What is Qwikipedia?
Ever been on Wikipedia to look up an article? More often than not, we start with one topic, click on a few links and within no time are reading about something else.
Qwikipedia is a game that tries to quench this curiosity in us. The objective is to get to a particular wiki page, starting from a specific article, using minimal clicks. There is no single correct answer, so we might surprise ourselves by finding new routes each time!
Friday’s Free rider
Karim Benzema
In the FIFA World Cup at Brazil this year, France went down in the quarter-finals against eventual winners Germany - Mats Hummels’ 12th minute header proving to be the difference between the two sides. France had moved from strength to strength in the tournament till then, and might even have had dreams about the ultimate prize. Considering where they were only a few months ago, they surely had come a long way.
France didn’t qualify directly. Along with Portugal and Sweden, they were one of the high profile European teams that went into the playoffs to determine their fate. France were drawn against Ukraine and lost the away leg 2-0. Under tremendous pressure to turn things around, France came up with a determined effort, trumping Ukraine 3-0 in the home leg to qualify for the World Cup.
Karim Benzema had scored the second goal in that game, crucial, considering it levelled the aggregate. A striker with France, scoring goals come naturally to Benzema. He has scored goals in Paris (the one against Ukraine is one of them), London (England vs France, friendly in 2010) and Madrid (he plies his trade at Real Madrid at the club level and scored at home against Liverpool in the Championsl League even on Tuesday).
London
You know that London is a global city, that it is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. You’ve probably read all about the Big Ben, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square. You might even be aware that London has one of the oldest underground railway networks in the world or that it was the host city for the most recently concluded Summer Olympics. In fact, the Olympics in 2012 was the third time London hosted the event, making London the first city to host the modern Games for a third time.
Alfred Hitchcock
Maybe, you didn’t know that Alfred Hitchcock is from London? Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone in 1899. Leytonstone was a part of Essex then, but now it is a part of London.
“The Master of Suspense” pioneered in many techniques in psychological suspense thriller genres, making him one of the best English film directors. After enjoying success with British cinema, however, Hitchcock moved over to Hollywood late in the 1930s and eventually became an American citizen in 1955.
Tom Hanks
It took me sometime to find out the link between Hitchcock and Tom Hanks. So happens, both men have won the AFI Life Achievement Award, Hitchcock in 1979 (a year before his death) and Hanks in 2002.
A popular American actor and filmmaker, Hanks is about to give a shot at writing. Inspired by his love of and obsession with typewriters, Hanks is set to pen a a book of short stories.
So the path that we have traversed today is:
Karim Benzema —> London —> Alfred Hitchcock —> Tom Hanks
Three clicks! Hop over. It’s time for the next question:
Monday’s Marauder
>Glenn Maxwell —> >Shakespeare
Send in your paths for the above to school@thehindu.co.in with the subject “Qwikipedia”.
