Randy Cassingham makes his living publishing an excellent newsletter (This is True) extracting bizarre and interesting events from the news media. These two tales are particularly shaggy examples of his work.

ANCIENT HISTORY: Oedipus, the mythological Greek figure known for killing his father and marrying his mother, should probably be known for something more common, argues Robert Allen, editor of “Pocket Fowler’s Modern English Usage”: road rage. That’s right, he says, road rage is not a modern phenomenon. “It it actually dates back to the second millennium BC,” Allen asserts, when “Oedipus killed his father at a crossroads when they got in each other’s way.” Authorities say “road rage” has led to an increase in vehicular violence and crashes. (Reuters) …Which will in future be known as Oedipus Wrecks.

STEP RIGHT UP: Internet auctioneer eBay has canceled the sale of a purported piece of Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Cheops. If the piece is real, it would be illegal to sell, an eBay spokesman says. Zahi Hawass, Antiquities Director of the Pyramids, insists it’s indeed not real. “This man could have taken any piece of rock from the desert and claim it was a piece of the pyramid,” he said. (Reuters) …In other words, it’s just yet another online pyramid scheme.

“Excerpted with permission from “This is True”, copyright © 2000 by Randy Cassingham. For information on free e-mail subscriptions, see [http://www.thisistrue.com or e-mail TrueInfo@thisistrue.com].”