Strange But True: Octopus wrestling

By Lucie Winborne

• Octopus wrestling was a popular sport in the 1960s. A diver would fight an octopus in shallow water and drag it to the surface.

• After an online vote in 2011, Toyota announced that the official plural of Prius is Prii.

• Each spacecraft sent to Mars is scrubbed and inspected before dispatch as part of a strict planetary protection protocol meant to prevent contamination from Earth.

• Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, a parasitic fungus, effectively turns ants into zombies. The fungus compels the ant to bite onto the underside of a low-hanging leaf, where it dies, and the fungus then sends a fruiting body out through the ant's head to disseminate spores.

• Geckos can turn the stickiness of their feet on and off at will.

• And speaking of feet, during World War II, the United States began rationing shoes. Citizens were allowed three pairs.

• When Leonardo DiCaprio smashed his hand on the dinner table in "Django Unchained," he accidentally crushed a small stemmed glass with his palm and really began to bleed. He ignored it, stayed in character, and continued with the scene. Quentin Tarantino was so impressed that he used this take in the final print, and when he called cut, the room erupted in a standing ovation.

• Though they are often used as vegetables in cooking, eggplants are botanically classified as berries.

• Charles Richard Drew was a Black physician who developed blood banks for military personnel during World War II. He quit working for the Red Cross after he learned that the military separated blood donations by race.

• The Dr. Seuss classic children's tale "Green Eggs and Ham" was banned in China from 1965 to 1991 for its "portrayal of early Marxism."

Thought for the Day: "A good example has twice the value of good advice." -- Albert Schweitzer

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