Answers

. . . back to our regularly scheduled programming . . .

Here are the short answers to Joey's "List of Things to Look Up" from the other day:

A List of Things to Look Up

1. All about Beethoven. Okay, I printed a whole bunch of stuff from Wikipedia for this one; here's the link if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven

2. How many strings does a koto have? Thirteen. And a koto is a Japanese musical instrument, in case you didn't know.

3. The first person to play baseball. No record of a specific person, but according to Wikipedia, "The history of baseball in the United States can be traced to the 18th century, when amateurs played a baseball-like game by their own informal rules using improvised equipment. The popularity of the sport inspired the semi and full professional baseball clubs in the 1860s." Apparently, that Abner Doubleday invented baseball is a myth.

4. All about mambas. In short, one of the most dangerous and most feared snakes of the African continent. Kills prey by way of venom that paralyzes the nervous system; the prey, in the end, dies of suffocation due to the brain becoming unable to send the message to the lungs to breathe. Nice, huh?

5. When was Chris Columbus born? Sometime between August and October, 1451.

6. What was Martin Luther King Jr.'s grandfather's job? Chrystal, I thought the same thing - that he was probably a slave. But actually, according to Nobelprize.org, "His grandfather began the family's lon tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931."

7. What is the oldest a turtle can be? According to WikiAnswers, "The lifespan varies greatly depending on the species of turtle. A typical pet turtle can live 10 - 80 years or so while larger species can easily live over 100 years. The oldest recorded age of a turtle was 250 years in India."

8. When was the color version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe released in theaters? There were two versions released - one in 1988 and the other in 2005; they were both color.

9. Who was somebody whose birthday was New Year's Day? Some notables with New Year's birthdays include Betsy Ross, J. Edgar Hoover, Barry Goldwater, J.D. Salinger, and Rocky Graziano.

10. Who invented board games? No record of any one person inventing board games, but they apparently date back to the ancient Egyptians.

Don't you feel all knowledgeable now?? I know I do. And Chrystal, no this was not a school assignment, this is just Joey being Joey. If he doesn't have enough homework assigned by his teacher, he makes up his own. Weirdo.