Strange But True
By SAMANTHA WEAVER

• Those who study such things claim that to get a truly random mix in a deck of playing cards, the deck must be shuffled seven times.

• Herpetologists - and a number of Floridians, I'll bet - know that young alligators moo like calves.

• You've probably heard of oak trees living to be 500 or more years old, but orange trees? It's true; it has been documented that one citrus tree has been producing oranges for nearly 500 years.

• Steve Wozniak, cofounder of Apple Computer, built his first computer in 1961, when he was just 11 years old.

• Most people realize that many places in the United States were once known by different names. Here's a sampling: the Potomac River was originally called Conococheague Creek, Camp David was named Shangri-La, and the USA itself was once known as the United States of Congress Assembled.

• England's virgin queen, Elizabeth I, went bald at the age of 29. Smallpox was the culprit.

• In parts of Illinois, it was once illegal to put a cake in a cookie jar.

• It's been reported that the country's first pizza parlor was in New York City - naturally. It opened in 1885, but barely got by. In 1895, it was sold for a mere $200 - small change even in those times.

• It was famed 19th-century American naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau who made the following observation about language: "When I read some of the rules for speaking and writing the English language correctly - as that a sentence must never end with a participle - and perceive how implicitly even the learned obey it, I think - any fool can make a rule and every fool will mind it."

Thought for the Day: "We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex - but Congress can." - Cullen Hightower

(c) 2008 King Features Synd., Inc.