Trivia

Q. Who was the first left-handed U.S. president?

A. James A. Garfield.

What was the first sort of creature on earth? The devout of most faiths remain certain of their own convictions in this matter. Scientists have been less positive. But now a growing number say they believe it was a microorganism in the heated water around the thermal vents on ocean floors.

Q. What U.S. states prohibit billboards?

A. Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii and Maine.

“Trouble with being a full-time homemaker,” writes a wistful woman, “is when you don’t feel well enough to go to work, staying home doesn’t help.”

Q. What do you call that doohickey that keeps the screen door open?

A. A snub.

The sculptor Houdon watched George Washington haggle over a yoke of oxen. It was Washington’s intense haughty expression at the moment that Houdon chiseled onto the marble of the only statue Washington ever posed for. It now stands in the Capitol rotunda at Richmond, Va. Washington liked it. He thought the stern look befitting.

Those who like cute refer to an artificial satellite as a “moonlet.”