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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

  • Airports that are at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density.

  • Before toilet paper was invented, French royalty wiped their bottoms with fine linen.

  • Crayola is a French word that means Oily chalk.

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Latest Posts

Saturday February 25, 2017

A good news newspaper called Good News was founded because its American proprietors believed people were tired of reading bad news. The bi-weekly paper refused to publish any bad news and only printed the good news.

After just 16 months in operation the paper closed down. But it stuck to its guns of publishing only good news to the bitter end and refused to announce its own failure - this would ...

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Monday June 18, 2007

A Tibetan terrier named Arnie who went missing for nearly two years made his way home to his delighted family. Eleven-year-old Arnie, named after movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, disappeared from the garden of his home near Bantry, County Cork, Ireland, 21 months ago.

His owner Gillian Singleton believed he was stolen for breeding purposes. She said her "happy, beautifully groomed dog" had bee ...

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  • Crayola is a French word that means Oily chalk.

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

  • An earthquake on December 16, 1811 caused parts of the Mississippi River to flow backwards.

Quips

The Vicar is on vacation. Massages can be given to the Church Secretary.

Filed Under: Church Notices


Sign seen at a Hair Salon: We curl up and dye for you.

Filed Under: Signs


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

Filed Under: Church Notices


Fun Book Titles

  • All Aboard!
    - by Abel Seamann

  • Falling from a Window
    - by Eileen Dowt

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

  • Peek-a-Boo!
    - by I. C. Hugh

  • Neck Exercises
    - by G. Rarff

View More: Book Titles

Good Question

  • Does killing time damage eternity?

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

  • Why is it that at class reunions you feel younger than everyone else looks?

Filed Under: Good Question

World Firsts

  • The 1st recorded race meet in England happens at Roodee Fields, Chester.

    Friday February 9, 1540

  • Filed Under: → Sports


  • Astronomical Society of Pacific holds its 1st meeting in San Francisco.

    Thursday February 7, 1889

  • Filed Under: → Science


  • Joe DiMaggio becomes the 1st $100,000 a year baseball player. He plays for the New York Yankees.

    Monday February 7, 1949

  • Filed Under: → Sports


Events

  • 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


  • 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


  • Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.
    - African Proverb

  • Indecision is like a stepchild. If he does not wash his hands, he is called dirty, if he does, he is wasting water.
    - African Proverb

  • It takes a village to raise a child.
    - African Proverb

World Firsts

  • Edward of Caernarion, later Edward II, becomes the 1st Prince of Wales.

    Monday February 7, 1301

  • Filed Under: → Miscellaneous


  • The first storm warnings for ships was issued by English Admiral, Robert Ritzroy.

    Wednesday February 6, 1861

  • Filed Under: → Travel Section


  • The 1st successful United States educational magazine "Academician", starts publishing in New York City.

    Saturday February 7, 1818

  • Filed Under: → Education


View More: → World Firsts

Wise Words

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

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

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

Filed Under: Wise Words

Good Question

  • Do steam rollers really roll steam?

  • If fire fighters fight fire and crime fighters fight crime, what do freedom fighters fight?

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

Filed Under: → Good Question