Can you ‘believe’ Sartre?

•It was French existential philosopher and author Jean-Paul Sartre who made the following observation: “To believe is to know you believe, and to know you believe is not to believe.”

•The opossum is the only marsupial that is native to the continent of North America.

•Jack Welch was the chairman and CEO of General Electric for 20 years beginning in 1981. When he retired, in 2001, his retirement package (better known these days as a “golden parachute”) included such lifetime perks as three country club memberships; a box at the Metropolitan Opera; seats at Wimbledon, the French Open and the U.S. Open; tickets to the Red Sox, the Yankees and the Knicks; free dry-cleaning service; food, wine, flowers and waitstaff whenever he’s in New York City; and free telephone and computer service at all five of his homes. Nice deal if you can get it.

•If you’re like the average American, you’ll eat about 35,000 cookies in your lifetime.

•Ever wonder why blue jeans are blue? When they were first designed, by Levi Strauss, the people most likely to wear them were those who did a great deal of manual labor. Strauss rightly assumed the work was likely to be dirty, so he dyed his new trousers indigo to help hide stains.

•Regular airmail service by the U.S. Post Office began way back in 1918. The first route was between Washington, D.C., and New York City, with a stop along the way in Philadelphia.