Strange BUT TRUE

• While death by guillotine might seem like an ancient ritual, the practice was still in use in France up until 1977 — when the original “Star Wars” was in theaters.

• Sleeping through summer is called estivation.

• The Museum of Bad Art in Somerville, Massachusetts, is pretty much exactly what it sounds like — a collection of really bad art! But then again, who’s to judge?

• The American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5 handbook

classifies caffeine withdrawal as a mental disorder.

• Humans invented booze before the wheel.

• When swallowed by toads, bombardier beetles project hot, noxious chemicals from their anuses, which sometimes forces the predators to puke the beetle back up.

• The town of Baarle straddles the Dutch-belgian border. In some places, the official borderline cuts through houses and cafes.

• The second-half kickoff in Super Bowl I had to be done twice, as NBC didn’t cut back from a commercial break in time to catch the first one on camera.

• In Japan, instead of a “Man in the Moon,” people see a “Rabbit in the Moon.”

• The Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships are held in Finland. One winner said he prepared for the event by “mainly drinking.”

• Sometimes it snows on Mars, but the flakes are made out of carbon dioxide, not water.

• After the band Outkast sang “Shake it like a Polaroid picture,” Polaroid released a statement warning that “shaking or waving can actually damage the image.”

••• Thought for the Day: “The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” — Thomas Szasz