Timbits2Toonies

Today 600,000 Surinamers celebrate independence from the Netherlands in 1975. Turmeric is a member of the ginger family. Ice cream trucks are illegal in the State of Iowa.  Floss became commercially available in 1882.  The Dentist of the Year gets a little plaque.  Canada and Germany are the two major producers of the world’s ice wines. Mary Anderson invented the windshield wiper in 1903. Ear infections are most common in fall and winter. The second largest city park on Earth is Table Mountain in Cape Town in South Africa. Always open a bottle of wine to let it breathe; if it isn’t breathing, give it mouth-to-mouth. 25,000 dry oak leaves weigh in at 34 kilos. Open wide! We have eight schools of dentistry across the nation.  Peacocks and peahens are carnivores; a group is called a party.  There are two types of cheesecake.  Trees only hit vehicles in self-defence. 23 million people speak Dutch as their Mother tongue. Darjeeling is

Today in 1989, The Czech Communist Party executive quit to make way for free elections. Breadfruit is a member of the mulberry family. There are more than 100 different kinds of garden/lawn tractors.  Regina, Saskatoon and Québec City have the lowest crime rates in the nation. You know your luck is bad when you’re robbed by a Quaker. According to a CIBC survey, 56% of us do not have a Last Will and Testament. Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution, On the Origin of Species, today in 1858. China has taken top spot as the world’s largest economy since 2015. The Israelites could eat locusts, crickets and grasshoppers, according to Leviticus 11:22. If evolution is a theory, thank goodness that gravity is a law. Gruber is the most common surname in Austria.  Ethiopians prefer white teff to darker varieties.  Mercedes-Benz currently markets six electric vehicles. Lord Tweedsmuir, author and Governor General, awarded the first Governor

This is Labour Thanksgiving Day in Japan. Icebergs have been spotted as far south as Bermuda.  Grasshoppers are a Mexican delicacy; it costs more than any other meat.  Hodophobics struggle with an irrational fear of travelling.  Folks who want to purchase a bear from the Arctic should be aware of buy polar disorder.  Our English word credit comes from the French word crédit; meaning belief or trust.  The second largest tropical forest is the Congo Basin, covering 1.8 million kilometres 2 . 121,148 of our soldiers receive disability pensions. Princess Wilhelmina ascended to the throne of The Netherlands today in 1890. Life is a zoo—in a jungle. Kia is South Korea’s second largest automobile manufacturer. When cottage cheese is pressed rather than drained, it is hoop cheese, a.k.a. queso blanco . Hudson's Bay gave Vancouver Island to the Crown which created a British Colony in 1849. Today in 1963, Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as Preside

Today, six million  Lebanese celebrate 75 years of independence from France. The first plastic water bottle was manufactured in 1973 by Dow Chemical. Pine cones have genders. The Little Tikes Cozy Coupe is the #1 selling car in the US-outselling Mustang.  France has detonated 217 nuclear bombs. A Lego block made in 1960 fits flawlessly with one manufactured today. When tofu is frozen, it turns yellow, but returns to white when thawed. This is Thanksgiving Day for our American friends and neighbours.  Smith, Wilson and Robertson are the three most common Scottish patronyms. Today in 2005, Angela Merkel was sworn in as Germany’s first woman chancellor. The Prophet Samuel described forks as part of a spiritual ritual in I Samuel 2:13 Golf balls were once made of leather stuffed with feathers. AWOL from the Periodic Table is the letter “J”. The UN recognizes 180 currencies circulating in 195 countries.  350 years ago, the first cen

A grouping of jellyfish is called a smack.  StatsCan reports 160,000 vehicles were involved in collisions, last year.  Today in 164 BC, Judas Maccabeus restored the temple in Jerusalem; the event is commemorated as Hanukkah. Joints in the skull do not move.  An odd truth about accidents is that people never have one until they’re having them. The planet Venus spins in reverse from Earth. After 37 years in power, Robert Mugabe resigned as president of Zimbabwe, on this date in 2017. The utricle is the world’s smallest fruit.  More board games are sold in Germany than in any other country. The correct spelling of mousetrap is c-a-t. Sliced bread hit grocery stores in 1928. Swedish communications giant, Ericsson, was first to manufacture cellular phones in 1987. At this very minute 60% of the sky is covered in clouds.  Today in 1877, inventor Thomas Edison unveiled the phonograph.  Bread dough always rises when one yeast expects it to. 

