess as to what Y is?
[6:11] X is Mad Libs. He was going to Ad Lib, so
[6:14] that's how Mad Libs and Ad Lib, he was going to ad Lib the
[6:16] interview. Perfect.
[6:17] Yes. All right.
[6:21] So let me break that down for our audience.
[6:25] Mad Libs is actually a phrasal template word game that was
[6:28] created by Stern and Price. It consists of one player
[6:31] prompting others for a list of words to substitute for blanks
[6:34] in a story before reading out loud.
[6:36] And you might have seen it in pop culture references like,
[6:41] say, friends and and American TV shows.
[6:45] Mad Libs. The name came up when these two
[6:48] creators were in a restaurant and they overheard an actor
[6:51] talking about how he wanted to ad Lib.
[6:54] Now anybody in the performing space might be familiar ad Lib,
[6:58] but in case you're not. AD Lib is a shortened form of
[7:01] the phrase ad libitum, which basically means at one's
[7:05] pleasure or as you desire, which is in Word.
[7:09] A lot of times people actually assume that ad Lib also kind of
[7:15] means at liberty, but those two words do not have a common word.
[7:20] It is completely different. So it's actually the word
[7:23] libidum is closer to the word libido because it is at one's
[7:28] pleasure or as you desire. Yeah, so ad libidim or ad Lib is
[7:34] what the actor wanted to do in an interview and the agent
[7:38] thought that would be mad to do an ad libbed interview.
[7:43] Some Mad Libs was the name that was chosen.
[7:46] Great question, great question. I had absolutely no idea that
[7:49] this was the origin of that. And I do enjoy a good game of
[7:52] Mad Libs. So nice to have that in my
[7:54] pocket. OK, my turn.
[7:56] I'm going to go a little bit towards language.
[7:59] You know one of our favorite areas of conversation.
[8:02] So imagine yourself in the year 2000.
[8:06] At the time, three states or union territories had Tamil at
[8:10] its official language slash Co official language or as its
[8:13] second official language. In addition to I2, other
[8:17] sovereign states also accorded Tamil the same status.
[8:22] In another three countries, Tamil was an official minority
[8:26] language. So this is the challenge to you,
[8:29] Aditya. Can you name them all?
[8:32] So how many? I won't, you know, hold you to
[8:37] telling me which one was the which one had it as the official
[8:40] Co official, or which one had a minority?
[8:43] If you get the countries right, you're fine.
[8:45] OK. And you said had.
[8:47] So do they not have it anymore? No, I'm not going to go to that
[8:52] section right now because I don't want to give away that
[8:54] clue. Let's start with the non Indian
[8:57] countries. I think that's a good place for
[8:58] you to start. So as I mentioned 2 sovereign
[9:01] states. Two countries have Tamil as an
[9:03] official or second official or Co official language.
[9:07] I would imagine Sri Lanka is one of the.
[9:09] Very good. Yes, Sri Lanka has.
[9:11] Tamil is a Co official language along with Sinhala.
[9:13] Right. And then the second should be
[9:16] Singapore. Very good, yes Singapore Also
[9:19] it's a Co official language along with.
[9:21] Along with Malay and English and Mandarin.
[9:24] Very good, Yes. Yes, I sound like a school
[9:27] teacher right now, but cello. It was a very good answer.
[9:29] So now as I mentioned, there are three countries where Tamil is
[9:35] an official minority language. This may be a little tougher,
[9:38] but you may be able to guess this.
[9:40] OK, so because I know Singapore's official language is
[9:44] Tamil. I'm going to try and guess
[9:47] perhaps Malaysia very good, yes. They also have a significant
[9:50] Tamil population. The Malaysian government
[9:52] recognizes Tamil as a minority language.
[9:54] Along with Chinese. You're fine.
[9:56] Very good. Two more countries.
[9:58] Two whole countries. Oh boy, can I get a hint for
[10:02] these countries. I don't have a clue right now.
[10:04] OK, so one has a huge Indian diaspora.
[10:07] It's one of the largest Indian diaspora countries, which also
[10:11] has its own very strong historical and cultural link to
[10:16] India. I object to that hint because
[10:19] that hint is completely meaningless.
[10:21] Every country has a huge Indian diaspora.
[10:23] Now I'm talking about a particularly large one.
[10:27] Let's just say that that that country was maybe some you could
[10:31] call it the proving ground for the concepts that.
[10:36] Proving ground for concept that gave India its independence.
[10:40] South Africa. Yes, very good.
[10:42] It is South Africa. The Constitution of the South
[10:44] Republic of South Africa in 1996 stated that a pan South African
[10:49] language Board elected by the you know, legislation must
[10:54] promote and ensure respect for all languages commonly used by
[10:57] communities in South Africa, including among the long list,
[11:00] Tamil. I had no idea that South Africa
[11:03] has a tower population. OK, that is pretty cool.
