Don't be upset if you didn't win a Nobel prize; you can still win our Week to Week news quiz.
Here are some random but real hints: He chose not to pursue da office; justice delayed; we don't like the way they're purging their voter rolls; and during Lent they offer a fish alternative. Answers are at the bottom of the quiz.
1. Who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?
a. Malala Yousafzai
b. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
c. The Tea Party
d. Pope Francis
2. What was unusual about the presidential election in Azerbaijan?
a. It was held completely online
b. There was no challenger to the incumbent
c. The winner was a write-in candidate -- the prime minister's daughter
d. The election commission announced the winner -- before the voting even began
3. What did former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka claim this week?
a. His all-time favorite NFL player is Aaron Rodgers
b. He is the reincarnation of the Buddha
c. He could have prevented Obama from becoming president
d. He has a secret plan to end the government shutdown and lower the debt ceiling
4. Whom did President Obama nominate to be the new chair of the Federal Reserve?
a. Timothy Geithner
b. Janet Yellen
c. Lawrence Summers
d. Suze Orman
5. Who was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics this week?
a. The discoverers of the Higgs boson, a.k.a. the "God particle"
b. The creator of adamantium
c. The leaders of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN
d. The first scientist to discover an earth-like planet around another star
6. Whom did U.S. special forces capture in a raid in Libya this past week?
a. The third son and the uncle of former dictator Gaddafi
b. The suspected mastermind behind the 1998 American embassy bombings
c. Inigo Montoya
d. The leader of the terrorists who attacked U.S. officials in Banghazi
7. Why is the United States withholding military aid to Egypt?
a. The government shutdown
b. The sequester
c. Egypt's crackdown on opponents
d. Our check bounced
8. What caused a rare act of bipartisan action in Congress?
a. A birthday celebration at the home of Ben Bradlee
b. The restoration of military death benefits despite the government shutdown
c. The passage of broad tax reform
d. The final immigration reform law
9. What was actor/filmmaker Tom Hanks' big announcement?
a. He's making a sequel to Forrest Gump
b. He has diabetes
c. He has purchased a minority interest in the Los Angeles Dodgers
d. He has had a secret second family in Canada for the past 27 years
10. What did a U.S. District Court rule about interns?
a. They are the personal property of corporations, which are people
b. They cannot sue for sexual harassment
c. They can be paid in Jolly Ranchers candy
d. They must work at least 60 hours a week to qualify for bus money
BONUS. How did Kuma's Corner restaurant get in trouble with the Roman Catholic Church in Chicago?
a. It refused service to the hungry local archbishop and his entourage
b. It sold "chocolate indulgences" for $50 a plate
c. It created the Ghost, a burger its menu describes as being made with "Red Wine Reduction (the blood of Christ) with Communion Wafer garnish (the body of Christ)"
d. It reneged on a $250,000 contract to open a franchise within the campus of the archdiocese after its owner was told its employees would not be able to swear while at work
The news and the quizzes don't stop there! Join us Monday, October 14 in San Francisco for our next live Week to Week political roundtable with a news quiz and a social hour at The Commonwealth Club. Panelists include Josh Richman, Debra J. Saunders, and Lisa Vorderbrueggen.
ANSWERS: 1) b. 2) d. 3) c. 4) b. 5) a. 6) b. 7) c. 8) b. 9) b. 10) b. BONUS) c.
EXPLANATIONS OF THE HINTS: He chose not to pursue da office: the former coach of "da bears" said if he had run for the 2004 Senate seat won by Obama, he could have changed Obama's trajectory toward the White House; justice delayed: it's been 15 years since the embassy bombings; we don't like the way they're purging their voter rolls: the U.S. has withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in aid over objections to the military government's pursuit of Islamist supporters of deposed president Morsi; and during Lent they offer a fish alternative: the hamburger was not kosher, so to speak.