Question of the Day:

South Africa has a capital for each of its branches of government. Legislative is Cape Town, judicial is Bloemfontein and administrative is this city.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Spit on them

Question of the Day:

In Africa the Massai do this to their newborns for good luck.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 1864, Other interesting female doctor info: the 1st US medical school for women opened in 1850 in Pennsylvania and the last medical school to admit females was Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA. it didn’t admit females until 1960. (And U of Michigan was the 1st state medical school that females could attend.)

Question of the Day:

Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the 1st African-American woman doctor, became a doctor in this year.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Sen. Strom Thurmond

Question of the Day:

Breaking news Question: It turns out that the ancestors of the Rev. Al Sharpton were enslaved by the ancestors of this senator famous for his racism, work to keep segregation, and his biracial daughter.


Answer to Yesterday’s Question: It was names after two of Darius’s college friends who were nicknames Hootie and Blowfish after their wide eyes and puffy checks. (Neither is in the band.)

Question of the Day:

OK so Darius Rucker isn’t nicknamed Hootie and his band isn’t “The Blowfish” so how did the group get its name?


Answer to Yesterday’s Question: The Capybaras, Which some think was allowed because no one who decided on this has ever seen a real capybaras and it is an aquatic mammal. Not that is was the only aquatic animal that has been at times allowed: others have included beavers, geese and puffins. And at one time the bishop in what is now part of Michigan allowed the eating of muskrats which has also become a traditional Lenten food, although we could find no proof that it is still consider not meat on Fridays. All the animals along with being often found in water also have in common the fact that they were plentiful at the time and not considered the luxurious foods like beef and other meats.

Question of the Day:

Thanks to a 17th century request to the Vatican this largest rodent is a traditional Lenten food in South America and doesn’t count as meat for Friday abstaining from meat.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Whoopi Goldberg

Question of the Day:

This person was both the 1st woman and the 1st African American to host the Oscars.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: C. the palm branches from last years Palm Sunday. Burning them being one of two correct ways to get red of them, the other is burying.

Tarter Sauce

Even if you don’t abstain from meat on Fridays during lent, if you do any grocery shopping you’ve noticed that all seafood tends to go on sale at this time of year. But, tarter sauce being on sale is a toss up. And it’s so over priced anyway. So here is a quick tarter sauce recipe to go with those fish sticks that were 50% off.


½ C. mayo
2 T. fat free sour cream
2 T. sweet pickle relish
1 t. lemon juice
1 t. dried dill
½ t. finely grated lemon zest
Dash of black pepper

Mix all ingredients together let set in fridge at least ½ hour before serving.

Question of the Day:

Multiple chose: Today is Ash Wednesday, so where do the ashes used today come from?A. Chain smokers B. bonfires held yearly in Israel C. the palm branches from last years Palm Sunday D. the ashes from incense burned in church E. it’s not really ash it’s dirt from graveyards.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Carnival is from the Latin carne vale which means “farewell to the flesh.” It is called that because it is the festive time before the more somber Lent in which one does all the things one will not do in Lent which traditionally included eating meat, fat, eggs and dairy. Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday and is called that because traditionally it was the day one killed and feasted on a fattened calf and eat up all the foods in your house that could not be eaten during Lent and would go bad otherwise. It is also called Pancake Tuesday because in England people would make pancakes to use up their foods not eaten in Lent, and Shrove Tuesday from the verb shrive which means to hear confessions after the custom of going to confession for the start of Lent

An Actual Report of a Book – 100 Crooked Little Crime Stories

100 Crooked Little Crime Stories, Stories selected by: Weinberg, Dzienianowicz, & Greenberg
Mystery, crime fiction 589 pages, 10th grade reading level, copyright 1994

This book is a collection of 100 short stories most 5-6 pages long and about murder and thefts. One story doesn’t even have a crime in it. And a couple goes to show why the colorblind shouldn’t be criminals. (Thought how these people didn’t know that they were colorblind, or learn to deal with it is beyond us.) Over all this was a fun read. These stories were just the right size to read in a couple minutes. There were a few that tried too hard to fit in that short length. They needed to be a few pages longer to adequately build up to the ending. Also it would have been helpful if the editors gave a little background information. A story about the Jamaican countryside in the 1930’s is going to have a different way to deal with a murder then a retirement village in modern day Florida. And some of the writers do not give a lot of background in the story, most likely because in the way it first came out in print it would not have been needed. But with 100 stories to chose between there’s a story for anyone that likes crime stories.

