It’s time to see how much attention you’ve been paying to the news in the past week or so. From The Oklahoman’s news copy editors and designers, here’s a quiz.
1. Hugo residents are looking forward to the day they can sell this to Texas:
a) Water from the brimming Hugo Lake.
b) Scratch-off lottery tickets at sites just across the state line.
c) Abandoned circus equipment because there’s a sucker born ever minute.
2. How will 13 states allow overseas troops to vote in the presidential election this year?
a) By e-mail.
b) By telegraph.
c) Using an affidavit brought to the election board by a family member.
3. Researchers recently announced plans for a 1.5-square-mile plot of switchgrass in the Oklahoma Panhandle and smaller plots elsewhere. One acre of non-irrigated switchgrass could yield:
a) 60 bushels of cattle feed.
b) 600,000 gallons of biofuel.
c) 6 million feet of rope.
4. Why are experts saying social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace can pose a privacy risk?
a) Their options to make your profiles “private” don’t really work.
b) Hackers are multiplying with more generations growing up in the virtual world.
c) Downloaded applications built by third parties can see your contact information.
5. After coming under mortar fire during a USO tour stop in Afghanistan, Toby Keith did what?
a) Retired to a shelter to sign autographs and later picked up the concert where it was interrupted.
b) Wrote a song about the “Biggest, Baddest Combat Zone.”
c) Whipped out a handgun and fired back.
6. Dr. Kevin Moore, a scientist at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, has done research that may lead to something unexpected:
a) A patch to release cardiac medicine.
b) An enzyme-based birth control for men.
c) An electronic weight loss capsule you swallow and it vacuums up the calories.
7. With a postal increase rapidly nearing, Americans are buying:
a) 30 million “forever stamps” a day.
b) Less gasoline and putting things in the mail instead.
c) More pre-paid FedEx pouches.
8. The Wrigley family is cashing out of the chewing gum business, selling out to:
a) Philip Morris, which is looking for the next big nervous habit.
b) Mars Inc., maker of M&Ms and Snickers.
c) Pfizer Inc., one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, which is looking for a new delivery system for its anti-cholesterol medicines.
9. Oklahoma State running back Thurman Thomas and one-time University of Oklahoma quarterback Troy Aikman will be among three people with Oklahoma ties inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December. Who is the third?
a) Former OU coach Gary Gibbs.
b) Former OSU coach Pat Jones.
c) Former Tulsa coach John Cooper.
10. The federal government has launched a blog at www.fastlane.dot.gov for:
a) Helping taxpayers get refunds more quickly.
b) Listing traffic congestion and alternative routes in the nation’s 100 largest urban areas.
c) Breaking news from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
11. The University of Oklahoma is warning students of:
a) A looming increase in tuition of almost 10 percent.
b) How global warming will affect degree programs – less work in petroleum engineering, more in green careers.
c) A shortage of football tickets for the 2008-09 season.
12. Oklahoma City police are looking to hire a downtown ambassador, whose $9-an-hour duties would include:
a) Meeting with conventioneers and others to explain the city’s curfew rules.
b) Passing out pamphlets in Bricktown listing nearby restaurants and sights.
c) Traffic control and crime reporting.
13. Country singer Trisha Yearwood has just published a:
a) Songbook with hits sung by husband Garth Brooks.
b) Cookbook with her mother and sister.
c) Children’s book about a dreamer who becomes a star.
14. The average cost of Oklahoma families’ health insurance increased 50 percent from 2001 to 2005. In the same period, the median income rose:
a) 5 percent.
b) 50 percent.
c) 500 percent.
15. The U.S. House honored Ponca Chief Standing Bear as:
a) A vigilant supporter of democracy.
b) An early businessman with a vision of prosperity for his tribe.
c) One of America’s original civil rights heroes.
16. Swiss chemist Albert Hoffmann died in Geneva at age 102. He was known for:
a) Formulating the first Swiss high-cocoa concentration dark chocolate.
b) Collecting masterworks, including the largest collection of paintings by Edvard Munch.
c) Inventing LSD while studying medicinal uses for a grain fungus.
17. It’s a leavener in baked goods, but what else can you do with baking soda?
a) Mix it with water to make play dough.
b) Plant it in moist soil to grow a garden of colaberry bushes.
c) Scrub your toilets, soften fabrics and prevent clogged drains.
18. College football Bowl Championship officials rejected a proposal to hold a one-plus game to decide the national champion because:
a) The current system is working so well.
b) No one could agree on where to hold it.
c) The television contracts have already been signed for the next 12 seasons.
19. In the seven years since the 2000 census, Oklahoma’s Hispanic population has increased about:
a) 4 percent.
b) 44 percent
c) 444 percent.
20. Maj. Andy Jordan, a Green Beret who has deployed twice to Iraq spoke at a convention in Oklahoma City. He credits his experience in this organization with helping him succeed in the military:
a) His church.
b) FFA
c) Public schools in Oklahoma.
How did you do on the quiz? Here are the correct answers:
1-A; 2-A; 3-B; 4-C; 5-A; 6-B; 7-A; 8-B; 9-C; 10-C; 11-A; 12-C; 13-B; 14-A; 15-C; 16-C; 17-C; 18-A; 19-B; 20-B.