STRANGE BUT TRUE

• It was beloved cowboy humorist Will Rogers who made the following sage observation: “Nobody wants to be called common people, especially common people.”

• Do you think you could eat 80 pounds of chicken? If you’re like the average American, that’s how much you will consume this year.

• You’ve probably heard or even used the term “fly off the handle” to describe someone losing their temper. You probably don’t realize, though, that the handle referred to was originally an axe handle. Sometimes the blade of such a tool would be improperly fastened to the handle, and would therefore be sent flying when the axe was being used.

• The composer who wrote the famous song “Que Sera, Sera” also wrote the theme song to the 1960s TV show “Mr. Ed.”

• Those who study such things say that England’s Elizabeth I owned 3,000 dresses.

• If you make a trip to Venice to see the famous canals, keep an eye out for any gondola not painted black. If you see one, you can be sure that it belongs to a high official in the government; they are the only ones permitted by law to have gondolas in any other color.

• The world’s single largest consumer of fossil fuels is the United States military.

• You might be surprised to learn that, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, half of all American children suffer at least one dog bite before the age of 12. The ASPCA also says that most of those bites aren’t from strange animals; rather, it’s the family pet or a friend or neighbor’s dog that does the biting.

***Thought for the Day: “Where we have strong emotions, we’re liable to fool ourselves.” — Carl Sagan

(c) 2012 King Features Synd., Inc.