Strange But True: May 16, 2019

* It was Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky who made the following sage observation: “Silence will save me from being wrong (and foolish), but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right.”

* You might be surprised to learn that a male lion can mate up to 50 times in one day.

* Before the iconic reclining armchair was dubbed “La-Z-Boy,” the names “Sit-N-Snooze,” “Slack Back” and “Comfort Carrier” were considered.

* A researcher calculated that across the country of Great Britain, the weight of all the insects that are eaten by spiders in a year would be more than the combined weight of all the people who live there.

* A 22-year-old man who was trying to board a flight in Cairo, Egypt, bound for Saudi Arabia was stopped by security officers when the X-ray of his hand luggage showed some strange results. It seems that the man was attempting to transport 250 baby crocodiles and — wait for it — a live cobra. (Animal lovers will be pleased to learn that the creatures were not harmed; they were turned over to the Cairo zoo.)

* Those who study such things say that automatic teller machines are three times more likely to be robbed between 6 and 9 p.m. than at any other time of day.

* According to horse-racing regulations, no racehorse’s name can have more than 18 characters — anything longer would be cumbersome on racing sheets.

* In some parts of Europe, red roses are considered to be omens of evil. Seeing the petals fall from a red rose is a portent of death.

Thought for the Day

“The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life — the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

--Hubert Horatio Humphrey

(c) 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.