STRANGE BUT TRUE

• It was humorist Jerome K. Jerome who made the following sage observation: “It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen.”

• Though it is unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable, there is a law on the books in Tennessee which prohibits duelists, preachers and atheists from being elected to public office.

• According to most history books, the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter, S.C., in April of 1861, but that’s not entirely true. The first shots of the war between the North and the South actually were fired in January of that year in Pensacola, Fla., where a garrison of Union troops was stationed at Fort Barrancus. A contingent of Florida and Alabama troops marched on the fort with the intent to throw out the Yankees in their midst. However, the Southerners’ dedication to the cause was somewhat lacking; as soon as the Union soldiers fired at them, they beat a hasty retreat.

• Those who study such things say that the average lightning bolt has a temperature of approximately 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. For comparison, the sun’s average temperature is only 10,000 F.

• If you’ve ever been told to shut your pie-hole, you might have wondered where the expression came from. The term was first used in 1983, in the film version of Stephen King’s horror novel “Christine.”

Thought for the Day: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.” — Jim Henson