Strange But True: Nov. 30, 2017

STRANGE BUT TRUE

* It was 20th-century French journalist, poet, aristocrat and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery — best known for his novella “The Little Prince” — who made the following sage observation: “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

* Eggplants weren’t always the deep purple color we know today; originally, the vegetables were white. The color, paired with the ovoid shape, is how the eggplant got its name.

* If you live in Rochester, New York, you’re doubtless used to dealing with the hazards and inconveniences of snow and ice. It’s America’s snowiest city, after all, averaging 94 inches every winter.

* Those who study such things say that paternity leave can have significant domestic impacts. Research shows that men who take a few weeks of leave when they have an addition to their family spend more time on domestic chores and taking care of the kids than men who don’t. They cook more, and they’re even 50 percent more likely to do laundry. The most interesting finding, though, is the fact that these changes are long-term; the effect tends to last the rest of a man’s life.

* Those who suffer from nescience are unlikely to know what “nescience” means – an absence of knowledge.

* The first wristwatch was made by an English clockmaker in 1571. Described as “a wristlet in which there was a clocke,” the watch was presented as a gift to Queen Elizabeth I.

* If you’re like the average human, you have about 615 hairs for every square centimeter of your skin.

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Thought for the Day: “A man said to the universe: ‘Sir I exist!’ ‘However,’ replied the universe, ‘The fact has not created in me a sense of obligation.’” — Stephen Crane

(c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.