Strange But True: July 16, 2020

* Sir Cecil Chubb, a wealthy and highly respected barrister, really raised the bar for birthday gifts when he purchased Stonehenge (yes, you read that right) for his wife after World War I. But was she suitably impressed? Apparently not -- what she actually wanted that year was curtains!

* Caffeine doesn't just help you stay awake. It also serves the function of a pesticide in the coffee plant.

* Due to the humid and moist conditions that a sloth lives in, moss and other similar plants will sometimes grow in its hair. Sloths also have very poor eyesight. Those two factors can sometimes culminate in a sloth grabbing its own arm, thinking it's a branch, and falling to its death.

* During the Elizabethan era, coal tar was used as mascara, eyebrow pencil and eyeliner ... despite the fact it's flammable, has a bad smell and caused blindness.

* Until 1925, the NCAA required college football players to study during halftime.

* A reporter, commenting to Gene Roddenberry on the casting of Patrick Stewart in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," said, "Surely by the 24th century, they would have found a cure for male pattern baldness." Replied Roddenberry: "No, by the 24th century, no one will care."

* High-frequency sounds enhance the sweetness in food, while low frequencies bring out the bitterness.

* Only one McDonald's in the world has turquoise arches. Government officials in Sedona, Arizona, thought the yellow would look bad with the natural red rock of the city.

* In 1910, Virginia Woolf and her friends donned costumes and fake beards in order to convince the Royal Navy they were a group of Abyssinian princes, pulling off what became known as the "Dreadnought Hoax" and earning a 40-minute guided tour of the ship.

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Thought for the Day: "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." -- Milton Berle

(c) 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.