STRANGE BUT TRUE - Oct. 14, 2010

* It was British mathematician, historian, logician and philosopher Bertrand Russell who made the following sage observation: “Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half of the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.”

* Statistics on sporting events show that 17 of the 20 sporting events with the most attendees every year are NASCAR races.

* Though coffee has been around for about 700 years, instant coffee was invented just more than 100 years ago, in 1906

* Albert Einstein’s theories of relativity suggest that the passage of time is affected not only by acceleration (a person traveling at the speed of light, for instance, will age more slowly than someone who is stationary), but also by gravity. Scientists using ultra-precise atomic clocks have proved that people who experience a stronger gravitational pull age more quickly. What does this mean for you? If you spend your life precisely at sea level and your twin lives at 1 foot above sea level, over the course of a 79-year lifespan a difference of 90 billionths of a second will develop between your ages.

Thought for the Day: “Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.” — Stephen King

(c) 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.