In pursuit of the trivial

“A lawyer is a person who writes a 10,000-word document and calls it a ‘brief.’” So said legendary author Franz Kafka, who happened to be an attorney himself.

Seventy-five percent of Americans can name at least two of Snow White’s seven dwarves, but only 25 percent can name two Supreme Court justices, according to a 2006
survey. Americans are also more familiar with the Three Stooges than the three branches of government, with 74 percent correctly identifying Larry, Curly and Moe, while only 42 percent able to name the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Can you be sued for selling a haunted house? Under Massachusetts law, a broker or seller has no duty to disclose the “fact or suspicion” of a “supernatural phenomenon,” but full disclosure is required if a buyer specifically asks about the presence of ghosts.

The longest recorded prison sentencesin history were ones of 7,109 years, imposed on two con men in Iran in 1969. A California judge in 1973 imposed 25 consecutive
life terms for the murder of 25 migrant farm workers.

Of the 43 U.S. presidents to date, 25 have been lawyers — John Adams being the earliest and
Bill Clintonthe most recent.