What is Qwikipedia?
Ever been on Wikipedia to look up an article? More often than not, we start with one topic, click 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
International Space Station —> Reggae
International Space Station
Imagine orbiting the earth roughly 15 times a day sitting in a space station and conducting scientific experiments! Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been doing just that for the past 14 years and more, making it the most continuously occupied space stations in human history. The ISS, collaboratively launched by NASA (the U.S.), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), Roscosmos (Russia) and CSA (Canada), is currently one of the largest artificial body orbiting the earth, and serves as an artificial satellite or space station that is home to groups of astronauts cum scientists who carry scientific experiments in biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and so on. And here is the interesting part. You can not only see the ISS at specified times with the naked eye in the sky, but can also track its movement with a specialised message service launched by NASA.
Satellite
Any artificial object that is launched in space to orbit a planet can be termed a satellite. Satellites are used for various purposes – to track weather data, for communication purposes, to house humans (in which case it is called a space station) and for research purposes. Satellites have been sent to orbit not only our Earth but also other planets in our solar system. Sputnik 1 triggered the space age in today’s world with the launch of the first artificial satellite by the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1957. Several countries have launched their own satellites since then – including nations like Bermuda, Tonga and Ecuador.
Bermuda
In 1503, Juan de Bermudez, an European explorer landed on a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North America. The Bermudas, or Somers Isles, named after the explorer is today a British Overseas Territory with a population of around 64,000 people (according to its census in 2010).
Bermuda’s culture has a lot of influence from its neighbours in the Caribbean such as West Indies and Jamaica. The calypso dance style and the musical form of reggae are a few of them.
Reggae
Reggae, a popular music genre said to have originated in Jamaica in the 1960s, has several influences to it – notably the mento and calypso music of the Jamaicans and the rhythm and blues and jazz from America.
It is characterised by its off key and staccato notes played on piano and guitar. Bob Marley is considered as one of the popular singers of this style of music. He was born in Jamaica and has several best selling albums to his name.
So the path we have travelled today is:
International Space Station —> Satellite —> Bermuda —> Reggae
Three clicks! Hop over. It’s time for the next question:
Monday’s Marauder
Pluto —> Yuvraj Singh
Send in your paths for the above to school@thehindu.co.in with the subject “Qwikipedia”.
