STRANGE BUT TRUE - Aug. 12, 2010

• It was American drama critic and author John Mason Brown who made the following sage observation: “Reasoning with a child is fine if you can reach the child’s reason without destroying your own.”

• The first Wal-Mart was located in the town of Rogers, Ark. When it opened in 1962, it had a total of 16,000 square feet of space. Today, there are Wal-Mart Supercenters all over the United States, and they measure at least 100,000 square feet and can range up to 220,000 square feet.

• The original Maytag company was known for making horse-drawn buggies rather than appliances.

• The word “pretzel” comes from the Latin word for “little reward.”

• Researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania conducted a joint study on Americans’ weight. They concluded that if current trends continue, 86 percent of adults in this country will be obese by 2030.

• Before H. Ross Perot became a successful businessman — and had a brief, somewhat less successful career as a politician — he broke horses for a living.

• Statistics show that three out of four married women over the age of 50 are on their second marriage. In the same age range, five out of six men are in the same marital situation.

• Fireflies start to glow in order to attract a mate, and they die soon after finding one.

• Experienced boot makers reportedly can get three pairs of the footwear out of a single ostrich hide.

• When you sneeze, the air leaves your mouth at approximately 100 mph.

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Thought for the Day: “Anybody who has listened to certain kinds of music, or read certain kinds of poetry, or heard certain kinds of performances on the concertina, will admit that even suicide has its brighter aspects.” — Stephen Leacock

(c) 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.