Strange But True: Dec. 13, 2018

* It was New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd who made the following sage observation: “The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.”

* A law in Memphis, Tennessee, states that it is illegal for a woman to drive a car unless a man walks in front of it to warn approaching motorists and pedestrians.

* Martha Stewart got her start in business by catering from her home.

* It takes 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of the maple syrup you put on your pancakes.

* The Tom Thumb locomotive and Jell-O were invented by the same person.

* Ancient Egyptians often were buried with opium, boats and artificial limbs for use in the afterlife. And it wasn’t unusual to have a model of the deceased’s home included, as well — just in case shelter was needed.

* England’s Prince Philip was born on a kitchen table in Greece.

* The word “widget” was coined by an American humorist in the 1930s and referred to an imaginary gadget or machine. In the 1990s, however, widgets moved out of the realm of fiction when the makers of beverage cans invented a device that releases carbon dioxide to make foam after a can has been opened — and they named it a “widget.”

* In its entire lifetime — four to six weeks — a single worker bee produces a sum total of about 1.5 teaspoons of honey.

* North Carolina once outlawed cats and dogs fighting with each other.

Thought for the Day

“No matter what side of an argument you’re on, you always find some people on your side that you wish were on the other side.”

--Jascha Heifetz

(c) 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.