1. Who started the Occupy Wall Street protests by announcing a protest to begin Sept. 17 in which “20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades, and occupy Wall Street for a few months,” demanding “democracy not corporatocracy”?
a. Consumer activist Elizabeth Warren
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2. An iconic mask worn by some Occupy protesters commemorates an English Catholic who, in 1605, was tortured and executed for unsuccessfully plotting to blow up the Houses of Parliament, kill King James I, and bring down the Protestant monarchy. Name this English revolutionary.
3. Within three percentage points, what percentage of all Americans’ income went to the top 1 percent of taxpayers in 2010?
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4. What percentage of all taxes—federal, payroll, state, and local—did the top 1 percent pay in 2010?
a. 21 percent
b. 48 percent
c. 70 percent
Woe is us
5. About 29 percent of all American homeowners are “underwater”—that is, they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. What state has the highest rate of underwater mortgages, with an astounding 58 percent?
6. In August, Standard & Poor’s rating agency downgraded U.S. credit for the first time, from AAA to AA+. Name any five of the 15 countries that still have a AAA rating.
International
7. Silvio Berlusconi was one of two European prime ministers who resigned as a result of the euro zone’s debt crisis. Who was the other?
8. Hundreds of thousands of Indians demonstrated this year in support of activist and hunger striker Anna Hazare. What were Hazare and his admirers protesting?
9. What new African country was created this year?
10. Which of these Arab countries did not see a democratic protest movement this year?
a. Yemen
b. Saudi Arabia
c. Tunisia
d. Syria
e. Bahrain
War on terrorism (cont.)
11. Within five points, what percentage of the 600 detainees who have been released from the military prison at Guantánamo Bay have returned to terrorism, according to U.S. intelligence agencies?
12. When Navy SEALs stormed Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan in May, they found five computers, 10 hard drives, and dozens of thumb drives full of intelligence, and a collection of what kind of films?
13. Which company applied for a trademark on the name SEAL Team 6—the special-operations unit that killed bin Laden—two days after the al Qaida leader’s death?
Strange but true
14. At the Foxconn factories in China, where iPhones and iPads are made, at least 14 workers committed suicide because of brutal work and living conditions. Foxconn responded by requiring its 500,000 employees to do what?
15. When Libyan rebels overran Muammar al-Qaddafi’s compound in Tripoli, they found a scrapbook filled with photos of a former top American official. Who was the object of the dictator’s romantic obsession?
16. The federal government outraged guitar aficionados by raiding an iconic guitar company’s factories, alleging that the instruments contained exotic woods harvested from endangered tree species. Name the company.
17. Rupert Murdoch shut down this 168-year-old British newspaper after it was revealed that reporters had hacked into the phones of a 13-year-old murdered girl and the victims of the 2005 London Underground bombings.
Arts & Letters
18. Of the 10 top-grossing films in the U.S. this year, only two were not prequels or sequels, but each was about a superhero. Name them.
19. Vocal surgery sidelined at least three major pop stars this year, including singer-songwriter John Mayer, country singer Keith Urban, and the artist who released the year’s top-selling album. Name that performer.
20. Three former members of the Bush administration released books this year, defending their roles in the invasion of Iraq, “harsh interrogation,” and other controversies. Name the three authors.
21. In the novel The Marriage Plot, Jeffrey Eugenides’s follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize–winning 2002 novel Middlesex, the 51-year-old author created a romantic rival for his fictional alter ego based on which of his famous literary peers?
22. This fall, Bentonville, Ark., celebrated the grand opening of Crystal Bridges, a $1.2 billion project that was years in the making and funded largely by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton. What is Crystal Bridges?
By the numbers
23. The world’s population hit a major milestone this year. How many billions of human beings now live on planet Earth?
24. Within 100 million, how many people worldwide are now signed up to use Facebook?
25. Which event set a new Twitter record this year, with 8,868 tweets per second?
a. Beyoncé announces she is pregnant.
b. Osama bin Laden is killed.
c. Steve Jobs’s death
Unforced errors
26. Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner was forced to resign his seat in June after a series of lewd self-portraits found their way onto the Internet. Who was responsible for making the first image public?
27. Rep. Michele Bachmann undercut her presidential campaign with a series of gaffes, including saying that the vaccine against a sexually transmitted virus could lead to what?
They said it
28. “The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra.”
29. “This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.”
30. “Go get a job, right after you take a bath.”
31. “Every great movement begins with one man, and I guess that’s me.’’
Whose Wit & Wisdom?
32. Match these people with the quotes below
Joan Didion
Bob Marley
J.K. Rowling
Albert Einstein
Maya Angelou
1. “Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you. You just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.”
2. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
3. “We all forget too soon the things we thought we could never forget.”
4. “The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.”
5. “It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends.”
Answers
The Occupation 1. b) Adbusters 2. Guy Fawkes 3. 20.3 percent 4. a) 21 percent Woe is us 5. Nevada 6. Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom International 7. George Papandreou of Greece 8. Government corruption 9. South Sudan 10. b. Saudi Arabia War on terrorism (cont.) 11. 25 percent 12. Pornography 13. Disney Strange but true 14. Sign a pledge that they wouldn’t kill themselves 15. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 16. Gibson 17. News of the WorldArts & Letters 18. Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor 19. Adele 20. Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney 21. The late David Foster Wallace 22. A museum of American art By the numbers 23. 7 billion 24. 800 million 25. a) Beyoncé’s pregnancy Unforced errors 26. Weiner, who accidentally tweeted it to 40,000 followers 27. Mental retardation They said it 28. President Obama, 16 months before the solar-energy company went bankrupt 29. Joe Paterno, about the Penn State child sex-abuse scandal 30. Newt Gingrich’s advice to Occupy Wall Street protesters 31. Charlie Sheen Whose Wit & Wisdom? 1. Bob Marley 2. Maya Angelou 3. Joan Didion 4. Albert Einstein 5. J.K. Rowling
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