Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Monday, February 7, 2011

Are you smarter than a US diplomat?

John Ballard came across this Christian Science Monitor quiz.
I'm not gonna tell you how poorly I did. But I already knew I would never make it in the State Department.
(H/T Coming Anarchy)


Instructions



  • There are twenty multiple choice questions presented one at a time.

  • After you answer each one and click "NEXT"

  • The correct answer will be shown.

  • Give the site a moment and your response will be displayed along with a running total of how many correct you have accumulated out of the twenty. 

  • At the end you will find a summary of all twenty questions with an explanation of the correct answers.


Are you smarter than a US diplomat? Take our Foreign Service Exam.


Diplomats working for the US Foreign Service are responsible for carrying out the policy of the United States. In order to serve at one of the 265 US diplomatic missions around the world, applicants must pass a series of examinations. The tests consist of a job knowledge test, English language test, essays, oral exams, and a qualifications panel. Our 20 questions are modeled after the job knowledge portion of the Foreign Service Officer's test. The real examination consists of 60 questions and is administered over 40 minutes. Think you know enough to become a US diplomat? Take our quiz.



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2 comments:

  1. Joe BlowFebruary 8, 2011 at 3:03 AM

    hmm stopped after first question...

    ReplyDelete
  2. LexFebruary 9, 2011 at 12:58 AM

    Pretty neat, but it's only a portion of the written test (which changes). I forget how many multiple choice sections there are on the written, but there's also an essay portion.
    After passing the written test, you're invited to one of the oral testing centers (usually DC) for a day of testing. That day is broken into a group exercise, interview and written sections. All of them are timed and designed to make you feel uncomfortable/pressured. The passing score on the oral changes depending on the yearly recruiting needs. When i passed, three of us made it through out of the twenty some that were there.
    It was years ago, but iirc, something like 30,000/year take the written test and a few hundred end up passing the oral exam.

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