Trivia

Consider raindrops, bubbles, balloons, moon, earth. Science knows the sphere is the shape with the smallest surface area for its volume. Everything in nature, it seems, wants to be round. Except you and me.

Charles Darwin’s book on earthworms was far better known in his lifetime than his “Origin of Species.”

“Your character is what you are in the dark,” said the sage Dwight L. Moody.

If the boat motor’s propeller turns clockwise, it’s “right-handed.”

Those who wanted to get out of New York City a century ago mostly left on ferries or trains. Eight percent of their docks and depots then were on Manhattan’s 23rd Street. That street number and a delight in departure created the antique catch phrase “23-skidoo.”

“Genes that determine intelligence are on the X chromosome. Intelligence therefore would more likely be inherited through the mother inasmuch as women have two X chromosomes while men have only one.” So reports Hunter Genetics, Australia.

That bison you and I call a buffalo can’t lift its head above its shoulder level.

In Romania once a man had to get a government permit to grow a beard.