Strange but True
BY SAMANTHAWEAVER

. Next time you're doing a little home-improvement work, you might want to keep in mind the sad fate of Hans Pender, a do-it-yourselfer from Salzburg, Austria. While doing a bit of work on his home, he became entangled in a 60-foot length of heavy wallpaper. He tried to free himself, but, according to a police detective called to the scene, "The more he struggled, the tighter the paper wrapped him up." The poor man suffocated to death.

. Have you ever wanted to be a thaumatologist? Probably not; in all likelihood, you haven't even heard of the word. FYI: Thaumatology is the study of miracles.

. In William Shakespeare's day, it was evidently considered poor form to send play-goers home sad. It was common practice at that time for actors to perform a comic song and dance at the end of a tragic play so that the audience would go home in a cheerful mood.

. At some point you've probably seen Steven Spielberg's 1982 movie "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial." But I bet you didn't know that the film's original title was "A Boy's Life."

. Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-American author of such works as "Lolita" and "The Real Life of Sebasian Knight," was, evidently, not a fan of psychoanalysis. When queried about the subject, he's reported to have replied, "Why should I tolerate a perfect stranger at the bedside of my mind?"

. It's been reported that when Frank Sinatra was dying, his daughter, Nancy, stayed home to watch the final episode of "Seinfeld" instead of going to the hospital to visit her famous father.

Thought for the Day: "If you must hold yourself up to your children, hold yourself up as an object lesson and not as an example." -- George Bernard Shaw

(c) 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.