Strange BUT TRUE

* It was beloved American humorist and social commentator Will Rogers who made the following sage observation: “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.”

* Famed Thoroughbred racehorse Man o’ War was as successful off the track as he was on it. After his famed career, he retired to stud, producing more than 64 stakes winners. Man o’ War sired 1937 Triple Crown winner War Admiral, and he was grandsire of Seabiscuit, who was Horse of the Year in 1938. In 1966, 37 percent of all stakes winners were descended from Man o’ War, and he appears at least 17 times in the bloodline of American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner.

* Those who study such things say that hyenas are more closely related to cats than to dogs.

* Those who study spycraft are aware of the many ingenious ways that have been used to pass secret messages. One of the earliest examples occurred in the late 6th century BCE, when Histiaeus, the tyrant of Miletus (in present-day Turkey), shaved the head of his most trusted slave, tattooed a message on the slave’s scalp, and waited for the hair to grow back before dispatching the slave to his son-in-law, Aristagoras, along with instructions to shave the slave’s head upon his arrival.

* Police in Saudi Arabia have been instructed to arrest young men wearing tight jeans; the garments are considered to be immodest and un-Islamic.

* The Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company, founded in 1858 and based in Newark, New Jersey, has the distinction of producing the first beer in cans, back in January 1935.

Thought for the Day:

“A man is known by the company he keeps. A company is known by the men it keeps.” — Thomas J. Watson