Quizmaster's Blog

Welcome to the third annual Official Predictions™ of the JetPunk quizmaster, in which this flawed prognosticator tries to make sense of the world by guessing what the future will hold.

Each year, we compile a list of the quizzes with the most five star ratings in that calendar year. Welcome to the most upvoted quizzes of 2023. Enjoy!

Last January, I made my second annual Official Predictions™ for the coming year. Once again, I was hilariously wrong about lots of things. Let's see how I did.

Welcome to the second annual Official Predictions™ of the JetPunk quizmaster, in which this flawed prognosticator tries to make sense of the world by guessing what the future will hold.

Last February, I made my first annual Official Predictions™ for the coming year. It didn't take very long for many of these predictions to look quite bad indeed. Let's see how I did.

Each year, we compile a list of the quizzes with the most five star ratings in that calendar year. So... here they are!

In which the quizmaster tries to convince an impressionable young AI that Belgium is the worst country in the world. Does he succeed?

American citizen? You should seriously consider buying Series I bonds, commonly known as "I Bonds".

Welcome to the first annual Official Predictions™ of the JetPunk quizmaster, in which this flawed prognosticator tries to make sense of the world (and his personal life) by guessing what the future will hold.

Each year, we compile a list of the quizzes with the most five star ratings in that calendar year. Welcome to the most-upvoted quizzes of 2021. Enjoy!

I'm trying to take advantage of the effect of music on memory. I love to find new songs to listen each year. Listen to them enough, and the song will be permanently etched in my memory - tied to the people and experiences I remember from that year. Help me find the ultimate 2022 playlist. What are you listening to right now?

Sometimes the Quizmaster needs to buy presents for people. But buying presents is hard. So I'm asking for your help. What do you want for Christmas? Give me some ideas for gifts that make people smile and, while you're at it, gifts that make people frown.

Take a journey back through time to the 1990s and beyond as we explore these technological artifacts that young people might not about.

In March 2020, I wrote a blog article called Reasons for Hope about the Coronavirus Pandemic. Let's just say that I was wrong about a lot of things. But I was in good company. From epidemiologists, to doctors, to politicians, Covid-19 made fools of us all. So let's take a look at the article, what I got right, and what I got wrong.

What if Twitter had existed for hundreds of years? Here are some politically-incorrect quotes that would have ended up with historical figures getting canceled.

Who are the ten most powerful people on the planet? Read on to see JetPunk's selection.

Sports are lots of fun to play and watch. Sometimes. Other times they can be tedious and boring. Here are my thoughts on the pros and cons of the most watched and played sports in the United States.

Just a quick note to let people know that we've released a new feature as of today.

Many people are concerned about COVID-19 and are even willing to take extreme measures to reduce their risks. But there is one very simple thing you can do right now that is likely to both reduce your risk of contracting COVID-19, and improve your outcomes if you do get it.

For the third year in a row, here are the new quizzes with the most unique 5-star ratings in 2020. Enjoy.

Are you grateful to be living in the 21st century? You should be. Here are 10 weird ways that people used to die in the past (but mostly don't anymore).

I visited Benito Mussolini's page on Wikiquote and I was shocked by how many famous people said positive things about Mussolini. Here is a smattering.

Updated and improved with three new ways the world could end!

Nearly all scientists agree that the Earth's climate is changing. The burning of fossil fuels has caused the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to rise by large amounts. This, in turn, has caused the average surface temperature of the Earth to rise by about 1°C since the year 1900, with much larger effects on polar regions. The good news? We can stop global warming - and eventually even reverse it. Here's how.

It's not just dictators who like to change the names of things. Regular people do it too. Usually for money. Sometimes, we even change the names of things that we eat to make them sound more appetizing. In that spirit, here are some foods whose names have changed throughout history.

Thought-provoking articles recommended by the JetPunk quizmaster.

In no particular order, here are some books I like, in case you have the same eclectic tastes that I do.

If you were paying attention last year, you noticed that we changed our quizzes in honor of the glorious former leader of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. In March 2019, the Parliament of Kazakhstan honored Mr. Nazarbayev by changing the name of the capital from Astana to Nur-Sultan in his honor. We were only too happy to follow suit.

