STRANGE BUT TRUE

• It was British mathematician, philosopher and social critic Bertrand Russell who made the following sage observation: “Every advance in civilization has been denounced as unnatural while it was recent.”

• If you’re like most adults, you have approximately 1,000 hairs per square inch of your scalp. That might seem like a lot, but consider the otter: Its 1 million hairs per square inch of skin make it the owner of the densest fur in the world.

• Before the 19th century, it was declasse to wear clothing with pockets. All the well-dressed members of the upper classes had servants to carry things...