Strange BUT TRUE

• It was Rose Bird, the first female chief justice of the California Supreme Court, who made the following sage observation: “We have probed the earth, excavated it, burned it, ripped things from it, buried things in it, chopped down its forests, leveled its hills, muddied its waters, and dirtied its air. That does not fit my definition of a good tenant. If we were here on a month-to-month basis, we would have been evicted long ago.”

• Have you ever heard of an “oreo” cow? It’s officially known as the Belted Galloway, a breed of cattle that originated in Scotland. A typical specimen is black with a broad white band around its middle.

• You might be surprised to learn that London Bridge has never actually fallen down. The bridge has had several iterations since the first one was built in 1170; wooden buildings constructed on the bridges have burned down, and some of the bridges have been torn down, but none has ever fallen of its own accord.

• The paintings of Dutch master Rembrandt are so detailed that modern specialists were able to diagnose a basal cell carcinoma — a kind of skin cancer — by examining a portrait of the artist’s mother.

• The Guinness Book of World Records (now known simply as Guinness World Records) has earned a spot in its own roster: It is officially the best-selling copyrighted book of all time, with sales of more than 100 million copies in 100 different countries and 37 languages.

• According to ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius, an ideal meal is made up of onefourth meat and three-fourths vegetables.

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Thought for the Day:

“The central function of imaginative literature is to make you realize that other people act on moral convictions different from your own.” — William Empson