Question of the Day:

Today is Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday the end of Carnival which starts each year on the Epiphany (aka Twelfth Night, aka Three Kings’ Day) which is on Jan 6th and ends at midnight on Fat Tuesday with Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. Where do the names Carnival and Mardi Gras come from and why are they called that?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: FDR, who died during his 4th term

Question of the Day:

Who was the only US President to serve more than 2 terms?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: an extra month is added, not just a day.

Question of the Day:

What is different about a leap year in the Chinese calendar?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 15, ending with the Festival of Lanterns at the full moon. (The Chinese calendar is lunar, which is why the date of the New Year changes on the Julian calendar.)

What do You Think???

Ok, so we at WNBNI finally got our library card (It’s only been 2 ½ years in this city.) And due to that we want to know what you think. Would you like more book reports in the blog? If so what kind of books would you like us to review? We’ll read most everything just a few ground rules:
1. We joined the county library, so although there are like 20 different branches, they are for the most part small and may not have every new book on hand, and we aren’t going to drive across the county or put our name on the waiting list for most books.
2. We will not read any book that is all about sex. We have on occasion read “romance” novels that were clearly mismarked because they were mostly about a mystery or daily life and just happened to include adult interactions, but we do not want to waist time on trashy paperback where body parts are constantly heaving or throbbing. It’s just not good lit. If we want to read about that we would read the “Kama Sutra” which incidentally we are willing to read as even that for the most part isn’t about sex.
3. We will not check out “The Catcher and the Rye.” Everyone knows that if you want to read that book you go to a used bookstore where no one knows you and you pay for it with cash. Otherwise you get on a government list and if you’re lucky they don’t send you to Gitmo. For any government people reading this we have NEVER read the book and we never plan on it. Also in 7th grade when we checked out “1984” by George Orwell we didn’t finish the book as we were afraid that our mom would look at it and read some part that was about sex and take away our library card. But wasn’t it just horrible how that man acted against the government’s control of his life? I wonder what reasonable action they took against him when he was found out for the free loving, self thinking, slime that he was.

Any way we await your thoughts on the subject. Also we would like to let you know if you don’t have an opinion on it, we will do what ever we want and if you don’t like it it will be your fault because you should have said something now. So send in your comments.

Question of the Day:

For how many days is the Chinese New Year Celebrated?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 4705 and red pig (Dinghai). 4705 because the years are dated from the reign of the 1st king of China, the Yellow King who was crowned in 2697 B.C. Pig because each year is named after an animal based on a Chinese legend that the Buddha summoned all animals to him and only 12 arrived, those 12 each got a year on the cycle of years named after them based on when they arrived, as the pig is lazy he was last. And red based off the stem-branch system used in Chinese years, this year will be fire (a yang element) which correlated to red. (It is also the stem of ding and branch of hai.)

Question of the Day:

The Chinese New Year is on February 18th this year. What year will it be then and why?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Painting it Green, although no one was able to say why, some think it was to improve feng shui and some to reduce erosion.

Will They Ever Learn???

Today the government has released a new one dollar coin. This coin is the first of its type to feature a president on it. The U.S. Mint believes that they have prevented the problem with earlier dollar coins by making sure that there are a lot in circulation, as the problem with dollar coins SOOO was that we just couldn’t get enough of them. Also they are going to make a new coin every three months with a different president’s face on it, starting with Washington, in the hopes that people collect them like with the 50-state quarters. (Like that isn’t what people are forced to do with them now. No vending machine takes them, not even post office ones that only give you dollar coins back. Stores don’t really want them as the registers aren’t set up for them [Sure there is that extra coin spot, but it’s full of rolled coins, or paper clips.] And some cashiers done even know what they are.) And no country has both a dollar coin and bill where both are commonly used; its one or the other and we would rather have the bill. (As would strippers, waitresses, people trying to trick people in movies with a case of $100 bills that are actually mostly $1 bills and any one else that likes the shape or weight of bills over coins.)-T

Question of the Day:

Since last August government workers have been doing this unusual activity with the Laoshou Mountain in Fumin county in southwest China?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: The Tower of London, where he was NOT beheaded.

