Timbits2Toonies

This is the 365th day of the year.  At 329 litres per day, Canadians use twice as much water than those in the EU. The hardest wood in the world is the Australian Buloke. Tomatoes rank second to potatoes in South African agricultural production. Newborn baby potatoes are called small fry.   Arby’s operates more than 3,000 restaurants in eight nations.  The shelf life of ghee is three months.  A candle’s flame burns at 1 000°C. Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as Canada’s capital, today in 1857. Place mirrors around your lightbulbs and Hydro will send you a monthly cheque.  Americans, Dutch, British, Japanese and Brazilians rank, in order, as the largest consumers of soap.  It takes 500 years to produce three centimetres of topsoil. Armand Bombardier unveiled the world’s first snowmobile, today in 1922. It’s so cold, the neighbourhood squirrels are wearing Stanfield's.  Today in 2007, Québec City kicked off its 400th anniversary.

In much of Asia, the number four is considered unlucky.  The risk of lung cancer increases significantly with coffee consumption. The names of twelve women are engraved on the Stanley Cup. 1.25 million alligators live in Florida.  Today is the sixth day of the Twelve Days of Christmas. The six geese a-laying cost $510 on amazon.ca Most eye injuries heal within 48 hours. Mary, Mary, quite contrary—Bloody Mary-knew that cockle shells and silver bells were torture devices for Protestants. There is one day left in the year.  My New Year’s resolution to read more was easy—I activated subtitles on the TV.  Our British cousins spend an average of 9.5 years parked in front of the telly. Consumption of coffee lowers the risk of contracting Parkinson’s Disease. Last year, Canada Post raked in $8.2 million.  Produced Moravia (Czechoslovakia), the banker’s lamp first lit up desks in 1909. In the beginning, God said, “Let there be light.” There was noth

Today is Independence Day for 3 million Mongolians.  Roman Catholics operate more than 93,200 elementary schools and 43,000 high schools. When the tubing in a trumpet is stretched out, it measures two metres and then some. Composers have penned more than 4,000 songs in honour of the rose. All babies are born on Labour Day.  Thirsty? 70% of the human brain is composed of water.  Sharks are kosher. Congress annexed the Republic of Texas today in 1845, as the 28th of the United States.  The articulated straw, a.k.a. the ‘bendy straw’ , was invented 83 years ago. Sharks cross the Great Barrier Reef to get to the other tide. Nigeria ranks fifth as having the world’s worst drivers.  90% of all ocean plastic waste comes from ten rivers in Africa and Asia.  Tesla’s Elon Musk plans to colonize Mars by 2020. We have 3,648 commercial nut farms, with an average annual revenue of $726,500. Take psychiatric medications; don’t steal them. Dead Sea

This is the fourth day of The Twelve Days of Christmas--calling birds cost $730 +HST--the same as last year.  From St. John’s to Victoria we are served by 3,672 fire departments.  There are ten different classifications of waterfalls.  Medical jokes lost their humour after I was diagnosed with an irony deficiency.  Snow tire studs are made of tungsten carbide, a hard, high-performance ceramic. This is Republic Day for 12 million South Sudanese. Brits toss out 1,500 aluminum cans every second of every day. 45 ml of toasted wheat germ pack 81 calories and six grams or protein.   My neighbour didn't go to the gym today. That’s seven years in a row, to date. Anthrophobes struggle with the irrational fear of flowers.  For the past 39 years, Belgium has been the EU’s leading producer of soy milk. Walmart Canada employs 91,000 people.  The Statue of Liberty served as an official lighthouse from 1886 to 1902. Earth expresses laughter throug

