Trivia

Q. Why are “minutes” of a meeting called that?

A. Came from “minute” pronounced “mi-NOOT.” Because they were recorded in a tiny script. Shorthand used to be described as “minute” writing.

In Singapore, you can be fined the equivalent of $150 for leaving a public restroom toilet unflushed.

In Soest, Germany, is a 15th-century church with a stained-glass window depicting the Last Supper. On the table are pumpernickel, Westphalian ham and beer.

Most jaws are strongest when clamping shut. But jaws of starlings are strongest when prying open.

Psychologist Alfred Adler said all children do what they do purposefully to get what they want. “Goal-directed behavior” he called it. Explain the goal, he said, and you’ll have explained the behavior.

Q. It took 15 or 20 minutes for the “In Cold Blood” killers to die when hanged. … I thought hanging meant instant painless death …?

A. It does, if flexibility is first boiled out of the rope and the drop is precisely rigged to exert a 1,260-foot-pound force at the end of the fall. That condemned pair may have wound up at the end of short drops.