Strange But True: Joe Pesci and Jimi Hendrix

By Lucie Winborne

• Agree with those diehard fans of Pluto who still insist it's a planet? So does New Mexico. Its legislature resolved that Pluto is still legally a planet ... at least whenever it passes over the state.

• During a time of political turmoil, Michelangelo hid in a secret room under Florence's Medici Chapel for three months, passing the time by sketching on the walls. His secret wasn't discovered until some five centuries later, when the museum director stumbled upon the room in 1976.

• Honorary members of the Harlem Globetrotters include Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis.

• The Rhizanthella gardneri orchid, which grows entirely underground, was discovered by an Australian farmer in 1928 and generated such excitement that a wax model of it toured the British Isles.

• A hen will eat her own raw eggs if not satisfied with her diet.

• The Mexican language Ayapaneco, or, more properly, Nuumte Oote ("the true voice"), is dying out, and small wonder: Its only fluent speakers number a grand total of two, and they refuse to talk to each other!

• A paired kidney exchange allows people to donate their kidney that wasn't a match for an intended recipient to a stranger in exchange for a kidney that is a match for their loved one.

• In 2010 a San Diego Chipotle customer in a wheelchair successfully sued the restaurant chain with the claim that their tall order counter denied him the full "Chipotle experience" -- like watching his order being assembled.

• Sand is the most extracted material in the world.

• Actor Joe Pesci was a singer and guitar player in his early 20s and once played in the same band (called Joey Dee and the Starliters) as Jimi Hendrix.

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Thought for the Day: "Change your thoughts and you change your world." --Norman Vincent Peale

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