Romans park their cars the way I would park if I had just spilled a beaker of hydrochloric acid on my lap.

I refer of course to the soaring wonder of the age known as the Eiffel Tower. Never in history has a structure been more technologically advanced, materially obsolescent, and gloriously pointless all at the same time.

So here I am, my affections torn between a postal service that never feeds me but can tackle a challenge and one that gives me free tape and prompt service but won't help me out when I can't remember a street name. The lesson to draw from this, of course, is that when you move from one country to another you have to accept that there are some things that are better and some things worse, and there is nothing you can do about it. That may not be the profoundest of insights to take away from a morning's outing, but I did get a free doughnut as well, so on balance I guess I'm happy.

In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe

What is it about maps? I could look at them all day, earnestly studying the names of towns and villages I have never heard of and will never visit.

He had the sort of face that makes you realize God does have a sense of humor.

There seemed to be a mystifying universal conspiracy among textbook authors to make certain the material they dealt with never strayed too near the realm of the mildly interesting and was always at least a long-distance phone call from the frankly interesting.