Strange But True

* It was French playwright Albert Guinon who made the following sage observation: “There are people who, instead of listening to what is being said to them, are already listening to what they are going to say themselves.”

* You may not be surprised to learn that, according to a poll conducted by The Associated Press, Americans hate math twice as much as any other subject.

* A study published in 2008 showed that the price of a pain medication had an effect on its efficacy. In the study people were given placebo pills, some at the regular price and some at a discounted price. Those who paid full price for the medication reported more relief than those who paid less.

* During Elizabethan times, it was customary in England for a wife to wear her wedding ring on her thumb. 

* It seems no one can adequately explain the reason why women tend to strike matches away from themselves, while men tend to strike them toward themselves.

* Dominique Bouhours, a Frenchman who lived in the 17th century, was a priest, an essayist and a grammarian. The love of language may have been closest to his heart, though; it’s been reported that the final words he uttered on his deathbed were, “I am about to — or I am going to — die; either expression is used.”

* Those who study such things say that sea slugs have 25,000 teeth.

* The town of Waco, Texas, has an entire museum dedicated to the popular soda Dr Pepper. Even more surprising is the fact that it gets more than a hundred visitors a day, on average. 

Thought for the Day:

“It’s hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.”

--Bill Watterson

(c) 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.