Question of the Day:

The 1st Valentine card (excluding one’s from St. Valentine himself) was thought to be send in 1415 from the Duke of Orleans to his wife from this location.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: It isn’t, the feast was dropped in 1969, due to the fact that it can’t be proven who St. Valentine was or how many there where. Some legends about him include: that he was a priest or bishop in the Roman Empire who might have helped persecuted Christians, was thrown in jail and there wrote encouraging letters to others about God’s love, which he might have signed “your Valentine” and was beheaded maybe on Feb 14th; that he secretly married couples when it was forbidden; or that he wrote letters to his jailer’s daughter and was probably beheaded.

Question of the Day:

As most of you know Valentine’s Day is one of the holidays celebrated in America that started out as a Christian holy day, today’s question is what day on the Roman calendar of official Catholic feasts is St. Valentine’s Day?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 1,097, he also held patents in the UK, France, and Germany.

The History of Ideas

Today in Inventers’ Day in honor of Edison the inventor of the light bulb (OK, he didn’t really invent the 1st light bulb, but no one remembers any of the other inventers.) and about 5 million other inventions. Which of course makes everyone ask the question, “What did people use to show that they had a great idea before the light bulb was invented?” We at weird news BNI have fully researched it and will now share with you “The History of Ideas.”
At the dawn of time when one had an idea the sun appeared above their head. As at that time the sun was often thought to be a god or the home of one, inventers soon were revered as gods as well. This belief helped cause the rapid growth in societies that accrued at that time. Why go threw all the effort of making spears when pointy sticks work fine? Because the gods said too! This is why Akhenaten, the pharaoh who invented a new religion, created a new capital and invented a new style of art is pictured with the sun’s rays around him, while other pharaohs weren’t, even thought they were thought to be gods, while Akhenaten created a monotheistic religion, there forth, making him not a god. (And the one god in his religion, Ra, the sun god.)
This use of the sun to show an idea continued on until near the end of the Roman Empire when it was switched to candles, creating the dark ages. While the sun was million of miles away and only looked like it was behind the person, candles appeared directly above them, causing burns, fires, and even death. It was a dangerous time to be an inventor, who knows what great idea could be the death of you. Inventers spent most of their time trying to not think of ideas, only on the occasional rainy day setting out to think up ways to fireproof one’s head.
This continued until one brave soul invented the enclosed lantern, which then was used to show off ideas. This directly led to the renaissance and improvements to the lantern helped to launch every time of great ideas before the light bulb was created. This includes the creation of the light bulb. Which was adopted as the way to show off an idea only five years after it was first invented. –BS.

Question of the Day:

Thomas Edison held this many US patents?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: the banjo

Question of the Day:

This music instrument originated in Africa and was only played by people of African decent until the 1800’s.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: ( OK, actually Friday’s, but we were at a wedding on the other side of the state yesterday.) Alex Haley, whose best known as the writer of “Roots”.

Question of the Day:

This author’s efforts to trace his family’s roots back to Africa became a best selling book and mini-series, that helped spread interest in genealogy.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who was eventually released from prison 22 years later. He has written two books on his life, one in prison and the other after his release. He was given an honorary championship title belt by the World Boxing Council in 1993. And he currently works with the Association in Defense of the Wrongfully Convicted, the Southern Center for Human Rights, and the Alliance for Prison Justice.

Question of the Day:

This famous boxer was wrongly imprisoned for murder, sparking outrage and a song by Bob Dylan. (Which was played repeatingly threw out the movie on his life that stared Denzel Washington.)

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Philadelphia

Question of the Day:

In the mid 1800’s this large city was know as “The Black Capital of Anti-Slavery” because of its numerous anti-slavery groups.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: D: over 300, this list includes items as diverse as cheese, ink, soap and cosmetics. He also made 118 sweet potato products including rubber, ink and glue. Almost everything he invented he refused to patent, so that they could be freely used by others.

Question of the day

Multiple choice: How many products using peanuts did George Washington Carver invent or improve during his life? A: 0 (it’s really a myth) B: 54 C: 103 D: over 300

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Satchelmouth, referring to the size of his mouth. Other nicknames he had were Gatemouth, Dippermouth, Dip and Pops.

Question of the Day:

Louis Armstrong’s nickname, Satchmo was short for this.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: July 9, 1893 by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams the 1st African American Member of the American College of Surgeons.

Correction

On our “Answer to Yesterday’s Question” found on February 2nd we accidentally put in the wrong year for when Madam C.J. Walker was born. The correct year was 1867. Sorry for the incorrect information and thanks to the reader who pointed it out.

