STRANGE BUT TRUE - Aug. 19, 2010

* Conservative author and commentator William F. Buckley Jr., a graduate of Yale University, once made the following controversial remark: “I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.”

* The first auctions in recorded history were held in 450 B.C. in Babylon. Sadly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the items up for sale were humans.

* The Goodyear company, known today for its automobile tires, was originally founded to produce rubber clothing and, oddly, musical instruments.

* Ellen Axson Wilson is reported to have exchanged approximately 1,400 love letters with her husband, President Woodrow Wilson, during their marriage.

* It’s been reported that the world’s oldest piece of chewing gum is more than 9,000 years old. After that long, though, I wonder how they could tell what its original use was.Thought for the Day: “I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him.” — Mark Twain

(c) 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.