Trivia

Q. Why are publicists and their stories called “flack”?

A. An offshoot of “flak,” short for German anti-aircraft weaponry called “Flieger Abwehr Kanone.” In the World War II era, publicists, especially Hollywood publicists, intermittently fired off barrages of press releases, planted items, and whispered reports about concocted stunts, hoping they’d explode into print in newspapers or burst forth on the air of radio.

“No enemy is worse than bad advice,” advised Sophocles.

December is the waffle month, January the hotcake month. Together, they make a minimarketing season for syrup - and syrup prices go up.

A black-footed ferret will eat a prairie dog, fur, bones and all, except the paws.

“Scientific American” is a fine magazine. It reports things like this: “The common lilac begins to flower when the sum of the squares of the mean daily temperatures (Celsius) since the end of the previous frost adds up to 4,264.”

An algebra scholar named Robert Record of England’s Oxford created the equal (=) sign in 1557. He said he chose that particular symbol because “no two things can be more equal than two parallel straight lines.”