End-of-year Quiz
Here are 36 questions to test your knowledge of current affairs.
The endless gusher
1. BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico began gushing up to 60,000 barrels of oil a day after a drilling platform exploded on April 20. It seemed like it took forever, but in what month did BP shut off the flow of oil with a tight-fitting cap over the broken pipe?
2. What was the name of the failed procedure in which BP tried to stuff the well shut with a mixture of shredded tires, knotted rope, golf balls, and heavy drilling “mud”?
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3. While the oil was still flowing, President Obama summoned BP executives to an arm-twisting White House meeting in which they agreed to create a compensation fund for damage claims related to the spill. How much money did BP set aside in this fund?
Tea is now served
4. The Tea Party has taken as its symbol a flag depicting a coiled rattlesnake ready to strike, above the words: “Don’t Tread on Me.’’ This flag was created by:
a. Glenn Beck
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b. Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall’’ Jackson
c. U.S. Revolutionary War Gen.Christopher Gadsden
d. William Jennings Bryan
5. Within one million, how many Americans are out of work?
6. In gaining 63 House seats, Republicans accomplished the biggest changeover in that body since what year?
7. Sarah Palin had three notes to herself written on her hand when she addressed a Tea Party Convention in February. Identify just one of them.
For shame
8. Seventeen senior officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission were disciplined this year for engaging in what unauthorized activity at work during the 2008 financial crisis?
9. During the U.S. Senate race in Kentucky, Democrat Jack Conway accused Republican candidate Rand Paul of worshipping which false idol?
10. Name the small, largely poor California city that was paying its city manager $787,000 and its police chief $457,000, until eight city officials were indicted for corruption.
11. What was the name of the “erotic ritual” involving a group of naked young women and one man that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi reportedly learned from Libyan strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi?
12. A petrochemical magnate built the world’s first billion-dollar personal residence this year—a 27-story skyscraper with 400,000 square feet of space, a movie theater, a four-story open garden with trees, and six stories of parking for guests and the 600 staff members. In what city was this monstrosity erected?
International
13. President Obama met with this well-known figure at the White House but, to minimize the diplomatic offense to China, ushered him out of the meeting via the back door, past a pile of trash. What notable figure got the back-door treatment?
14. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a formal apology to this nation for experiments conducted by American scientists in the 1940s, in which some 1,500 people were deliberately infected with syphilis and gonorrhea.
15. “How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom’’ was an article in what new magazine launched this year?
16. Some of Gandhi’s ashes were scattered this year in a country other than India. Where, and why?
17. Name two of the three countries that elected their first female president or prime minister this year.
18. A toxic tide of more than 1 million cubic meters of red sludge from an aluminum processing plant poured out from a broken storage reservoir and inundated several villages in this country, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than 100. Name the country.
Strange but true
19. This brand of chips became a pioneer in the snack-food industry by putting its product in 100 percent compostable bags. The only problem: The bags were so noisy that consumers stopped buying them, leading the company to withdraw the bags. Name the brand.
20. In his memoir, Decision Points, George W. Bush refers to what moment as the “all-time low” of his presidency?
21. What is the name of the celebrity who denounced Obama’s health-care reform bill because of its 10 percent tax on suntan treatments, opining that a president with a lighter complexion would never do such a thing?
22. Which Founding Father’s role in U.S. history was downsized by the Texas state school board in the board’s efforts to put a “conservative stamp” on state textbooks?
Pop culture
23. Skateboarder Jacob Isom of Amarillo, Texas, became a YouTube hero after he was videotaped preventing the leader of a fundamentalist group from burning a copy of the Islamic holy text. What memorable five-word phrase did Isom say as he snatched the book out of the book-burner’s hands?
24. Disgruntled Jet Blue flight attendant Steven Slater also had 15 minutes of fame when he blew his top following an altercation with an unruly passenger and deplaned via the inflatable emergency chute. What did Slater take with him as he exited the aircraft?
25. An episode of this popular adult animated comedy was altered to remove references to the Prophet Mohammed, after veiled threats were published on an Islamist website.
26. Lady Gaga took her extreme fashion sense to new heights by wearing a dress made of what to MTV’s Video Music Awards.
27. President Obama made television history by being the first head of state to appear on a daytime talk show while in office. On which show did he make his debut?
They said it
28. “I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did.”
29. “People say that large oil companies don’t care about the small people. But we care. We care about the small people.”
30. “Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples.’’
31. “I am you.’’
Whose Wit & Wisdom?
1. “The truth is always something that is told, not something that is known.”
2. “Our lives teach us who we are.”
3. “No one party can fool all of the people all of the time. That’s why we have two parties.”
4. “The only completely consistent people are the dead.”
5. “Money can’t buy happiness, but it can make you awfully comfortable while you’re being miserable.”
Match the quotes with the persons named below:
Salman Rushdie
Clare Boothe Luce
Aldous Huxley
Susan Sontag
Bob Hope
ANSWERS
The endless gusher 
1. July 
2. “Junk shot” 
3. $20 billion 
Tea is now served
 4. c) Gadsden 
5. 15 million
 6. 1948 
7. “Energy,” “Budget Tax Cuts,” and “Lift America’s Spirit”
 For shame
 8. Looking at Internet porn
 9. “Aqua Buddha” 
10. Bell 
11. Bunga Bunga 
12. Mumbai 
International 
13. The Dalai Lama
14. Guatemala 
15. Inspire, published by al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula 
16. South Africa, where he spent 20 years working with the Indian community 
17. Brazil (President Dilma Rousseff), Costa Rica (President Laura Chinchilla), Australia (Prime Minister Julia Gillard) 
18. Hungary 
Strange but true 
19. Sun Chips 
20. Kanye West’s assertion during the 2005 Hurricane Katrina debacle that Bush “doesn’t care about black people”
21. Snooki, from Jersey Shore 
22. Thomas Jefferson 
Pop culture 
23. “Dude, you have no Quran.” 
24. A beer 
25. South Park
26. Meat 
27. The View
They said it
28. Ginni Thomas, wife of Clarence Thomas, in a voicemail message to Anita Hill 
29. BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg 
30. Federal Judge Vaughn Walker, in ruling that a California referendum banning gay marriage is unconstitutional 
31. Delaware U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, in a campaign commercial 
Whose Wit & Wisdom? 
1. Susan Sontag 
2. Salman Rushdie
3. Bob Hope
4. Aldous Huxley
5. Author Clare Boothe Luce