Trivia

Q. Is it true a healthy hippo can swim 30 mph?

A. No, but it can sprint short spurts underwater on the river bottom with remarkable speed. Maybe even that fast.

First toothpaste sold in metal tubes instead of jars was Colgate.

What you wear when you go to bed is perennially researched by surveytakers, and in their most recent report, they claim 17 percent of the men nationwide wear nothing while only 4 percent of the women do likewise.

Bigger cars may be safer in accidents, but smaller cars get into more of them. Studies show that.

Q. What’s a “Stirling engine”?

A. A complex but efficient external combustion engine that alternately heats and cools gases in sealed cylinders to power its pistons. A Scot named Robert Stirling invented it in 1816. Claim is such engines have worked with no more than the heat of a man’s hand.

If it’s “chlorochrous,” it’s sort of green.