STRANGE BUT TRUE

By Samantha Weaver

• It was American bridge expert Phillip Alder who made the following sage observation: We are born with talents, but we acquire skills.

• The inventor of Life Savers was Clarence Crane (incidentally, he was also the father of poet Hart Crane). In 1913, a year after coming up with the recipe for the candy, Crane sold the patent for his sweet treat for $2,900. Seems like a paltry recompense for creating a pop culture icon that is still going strong after 100 years.

• Do you suffer from arachibutyrophobia? If so, you probably refuse to eat PB&J sandwiches, for fear that the peanut butter will stick to the roof of your mouth.

• There are 120 drops of water in a single teaspoon.

• In 1976, John Moore, a California man, had his spleen removed at the UCLA Medical Center in order to treat his cancer. The operation was successful -- in more ways than anyone anticipated. It seems that the doctors, upon studying the removed organ, found certain cells that had unique cancer-fighting properties. The discovery led to a new -- and profitable -- treatment. When Moore found out that his spleen had led to this discovery, he sued the Regents of the University of California for a share of the profits. In 1990, 14 years after his cancer was cured, he lost his court case.

• Those who study such things say that ants stretch and yawn when they wake up.

• If you're like 43 percent of the American population, you refuse to ever try eating snails, regardless of the fact that they're regarded as a delicacy in other parts of the world.