Question of the Day:

The 1st open heart surgery was performed when?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: a wrench, its US patent #1413121.

Quotes from Booker T. Washington

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.

Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else

Question of the Day:

Jack Johnson the 1st African American heavyweight champion also held a patent for improvements to this tool.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Scooter III

Happy Groundhog Day!!!

Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day, we hope you enjoy all of the traditional Groundhog Day activities such as: complaining about how stupid this holiday is, insisting that the groundhog doesn’t care about the weather or inversely that they are in control of the weather, watching groundhog day films with your families, singing groundhog carols, living the same day over and over again until you get it right, making a snowman, drinking hot coco, and sleeping.

Question of the day

What was the real name of the groundhog who was in the movie “Groundhog Day”?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Madam C.J. Walker, who’s real name was Sarah Breedlove. She lived from 1876 to 1919 and was famous for inventing and selling hair care product designed for African Americans.

Check this out!

Check out our web editor's new blog, http://howisthatnew.blogspot.com/

Upcoming holidays:

Feb 1-28: African American History Month
Feb 1-28: international Friendship month
Feb 2: Groundhog Day
Feb 2: Candlemas/Purifacation Day
Feb 4: Super Sunday
Feb 11: Thomas Edison Day
Feb 11: World Marriage Day
Feb 12: Lincoln’s Birthday
Feb 14: Valentine’s Day
Feb 18: Chinese New Year
Feb 19: Presidents’ Day
Feb 20: Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday
Feb 21: Ash Wednesday
Feb 21- April 7: Lent
Mar 2: World Day of Prayer
Mar 3: Purim
Mar 3: Hina Matsuri
Mar 4: Lantern Festival
Mar 8: International Women’s Day
Mar 11: Daylight Saving Time Begins
Mar 14: Pi Day
Mar 15: Ides of March
Mar 17: St. Patrick’s Day
Mar 21: Spring Equinox
Mar 31: Mawlid al-Nabi
Mar 31: Lazarus Saturday

Question of the Day:

Who was America’s first female African American millionaire and when did she live?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Emancipation Day, which is in honor of the Compensated Emanancipation Act which freed slaves in D.C. on April 16th, 1862.

More Long Forgotten Laws being Used.

Some of you might remember a few years ago in Michigan a long forgotten law, making it illegal to curse or swear in front of women and children, was actually used in a trial. And the judge ruled that it was still illegal to curse in front of children, but not illegal to do so in front of women. Now another old law is going threw the court system. And as it stands now any one having an affair can be charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which is a felony with a sentence of up to life in prison. Now from what we can gather this law is being used not by an upset prosecutor with a cheating spouse, but to bust up a drug/sex ring. Although we can’t say for sure as we heard about it on the Colbert Report last night, and we went to their source the Detroit Free Press but they charge $2.95 just to read the full article, which is insane, (and just another reason to not buy their union crushing paper.) so we only have the first paragraph. (And we’re too lazy to try all the other papers for it.) But, we think this is a great idea for the average couple too. Why should to poor cheated on spouse have to go threw a long drawn out divorce, spending all their money on lawyers when they can send the jerk to jail where they will never have to see them again and keep everything. And then if later they want to divorce they can just sell off all their soon to be ex’s favorite things so that they can use it for child support later. Of course, this law will still most likely only be used in the most extreme cases, because think of what the strain it would be on an already overfull jail system, but imagine all the ways it can now be used to make jerks suffer. (“If you don’t leave her, I’m calling the cops.” or “If you don’t give me the house in the divorce I going to bring up the emails I have of your’s from Raul.”) Yahhh!!!! Blackmail!!! -T

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Our web editor has a new blog Click here to see it.

Question of the Day:

This year taxes are due on April 17th because the 15th is a Sunday and the 16th is this holiday celebrated in Washington DC.

Bonus Question: It’s time to here your thoughts on something. Which group got the worst placement of their histories month: African American’s whose month is February, the shortest month of the year by 2 days, or Hispanic’s whose month isn’t even a month its Sept 15th to Oct 15th?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: They are all currently recurring characters being played by Jean-Paul Manoux. (Curtis- Phil of the Future, Mr. Hackett- Phil of the Future, Dr. Dustin Crenshaw-ER, voice of Kuzco- The Emperor’s New School, And the green grapes- Fruit of the Loom ads.)

