Strange But True
By Samantha Weaver

. Next time you're making a trip to Hong Kong, you might want to stop by a Pizza Hut and try a pizza you probably won't find here in the United States: It's topped with corned beef, corn and peas. In Saudi Arabia, you can have one topped with tuna, and curry is a favored topping in Australia. Russians evidently like mackerel, salmon and sardines, while Germans -- perhaps unsurprisingly -- order their pizzas topped with sauerkraut.

. It was Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero who claimed, "No sane man will dance."

. Musical talent can show up early in life, and that can lead to some questionable activity. Consider this: At the age of 15, perennial pop star Elton John was performing in pubs, and guitarist Carlos Santana got started playing in bars when he was 14. New Orleans native Fats Domino began even earlier -- he began performing in bars at the tender age of 10.

. Considering the fact that movies and television are filled with images of prison inmates attacking and killing each other, you might be surprised to learn that in the U.S. prison system, the mortality rate is nearly 20 percent lower than in the non-incarcerated American population.

. The sun contains 99.8 percent of all the matter in the solar system and weighs 500 times as much as everything else in the solar system put together.

. Everyone is familiar with International Business Machines -- IBM is a household name in this age of technology. Buy you probably didn't know how dedicated the company is to innovation: In 2001 alone, Big Blue received 3,432 patents -- an average of 66 every week.

Thought for the Day: "I never expected to see the day when girls would get sunburned in the places they do today." -- Will Rogers

(c) 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.