It’s Friday afternoon and some folks think the world is supposed to end today, so we thought, while we wait for the apocalypse, why not make it fun to relive the highlights of the last year? What really did or didn’t happen in the world of tech-politics last year? This quiz covers the hard questions. So, for your pleasure and amusement, try to match your wits against ours. No cheating. Answers at the bottom of the post.
1. Which of these topics were not covered by Deanna Zandt and Baratunde Thurston on their NPR All Things Considered “Social Media Advice” chats?
a) How to manage having two personalities on Twitter; b) How to not share naked photos of yourself on Facebook with your employees; c) How to not turn political conversations online into boxing matches; d) Why posting photos of babies on Facebook is “digital child abuse; e) How emoticons are related to the end of the world.
2. Which of these quotes were not uttered by Facebook’s Adam Conner on his Facebook page?
a) “a thousand times yes”; b) “Now with WINE”; c) “Bro-tiquing hard…”‘; d) “oh my god yes yes yes”; e) “God Yes”; f) “Oh my god this times a thousand for forever.”
3. Which of these were not a real email subject line from Obama campaign? a) “Hey”; b) “Legitimate rape”; c) “I love you back”; d) “This isn’t already illegal”; e) “Up late”; f) “Warning: This picture is cute.”
4. Which of these topics have not been covered by the New Organizing Institute’s “Tip of the Day” emails? a) Why you should sit on a fitness ball; b) How to meet new people at conferences; c) How to hang your power cords and cables off the edge of your desk; d) Why you should quit your job; e) How to have fun.
5. Which of these headlines was not a BuzzFeed post? a) “Four Decades of Magazine Gun Violence Covers,” b) “Mean Girls of Capitol Hill,” c) “19 Absurd Congressional Charts” d) “50 Photos of Bill Clinton’s Forehead.”
6. Which of these political meme websites did not exist? a) “Campaign Sick”; b) “Texts With Hillary”; c) “I am Obamacare”; d) “We are the 47 Percent”; e) “Newt Judges You”; f) “We are the 53%.”
7. Which of these tweets were not made and then deleted by a politician?
-“Umm. Because I was elected?“@lisarichards124: @jahimes Why did you accept the job as CT Congressman only to ignore everyone’s e-mails?” (By Rep. Jim Himes)
-“.@JoeBiden: “We think you grow this country from the top down, not the middle out.” #TeamJoe” (By Pres. Barack Obama)
-“@meredithshiner in return, I’ll let you teach me how to Twitter” (By Rep. Dick Durbin)
-“@LuvMy_Kisses” (By Sen. David Vitter)
8. Which Member of Congress has mentioned the Internet the most on the floor of Congress over the course of their career?
a) Ron Wyden, b) Patrick Leahy, c) John McCain, d) Lamar Alexander, e) Dianne Feinstein
9. Which of these was not an actual Onion headline?
-“Romney’s Sons Forced To Quickly Enlist In U.S. Army Ahead Of Foreign Policy Debate.”
-“Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex”
-“Frustrated Obama Sends Nation Rambling 75,000-Word Email”
-“Obama Criticized For Living in Lavish Mansion While Most Americans Struggle to Make Ends Meet”
10. Which of these Mitt Romney quotes did not become a meme?
-“Corporations are people, my friends”;
-“”I like being able to fire people who provide services to me”;
-“”I went to a number of women’s groups and said ‘Can you help us find folks?’ and they brought us whole binders full of women”;
-“”I’ll tell you what, ten-thousand bucks? $10,000 bet?”
-“I’m running for office for Pete’s sake, we can’t have illegals.”
11. What is the title of the book Sasha Issenberg wrote before he wrote “The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns”?
a) “All of Tammany’s Men: How Urban Bosses and Ward Politics Made the Industrial City Work”;
b) “The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy”;
c) “Curried Fish and Chips: The End of the British Empire, Reverse Immigration and the Rise of the Indian Ex-Pat Elite”
d) “Door-Knocks and Pad-Locks: Deconstructing the Poetics of Entrance and Exit in Turn-of-the-Century New England.”
Answers:
1. All were real topics.
2. Sorry, all of these were real status updates.
3. All were real subject lines. We swear.
4. All were real subjects. Noticing a pattern?
5. It’s Buzzfeed. They were all real.
6. We didn’t make any of these up, either. Though we think “We are the 47%” and “We are the 53%” should merge.
7. All of those are real tweets deleted by the politicians named, according to Politwoops.
8. The answer is b) Patrick Leahy, according to
December 17, 2012