[11:06] Yeah, they do. OK, now we have, we have down to
[11:08] the last international country. You have one more country to
[11:12] guess. Again, I would say think of and
[11:16] think of an island in the Indian Ocean.
[11:20] Oh, an island in the Indian Ocean with an Indian population.
[11:26] Maldives seems like a candidate, but I don't think Maldives
[11:30] isn't. So let me let me just give you a
[11:32] history. This might actually let you get
[11:34] you this. One of the Tamil is one of the
[11:37] languages featured on the currency of this country.
[11:40] Tamils were first immigrants to be brought to this place by the
[11:44] French. Oh, can I take a guess of
[11:46] French? Makes it slightly easier for me.
[11:49] Is it Mauritius? Yes, very good.
[11:53] It is Mauritius. It is Mauritius.
[11:55] So now we have gone through just to recap the two sovereign
[11:59] countries which have Tamil as its coefficient language as I
[12:01] mentioned were Singapore and Sri Lanka and as a minority language
[12:05] status it it is accorded in Malaysia, Mauritius and South
[12:08] Africa. So now let's come back to the
[12:11] country of origin of Tamil India.
[12:14] So as I mentioned, imagine that you are in the year 2000.
[12:18] There are three state slash Union territories where Tamil
[12:23] was an official or second official language or a Co
[12:27] official language. Whichever way you want to put
[12:29] it, which are those three states or territories?
[12:33] So this includes Tamil Nadu? Or does it not include Tamil
[12:37] Nadu? It includes Tamil Nadu.
[12:39] So obviously you've gotten 1-2 more.
[12:41] I'm going to since you said territory, I'm going to make a
[12:43] guess. Is it Pondicherry?
[12:46] Very good, yes. So it is Tamil, Tandu and
[12:49] Pondicherry. And which is the 3rd state?
[12:52] Is that a state or a Union territory?
[12:54] OK, I was going to guess the islands, but if it's a state,
[13:00] wow, interesting. I know there is.
[13:04] Not an insignificant thermal population in Bangalore.
[13:08] So I want to say Karnataka. Nope.
[13:11] That would be a very, very controversial choice because
[13:15] especially in South, linguistic borders are very highly
[13:18] respected and the very state of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were
[13:21] divided around linguistic borders.
[13:22] So I don't think anybody in Karnataka would be happy to even
[13:25] make Tamil one of the coefficient languages, yeah.
[13:28] All right, well, apologies to my.
[13:31] Canada, friends, so it's not a southern state?
[13:35] Oh boy, what non southern state would have tamiled as an
[13:38] official language? I'll give you a clue.
[13:41] This is not much of A clue, but it's a very I I just love this
[13:45] piece of trivia that when this language was made the Co
[13:49] official language of second language of the state, it is
[13:53] highly probable that there wasn't even a single family of
[13:58] native speakers of Tamil in the state at that time.
[14:02] Oh, OK. I was actually trying to think
[14:04] of which Metropolitan could have Mumbai or Calcutta or something,
[14:08] but interesting you say not a single.
[14:10] It's quite possible. There are newspaper articles
[14:12] where they mentioned that there may not have been even a single
[14:15] Tamil speaking like native Tamil speaking family in the state at
[14:18] the time. So now, more than the answer
[14:21] itself, I'm also very curious as to why they made it, but I'm
[14:24] assuming you'll tell me that. Let me try to make a guess.
[14:28] Almost no chance of having a native Tamil speaking family.
[14:31] I would imagine is Nope. I will give you this piece of
[14:40] trivia that it was between 1969 and 2010, that this was Tamil
[14:48] was the second language in the state.
[14:50] In 2010, Tamil was replaced with Punjabi to be the second
[14:56] language. What is happening in this
[14:58] question? Describe the roller coaster?
[15:01] Every possible path I'm going down turns out to have a dead
[15:05] end. There is no way to guess this
[15:07] because it is one of those insane things that happens in
[15:12] the world where there is no logic to it.
[15:15] So you can't like logically get to the answer.
[15:18] So I'll just tell you and prepare yourself.
[15:22] The state is Haryana. OK, interesting.
[15:25] Interesting. That is completely
[15:26] unprecedented. How did Haryana end up with
[15:30] Tamil? Then the state of Haryana was
[15:33] formed. It was because of the Punjabi
[15:35] Sabha agitation and the then CM of Haryana.
[15:39] Bansi Lal thought let any other language that other than Punjabi
[15:43] be the second language of Haryana.
[15:45] So they randomly selected Tamil to become the second language,
[15:49] even though there may not have been even a single family of
[15:53] native speakers in Haryana at that point.
[15:56] This remained until 2010 when Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder
[16:00] Singh Hooda declared Punjabi to be the second language.
[16:05] Oh, that is hilarious. Just a secular.
[16:08] Yeah. Do Punjabi speakers?
[16:10] Oh no. That is a fun question.
