Strange But True: Airplanes painted white

By Lucie Winborne

• Most commercial airplanes are painted white to reflect solar radiation, which helps keep the aircraft cooler and reduces potential damage to the fuselage. White paint also weighs less.

• Some snakes have hipbones, showing they once had four legs like their lizard cousins.

• More English words begin with the letter "s" than any other.

• According to seasonal relationship patterns in Facebook profiles, autumn is the season in which more singles change their status to "In a Relationship" or "Engaged" than the yearly average.

• It took just three years from the time Thomas Edison began selling his incandescent light bulb for technological advances to allow lamp prices to drop by more than 90%.

• While Plymouth, Massachusetts, is traditionally held to be the site of the first Thanksgiving, at least 12 American locations claim the honor, including places in Texas, Florida, Maine and Virginia.

• Becoming a perfumer takes at least 20 years.

• Mummies were in demand as medicine during the European Middle Ages. One such use involved boiling a mummy and using the oils to treat bruising, stomach aches and a number of other issues.

• Author Norman Mailer nearly stabbed his second wife to death after she criticized him for fighting guests. During his trial, he described the assault as some sort of artistic experiment.

• A species of bird called the maleo uses the heat from volcanic sand to incubate its eggs.

• People in the Persian Empire saved snow in underground keeps called "yakhchal," later serving it on warm days with grape juice concentrate poured over it.

• Ancient Roman astrologers used a mnemonic device to remember the long list of different fortunes that had to be given in a horoscope reading.

(c) 2026 King Features Synd., Inc.