Question 638: Ooh, now that's personal

It has been a while since we had an xkcd question.

Just fill in the blanks.

Question 637: Hit, Split or Surrender

The first written reference is found in a book by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, who is most famous for writing Don Quixote. Cervantes was a gambler, and the main characters of his tale Rinconete y Cortadillo, from Novelas Ejemplares, are a couple of cheaters working in Seville. They are proficient at cheating at ventiuna (Spanish for __X__), and state that the object of the game is to reach __X__ without busting and other such modern rules. The game is played with the Spanish baraja deck, which lacks eights, nines and tens. This short story was written between 1601 and 1602, implying that ventiuna was played in Castilia since the beginning of the 17th Century or earlier. Later references to this game are found in France and Spain.

ID whats being described here

Clue:

Question 636: Problem? Solve it.

For TWENTY points.

But the question's big, but so are the points.

So give it a go!

Greek & Latin transliterated(X)

Yeah, nobody can quite understand the above process. Don't bother.

B had A to thank in a BIG way during a crucial time in the 20th century.

If you feel like, mention how A helped B.

And after cracking all of this, try and link the obscure diagram above to the chap A

Both A and B were very, very popular with the masses, for different reasons.

A

A

B

A was an industrialist, and pretty enterprising. He started this major event, and this gave many of his fellow specimens the opportunity to meet up and.. and have fun.
No, don't ID every single personality there.
Just what it is.

c

d

For all twenty, id A, B, X, and (C&D)
C&D are not two separate things.

Question 635: YOu AnD I IN THIS BEaUTIFUL WORLD

"The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. "

Don't bother magnifying the last two. The content is irrelevant.

Tell me who did what and what piece of literature, if it can be called that, ( or propaganda, if you you prefer) came out of it. It's something that's often referred to in many of the 1990s sitcoms. Not that that helps you in any way.

Question 634: Ads Infinitum

A homage to ads that carry a message as well as merriment (1st and 2nd respectively)

Id what the AD is for

ID what the remote control is, and where i can get one
lol

Question 633: If you don't look good, we don't look good

__X__ was born to Jewish parents on January 17th, 1928 in Hammersmith, London. His father was from Thessaloniki, Greece, and his mother had Spanish origins. __X__ was placed in a Jewish orphanage for seven years and attended Essendine Road Primary School, a Christian school, before being evacuated to Holt, Wiltshire. Upon his return to London he left school at the age of 14 and worked as a messenger before starting a ___________ apprenticeship. Although too young to serve in the Second World War, he became a member of the 43 Group, a Jewish veterans' militia organisation that broke up Fascist meetings in East London after the end of the war. In 1948 he joined the Israeli Defence Forces to fight in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.


He eventually rose to prominence as his work garnered appreciation for it's geometric aspects.

He had sold his name to a famous multinational but later sued them for allegedly destroying his brand. The suit was however settled before trial.

Id X and his line of expertise.

Question 632: Kim Kardashian Is Dead!

Ok not really, but that must've got all nerds (if Nihar is still alive after the shock, he should post a question in the evening,lol).

But this picture was released as part of a digital campaign by Alicia Keyes for her ___X___ campaign, which is against ___Y___.  Other A-list celebs ( are they?) like Usher, Justin Timberlake, Serena Williams and more are taking part in the “Digital Sacrifice” campaign by signing off of social media platforms twitter and facebook (now if Nihar posts a question, i shall be shocked) on World __Y__ Day. They will log back on once 1 million dollars is raised by the charity.

According to reports, each celeb has also filmed “last tweet and testament” videos and will appear in ads showing them lying in coffins.

“It’s so important to shock you to the point of waking up”, says Alicia Keys of the campaign. “It’s not that people don’t care or it’s not that people don’t want to do something, it’s that they never thought of it quite like that. This is such a direct and instantly emotional way and a little sarcastic, you know, of a way to get people to pay attention.
Leigh Blake, President of ___X__, added “We’re trying to sort of make the remark: Why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying in the place that we’re all from?”

Question 631: That's What She's Saying

The current logo is almost universally associated with the brand, but few know of its origins.

The original logo resembled something of a brown cigar bran cover, featuring a rare version of the Siren, a woman with a mythological reputation. The obvious specialties of this version of the siren did not go unnoticed, more so because of her twin assets - an extremely uncommon image rarely associated with her more popular present persona. Many enjoyed the exotic connotations associated with her symbolism then, catapulting the brand into popular culture.

A few years later, it got re-imagined to more closely resemble the  present day toned down version. The chest was flattened, the belly button erased and a gentler smile on her face welcomed millions of people to the shops the world over, as the franchises spread.

Today, she bears only a faint resemblance to her original visage, with her most unique attributes hidden in the zoomed-in version of her image.

Give me the brand she stands for.

You need to pay close attention to the space ABOVE the derriere to notice the subtlety. Nice.

[this logo here is only for your amusement]
(Question has been editted)

Question 630: Mansion I'd like to Find?

___XXX___ was a realty company started sometime back and has gained notoriety on the internet for their name, as well as their slogan, epitomized in this picture. Its not known if many people have availed of their services (be it raunchy or realty), but they have become quite the phenom

So:
Id the company
(the variable name chosen should give you a hint
smirk)

Question 629: Delicious and round, yet squared

A guest question by one of our regulars, Pi.R.Square.Enjoy

Touted as the most complex crop circle ever found in Britain, the pattern appeared earlier this month near Barbury Castle, an Iron Age hill fort above the village of Wroughton in Wiltshire. 

Initially, crop circle enthusiasts were stumped as to its meaning and even a number of experts said it was 'mind-boggling'.

Dismissed in mid 2008 as being unsolveable, retired astrophysicist Mike Reed put 2 and 2 together to finally arrive upon the answer.

Upon having solved it, he produced a fractal of the form as described


"The little dot near the centre is the decimal point. The code is based on ten angular segments, with the radial jumps being the indicator of each segment. Starting at the centre and counting the number of one-tenth segments in each section contained by the change in radius clearly shows the values of the first 10 of __X___"

ID what the crop circle shows.

TO quote Calvin, " The surest sign that life exists in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us yet"