Strange BUT TRUE

• A team of Japanese scientists and engineers created a fire alarm for the deaf that works by spraying vaporized wasabi into the air — it will even wake them up if they’re sleeping.

• Bees can fly higher than Mount Everest.

• In 1960, during a period of high tensions between Havana and Washington, a Cuban cow got hit by a chunk of a falling U.S. satellite. Islanders got a dig in at their American neighbors by parading another cow through the streets sporting a sign that read, “Eisenhower, you murdered one of my sisters!”

• Before trees existed, the earth was covered with giant white mushrooms.

• All astronauts going to the International Space Station have to learn to speak Russian, as the controls of their Soyuz spacecraft are in that language.

• Fried chicken originated in Scotland.

• Off-duty paramedic Matthew McKnight earned the dubious Guinness World Record for furthest distance thrown by a car when he was hit by a vehicle traveling 70 mph and was catapulted 118 feet. Amazingly, while he suffered serious injuries, he managed to recover.

• There is a Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame. Inductees include Rocky Balboa, Mr. Miyagi and Happy Gilmore.

• You’re more likely to be bitten by a human than a shark.

• Not that we think you’d actually drink this much, but 10 gallons of carrot juice will kill you. Its vitamin A content is high enough to make your brain swell, along with other nasty symptoms. By the way, you can also overdose on the vitamin by eating a pound of polar bear liver every day. *** Thought for the Day: “Actually, in my opinion you never completely find yourself because you are always growing as a person and learning throughout your life. It is a process.” —