Trivia

Mon., Jan. 20, 1997

L.M. Boyd Crown Syndicate

The men who built the Erie Canal were paid $1 plus a quart of whiskey a day in 4-ounce shots starting at 6 a.m.

Few snails survive without food for five years, but it’s claimed snails can do it. Fascinating, if factual.

Q. Is it true the public pharmacy in Vatican City sells birth-control pills?

A. Quite true, at last report. But only to the non-Catholic married women who work in Vatican City.

If about to be marooned on a desolate island, what would you most like to take with you? My turn: a bushel of potatoes to grow a ton more in a year. Your turn: ?

George Washington chalked his teeth.

Q. Who created the world’s most popular secular symbol - $ - the dollar sign?

A. Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman, is usually credited with that adaptation on April 1, 1778. Of a design on the Spanish Pieces of Eight coin minted in Mexico City as early as 1732.

Every woman hates the view of herself from behind, says model Cindy Crawford. Is this true?

When people in Japan, are asked to identify their religious preference, many name more than one. Membership statistics of religions there run 1.7 times the total population.

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