Trivia

Q. Where’s “The Port of Missing Men”?

A. Aberdeen, Wash., was once so called. The bodies of 41 merchant seamen were found in nearby Grays Harbor between 1901 and 1912. William Gohl was the local representative for the Sailors Union of the Pacific. When seamen came ashore, they checked their valuables in his safe. Then he shot them and dropped them through a trap door into the river. Evidence suggests more than 100 floated down to the bay. He got life.

More American women are choosing to be childless, clearly. More than so chose 20 years ago, anyhow. The rate was 16 percent at recent report. Back in the 70’s it was 9 percent. If it rises to 22 percent, it will equal the extraordinary childless rate of the Great Depression.

Modern ranch hands also file for divorce and use their own vernacular to explain it: “When the horse dies, get off.”

Something else you can do in the break is tally up the big corporations named after their founders’ daughters. Start with Mercedes-Benz, Sara Lee, Wendy’s. Your turn.

“Sole” is any of many sorts of flatfish in the family Soleidae. Bottom fish. Scavengers. Pretty tasty, properly prepared. But a client says, “No, thanks. Knowing what they eat and where they’ve been, I wouldn’t ask a waiter for sole.” As you wish. Order ham and eggs.

Dallas of late has had a high vacancy rate in its downtown office buildings - about 35.3 percent. That’s proportionately higher than the rate in any other big U.S. city. Houston’s vacancy rate, 25.4 percent. Detroit’s, 25.1. They’re 1995 figures.

Argument continues over which Reuben the Reuben sandwich was named for. Some credit the Omaha grocer Reuben Kay, who concocted it for his poker-playing associates. Others say it was New York deli owner Arnold Reuben, famous in the 1940s and ‘50’s for his fancy sandwiches named after celebrities.

To your list of oxymorons, please add “safe sex.”