Posts

Showing posts from February, 2019

01 March 2019

Image
Spiders do not have antennae.  We have 1.3 millionaires from sea to sea to sea.  There are seven types of tenors. Venezuelans have won six Miss Universe, five Miss World and six Miss Int'l crowns.   My next-door neighbour sings like a hinge. The Pillow Fight League was organized in T.O. in 2007. Shakespeare is credited as creator of the Knock Knock joke. Brazil is the second largest market for Chevrolet. In order to qualify for office a PM candidate must be 18 years of age on election day. Canada is the vichyssoise of nations: half cold, half French and hard to stir.  Today in 2010, the Vancouver Olympics ended; we snagged 14 gold—the most of any country. Rose soup recipes call for pears, broth and rose petals. Caller ID was introduced to the public in 1987. The first beret factory opened in 1810. If you saw my last phone bill from Bell Canada, you wouldn’t say talk is cheap.  We can choose among 1,305 English and French languag

28 February 2019

Image
Today in 1877, the University of Manitoba was founded, the first in Western Canada. Music is one of the few activities that engages the entire brain. Happy Birthday to You was first published in 1912. Fortune cookies were invented in California. When laminated, university degrees make excellent placemats.  Green beans are the unripe fruit of the common bean. Today in 1956 a diner in Chatham, ON was fined $50 for refusing to serve black students. Anteaters are close relatives of sloths.  The Int'l Labour Union says 170,000 farm workers die on the job-twice that of other workers. Remember: Do not buy magical beans from strangers.  The Toronto International Airport was opened  by PM Pearson, on this date in 1964. Goldfish belong to the carp family.  The liver pumps 1.5 litres of blood through itself every minute. Today in 2013, Pope Benedict XVI stepped down from office, the first to do so in 599 years. If folk focused on the important

27 February 2019

Image
Today in 1917 women won the right to vote in Ontario. The Shih Tzu is also known as the Chrysanthemum Dog. A pair of pliers consists of a pair of handles, a pivot and a gripping head. The Belgian waffle was introduced in 1958. Waffles are just pancakes with ripped abs.  Lettuce is a rich source of vitamins A and K.  Ozone is light blue in colour and has an odour similar to chlorine. The Dominican Republic gained its independence from Haiti today in 1844. There are 108,706 realtors in Canada.  A clean house is the sign of a broken computer.  The Three Little Pigs were unlicensed contractors.  Cellophane noodles can be made from potato starch or mung beans.  The eighth busiest, 4.3 million passed through Halifax Stanfield International Airport last year. Danish banks abolished cheques as a method of payment in 2016. Today’s pig is tomorrow’s bacon. Bamboo is a perennial evergreen flowering plant. The first hovercraft was built in

26 February 2019

Image
Estonia is home to 200 wolves. 95% of all farms in British Columbia are family run and owned.  Amazon owns 30 cargo planes and leases another ten to deliver goods in 30 countries. Memory foam was invented by NASA in the 1970s. The best butter on the farm is a goat. Québec City is the eleventh largest city in the nation.   Physical, physiological and cognitive are the three classes of optical illusions.  Tsetse flies fold their wings one on top of the other when at rest. Whispering is an unvoiced mode of phonation in which the vocal cords do not vibrate. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease. ~George W. Bush Refined canola oil’s burn point is 204°C. Canada and France have the only two tidal power plants on Earth.  The cast iron Dutch oven was invented in 1702. On 04 September 1939, Nepal declared war on Germany. You know it’s a bad cook when there are bones in the toast. Sesame seeds are black or white.  Aristotle

25 February 2019

Image
Today is National Day in Kuwait. Goldilocks and the Three Bears can thank the ancient Greeks for inventing porridge. 170,000 spectators can be seated in Churchill Downs. An electrician in Windsor, Ontario earns an average of $28 an hour.   My neighbour bet on a horse at 10-to1 but it didn’t come in until half-past five.  The Fiat-Chrysler manufacturing complex in Windsor is Canada’s largest factory. The largest constellation in the northern hemisphere is Ursa Major.  Orthorexics are obsessed with healthy food diets.  From Cochrane to Hudson Bay, the Polar Express stretches 300 kilometres. The cobbler gave spared no time or expense in teaching his apprentice—he gave his awl.  Teaberries are members of the heath family. On this date in 1880, fire razed the Parliament Buildings in Fredericton.  Identical twins do not share common fingerprints.  Hiram R. Revels was sworn into the US Senate today in 1870—the first African-American to sit in

