2013 Prognostication Quiz: Questions 13

2013 Prognostication Quiz: Questions 13 - 15, Death

13-15. Death (All Year)

Which of these celebrities will pass on in 2013?

A surprise death yesterday! Mikhail Kalishnikov, inventor of the world's most popular assault rifle, passed away yesterday at the age of 94. This makes K the fifth correct answer this year to Questions 13 - 15 in the 2013 Prognostication Quiz.

The AK-47's
Matthew
Sarah M.
Michael
Stephanie
Nadir

Leaderboard

This causes a dramatic last-minute shake-up in the Quiz leaderboard. Matthew, Sarah. M., and myself each gain our fourth point to tie Liz, Chris C., Larry, and Pete C. at the top with 4 points. With the most optimistic view of stocks this year, though, Matthew takes over first place with the tiebreaker included. He topples Liz, who has had a stranglehold on the top spot since April. Liz is now in second place and will need a Christmas week miracle to reclaim the top spot.

4	Matthew
4	Liz
4	Sarah M.
4	Chris C.
4	Michael
4	Larry
4	Pete C.
3	Jeff
3	Marcus
3	Rachel F.
3	Russell
3	Jan
3	Dave
3	Ron
3	Ellen
3	Stephanie
3	Grant
3	Adrian
3	Valerie
3	Collette
3	Keila
3	Nadir
3	Gloria
3	Tina
3	Stacey
3	Mary
3	Cameron
3	Chris M.
2	Sarah T.
2	Janet
2	Ben
2	Todd
2	Peter B.
2	Ryan M.
2	Leanne
2	Paul
2	Melissa
2	Miriam
2	Ekrem
2	Katie
1	Ryan C.
1	Zhiqi
1	Eric
1	Rachel H.
0	Megan

Megan remains sad and lonely at the bottom with her zero score. She could use a little Christmas week miracle too. Stay tuned!

Comments

Can You Cross Your Toes?

Katie and I had a heated discussion the night before last. We were sitting on the couch watching Jon Stewart when she noticed a large, apparently cancerous growth sticking out of the bottom of my foot. She asked what the big lump in my sock was. "That's my toe," I responded, nonplussed. I had crossed my first and second toes, causing a lump to protrude from the bottom of my sock. Katie was quite alarmed. "You can cross your toes?" "Sure, can't you? Everyone can cross their toes!" "Of course I can't cross my toes. Who can cross their toes?" And I confirmed that Katie could not, in fact, cross her toes. Even manipulating her toes with my fingers, I could not get her toes to stay crossed. She just has very short toes. That led, of course, into a discussion of who was the freak. Were my long, crossable toes abnormal, or were her stubby, uncrossable phalanges the outliers? In case you're confused, here are some pictures. First, of my v

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The Economist has a wonderful editorial this week about legalizing drugs. I wholeheartedly agree that the world will be better off by far if the United States legalized, taxed, and regulated illicit drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, and heroin. The goods that will come from legalization: 1. We will save the $40 billion the US spends trying to eliminate the supply of drugs. 2. We will save the costs involved in incarcerating so many drug offenders (as well as gain their productivity in society). 3. We will gain money through taxation on the legal drug trade. 4. Legalized drugs will be regulated, and thus purer and safer to take. 5. With all these savings, we will have lots of money to spend on treating drug addiction as a public health issue rather than as a law and order issue. We will have lots of money to fund treatment programs for addicts that are ensnared by the easier availability of drugs. 6. We will prevent tens of thousands of killings in countries that produce drugs when proc

2017 Prognostication Quiz FINAL POST: Questions 10 and 11, Stocks and Quakes

In the last post , I pointed out that Matthew D. and I were in a two-way tie at the top of the leaderboard with me holding the edge over him in the tiebreaker. For Matthew D. to have a chance to come from behind and grab the win, some significant December movement would be needed in one of three areas: the stock market, world earthquakes, or a convenient death. Here's what happened: 10. Stocks (December 29) How will stocks do in this first year of Trumponomics? Will the Dow Jones Industrial Average be up or down compared to the final close of 2016? Which way will the Dow go? a. Up b. Down The Dow Jones continued to rise throughout the month. I maintained my advantage in the tie-breaker. 11. Earthquake (December 31) How many big earthquakes (magnitude 8.0 or larger on the Richter scale) will there be this year? (Big earthquake counts from this millennium are indicated in parentheses.) How many big earthquakes will there be this year? a. None (2) b. One (7) c. Two (4) d. Th

J. Michael Andresen

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