Question of the Day:

What do a caveman, a suspicious vice principal, an unlikable surgeon, a cartoon teenage emperor, and an underwear selling bunch of grapes have in common?

Bonus Question: It’s time to here your thoughts on something. Which group got the worst placement of their histories month: African American’s whose month is February, the shortest month of the year by 2 days, or Hispanic’s whose month isn’t even a month its Sept 15th to Oct 15th?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: coconut husks (2 ply for added scratchiness.)

Things for sale on E-bay right now.

~ set of 3 glass eyes made in Germany
~ a 1st edition book on Siam written in 1923
~ 8 foot diameter helium balloon with your company’s logo added for free
~Un-cut proof of Marilyn Monroe trading cards
~Brennan family Coat of Arms

Question of the Day:

Hawaiians once used this native plant part for toilet paper.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 50% (by volume)

Question of the Day:

Up to how much of your store bought ice cream can be air?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Up to 6 tons

Question of the Day:

How much meat can an adult tiger eat in one year?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: By the gender of the writer.

Question of the Day:

In the 1800’s in what unusual way did people divide their books?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Up to a gallon and a half.

The Rise of Manatee’s Mating Rituals in Popular Culture

Over the last decade the manatee has gone from an endangered species that few people cared about to the new “it” creature to watch mate for “educational” purposes. As far as we can tell this started out innocently enough, but is one quick move switched form the National Geographic to Playboy channel.
The 1st instance of manatees in pop culture we found was the song “Endangered Love” from 2000. This song is most obviously a recording about the complexity of manatees mating rituals. The female appond finding a seemingly suitable mate asked him to go to a formal mating ritual occasion, “the ball”. The male in order to verify the female’s mateablity demands that she first showcase a complex skill, speaking French. After the female showcases this skill she reiterates the request to go to the ball. It is at this point that the male will either move forward or inform the female of his unsuitability as a mate. In this case the male was an unsuitable mate, due to the fact that he was unable to properly perform a mating dance, or dance at all. If this was the only case of manatees in the popular culture we would assume that this was just another case of a song being light years ahead of society on a whole, much like the song on the music preferences of the duck. Which, sadly many feel caused the death of ducks favorite musical style.
But, reasontly a manatee was performing a mating dance on a late night TV show. This lead to the creation of the web site www.hornymanatee.com which we have from a good source contains information on manatees and sex. And lots of manatee sex pictures. And the dancing manatee has become a recurring guest on the show. Also we had heard that the network Logo has started a podcast on manatees. Although given the network we assume that it is meant to be about gay manatee’s, given that manatees all look and sound almost exactly the same we think that the manatees are just nearsighted.-BS

Question of the Day:

How much water can an elephants hold in their trunks’?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: No, as a mythomaniac is some one who constantly lies, so if your not one you would answer no, and if you were one you would answer no.

Question of the Day:

What is the only logic answer to “are you a mythomaniac?”

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Bowling, we guess that is why we’ve never seen a pagan bowling league.

More Weird Things Our Cat Does

Our cat is obsessed with opening doors. Especially at around 5 in the morning. I have no idea how an animal that randomly sleeps threw out the day and never goes outside can have a better since of time them most people, but all cats seam to have that ability. Any way every day at 5 a.m. he seams to think he must open every door he can. Especially the door to the room his food is usually in. Even if the food is not in there. (Say it’s like right next to his dish where if all he wanted was food he could just tip it over and eat.) Now some doors are easy to open because they aren’t latched and only need to be pushed or use a paw under the door to pull it. But, the food door is different. It is latched shut. So what does the cat do? He reaches up and tries to turn the handle. This would be incredible cute if he wasn’t doing it at 5 in the morning, but that is the one time in the day he has decided to work on this skill. We’ll let you know when he masters it. (And you know as a cat he’ll get it one day.)

Question of the Day:

This modern game is descended from the German game called heidenwerfen, which translated into English is “strike down the heathens”.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: No other English word rhymes with either word.

The most shoplifted thing in America

We are Weird News BNI have just read an article that we feel we must share. It is on the most shoplifted items in America. Guess what it is. . . It’s meat!! Who would have though of that. Its cold and messy. Anyway here is a link to the whole story.

Question of the Day:

What do the words orange and purple have in common besides both being colors and the letters R and E?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Leonardo da Vinci, one of Weird News B.N.I.’s Guys Who Invented Everything. (Along with Edison and Franklin.)

