Friday, Oct. 22 Weekly Quiz: Dirty Disses, Great Honors, Ye

The Earthshot Prize is Prince William’s environmental program that aims to find new ideas to tackle climate change. The prize’s name takes inspiration from the Apollo moon landings, nicknamed Moonshot, which helped advance humankind’s technological achievements.

Who won the inaugural Earthshot Prize?

Among the winners announced Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021, were the government of Costa Rica for a project that pays local citizens to restore natural ecosystems and the city of Milan for its Food Waste Hubs program, which recovers food from supermarkets and restaurants and redistributes it.

Among the celebrities that Katie Couric sights in her new memoir "Going There", is Prince Harry, who Couric writes that the smell of cigarettes and alcohol seemed to "ooze from every pore" in his body. The two met at a polo match in Brazil during what she describes as his "wild-oats sowing phase."

Who else gets dissed by Couric in Going There?

In her new book, Katie Couric describes how Prince Andrew cozied up to Jeffrey Epstein at a bizarre dinner at his New York mansion, which she calls "Eyes Wide Shut with a twist - creepy chandeliers and body-part art." She recalls a 15-minute date with Michael Jackson, whose hand felt like a "dead fish" when she shook it. She also says she didn't realize the extent to which her former Today co-host, Matt Lauer, committed sexual misconduct at work.

The McPlant is McDonald's plant-based burger co-developed with Beyond Meat, which includes a plant-based patty, vegan cheese, and vegan sandwich sauce. It is cooked separately from other McDonald's burgers and sandwiches using dedicated utensils.

Where can one get a McPlant?

On Oct. 14, 2021, McDonald's announced that it plans an operations test of the McPlant for a limited time in just eight select restaurants across the US in Nov. 2021. The veggie burgers have been available in over 250 UK McDonald's restaurants since Oct. 13.

Little Amal is a giant puppet of a nine-year-old Syrian girl. Since July 2021, the 3.5 meter-tall artwork has walked 8,000km to support refugees in Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the UK. The complex 14-week traveling street theatre ends its international walk in Manchester on Nov. 3, 2021.

The name Lucy was given to a 3.2 million-year-old skeletal remains of a human ancestor found in Ethiopia in 1974. An expedition member suggested naming the skeleton after the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," played at the team camp repeatedly during the night of the discovery.

Which Lucy is going to space in 2021?

Photo: NASA / Bill Ingalls

A NASA spacecraft named Lucy launched Saturday, Oct.16, 2021, on a 12-year quest to explore eight asteroids sharing Jupiter's orbit, thought to be the original leftovers of planetary formation. The NASA vehicle is named after the Lucy skeleton.

Chicago Sky is the 2021 WNBA Finals champion with an 80-74 win over Pheonix Mercury. It’s Chicago’s first WNBA title and the city’s first professional basketball championship since 1998.

Any other records?

Chicago coach James Wade became the third Black male coach to win a WNBA championship, joining Michael Cooper, who did it with the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix’s Corey Gaines.

The "Disinformation Dozen" are 12 anti-vaxxers responsible for almost two-thirds of anti-vaccine content on social media.

Is Facebook in trouble?

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen presented documents that show the social media platform has built a system that exempts high-profile users from some or all of its rules. On Wednesday, Oct. 13, the attorneys general of 14 U.S. states sent a letter to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. They said they are "extremely concerned" with the recent reports and want to know if the "Disinformation Dozen" are among those receiving special attention treatment from the company.

Simply put, Metaverse is a collection of Virtual 3D meeting spaces. It’s been one of the most prominent tech buzz terms of 2021. Epic Games directed fundraising to build Fortnite into a metaverse; Microsoft presented Mesh, a mixed reality software enabling virtual presence through Microsoft devices. South Korea announced the creation of a national metaverse alliance to build a unified national VR and AR platform.

What’s Facebook’s Metaverse?

In 2021 Facebook announced it attempts to develop a Metaverse. On Oct. 18, Facebook announced plans to create 10,000 jobs in the European Union over the next five years to help build the virtual environment. US tech news website The Verge broke the news that Facebook’s founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, is preparing to change the name of the company at the company’s annual Connect conference on Oct. 28, 2021, to match its new ambitions. The new name chosen for the company is Meta.

American artist Spencer Tunick is a 54-year-old photographer best known for his large-scale nude photoshoots. He has staged dozens worldwide, including outside Sydney Opera House and in London’s Selfridges.

Spencer Tunick and the Dead Sea 2021 Fact

Screenshot: BBC on YouTube

On Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021, Tunick visited Israel as a tourism ministry guest to portray the shrinking Dead Sea via nude subjects for the third time. Some 200 people participated in the shoot.

New York real estate heir Robert Durst, 78, received a sentence of life in prison without a chance of parole Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021, for the murder of his best friend Susan Berman in December 2000. Durst was arrested in 2015 following his decision to participate in The Jinx, a documentary that unearthed new evidence and caught him in a stunning confession.

Did Robert Durst serve his sentence?

On Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, just two days after Durst was sentenced, his defense attorney Dick DeGuerin said Durst was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus. DeGuerin told multiple media outlets that Durst is on a ventilator. The convicted real-estate heir died in a hospital lockup on Jan. 10, 2022, aged 78.

Michael Caine was born on Mar. 14, 1933 - which makes him 88 in 2021.

Is Michael Caine retiring?

In an extended interview with The Guardian’s Xan Brooks, published Monday, Oct. 18, 2021, the veteran actor says: “I can’t walk, let alone run, and I’m more or less done with movies now.” Caine ads “I’ve done 150 movies. I think I’ve done enough.” IMDB actually lists 176 titles under Michael Caine’s actor filmography, including Now You See Me 3, which is yet to be filmed.

Oscar and Grammy award-winning actor Jamie Foxx, 53, shares his parenting lessons in his new book “Act Like You Got Some Sense: And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me” from Grand Central Publishing. Foxx has two daughters, Corinne, now 27, an actor and producer, and 13-year-old Anelise.

Marvel Studios' "Eternals" premiered on Oct. 18, 2021. Directed by the record-breaking Chloe Zhao ("Nomadland"), "Eternals" features the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first deaf character in Lauren Ridloff's Makkari. The movie was released on Nov. 5, 2021, as part of Phase Four of the MCU.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michelle Williams approved the artist formerly known as Kanye West’s request to make his Twitter handle, Ye, his full official name - with no middle name or last name, on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021.