News Quiz

No. 197: “A Man Has Needs”

Fill in the blank as Bill Press assesses the about-to-be-announced presidential bid of his Crossfire playmate Pat Buchanan. “He is convinced that if Elizabeth Dole stumbles, if G.W. stumbles, in a field of pygmies, he’s the giant. This is not just a need for ____________ on his part.”

by noon ET Thursday to e-mail your answer to newsquiz@slate.com.

Tuesday’s Question (No. 196)–“To Go”: China has already got rid of 66,000, and by year’s end will remove another 800,000. What?“Prisoners’ kidneys.”–Greg Diamond“Foreskins. In the Chinese calendar, 1999 is the Year of the Rabbi. Or was that a typo?”–Evan Cornog“Daughters.”–Paul Tullis (Matt Sullivan, Nell Scovell, David Finkle, Winter Miller, Deb Stavin, Carrie Rickey, Kate Wing, Brad Spencer, and Jim O’Grady had similar answers.)”Pesky U.S. dollars that rightfully belong in Democratic campaign coffers. (Multiply all figures by 100.)”–Doug Welty“God, I hope it’s Scientologists.”–Chris Thomas

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Randy’s Wrap-Up

If News Quiz were a radio panel show–a sort of What’s My Line/I’ve Got a Secret with Larry Amaros as Bennet Cerf and Beth Sherman as Arlene Francis, or perhaps the other way around, whatever they like–the great advantage (beyond the chance to hear Ananda Gupta being audibly disdainful) would be posing several questions a day. A dozen per program would form an interesting outline of the day, but choosing just one is tough. Excellent topics are lost. For instance, in an effort to counter its image as an occupying army brutalizing the people of New York City, the police department plans to recruit more actual New Yorkers to its ranks. The heart of the plan will be an ad campaign with a snappy slogan. Police Commissioner Howard Safir says he wants “Be all you can be, or Uncle Sam wants you, or something like that.” Too militaristic? Just militaristic enough. Participants are invited, in the privacy of their own thoughts, to devise an NYPD recruiting slogan. It’s my anniversary gift to you. Isn’t it better than something impersonal like a car?

What’s Mine Is Your Answer

China is clearing land mines along its border with Vietnam.

In other mine news, the British army has destroyed its entire stock of anti-personnel mines four years before the deadline set by the Ottawa Convention. This treaty, banning land mines, has been signed by 125 countries, neither China nor the United States among them. The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that mines kill 800 people and maim another 1,200 every month.

For more information, write to:
U.S. Campaign To Ban Landmines
Mary Wareham
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation
2001 S St, NW, Suite 740
Washington, DC 20009
E-mail: mary@vi.org

Jennifer Miller’s Anniversary Extra

Please indulge me as I revisit some of the moments that have made News Quiz so very special to me over the past year. Sadly, Slate offers no soft-focus or RealAudio function, but feel free to smear a little Vaseline on your monitor and hum an evocative tune to yourself as you reminisce with me.

  • Strolling on the beach with Alex Balk, Peter Lerangis, and Winter Miller, picking up sea shells and admiring Alex’s superior sand castle building technique, before Kate Galbraith suddenly appeared and stamped the delicate structure to bits.
  • Sitting quietly in a dark room with Deb Stavin, exchanging favorite Schopenhauer quotes (“There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome”) until Kate Galbraith flicked on a harsh fluorescent lamp and blasted the stereo.
  • Enduring a tense dinner out with Ananda Gupta, Kate Wing, and Beth Sherman–a meal marked by painful silences and women running sobbing from the table every few minutes, and thankfully interrupted by Kate Galbraith calling the Health Department and having the joint shut down.
  • Enjoying this wonderful Web site featuring the extraordinary work of Michael Wilde, though knowing at any moment Kate Galbraith could hack my gratuitous plug to smithereens.

Music up, fade to pink.

Common Denominator

Female infanticide.

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