Fun Facts

1. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.


2. Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours a day.


3. When you die, your hair still grows for a couple of months.


4. Mario, of Super Mario Bros. fame, appeared in the 1981 arcade game, Donkey Kong. His original name was Jumpman, but was changed to honor the Nintendo of America's landlord, Mario Segali.


5. If you have enough water to fill a million goldfish bowls, you have enough to fill an entire stadium.


6. Ben & Jerry's send the waste from making ice cream to a local pig farm, because the pigs love the stuff.

7. The average person has over 1,460 dreams per year.


8. Owls are the only birds that cannot see the color blue.

9. Shakespeare spelled his name many different ways.

10.'Q' is the only letter of the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the 50 American States.


Sources: http://www.begent.org/funfact.htm
              http://www.sotruefacts.com/

This Day in History...

Good Afternoon Students, this is Dr. Cooper. Today is a Friday and I greatly enjoy Fridays, so I will be sharing some interesting historical facts of no importance. Every day is full of historical events, including November 8th. Here are some things you might not know happened on November 8th...

• 1889- Montana becomes a state.
• 1895- Scientists discover the X-ray
• 1917- Lenin, Stalin, and Trostky become the rulers of Russia/Soviet Union.
• 1923- Hitler attempts to take over Germany by holding three officials hostage in a beer hall...he is arrested the next day.
• 1942- American and British forces invade Northern Africa as part of Operation Torch.
• 1960- John F. Kennedy is elected President.
• 1965- Great Britain abolishes the death penatly.

November 8th Birthdays:

• Bram Stoker, author of Dracula. (1847)
  
• A bunch of people on Wikipedia that I've never heard of.

November 8th Deathdays:

•  Two popes with complicated names that both  begin with A. (618 & 995)
• John Milton, English poet. (1674)
• Norman Rockwell, some painter guy. (1978)
• Who am I kidding? You don't know these people...

November 8th Holidays:

• World Radiography Day
• World Urbanism Day  

 OK so maybe nothing extremely....cool happened on November 8th. But hey, I don't make the calender.
I am feverishly at work writing new, exciting, and informative articles for our school newspaper. Be sure to check them out when they arrive! Also, I have nine raffle tickets for an iPad Mini in case anyone wants to buy some. So please do your patriotic duty and purchase a raffle ticket for $5....Thank you.
Oh and by the way, come back next week to see my historical article about the 1970 Oregon Exploding Whale Incident...

Sources:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_8 
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Pictures: http://www.123rf.com/photo_15385596_shape-3d-of-montana-map-with-flag-isolated-on-white-background.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy
 http://www.fakecard.com/pokedex/pokemon/164.shtml

Its Almost Here!

Everyone knows the general idea of how thanksgiving came to be. We all know about the pilgrims and the Mayflower and about how the Wampanoag Indians helped them survive. And we all know, of course, about how they all shared the first Thanksgiving feast together and how it has been celebrated ever since.


(Photo courtesy of
 http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Ask-an-Expert-What-was-on-the-menu-at-the-first-Thanksgiving.html)



Thanksgiving, however, was not given an official date until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it to be held each November (http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving). That's more than 200 years!

Here are some other fun facts about the holiday (http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/videos#bet-you-didnt-know-thanksgiving).

1.) Since 1989 each president has pardoned a turkey for Thanksgiving, allowing it to live through the holiday.

(Photo Courtesy of
http://www.sogoodblog.com/2007/11/21/pardoned-turkeys-were-going-to-disney-world/)

2.) The Pilgrims almost had to have had venison on the first Thanksgiving, but turkey is actually unlikely.

(Photo courtesy of
http://www.nndb.com/people/913/000101610/)

3.) Sara Josepha Hale, who also is likely to have written Mary Had A Little Lamb, campaigned for the holiday until Abraham Lincoln made it an official holiday.

Another fun fact includes this (http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/videos#history-of-the-thanksgiving-holiday).

 4.) The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1924.

Questions on everyone's mind?

Lately, I have been wondering things that maybe you have been wondering as well. I will post them, and if you have answers please leave them in the comments! Also, any questions you may have leave in the comments too!

http://www.nndb.com/people/192/000026114/matt-leblanc-2-sized.jpg

• Did we ever stop #Kony2012? I watched the very long video and whatnot, but this issue did not carry on to #Kony2013. 
• What happened to Matt LeBlanc? Better known as Joey Tribbiani from Friends, where has he been? Jennifer Aniston is making it big for herself,  Courteney Cox is making terrible movies, Matthew Perry has his own TV show, and I don't even know about David Schwimmer anymore. 
• When are people going to move on from the '90s? So you're a '90s kid, and that's good because so is everyone else in high school this year.
• How do the kids in Home Alone's parents forget him so often? I understand maybe leaving your kids home alone, but Home Alone for four sequels? That's a bit ridiculous. 
• Do blondes really have more fun? Not a question I find myself asking, just trying to end a stereotype with this one. 
• Do #1 pencils even exist? Has anyone honestly ever used a #1 pencil? 
• Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed? Being a woman myself, I find this task quite difficult... 
• Who was the first person to think to milk a cow, and what was going through his/her mind? See these dangling things coming from Bessie? I'm gonna go squeeze them and see what comes out. 
• Why do fast food drive-thru places never give you enough sauces? Say you're at Taco Bell, and you order three tacos. You ask for mild sauce, and the employee only puts two sauces in your bag. The math is simple, if three tacos have been ordered, three sauces were expected!

http://www.jacquettetimmons.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/questions-March2012.jpg

I'm not saying that these questions run through the mind often, I'm just saying that they should be answered.

sources:  http://www.imdb.com/find?q=Home+Alone&s=all

http://random06.tripod.com/id33.html

No Shave November

No need to waste time shaving anymore! Grow the thickest, blackest beard you can for the entire month of November in celebration of No Shave November.

Below is a brief history courtesy of: http://noshavenovember.weebly.com/history.html

     No one really knows the history and other traditions associated with No-Shave November. For this reason, a massive research effort was put forth by Fool's Gold employees, carnival workers, ZZ Top, the Amish community and fictitious character Grizzly Adams. The following is the result of months of in-depth research, stubble, five o'clock shadows, and enough ingrown hairs to upset a Yak.

     The first documented beard was found on cave drawings, located in the fertile crescent of the modern day Middle East. Apparently during these dark times, there were few razors and none with four blades and a conditioning strip. If a man wanted to shave his beard, he would visit the nearest village dentist and borrow "the beard sword," which traditionally was a four foot long rusty blade.

     From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, November beards were common because the extra facial hair was believed to ward off evil spirits, invading foreigners, and the plague. Men were still forced to shave during the remaining 14 months to impress the fair maiden of his dreams. If a man rescued a fair maiden she would give her hand in marriage if he looked "kissably soft."

     These trends turned tradition continued through the discovery and foundation of America until the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln worked to pass laws officially recognizing No-Shave November; however he was never successful. His famous Gettysburg Address given in November of 1863, was originally titled "The Gettysbeard Address" and was supposed to encourage all men to grow beards that were fuller and hairier than the beards of the Confederacy. General Ambrose Burnside was given his rank simply because he had what Lincoln called "a bada** beard."

   In recent years, men everywhere have taken up the November past time of beard growing. In the early 1970's, students rebelled against Nixon's clean shaven policies. In the 1990's, Grunge music and fashion furthered No-Shave November. So far, the twenty-first century has advanced the tradition beyond the back woods and local pub.(The Oredigger.No-Shave November.)