Strange But True: Badminton Shuttlecocks

By Lucie Winborne

• The Beast from "Beauty and the Beast" is a combination of several different animals, with a lion's mane, buffalo's head and beard, gorilla's brow, tusks of a wild boar, bear's body, legs and tail of a wolf ... and eyes of a human.

• Sweden is so efficient at waste disposal that only 1% of its garbage goes to landfills.

• Viking burials included board games.

• When making badminton shuttlecocks, the most prized feathers are said to come from a goose's left wing.

• The 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits any nation from trying to own the moon.

• A young man from Arizona saved a woman's life by using CPR he'd learned from watching an episode of "The Office."

• The German version of the term "average Joe" is Otto Normalverbraucher, or "Otto normal consumer."

• In parts of Europe, folks believe that if you light a cigarette from a candle, a sailor will die.

• Spiders recycle webs by eating them.

• The term mortician was invented as part of a public relations campaign by the funeral industry, which considered it more customer friendly than undertaker.

• Beethoven was notably particular about his coffee, ensuring that his morning brew was made with precisely 60 beans per cup.

• A study has shown that dunking an Oreo in milk for three seconds renders the optimal balance between sogginess and structural integrity.

• Sloths may be the only animals that don't fart.

• "Family Feud" host Richard Dawson met his second wife, Gretchen Johnson, when she was a contestant on the show -- and yes, he kissed her.

• Polar ice cap temperatures can plunge to a bone-chilling -189.67 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thought for the Day: "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." -- John F. Kennedy

(c) 2026 King Features Synd., Inc.