Trivia

The correct kimono in Japan is wrapped left over right - unless the wearer is dead.

“Whom do you want sitting next to you on a business flight?” Survey takers put that query to frequent fliers. “Nobody,” said 55 percent. Some said “a friend.” A few said, “associate.” One said something about “the woman at the front desk.” A few oddballs said, “My boss.”

Considering flight to South America to escape the high taxes? Scratch Ecuador. It’s tax rate is 65 percent.

Profound misadventures are not new to Croatia. The necktie originated there.

That term “basket case” goes way back. In what’s now Germany, ancient tribes put certain maniacal criminals, bound and gagged, into big baskets and suspended same over fires. Roman invaders called such punishments “causae de bacauda,” meaning “basket cases” and decreed them uncivilized. The Romans favored crucifixion.

Sean Connery started out as Thomas Connery.

Item No. 1856A in our Love and War man’s file on married couples is this observation by Montaigne: “If the husband provides the strength, Nature requires the wife to provide the style.”

Q. Which ocean is older - the Atlantic or the Pacific?

A. the Pacific. Considerably.

Among the craftier canines is Australia’s wild dingo. Genetic memory prods it to play dead when threatened. It can be dragged, mauled, even beaten without showing life signs - until it detects clear escape. From what predators did that behavior save its ancestors? Snakes? Crocs? Men?

Q. Doesn’t “downriver” mean north in Canada?

A. Almost always.

Q. Who was the first black superhero in the comics?

A. The Black Panther. In 1964.

The legendary John D. Rockefeller made this point: “A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.”