Strange BUT TRUE

• In 2008, two sisters from Virginia sold their Illinois-shaped corn flake on eBay for $1,350.

• One of the first diet books, “The Art of Living Long” by Luigi Comaro, came out in 1558 … and is still in print.

• In the movie “Psycho’s” iconic shower scene, Alfred Hitchcock achieved the sound of stabbings by knifing through a casaba melon. He even had his crew audition multiple varieties of melon to get the perfect tone.

• Folks who enjoy collecting ties are known as grabatologists.

• The mostly unknown second and third verses of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” reveal the song was originally written as a feminist anthem about a woman wanting to go see a baseball game rather than go on a date to a show.

• Cinderella’s shoes were made of fur, not glass, in the tale’s original version.

• Overdo it on the garlic or onions and need to freshen your breath? Try roasted coffee beans instead of gum or mints. Israeli scientists have found that coffee can inhibit the bacteria that leads to bad breath, but if you prefer drinking it to chewing, you’ll do best to take it black.

• German chocolate cake was named for an American baker, Samuel German.

• “Scurryfunge” is an old English word meaning to rush around cleaning when you see company is on their way over.

• In the Middle Ages, the “shrew’s fiddle” or “neck violin” was used to punish those who were caught bickering by linking them face-to-face, forcing them to talk to each other. They weren’t released until their disagreement was resolved.

••• Thought for the Day: “I had a new vision in front of me, and I always feel that if I can see it and believe it, then I can achieve it.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger