Strange But True: Rice-fish

By Lucie Winborne

  • In a process called rice-fish culture, Indonesian farmers introduce fish into their rice fields so the fish droppings will act as fertilizer. In turn, the fish also eat harmful insects and improve oxygen circulation, increasing crop yields by up to 10%.

  • Anuptaphobia is the fear of being single forever.

  • The people who falsely claimed the copyright to the "Happy Birthday to You" song made $2 million a year for decades, until the song was ruled to be in the public domain.

  • A man who had received the transplanted heart of a suicide victim married the donor's widow and took his own life in the exact same way as the donor did.

  • After two thieves in England broke into a man's house and made off with his laptop, they found child abuse material on the device and took it to the police. The pedophile received a sentence of three years in prison, while the thieves were given 12 months of community service in light of their "good deed."

  • During his presidency, John F. Kennedy refused to take his salary of $150,000 per year, instead donating the entire amount to charity.

  • Hundreds of people die each year from shoveling snow.

  • Who says cats don't care? After one feline owner survived a series of strokes, he tried to train the animal to dial 911. While he wasn't sure at first that the attempt would pay off, after he fell from his wheelchair following a seizure, police received a silent emergency call from his home and arrived to find him incapacitated and his cat next to the phone.

  • Loneliness poses a greater risk to one's health than obesity.

Thought for the Day: "He who has a why to live can bear almost any how." -- Friedrich Nietzsche

(c) 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.

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