But let's not forgot the wonderful name changes imposed by some of Nursultan's cousins throu

Plagiarizing another person's content is never okay. But what about a quiz "idea"? Who owns it? That's a lot trickier question.

Coronavirus is serious and the news gets worse every day. But here are 10 reasons to be hopeful long term.

Another year is in the books. Which new quizzes got the most unique 5 star ratings in 2019?

You may have noticed that the trees planted counter on our home page just took a big jump! What happened?

Since reaching a peak in 1980, the murder rate in the United States has declined by about half. In some areas, such as New York City, it has decreased even more. Why did it happen? Here are five very plausible explanations.

A new feature, plus a couple announcements.

In the spirit of honoring a great leader, it's time to make a change. From now on, all featured JetPunk quizzes will refer to the capital of Kazakhstan as Nur-Sultan. All hail Nursultan Nazarbayev! May he live forever.

We recently added a new feature to JetPunk - user blogs.

Once upon a time, we had a quiz on our site called "The Most Important People in History". It was based on a book by author Michael H. Hart. And while it was one of our most popular quizzes, I didn't like it. In my opinion, Hart's list of history's 100 most influential people had some major problems. I thought we could do better. So I made my own list.

Starting today, you'll be able to use JetPunk to create and take multiple choice quizzes. Just go here to get started.

Another year has come and gone. Which new quizzes got the most unique 5 star ratings in 2018?

If you create a new quiz, you might notice that things look different. We've made some pretty substantial changes to the quiz editor. Most of the changes happened behind the scenes, but here are a few of the new features.

I made some small changes to the site today that I probably should have done awhile ago. Going forward, users will need to reach level 10 to comment and level 15 to create quizzes. The purpose of this is to reduce the labor required to run the site. I hope that it won't inconvenience too many people. These levels are super easy to obtain, and I think it will reduce the amount of low quality content.

What's the fastest time on the Countries of the World quiz? It's a question that many people have asked, but I couldn't answer. It's really easy to cheat so just looking at the stats isn't enough.

Originally promised by the of the year, and then "in a couple weeks" ever since, the JetPunk photo quiz editor is finally here!

We are pleased to introduce our new feature: comment editing!

JetPunk is excited to announce a new charitable initiative! Starting now, and retroactive to January 1st, JetPunk will donate 5% of our revenue to the Arbor Day Foundation. The Arbor Day Foundation, based in the U.S. state of Nebraska, is the world's largest non-profit organization dedicated to tree planting.

Several people have e-mailed me to ask how a quiz becomes eligible for points.

The short answer is this: quizzes that are featured on the front page are eligible for points. These quizzes are selected by me - the JetPunk quizmaster. I keep an eye on all the quizzes that are submitted, and choose my favorite ones to feature.

We introduced a new feature to JetPunk yesterday: badges.

I've been working hard this week to bring some new features to JetPunk. Here they are!

What vocabulary word is named after the ancient Spartans?

It's a well-known fact that humans are continuously improving at nearly every sport and game. In fact, today's high schoolers are often performing at a level that would have set world records 80 years ago. It's a remarkable testament to modern training methods and the hard work of modern athletes. But there's just one problem. It might not be true.

Who's the richest person of all-time? If you believe the internet, the answer might be someone you have never heard of: Mansa Musa. In fact, when I searched Google for "richest person of all time", Google displayed an information box saying "1. Mansa Musa, $400 billion". But, in this case, the internet is very wrong.

Some users have asked how to make SVG maps like the ones we have in our quizzes here and here. It's a somewhat complicated process that took me a long time to learn. I hope that this article will save time for people who are trying to make maps of their own. Warning: This article assumes expert level computer skills.

I recently finished my state flags quiz. It took a lot of boring work to finish. So I rewarded myself by writing this fun article, ranking the state flags from best to worst.

Like any normal person, I love reading 1,000 page books about Roman history. In case you're looking for some good reads on this fascinating subject, here are my favorites.

A few days ago, we brought you names that have gone out of style. I thought it might be a good idea to do the opposite, and find names that are new. Here is a list of American names that are now in the top 50 for their gender, but that never once appeared in the top 1,000 before 1960.

What do the names Shirley, Mildred, Judy, and Shannon have in common? At one time, they were among the 20 most popular names for girls in the United States. However, by the year 2015, they had fallen out of the top 1,000.