STRANGE BUT TRUE 4/21/11

It was American novelist and editor Edgar Watson Howe who made the following sage observation: “Americans detest all lies except lies spoken in public or printed lies.”

Those who study such things say that ancient Egyptians had bowling alleys.

In 1980 a woman named Rosie Ruiz appeared to have won the Boston Marathon in the fastest time ever recorded for a woman in that race.

However, after a number of suspicions surfaced (including a strange lack of fatigue at the end of the long race), it was found that she hadn’t actually run the entire race and was stripped of her medal.

The tale doesn’t end there, though.

Once word got out about her fraud, people came forward with information regarding her recent running of the New York Marathon.

It seems that Ms.

Ruiz started the race and then took the subway to a spot 2 miles from the finish line.

And in a further note, she didn’t come to a good end: Two years later she was arrested for embezzling $60,000 from her employer, and she was later arrested again for allegedly trying to sell two kilos of cocaine to a Miami police officer.

If you’re afraid of lightning, you might want to skip over this next tidbit: At any given time around the world, there are 1,800 thunderstorms taking place.

Thought for the Day: “When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn’t the slightest intention of putting it into practice.” — Otto von Bismarck

(c) 2011 King Features Synd.,