Strange BUT TRUE

• During World War II, French actress/dancer Leslie Caron’s wealthy family suffered such severe financial reversals that she was once forced to make shoes out of her grandmother’s opera gloves.

• Until 1937, it was illegal for men to be topless in the U.S., even on beaches.

• Is there a “junk drawer” in your house? If so, you’re in good company, as a whopping 80% of Americans have at least one, but the average household actually boasts three. The most common items found in these catchalls are super glue (57%), writing utensils (also 57%) and duct tape (51%). What’s in yours?

• Gary Kremen, the founder of Match.com, one of the world’s largest and most popular online dating websites, lost his girlfriend to a guy she met on Match.com.

• The origin of the phrase “in the limelight” comes from the early days of theater, when spotlights were produced by directing a flame at calcium oxide, or quicklime.

• In 1922, Americans consumed around 1,000,000 Eskimo Pies a day, which not only hiked up the cost of cocoa beans by 50%, but also single-handedly lifted Ecuador’s economy out of a depression.

• According to the market research firm Euromonitor International, worldwide chewing gum sales have declined by 15% since 2007, the same year that the iPhone came out. The firm attributed the decrease to consumers distracted by their phones in checkout lines, where most gum purchases are made.

• Ichiro Suzuki, baseball’s alltime hits leader, learned Spanish solely for the purpose of trashtalking opponents.

Thought for the Day: “Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.” — Clint Eastwood