[16:13] That is such a very random, very random.
[16:16] When I first read this, I was like there is no way this can be
[16:19] true. There is no way that Tamil is
[16:21] the second language, second official language of Haryana of
[16:24] all states. OK.
[16:26] So the next question I'm going to ask moves from India all the
[16:31] way to the US, OK. The question has to do with
[16:35] Hollywood. OK, so it is going to be a three
[16:38] parter or rather there are going to be three things that you can
[16:40] guess in this very closely interlinked.
[16:42] So hopefully won't be too much of an effort for you.
[16:46] OK, so I'm talking about the movie franchise A.
[16:50] I'm talking about the director B, and I'm talking about C Let's
[16:55] say A prac, A practice. OK, so AB and C are what you
[16:59] have to tell me Now. B is obviously the director of
[17:02] A. And B said that when he was
[17:07] making A, he always felt like he was an unlucky person who will
[17:12] never be able to see them as a coming out of the blue film.
[17:15] All of these movies in the franchise, he'll never be able
[17:17] to see them as a coming out of the blue film.
[17:19] By the time they were screening he had been immersed in it for
[17:23] multiple years and it was such a loss for him in his own words,
[17:27] that he wanted to actually try and recreate the experience of
[17:32] being able to see A. So he's very seriously
[17:36] considered, quote UN quote, seriously considered using C to
[17:41] achieve that. Can you tell me what AB and C
[17:44] are I'm going to get? I'm going to guess.
[17:47] That C is reboot. Is it?
[17:49] Is it reboot? No, C is not reboot.
[17:51] That's a very good guess, but now it's not reboot.
[17:54] Then my next guest was C would be jumping the shark.
[17:57] No, it's not that either. Practice, OK, he couldn't bring
[18:02] back. So it's a movie franchise,
[18:03] right? So I'm guessing there are more
[18:04] than two movies in the franchise.
[18:07] Yeah, yeah. For some reason my my head's
[18:09] going to Spielberg or Lucas. Steven Spielberg or George
[18:14] Lucas. Is it one of them?
[18:17] Ongrade guesses, but no, it's oh, it's neither of them.
[18:20] Oh, OK, OK, you'll need to give me a clue now, because I'm not.
[18:24] There's nothing to point me here.
[18:26] OK, so let me tell you the time period we're looking at, the
[18:29] time frame is of the filming and the release would be the 90s and
[18:33] the 2000s, the 90s and 2000s franchise movies, you said
[18:39] director and not directors. So it's not the Matrix series,
[18:42] obviously. It's not Steven Spielberg or
[18:45] George Lucas. So it's not the Indiana Jones,
[18:47] it's not Jurassic Park, and it's not Harry.
[18:49] What do you call it Star Wars either?
[18:53] Which are the directors we're making?
[18:55] Yeah, we're looking at 90s and 90s and 2000s.
[18:59] Is this the Young adult slash Child Action Adventure Series 3
[19:04] Ninjas? It is a lot more mainstream than
[19:07] that. I'm I'm so surprised you went to
[19:09] three ninjas before you came to the answer.
[19:11] Oh God, this must be something so obvious, but I'm just blind
[19:14] to it right now. Oh God no.
[19:16] You'll another clue please. Oh, I I really did not expect.
[19:21] They don't have to give a clue here, but that's all right.
[19:23] This series also had prequels which came out eventually.
[19:29] I mean like it's just pointing towards Star Wars, George Lucas
[19:33] prequels movies. Him, I think would be
[19:36] egotistical enough to say I wish I could watch these movies
[19:38] again, but if it's the first time.
[19:40] You want to offer the egotistical part?
[19:42] Because at least that's my personal opinion of this
[19:44] filmmaker. Oh wait, James Cameron.
[19:47] No, no, James Cameron. Not James Cameron.
[19:50] So Avatar and Terminator. But no, it's not the case in
[19:53] this Ridley Scott Alien Aliens. Alien is also older, yeah, and
[19:58] he didn't direct all the movies in that.
[20:00] Aliens was James Cameron. So that's again.
[20:04] Oh. God, I'm blanking.
[20:05] This is going to be something so blindingly obvious that I'm
[20:09] going to kick myself. I can see that coming.
[20:13] You are going to want to truly step down as the duo of Are you
[20:20] quizzing me and this is that bad?
[20:23] Oh my God. I won't let you.
[20:25] I won't let you. I believe it small consolation,
[20:28] but now. I can't believe you still
[20:31] haven't said the name. It is I I don't want to shame
[20:33] you at all, Vineet. I love you.
[20:35] I think I will deserve to be shamed for this.
[20:37] One. It's just like, oh God, why am I
[20:40] not able to think of this franchise you're talking about?
[20:44] It's a franchise in the 90s and 2000.
[20:46] I grew up. This is I was like a movie fiend
[20:49] during the time. Oh God, which franchise am I
[20:52] missing? Indeed, Indeed.
