Strange But True: Cabbage Night
By Lucie Winborne
Think money doesn't grow on trees? Try telling that to a certain dog in Colombia. After seeing students pass money to a food stall attendant, the enterprising pooch began a regular practice of "paying" for dog biscuits with tree leaves.
In a few American cities, Halloween was originally called "Cabbage Night." The name came from a Scottish fortune-telling game in which girls would use cabbage stumps to predict the identity of their future husband.
Best-selling author Maya Angelou was San Francisco's first Black streetcar conductor.
Sea sponges, like humans, sneeze to clear their internal filter systems. Unlike humans, such sneezes last about half an hour.
In the 18th century, some wealthy folks with gardens decorated their plots with "ornamental hermits" -- actual people whom they paid to dress like a Druid (however they took that to look) and wander around their estates.
America's eighth president, Martin Van Buren, tried to keep a pair of tiger cubs given to him by the Sultan of Oman, but Congress made him send them to the zoo.
The space between the bottom of a cabinet and the floor is called the toe kick.
"Chess boxing" is a sport in which opponents alternate between rounds of chess and boxing until either competitor is checkmated or knocked out.
In 2004, Alice Pike tried to use a fake $1 million bill to purchase $1,675 worth of merchandise at Walmart, expecting to receive change from the undoubtedly startled cashier. Well, she did think the bill was genuine ... as she remarked (from jail), "You can't keep up with the U.S. Treasury."
The WD-40 Company never patented the WD-40 formula in order to avoid having to publicly disclose its trade-secret ingredients.
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Thought for the Day: "Stay in your own lane. Comparison kills creativity and joy." -- Brene Brown
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