Strange But True: December 12, 2019

It was Polish chess grandmaster Savielly Tartakower who made the following sage observation: "Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."

* Worldwide, herbivores kill more people than carnivores.

* Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all were invented by women.

* Japanese scientists have discovered that the human body emits a very slight, yet perceptible, glow. After using a special camera to study a sample of men in their 20s, they found that intensity of the glow varies, with the lowest point at around 10 a.m. and the brightest at 4 a.m.

* In 1743, a hand-operated elevator was installed in the palace of Versailles. Louis XV used it to visit Madame de Chateauroux, his mistress.

* Due to a quirk in the transition from one kind of calendar system to another, nobody was born between Oct. 4 and Oct. 15 in continental Europe in the year 1582.

* If you're like me, social situations can be a nightmare of trying -- and usually failing -- to remember the names of all your new acquaintances. The next time you find yourself struggling to name the person you're conversing with, you can always segue into this interesting tidbit: The inability to remember names is technically known as anomia.

* In ancient Japan, towns would have public contests to see who could break wind the loudest and the longest. Prizes were awarded.

* It is possible for a fetus in the womb to get hiccups.

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Thought for the Day: "Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too." -- Anton Chekhov

(c) 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.