King67.com » Mind Boggling Trivia

Blind bowler rolls perfect game in Iowa

king — Fri, 09 May 2008 23:40:37 +0000

FOXSports.com

A perfect game in bowling is rare enough. Turning the trick without even seeing the pins? That’s a new one.

“It was quite a thrill,” Davis told the Storm Lake Times in Storm Lake, Iowa. “When I got to the tenth frame, I said ‘Lord, let me throw three more good balls.’ When I did, people on other teams were yelling and cheering. A few guys were hugging me and almost broke my skinny bones.”

The report said Davis, a Navy veteran, got his start in bowling as a pin-setter during his teenage years, making 45 cents a night at a local alley. He went on to succeed in leagues and tournaments, including winning a $2,500 top prize in a California event shortly after his days in the service.

Davis was living in California in 1996 when he lost sight in his left eye, the report said, and the right eye followed a year later. He then decided to move back to Iowa, where he was raised, where his sister still lives.

With the help of his sister, Davis soon regained his bowling form and achieved an average of 188, according to the report.

“I can’t see the lane or the pins and have a heck of a time finding my ball sometimes,” Davis, who still has a small spot of peripheral vision remaining, told the paper. “I can kinda see the dots on the floor to know where I start. After that, I rely on my hearing and other people to tell me what’s going on.”

Nicknamed “The Hammer” for the surprising force of his shots, Davis relies more on his hearing than his vision to assess the quality of each roll.

Lucky diner orders clams, finds a treasure

dkp — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 05:44:02 +0000

A lucky Palm Beach diner ordered some steamers and walked away with a treasure.? George Brock of Royal Palm Beach, and his wife Leslie, walked into Dave?s Last Resort & Raw Bar and ordered the $10 steamer special.? Halfway through his bowl, he bit into something hard.? Spitting the hard object back into the broth, he saw an iridescent purple pearl.? The gem is extremely rare and not usually found in the middleneck clams he ordered which were harvested from Apalachicola in the Panhandle.? These pearls are normally found in large quahogs from New England.? Those clams have violet markings inside their shells.?? The Palm Beach Post reports that the couple plans to sell their find unless it is determined to not be of much value.? If that is the case, they plan to put it into a pendant.? The value of the pearl will depend upon an upcoming auction of a quahog pearl brooch currently on exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History which experts feel will establish the market for these rare gems though at least one expert believes it is worth several thousand dollars. ??The couple returned to Dave?s to find that many other patrons were also ordering the clams probably with the hopes that lightning will strike twice.

Man uses $25K in spare change to purchase new truck

dkp — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 03:19:48 +0000

A Frankfort, IN man has been saving his quarters and dollar coins to buy something big.? Seventy-year old Paul Brant had saved coins for years before accumulating $25,000 which he recently used to purchase a brand new Dodge Ram truck.? He stored his change the old-fashioned way, in coffee cans, water jugs and piggy banks.? Brant works at Chrysler in Kokomo and got the change from the vending machines he frequently used at work.? He was escorted by sheriff?s deputies when he brought the rolled coins to the Mike Raisor Chrysler Dodge dealership.? He said his old truck didn?t have four-wheel drive and since he lived in the country, he wanted one to help him drive through snow. ?In 1994, he bought a Dodge pickup and Dodge Neon using $36,000 he had saved in quarters.? Being frugal apparently runs in the family.? His father used saved change to pay for family vacations.

The Beatles Hold the Top Five Billboard Singles

king — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 19:11:34 +0000

The Beatles held the Top Five spots on the April 4th, 1964 Billboard singles chart. To date, they are the only artist that has ever accomplished that.

Billboard was founded in 1894 and actually was a trade paper called Billboard Advertising.? It carried news of outdoor amusements and the paper was known as the publication of record for circuses, carnivals, amusement parks, fairs, vaudeville, minstrels, whale shows and other live entertainment.? The magazine began coverage of motion pictures in 1909 and of radio in the 1920s.

