STRANGE BUT TRUE: Jan. 11, 2018

* It was Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman to serve in both houses of the U.S. Congress, who made the following sage observation: “Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism: The right to criticize; The right to hold unpopular beliefs; The right to protest; The right of independent thought.”

* According to historians, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill slept on silk sheets and wore silk underwear. It seems he had very sensitive skin, and rough fabric made him break out in a rash.

* It probably won’t surprise you to learn that members of the Sampit tribe in Borneo eat bananas. What is surprising, though, is that they don’t remove the peels first.

* In the 1979 gubernatorial election in Louisiana, a man named Luther Knox was fed up with the candidates on the ballot. In order to give like-minded Louisianans an option, he ran for the office himself — after legally changing his name to “None of the Above.”

* Everyone knows that a sophomore is someone in their second year of high school or college. Most people don’t realize, though, that the word is derived from the Greek words “sophos,” which means “wise,” and “moros,” which means “stupid.”

* Resources are very scarce in space, so it’s important to conserve wherever possible. The astronauts on the International Space Station might be going a bit far, however; it’s been reported that they change their underwear only every three or four days in order to cut down on laundry.

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Thought for the Day: “All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why.” — James Thurber

(c) 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.