[20:54] Is it the X-Men franchise? Bryan Singer.
[20:59] Just enjoying this so much right now because I feel like if there
[21:03] is a listener listening, they probably are pulling their own
[21:06] hair out at this point. Dude, you have to give me
[21:10] something. I'm just.
[21:11] Let us give you another hint. All three of these movies were
[21:15] nominated for multiple Oscars. Oh wait, I know this off won.
[21:20] The best picture? Oh God, this is the Lord of the
[21:24] Rings trilogy. Peter Jackson.
[21:27] Peter Jackson. The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
[21:29] But hey, I did get misled a little bit.
[21:32] Lord of the Rings Part One, Fellowship of the Ring.
[21:34] Released in the 2000s, not the 90s.
[21:37] I mentioned to the filmmaking and the release, so he was
[21:40] because I spoke about the filmmaking process technicality.
[21:43] He had been making the film since.
[21:46] Also, I'm I'm not not to not to be NIT picky here, but you also
[21:50] mentioned franchises which were like kids in the 90s.
[21:53] So yeah, wait, I have to make excuses here.
[21:58] I am a huge LOTR fan and shit. I actually sat through like 12
[22:03] hours of the extended cut releases on DVD.
[22:06] Oh God. As one must this is this is a
[22:09] low point. This is a very low.
[22:12] Point If it makes a difference, C is going to be a hilarious
[22:15] enough answer that it should make up for for getting A&B.
[22:19] So A is obviously Lord of the Rings trilogy and B is Peter
[22:22] Jackson. Can you guess what Peter Jackson
[22:24] wanted to do? Obviously he wouldn't want
[22:27] anybody to remake or reboot it. He wanted to get Amnesia.
[22:31] Very close, actually very close. He wanted a time travel.
[22:36] No. Something slightly more
[22:38] feasible. Slightly more feasible.
[22:40] Still a ridiculous choice, but slightly more feasible than time
[22:43] travel, OK. Do you know of the British?
[22:49] Well, you could say celebrity Darren Brown.
[22:50] Yeah, he's an illusionist, right?
[22:53] Oh, wonderful. To be hypnotized.
[22:56] He wanted to be hypnotized. Darren Brown is a hypnot A
[22:59] hypnotist. Yeah, he wanted to be
[23:02] hypnotized. Peter Jackson.
[23:04] Peter Jackson. Why?
[23:07] Why? I want to ask myself, Vineet.
[23:10] Why? He said it on a podcast on a
[23:13] Hollywood Reporter. He mentioned it sometime last
[23:16] year. So that's how we know, OK,
[23:20] that's let's move on quickly from that shameful movement for
[23:24] me. So this is my question for you,
[23:26] completely different field. OK.
[23:28] This product from the company Hagoromo, let me repeat that.
[23:33] This product is from a company called Hagoromo has been dubbed
[23:37] for long as the Rolls Royce of its category or the Michael
[23:42] Jordan of its category and whatnot.
[23:45] These are extremely popular among mathematicians and when
[23:49] the company closed in 2015, many mathematicians bought it in bulk
[23:57] and some even stockpiled years worth of the product.
[24:01] It was so popular that the rights for this product was
[24:03] bought out and the legacy continued with another company
[24:08] because it was just simply irreplaceable.
[24:11] What product am I talking about? What did Hagoromo?
[24:15] What? Hagoromo Full Touch is the
[24:16] product name. The company was Hagoromo Bungu.
[24:20] That's a lovely name. Hagoromo Bungu.
[24:24] Interesting. So you mentioned the field of
[24:27] mathematics, right? Yes.
[24:29] First guess would be some sort of a calculator.
[24:32] No, it's a it's a Japanese company name is Hagoromo Bungu.
[24:37] Their premier product is called Hagoromo Full Touch which has
[24:41] sub varieties and sub brands under it.
[24:43] It's extremely popular among mathematicians, and so much so
[24:48] that when they heard that the company was closing in 2015,
[24:51] many mathematicians stockpiled years worth of the product.
[24:56] So it is something that doesn't get outdated.
[24:59] Also no, not something that you could say would expire.
[25:02] Full Touch That is a very interesting name for a product.
[25:05] Full Touch Oh, is it a stress ball?
[25:08] No, no, no, not a stress ball. Mathematicians love this product
[25:13] because it's superior to what its western alternatives are.
[25:18] It this was this product was originally only available in
[25:21] Japan. You had to have your friend go
[25:24] to Japan and buy it for you, or get it shipped from Japan.
