Beesquared

Author: beesquared

  • News quiz, week ending Jan. 23

    1. Peter Mayhew was hospitalized with pneumonia. For what is Mayhew best known?

    2. The richest one percent of the world’s population is expected to control how much of the world’s total wealth by next year, according to a study released by Oxfam?

    a) More than 40%, b) More than 50%, c) More than 60%

    3. What did Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman allege in the week before he was found dead?

    4. What did Al Gore and Pharrell Williams announce Wednesday?

    5. Shazam, the smartphone app, said that its latest round of funding values the company at how much?

    a) $500 million, b) $1 billion, c) $2 billion

    6. “The protocol would suggest that the leader of one country would contact the leader of another country when he’s traveling there,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. To what was he referring?

    7. Who ascended to the throne in Saudi Arabia following the death of King Abdullah?

    8. Which of the following superpowers did President Obama say he would like to have?

    a) The ability to fly, b) the ability to control the weather, c) the ability to speak any language

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Answers:

    1) Playing Chewbacca, the “Star Wars” character; 2) b; 3) That President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and other top officials had conspired with Iran to conceal responsibility for the 1994 suicide bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in return for Iran’s agreeing to supply oil to Argentina; 4) “Live Earth,” a series of concerts to demand action on climate change that will take place June 18 across seven continents; 5) b; 6) A visit to the U.S. next month by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the invitation of House Speaker John Boehner. Neither the speaker’s office nor the prime minister’s office informed the White House of the prime minister’s plans; 7) Crown Prince Salman; 8) a and c

  • News quiz, week ending Jan. 16

    1. SpaceX tried unsuccessfully to do what?

    2. A suicide bomber killed at least 19 people Saturday in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri. How old is the bomber thought to have been?

    3. Woody Allen will create his first-ever TV series for what company?

    4. What group claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 12 at the offices of Charlie Hebdo?

    5. Who resigned as Italy’s president?

    6. Which of the following films will not vie for best picture at the 87th annual Academy Awards?

    a) “The Imitation Game” b) “American Sniper” c) “Still Alice” d) “The Grand Budapest Hotel” e) “Selma” f) “Whiplash” g) “The Theory of Everything”

    7.  Target said it will close all its stores in what country?

    8. Climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson achieved what first?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Answers:

    1) To return a booster rocket to Earth and land the rocket upright on a barge; 2) 10 years old; 3) Amazon; 4) Al-Qaida in Yemen; 5) Giorgio Napolitano; 6) “Still Alice;” 7) Canada; 8) An ascent of El Capitan’s Dawn Wall in a single expedition without ropes to pull them up

  • News quiz, week ending Jan. 9

    1. Pope Francis named 15 new cardinals who together hail from 13 nations. Name at least five of those nations.

    2. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said that this trial, which began Monday, is going to be “a tough time” for his city. To what was he referring?

    3. Who wrote that “PETA needs to chill?”

    4. This U.S. state became the 36th state where same-sex marriages are legal statewide.

    5. NASA said the Kepler Space Telescope has found how many Earth-like planets?

    6. This tech industry giant said it would set aside $300 million over the next three years to improve the diversity of its workforce.

    7. Gunmen killed 12 people Wednesday at the offices of this satirical magazine in Paris.

    8. Who won Sri Lanka’s presidential election?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Answers:

    1) Italy, Portugal, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Mexico, Myanmar, Thailand, Uruguay, Spain, Panama, Cape Verde Islands, Tonga; 2) The trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is charged with detonating a bomb that killed three and injured more than 260 people at the Boston Marathon in 2013; 3) Sarah Palin, responding to criticism of a photo of her son standing on the family’s dog; 4) Florida; 5) Eight; 6) Intel; 7) Charlie Hebdo; 8) Maithripala Sirisena, a former health minister

  • #CharlieHebdo

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  • News quiz, week ending Jan. 2

    1. Intelligence officials in Somalia said Saturday that Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi has surrendered. Hersi is allegedly a leader of what extremist group?

    2. AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed Sunday. Where did the flight take off from and what was its destination?

    3. China reportedly shut down access to Gmail as of Monday morning. What is the name given to the collection of filters that China uses to control Internet traffic in and out of the country?

    4. Thursday marked the conclusion of Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan that began after the 9/11 attacks. What is the name of the mission that succeeds it?

