Strange BUT TRUE

• It was the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who made the following sage observation: “Government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.”

• You might be surprised to learn that Helen Keller, best known as the first blind and deaf person to earn a bachelor’s degree, loved performing. She spent years on vaudeville tours, and in 1919 she starred in “Deliverance,” a silent film about her life.

• In the Canadian town of Churchill, Manitoba, most people don’t lock their car doors. The primary motivation for this practice isn’t trust (although, of course, trust is required), but public safety: A pedestrian who unexpectedly encounters a polar bear will be able to find refuge in any car along the street.

• With warmer weather approaching, you might want to consider heading to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to witness an annual rite of spring. Students at Lake Superior State University gather on (or near) the first day of spring for the annual Snowman Burning. Started in 1971 by a campus club known as the Unicorn Hunters, the tradition involves setting alight a 12-foottall “snowman” — usually built of recycled paper, wood and wire — to celebrate the end of winter.

• If you haven’t listened to any new music in a while, chances are you’re over 33. Those who study such things say that’s the age at which Americans would rather stick to what they know than try out new tunes.

• If winter seems to be dragging on endlessly, be glad you don’t live on Uranus; there, winter lasts 21 years.

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Thought for the Day:

“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.”