More Weird Things Our Cat Does

In a pre-on line edition of Weird News BNI we shared the top weird places our cat likes to sleep. As cats are weird we thought we would comment on other weird things he does, as some of our readers feel that we do not spend enough time on the weird or newsness of our title even though we pointed out that the title in no way really related to the content. Anyway, our cat likes to jump up in the window of the bedroom and lick the mini blinds. One would think that he is trying to dust using only his tongue. And this is not a quiet thing. He likes to do this only while we are in the room resting. And he can not easily be persuaded to stop. It is as if the blinds are made of tuna.
Does your pet do weird things, if so please tell us about it. Because, it can’t just be this one cat that’s weird, can it?

Question of the Day:

This famed inventor invented scissors.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Chicago

Question of the Day:

Which city’s average temp in winter is colder; Chicago, USA or Reykjavik, Iceland?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Michael Jackson

Valentine’s Day

Hey Guys!!! It’s only 27 days to Valentine’s Day. It’s time to think about what to get for it now. May we suggest candy and candles? They are romantic and useful gifts. Plus, unlike flowers their price doesn’t increase 500% in February and you can buy them early saving you the problem of forgetting about it.

An Actual Report of a Book – Uncle John’s Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader

Uncle John’s Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader By: the Bathroom Readers’ Institute
Humor, Refernce, History, & Trivia 522 pages, 6th grade reading level copyright 2004

OK, if you ever read a bathroom reader before you know its not one big long story. It’s a bunch of little bits of information ranging in size from 1 sentence to 5-6 pages. So, we cann’t really do a normal book report on it. But, we just wanted to let you know, this one has lots of fun facts in it. And like the last few days it contains the answer to today’s question of the day. It also will most likely contain the answer to more questions of the day too, as it is full of fun facts.

Question of the Day:

What famous pop star wrote the early Simpson’s hit “Do the Bartman”?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Early base ball stadiums were made so that the infield box seats would be shaded during games (to cool the fans that paid the most.) Because of this the pitcher’s left hand was on the south side of him.

An Actual Report of a Book – Milton’s Teeth and Ovid's Umbrella

Milton’s Teeth and Ovid’s Umbrella BY: Michael Olmert
Non-Fiction, History 256 pages 9th grade reading level, copyright 1996

This book is worth reading for its chapter on how the Wild West mirrored Medieval England and Spain alone. It also has interesting information on many everyday things, and how they shaped history. That being said, there is one thing we dislike about the book. Reading it one would think that it was written decades ago. It references “common” childhood games that we have never heard of, and talks of local customs around the country still in practice, that may be done by a handful of people in remote areas, but most people again most likely have never heard of. But, reading the book will give you the answer to today’s question of the day.

Question of the Day:

Why are lefties called southpaws in baseball?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: The Magnus Force, which deals with how airflow affects air pressure on things like turning balls and curved wings.

An Actual Report of a Book – How Do They Do That?

How Do They Do That? by: Michael Powell
Non-fiction, reference, 143 pages, 8th grade reading level, copyright 2005

This book explains how various famous people do, or did the things that made them famous. Some people in the book include: Einstein, Bruce Lee, Picasso, Dan Marino, Stephen King, Tony Hawk, Matt Groening, the Dalai Lama, & Julia Child. This book is not meant to make you a great sports star or genius in and field. But it does help to explain how they became ones, and some of the information can help you too. Also reading the book will give you the answer to today’s question.

Question of the Day:

This Force lets you fly an airplane, throw a curve ball or bend it like Beckham.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question:1956, and it was huge, about as big as a piano!

An Actual Report of a Book – The Stupidest Angel

The Stupidest Angel BY: Christopher Moore
Fiction, humor 275 pages 10th grade reading level, copyright 2004

1st this book is currently $2 at our Barnes & Noble for a hardcover edition, so we couldn’t help but get it. Also as the book itself warns it has “cuss words as well as tasteful depictions of cannibalism and people in their forties having sex.” But, as it is tasteful we didn’t label it as adult content as you can get away with a lot normally gross or smutty junk if it’s tastefully done.
That being said the story is of a small California town around Christmas and a Christmas miracle being preformed by an angel who we can only describe as the Terminator, but mentally challenged. He is only one of the many characters that make this book so funny. Others include: Roberto, a Ray-Ban wearing fruit bat; Kendra, Warrior Babe of the Outland; a dead Santa Claus; a group of lab rats with electrodes on their testes; the Narrator, a voice in another character’s head; a pot smoking cop; and a cemetery full of Ikea lovers. We would explain more of the story, but from the list of some of its characters you can probably guess that it is just one of those books you have to read, because it needs more then a few paragraphs to explain it.

