Timbits2Toonies

A medium-sized peach contains 37 calories. On this date in 1984, John Napier Turner was sworn in as the nation’s 17th Prime Minister.  During World War Two, Fisher-Price workers built parts for combat planes. Onyx is formed of bands of chalcedony in alternating colours.   The rest interval between eating peaches is called a pit stop.  Slang for $1,000, ‘grand’ entered the lexicon in 1915.  Deipnophobics struggle with the irrational fear of dinner party conversation.  Today in 1912, an F4 tornado tore through Regina. 28 were killed and 2,500+ left homeless. In Europe, the Number One most frequently shoplifted food item is cheese.  A bore is one with the power of speech but no capacity for conversation. ~Benjamin Disraeli Labyrinths are unicursal while mazes are branching.  KFC has restaurants in 115 countries. A rainbow’s arc is always 42°. Danes published the story first; Chicken Little discovered the sky was...

The wire hanger is 150 years old. Web crawler Google was initially introduced to the public as BackRub.  This is Veterans’ Day in the Netherlands.  0.3% of our forests are harvested yearly; we are the world’s #1 exporter of softwood lumber. Hanging: a suspended sentences. Today in 1898, the first Express left St. Johns at 19h20; it arrived in Port-aux-Basques the next evening. Psychology has ten main branches.  Celery leaves are herbs; celery seeds are spice.  The surnames Baxter and Brewster described women who made beer.  My neighbour takes psychotropic meds—it’s better than stealing them.  Doctors prescribe antidepressants to 5.5% of us; the ratio is five times higher in NL than BC.  Dance is choreography, repertoire of movement, historical period or place of origin.  Next year, 100% State of Tasmania’s power will be 100% sourced from renewable energy. On this date in 1962, the Champlain Bridge opened...

Ribbon weaving was banned throughout Europe for much of the 17th Century. Happy Birthday! CN Rail is 100 years old, the second largest railroad on the continent.  According to culinary standards, gourmet ice cubes must measure 3 x 3 x 3.5 centimetres. Today in 1981, 22-year old Terry Fox died. His legacy inspires millions to conquer cancer. Elephants boycott trains; they refuse to place their trunks in the baggage car. Now a stand-alone moniker, Sally was once a nickname for Sarah. Whale meat is often found in supermarkets, labelled as ‘sea steak’.   4.8 million of us will travel abroad in 2019; 2.6 million tourists will visit the Great White North. Romans considered June the most fortuitous month to marry. ‘As pretty as an airport’ is a common expression in no Earth language, whatsoever. 83 km of the Trans-Canada honours Terry Fox. Cancer cut him down in Nipigon, ON.  Mercedes and Benz merged their companies on this date in 1926....

This is Multiculturism Day, marking the unique and colourful, mosaic that is our country. According to legend, Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare, created the first olive tree. The portmanteau of ’smoke’ and ‘fog’, the word ‘smog’ entered the lexicon in 1905. It takes seven kilos of olives to make a litre of olive oil. Love is in the air and it’s highly polluted. Only 15% of business transactions in Sweden are cash. In ancient Greece, brides carried bouquets of garlic, not flowers. A macadamia nut contains 20 calories. Today in 1980,  O Canada became the national anthem. To make proper garlic toast, lift your glass and praise it for all of its accomplishments. Hydraulic systems convert existing energy from one form to another. Today in 1975, L’Anse aux Meadows Park in NL opened; the Viking town was found in 1961. Alliumphobes struggle with the irrational fear of garlic. Hewlett-Packard, Inc. is 80 years old. The Vikings’ head librar...

The Pied Piper leads the parade; this is Rat Catcher’s Day in Hamelin, Germany. Bread exposed to radiant heat for a period of time is called toast.  Cheers! Salut! Drink up! This is National Dairy Month.  The Canadian Coast Guard is under the purview of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Doctors and nurses at the Mayo Clinic do their best to care for wounded sandwiches. Today in 1959, the Queen and US President Eisenhower opened the St. Lawrence Seaway.  33.3% of Australians were born outside of the country. Mercury was the Roman god of thieves and tricksters.  Christmas became a legal holiday in the United States 149 years ago. A day on Mercury lasts about 1,408 hours, or about the same as an Earth Monday.  Buckwheat, rice, quinoa, sorghum and oats are gluten-free whole grains.  The £1.22 million attack submarine HMS Artful can stay submerged for 25 years. Today in 1990, Justice Minister Kim Campbell ta...

Today in 1975, Mozambique gained independence from Portugal. Tin foil hats—worn to prevent mind control by government—were first donned in 1926. In France, snuff was prescribed for migraine headaches in the 1540s. Today in 1993, Kim Campbell became the 14th PM; the first woman to lead the nation. Evil people who get headaches are Advillians.  The rainbow flag was unfurled for the first time, today in 1978. Sewing machines are calibrated for use with 50-weight cotton thread. Potatoes account for 36% of all fresh and processed vegetables consumed Canadawide. Mechanically, a seesaw is a lever, costing of a beam and a fulcrum.  My neighbour composes tunes about sewing machines. He’s a Singer songwriter.  Sweet corn ice cream is heavenly when served with blueberry pie. Canada Post charges $9.50 to register a piece of mail.  Located on the celestial equator, Orion is visible to every person on the globe.  The active ingredie...

The first hoop skirt was for Queen Joana of Portugal; she needed to hide a pregnancy.  Today is Discovery Day in NL, marking John Cabot’s 1497 arrival in Bonavista Bay. Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, BMW and Toyota are built in Graz, Austria. Close relatives of mites and ticks, North America is home to 3,400 species of spiders. Julia Child drove a Chefrolet. Toronto’s Mary Pickford was the first Hollywood actress to sign a $1million contract, in 1916. Swiss chard is a biennial.  17,772 kilometres or railroad track crisscross México.  This is Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day in Québec. Hollywood is where they shoot too many pictures and not enough actors. ~Walter Winchell Introduced in 1958, the Time-Out Chair is classified as a Type 2 punishment. Growing wild in all ten provinces, sarsaparilla is a member of the ginseng family. A newcomer to vocabulary; the word ‘scam’ first slipped off our tongues in the 1960s. On this date in 1880, in Québec City, ...

Today in 1961, forest fires around Bonavista Bay forced 3,000 people to evacuate.  Soccer is played on a grassy field called a pitch. Wine is made from the sap of the palm tree. Some 33,000 people a year die superbug infections in the EU. Hangovers attributable to wine are grape depressions.   52% of Britons voted to leave the European Union, today in 2016. It is illegal to own a bear in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From St. John’s to Victoria, we shop at any of 967 thrift stores. 12 millilitres of Crisco contains 110 calories. If you can’t leave in a taxi, then leave in a huff. If that’s too fast, leave in a minute-and-a-huff.  The intransitive verb ‘buddy’ entered the lexicon in 1896. Mt. Hallasan in South Korea is an active volcano. In the 1770s,  the Dutch began to preserve food in cans--opened with hammer and chisel. En route from Montréal to London, Air India Flight 182 was blown up, today in 1985; 268 Canadians peri...