[25:27] And the sister products, or the similar products that were
[25:32] available in the US? In the UK, they were far
[25:37] inferior according to these mathematicians, because the
[25:41] Japanese version was just cleaner, easier and required
[25:46] less effort. OK, I don't know why
[25:49] mathematicians would specifically would want this,
[25:51] but I'm thinking some sort of a massage chair, like in one of
[25:54] those automatic massage. I thought I was really close to
[25:59] the mark with that full touch. Something that does not expire,
[26:03] something that probably stands the test of time, Something that
[26:06] mathematicians use. Something that is tactile and
[26:10] the Japanese do it arguably the best.
[26:13] There's a fantastic, I think 3 or 4 you minute YouTube video on
[26:17] this where they show mathematicians using the product
[26:20] and you can actually see that. I mean like most of us at least
[26:24] have had experience with this kind of product at some point in
[26:27] our life. Most of us, I'm not saying all,
[26:29] maybe Gen. X, Gen.
[26:31] Z might not, but for us Gen. X is in Gen.
[26:35] Y and Gen. X.
[26:35] Definitely. We've had experience with this
[26:38] product and having used some of these myself, I can tell you
[26:42] that just watching the video tells me that this is definitely
[26:45] looking like a superior product. You have used the type of this
[26:49] product, but you haven't used the full touch, no.
[26:52] I've not used the full touch, no, though frankly I want to
[26:55] after seeing the video. Does it have anything to do with
[26:59] a pen? A writing instrument?
[27:00] Oh, you're very close. Very close.
[27:02] Not a pen. Though, all right, is it a
[27:06] chalk? Yes, so it is chalk.
[27:10] So Hagaromo Bungu is a Japanese office supply and chalk company.
[27:15] It is best known for having produced the Hagoromo Full Touch
[27:19] chalk, which is a brand of blackboard chalk.
[27:23] Though mainly sold in Japan and South Korea, it came to be used
[27:26] worldwide because of its ease of use.
[27:29] Nonetheless, general decline in chalk sales, among other
[27:32] factors, led to its shutdown in 2015.
[27:36] The announcement of the company's closing LED France to
[27:38] stockpile its chalk. A South Korean company and I'm
[27:42] really going to, you know, maul this pronunciation.
[27:46] Sejong Mal eventually bought the Hagoromo brand and much of the
[27:51] company's original equipment and has manufactured the chalk in
[27:55] South Korea since 2016. There is a YouTube video that if
[28:00] a simple search will get you to it.
[28:02] It's a 3 to 4 minute video about mathematicians talking about how
[28:05] easy it is to use this chalk. How cleaner the I mean, like
[28:11] it's very easy to clean when you when you're wiping it off, the
[28:14] lines are sharper and apparently some even say that you can't
[28:17] even write a false theorem with this chalk.
[28:19] It's that it's given it. They've given it some kind of
[28:22] mystical qualities and there were people when the company had
[28:25] shut down who had stockpiles who are acting like chalk dealers to
[28:30] their colleagues, you know like drug dealers.
[28:33] So yeah. So chalk, it's a it's an
[28:35] unlikely product but it will mathematicians go crazy over it.
[28:39] I would recommend everybody watch the YouTube video.
[28:42] Google search will bring to it. It's a 3 to 4 minute video.
[28:45] Won't take too much of your time, but it does show you how
[28:48] much they really love the chalk. Very interesting, very
[28:51] interesting. So did you hit me with your next
[28:53] question? OK.
[28:55] So for the next question, I'm going to ask you something
[28:59] related to the world of business.
[29:03] And this has to do with a Japanese company.
[29:08] And I'm going to tell you what the name of the company is.
[29:11] Tell me which company I'm talking about.
[29:13] The original name roughly meant House of Exquisite Workmanship,
[29:19] House of Exquisite Workmanship, that was the original name.
[29:24] Later it was shortened because the shortened version just meant
[29:29] exquisite, and it is also homophonous with the word for
[29:34] success. So the Japanese word that was
[29:37] shortened to means exquisite and is also homophonous with the
[29:41] word. For success in Japanese.
[29:44] OK, so without any particular clue as to which region, I'm
[29:49] going to just rattle off a couple of guesses, because
[29:51] that's all they are. This is, these are just guesses.
[29:53] Is it Nikon? Nope.
[29:56] I think this is just going to end up as me guessing all the
[29:58] Japanese companies that I know. Is it Canon?
[30:02] No. OK.
[30:03] Let me give you more context. I haven't even told you the
[30:05] industry that we are. Talking about industry yet?
[30:08] But before I tell you the industry, I'll tell you a little
[30:10] bit more about the name. So great guesses so far, but I
[30:15] feel like I will need to give you the industry at least.
[30:18] And here it helps to know that. It helps to know that the
[30:22] company that is in question is one of only two companies
[30:27] considered to be vertically integrated in its industry.
[30:31] Before I tell you the exact industry, let me tell you it is
[30:34] one of two companies which is vertically integrated in its
[30:37] industry. And the second one.
[30:40] For the sake of our audience, would you mind explaining what
[30:42] vertically integrated integrated means?
