Did you know that flamingos bend their legs at the ankle, not the knee. They essentially stand on tip-toe. Their knees are closer to the body and are covered by feathers. Neither did I.

You might be asking, OK interesting fact about flamingos. Something to share at the next party. But what does that have to do with anything?  

Honestly, it has nothing to do with anything. But after all the news this past week, I thought we all could use some irrelevant mindless drivel. 

Did you know that in 1905, an 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson left soda powder and water outside overnight with its wooden stirrer still in the cup? The mixture froze in the chilly night, so the Epsicle was born. He sold the treat around his neighborhood and patented the recipe. Years later, he changed the name to Popsicle because that’s what his kids called their pop’s concoction.

All Froot Loops taste like, um, froot.

You can’t hold your nose and hum. When you hum, the air can escape through your nose to create the sound, of course, it can’t do that when you’re holding it shut. Go ahead, try it.

Octopuses have three hearts. Squids do too. One pumps blood to the whole system, and two are dedicated just to the gills.

People used to say “prunes” instead of “cheese” when having their pictures taken. In the 1840s, a big grin was seen as childish, so one London photographer told people to say “prunes” to keep their mouths taut.

Lobsters taste with their feet. Tiny bristles inside a lobster’s little pincers are their equivalent to human taste buds. Meanwhile, lobsters’ teeth are in one of their three stomachs.

The original 3 Musketeers bars of the 1930s came in three packs, with a different nougat flavor in each: vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry. World War II rations made that triple threat expensive, so the company cut down to one.

Strawberries aren’t berries. Neither are raspberries and blackberries, according to botanists. True berries stem from one ovary flower with two or more seeds. Strawberries don’t fit that bill, but bananas, kiwis, and eggplants do.  

Eventually, a day on Earth will be 25 hours long. The Earth’s speed as it orbits the sun is not a fixed rate. It’s actually slowing over time. The length of a day will become 25 hours…in about 175 million years. 

“Fancy riding” on bikes is illegal in Illinois. That includes riding without hands or taking your feet off the pedals when you’re on the street. And in Gainesville, Georgia “finger-lickin’” is not a suggestion—it is mandatory. Thanks to a 1961 law, it is illegal to eat fried chicken with anything other than your fingers. 

In the 1830s, people jokingly spelled abbreviations incorrectly. One of the most famous: “All correct” turned into “orl korrekt,” and then of course into OK. Historians think it stuck because Martin Van Buren—known as Old Kinderhook, after his hometown in New York—supporters called themselves the OK Club when he was campaigning for reelection.

PEZ candy was invented to help smokers quit. The Austrian PEZ creator named the candies after the German word for peppermint (Pffefferminz). When they were introduced in 1927, they were round mints sold in tins.

The letter Q doesn’t appear in any state name. Out of all 50 states, not one has a Q in it.

Scotland has more than 400 words for snow. 

According to scientific estimates, there are around 3 trillion trees on Earth compared to the 100-400 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

Cucumber slices can fight bad breath. 

The last letter added to the alphabet was actually “J” and not the letter “Z.” 

OK, now you can return to the real news - if you dare.  

Barry Lewis is a longtime journalist and author who lives with his wife Bonnie in the Town of Neversink. He can be reached at      barrylewisscdemocrat@gmail.com.