    5. The minimum wage rose in 20 states and the District of Columbia on Thursday. Which state currently has the highest minimum wage? How much is it per hour?

    6. On Thursday, this country adopted the euro.

    7. Who turned down France’s Legion of Honor?

    8. President Obama referred to whom as “an unflinching voice for tolerance, inclusiveness, fairness, dignity, and opportunity?”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Answers:

    1) al-Shabab; 2) Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore; 3) the Great Firewall; 4) Operation Freedom’s Sentinel; 5) Washington, $9.47; 6) Lithuania; 7) Economist Thomas Piketty; 8) Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, who died Thursday

     

  • A moment from the year that was…

    Among the things I will remember most about 2014 is studying for the New York bar examination. One Saturday last July I rode a No. 1 train headed downtown, my thoughts deep into an outline of criminal law, which is among the subjects tested.

    A few stops into my ride a man boarded the car, announced that he was a musician, produced a flute and proceeded to play what he described as an original composition titled “The Quiet Storm.”

    The title of the piece notwithstanding, I braced to be assaulted acoustically. All I wanted to do was to study. Now I would have to contend with this busker while I tried to memorize the material in my hands.

    But the music was as billed. Quiet, soothing, lovely in a way, at least compared with what I anticipated. Over the summer, I took to using foam ear plugs to insulate me from the sounds of the city, which in my yearning to focus I had come to resent as an intrusion.

    On the subway, the setup I resented most became companions who sat on benches across from each other. That demanded they speak loudly enough to be heard by each other and anyone nearby. I expected every place to be pin quiet, even, go figure, the streets of New York City in July.

    The library was worse. I resented fellow students who rippled the silence with the force of their typing. I felt entitled to silence, which, of course, inverts what’s reasonable. It also shows how the bar exam or, for that matter, any undertaking that demands a mass of memorization, can consume us.

    The man with the flute finished his piece and asked those of us around him for money. “Canadian coins are OK,” he offered as a made his way the length of the car. This I also largely ignored. Then he said something that caused me to gaze up from my notes. “I’m sorry everybody,” he said.

    The apology snapped me from self-absorption. He had only played music and here he apologized. That seemed disproportionate to anything he had done. Of course, it can be nice to ride the train without being panhandled. Still, I wondered, what have we come to if someone has to apologize for playing a piece of music that qualifies as tolerably lovely?

    I reached into my pocket and hoped I had a dollar. I didn’t, but I had a $5 bill, which I walked over to the musician and handed to him. “Thanks man,” he said, looking me in the eye.

    “That was a nice piece, you played,” I replied. “Thank you.”

    The man brightened. “It’s the first I played in six months,” he added. “I lost my son recently.”

    My next thought was to ask him what had happened. But the train had arrived at my stop, the doors opened and I stepped out, instinctively, onto the platform. “Take care,” I said.

    That was that. For a moment, I regretted not riding along so that we might continue the conversation. Then again, our exchange seemed enough to create a connection that will stay with me always.

  • Some highs of 2014…

    Tortured but not tortious
    Tortured but not tortious

    Visiting northern Namibia with Krista

    Chapman’s Peak Drive

    Running with Tala and Juma

    24hoursofhappy

    Securing a roadworthy designation for the Landy

    Watching Kaizer Chiefs battle Maritzburg United

    Making pasta with Krista and Rachel

    Walking through Williamsburg as winter receded

    Columbia hoops with the Wave

    Riding the J train across the Williamsburg Bridge, gazing out at Lower Manhattan

    Figuring out with Krista how to tie a mattress to the roof of a van

    A nap at 2:00 a.m. at a roadside plaza en route to the city

    May 11 in the Conservatory Garden with Krista

    Dad’s bar mitzvah

    “Much Ado About Nothing” in the park, with Krista (and Meryl Streep)

    Discussing the law (and more) with Sam

    Josh’s introducing me to Nike Roshe Runs

    Shaken iced green tea lemonade at Starbucks

    Original Pinkberry with blueberries and chocolate chips

    Walks through Central Park’s North Woods to defrag my brain and lift my spirits

    James Franco’s signing my torts outline

    Riverside Park on summer evenings

    Stacy’s quizzing me about constitutional law

    Browsing at Book Culture

    Riding the Thunderbolt and the Cyclone with Krista

    The Rockaways in summer

    Hearing Wallace Roney and his orchestra debut music by Wayne Shorter, at the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival

