Free Republic

The past six months of auditions only served to reinforce Trebek’s subtle mastery behind the lectern, and illustrate the big shoes the next host will have to fill.“Jeopardy!” officially selected a new permanent host – two new hosts to be exact. The show’s current executive producer, Mike Richards, will take over as host of the daily syndicated program and actress Mayim Bialik of “Big Bang Theory” will host “Jeopardy!” primetime and spinoff series.As one might expect given the long, drawn-out search, fans of other hosting candidates immediately responded on social media with snap reactions. Some questioned why “Jeopardy!” selected a...

Can you cry under water? How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered? Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity? Why does a round pizza come in a square box? What disease did cured ham actually have? How is it that we put a man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage? Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two...

Reflections on Presidents and the Presidency, on Inauguration Day President George Washington was inaugurated on April 30, 1789, but not by choice. He had been in town, ready to take office, for weeks already… but the newly-elected Congress took their time arriving, as the president, anxious to get started, had to cool his heels. They needed a quorum, to ratify the results of the electors, and to put together a republican response to the monarchial tradition of the formal coronation – with all its pomp and circumstance – to which the rest of the world was accustomed. But as much...

Glass takes one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times! Gold is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years. Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end. If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. When a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off. Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman numerals. Kites were used in the American Civil War to...

Alabama’s special U.S. Senate election is less than one month away and a new poll shows Republican nominee Roy Moore holding a solid lead over his Democratic opponent Doug Jones. In a poll conducted by Sky Research on Tuesday Nov. 21 among registered Alabama voters, the results show Moore with 46.7 percent support to Jones’ 39.6 percent. 13.7 percent of voters polled remain undecided. With a margin of error of 3.1 percent, Moore maintains significant lead over Jones, but the undecided voters could swing the election either way. When asked “Do you consider your political views to be more in...

JUST PLAIN NEAT INFORMATION… The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year. Glass takes one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times! Gold is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years. Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end. If you stop getting thirsty , you need to drink more water. When a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off. Zero is the only...

Sportswriter: “You hit only two home runs all last year and already you’ve hit seven this year [1969]. What’s the difference?” Reds outfielder Alex Johnson: “Five.” See? Baseball numbers aren’t difficult. But be precise: As players say after a close play, “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” And don’t be discouraged if some questions stump you. As Phillies manager Danny Ozark said in 1976, “Even Napoleon had his Watergate.” And as Brewers manager Harvey Kuenn said after losing the 1982 World Series to the Cardinals, “We’re going to hang our heads high.” Now, name the player or players...

"In Spain, revelers wear red underwear on New Year's Eve for good luck. They also eat a dozen grapes at midnight." (NOTE: my favorite, heh)

Hillary intimidates female rape victims, but Trump is sexist because he called a woman fat 20 years ago.

When a band that has been around for more than 40 years goes on the road, fans have to be prepared for the possibility that this go-round may be the last. While AC/DC isn’t officially calling this a farewell tour, the fact that singer Brian Johnson had to leave the tour after a doctor said he was risking total hearing loss means it’s unlikely he’ll take the stage with the band again. Johnson’s departure follows co-founder Malcolm Young departure in 2014 because he is suffering from dementia. That same year, drummer Phil Rudd was arrested for threatening to kill someone...

The Poker Playing Skill of What Former Hamburger Stand Operator Almost Got Him Killed? The only clue I will give today is that you have ALL heard of this person. If nobody gets the correct answer today, I will give a new clue tomorrow and a new clue on each subsequent day that no one guesses the correct answer.

Trivia Question: 44% of All the World's Stock Come from Chicken Stock of Which VP? Not a trick question. And it is amazingly true. 44% of all eggs in the world come from the chicken stock developed by one of America's vice presidents. Can you guess who?

We're near the end of escrow on our home and on our way to travel for a year plus, including to Mexico and Belize (husband's bucket list/ escape plan) and we're packing the dogs, my husband's collection of boonie hats and my prepper gear in a big old high top handicap van, a Ford E350. Yup, a 2007 FORD E350 XLT SUPER DUTY. That's our sweet ride. Honk if you see us. Turns out our next door neighbor was the engineer in Detroit that developed its seat belts. What a wonderful world of coincidence. Just for fun. Anyone else have...

So you think you know politics inside out? From Donald Trump’s baseball hat to Hillary Clinton’s viral shoulder-brush, the year 2015 has been capped off by some truly amazing details. John Boehner’s resignation was a shocker, but who would have guessed that he’d announce it by singing “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah”? Or that Ted Cruz would post 15 hours of unedited video showing him giving so many shoulder rubs to his extended family? Here’s a quiz to test your memory for all the sideshows of the political carnival—with special extra-credit questions for obsessives only. (Answers and scoring at bottom.)

From a city in China that is the size of the United Kingdom to an undersea mountain chain that makes the Himalayas look like toys, these are 25 strange and interesting bits of trivia about our world.

"Andre Dawson," Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully once said, "has a bruised knee and is listed as day-to-day. Aren't we all?" Yes, so use some of your remaining time constructively by identifying the player or players who: (1) Won three batting titles by at least 44 points (two players)...

As we crack the Molson's and fire up the barbecue, here's a mix of well-known and obscure Canuck trivia...

He is engraved in stone in the National War Memorial in Washington, DC- back in a small alcove where very few people have seen it. For the WWII generation, this will bring back memories. For you younger folks, it's a bit of trivia that is a part of our American history. Anyone born in 1913 to about 1950, is familiar with Kilroy. No one knew why he was so well known- but everybody got into it, I even remember seeing him around public places in the late 60s... So who the heck was Kilroy? In 1946 the American Transit Association, through...

Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio's pause to take a drink of water during his rebuttal to President Obama's State-of-the-Union speech was declared “a possible career ender” by CNN's Wolf Blitzer. “Voters may tolerate a lot from their prospective leaders,” Blitzer observed. “We've learned that diddling interns is okay. A bogus birth certificate may be worth a few snickers, but does not seem to undermine our confidence in a man's leadership capabilities. However, the jarring interruption of a high-profile speech by a moment of thirst would appear to be the type of thing that raises serious questions about fitness to serve.”...

I bought my first World Almanac in the last week of December 1970 (I have bought one each year since then). I was fascinatined by the miscellaneous facts and statistics. One section I enjoyed was the "celebrities" section, giving the birth place and birth years of famous people in the entertainment business. Of course, there were many listed in this section I had never heard of. One of my major discoveries was the "one-name celebrities." I had never heard of such a thing before. But here they were--Annabella, Cantinflas, Dagmar, Fabian, Fernandel, Genevieve, Hildegarde, and Margo. Who were these people?...