Who's up for Humpday Trivia?

Re: Who's up for Humpday Trivia?

I'll snail mail you my answer but if it isn't worth the paper it is written on just throw it in the recycle bin.

Good guess...but nope.

Re: Who's up for Humpday Trivia?

Are you looking for a wood product? Or something else from the tree?

total wag ...

You know I've got a poster of Maine that I look at nearly every day with all sorts of bizarre facts on it and for some reason I'm thinking I should pick through it some more to find an answer with some bite.

Agree ;-)

I'll get to the point with the answer.

Ok....Apparently we have some "picky people here". Yep, the answer is toothpicks.

Tommy

Whoda Thunk!!

OK, now 'splain the process;-)

Very Tiny Lathes ;-)

Re: Who's up for Humpday Trivia?

Beaver Poop?

Funny you should mention that;-)

Funny that you should mention that because that is exactly how they are made. It is actually quite an interesting story. As many know, we are in an age of disbelief. People no longer believe in many things from our heritage, such as dragons, trolls, magic, and many other things that were important to our ancestors. One of the things that people began to stop believing in were Leprechauns. This made it very difficult for them to get work because it is difficult to get someone to give you a job if they don't believe in you. This state of affairs was causing a lot of hardship for the Leprechaun families because they may be slightly magical, but they still need to feed their families and have a roof over their heads.

It just happened that long ago, a new settler from the old country that had not forgotten their heritage moved to the state of Maine. He was looking to start a business, but didn't quite know what to do. In those days, people used all kinds of things for toothpicks, from the tips of their Bowie knives to the end of a match, but none of them really worked the way they should and there was a lot of tooth decay. This gentleman, being one of the few that could (or would admit it) see the Leprechauns. (It was hard for him to see them also, it was usually after about his 12th or 13th beer that they became really visible.) At any rate, he got to be friends with one of the Leprechaun Princes and they each told the other of their troubles over their nightly beers. They were in a bar one night, and happened to see one of the other patrons trying to pick out a piece of popcorn with the end of a matchstick, without having much luck. All of a sudden, it dawned on the two of them that here was a business for the settler, and a source of jobs for the Leprechauns.

The gentleman purchased a small building (it didn't need to be too big as Leprechauns are small),to start the business. At first they made the flat kind of toothpicks by having the leprechauns use tiny hammers and froes to split them off from small wooden billets. This got them off the ground, and sales took off. Now, people really liked these toothpicks, but they kept getting requests to make some round ones. After some thought, it was decided that they could probably make money making round toothpick, so the owner had a local watchmaker construct a bunch of tiny lathes. The leprechauns made up some turning tools from needles and they began production.

This had the advantage of giving the people what they wanted, and also provided additional jobs for the Leprechauns such that their unemployment rate was close to zero. As the turners gained experience, they were able to graduate from turning the simple wooden picks to the fancy ones for martini's and those fancy little snacks they serve at weddings.

An entire industry was born from this gentleman's simple belief in things that others did not, and the leprechauns are too busy working and making a living to cause the kind of mischief that they were formerly noted for. They are even happy enough that they can sometimes find the pot of gold at the rainbow's end and then they all have a share as a Christmas bonus.

This is my story and I am sticking to it;-)