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2009 Prognostication Quiz: Post 10 of 14, Peace

Obama Wins!

In an unexpected move, Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He won "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

No "development of nuclear democracy rights in the Middle East" means that the answer to Question 10 of the 2009 Prognostication Quiz is F. None of the above.

Five people suspected that A through E had already been overemphasized by the committee in the past and guessed that the Nobel committee would break ties with the past:
Ted
Matthew
Larry
Ana
Missy

These five may have figured that answer F was the smart bet because this is the fourth year in a row now where "none of the above" is correct for this set of buzz words. (Stay tuned for the 2010 Quiz, which will have an updated set of buzz words.)

Eliminations

This was a brutal round for eliminations. Sixteen people (37% of the field) were eliminated with question 10:

Katie
Ben
Liz
Heather
Michael
Peter M.
Gloria
Kevin
Jeff B.
Jan
Marcus
Adrian
Ellen
Beth
Rob
Megan

Good luck next year!


Leaderboard

We now have just 14 people who have a chance at winning. Below is the leaderboard (ranked by total points and then sorted by likelihood of winning). Along with total points, I listed the remaining four answers for those still in the running:

7 bcee Ted
6 adfc Matthew
5 cdde Pete C.
5 ccbe Zoe
4 fbdb Grant
4 abad Tina
4 cbfd Larry
4 cece Stephanie
4 xxxx Katie
4 xxxx Ben
3 aaaa Ekrem
3 dbcc Ana
3 fbdd Pamela
3 cbcd Missy
3 ebcf Jeremiah
3 cbaf Leanne

Ted and Matthew are now neck and neck at the top, with Pete C. and Zoe not far behind. We have an exciting finish yet to come. Ted and Matthew chose identical answers for six of the first ten questions, but they differ from each other for each of the remaining four questions. Who will win? It might come down to the tiebreaker. Stay tuned!

Question 11 Update
The playoffs have started, but this question is still pretty much a toss-up. Tune in starting October 28.

Question 12 Update
Only two hurricanes so far this season! That makes A the highly probable answer, since we would need four more hurricanes to get to answer B or beyond. Never have there been more hurricanes in October and November than in the hurricane season up to that point. Ekrem was the only person to pick A, and perhaps only because he chose his answers from a primal scream. It seemed like an odd way to choose answers when he submitted them, but he has surpassed most of the field and is climbing up the leader board.

Question 13 Update
The Dow right now is smack in the middle of answer E, but it may continue to rally. I think E or F are the most likely answers at this point.

Question 14 Update
The people who guessed A, B, or C still probably have a slight advantage over the others, based on the lighter than average snowfall in the first half of the year.

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