Swotting, burning, idling

Swotting away at studying up on trivia: lists of state mottoes, lists of largest lakes, lists of brightest stars, etc. Refreshing myself on history and some literature. I used to be very au courant with the entertainment world, but the last decade or so my age caught up with me and I now know very little about what's hot on the charts, let alone what starlet is snuggling with whom.

Burning the midnight oil, and getting little sleep. the blog will probably have short posts for the next three weeks or so.

I get Ken Jennings' Tuesday Trivia in my email weekly. Here's the latest:

1. Which Muppet has a wife named Astoria?
Waldorf, I suppose.

2. A community at Sabbathday Lake, Maine, is today home to the last remaining members of what group?
Well, the lake's name clearly indicates some religious group, but which? The Seventh Day Adventists' membership isn't dwindling. Maine is also a clue, I'm sure, but it's not ringing any bells with me.

3. What did TV Guide magazine do on October 17, 2005 that Rolling Stone later did on October 30, 2008?
No clue at all. Put a Jack-O'-Lantern on the cover?

4. What number followed the name of all of the spacecraft capsules flown by the Mercury astronauts?
I don't know this one either, which is a bad sign; "Quiz Show!" loves its US Space program questions. If I had to, I'd guess Three.

5. What famous woman is the sister of Oregon State basketball coach Craig Robinson?
Ken's questions are unusually esoteric this week, I think. I have no idea.

6. Pashmina wool comes from a breed of what animal?
I've heard of this but have forgotten the details. Llama?

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these celebrities? Sarah Ferguson, Morgan Freeman, Harrison Ford, Arnold Palmer, Ron Paul, John Travolta, Chuck Woolery, Steve Wozniak.
Okay, while Question Seven is supposed to be the Google-proof stumper, this time it seems much easier than the other six to me. Ford's adventures as a pilot are well-known. John Travolta is also well-known to be a pilot. Fergie wrote a series of children's books about Budgie the Helicopter, and is the only royal with a pilot's license. I have no details about Woolery, but I do know that he was an adventurer and claimed to be a spy; such a person would probably be a private pilot. So that was a simple one, I think, but the others, except #1, were all out of my admittedly random areas of familiarity.