Strange BUT TRUE

* It was notoriously prolific American author and academic Isaac Asimov, who died in 1992, who made the following sage observation: “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”

* If you’re like 10 to 20 percent of the U.S. population, you suffer from “coulrophobia,” a fear of clowns.

* In Linden, California, a man saw a rabbit scurry into an irrigation pipe. Worried about the animal’s safety, he got two other men to help him lift the 44-foot-long pipe and urge the rabbit out. Their kindly behavior wasn’t rewarded, however; while the men were lifting it, the pipe touched a 12,000-volt electrical wire, electrocuting all three of the Good Samaritans.

* Those who suffer from Moebius syndrome are incapable of showing expressions on their faces — not a frown or a smile or a quizzical lift of an eyebrow. They often are found sleeping with their eyes open. * Between 1976 and 1987, no red M&M candies were produced.

* A collection of items that belonged to Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler’s longtime companion (and, very briefly, his wife), recently went up for auction. Among the items was a pair of her underwear, lilac with white lace and ribbon trim, embroidered with her initials. An unnamed collector bought the undergarment for more than $3,500.

* If you want to get a karat’s worth of diamond, you’ll have to mine, on average, 23 tons of ore

Thought for the Day:

“Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats.” — H.L. Mencken