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Answers to AMA Member Challenge
April 2009

Now that this best-selling doll from Mattel has turned 50, will AARP mail a membership application to her Dream House?

• Strawberry Shortcake
• Bratz
• Barbie
• Skipper

Correct answer: Barbie. Barbie, whose full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts, debuted at the New York City toy fair on March 9, 1959. She was named for the daughter of her creators, Mattel founders Ruth and Elliot Handler. Birthday celebration plans include a fashion show at New York’s Fashion Week and a six-story “House of Barbie” store in Shanghai.

2. In India, a company named Tata hopes to steer consumers toward its low-priced new product, the “Nano.” Just what is a Nano?

• Compact car
• Portable computer
• Air conditioner
• Athletic shoe

Correct answer: Compact car. The basic Nano model, due this summer, will sell for just over $2,000. The hope is that the low-priced vehicle will allow India’s middle- and working-classes to own cars. Tata has entered into a partnership with the State Bank of India to finance Nano purchases.

3. March 24 marked the 20-year anniversary of America’s worst oil spill, when what super-tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska?

• Texaco Viernes
• Shell Vieira
• Exxon Valdez
• Hess Verdes

Correct answer: Exxon Valdez. The Valdez super-tanker spewed 11 million gallons of crude oil into the fishing waters of Prince William Sound, with devastating environmental effects. The U.S. passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, establishing shipping safety requirements, including a double-hull construction for all tankers, as well as spill response guidelines.

4. One member of President Obama’s cabinet—Dr. Steven Chu—holds a Nobel prize in physics. What department does Dr. Chu oversee?

• Obesity
• Treasury
• Defense
• Energy

Correct answer: Energy. Dr. Chu is a former chairman of Stanford University’s physics department. He shared the 1997 Nobel in physics for his work on cooling and trapping atoms with a laser light.

5. Which country’s government has just said “Nej” to bailing out its financially troubled automaker Saab?

• Sweden
• South Africa
• Brazil
• Germany

Correct answer: Sweden. Saab sold just 93,295 vehicles worldwide in 2008 and lost over $340 million, bringing it just short of bankruptcy. Saab is owned by GM, which plans to completely pull out of the company by year-end 2009.