Strange But True: April 11, 2019

* It was 19th-century French novelist Gustave Flaubert who made the following sage observation: “Our ignorance of history makes us libel our own times. People have always been like this.”

* Visitors to Chicago might want to keep in mind that in that city, it’s against the law to dine in any establishment that is on fire.

* In 1856, a soldier of fortune (who was also a journalist, doctor and lawyer) by the name of William Walker and his hand-picked group of mercenaries took over Nicaragua. Walker appointed himself dictator, thus securing for himself the distinction of being the only native-born American citizen to become head of state of a foreign nation.

* If you’re like the average American, you consumed more than 250 eggs last year.

* You might be surprised to learn that the giant bullfrogs of South Africa have sometimes been known to attack lions.

* If you like to go out and hit the greens on a nice summer day, you might want to consider this fact the next time you’re thinking about breaking out the irons and putters: More people are struck by lightning on golf courses than anywhere else.

* Mike Edwards, one of the founding members of the British band Electric Light Orchestra, met with an untimely death decades after he left the group. In 2010, as Edwards was driving in the rural southwest of England, a farmer lost control of a 1,300-pound bale of hay. This wheel-shaped bale rolled down a hill and over a hedge, and just happened to smash into the van Edwards was driving.

Thought for the Day

“I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”

--Sir Winston Churchill

(c) 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.