Problem: A May 2011 Hamilton College analysis of 26 politicians, journalists, and media commentators who made predictions in major newspaper columns or television news shows from September 2007 to December 2008 found that Krugman was the most accurate. Only nine of the prognosticators predicted more accurately than chance, two were significantly less accurate, and the remaining 14 were no better or worse than a coin flip. Krugman was correct in 15 out of 17 predictions, compared to 9 out of 11 for the next most accurate media figure, Maureen Dowd. Foreign Policy named Krugman one of its 2012 FP Top 100 Global Thinkers "for wielding his acid pen against austerity".

How many incorrect predictions did Krugman and Dowd have combined?
Answer: 4

Problem: The Browns traveled to Baltimore to take on the Ravens on Thursday Night Football. After a scoreless first quarter, the Ravens scored first in the second quarter as Joe Flacco found Torrey Smith on an 18-yard touchdown pass (with a failed PAT) for a 6-0 lead. The team increased their lead as Justin Tucker made a 45-yard field goal to make the score 9-0. Finally, the Browns scored not long before halftime when Trent Richardson ran for a 2-yard touchdown, making the halftime score 9-7. After the break, the Ravens went right back to work as Flacco used a QB sneak 1-yard run for a 16-7 lead. However, The Browns drew within 6 points as Phil Dawson nailed a 51-yard field goal, making the score 16-10. But then, the Ravens pulled away as Cary Williams picked off Weeden and returned the ball 63 yards for a touchdown, making the score 23-10. In the fourth quarter, the Browns tried to come back as Dawson nailed two field goals from 50 and 52 yards out making the score 23-13 and then 23-16, respectively. However, the Ravens took control of the game and the Browns' record dropped to 0-4 on the season, losing their 13th straight game against a division rival and their 9th straight game against the Ravens.

How many more field goals did Phil Dawson have than Justin Tucker?
Answer: 2

Problem: On 24 May 1487, Simnel was crowned in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin as "King Edward VI". He was about 10 years old. Lord Kildare collected an army of Irish soldiers under the command of his younger brother, Thomas FitzGerald of Laccagh. John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln, formerly the designated successor of his uncle the late King Richard III, joined the conspiracy against Henry VII. He fled to Burgundy, where Warwick's aunt Margaret of York, the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, kept her court. Lincoln claimed that he had taken part in young Warwick's supposed escape. He also met Viscount Lovell, who had supported a failed Yorkist uprising in 1486. Margaret collected 2,000 Flemish mercenaries and shipped them to Ireland under the command of Martin Schwartz, a noted military leader of the time. They arrived in Ireland on 5 May. King Henry was informed of this and began to gather troops. Simnel's army—mainly Flemish and Irish troops—landed on Piel Island in the Furness area of Lancashire on 5 June 1487 and were joined by some English supporters. However, most local nobles, with the exception of Sir Thomas Broughton, did not join them. They clashed with the King's army on 16 June at the Battle of Stoke Field in Nottinghamshire, and were defeated. Lincoln and Thomas FitzGerald were killed. Lovell went missing; there were rumours that he had escaped to Scotland with Sir Thomas Broughton and hidden to avoid retribution. Simons avoided execution due to his priestly status, but was imprisoned for life. Kildare, who had remained in Ireland, was pardoned.

How many years before King Edward VI was crowned did Viscount Lovell support a failed Yorkist uprising?
Answer: 1

Problem: In 1592, during the war with Spain, an English fleet had captured a large Portuguese galleon off the Azores, the Madre de Deus, loaded with 900 tons of merchandise from India and China, worth an estimated half a million pounds . This foretaste of the riches of the East galvanized interest in the region.  That same year, Dutch merchants sent Cornelis de Houtman to Lisbon, to gather as much information as he could about the Spice Islands. In 1595, merchant and explorer Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, having traveled widely in the Indian Ocean at the service of the Portuguese, published a travel report in Amsterdam, the "Reys-gheschrift vande navigatien der Portugaloysers in Orienten" . The published report included vast directions on how to navigate ships between Portugal and the East Indies and to Japan. Dutch and British interest fed on new information led to a movement of commercial expansion, and the foundation of the English East India Company, in 1600, and Dutch East India Company , in 1602, allowing the entry of chartered companies in the so-called East Indies. In 1602, the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie  was founded, with the goal of sharing the costs of the exploration of the East Indies and ultimately re-establishing the spice trade, a vital source of income to the new Republic of the Seven United Provinces.

Why did the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie want to re-establish the spice trade?
Answer:
vital source of income