But it was the development of the juke box in the 1930’s and the advent of the 45rpm vinal record that pushed Billboard to begin publishing music charts for which it ultimately became famous.? On January 4, 1936 Billboard magazine published its “first music hit parade” and on July 20, 1940 the first “Music Popularity Chart” was calculated.? Since 1958 the Hot 100 has been published, combining single sales and radio airplay.? It is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry.? Billboard maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis.

The most successful acts on the Billboard charts have been The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, The Supremes, George Strait, The Bee Gees, Bing Crosby, Pink Floyd, and Whitney Houston.

Giant truffle nets $330,000 at auction

dkp — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 21:32:02 +0000

The Associated Press reports that a giant white truffle, which weighed in at a record 3.3 pounds, was auctioned for $330,000.? The winning bid was made by Stanley Ho, owner of the Grand Lisboa hotel, a Macau casino where the auction was held.? A simultaneous auction was also held in Florence and London.? The truffle was dug up in Palaia near Pisa, Italy by truffle hunter Cristiano Savini, his father and his dog Rocco.? The dog started sniffing ?like crazy? as he neared the large fungus.? With the dog chained to a tree to prevent him from damaging the delicacy, Savini and his father carefully unearthed it.? Truffles can command as much as $5,500 a pound but they are usually bought in quantities of less than three ounces. ?The previous record paid for a truffle was $212,000 according to the auction organizer.? The Guinness Book of World Records lists the previous record as a 2.86 pound truffle found in Croatia in 1999.? Proceeds from the auction were going to various children?s charities in London and Macau and an Italian organization for genetic sufferers.? It wasn?t immediately known what Ho planned to do with his purchase.? Ho could not be reached for comment.

Reese Witherspoon Highest-Paid Actress

king — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:07:12 +0000

Reese Witherspoon is a moneymaker, even though her latest film, Rendition, was a flop.? The 31-year-old Academy Award winner commands $15 million to $20 million a movie, placing her at the top of The Hollywood Reporter’s 16th annual “Women in Entertainment: Power 100″ list of the highest-paid actresses.

Angelina Jolie came in second with similar salary demands, her voice alone earned the 32-year-old actress$8 million in the animated Beowulf.

Cameron Diaz came in third, with a $15 million-per-movie price tag.? Nicole Kidman dropped to fourth place, two spots lower than last year, with an asking price of $10 million to $15 million a film.

Renee Zellweger and Sandra Bullock also get $10 million to $15 million paychecks.? So does Julia Roberts, who hasn’t appeared on the big screen since 2004.? Her next film, Charlie Wilson’s War, is due in theaters in December.

Rounding out the top 10 are Drew Barrymore and Jodie Foster, who command $10 million to $12 million per project, and Halle Berry, who gets $10 million a picture.

Men traditionally command a higher salary than the women.? The top male actors, ?like Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise? make around $30 million per film, with a piece of the film’s profits.? And typical A-list stars such as Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio earn $20 million plus up to 20 percent of the gross box office take per movie.? Only recently have the women started to negotiate a percentage of the back end.? Cameron Diaz made around $30 million for “Shrek 3″ because of a generous share of the film’s proffits.

What Grows A Million Dollars a Minute?

ap — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:37:43 +0000

The national debt of the United States is up from $5.7 trillion when President Bush took office in January 2001.? And like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It’s growing by about $1.4 billion a day , or nearly $1 million a minute.? That’s about $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, andchild in the United States. And it will top $10 trillion right around the time Bush leaves office in January 2009.

The government is quickly depleating it’s resources needed to meet current interest payments on the national debt, which currently stands at a mind boggling $9.13 trillion.

And just like the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who took out adjustable-rate mortgages with low initial rates and have higher rates looming in the future, the government faces the same prospect of seeing this debt? which is currently at relatively low interest rates, roll over to higher rates,? further increasing the staggering financial burden.