    Swimming with Krista at Jackie Robinson Park Recreation Center

    Editors who accepted my pitches then made my stories better

    Cy Twombly at the Morgan

    Break-fast, from Murray’s Sturgeon Shop, with Krista

    Riding the bus to the ball game with Dad

    Listening to Mom tell me about her investment club

    “Transparent,” “Masters of Sex,” “The Good Wife” and “TURN”

    Forging new ties at Quartz and strengthening old ones at American Banker

    Passing the New York bar examination!

    Visiting the South African Cricketeers’ Association, the Company’s Garden and the South African National Gallery with Vasu

    My first bunny chow, with Krista and Mary

    Figuring out where Pacer fees go

    LSE podcasts and New Yorker cartoons

    My ‘Dice volleyball shirt, from Maddie

    Discovering Freedom Café and the square across the street

    American Thanksgiving in South Africa

    The Turkey Bowl with Dan, Andrew and Josh

    Catching up with classmates

    Discussing “Interstellar” endlessly

  • News quiz, week ending Dec. 26

    1. Who won Tunisia’s presidential election?

    2. Who was singer Bryan Adams referring to on Monday when he tweeted the following: “RIP my good friend, you were one of the best rock singers EVER.”

    3. Who said this, referring to the price of oil: “Whether it goes down to $20, $40, $50, $60, it is irrelevant.”

    4. Princess Cristina de Borbón, the younger sister of King Felipe IV, will be the first member of a Spanish royal family to do what?

    5. Why did the Gay Men’s Health Crisis on Tuesday term the FDA’s proposal to end a decades-old prohibition on blood donations by gay and bisexual men “offensive and harmful.”

    6. In his Christmas Day message, Pope Francis prayed for the entire world, including for 11 nations that he cited specifically. Name at least six of them.

    7. Who said: “He is a guest among brothers of ours in Syria Islamic State.”

    8. “He says it’s been his worst Christmas ever,” Ros Bruce, from Essex, U.K., told the BBC, referring to her son, who received an Xbox One for Christmas. What prompted her comment?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Answers:

    1) Beji Caid Essebsi, 88, who served in cabinet posts under two authoritarian regimes; 2) Joe Cocker; 3) Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, who vowed that his country would not cut production; 4) Face trial, on charges of tax fraud, following a court ruling Monday; 5) Because the proposal would not permit donations from men who have had sex with a man in the last year; 6) Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Nigeria, Libya, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea; 7) Saif al-Kaseasbeh, father of First Lt. Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh, a Jordanian pilot who was captured by militants with the Islamic State after his jet crashed Wednesday in Syria while on a bombing mission against the militants; 8) A disruption to online services at both Xbox and PlayStation that a group of hackers claimed responsibility for

  • Why ‘The Interview’ marks a milestone for theater owners

    The cyberattacks on Sony may be remembered for more than hackers rummaging through systems at one of the world’s top studios.

    Distribution of “The Interview” in the aftermath of the cyberattack also marks a milestone in the movement of movies to streaming services and away from theaters. Sony’s announcement that it would stream the film in the US via three online services means that many people will have watched the comedy on their computers. Though Sony also released the film to about 300 theaters, that’s roughly 2,700 fewer screens than planned to show it originally.

    The unfolding of events presents theater owners with a tricky test that may accelerate the arrival of a time when studios release movies to streaming services and theaters simultaneously.

    “We’re watching ‘The Interview’ online tonight at 10:00 p.m.,” a boy of about 14 told two friends Wednesday at a Starbucks in Manhattan. While results of the box office remain to be seen, theater owners, who have warned for years of the disruption headed their way, seem likely to face more such sentiment.

    https://twitter.com/TheInterview/status/547817336485711872

    The latest drama has unfolded in ways that few theater owners or anyone for that matter anticipated. Theaters owners, faced with threats to their audiences if they screened the film as they anticipated originally, decided to delay the debut.

    That produced a backlash all the way to the White House, where President Obama slammed Sony for pulling the picture. Sony said that the theater chains cancelled the booking. The chains charged they had been sold out by Sony.

