Strange But True

* It was German dramatist, poet, philosopher and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who made the following sage observation: “Too many parents make life hard for their children by trying, too zealously, to make it easy for them.”

* At one time in Ireland, a traditional Halloween activity was predicting future romance. It was one of the few times of the year when young men and women could mingle, and fortune-telling games to predict who they would marry were popular.

* Those who are experiencing money-related relationship issues might be interested to note the results of a survey conducted by TD Ameritrade. When asked who manages the household budget, 87 percent of women said they did, while 81 percent of men claimed that responsibility.

* Until Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic psychological horror film “Psycho” premiered in 1960, no American film had ever shown a toilet being flushed.

* Buick is one of the oldest automobile brands in the world, so you might expect that the company’s founder did pretty well for himself. Unfortunately for David Dunbar Buick, who incorporated the company in 1903, that wasn’t the case. In less than a year, the company was sold. Buick stayed on as a manager and worked on engine development, but only for two more years. When he left his namesake company in 1906, he sold his one remaining share of Buick for $100,000. That was a rather hefty sum at the time, but he lost it all in a series of unsuccessful ventures. At the time of his death in early 1929, he was virtually penniless.

* It’s been reported that a shaved guinea pig bears a remarkable resemblance to a tiny hippopotamus.

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Thought for the Day: “Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.” -- Eric Hoffer

(c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.