Skip to main content

2016 Prognostication Quiz: Questions 5, 6, and 7

5. Writing (April 18)

Fourteen of the 21 Pulitzer Prizes are awarded for journalism. Some awards are given to the newspaper as a whole and some are given to individual reporters, but the newspaper is always mentioned. If an award is shared, both newspapers are considered to be named. The winners of the past 16 years are listed (ties are possible).

 Which newspaper will win the most Pulitzers?
a. The Washington Post (5)
b. The New York Times (7)
c. The Wall Street Journal (3)
d. The Los Angeles Times (5)
e. another news organization will be named the most times (0)

 Four organizations tied this year for the most Pulitzer Prizes, with two apiece: The New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Tampa Bay Times, and the New Yorker. This means that the correct answers to Question 5 of the 2016 Prognostication Quiz is B and E.

 B was a popular answer, chosen by 23 of the 46 entrants. E was the least popular answer, with no one picking the under-underdog.

 The Winning Half
Liz K.
Nadir Y.
Stacey C.
Rachel H.
Sarah T.
Stuart P.
Michael A.
Marcus S.
Ramy Y.
Collette T.
Katie M.
Adrian C.
Zhiqi Q.
Sarah S.
Russell V.
Matthew D.
Sarah M.
Gloria T.
Ben S.
Eric M.
Janet C.
Keila B.
Peter B.
Aidan M.
Stephanie A.

6. Republicans (July 18)

Right now, Donald Trump leads in the current preference polls, but Marco Rubio is the favorite to win in the end on some betting platforms. Who will win out at the Republican National Convention this year in Cleveland, Ohio?

 Who will win the Republican nomination?
a. Marco Rubio
b. Donald Trump
c. Ted Cruz
d. Jeb Bush
e. Chris Christie
f. Ben Carson
g. John Kasich
h. Mike Huckabee
i. Carly Fiorina
j. Rand Paul
k. a dark horse (anyone else)

Donald Trump was just crowned as Republican nominee at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. This means the answer to Question 6 of the 2016 Prognostication Quiz is B. The most popular answer (17 entrants) was A. Special Kudos to the eight who got it right when so many (and I mean MANY) experts and pundits got it flat wrong.

Trump is trump
Stacey C.
Stuart P.
Chris M.
Collette T.
Adrian C.
Gemma D.
John E.
Janet C.

7. Democrats (July 25)

Right now, Hillary Clinton has a commanding lead in the polls, betting markets, and endorsement count. That said, she also had a commanding lead (though not quite this large) around this time eight years ago. Who will win out at the Democratic National Convention this year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?

 Who will win the Democratic nomination?
a. Hillary Clinton
b. Bernie Sanders
c. Martin O'Malley
d. a dark horse (anyone else)

Hillary will be crowned next week at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. This means the answer to Question 7 of the 2016 Prognostication Quiz is A. A crazy 40 out of 46 entrants chose A. This is by far the least interesting question the Quiz has ever had. (I figure that the more people who pick fewer options make it a less interesting question from the standpoint of trying to outscore your opponents and win the Quiz.)

 Here are those who picked someone other than Hillary. If your name is NOT on this list, you get a point:

 We're NOT with Her
Ben S. (B)
Stephanie A. (B)
Chris C. (B)
Miriam S. (C)
Janet C. (D)
Zachary S. (D)

Leader Board

Liz K. retains her one-point lead over her closest competition. Last time she was battling Grant M. and Nadir Y. in a tie for second place. Grant M. has faded back to a tie for fourth place, but Stacey C. has catapulted himself up even with Nadir Y. to assist in breathing down Liz. K.'s neck.

 Next up is the Olympics. The top 9 on the Leader Board all picked A. United States with the exception of Chris M. who picked C. Russia. Perhaps he knew about how much the Russian teams were being doped with performance-enhancing drugs. Now that much of the team has been banned, he may find it harder to profit from that insider knowledge.

RankScoreName
16Liz K.
25Nadir Y.
35Stacey C.
44Rachel H.
54Sarah T.
64Chris M.
74Stuart P.
84Grant M.
94Michael A.
103Marcus S.
113Ramy Y.
123Gemma D.
133Collette T.
143Ellen Y.
153Katie M.
163Adrian C.
173Zhiqi Q.
183Tina A.
193Sarah S.
203Larry A.
213Russell V.
223Matthew D.
233Pete C.
243Sarah M.
252Valerie M.
262Gloria T.
272Ben S.
282Cameron M.
292Dave S.
302Eric M.
312Rachel F.
322Peter B.
332Aidan M.
342Janet C.
352Keila B.
362Dylan S.
372John E.
382Ron D.
391Jeff C.
401Stephanie A.
411Adam K.
421Jason C.
431Zachary S.
441Missy A.
450Chris C.
460Miriam S.
Despite all the point scored this year, Chris C. and Miriam S. remain with no points. This is quite impressive. It's anyone's game as they continue their race to the bottom.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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
35 comments
Read more

Leagalize drugs!

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
10 comments
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more