Strange But True: Shortlife Clock

By Lucie Winborne

• The dot over the lowercase versions of the letters i and j is known as a tittle.

• There are clocks to tell us the time, and then there's the Shortlife clock, which tells us how long we have left to live. No, it's not perfect, but it does estimate a person's remaining longevity based on World Health Organization data.

• "The Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy was nominated for an astounding 800 awards, of which it received 475, making it the most-awarded series in cinema history.

• One of the most critical issues with AI is that even its creators can't understand some of the decisions the software makes, or why.

• Do you like apples? Then you'll likely appreciate the efforts of Tom Brown and his decades-long quest to track, collect and preserve forgotten varieties of the fruit. Brown has discovered more than 1,200 types, including some with rare flavors such as banana and pineapple.

• The Sinocyclocheilus longicornus fish, discovered in a remote cave system by Chinese scientists, has a unicorn-like horn.

• In 1924, Babe Ruth accidentally ran headlong into a concrete wall during a game between the New York Yankees and the Washington Senators, knocking himself out cold for a full five minutes. Upon regaining consciousness, he not only finished the game but scored two more hits and went on to play a second game afterward.

• More than 200 viruses can result in the common cold. Kerchoo!

• Camp Bonifas, near the Korean Demilitarized Zone, has a par-three, one-hole golf course on it that is surrounded on three sides by landmines. As one might well expect, it has been dubbed "The Most Dangerous Hole in Golf."

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Thought for the Day: "Integrity is the only path where you will never get lost." -- Mike Maples Jr.

(c) 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.