    Still, the dustup pales compared with the threat theater owners face from the move of entertainment to many screens from the silver screen. Though seeing a movie in a theater has its delights, the prospect of schlepping to a theater is giving way to the convenience of watching a film from on-demand services such as iTunes, Netflix and others.

    The drama over distribution of “The Interview” may foretell a future that theater owners have been fearing. As Jason Lynch explains in Quartz:

    “For years, premium video on-demand has been a white whale for studios, which have been unable to convince theater chain owners to grant any leeway in their traditional 90-day exclusive window after a film’s theatrical release. Those exhibitors have good reason to be worried: This year’s North American movie ticket sales fell 4%, to $10.5 billion, and one of the most reliable moviegoing demographics, kids and young adults ages 12 to 24, went to the movies 15% less often.”

    At issue is a shrinking of the period between the release of a film to theaters and its availability via streaming, DVD and other platforms. As of September 25, the window averaged three months and 27 days, according to the National Association of Theater Owners, a trade group. That’s down from roughly five months and 22 days in 1997.

    The window matters to the profitability of moviemakers and theater owners, who all say they will see their profits shrink if the window continues to shorten.

    Not surprisingly, the two camps find themselves on the same side of the issue. According to a letter signed in 2011 by 31 filmmakers, including Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino, among others:

    “Major studios are struggling to replace the revenue lost by the declining value of DVD transactions. Low-cost rentals and subscriptions are undermining higher priced DVD sales and rentals. But the problem of declining revenue in home video will not be solved by importing into the theatrical window a distribution model that cannibalizes theatrical ticket sales.”

    Hundreds of millions of dollars happen to be at stake, according to the group, which calls on the studio not to alter the “sequential distribution window” that forces moviegoers to see films in theaters first.

    The theater chains adopt a similar stance. “We believe that a material contraction of the current theatrical release window could significantly dilute the consumer appeal of the in-theatre motion picture offering, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations,” Regal Entertainment Group, the largest exhibitor of films in the U.S. and Canada, wrote in its most recent annual report.

    Of course, the straight-to-streaming of “The Interview” may foreshadow a reckoning for theater owners that industries from music to media continue to confront. Last spring, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of DreamWorks Animation, predicted a three-week window within a decade:

    “A movie will come out and you will have 17 days, that’s exactly three weekends, which is 95% of the revenue for 98% of movies. On the 18th day, these movies will be available everywhere ubiquitously and you will pay for the size. A movie screen will be $15. A 75” TV will be $4.00. A smartphone will be $1.99. That enterprise that will exist throughout the world, when that happens, and it will happen, it will reinvent the enterprise of movies.”

    The attack on Sony has unearthed information about the studio that may be unflattering to its executives. But whatever slew of embarrassments and security headaches for Sony, the attack reminds us that for exhibitors, the worst may be yet to come.

  • News quiz, week ending Dec. 19

    1. Negotiators from 196 countries reached an agreement in Lima on Sunday that does what?

    2. Russia’s central bank on Tuesday took what action to stanch the collapse of the ruble?

    3. Google this week released its list of top searches worldwide in 2014. Which one of the following did not make the list?

    a) Flappy Bird, b) Frozen, c) Ferguson, d) Conchita Wurst, e) the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, f) Robin Williams

    4. Why did at least five teams in the National Hockey League delay players’ visits to hospitals and participation in charity events that normally mark the holiday season?

    5. The Church of England achieved a first on Wednesday. What was it?

    6. As part of the normalization of diplomatic relations announced Wednesday by the U.S. and Cuba, Americans who visit the island will be able to bring back how much worth of Cuban goods (in U.S. dollars)?

    7. What prompted mayhem Thursday in Kenya’s parliament?

    8. The Kepler space telescope has discovered a new planet, scientists confirmed Thursday. What is the diameter of the planet that Kepler discovered?

    a) 15,000 miles, b) 20,000 miles, c) 25,000 miles, d) 30,000 miles

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    ANSWERS:

    1) Creates a framework for an accord on climate change to be signed in Paris next December; 2) Increased its main interest rate to 17 percent, from 10.5 percent; 3) Ferguson; 4) Because of an outbreak of mumps around the league; 5) Named the Rev. Libby Lane as its first female bishop; 6) $400; 7) A bill to tighten security in the country that opposition members say threatens civil liberties; 8) 20,000 miles