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EDITION #1305 This issue 5ยข
This is day 138 of 2026

The Largest Rodent Ever

Used News Wildlife

Friday September 19, 2003

The largest rodent ever was a giant guinea pig as big as a buffalo, which lived in South America eight million years ago, researchers say this week in the journal Science.

More than twice as heavy as the previous record holder, it was more than 10 times the size of today's largest living rodent, the South American Capybara. This giant rodent grazed on grasses, which it must have eaten in large ...

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Did You Know

  • A dime has 118 ridges around the edge, a quarter has 119.

  • A volcano has enough power to shoot ash as high as 50 km into the atmosphere.

  • During World War II, Uncle Bens was the exclusive supplier of rice to the U.S. Armed Forces.

View More...

Latest Posts

Monday July 23, 2007

Church leaders are using the magic of Harry Potter to help spread the Christian message. In the past Harry Potter books and movies have been attacked by evangelicals for 'glamorizing the occult.' But now a guide published by the Church of England advises youth workers how to use the wizardry of fantasy novelist J. K. Rowling as a launch pad for exploring Bible themes.

The publication of the gui ...

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Monday September 15, 2003

After eating an English missionary in 1867, contrite villagers in Fiji are now eating humble pie and want to say they are sorry. Reverend Thomas Baker, from Playden, East Sussex, was cooked and eaten by the people of the remote mountain village of Navatusila.

The only thing left of Mr. Baker, a clergyman with the Wesleyan Methodist Church, were his leather boots, and they even attempted to chew ...

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  • Each year there are more than 40,000 toilet related injuries in the United States.

  • A person infected with the SARS virus has a 95% - 98% chance of recovery.

  • All babies are color blind when they are born.

Quips

Our next song is: "Angels We Have Heard Get High."

Filed Under: Church Notices


Thursday night is Potluck Supper. Prayer and medication to follow.

Filed Under: Church Notices


Sign seen in a bar: "Those drinking to forget, please pay in advance."

Filed Under: Signs


Fun Book Titles

  • The Barber of Seville
    - by Aaron Floor

  • Peek-a-Boo!
    - by I. C. Hugh

  • How to Feed Elephants
    - by P. Nutts

  • My Years in a Lunatic Asylum
    - by I. M. Nutty

  • Apologizing Made Simple
    - by Thayer Thorry

View More: Book Titles

Good Question

  • Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?

  • What will fall on the lawn first? An autumn leaf or a Christmas catalogue?

  • If buttered toast always lands buttered side down and a cat always lands on its feet, what would happen if you tied a piece of buttered toast to the back of a cat and dropped them both?

Filed Under: Good Question

World Firsts

  • New Jersey issues its 1st U.S. railroad charter. The proprietors included the famous inventor John Stevens.

    Monday February 6, 1815

  • Filed Under: → Travel Section


  • Aurora Ski Club of Red Wing, Minnesota became the 1st United States Ski Club.

    Tuesday February 8, 1887

  • Filed Under: → Sports


  • The Beatles land at New York's JFK airport, for their 1st United States tour.

    Friday February 7, 1964

  • Filed Under: → Entertainment


Events

  • Relatives of a 91-year-old Ohio woman who died this week are giving her the last word with a sassy, occasionally profane obituary that starts with the basics, "I was born. I lived. I died.", and instructs people to "Wait the appropriate amount of time" before trying to claim her stuff.

    They wrote it in Jean Oddi's perspective, recapping the people important to her, adventures she had and her favorite activities, including playing cards and teaching her granddaughter "dirty songs".

    Thursday February 23, 2017

  • Filed Under: → Deaths


  • A father and son in Alabama were killed when they crashed into each other in a head-on collision. Jeffrey Morris Brasher and his son Austin Blaine Brasher of Bankston, Alabama, died early Saturday morning.

    Jeffrey Brasher was driving a 2006 Ford pickup and his son was driving a 2004 Chevrolet truck when they collided on a highway head-on, said Alabama State Trooper Jonathon Appling.

    Saturday February 18, 2017

  • Filed Under: → Deaths


  • The man known as the 'Crocodile Hunter' died after his chest was punctured by a stingray barb while diving off Australia's northeast coast. The 44 year-old colourful personality was filming a documentary about the Great Barrier Reef when tragedy struck.

    According to friend and colleague, John Stainton, Steve Irwin swam too close to the ray while he was diving off his boat "Croc One" near Batt Reef, northeast of Port Douglas.

    Monday September 4, 2006

  • Filed Under: → Deaths


  • Where there is no shame, there is no honor.
    - African Proverb

  • When you have given nothing, ask for nothing.
    - Albanian Proverb

  • Not to know is bad, not to wish to know is worse.
    - African Proverb

World Firsts

  • Aurora Ski Club of Red Wing, Minnesota became the 1st United States Ski Club.

    Tuesday February 8, 1887

  • Filed Under: → Sports


  • Autherine Lucy, the 1st black student admitted to University of Alabama, is expelled.

    Tuesday February 7, 1956

  • Filed Under: → Education


  • The 1st appearance of cholera happens in Edinburgh, Scotland.

    Monday February 6, 1832

  • Filed Under: → Medicine


View More: → World Firsts

Wise Words

  • When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.
    - African Proverb

  • Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf.
    - American Indian Proverb

  • Not to know is bad, not to wish to know is worse.
    - African Proverb

Filed Under: Wise Words

Good Question

  • You know how most packages say "Open here". What is the protocol if the package says, "Open somewhere else"?

  • Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?

  • How come it takes so little time for a child who is afraid of the dark to become a teenager who wants to stay out all night?

Filed Under: → Good Question