Strange But True: Star Wars lightsaber

By Lucie Winborne

• Cheerleading was once an exclusively male sport, and the first cheers, copied from military chants, began at Princeton University around the Civil War era.

• Porsche's first car, in 1898, was electric.

• Motorola has developed an FDA-approved "edible password pill" which, once digested, is activated by the acid in your stomach and emits an 18-bit signal that is strong enough to communicate with and unlock all your devices.

• On Mars, no resource can be wasted -- not even our bodily waste. Urine will be recycled into drinking water and feces into fertilizer.

• Scientists can deduce information about a person's lifestyle, including their grooming products, food and medications, from the chemicals found on the surface of their mobile phone.

• The 1,400-page novel "War and Peace" was copied around seven times by Leo Tolstoy's wife, Sophia, by hand. Now, that's love!

• U.S. Marine John Kelly was the last person to be awarded two Medals of Honor. He ran 100 yards in advance of the front line and attacked an enemy machine gun nest, killed the gunner with a grenade, shot another man with his pistol, and returned with eight prisoners. He was 19.

• The only difference between a fog and a mist comes down to visibility: If you can't see farther than 100 meters, you're in a fog.

• As the planet heats up, flowers are emitting less scent.

• George Washington had one remaining tooth in his mouth when he was sworn in as the first American president in 1789.

• The sound of a Star Wars lightsaber was created by pairing the sound of an idle film projector and the buzz from an old TV set.

Thought for the Day: "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." -- Edmund Burke

(c) 2025 King Features Synd., Inc.