# What's your news IQ? \[edited title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 6, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149 "2013-09-06T03:53:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/41 "2013-09-06T16:31:13Z")
12/13 - Got the Dow graph wrong like so many other folks here did. I first picked #1 too but thought I remembered a bigger dip in there somewhere and picked #2. Everything else I got without hesitation. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/42 "2013-09-06T16:33:28Z")
> [@The\_Lurker\_Above](#): > > I don’t see how it’s a ‘news IQ’ question though, unless I’ve missed a bunch of stories about 3rd world poverty and how that effects demographics. It seems more like a geography question. There was some breathless story about how “At current trends” Nigeria will overtake the US as the 3rd most populous nation but the year whatever-whatever. Just news sensationalism to drive clicks, of course. The kicker being “At current trends” and the ability of all those children to survive into adulthood, for people to keep having as many kids and the logistics of Nigeria feeding them all. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/43 "2013-09-06T16:34:33Z")
13/13, but the Dow Jones one was an educated guess, as was the percentage of congresswomen, and the “Nigeria’s age breakout” one was by process of elimination. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/44 "2013-09-06T16:38:39Z")
> [@The\_Lurker\_Above](#): > > Two ways; you can tell by how few 70+ year olds there are in the right hand graph or you can tell by the shape of the graph. > > In the country on the right people don’t live to be very old and have tonnes of kids. In other words they’re poor. And of all the options Nigeria is far and away the poorest. > > I don’t see how it’s a ‘news IQ’ question though, unless I’ve missed a bunch of stories about 3rd world poverty and how that effects demographics. It seems more like a geography question. I’d say more of a sociology question. I got 11/13. Got the Dow Jones and women in Congress questions wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/45 "2013-09-06T16:43:10Z")
I got 11/13. That’s not good enough to get Carl Kassel’s voice on my answering machine, is it? I missed the Dow graph and the Florida senator. I won’t deny that some of the others may have been lucky guesses; at any rate, there were several that I didn’t know I had gotten right until I saw the answers. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/46 "2013-09-06T16:45:57Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > The Lindsay Vonn/Marissa Mayer one was the only one I missed. Since I can’t see a single reason why knowing what either one _looks like_ has anything to do with my ‘news IQ’, I’m upgrading my grade to 12/12 from 12/13. I coulda told them who Marissa Mayer\*\* is\*\*, with no problem. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/47 "2013-09-06T16:50:55Z")
11/13. Missed the graph and the “Who is this” question. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/48 "2013-09-06T16:52:15Z")
10/13. I freely admit that I stink at Geography and like others, I couldn’t ID the blond woman, but I wavered on the women in Congress and was finally too optimistic. I never pretended to know current events, though. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/49 "2013-09-06T16:52:47Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Mayer’s appearance has been a recent news issue. She did a photo shoot in _Vogue_ a few weeks ago. I’m aware of that much. But that still doesn’t enable me to distinguish her pic from that of any other youngish, attractive woman. ETA: [Barbara Ann Boopstein to the contrary](http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1971/10/05), _Vogue_ is not a news magazine. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/50 "2013-09-06T16:56:11Z")
12/13, missed the Dow graph For people who like this, [Slate.com](http://Slate.com) does a weekly news quiz every Friday. [Here’s the link](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_slate_quiz/2013/09/the_slate_quiz_with_quizmaster_ken_jennings_play_the_news_quiz_for_the_week.html) for this week ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/51 "2013-09-06T17:08:44Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I’m aware of that much. But that still doesn’t enable me to distinguish her pic from that of any other youngish, attractive woman. I got that one correct, not because I recognized Mayer from her appearance, but because I remembered that she had recently been in the news specifically because of her appearance. ---
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/52 "2013-09-06T17:17:41Z")
Damn you guys ARE smart. I don’t watch the news at all, and this may sound ignorant, but I just don’t care. I got 7/13 and as for this one: Below are two charts of population pyramids that illustrate the relative size of age groups for a country’s population. The chart on the left is the population pyramid for the U.S. What country’s population pyramid is shown on the right? I came up with the correct answer because I know that of the countries listed, Nigeria is the poorest, like someone else above said. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/53 "2013-09-06T17:35:59Z")
11/13, not bad for a furriner, although I guessed lucky a couple of times. I got the graph wrong, and the Supreme Court one. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/54 "2013-09-06T17:37:23Z")
12/13. I missed the Dow graph too. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/55 "2013-09-06T17:59:25Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I’m aware of that much. But that still doesn’t enable me to distinguish her pic from that of any other youngish, attractive woman. > > ETA: [Barbara Ann Boopstein to the contrary](http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1971/10/05), _Vogue_ is not a news magazine. I agree. That’s why the cites I gave weren’t from _Vogue_. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/56 "2013-09-06T18:53:27Z")
12/13. Missed #6. I knew it was either 20% of 30% but guessed wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/57 "2013-09-06T19:00:06Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > ETA: I’m very surprised how many people get the dow graph question wrong. And the supremes swing vote – really?? Getting “who is this blond woman?” wrong (another common wrong answer) I can see, but not the swing vote thing. For me, the SCJ swing vote question came down to Antonin versus Anthony. I picked the wrong one. I suppose it’s just a difference in the way we all access stored information. The Dow graph question for me was just a matter of matching up a visual representation with the data I had stored during that time period, so that one was easy. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/58 "2013-09-06T19:11:02Z")
13/13. I thought all the questions were very easy. Mayer has been in the news a lot lately, and they almost always show a picture of her. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/59 "2013-09-06T19:22:32Z")
12/13. I got the same-sex marriage question wrong. I got the blonde CEO from a thread on the Dope, and I guessed on Google Glass. Now off to try the Slate link (thanks, **Yog-Sothoth**. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149/60 "2013-09-06T19:29:06Z")
Okay, I’ve done the Slate quiz. :rolleyes: Buddhist weddings for police dogs? This is news? Please. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-news-iq-edited-title/668149.md?page=4)