Whitman County Gazette - Serving Whitman County since 1877

* It was way back in the 17th century when noted Scottish scholar Patrick Young made the following sage observation: “The trouble with weather forecasting is that it’s right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it.”

* As 2018 winds down, you might want to keep this crime fact in mind: Those who study such things say that New Year’s Day is the No. 1 holiday for car theft. Perhaps they’re making up for Christmas Day, which is typically the holiday with the fewest auto thefts.

* I bet you didn’t know there’s a word specifically used to refer to the space between your eyebrows. Yep: It’s called the “ophryon.”

* Fans of old Westerns have doubtless seen depictions of Native Americans scalping their enemies. Most probably don’t realize, though, that the brutal practice didn’t originate with the Indians. When the Dutch and English settlers were trying to clear out the natives, they were paid a bounty for each scalp they brought back. The Native Americans adopted the practice only after the Europeans’ arrival on the continent.

* If you’re a runner — and a compulsive counter — you might already be aware of the fact that the average person’s feet hit the ground approximately 800 times per mile when running.

* The food eaten by a typical American travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from the farm where it was grown to the plate where it’s consumed.

* Paleontologists claim that Neanderthals used toothpicks. How can they tell, you might well ask? It seems that toothpick use leaves distinctive grooves on teeth.

Thought for the Day

“We should not be simply fighting evil in the name of good, but struggling against the certainties of people who claim always to know where good and evil are to be found.”

--Tzvetan Todorov

(c) 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.