DAVE%GARLOCK% [email protected]%% · 40quesons&essay 60minutes 1%pointfor%each%answer%...
Transcript of DAVE%GARLOCK% [email protected]%% · 40quesons&essay 60minutes 1%pointfor%each%answer%...
DAVE GARLOCK [email protected]
What you need to know about me
If you are already bored
What is France’s nuclear deterrent called?
The quesEon!
ZEE BIG BOOM!
The answer
uiltexas.org/academics/current-‐issues-‐and-‐events
It’s all found here!
What you need to know about the test
40 quesIons & essay 60 minutes
1 point for each answer No penalty for guessing Essay counts 10 points
QUESTIONS DRAWN FROM FOLLOWING DATE RANGES
• INVITATIONAL: Sept. 1, 2013 – Jan. 1, 2014 • Test 1 given January; Test 2 given February
• DISTRICT: Sept. 1, 2013 – Feb. 1, 2014 • District 1 test March 17-‐22; District 2 given March 24 -‐ 29
• REGION: Nov. 1, 2013 – April 1, 2014 • Test given May 1 -‐2
• STATE: Dec. 1, 2013 – May 1, 2014 • State test given May 20-‐21
WHAT IS NEWS?
Anything that is covered in the world’s media
InternaIonal news and DomesIc news Conflict/War/Terror Economy Science/Technology Health / Environment PoliIcs/Security /Defense Disasters/Business Scandal The courts
THE MAIN MEDIA LIST nyImes.com theweek.com Ime.com ap.org reuters.com bbc.co.uk pbs.org/newshour/ npr.com
THE NEXT LIST • CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC • New York Times Science secIon (Tuesdays) • Wall Street Journal • Dallas Morning News • Houston Chronicle • Huffington Post • Texas Monthly • AtlanIc • Texas Monthly
NEWS IS ALSO
• PoliIcs, music, art, science, media, movies, history, astronomy, health.
• Anyone famous who dies (2012 – 2013: Ray Bradbury, Ravi Shankar, Dave Brubeck)
• If it is on the front page of the New York Times the world considers it big news.
• Facebook buys Instagram for $1 billion!
Joe Lieberman
• Which U.S. Senator, once a vice presidenIal candidate and olen considered estranged from their party, stepped down from the Senate aler four terms, poinIng out a lot had changed in early 25 years? (NOTE: The candidate’s farewell address included the following memorable phrase: “When I started in the Senate, a blackberry was a fruit and tweeIng was something only birds do.”)
THIS WAS NOT TRUE: Carbon Dioxide does not appear to have played as crucial a role in temperature change or the rise of sea levels as earlier thought.
• With a grant from the NaIonal Science FoundaIon, scienIsts have been studying ancient coastlines around the world in the Pliocene epoch. Based on their findings, and previous research on the subject, which statement IS NOT TRUE?
MORE QUESTIONS FROM LAST YEAR
The quesEons get harder as the tests go by … The invitaEonal ones are the easiest
INVITATIONAL OR DISTRICT
• Which of the following statements about Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner, who set several world records when he jumped out of a capsule from space on Oct. 14, 2012, IS NOT TRUE?
• A. He fell more than 30 miles. • B. He reached a maximum speed of over
800 mph. • C. The jump lasted less than 5 minutes. • D. He broke the sound barrier.
• One of the most important sites in TenochEtlan, the capital of the ancient Aztec empire, was called the Templo Mayor (main temple). This vast underground ruin, where a 90-‐foot tall ceremonial structure stood, is currently being excavated. What modern day city sits over the Temple Mayor?
• A. Puebla • B. Guadalajara • C. Mexico City • D. Oaxaca
• On which blistering-‐hot planet have NASA scienEsts surprisingly found ice and frozen organic materials, similar to tar or coal, inside permanently shadowed craters on its poles? (NOTE: ScienEsts speculate icy comets and asteroids may have collided with the planet millions of years ago, seeding it with the materials.)
• A. Jupiter • B. Mars • C. Mercury • D. Venus
• Which controversial 1987 Supreme Court nominee by President Reagan died in December at the age of 85? This candidate, who advocated a form of judging known as strict “construcEonism,” or originalism,” was later rejected by the Senate.
• A. Robert Bork • B. G. Harrold Carswell • C. Abe Fortas • D. Harriet Miers
• Divers have found the wreckage of one the U.S. military’s worst fighter planes ever, the chubby, snub-‐nosed Brewster Buffalo, dubbed the “flying coffin” by pilots who dreaded flying it during WW II. It was found in 10 feet of water some 1,300 miles Northwest of Honolulu near which small atoll where a legendary 1942 bamle was fought?
