July Fourth Weekend Quiz

Fun weekend stuff from Gail Collins.

Test Your Focus and Test How Fast You Juggle Tasks

Two interactive tests via The New York Times.

Make certain you clearly understand the directions.

I aced both, though was slow on a few of the juggling tasks as my brain took it step-by-step.

As I always said about myself, “Three things I can do well. Five is four too many.”

Statehoodie

Kentucky became the 15th state on this date in 1792.

Tennessee became the 16th state on this date in 1796.

Rhode Island was the 13th state (May 29, 1790).

Can you name the 14th state?

Find Five Challenge

Two photos. One has five changes. Can you find the changes in 45 seconds?

Political IQ

To test your knowledge of prominent people and major events in the news, we invite you to take our short 12-question quiz. Then see how you did in comparison with 1,003 randomly sampled adults asked the same questions in a January 14-17, 2010 national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Pew Research Center

Click the link above to read about the test.

Click here to test your news IQ.

I missed one.

10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America

May 26, 1637
January 25, 1787
January 24, 1848
September 17, 1862
July 6, 1892
September 6, 1901
July 21, 1925
July 16, 1939
September 9, 1956
June 21, 1964

In 2006, The History Channel broadcast a 10-hour series “10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America.” The 10 dates are listed above. How many of the events can you identify from the date?

Answers here.

Puzzling over New Yorker Covers

Every single cover in The New Yorker archive is now a jigsaw puzzle.

Introducing the Covers Jigsaw Puzzle: The New Yorker

Presidential Quiz

Pioneer Woman has a 21 question quiz on the presidents that is kinda fun.

Thanks to Debby for the link.

I used to be quick at this kind of thing

Brain Game: Math Square #9

Beer Geography

Can you identify the homeland for these nine beers?

More difficult even than the soda pop quiz I thought.

Soft Drink, Hard Quiz

We’re both old enough to recall when the Pepsi name applied to nothing but Pepsi. Then Diet Pepsi stormed onto the scene, followed by other options like Pepsi Free, Pepsi Clear, Cherry Pepsi, Caffeine Free Pepsi, Pepsi Lemon, Pepsi One, Pepsi Lime, and a few other varieties that came and went. At least the names of these soda pops made it obvious that they were Pepsi products. Today, PepsiCo and the other “big three” soft drink companies market several different brands nationwide, and it’s becoming increasingly tricky to pin them down by their parent companies. In today’s…quiz, we offer 11 soft drink brands, which you’ll identify as being a product of The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, or the Dr Pepper/Schweppes Group.

Soft Drink, Hard Quiz

Wow, this was difficult (for me at least).

Borderlands

While traversing America’s highways, it’s interesting to watch the signs when you leave one U.S. state and enter another. Some states offer billboards and welcome stations, making a huge production out of the fact that you’re now within their sacred borders. Others display only a tiny “state line” sign that you might miss if you’re not paying attention. Here are ten U.S. state pairs that may or may not lie next to one another. Can you identify whether or not these states share a common border?

mental_floss Blog » The 5pm Quiz

Name the Last 10 Heisman Trophy Winners

Type in their last names (in no particular order). You have three minutes. (No Googling.)

Name the Last 10 Heisman Trophy Winners

Edison Was a Tough Grader

In the 1920s Thomas Edison would give prospective managers a general knowledge test before he would hire them. “The questions covered science, history, literature, current events, math, and even morality.”

The National Park Service has compiled two versions from actual Edison questions — one version of 150 questions (like the original) and another of 30 questions. They’ve made each substantially easier than Edison did by providing multiple-choice answers.

NewMexiKen just missed five of 30 on the shorter version. I thought I was doing well, but by Edison’s standards I failed. Screw it, I didn’t really think the job was a good match anyway.

The tests follow an introduction. This will take you a little while. Click on the “Would Edison Hire You? image on the left side of the page.

Oh yeah, Edison’s home was designated Edison Home National Historic Site on this date 54 years ago today. It was later combined with his laboratory into Edison National Historic Site.

Test Your News IQ

The Pew Research Center has a news quiz. 12 questions and they show your results and how you stack up.

Not-So-Poor Kenneth scored 12 correct of 12.

Thanks to my uncle for the link.

Today's Trivia Quiz

Questions relate to today’s birthdays.

1. Who was Eisenhower’s direct superior in the Army chain of command when he was Supreme Allied Commander in Europe?
2. How many actors have portrayed James Bond in the 22 Bond films?
3. Which schools won the national basketball championship the two years out of 12 when John Wooden’s UCLA team did not?
4. John Dean’s wife was quite evident during the Watergate hearings. What is her first name? (Their 37th anniversary was yesterday.)
5. “Night Court” was on for nine seasons (193 episodes). What was the character name of the assistant D.A., the clerk or the bailiff? First names will do.
6. In what current television series is Adrian Pasdar a cast member?
7. Is Usher his real first name or his real surname?
8. Who was Time’s Man of the Year for 1945?

[I intend to make Today's Trivia Quiz a continuing feature. Do you want me to post the answers? Right away? After a while? In a comment? Some other way?]

How Useful Are You?

There is a Twilight Zone episode where a businessman makes a pact with the Devil, which allows him to go back in time so that he can capitalize off of his knowledge about the future. It turns out though that the businessman’s knowledge about the future is all superficial and thus he is unable to jump start any technological advancements by traveling back in time. This would likely be the plight of most contemporary humans if they were sent back in time. While we rely greatly on technology, most of us don’t know much about how it actually works and where the materials to make it come from.

