STRANGE BUT TRUE

• It was humorist Jerome K. Jerome who made the following sage observation: “It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen.”

• Though it is unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable, there is a law on the books in Tennessee which prohibits duelists, preachers and atheists from being elected to public office.

• According to most history books, the first shots of the Civil War we...