Strange BUT TRUE

• It was noted wit Ambrose Bierce who made the following sage observation: “All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.”

• You might be surprised to learn that in January 2004, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of maggots as a medical device for cleaning wounds.

• Presidential security was not always as formidable as it is today. In 1913, former President Theodore Roosevelt was walking down a Milwaukee street, heading to a speech he was scheduled to give. A man named John Schrank pulled out a gun and shot toward Roosevelt, who staggered but did not fall. There was no blood evident, and Roosevelt, who was campaigning for a second term, insisted on delivering his speech. When he pulled from a coat pocket the 100 pages on which his speech was written, he saw a bullet hole through the sheets of paper. Still determined to carry on, he gave his speech before going to the hospital, where it was discovered that the bullet had penetrated four inches into his body. After the perpetrator was arrested, it became evident that Schrank was insane; he claimed that President William McKinley had revealed to him in a dream that Roosevelt was responsible for McKinley’s assassination. Schrank spent the next 32 years in an insane asylum.

• If you see a group of flamingoes together in one place, it might be handy to know that the appropriate collective noun is a “flamboyance.”

• The instruments used by professional flute players are usually made from precious metals — either sterling silver, 14-carat gold or platinum.

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Thought for the Day:

“It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.” — Rollo May