If you were to travel 2000 years into the past, how useful would you be in jumpstarting technological advancements? This 10 question quiz will help you figure out your technological usefulness.

Take the Technology Quiz. Yours truly got 7 correct of the 10.

Link via kottke.

Distracted Driving Game

“New studies show that drivers overestimate their ability to multitask behind the wheel. This game measures how your reaction time is affected by external distractions. Regardless of your results, experts say, you should not attempt to text when driving.”

Distracted Driving Game

And some Independence Day geography trivia

Anyone can look these up. How well can you do from knowledge you already have? Answers are in comments (no peeking).

1. Of the 50 states, 24 meet the sea (or tidewater); that is, their lowest elevation is sea level (well, actually Louisiana (minus 8 feet) and California (minus 282 feet) go below sea level, but that’s irrelevant here). Of the remaining 26 states that do not meet sea level, which has the lowest elevation?

Special bonus question: Which has second lowest elevation?

2. Of the 50 states, the 13 westernmost states have elevations above 11,000 feet. Texas has the next highest elevation (8,749) followed by South Dakota (7,242). The next highest elevation is in a state east of the Mississippi River. Which state is it?

3. As we all know since Katrina, New Orleans has sections of the city that are below sea level (minus 8 feet is the lowest). Which of the 50 largest cities (by population) has the highest elevation? (As a point of reference, the 50th largest city is Wichita, Kansas, population 354,000.)

4. The mnemonic for remembering the Great Lakes is HOMES. Arrange the letters by the size of the lakes.

Special bonus question: Four of the lakes are within 32 feet of the same elevation. The other is 326 feet lower. What comes in between the lowest lake and the next one upstream?

5. Of the 50 states, which is the easternmost, southernmost, westernmost and northernmost?

Independence Day trivia quiz

1. Based on their age when they took office, Theodore Roosevelt (42) is the youngest president the U.S. has had. John F. Kennedy (43) is the second youngest. Who is the third youngest president? Fourth youngest? (Both were 46 and some months. Barack Obama is fifth youngest.
2. Who was the oldest president?
3. Alaska is the largest state, Texas second. Which state is the third largest? Fourth largest? Fifth?
4. Rhode Island is the smallest state, Delaware second. Which state is the third smallest? Fourth smallest? Fifth?
5. The highest mountain in the eastern U.S. is in which state?
6. The largest county in the U.S. is San Bernardino, California (20,105 square miles). The smallest county (26 square miles) is?
7. The boundary with Mexico is 1,933 miles. The boundary with Canada is about (1) half as long, (2) the same as with Mexico, (3) half again as long as the boundary with Mexico, (4) more than twice as long as the boundary with Mexico?
8. Three first ladies earned post-graduate degrees. Which three?
9. True or false, the Liberty Bell cracked ringing to celebrate the Declaration of Independence.
10. The monarch to whom the Declaration of Independence is addressed is (1) Louis XIV, (2) Elizabeth I, (3) Edward VIII, (4) George III?

Bonus question: Quick, without looking, are there more red stripes or white stripes in the American flag?

Answers in comments. No peeking.

Citizenship

Here’s 20 of the 100 citizenship exam questions for the convenience of those that might not have tested themselves the first time around.

Could you become a citizen?

10 more citizenship questions

10 more citizenship questions

1. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?

2. How many amendments does the Constitution have?

3. The House of Representatives has how many voting members?

4. If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?

5. When was the Constitution written?

6. Who was President during World War I?

7. Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?

8. Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.

9. Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.

10. Name one U.S. territory.

Could you become a citizen?

Ten questions from the 100 on the U.S. citizenship test. You must score sixty percent or better to pass.

1. What is the supreme law of the land?

2. What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution?

3. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?

4. How many justices are on the Supreme Court?

5. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

6. What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?

7. What are the two major political parties in the United States?

8. We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?

9. Who was the first president?

10. Who is in charge of the executive branch?

Answers in first comment.

Sunday stuff

Saw the Clint Eastwood movie Gran Torino last night. A very good film. Eastwood does cranky old man just as well as he did tough cop and enigmatic western hero.

The Apple App Store has Peggle on sale through today for 99¢. It’s a fun arcade game. I’ve never been much of a video game player, but do enjoy them on the iPhone/iPod. Paper Toss is another great time waster, and it’s free.

A brief squall here this morning. Thunderstorms in June? In the morning? What is this planet coming to? Looks like some 90-degree days headed our way, though. I guess I’d better fire up the cooler — haven’t needed it yet this year.

I see we’ve gotten through the switch to digital TV without people taking to the streets with torches. It’s getting more and more difficult for ANY change to come about in our society without it being turned into the apocalypse.

FiveThirtyEight projects that Obama would win 445 electoral votes if an election were held today. The projection is based on his popularity, awarding the president states where he has 50% approval or better.

Alas, as Frank Rich writes, “A sizable minority of Americans is irrationally fearful of the fast-moving generational, cultural and racial turnover Obama embodies — indeed, of the 21st century itself. That minority is now getting angrier in inverse relationship to his popularity with the vast majority of the country.”

Not a good game to play at the airport

I bought Flight Control for my iPhone for 99¢. It’s great fun and easily addictive.

Link is to Apple app store.