Strange but true
• The first sunglasses were invented in 12th-century China and made from smoked quartz. While providing no protection against harmful UV rays, they did give some relief from the sun’s glare and also served as a valuable tool for Chinese judges, allowing them to seem emotionally detached during interrogations.
• English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) is credited with the first printed use of the words “selfless,” “psychosomatic,” “bipolar” and “bisexual.”
•A study by neurologists showed that some patients suffering from brain trauma and damage on the right-hand side of their brain have a compulsive obsession to tell jokes they find hilarious, while not finding other peoples’ jokes funny at all.
• The hacker group Anonymous once sent thousands of all-black faxes to the Church of Scientology to deplete all of their ink cartridges.
• May 29 is officially “Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day.” This curious holiday derives from an old custom of placing a piece of cloth from one’s bedroom in a place where food was kept, helping to ensure a supply of future plenty to the household.
• Sierra Leone is the world’s roundest country and sits not too far from Egypt — the world’s squarest country.
• Nearly 3% of the ice in Antarctic glaciers is composed of penguin urine. Due to the subzero temperature in that area, it can’t evaporate.
• Think you hate going to the dentist? A 12-year-old French boy once faked his own kidnapping to get out of it! After being located in a village 100 miles from his home, the lad lied to police, even describing his kidnapper’s distinctive cheek scar. Only after they had searched for a month and re-questioned him did the boy confess.
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Thought for the Day: “A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.” — Albert Einstein