• A. Bikini • B. Kamajalein • C. Midway • D. Tarawa
• Which legendary American pianist (who died in February) gained worldwide fame in 1958 by winning the inaugural Tchaikovsky InternaEonal CompeEEon in Moscow? He later became the first musician to receive a Ecker-‐tape parade in lower Manhaman on Broadway. He once said the piano-‐loving Russians, “reminded me of Texans.”
• A. Van Cliburn • B. Leon Fleisher • C. Vladimir Horowitz • D. Byron Janis
• Which nuclear reactor announced in March that six tanks of radioacEve waste (out of 177) were confirmed to be leaking as much as 1,000 gallons a year?
• A. Fukushima Daiichi • B. Chooz-‐B-‐1 • C. Hanover Nuclear ReservaEon • D. Philippsburg-‐2 •
• When Andre Cassagnes died in January at the age of 86, few noEced … but the Toy Hall of Fame surely did, having voted the Frenchman into their midst for invenEng what some have called one of the 100 best toys of the 20th Century. What did he invent?
• A. Hula Hoop • B. Etch A Sketch • C. Mr. Potato Head • D. Slinky
REGION OR STATE • Which German officer, born to an aristocraEc Prussian family and was the last known surviving conspirator to the 1944 assassinaEon plot that failed to kill Adolf Hitler, died in March at the age of 90? (NOTE: OperaEon Valkyrie was made into a 2008 movie starring Tom Cruise.)
• A. Ludwig Beck • B. Ewald-‐Heinrich von Kleist • C. Claus von Stauffenberg • D. Friedrich Fromm
• Which moon to a major planet in our galaxy has a vast, globe-‐girdling ocean up to 100 miles deep, beneath a rind of fractured ice as limle as 10 miles thick? New surveys indicate the ocean is like Earth's, with salt and organic compounds. (NOTE: One Caltech planetary scienEst said: “I'm not an expert on life, but I do know that if you dip a net in (this) ocean, you're bound to pick up something.")
• A. Ganymede • B. Triton • C. Europa • D. Enceladus
• According to the Associated Press, Researchers from Aberystwyth University in Wales have discovered which famous writer from ‘back in the day’ now seem to have been a food hoarder, tax dodger, grain dealer and ruthless businessman? (NOTE: On later examinaEon, some of his business savvy seems to have worked its way into his work.)
• A. Ben Jonson • B. Christopher Marlow • C. William Shakespeare • D. Sir Walter Raleigh
• What magazine created a furor when it published a secretly-‐ taped conversaEon involving Sen. Mitch McConnell and some of his senior staff regarding the weaknesses (including her mental state) of actress Ashley Judd? (NOTE: The same magazine created a sEr last year when it published a damaging, secretly-‐taped video of Mim Romney.)
• A. Vanity Fair • B. The New Republic • C. Rolling Stone • D. Mother Jones
STATE • When a meteorite dubbed the Tissint arrived from Mars and slammed into Tata, Morocco in July 2011, scienEsts had ample reasons to quickly examine the chemistry and mineralogy ler behind to search for possible signs of life. Which parts of the organic-‐chemistry set had scienEsts already found in space, or on arriving rocks?
• A. Amino acids, carbon • B. Glycine, hydrogen • C. Sugars • D. All of the above
WHAT IS NOT NEWS!!!
Kim Kardashian denied a star on Hollywood Boulevard
(told her to get a job)
Russell Crowe rescued by the Coast Guard in his Kayak!
(So much for Master & Commander)
Man’s gym membership revoked because he smelled
terrible (all the Eme)
“Honey Boo Boo” might be bad for the U.S. image overseas
(not to menEon in the U.S)
Snooki gives birth!
(hope the baby likes to drink and smoke)
LINDSAY LOHAN NOW SOBER!
THESE TESTS ARE HARDER THAN CURRENT EVENTS GIVEN AT UT!
Any quesEons?
Useless words to put in an essay
• amongst • amidst • heretofore • nay • unbeknownst • alas • whilst
How to write a news story
How reporters do it
S-‐V-‐O
Subject-‐Verb-‐Object
WHO/WHAT/WHEN WHERE/WHY/HOW
(Inverted Pyramid)
The nut graf: How does this news affect anything?
Why should anyone care? Does it have any meaning?
AmribuEon
• Tells you who or what is the source for the story
• And where to go to find the documents or research
• (Not free) but maybe use a local library or school to run a LexisNexis search to see what has been wrimen about the subject in other newspapers or magazines