[30:44] Of course I'll tell you what vertically integrated means, but
[30:47] also second company is a Swiss company that should hopefully
[30:50] take you very close. Is this Seiko?
[30:53] Well, Seiko is the right answer, all right.
[30:58] No, because the moment you said it's a Swiss, the Other is a
[31:00] Swiss company. I I clicked that.
[31:03] It's a watch. You're you're absolutely on the
[31:05] money over there. Vertical integration, by the
[31:08] way, since you asked, is an arrangement in which the supply
[31:11] chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company.
[31:15] Oh, OK. Everything is owned and managed
[31:17] by that, yeah, I would imagine. I think SpaceX would be
[31:21] considered vertically integrated.
[31:24] Apple perhaps? Well, to some extent.
[31:27] And not being from a business background, does that give any
[31:31] advantages to the company itself or?
[31:36] Yes, so like say for Apple because they have always created
[31:39] their products end to end for the most part.
[31:41] Of course there are things that they do buy from vendors, but it
[31:46] does allow you for high level of customization and precision in
[31:50] your product that you might otherwise not be able to
[31:56] achieve. If you rely on multiple vendors
[31:59] or quality control becomes slightly more difficult, all
[32:03] these factors do come. But yeah, and which is why I say
[32:08] Apple products are considered to be Some people might argue
[32:11] otherwise, but consensus is that it is considered to be of high
[32:15] quality. Or SpaceX has managed the
[32:19] revolutionary in its space exploration methods simply
[32:24] because they started from basically bottoms up approach.
[32:28] Yeah. Nice.
[32:30] I just said bottoms up, I have. A top down.
[32:33] No, I meant like instead of bottom up, I said bottoms up,
[32:36] which is basically what you say when you want to get drunk and
[32:43] going off of Elon Musk's recent Twitter, you would imagine he is
[32:49] hopefully on I call that would hope.
[32:52] I have completely excised Elon Musk from my daily, you know,
[32:58] capsule of news that I read. It's become too crazy now.
[33:02] For you. Good for you.
[33:03] All right, so yes, psycho was the right answer for that
[33:06] question. It the name psycho actually
[33:09] means exquisite in Japanese. It is also homophonous with the
[33:13] word for success, which is all psycho, Seko Seko.
[33:16] I'm not sure how it is pronounced, but that is the
[33:19] name. And Seko Sha.
[33:21] Seko Sha was the name in 1890 under which clocks?
[33:26] Were produced, which roughly meant House of Exquisite
[33:29] Workmanship. Nice, nice, nice.
[33:33] The the Swiss company that you mentioned which is also
[33:36] vertically integrated in the watch industry, which one would
[33:38] that, Which one is that? You wanna take a guess?
[33:41] So Swiss, I mean like when you're looking at Swiss watches,
[33:45] there are quite a few, but I'll start off with Rolex.
[33:48] Rolex is 1 OK. My next one was going to be
[33:54] Omega. You know, I I used to call those
[33:57] watches Omega until I heard Daniel Craig pronounce it Omega.
[34:01] And I'm like, yeah, I'm I'm going to pronounce it Omega from
[34:03] now on. Well, if Daniel Craig does it,
[34:06] you might as well do. It yeah, James Bond.
[34:08] I mean, like James Bond made the watch cool.
[34:10] So then, like, funny and funnily enough, Seiko was my dad's Go to
[34:15] watch brand for a for a for many years.
[34:19] Interesting. Yeah.
[34:21] And so because of that, maybe because I don't know.
[34:24] I've never thought of that as a kind of premium watch because,
[34:28] you know, people used to buy it left, right and center.
[34:30] I knew a lot of people who wore it because I'm in the Middle
[34:33] East when I when I when I grew up in the 90s.
[34:35] But now sequel is considered like a very premium brands, very
[34:38] expensive in those days it was quite affordable.
[34:41] You know, I I worn a couple of sequel watches in my time.
[34:45] Now it's one of those, it's Japanese brands that competes
[34:48] with Swiss brands for being, you know, premium and whatnot.
[34:51] There's actually very fascinating history behind the
[34:54] Swiss clock makers, watchmakers and the Japanese watchmakers.
[34:59] And perhaps sometime in the future I will ask a question
[35:01] which has to do with it, but let me throw a free one right here.
[35:06] Brands. Speaking of brands which perhaps
[35:11] didn't have so much premium to begin with but eventually
[35:14] acquired a premium status, do you know what Swatch stands for?
[35:19] Swiss Watch. 2nd watch like. Oh, as in second copy.
[35:25] Yeah, the second one you'd own because it was considered
[35:28] intended to be casual and disposable as an accessory.
[35:32] They didn't even intend for it to be this premium, fancy little
[35:36] watch that you might be on. Moving and This is a nice segue
[35:40] from Swiss watch makers to Swiss chemists.
