Strange but true

* It was farmer and author Wendell Berry who made the following sage observation: “Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.”

* Those who study such things say that size does matter — at least to proboscis monkeys. It seems that among these primates, females show a significant preference for males with larger noses.

* If you’ve ever been to a major sporting event, or even watched one on TV, you’ve seen costumed characters representing schools and sports teams. However, unless you’ve been to Japan, you don’t

understand mascots’ true potential. There, the mascot industrial complex is so large that in 2015, the Finance Ministry launched a campaign to reduce spending by cutting the number of unnecessary mascots in the country. According to one estimate, there are 10,000 mascots employed by the government alone. Some examples: Prince Pickles and Princess Parsley represent the Defense Ministry; Wakayama Prison is represented by Waka-P, a bright orange creature with a huge head; and Toilet-kun, who has a toilet-seat lid for a face, is the mascot for City of Yokohama’s waste recycling bureau.

* Have you ever wondered why the green room — the waiting area just offstage where actors stand-by before and after stage appearances — is green? Well, evidently it’s believed that the color green is soothing to eyes that have been exposed to the glare of stage lights.

* The game of billiards first appeared in the New World in St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the contiguous United States. It was in 1565 that Spanish explorers started playing the game here.

* Rabbits are well-known as magicians’ preferred animal when performing, but have you ever wondered why? It’s because rabbits tend to stay calm and quiet when handled rather than becoming agitated and noisy.

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Thought for the Day:

“Contentment is, after all, simply refined indolence.” — Thomas Chandler Haliburton