2022 World Affairs Council of the Year
Network of Independent World Affairs Councils of America

“What In The World?” Quiz – Dec 31, 2018-Jan 6, 2019

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Give to support global affairs awareness programs in the community and in your schools. 

Don’t forget to sign up as a World Affairs Council member (TNWAC.org/join) to be eligible to win the monthly quiz prize.

Check your global affairs awareness with these ten questions taken from the week’s news reports provided via @TNWAC #TNWACquiz.
END OF YEAR NOTE:  A big hat tip to Professor Debbie Barnard at Tennessee Technological University. As a volunteer she is half of the “What in the World?” Weekly Quiz writing team.  Thanks for your many hours working to improve global affairs awareness!
Keep up with global current events by following the World Affairs Council on Twitter @TNWAC. #TNWACquiz

QUIZ WINNERS FROM LAST WEEK

Kelly O’Connor, Nashville, TN

David Hillinck, Huntsville, AL

Richard Lahman, Nolensville, TN

Deb Monroe, Cambridgeshire, UK

Logan Monday, Nashville, TN

Yezzie Dospil, Nashville, TN

Dan Hogan, Nashville, TN

Pratik Yedla, Huntsville, AL

Pat Miletich, Nashville, TN

Leanne Garland, Nashville, TN

If you’re a weekly winner you’ll be entered for the monthly prize drawing but you must be a TNWAC member to win.  TNWAC.org/join

DECEMBER 2018 QUIZ PRIZE WINNER!!!

TNWAC Member – Michael Peek of Nashville, TN

LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media

by P. W. Singer

JANUARY 2019 MONTHLY QUIZ PRIZE

Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee

If you think McDonald’s is the most ubiquitous restaurant experience in America, consider that there are more Chinese restaurants in America than McDonalds, Burger Kings, and Wendy’s combined. Former New York Times reporter and Chinese-American (or American-born Chinese). In her search, Jennifer 8 Lee traces the history of Chinese-American experience through the lens of the food. In a compelling blend of sociology and history, Jenny Lee exposes the indentured servitude Chinese restaurants expect from illegal immigrant chefs, investigates the relationship between Jews and Chinese food, and weaves a personal narrative about her own relationship with Chinese food. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles speaks to the immigrant experience as a whole, and the way it has shaped our country.

TED  Talk – “The Hunt for General Two” with Jennifer 8. Lee [Here]

About Jennifer 8. Lee

Jennifer 8. Lee is a journalist and founder of Plympton, a literary studio. She was a metropolitan reporter at The New York Times, where she has worked for many years. She harbors a deep obsession for Chinese food, the product of which is The Fortune Cookie Chronicles (Twelve, 2008), which explores how Chinese food is all-American.
At the Times, she has written about poverty, the environment, crime, politics, and technology. She has been called, by NPR, a “conceptual scoop artist.” One of her better known articles is on the Man Dates, and also on the fastest growing baby name in the history of America.She was born and raised in New York City, attending Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School for a total of 14 years. She majored in applied math and economics at Harvard, where she also angsted a lot about The Harvard Crimson, a fabulous start-up magazine called Diversity & Distinction, and the Asian American Association.
After college, she fled to China and spent a year at Beijing University studying international relations. She has a younger sister named Frances (foreign exchange programmer) and a younger brother named Kenneth (actuary). If you string their first initials together, it spells JFK, which their parents tease is the airport they landed at when they first came to the United States. (though currently, JFK is her least favorite of the NYC airports). She has a purple stuffed hippo named Hubba Bubba who travels the world with her. She used to know how to solve a Rubiks Cube, though is a bit rusty now. And she has always harbored fantasies of being a fortune cookie message scribe. She lives in Harlem (about four blocks away from her parents). She makes great turkey fried dumplings (recipe from mom). She is a former member of the Poynter Institute National Advisory Board, a board member of the Asian American Writers Workshop, and has been featured in the Esquire Women We Love issue.
Source: Amazon

To get in on the quiz make sure you’re getting TNWAC emails (here’s the free subscription link: http://eepurl.com/gt6dn) and make sure you’re following @TNWAC on Twitter.

We’ll post the answers and the names of the winner(s) in next week’s quiz.

