What a wacky world

•It can be frustrating dealing with someone who’s having a midlife crisis. If you are in such a position, just read about Terry Brand and thank your lucky stars: After three months of flying lessons, the 45-year-old went on his first solo flight. Once aloft, he radioed air traffic controllers and apologized, then crashed the plane into the ocean. A note was later found at his home saying that he wasn’t depressed, just “following his destiny.” He said that his good looks and love of life would have been gone in 10 years, and he didn’t want to endure the loss.

•Before he became a writer, Samuel Clemens – better known as Mark Twain – worked as a miner.

•It’s common historical knowledge that in 1942 Dwight D. Eisenhower was given command of all U.S. troops in Europe. Most people don’t realize, though, that despite the fact that he had been in the military for more than two decades, he’d never once been in combat; he spent 20 years training soldiers.

•The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle once commented, “A democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no property and unskilled labor.”

•In the 1600s, Japan made it illegal for anyone to enter or leave the country. Anyone caught coming or going without permission was executed on the spot.

•There are huge differences between individual people, right? Chew on this: The DNA of any two humans is about 99.9 percent identical.

•Salt is mentioned in the Bible at least 30 times.

•It was Ambrose Bierce – in his “Devil’s Dictionary” – who defined a saint as “a dead sinner, revised and edited.”