Here's a second helping of entertaining oddities in history, literature, language, art, philosophy, and mathematics from Futility Closet, the online catalog of beguiling curiosities: joyous dogs, soul-stirring Frenchmen, runaway balloons, U-turning communists, manful hummingbirds, recalcitrant Ws, intractable biplanes, vengeful whales, hairless trombonists, abusive New Zealanders, unreconstituted cannibals, mysterious blimps, thrice-conscripted Koreans, imaginary golf courses, irate Thackerays, and hundreds more. Plus the amusing inventions, curious words, puzzles and oddities that regularly...