What's your NQ -- news quotient? Take this test and find out. Here are some random hints: Richard Branson already has a spaceship; some of those viagra emails are real; Hawaii's getting tired of birther questions; and gay marriage is getting more popular everywhere.
Now put those hints to good use and take the test. Answers are at the bottom of the quiz.
1. AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, named which politician as one of the sexiest men over the age of 50?
a) Vladimir Putin
b) Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman
c) Former President George W. Bush
d) Arnold Schwarzenegger
2. After an aborted takeoff earlier in the month, a new space capsule successfully launched on Thursday in its test flight to dock with the International Space Station. Who made this Dragon capsule?
a) Virgin Galactic
b) A private Chinese company, Golden Space Ventures
c) SpaceX
d) The Weyland-Yutani Corporation
3. This week, former Secretary of State Colin Powell did what?
a) Dodged a question about endorsing a presidential candidate, but did endorse gay marriage
b) Endorsed Mitt Romney for president, but did not support attacking Iran
c) Endorsed Barack Obama for president, and said he wanted to join his cabinet
d) Avoided endorsing a presidential candidate, but said he would like to be considered for the VP slot
4. Arizona's secretary of state Ken Bennett, who claims not to be a birther but who was dubbed "birther curious" by Talking Points Memo, asked Hawaii to send him proof that President Barack Obama was born there. What happened?
a) Hawaii ignored his request
b) Hawaii responded with a letter on Kenyan letterhead
c) Hawaii refused to comply until he provided written proof that he had the legal authority and need to request such material
d) Hawaii admitted that the so-called long-form birth document was a fraud
5. Eugene Polley died this week at the age of 96. Polley invented what device that made couch potato-ism possible?
a) The La-Z-Boy recliner
b) The television remote control
c) The TV tray
d) The coffee table
6. Armenia made cyber history this week. What did it do?
a) For the first time ever, the country convicted a computer criminal: a Russian who had hijacked the computers of 30 million people to send billions of spam emails
b) It concluded an online peace treaty with its longtime rival, Azerbaijan
c) Huffington Post Armenia debuted
d) Armenians voted in national elections online
7. Maybe President Obama finally okayed gay marriage because of his comic book geek background. Which of the following is not true?
a) Marvel's gay superhero Northstar will marry his boyfriend in an upcoming issue of Astonishing X-Men
b) Batwoman is a lesbian
c) D.C. announced that one of its male superheroes will be revealed in June to be gay
d) Batman and Robin are moving to Fire Island
8. This week, people began voting for president in what new Arab Spring democracy?
a) Egypt
b) Syria
c) Yemen
d) Tunisia
9. After complaints from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, Michael Reagan, and others, an auction house in the UK cancelled the sale of what?
a) A box of jelly beans that were packaged when Ronald Reagan was born
b) Nancy Reagan's wedding dress
c) A vial of Ronald Reagan's blood
d) Ronald Reagan's birth certificate
10. This week, someone famous told People magazine, "Gosh, if I had some gift, I'd be Beyoncé." Who said it?
a) Mark Zuckerberg
b) Meghan McCain
c) Michelle Obama
d) Elton John
BONUS QUESTION: Which one of the following is not a headline on National Lampoon's website?
a) Top NFL Draft Picks Debut the Fancy Suits They'll Need for Court Later
b) Unbelievable! Two-headed animals worldwide
c) Congressmen Caught Towel Dancing
d) Rise of the MITT-chines
Is that still not enough news for you? Join us for each of our Week to Week news commentary programs at The Commonwealth Club's San Francisco auditorium. See the Week to Week website [ http://www.commonwealthclub.org/w2w ] for additional event dates, free audio, and more.
ANSWERS: 1) b (they even called him "the hippest dude in the conservative crowd"). 2) c. 3) a. 4) c. 5) b. 6) a. 7) d. 8) a. 9) c (the man who owned it is a Reagan fan who earlier rejected a plea to donate it to the Reagan Foundation because, he said, the pro-free market Reagan would have wanted him to make money from it). 10) c. BONUS: b (That's a real headline from the Chinese news agency Xinhua).