The Year in Dumbness: A Quiz

Answers:

1. (D.) Spending more money. That second "E," by the way, sold for the bargain price of $10,500.

2. (B.) Kozlowski. This year, the feds accused him of taking out $225 million in unauthorized loans from Tyco, attempting to erase $25 million of those loans, and receiving $58 million in unauthorized bonuses.

3. (B.) Up 13%. The pundits also predicted that the S&P 500 would rise 15%; it's down 22%.

4. (A.) Schumer said that about Pitt's expected successor William H. Donaldson, according to the New York Law Journal. The stuff about Zeus and Churchill came during Pitt's nomination hearing in July 2001, according to CongressDaily. The "wrong man, wrong time" comment was quoted in a report by Charles Osgood this November.

5. (D.) Stewart cut up for the cameras in June, and Sullivan pleaded later in September. The Barbra Streisand hoax never happened. As for the nursery school, "Since 1938, the 92nd Street Y Nursery School has provided a warm and creative atmosphere to foster young children's imagination, curiosity and intellect," according to the school's Web site. So what devoted father wouldn't want his kids to go there?

6. (C.) He got $8 million more. "That is set up as a contractual obligation of the company," Conseco spokesman Mark Lubbers told The Indianapolis Star. "We don't pick and choose which contracts we're going to honor."

7. (A.) Tonya Harding was the no-show. Alliance Gaming brought Victoria Fuller (along with Betty Boop, Popeye and Olive Oyl), Sony hosted Frank the Pug, and Honda trotted out Asimo.

8. (A.) Maintaining an email address was cited by a whopping 92% of respondents. Forty-seven percent said AOL Instant Messenger, which is available free to non-AOL members. Third place, at 19%, was parental controls. Sessions@AOL got the nod from 10%.

9. (D.) Give it the old college try. Hillison is at Florida State University, Lambert is at the University of New Orleans, Lundholm is at the University of Michigan, and Hicks is at Howard University.

10. (C.) Qwest still, in fact, is not bankrupt. The company's shares, which peaked at $66 in 2000, closed at $2.69 the day of the hearing. They've since climbed past $5.