[35:45] This material was invented by Swiss chemist Jacques E
[35:49] Brandenburger. So Jacques saw a wine spill on a
[35:53] restaurant tablecloth and was inspired to create a cloth that
[35:58] would repel liquids instead of absorbing them.
[36:03] What material did Jacques create?
[36:07] I will give clues, you know, but let me see if you can get it
[36:10] this way. Polyester.
[36:13] No good guess, but no. But polyester does.
[36:16] It doesn't water resistant so. The name by first clue for you
[36:20] is the name of this material. Again, I would, I'm calling it a
[36:25] material. I'm not calling it a cloth.
[36:27] Right? Because he ended up making a
[36:28] material which was water resistant and the name of this
[36:31] material was taken from its primary ingredient and an
[36:39] adjective that described its appearance.
[36:43] So the word is like a almost like a portmanto for these two
[36:46] things. A portmanteau for the primary
[36:49] component and for an adjective. Is that right?
[36:53] Yes, yes. Can I clarify what time period
[36:56] are we looking at? This is 19, not 8. 19 O eight
[37:03] OK, all right. What is the name of the
[37:06] chemistry game Jacques E Brandenburger?
[37:09] And it is a type of cloth, right?
[37:12] I said material. I did not say cloth he was in.
[37:14] He intended to create a kind of cloth.
[37:17] It has a lot of usages, so I'm not going to go more like that.
[37:22] Oh, OK. So if it is not necessarily a
[37:25] cloud that really opens up the field.
[37:28] Interesting, yes. I'll give you the adjective.
[37:31] I'll give you a synonym for the adjective that was used to name
[37:34] the, the, the. Basically, it's a more fancy
[37:39] word for transparent, or it's an adjective which is similar to
[37:44] the word transparent. The adjective is similar to the
[37:47] word transparent. So the adjective is a synonym of
[37:51] transparent, but in a different language in French.
[37:54] That does not help me. I don't speak French.
[37:56] No, no, no. But.
[37:57] But. But to be fair, to be fair, the
[37:59] adjective in French also has a very similar sounding in English
[38:04] as well. OK, I'll give you one more clue.
[38:06] This is it fell out of favor in the middle of the last century,
[38:10] OK? But it has now come back into
[38:13] prominence because it is 100% biodegradable.
[38:18] But I'm going to go back to the synonym.
[38:21] Is it glossy? No.
[38:25] OK, I will give you the name of the material and the English
[38:31] version of the adjective, right. That should give you the answer.
[38:36] So he created this material which was initially in the form
[38:40] of a film. Using cellulose is.
[38:47] It cellophane. Yes, it is cellophane.
[38:50] It is OK. So to complete it, he took cello
[38:54] from cellulose and fain from diaphanous.
[38:59] Diaphanous or diaphine is is something for very thin,
[39:03] something that's almost see through.
[39:05] So he called the new material he called cellophane.
[39:08] It's a thin transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose.
[39:11] It's low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria and
[39:15] liquid water makes it useful for food packaging.
[39:18] It is highly permeable to water vapor, but may be coated with
[39:22] nitrocellulose lacquer to prevent this.
[39:24] It's also used in transparent pressure sensitive tape tubing
[39:28] and many other applications. It is compostable,
[39:31] biodegradable, and can be obtained from biomaterials.
[39:35] It's a generic term in some countries, while in other
[39:38] countries it is a registered trademark.
[39:43] OK, that is pretty cool. I would have never guessed that
[39:46] adjective because let's be real, Nobody ever says diaphanous.
[39:52] Unless you're reading some very naughty books, because
[39:56] diaphanous is a term usually used for to describe fabrics and
[40:01] dresses which are very light and not particularly opaque.
[40:09] So veil. If if you want to mix in some, I
[40:15] don't know, some English language into your erotica
[40:20] reading, please, by all means you should definitely.
[40:23] Just erotica. It is used to describe fashion
[40:26] materials and whatnot. You know, high fashion hot.
[40:29] Couture, I hear you. I hear you.
[40:32] All right. So that was the last question
[40:35] for today's episode. And before we wind up today's
[40:42] episode, Aditya, what is your question for this week?
[40:48] My question for this week has to do with the question I last
[40:52] asked, which was the Japanese watch company Psycho.
[40:56] And if Psycho was an Indian company, what would they be
[41:01] making? Is my question, which I will
[41:04] answer in the next episode. So what would?
[41:08] Psycho be making if they were an Indian company.
[41:10] Stay tuned for next week's episode to find out.
[41:13] Now, I had asked a question at the beginning of today's
[41:15] episode, so I'm going to reveal the answer for that.
[41:19] The question was this musical by Jonathan Larson was written as
[41:22] an autobiography about going into his 30th year and how the
[41:25] anxiety of growing old felt like a bomb waiting to explode the
[41:30] title of the musical. Contrast this with the fact that
[41:32] he unfortunately died before the 1st Broadway performance of his
[41:36] production Rent. This musical also recently got
[41:39] adopted as a movie directed by Lin Manuel Miranda.
