Wisdom disconnect: Nov. 25, 2009

Phone home: Within a few years, KEO, a space time capsule, will be launched into space. It will carry messages from anyone who wishes to submit one. 50,000 years from now, KEO will return to earth, presenting future generations with messages from the past. The deadline to submit a message to KEO is Dec. 31, 2009.

Just be yourself: In the early 1900s, Charlie Chaplin allegedly entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest. He placed third.

Turn back: There is a street in Traverse City, Michigan called Psycho Path PVT. Participants in a Mitsubishi Motors survey voted it the strangest street name. Other weird street names included Grope Lane (in Shrewsbury, U.K.) and Sluts Hole Lane (in Norfolk, U.K.).

Not just a fashion statement: In 1911, China put a national ban on the pigtail because it clashed with their political intentions. This is because, at this time, the pigtail was seen as a symbol of feudalism.

Yawn: Koala bears (which are not actually bears) sleep around 22 hours a day. This is about 66 times more than giraffes, who often sleep for only 20 minutes a day.

Out with a bang: Not sure what you want to happen to your body once you die? Instead of being buried, consider these alternatives: have your cremated remains crushed into a diamond, made into a box of pencils, fired in hand-blown glass or exploded with fireworks.

Speedy: In the time it takes you to read this sentence, approximately one million billion neutrinos from the sun will pass through your body. By now, those neutrinos are already beyond the earth’s atmosphere.

Check your watch: If you’re gambling in any Las Vegas casino, you won’t find a single clock on the wall. The casinos don’t want you to realize that it’s become late and leave. For the same reason, they don’t have windows on the gaming floors.

Heists: Roughly 25 per cent of bank robberies occur on Fridays. The most common time for robberies is between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Only 60 per cent of robbers are ever caught.

A wise person once said: “The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn’t even get to sit up and look around.” –Kurt Vonnegut