What is Qwikipedia?
Qwikipedia is a game that tries to quench our curiosity. 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
Antarctica —> Letizia of Spain
Antarctica
The fifth largest continent by size, with sparse human population (between 1000 to 5000 people), located at the southern part of Earth is Antarctica. It was first sighted by Russians Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev in the early 19th century.
While neglected for most part of the century, it again caught the eye of human expeditions in the mid-19th century. In fact, the human population that you can find in the continent are mostly scientists from different countries carrying out experiments there. Expeditions and experiments are carried out by aerial surveys and from stations established by the countries in the continent.
Aerial survey
Aerial survey is a system of gathering information on ground using aerial photography or remote-sensing techniques on board helicopters or aeroplanes. It is different from satellite imagery, (photographs or images taken by satellites revolving around the Earth) as clarity and resolution of the images are far better. WingsforScience, a non-profit organisation, is involved in providing aerial survey support to public research organisations such as the Paranal Observatory in Chile.
The Paranal Observatory is located in Cerro Paranal in Chile and is operated by the European Southern Observatory. It is an astronomical observatory and is equipped with telescopes to uniformly scour vast expanses of the sky. If you are a James Bond fan, you could find it featured in the movie Quantum of Solace. Paranal also has a touch of royalty to it – it has been visited by the then Prince and Princess of Asturias.
Letizia of Spain
A princess yesterday, a queen today is what strikes your mind when talking about the new queen of Spain Queen Letizia. A commoner by birth and a journalist by profession, she married then Prince of Asturias, now King of Spain Felipe VI in 2004. Following the formal abdication of King Juan Carlos I of Spain on June 18, 2014, Prince Felipe VI assumed the role of the King of Spain, and Letizia, Princess of Asturias, has become the Queen of Spain.
So the path that we have traversed today is:
Antarctica —> Aerial survey —> Paranal Observatory —> Letizia of Spain
Three clicks! Hop over. It’s time for the next question:
Monday’s Marauder
Liu Xiaobo —> Google
Send in your paths for the above to school@thehindu.co.in with the subject “Qwikipedia”. Do include your name, class and school!
