Strange But True
By SAMANTHA WEAVER

• In Japan in 2000, a survey was conducted to determine what the Japanese people thought was their best invention of 20th century. With their history of technological innovation, you might think they would come up with something robotic, or perhaps one of the numerous Japanese cars that now cruise on roads all over the world. But you'd be wrong. The respondents decided that Japan's best invention of the past 100 years was ramen noodles - and starving college students probably wouldn't disagree. Runnersup in the survey were karaoke and the Sony Walkman.

• Our nation's first president, George Washington, received an annual salary of $25,000.

• It was author Cecilia Bartholomew who made the following observation about the practice of her craft: "Writers have two main problems. One is writer's block, when the words won't come at all, and the other is logorrhea, when the words come so fast that they can hardly get in the wastebasket in time."

• It's been reported that country singer-songwriter Willie Nelson believes he's had numerous previous lives, including at least one as a Native American.

• If you're planning a trip to Seattle next summer, try to go in early July so you can catch the annual Milk Carton Derby. Yep,

said Milk Carton Derby. Every year, participants design and build boats entirely out of milk cartons, then race them on Green Lake, competing for $10,000 in prizes.

• If you've ever worn a tuxedo, you know what a cummerbund is, but you probably don't know the origin of the word. It comes from a Hindi word meaning "waistband."