With the federal government shut down, you can enjoy the silence by relaxing and taking our Week to Week news quiz and see if you know what's been going on.
Here are some random but real hints: That's assuming the U.S. dollar is still being supported; they're accusing us of finishing what the Bolivarian revolution began; he's seldom been rejected at his own parties before; and they're used to the sand and the bombs. Answers are at the bottom of the quiz.
1. When science journalist John Bohannon sent a deliberately fake research article to 255 online scientific journals, how many of them accepted?
a. None
b. 157
c. 1
d. 24
2. With the federal government partially shut down, which of the following will you be able to do?
a. Invade the United States
b. Mail a birthday check to your nephew
c. Burglarize a closed government office building
d. Take your family to Grand Canyon National Park to escape this craziness?
3. Why was Ty Warner, billionaire founder of the Beanie Babies empire, in court this week?
a. He pleaded guilty to tax evasion
b. He was suing Mattel for copyright infringement
c. He was finalizing the purchase of the Precious Moments figurine empire
d. His company was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
4. How many federal government shutdowns (including the current one) have there been since 1977?
a. 2
b. 18
c. 302
d. 4
5. What country expelled three top U.S. diplomats on Monday, accusing them of sabotaging the country's economy?
a. Syria
b. Venezuela
c. Russia
d. Genovia
6. What indignity did former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suffer this week?
a. His wife and his mistress got into a physical fight on a live television program where they were supposed to be expressing support for Berlusconi
b. His own party rejected his direction to resign from the government to protect Berlusconi from the effects of his corruption conviction
c. Following his meeting with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor was overheard telling an advisor, "Thank God I'll never have to do that again"
d. His political party voted to hold him responsible for Italy's current budgetary nightmare
7. What did the U.S. Treasury say could happen if the Congress doesn't increase the country'd debt ceiling?
a. It has the "potential to be catastrophic: credit markets could freeze, the value of the dollar could plummet, U.S. interest rates could skyrocket. ... a financial crisis and recession that could echo the events of 2008 or worse."
b. The effects "would be minimal if managed with governmental and central bank coordination" but "the outlook for that is iffy at best"
c. The U.S. dollar "could rise against other currencies, hurting our export capabilities but adding to U.S. foreign reserves"
d. "The best thing ever"
8. Who visited Damascus on Monday?
a. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
b. Dennis Rodman
c. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
d. UN weapons inspectors
9. Why does Academy Award-winning director Charles Ferguson have extra time on his hands?
a. Tom Cruise refused to work with him, putting his next film into turnaround
b. He canceled a CNN documentary on Hillary Clinton he was going to direct
c. He has been blacklisted by Hollywood because of his support for Bollywood
d. He was expelled from the Directors Guild of America after he publicly insulted Steven Spielberg
10. What did Senator Rand Paul do to try to bridge the divide in the U.S. Senate?
a. He proposed a law requiring all senators to whisper
b. He opened up the vending machines in the Senate cloakroom and handed out free Cokes
c. He held a coffee klatch on the Capitol steps
d. Before any meeting, he is requiring his colleagues to say three nice things about another colleague from the opposite party
BONUS. Where did the FBI nab the alleged mastermind of an online marketplace for narcotics and other illegal materials?
a. In the office of a U.S. senator, for whom he worked as an intern
b. In a public library in the Glen Park neighborhood of San Francisco
c. On a yacht floating off the coast of New Mexico
d. In San Francisco's Dolores Park, where he was accessing his online marketplace via free wi-fi
The news and the quizzes don't stop there! Join us Monday, October 14 in San Francisco for our next live Week to Week political roundtable with a news quiz and a social hour at The Commonwealth Club. Panelists include Josh Richman, Debra J. Saunders, and Lisa Vorderbrueggen.
ANSWERS: 1) b. 2) b. 3) a. 4) b. 5) b. 6) b. 7) a. 8) d. 9) b. 10) c. BONUS) b.
EXPLANATIONS OF THE HINTS: That's assuming the U.S. dollar is still being supported: you can mail the money because the Post Office is considered critical, but the economy apparently isn't; they're accusing us of finishing what the Bolivarian revolution began: Former Venezuelan President Chavez was a big proponent of a Bolivarian-style revolution; he's seldom been rejected at his own parties before: please don't make me repeat Berlusconi's shenanigans at his bunga-bunga parties; and they're used to the sand and the bombs: UN weapons inspectors got quite a workout in Iraq, and now they're in Syria.