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EDITION #1305 This issue 5ยข
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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 ...

Read All About It →

Did You Know

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

  • Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, but he declined.

  • Buttermilk does not contain any butter.

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Latest Posts

Tuesday September 16, 2003

The people in a remote Italian village walled up their local Priest in the parish church to prevent him from leaving. Fr. Emilio Succhiella became a 'prisoner of love' after Capuchin Franciscans decided to withdraw from Trasacco, in the mountainous Abruzzo region near Rome, after 428 years of service.

Protesting villagers took the unusual step after they had unsuccessfully appealed to the Order ...

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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 ...

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

  • About twenty-five percent of the population will sneeze when they are exposed to light.

  • Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, but he declined.

Quips

Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa, will be speaking tonight at Calvary Methodist. Come hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.

Filed Under: Church Notices


The Minister unveiled the Church's new donations campaign on Sunday: "I upped my Pledge - Up Yours".

Filed Under: Church Notices


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

Filed Under: Church Notices


Fun Book Titles

  • How to Feed Elephants
    - by P. Nutts

  • Falling from a Window
    - by Eileen Dowt

  • The Barber of Seville
    - by Aaron Floor

  • Peek-a-Boo!
    - by I. C. Hugh

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

View More: Book Titles

Good Question

  • Do steam rollers really roll steam?

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

  • Can you repeat the part after "Listen very carefully"?

Filed Under: Good Question

World Firsts

  • Richard Johnson is the 1st Vice President chosen by the United States Senate. It happened during the Van Buren administration.

    Wednesday February 8, 1837

  • Filed Under: → Politics


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

    Saturday February 7, 1818

  • Filed Under: → Education


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

    Monday February 6, 1832

  • Filed Under: → Medicine


Events

  • 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


  • 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


  • 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


  • When elephants fight, it is the grass who suffers.
    - African Proverb

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

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

World Firsts

  • The 1st wireless message sent from a moving train to a station is received.

    Sunday February 7, 1915

  • 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


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

    Thursday February 7, 1889

  • Filed Under: → Science


View More: → World Firsts

Wise Words

  • Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
    - African Proverb

  • If you refuse to be made straight when you are wet, you will not be made straight when you are dry.
    - African Proverb

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

Filed Under: Wise Words

Good Question

  • If there are 52 weeks in a year, how many weeks are there in a light year?

  • When a doctor doctors a doctor does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as the doctor being doctored wants to be doctored, or does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as he wants to doctor?

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

Filed Under: → Good Question