L.M. Boyd Trivia

“ Your average California redwood is taller than the Statue of Liberty.

“ George Pullman saw the bunks in the Colorado mining camps. And made a long creative jump to design the first sleeping cars for trains.

“ Report is there are at least 100 officially recognized national boundary disputes worldwide at any given moment.

“ Q. How come owners of oceanside cottages put up with the beachcombers?

A. Can’t do much about them. Footprinting the sand is legal below the high-tide line.

“Nothing new about political criticism of trial lawyers. In 1641, the Massachusetts Bay colony made it illegal for anyone to earn money by representing another in court. In 1658, the Virginia Legislature passed a law to expel all lawyers.

“ Whatever else you may think of President James Monroe, you have to remember he was the only ehief executive with a last name that ends in a vowel.

“ Q. If a baboon isn’t an ape, what is it?

A. A monkey, of a sort. There are only four kinds of apes: gorillas, chimps, gibbons and orangutans.

“ Coffee tables used to be higher. Much higher. By “used to be” I mean back when women wore corsets and bustles and all that. They sat upright, so the tables stood 26 to 28 inches high.