24 February 2019

Image
Today in 1663, Louis XIV made New France an official Royal Colony. A cloud is an aerosol.  Spanish limes are not citrus fruit; they belong to the soapberry family. 24 is the atomic number of chromium. Meteorologists take clouds cirrus-ly.  In Korea, only the blind and visually impaired may practise the art of massage. The plural of rhombus is rhombi.  Tommy Douglas died today in 1986; the Father of Medicare was also the first federal leader of the New Democrats. Oliver Cromwell banned the manufacture of wallpaper as frivolous, thus sinful.  It’s knot a problem; masseurs put the ‘rest’ in ’stress’.  70% of our whisky is exported. A compass rose indicates 128 directions.  The Bell Centre is Montréal is the largest hockey arena in the NHL. Venezuela is divided into 23 states. Whisky is the perfect solvent: It dissolves careers, families and marriages.  Fathers can share paid paternity leave, caring for their newborns for up to 35

23 February 2019

Image
Today is National Day in Brunei, marking its 1984 independence from Britain. The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary was established in 1729. Blood clots in 25 to 30 seconds. Fresh spinach can be frozen. Some cities are so dangerous the police have unlisted numbers. During the Nazi occupation, the tilt of Dutch windmill blades sent messages to the Resistance.  Liverpool is the fifth largest city in the UK. Today in 1893, Lord Stanley, presented the Stanley Cup for the first time. It is the year 2012 in Ethiopia.  The Leafs wear numbers because their bodies can’t always be identified by dental records. Microsoft Windows opened 34 years ago.  The jury trial system was abolished in South Africa fifty years ago. The Silver Dart flew over Cape Breton 110 years ago today, a first in the British Empire.  There are more than 16,000 species of bees in seven biological families. Flying is the art of throwing one’s self at the ground and missing. 

22 February 2019

Image
Today in 1997, Dolly the sheep was successfully cloned by Scottish scientists. The World Karate Federation report at there are 100 million practitioners worldwide.  Birks of Montréal has been designing and manufacturing fine silverware since 1879. The colour pink on a substitute sugar sachet indicates cyclamates; blue for aspartame. To sweeten the pot, my neighbour adds sugar to his marijuana.  Public broadcaster Radio-Québec was founded today in 1968. Swans lay three to eight eggs in each clutch.  In India, scrambled eggs include onions, chilli, ginger, turmeric, tomatoes, coriander—served with roti. The Queen Anne style of furniture reigned from the mid-1720s to 1760.  To make an egg roll, give it a little nudge. There are 25,000 Blackfoot in Alberta and Saskatchewan; another 7,000 reside in Montana. Medical alert systems began in 1974 when Philips introduced its Lifeline pendant. The standard size of a Swedish brick is 250 x 120x x 62 mill

21 February 2019

Image
Norwegians mark the birthday of King Harald V, today. 125 millilitres of black turtle beans contains 122 calories and packs 8.7% of dietary fibre.  The Netscape browser was introduced in 1994. According to an Angus Reid poll, 51% of Canadians don’t have a last will and testament. The older one gets, the more important it is to move the fire extinguisher closer to the cake.  The ‘Big Four’ news agencies: Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and UPI. Okra is a fruit. Today in 1921, Québec’s National Assembly established a Crown corporation to sell alcohol. Toyota, VW, Ford, Honda and Nissan own 24.9% of the world’s automotive market.  My neighbour is such a bad driver that his GPS said, “Stop in 100 metres and let me out.” An oar has only one blade but a paddle may have two.  A webster is a female weaver.  Sabres defenceman Tim Horton was killed today in a car crash in 1974. It takes six to ten hours to smoke herring.  My neighbou