Because Heaven is not enough, 556 is the number of CCTVs keeping eyes on Vatican City.  The largest mountain in our solar system is on Mars.  Of the 192 flags of independent nations, 30 are tricolours in red, white and blue.  Atlantic Canadians will spend $813 on Christmas; Québeckers will spend the least, $458. My neighbour swears that when Santa is in his apartment, he can feel his presents. Chionophobes struggle with an irrational fear of snow.  There are 225 different shades of the colour blue. This is Royal Navy Day in Thailand. Ancient Egyptians buried their dead with necklaces made of barley. It was so cold, the maid didn’t clean the house, she defrosted it.  There are 35 days until Christmas. Not a blend, allspice is a berry. Princess Elizabeth wed Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten today in Westminster Abbey, in 1947. Mistletoe is a parasite that lives off its host shrub or tree. Mary and Joseph had a stable relationship. A ne

Yogourt naturally rehydrates skin. The House of Saud, the Saudi Royal Family, was established in 1744. Seeing the colour red makes the human heart beat faster. This is the UN’s World Toilet Day-- 4.5 billion people have no access to proper sanitation. Sobeys sells so many brands of yogourt, I can’t keep up; it’s all Greek to me. California has 30,000 registered professional firefighters. The turkey nearly became extinct in the 1930s because it was such a popular food. Ford announced it would drop the slow-selling Edsel on this date, in 1959. Unsafe water kills 200 children every hour.  A turkey got into a brawl, and got the stuffing knocked out of him. According to legend, a unicorn can purify water with a touch of its horn. By Royal Proclamation, the  Crown Colony of British Columbia was created today, in 1858. There are five kinds of warts. Water regulates Earth’s temperatures. My neighbour watched a documentary on the CBC about frogs; he

A serving of reindeer meat contains 34 calories, seven grams of protein and one gram of fat. Tick, tock, tick, tock; Christmas will be here in 36 days.  The British Empire became the British Commonwealth of Nations, on this day in 1926. In Québec he is  le petit Renne au nez rouge;  in English Canada he is Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. I told my neighbour that Christmas was right around the corner; he went out to look for it.   The sensory function of taste is the weakest of the five senses.  Finns have more than 3,000 saunas.  Ushered into the world in 1928, this is the birthday of Mickey Mouse. There are three private schools on Prince Edward Island.  People who suffer from an irrational fear of St. Nick are claustrophobics.  Silent Night was first performed in Austria, 200 years ago.  The drinking age is 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Québec; in all other jurisdictions, it's 19.  Men’s dress shirts can feature any of three kinds of cuffs. 

Today in 1840, Reverend James Evans invented a syllabic alphabet for the Cree and Inuit. November’s flower is the chrysanthemum.  William Colgate began making soap in 1806. The three top condiments in German restaurants are mustard, horseradish and applesauce. Lather is the best medicine.  The average Bugatti owner has 84 other cars, three jets and one yacht.  Nitroglycerin was first used as a heart medication in 1867.  It is illegal to own a pit bull in twelve of the United States. First oil was pumped by the Hibernia oil rig off the coast of Newfoundland, today in 1997. Olive oil comes from olives, vegetable oil comes from vegetables and baby oil comes from—you figure it out. The most important plant in an oasis is the date palm.  Mexico, Peru and China are the top three producers of silver.  At a ratio of three to one, it takes 1.36 kilos of plums to make 453 grams of prunes.  Today in 1558, Elizabeth I ascended to the English throne