Trivia

Q. In what lines of work would I have the best chance of getting a night job?

A. 1. Health care. 2. Data processing. 3. Utilities. 4. Manufacturing. 5. Transportation. Those put on the most night-shift help. Lagniappe: Night shifters have a higher-than-normal divorce rate.

If you want to count animals with retractable snouts, start with tapirs.

Where’d all the unmarried grown-ups come from? In this country 25 years ago, there were about 37 million unmarried. Today it’s more like 73 million. Pretty big jump, isn’t it?

Red fish are invisible in deep water, or nearly.

Do you intend to celebrate the new millennium a year early? Likewise. The party no doubt will start before midnight of Dec. 31, 1999. After that, you and I will date our checks with the year 2000 for a full 12 months before the 21st century, the new millennium, arrives on Jan. 1, 2001.

A duck can’t walk without bobbing its head.

When you go to a party in some countries - Paraguay, for one - you’re expected to shake hands with everyone there when you walk in, and again when you walk out. Or so say the authorities on international etiquette.