It’s a wacky world in which we live

• The invention of the electric light brought about many changes in society, but not all of them are obvious. For example, it’s not very well known that people sleep less than they once did. Before 1910, people slept an average of nine hours a night, and since then it’s been about seven and a half. Sleep researchers have shown in the laboratory that if people are deprived of electric light, they will go back to sleeping nine hours a night.

•Controversial radio personality Howard Stern was fired from his job as a college deejay.

•This may seem like an odd question, but can you sing and cry at the same time? Someone can, evidently, because there’s a word for it: chantepleure.

• Famed conqueror Alexander the Great had quite an ego (perhaps unsurprisingly). He named a total of 20 cities after himself — including Alexandria, Egypt — and even named one after his horse, Bucephalus.

•You may be surprised to learn that famed author John Steinbeck majored in marine biology when he was in college.

•It was noted humorist and essayist P.J. O’Rourke who made the following sage observation: “Humor is a terrific tool for explaining things, especially when what you’re explaining is frightening or dull and complicated.”

•Studies show that 40 percent of all tornadoes occur between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

•America is quite a watery country, so it seems. According the Coast Guard, the United States has 95,000 miles of shoreline, and there are 290,000 square miles of lakes, rivers and bays.

•In ancient Greece, mushrooms were considered to be food only for the wealthy.