STRANGE BUT TRUE - Dec. 23, 2010

It was American author, social critic, economist and political commentator Thomas Sowell who made the following sage observation: “Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.”

Visiting the longest chain of mountains on Earth requires some rather special arrangements — aquatic ones, to be precise. The 10,000-mile-long Mid-Atlantic Ridge, as its name indicates, is located on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. The only parts of the chain above water are a few volcanic islands, including Iceland and the Azores.

* Those who live in Florida probably won’t be surprised to learn that they live in the state with the most instances of lightning every year.

* If you travel to Alaska, you can go to the North Pole — the town of North Pole, that is. It’s not the real deal, though. The town is actually 1,700 miles south of Earth’s geographic North Pole.

* In 2000, psychiatrists at Italy’s University of Pisa published their finding that being in love is biochemically indistinguishable from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

* What do the lawn sprinkler, rubber shoe heels, portable ironing boards and tire treads have in common? They were all invented by the same man, Elijah McCoy, an African-Canadian inventor and engineer.

Thought for the Day: “Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.” — W. Somerset Maugham

(c) 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.