Here’s last week’s questions and answers:

WHAT IN THE WORLD? QUIZ

WEEK OF DEC 24-30, 2018

1. Stating that, “We’ve taken back the land and now it’s time for our troops to come home,” President Trump announced an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from THIS conflict, stunning many of his senior advisors, and much of the world:

A. Yemen
B. Syria
C. Afghanistan
D. Iraq

Correct Response: B. Syria
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/19/politics/trump-syria-advisers-congress/index.html

2. U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis resigned this week, citing THIS reason for leaving his post:

A. The desire to “spend more time with his family”
B. Health concerns
C. The President deserves a Defense secretary whose views are “better aligned with his own”
D. None of the above

Correct Response: C. The President deserves a Defense secretary whose views are “better aligned with his own”
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-announces-secretary-defense-james-mattis-retire-end/story?id=59942101

3. Two years after President Joseph Kabila delayed presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo by refusing to step down, authorities have postponed them yet again, this time because of a fire that destroyed over 80% of the country’s polling machines. If the elections do take place on December 30, it will be the African nation’s first democratic transition of power since gaining independence from THIS European colonial power in 1960 :

A. Belgium
B. France
C. England
D. Spain

Correct Response: A. Belgium
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/20/drc-presidential-election-postponed-for-at-least-a-week-congo

4. Traffic at London’s Gatwick Airport came to a standstill last week and stranded thousands of passengers for almost two days because of THIS:

A. Anonymous bomb threats
B. A large flock of wild geese that would not leave the runways
C. Drone sightings over the airport
D. Striking British Airways ground crew

Correct Response: C. Drone sightings over the airport
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/21/uk/gatwick-airport-drone-shutdown-intl-gbr/index.html

5. THIS nation is considering withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in order to resume commercial whaling. The IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986, but this year the nation in question petitioned the international organization to drop the ban; the proposal was defeated, so the ban on commercial whaling stands:

A. Norway
B. Japan
C. Russia
D. United States

Correct Response: B. Japan
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/20/678715617/japan-reportedly-will-leave-international-whaling-group-to-resume-commercial-hun

6. Authorities in THIS country have arrested 13 people in relation to the murder of two Scandinavian hikers whose bodies were found in the Atlas Mountains. Four of the suspects had made a video in which they pledge allegiance to ISIS:

A. Tunisia
B. Egypt
C. Morocco
D. Turkey

Correct Response: C. Morocco
https://www.france24.com/en/20181220-morocco-suspects-murders-scandinavians-hikers-allegiance-islamic-state-group-atlas

7. One year to the day after his predecessor called snap elections to quell separatist tensions, current Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez decided to hold a cabinet meeting in THIS city, the regional capital of Catalonia. Citing provocation over the choice of date and venue by the government in Madrid, protestors in Catalonia have blocked roads and clashed with police over what they see as Spanish overreach:

A. Barcelona
B. Seville
C. Malaga
D. Grenada

Correct Response: A. Barcelona
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46645340

8. Clergy, government officials, and relatives of victims gathered in the small town of Lockerbie, Scotland to mark the 30th anniversary of THIS terrorist attack, which killed 270 people:

A. The downing of Pan Am Flight 103 by Libyan terrorists
B. The bombing of the U.S. Embassy by the rebel group Tupac Amaru
C. A fuel truck carrying a bomb exploded outside of the Khobar Towers military housing facility
D. The hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise liner by the Palestine Liberation Front

Correct Response: A. The downing of Pan Am Flight 103 by Libyan terrorists
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-46620288

9. Major League Baseball announced an agreement this week that will allow players from Cuba to sign with U.S. teams, without having to do THIS:

A. Pass the U.S. citizenship test
B. Establish residency in another country before applying
C. Sign 15-year contracts to cover immigration delays
D. Officially defect from Cuba in order to be able to play

Correct Response: D. Officially defect from Cuba in order to be able to play
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-reaches-agreement-allowing-cuban-players-to-join-league-without-defecting-what-to-know/

10. Astronomers have spotted the most distant object ever discovered in our solar system. Officially named 2018 VG18, the apparent dwarf planet, located at a distance that is three-and-a-half times further from us than Pluto, has been given THIS nickname:

A. Planet X
B. Plutito
C. Mini-Mars
D. Farout

Correct Response: D. Farout
https://www.cnet.com/news/astronomers-spot-farout-the-most-distant-object-in-our-solar-system/

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THE MISSION of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Tennessee World Affairs Council is to promote international awareness, understanding and connections to enhance the region’s global stature and to prepare Tennesseans to thrive in our increasingly complex and connected world.

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