[41:43] The question was, what is the name of the musical Aditya?
[41:47] Do you know which musical I'm talking about?
[41:50] Musical that I really liked, actually.
[41:52] Tick Tick. Boom.
[41:53] And I mean the movie. Obviously the movie musical.
[41:57] The movie version of it, yes. But you're right.
[42:00] A tick tick. Boom.
[42:00] And for the. To for the audience, let me just
[42:04] expand on that a little bit. Jonathan David Larson was an
[42:07] American composer, lyricist and playwright most famous for
[42:11] writing two musicals. One is the world famous Rent and
[42:15] the other is Tic Tic Boom. He received 3 posthumous Tony
[42:20] Awards and a posthumous Pulitzer Rebel Prize for Drama for Rent.
[42:24] He was named it was Tic. Tic Boom was named one of the
[42:27] best films of 2021 by the American Film Institute.
[42:30] Was nominated for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy at
[42:32] the 79th Globe, Golden Globe Awards and Best Picture of the
[42:36] 27th Critics Choice Awards. For his performance, lead actor
[42:40] Andrew Garfield earned numerous awards, including the Golden
[42:43] Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical, Motion Picture, Musical
[42:46] or Comedy, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award
[42:50] for Best Actor. That's the question, Audience
[42:53] question for today. Well done, Aditya.
[42:55] You got that very quickly. And before we wind up, what is
[42:59] your? Pop culture recommendation for
[43:01] this week Kadidya All right, so my pop culture recommendation
[43:05] for this week is a book that I'm currently reading and I already
[43:09] love so much that I feel confident recommending it.
[43:12] Even though I'm not finished it, I'm close to finishing it, and
[43:15] I'm I highly doubt the last few pages are going to change my
[43:17] opinion of it. So it is already great.
[43:20] It's this book called Someone Who Will Love You in All Your
[43:23] Damaged Glory. It is by Rafael Bob Waksberg,
[43:28] the same person who's behind Again, another pop culture
[43:32] recommendation, Bojack Horseman. So if you have not checked out
[43:36] Bojack Horseman, you should check that out.
[43:38] Fantastic show and the person behind it also wrote this book.
[43:43] Fantastic book. Two things I would highly
[43:45] recommend for this week's pop culture recommendation.
[43:48] I will definitely check that out.
[43:50] It sounds very intriguing and might I say fantastic title for
[43:54] a book. My recommendation is.
[43:58] What is slightly vintage? Because it's almost 20 years
[44:02] old, my recommendation is a show, Veronica Mars.
[44:07] It debuted in the mid 2000s, ran for three seasons, went off the
[44:14] air and had a revival in the form of a movie in 2014.
[44:18] And then finally it had a one episode final season run on Hulu
[44:23] in 2019. Now this show.
[44:27] A run revolves around in the initial seasons around Veronica,
[44:31] the eponymous Veronica Mars, who is a teenage investigator.
[44:35] So if you're fans of you know, the Hardy Boys of the Nancy Drew
[44:39] books, this is especially season one and season 2 are, you know,
[44:44] something for you. The show gets more grittier an
[44:47] adult in the later seasons. But season one?
[44:50] If nothing else, season one of Veronica Mars is one of the
[44:53] best. Seasons of any show that I've
[44:56] seen that includes all. I mean like it's one of those
[44:59] sparkling shows that just doesn't lose it.
[45:02] Appeal, Lose its appeal, even though you can find it's
[45:05] completely full of 2000s fashion and don't write it off as
[45:10] Chiclet or something for women. It's it's an amazing show,
[45:13] especially season one. I mean like if you can't watch
[45:16] the entire thing, just watch season one and be done with it.
[45:18] It's pretty much self-contained and it's available on Amazon
[45:22] Prime SO. Have a look at it.
[45:24] Go watch something a little older than what we see today.
[45:27] Perfect. So that's all for this episode.
[45:29] Thank you for listening in. We hope you enjoyed the show and
[45:32] learn something new. If you like what you heard,
[45:34] please consider subscribing to our podcast and leaving us a
[45:37] review on your favorite podcast platform wherever you're
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[45:49] Please use it to give us feedback.
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[46:00] We'd also love to hear from you. Feedback, suggestions, Trivia
[46:04] questions to be asked on the show.
[46:06] You can just e-mail us at ruquizzingmegmail.com if you
[46:10] want a question to be asked on the show.
[46:13] Just send us an e-mail with the subject line reading a question
[46:17] to be read by, a question to be asked by and you can now name
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[46:31] We appreciate your support and look forward to sharing more
[46:33] episodes with you in the future. Thank you again for tuning in
[46:36] and have a great day. Aditya will be back after the
[46:39] musical sting for the Fact Check.
[46:43] That's all from me. See you guys next week.

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