Question of the Day:

What year was the 1st VCR made in?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Bunbury, after Sir Charles Bunbury

An Actual Report of a Book – Sleeping with the Fishes

Sleeping with the Fishes by: Mary Janice Davidson
Fiction, paranormal romance, mystery 284 pages, Adult reading, copyright 2006
1st we have to say this is not our normal reading material. We usually do not like romance novels. We picked it out for a friend’s present only to find out that they had bought it themselves. To see their review of it click here. But, the story intrigued us enough that we wanted to read it. It is the story of a ½ mermaid person with green hair. Who suddenly finds herself with 2 love interests; one human, one merman (but, don’t call him that) and one mystery both men want to solve. It has lots of humor in it and a fast paced storyline. And after reading it we hope a sequel.

Question of the Day:

Horse races called Derbies are named after the co-founder of the 1st derby, Edward Smith Stanley the earl of Derby who won a coin toss for naming rights to the race, if he lost they would have been called this. . .

Answer to Yesterday’s Question:120 MPH

Coming up

With the holidays we at Weird News B.N.I. have had many books that we red, and would like to share, but didn’t. So coming up in the next few days will be a number of different books, great for curling up with in the cold days of January. We hope you enjoy.

Question of the Day:

What on average is the terminal velocity of an adult human?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: the orchid.

Get Organized Tips

~Find a place for everything in your home.
~Make list of what you need to do each day/week/month.
~Create a schedule.

And yes we know we didn't post on the day we were going to talk about being organized, but we were organized. The post was written we just didn't feel great after being at the dentist for 2 1/2 hours.

Question of the Day:

This plant makes bees drunk.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: (OK Thursday’s one) 68 F

Sorry

We are sorry that we didn't post yesterday. It was a very busy day.

Help Others Tips

~Volunteer at a local soup kitchen, food bank, animal shelter or other organization.
~Join a group like Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
~Give to your favorite charity.
~ Visit sick or elderly relatives bringing them food or helping run errands.

Question of the Day:

Your instructions say to keep at room temperature, what really is considered room temp?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Die, Also many people’s eyes lighten as they age, and some darken.

Learn Something New Tips

~Take a class at a nearby community college.
~Find a class at a community center, or through the local school system.
~Pick up a book at the library or book store.
~Watch an educational TV show.
~surf the internet.

Question of the Day:

Always wanted green eyes? Your eyes will most likely turn greenish-brown if you do this.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Around 5000 years, it was started in China.

Get Out of Debt Tips

~Pay off your credit cards, starting with the ones with the highest interest rates.
~Set a budget, and stick with it. Make sure it includes expenses that don’t happen every month like car registration and Christmas presents.
~Pay bills on time to prevent penalties.

Question of the Day:

Beauty may only be skin deep, but its ages old, how long have people been painting fingernails?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Billy the Kid

Quit Drinking Tips

~See #2 &3 under Quit Smoking Tips
~If you are quitting because you have a drinking problem join AA.
~Throw out all the alcohol in your house.

Question of the Day:

This legendary criminal started his career with stealing butter.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Non-dairy creamer, and no we have no idea how people learned this, and we didn’t test this.

Enjoy Life More Tips

~Make time for activities you like.
~Try new things (hobbies, foods, movies, music, whatever you enjoy.)
~laugh

Question of the Day:

The votes are in and the winner is. . . . More questions of the day!!

Here's the 1st one: Be carefull where you drink your coffee because this item ofter used in coffee is flammable.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Jan 6th.

Quit Smoking Tips

~Find out what way of quitting will be best for you, talk with your doctor and look up information on the web. (Due to legal battles all cigarette companies have quitting ideas on their web sites; however, we’re not sure it doesn’t contain hidden smoking messages, so be careful.)
~Start a hobby that uses both your hands to keep then busy.
~Change up your daily patterns to avoid things that make you want to smoke as much as possible.

Holiday Question of the Day:

What day is cerebrated as Christmas in Eastern Churches?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: a horse, camel and elephant.

Merry Christmas!

