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More “Useless Facts for Inquiring Minds.”

● The working title of Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone With the Wind” was “Ba! Ba! Black Sheep.”

● When Homo sapiens appeared about 100,000 years ago, the species was noted for a smaller body and a larger brain. But even then, Neanderthal brains were larger than ours.

● In 5 BC, Rome became the world’s first city to reach a population of one million. The second city to reach that milestone was London — but not until 1800 AD.

● The majestic lion statues in front of the main branch of the New York Public Library are named Patience and Fortitude. They were carved from pink Tennessee marble and erected in 1911.

● At the US Constitutional Convention in 1787, the delegates thought it would be inappropriate to count a slave as a whole person when determining a state’s population. In their wisdom, they decided that a slave would count as 3/5 of a free citizen.

● The ionosphere, so named for the abundance of ionized atoms and free electrons within it, begins about 30 miles up and extends to the edge of space (roughly 60 miles above the planet’s surface). Radio waves bounce off the ionosphere, which is what makes radio communications possible.

● The body of an adult human contains about 100,000 miles of blood vessels.

● The tragic Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh (poverty, depression, suicide) created almost 900 oil paintings, but sold only a few. The only one known by name was “Red Vineyard at Arles,” which was purchased by the sister of one of Van Gogh’s friends.