Strange But True

* It was 20th-century American author and college professor David Foster Wallace who made the following sage observation: “There is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some diehard’s vote.”

* Those who study such things say that many ancient Greeks carried coins in their mouths -- clothing of the time lacked pockets, you see.

* In late 19-century America, parts of New England had a rather unusual Halloween tradition. Evidently, in many rural communities, boys would celebrate by throwing cabbage, corn and other rotten vegetables.

* If you’re like many wage slaves, as the end of the workweek approaches you might find yourself doing busywork -- trying to look as if you’re working when, in fact, you’re just shuffling papers or otherwise avoiding productivity. Well, there’s a word for that: fudgel. Fudgeling may not be an approved workplace activity, but it’s undeniably a part of the American workplace.

* If you look closely at the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci’s famed masterwork, you might notice that the famously enigmatic subject is entirely lacking in eyebrows.

* It may not come as a surprise that when scorpions mate, it’s a rather violent affair. When the act is completed, the female stings her partner to death, then eats him.