By Lucie Winborne

• In 2013, Belgium created five limited-edition stamps that smelled and tasted like chocolate (but were not, in fact, edible).

• Gambling slips from ancient China that date to between 201 BC and 187 BC are the first recorded instance of a lottery. It’s believed these lotteries likely helped finance large government projects, such as the Great Wall of China.

• There are more tanning salons in major American cities than McDonald’s or Starbucks.

• A parenting tradition in Maharashtra, India, involves tossing babies from the side of a 50-foot

temple and catching them in a sheet. The practice is thought to endow newborns with courage and intelligence.

• The person who graduates last in his class from West Point Military Academy is called “the goat” and receives a dollar from each classmate, as well as membership in a club that includes Gen. George Custer.

• The average woman wears six different bra sizes throughout her life.

• While Merriam-Webster defines “hussy” as “a girl or woman who behaves in a disrespectful or inappropriate way or who has many casual sexual relationships,” the word is actually derived from the 13th-century “husewife,” meaning mistress of the household.

• To help combat driver

fatigue and boredom on long, straight roads of up to 90 miles in Australia, the government posted signs labeled “Fatigue Zone” featuring trivia questions and answers.

• In 2009, Patricia Demauro brought $100 to a craps table in Atlantic City. Four hours and 18 minutes later, she had rolled 154 times, setting a world record for craps rolls. The odds of her accomplishing such a feat? One in 1.56 trillion!

• Ice cream was invented in 7th-century China and originally consisted of buffalo milk, flour and camphor.

••• Thought for the Day: “Spring is nature’s way of saying ‘Let’s party!’” –- Robin Williams

(c) 2022 King Features Synd., Inc.