The Slate Quiz with quizmaster Ken Jennings: Play the news quiz for the week of Nov. 15.

Think You’re Smarter Than a Slate Culture Columnist? Find Out With This Week’s News Quiz.

Think You’re Smarter Than a Slate Culture Columnist? Find Out With This Week’s News Quiz.

Test your knowledge of the week’s news.
Nov. 14 2013 11:38 PM

Play the Slate News Quiz

With Jeopardy! superchampion Ken Jennings.

Welcome back to Slate’s weekly news quiz. I’m your host, 74-time Jeopardy! winner Ken Jennings.

Every Friday I’ll be testing your knowledge with 12 challenging questions on the week’s news events, big and small, including happenings in science, sports, politics, and culture both high and low. The questions are multiple-choice, and time is of the essence: You have 30 seconds to answer, and as the seconds tick away, the question’s point value drops from 50 all the way down to zero, so you’ll want to click on your answer as fast as you possibly can. There’s no penalty for an incorrect answer, so feel free to take a guess if your puny human brain fails you.

At the end of the quiz, you’ll be able to compare your score with that of the average contestant, as well as to the score of a Slate-ster whom I’ve talked into taking the quiz on the record. This week’s contestant is Slate culture columnist Jack Hamilton, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Colorado–Boulder’s Laboratory for Race and Popular Culture.

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Think you can ace my quiz and beat Hamilton? Good luck!

The Slate Quiz with quizmaster Ken Jennings

In western New York this week, 52-year-old Brian Malta has been arrested for firing a Civil War cannon at a neighbor's house for eight days straight. Owning a cannon isn't illegal in Chautauqua County, but deputies confiscated it anyway because it was being used "maliciously." This interesting Second Amendment case won't be on this week's Slate News Quiz, but hopefully the rest of your current-events knowledge is loaded and on target.

Question 1 of 12

Over the weekend, what object went on its first ever spacewalk?

It wasn't lit, however. Aboard the International Space Station there are rules against open flames, and off the station, there's no oxygen.

Question 2 of 12

"[I'm] a positive role model to kids," insisted what positive role model to kids as he addressed a City Council meeting on Wednesday?

NOTE: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is not a positive role model to kids.

Question 3 of 12

"This is ... the worst disaster that these people have ever experienced," said the Disasters Emergency Committee this week, referring to what?

Question 4 of 12

A team of Dutch psycholinguists has discovered a word that is practically universal in all human languages. What is it?

Question 5 of 12

As a child, the newest American ambassador to Japan was best known for what?

Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, was sworn in by Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday.

Question 6 of 12

As of this weekend, what will start happening on Sundays for the first time since 1912?

Amazon has teamed with the Postal Service to deliver its packages seven days a week, beginning this weekend in New York and Los Angeles.

Question 7 of 12

Rupee, a stray dog rescued from a dump earlier this year, has become reportedly the first dog ever to do what?

Rupee made it to base camp with South African climber Joanne Lefson.

Question 8 of 12

A new study in the American Journal of Medicine finds definitive evidence that krokodil has arrived in the United States. What is krokodil?

A St. Louis man had a finger rot away as a result of injecting the designer drug.

Question 9 of 12

"If it looks like an antenna, acts like an antenna, then guess what? It is an antenna," said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday, complaining about what?

Thanks to the spire atop New York's new 1,776-foot skyscraper, Chicago's Willis Tower is now America's second tallest building, an industry committee has ruled.

Question 10 of 12

Young Lee, found guilty in Los Angeles this week for beating a homeless man with a tire iron, made his millions selling what?

Lee is one of the founders of the Pinkberry chain.

Question 11 of 12

According to the Wall Street Journal, who turned down a $3 billion buyout offer this week?

Facebook was reportedly set on acquiring the startup, which has about 20 employees, no business model, and takes photos that disappear.

Question 12 of 12

The New York Times reported late last week that the future of Germany's legendary Leipzig boys' choir is being threatened by what?

In Bach's day, boys' voices sometimes didn't change until the age of 17. Now the best sopranos have to retire many years earlier.

Click to revisit answers

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November 15, 2013

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Jack Hamilton

Slate culture columnist

The Olympic torch

An iPad

The Quran

A 3-D printer

Donald Trump

Richie Incognito

Rob Ford

Richard Cohen

The Syrian civil war

Cyclones in Somalia

Typhoon Haiyan

The Obamacare rollout

Papa

Huh?

Aha!

Chillax

Riding a pony named Macaroni

Starring in TV ads for breakfast cereal

Being rescued from a well

Winning an Olympic medal

College football games

New York Stock Exchange trading

Papal audiences

USPS mail delivery

Earn the Distinguished Service Cross

Ride a dolphin

Play Premier League cricket

Climb Mount Everest

The first antibiotic-proof flu strain

A flesh-eating street drug

A parasite that causes blindness

A sexy Brazilian dance craze

NSA wiretapping

One World Trade Center

Cable TV bundling

Google barges

Frozen yogurt

Sleeved blankets

Pet insurance

Tire irons

US Airways

Snapchat

Ocean Spray

Groupon

An abuse scandal and cover-up

Immigration from Eastern Europe

Early onset puberty

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