Strange But True
By SAMANTHA WEAVER

• If you jog and are also a compulsive counter, you might already know the following fact: While running, your feet hit the ground about 800 times every mile.

• It was award-winning "For Better or For Worse" cartoonist Lynn Johnston who made the following sage observation: "Complaining is good for you as long as you're not complaining to the person you're complaining about."

• On a per capita basis, Canada consumes more energy than any other country in the world.

• What do authors Ernest Hemingway, Barbara Kingsolver, O. Henry, Scott Turow, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Miguel de Cervantes have in common other than writing? Their fathers were all doctors.

• A single beehive can have anywhere from 50,000 to 70,000 bees in it, and each bee makes about 25 nectar-gathering trips every day. That seems like a lot of work just to sweeten my Earl Grey tea every morning.

• Silversmith Paul Revere did more than just make his famed midnight ride to warn American revolutionaries of the approach of British soldiers. He also made false teeth for George Washington.

• Although Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin ended the European phase of World War II at the Yalta Conference in 1945, the United States didn't get around to officially saying the war with Germany was over until 1951.

• If, like me, you're a fan of Mexican food, you've doubtless enjoyed an enchilada from time to time. But, also like me, you probably didn't know that "enchilada" means "seasoned with chili."

(c) 2006 King Features Synd., Inc.