In 1954, at his wife’s urging, vice president Richard Nixon wrote on a slip of paper:
“I promise to Patricia Ryan Nixon that I will not again seek public office.”
He dated the note, folded it, and put it in his wallet.
Six years later he ran for president.
The 17th-century churchman Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) had a gift for pithy maxims:
And “Learning hath gained most by those books by which the printers have lost.” “Wit,” wrote Coleridge, “was the stuff and substance of Fuller’s intellect.”
Bicycles are great for exercising the lower body, but what about the back? In 1900 Louis S. Burbank had a bright idea — by mounting a pair of sculls on the frame, the modern cyclist can row his way to total fitness.
The levers are used for both pedaling and steering. The patent says nothing about brakes.
The four young stars of Rebel Without a Cause all died prematurely:
See Fallout.
“Knowing exactly how much of the future can be introduced into the present is the secret of great government.” — Victor Hugo
A paradox by Sam Loyd. The figure on the left, measuring 8×8, can be reassembled into the figure on the right, measuring 7×9. Therefore 64 = 63.
knickknackatory
n. a collection of knickknacks
A tongue twister: Bluebeard brought back black bric-a-brac.
In 1842, a Mrs. Simon was traveling by train through the English countryside when a torrential downpour began. The kind-looking elderly gentleman sitting opposite her suddenly arose, opened the window, put his head out, and kept it out for nearly nine minutes. Finally he withdrew it, dripping with water, closed the window, and sat with his eyes closed for a quarter of an hour.
Unable to suppress her curiosity, the young lady arose, opened the window, and put her own head out.
At the next year’s Academy, as she was viewing Rain, Steam, and Speed, someone behind her said, “Just like Turner, ain’t it. Whoever saw such a ridiculous conglomeration?”
She said quietly, “I did.”
