Strange But True: Goldfish Tea

By Lucie Winborne

  • The Wright brothers' first flight was shorter than the wingspan of a B-52 bomber.

  • Bai Fangli, a tricycle driver for 20 years, donated 350,000 yuan to support the education of 300 poor Chinese students. He announced his last payment at the age of 90, saying that he was no longer fit for work.

  • There are tea bags made to look like a goldfish swimming in your mug.

  • Are you annoyed by the sounds of wheezing, whistling, chewing, drinking, crunching, slurping, finger tapping and the like? It's not just a quirk, but a psychiatric disorder called misophonia.

  • A man spent five months in prison due to being unaware that his bail was just $2.

  • Kenya Railways requires that all trains stop for several minutes before crossing the Mwatate Dam in the southern part of the country. The practice was adopted on the advice of local residents after several mysterious derailments on the dam were blamed on evil spirits inhabiting the reservoir, which townsfolk claimed were angered by the trains not appeasing them by pausing in tribute.

  • The world's shortest street, located in Scotland, is a mere 6 centimeters long.

  • Jackie Robinson wasn't the first Black player to play Major League Baseball. That honor actually belonged to Moses Fleetwood Walker, a catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884.

  • The first volume of recipes was published in 62 A.D. by the Roman Apicius. Titled "De Re Coquinaria," it described the feasts enjoyed by the Emperor Claudius.

  • India has a bill of rights for cows.

  • Relics of saints were so valued in the Middle Ages that when Elizabeth of Hungary died in 1231, her body was quickly dismembered for holy mementos by a crowd.

Thought for the Day: "Forever is composed of nows." -- Emily Dickinson

(c) 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.

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