STRANGE BUT TRUE

• It was German-American painter and lithographer Herm Albright who made the following sage observation: “A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.”

• It’s well-known that there were shortages of many items during World War II — and caffeine was one. It was such a problem, in fact, that the chemists at Coca-Cola tried to find a substitute, even experimenting with a derivative of bat guano. The idea was nixed by an executive who was afraid of the public backlash if the truth ever came out.

• Just as a group of birds is called a flock, a group of frogs is called an army.

• Ever wonder why a barber pole has red and white stripes? It’s a rather grisly tale. At one time barbers did more than cut hair; they sometimes performed marriages and baptisms, served as dentists and even performed surgery. When engaged in the medical work, any excess blood was soaked up by white towels, which were often hung up on a pole outside to dry. As the wind wrapped the towel around the pole, it created a design of red and white stripes.

• Toilet paper was first introduced in the United States in 1857, but the idea didn’t take off — the paper being offered was evidently too much like the paper in the Sears catalog, which is what most people used at the time.

Thought for the Day: “Always forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.” — Robert Kennedy

c) 2012 King Features Synd., Inc.