Strange BUT TRUE

• It was contemporary American poet and essayist Rita Dove who made the following sage observation: “If only the sun-drenched celebrities are being noticed and worshiped, then our children are going to have a tough time seeing the value in the shadows, where the thinkers, probers and scientists are keeping society together.”

• A Turkish man once won a bet by eating an entire barbecued lamb. He won 6 British pounds — about $7 — but he

never had a chance to spend it. Ten minutes after finishing the meal, he dropped dead.

• Those who study such things say that, pound for pound, the human body produces more heat than the sun.

• There was a time when the only people in the world who knew how to make mirrors were Venetian glassblowers. Their skill was so valuable that those with the knowledge lived as virtual prisoners (albeit privileged ones). And anyone caught spying on their methods was put to death.

• Just three months after his wedding, a New Zealand man named Aleki Taumoepeau lost his wedding ring when it slipped off his finger into the ocean. Unprepared for diving at that time, he marked the rough spot on a chart and vowed he would come back and find it — despite unpredictable currents and the fact that there are no landmarks on the ocean. It was a year before he could arrange to go back to the spot with the proper gear, but after just an hour of diving, he saw something bright shining from the bottom and found the ring.

• The term “IOU” originally came about as an abbreviation for “I owe unto.”

Thought for the Day:

“The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.”

— Madeleine L’Engle