Strange BUT TRUE

• It was Democratic governor and presidential hopeful Adlai Stevenson who made the following sage observation: “A free society is a place where it’s safe to be unpopular.”

• Statistics show that for every 71,000 skydiving jumps made, there is only one fatality. That might not seem surprising until you put it in context: You have a one in 20,000 chance of dying from a regular fall right here on solid ground.

• A.A. Milne, the British author best known for his children’s books about Winnie the Pooh, had a teacher and mentor you might not expect: H.G. Wells, one of the acknowledged fathers of science fiction and author of such novels as “The War of the Worlds,” “The Invisible Man” and “The Island of Dr. Moreau.”

• Here’s a smart idea: Some fitness centers are now using the energy clients expend on its exercise bikes to help power the building’s lighting.

• Arctic biologists say that polar bears can go weeks without eating — which is certainly handy in an environment where food isn’t always easy to get. Evidently, if a polar bear goes a week to 10 days without eating, its metabolism will slow down and the animal will live off its fat reserves until it finds its next meal.

• According to not one, but two studies conducted on the subject, those who have a ring finger that is longer than their index finger tend to be better athletes.

• If you drive a white automobile, you have a lot of company. There are more white cars in the United States than any other color.

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Thought for the Day: “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” — Albert Einstein