Strange But True: Hospital Clowns
By Lucie Winborne
In a study to improve hospital design for children, researchers polled 250 kids about their opinions on clowns. The verdict was unanimous: Every single one reported disliking or fearing them. Well, so do some adults.
A Texas woman named Verda Byrd, adopted by a Black family in the 1940s, only discovered she was white after finding her adoption papers in 2013.
In 1987, a barge left New York for North Carolina with a whopping 3,168 tons of trash on board. North Carolina didn't want it either, so the barge traveled for seven long months trying (and failing) to find someone to take it, launching a national conversation on the subject of landfills and recycling.
The town of Dull in Scotland has been twinned with the town of Boring, Oregon, since 2012.
Because goats can eat poison ivy with no ill effects, some farmers rent out the animals to clear parks, golf courses and historical sites without having to use chemicals or herbicides.
A nuclear bomb is stuck somewhere in the ice on the coast of Greenland.
Retired NFL wide receiver Steve Smith left his cleats on the field after every game to raise awareness of homeless people who don't have shoes.
In 1993, a Missouri man purposely damaged a levee on the Mississippi River to delay his wife coming home from work so he could party. The plan spectacularly backfired when the river flooded 14,000 acres, leading to his arrest and conviction for causing a catastrophe and a life sentence in prison.
There are cases of identical twins in which only one is born with Down syndrome.
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Thought for the Day: "Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic." -- Jean Sibelius
(c) 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.