The term ‘gold digger’ entered the lexicon in the 1820s. Ethiopians celebrate New Year’s Day on 11 September. It takes from two months to four years for a party balloon to biodegrade. Beverly, coming from Old English, means meadow.  The leading age category for motorcycle fatalities is 50+. Canadians raise bucks for charities during the Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s. 37 Beefeaters guard the Tower of London.  Globally, boy babies are 25% more likely to die in infancy than girl babies. Gold diggers are fund-loving folk.  Passionate fridge magnet collectors are called memomagnetists. Carlo Collodi penned Pinocchio as a tragedy, ending in the puppet’s execution. Bowing as a parlour game in 1890, Ouija became an occult tool during The Great War. Rwanda draws its name from the Rwanda-Rundi word meaning ‘domain’.  Turn your next pair of diabetic socks into diabetic sock puppets. Botox was invented 18 years ago, in Vancouver. New

Yesterday, we tore through 540,000 tonnes of wrapping paper, according to Zero Waste Canada. Filling the gap between Ford and Lincoln, Mercury cars and trucks were built from1938 to 2011. Fabric softener dryer sheets were patented 49 years ago.  This is Thanksgiving Day for 600,000 folks in the Solomon Islands. It takes 8,600 bolts to assemble a Buick but only one nut to scatter it across the Trans-Canada.  The modern farm barn layout has been with us since the 12th Century.  History’s earliest EMS delivery is The Good Samaritan, as chronicled by Gospel writer, Luke. In 1834, the standard 52-card deck of playing cards was universally adopted.  Save the date! There are only 364 days until Christmas. Don’t take down your Christmas lights, they’ll look so attractive on next year’s Jack-‘O-Lantern.  Liam and Ava were the most popular baby names printed on SIN cards in 2018. A traditionally French game, poker bowed to Americans in 1803, after the Lou

This is Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Eggplants have the highest level of nicotine of any fruit or vegetable. Mayonaise outsells ketchup in Russia.  Coptic Christians go vegan before Christmas, celebrated on 7 January. Never encurryge punsters.  Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, 30 years ago today-270 dead. Santa Claus first went to work for Coca-Cola in 1931.  Every two seconds, a human needs blood.  In the 15th Century, billiard balls were carved of clay—aristocrats opted for ivory.  Americans fear that Canucks on marijuana will create a nation of overly friendly, polite people. Musicians began strumming the electric guitar in 1931.  Lasagna hails from Naples-Christmas Eve dinner for many Italian-Canadians. Hermey is the name of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer’s faithful elf companion.  Today in 1933, the Dominion of Newfoundland reverted to Crown Colony status, after declaring ba

Oikophobes struggle with the irrational fear of home.  Thieves stole $1 million dollars from a Royal Bank branch in Windsor, ON today in 1971. The Danish alphabet contains three vowels more than English.  The fourth most common application of hot water is space heating.  Three stages of man: 1. Believes in Santa. 2. Doesn’t believe in Santa. 3. Is Santa.  Today in 1968, l’Université du Québec opened in Montréal, Trois-Rivières, Chicoutimi, Rimouski, Hull and Rouyn. Meaning now what it did then, the expression, “I’ll eat my hat”, entered the lexicon in 1797 . The recipe for crisps, a.k.a. potato chips, first appeared 20l years ago in a  British cookbook. A single zucchini plant produces an average of forty fruit per season.  Santa’s sleigh was free because it was on the house. A female halibut is larger than her male counterpart.  Independent from France, this is the 60th Republic Day, for 2.6 million Nigeriens. The Danish West Indies was sold t

Today is National Day, celebrated by 800,000 revellers in Bhutan. 250 millilitres of cooked pumpkin contains 49 calories and two grams of fibre. As observed  throughout North America, this is National Maple Syrup Day. Our sun rips through space at 200 kilometres per second.   My neighbour cleans his gutters every year; he slips and falls every shingle time. Holly is an evergreen.  The Goods & Services Tax receives received Royal Assent and made law, today in 1990. December is National Pear Month.  48 decibels is the level of noise in a patient’s hospital room; 30 is the desirable max. 1 000 kilos of soup makes Won Ton.  Helium is the second most common element in the known universe. A recipe for yams with marshmallows appeared in a Philadelphia cookbook, 131 years ago. Since its unification in 1634, Bhutan has been independent and never been conquered. Today in 1992, PM Brian Mulroney signed NAFTA, in a ceremony on Parliament Hill.