Trivia

Traveling musician in the Middle Ages had no legal rights. Murder of such an entertainer was not a punishable crime.

If you learn how to pet your plants skillfully, you can shape their growth with gentle fingertip touches. This is covered, as no doubt you’ll recall, in everything you’ve ever read about “thigmomorphogenesis.”

Q. The most compelling desire is said to be the desire to survive. What’s the second most compelling?

A. The desire to be wanted. Or so contend those who purport to know.

Q. Only one flower grown commercially is never grown in a greenhouse. Name it.

A. Gladiolus.

Q. What characterized that jazz style of music called “bebop”? When did it come out?

A. Complex harmonics, intertwining melodic lines, constantly shifting accents, rapid tempos. Starting toward the end of World War II - 1944 - by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist Charlie Parker, pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and drummers Kenny Clarke and Max Roach.

Q. Which of the United States has the greatest variety of trees?

A. Michigan has claimed that distinction.