Strange BUT TRUE

By Samantha Weaver

• It was 19th-century English writer Sir Arthur Helps who made the following sage observation: “Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought.”

• In the state of Texas, it’s against the law to milk a cow that’s not your own.

• You might be surprised to learn that when Walt Disney first released the animated film “Sleeping Beauty,” in 1959, it was a box-office flop. However, the success of the various re-releases — in 1970, 1979, 1986, 1995 — have made it one of the most successful films released in 1959, second only to “BenHur.” The domestic total gross amounts to $623 million (when adjusted for the inflation of ticket prices), which puts “Sleeping Beauty” in the top-40 films of all time.

• You might be surprised to learn that hyenas are more closely related to cats than to dogs.

• Those who study such things say that men who tuck in their shirts on a regular basis — and 49 percent of American men do tuck — tend to be happier than non-tuckers. For starters, they earn, on average, 19 percent more. They’re also 22 percent more likely to have an optimistic outlook, are 10 percent more likely to feel that they’re outgoing, and are more likely to report that they date often.

• Marsupials and platypuses are the only mammals that don’t have belly buttons. A marsupial loses its umbilical cord before emerging its mother’s pouch, so a scar never forms. Platypuses are hatched and never have an umbilical cord to begin with.

Thought for the Day:

“The great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up. That is possible for him who never argues and strives with men and facts, but in all experience relies upon himself, and looks for the ultimate cause of things in himself.”