Fun Links

With the New Year starting many groups are putting out there annual list or contest winners. There are a few from Michigan (Our home state) that we thought we would share.

For words that should be banished in 2007 click here

For the 10th Annual Wacky Warning Label Contest click here

Weight lost Tips

~Before you start if you have any health problems you should work with you doctor to set up a diet that’s good for you. Everyone else calls them and let us knows any funny answers, please.
~You will lose weight as long as you eat a couple hundred less calories then your body needs. (Eating way too few calories, make your body think you are starving to death, which is not a good thing.) If the average person ate 1700 calories only in chocolate donuts and beer each day they would lose weight. (They would need to take lots of vitamins too, so they don’t get deficiencies, but they would lose weight) So pick a diet you can stick to, no matter what foods are in it.
~Always put food on a plate or bowl. Eating even a healthy snack out of the container will result in you most likely eating more than you should.
~Allow a time or two of cheating on your diet in a week. Otherwise you are more likely to give up, or binge eats. Just make it a small amount. (A piece of cake, not the cake.)
~Add exercise to your day, to counterbalance your slowing metabolism.

Holiday Question of the Day:

What 3 animals are traditionally thought to have carried the 3 wise men?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: King Cake, a cake eaten on the Epiphany and in some places threw out Carnival or Marti Gras.

Merry Christmas!

Exercise Tips

~Find an activity you like, keep trying new ones until you find one you enjoy.
~Remember you don’t have to do all you’re working out in a day at one time. A 30 min. workout could be a 10 min. walk on your lunch break, 15 min. of aerobics, and 5 lifting weights.
~Many daily activities can be exercise.
~Start small and add time, number of workouts, or intensity as you go, to prevent hurting yourself.
~ If you have any health problems you should work with your doctor to make sure you have picked a good program for you. Everyone else should call their doctor like all the exercise commercials say, and please, report back on any funny answers you get. (Like you doctor is going to say “No, your healthy, don’t exercise.”?)

Holiday Question of the Day:

Biting into something in this food, will entitle you to be king/queen for a day.

Bonus Question: So far it's 1 for more questions, 0 against. Please, tell us what you think.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 1607 in Jamestown

Spending more time with friends and family tips

~Schedule time on your calendar for family and friends the same way you do with work.
~Take a hard look at your family’s schedules are you doing to many unnecessary activities, are there ways you can combine activities so you are spending more time together.
~Plan a set repeating event; for example once a month you will go to dinner with a friend, each month find one friend who can go.
~Remember time spent together doesn’t have to be a big, special event, involve your kids in grocery shopping, invite neighbors over for 15 mins. of talking and coffee.

Holiday Question of the Day:

In what year was the 1st eggnog made in the USA?

Bonus question: After that would you like to see more questions of the day on random topics? Please, send us a comment on it.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 5, there are 12 days of Christmas, which ends on Jan 6th.

Top 10 resolutions

~Spend more time with friends and family
~exercise
~ Weight lost
~Quit smoking
~enjoy life more
~quit drinking
~get out of debt
~learn something new
~Help others
~ get organized

We will be giving you a few tips on how to successes at all 10 resolutions in the following days. Today here are some general tips for what ever your’s is.
~Make sure your doing this at least in part for yourself. Sure you may try to quit smoking because it’s bad for you, but unless you care that it’s bad, you won’t stop.
~Break your goal up into small parts. It’s easier to think about losing 10 pounds in the next 3 months then 50 pounds this year.
~If you mess up one day that doesn’t mean you have to stop trying. Some days you won’t get around to your new activities; expect it to happen, especially at first. Remember if you do something for 30 days it has become a habit and you will have an easier time. So, stick out that 1st month.
~Telling others your goal increases you chances of following through on them.

Holiday Question of the Day:

Counting today, if we make a holiday question of the day every day until the end of Christmas how many would that be?

Bonus question: After that would you like to see more questions of the day on random topics? Please, send us a comment on it.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: The first day of the New Moon after the Vernal Equinox, the start of spring. April Fool’s Day is thought to be started to make fun of the people who didn’t remember that the day had been changed to Jan 1st. (Which happened in 153 BC.)

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Lucky Food to Eat on New Year’s Day

- ring shaped food
- donuts in Holland
- black-eyed peas in the South
- pork
- cabbage
- rice

Holiday Question of the Day:

New Year was first set on this day.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: New Years, it was first celebrated about 2000 BC by the Babylonians’.