News Quiz

No. 348: “Whose Deal?’

“These are the big cards we still have to play. Beyond that, I think that, frankly, the likelihood of success is quite small.” Who said this about what desperate effort to save what precarious venture?

Send your answer by noon ET Tuesday to newsquiz@slate.com.

Thursday’s Question (No. 347)–“Chillin’ “:

Complete this expression of amazement from Dr. Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health, “I don’t often pick up a scientific paper and find myself getting chills, as I did when I saw _______________.”

“Matilda Krim’s semi-nude ‘Page Three Girl’ photo spread.”–Larry Amoros

“Pat Buchanan’s EEG.”–Dan Dickinson

Booty Call.”–Colleen Werthmann

“Two lab animals copulating frenziedly, unaware of the death that awaited them.”–Michael Gerber

“The Mailer Daemon from Critical Path.”–Andrew Staples

Click for more answers.

Randy’s Wrap-Up

To thoughtful quiz participants (thoughtful in the sense of “acutely thinking,” not in the sense of “considerately sending a Hanukkah gift to the quiz wrangler whose shirt size is 15/34 and whose liquor size is one liter), chills can be induced by both fear and joy, particularly erotic joy. That the first sort of chill is easily transmuted to the second may explain why scary movies are popular date-night entertainment: To be scared is a short step from being sexually aroused. (Hold me!) This theory goes a long way to explain vampire movies, which are both; and Meryl Streep movies about inspirational music teachers, which are neither. It may also be that any intense emotion can be transformed into any other, which is why the best part of breakin’ up can indeed be makin’ up, and why a passionate quarrel can culminate in a yet more passionate reconciliation. It may also explain the expression “scared stiff” (in the sense of tumescent, not in the sense of immobilized by drunken overindulgence in a gift bottle of bourbon that one never received). Happy Hanukkah, everybody!

Golly Genome Answer

“I don’t often pick up a scientific paper and find myself getting chills, as I did when I saw this whole chromosomal landscape.”

Dr. Collins was reacting to an account of the first sequencing of a human chromosome, No. 22, described in the current issue of Nature magazine.

An international consortium of university centers took 10 years to achieve this milestone in the human genome project, whose goal is to decipher all human DNA by 2005. Although it is the second smallest of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes, No. 22 contains 43 million units of DNA, of which researchers have decoded 33.5 million. The team has identified 535 genes of the 1,000 or so thought to be on No. 22. The total number of human genes is estimated at between 60,000 and 120,000.

The genome sequence is posted at www.genome.ou.edu/Chr22.html.

Left Over Ought To Be Biographies Extra

Last week, participants were asked for the title of a much-needed but unwritten autobiography of any national political figure. Unfortunately, a series of foul-ups from Shining Path, Slate’s worthless e-mail provider, prevented many replies from getting through. Near as I can tell, e-mail service to the quiz remains shaky, but many amusing responses about President Carter and that attack rabbit are just now trickling in, so look for those tomorrow. In the meantime, a few more campaign bios:

  • Being There: The autobiography of George W. Bush.”–Morris Jackson
  • Faith of My Political Handlers, also by George W.”–Morris Jackson
  • Daddy, Dearest, by Steve Forbes.”–Morris Jackson
  • “Bill Clinton, ghostwritten by Marion Barry, titled, Bitch Set Me Up!“–Michael J. Basial
  • David Copperfield, by Joseph Biden.”–Zick Rubin

Common Denominator

Sex, death, and unreliable e-mail service: Aren’t those Woody Allen’s big themes?