Things You Never Knew Existed.com is the place to shop for novelties, gag gifts and hilarious t-shirts. We also offer magic tricks, novelty collectibles and bizarre toys, books and videos.
People really like "how-to" books. I know because we sell tons of the Things. Even with YouTube videos on every how-to topic under the sun, people still love their books.
I think that's a good Thing. And here's why:
A book still opens even when the internet goes down.
There's no character or file size limit on a book, so it can be fully packed with everyThing you need to know in one place.
You don't have to pause a book to complete the next step in your project.
Anyone can publish a video online, but to get into print you have to know pretty much everyThing about your topic.
Reading and then doing is a lot easier than doing while watching.
Maybe I'm slightly biased, but I think we have some of the best and brightest how-to books in the world. They're funny, informative and full of Things you'd love to learn how to do. And you can learn how to do Things — like winning a fight with a bear — before you actually need them. Because, let's face it, a charging bear isn't going to stop while you search for videos on your smartphone!
We have to change the clocks this weekend. I know "hate" is a strong word, but it's the only Thing that fits how I feel about the time changes. No matter which direction we go, I really hate it. Every time we reset the clocks, it takes at least two weeks for me to catch up. I'm sleepy and grumpy and I don't even feel like making jokes. In other words, I'm not myself. In fact, after a time change, I barely know who I am.
But I've learned to accept it and even appreciate the reason for it. So, in honor of the terrible day, here are 3 Things I Never Knew about Daylight Savings Time (DST):
DST is not mandatory! But if your state does change, the Federal government requires it to change at the same time as all the others.
Arizona and Hawaii don't change their clocks. Those fine, sunny states are spared the horror of DST.
Do you know why DST oversight belongs to the Transportation Department? The railroads. They were the reason we started standardizing clocks across the nation in the first place.
Most of us already know that more daylight increases energy savings, decreases the number of
traffic accidents and fatalities, and even reduces crime. So maybe two weeks of sleepiness, grumpiness and bad humor is a small price to pay to make the trains run on time, save energy and save lives. Still, it might be hard to convince me of that when I'm sleep walking for the next two weeks.
There's a set of baseball cards that die-hard collectors call "The Monster". It was created back in the early 1900s and most collectors agree that these are the masterpieces of all baseball cards. And they'll pay top dollar to get their mitts on one.
These rare cards turn up every now and then. For example, Ken Kendrick, owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks bought a near-mint Honus Wagner card for a whopping $2.8 million back in 2007. But even in less than mint condition, these cards can be worth a bundle. A Wagner card rated 3.0 (on a scale of 1-10) sold at auction for $1.32 million last April.
So imagine what you would do if you were cleaning out your great-grandfather's run-down house and found seven Ty Cobb cards from "The Monster" series in a beat-up old paper bag! That's exactly what happened to one family. They wish to remain anonymous, but they did call the experts to verify their find.
Not only was the authenticity verified, experts agree that the cards are part of the T206 series printed for only 2 years — 1909-1911. The cards range in condition from 3.5 - 4.5 (they were kept in a paper bag, after all) and are believed to be worth well over $1 million.
I don't know about you, but I'll be examining all my baseball cards a lot more carefully in the future. Who knows when you might come up with the $1 million winner?
Belleville, New Jersey might become famous for something else besides being on camera in "The Sopranos". In the little town of about 35,000 people, four independent cameras caught footage of UFOs on February 20th.
Rich Timinski was one of those who caught footage of the strange object with his cell phone. Timinski isn't a UFO hunter. He just happened to be outside in the right place at the right time. He and his wife were putting their daughter into her car seat when he say a light that "looked like an orb or something". Some Thing indeed. Check out the video for yourself (language warning - might not be suitable for kids):
After a little research, Timinski discovered the Thing didn't act like a plane, helicopter, drone, blimp or any other known flying Thing. And it couldn't have been a balloon or a lantern because it was flying against the wind!
He still doesn't know what it was, but he says the whole Thing "left us a little uneasy." I can see why. I can't tell what it was either. But if that Thing was flying over my house, I'd be slightly uneasy, too.
Keep your eyes to the sky. I'll see you next week,
Bobby
I hurt my back last weekend — and hurt it bad. Was I doing someThing fun at least? Nope. All I did was lift my 60-pound dog Bosco out of the bathtub and BAM! Down I went on the sopping wet floor. What do you think "man's best friend" did then? Came to my rescue? No. Checked to see if I was okay? Not even close. While I writhed around in agony, covered in soap suds and dog hair, Bosco ran through the house spreading wet dog smell all over everyThing.
Two visits to the doctor later, all I have to show for it is a pile of bills and two bottles of pills. I don't like pills. Especially the ones that make me feel loopy. Almost anyone who knows me knows that I'm plenty silly even without 'pharmaceutical intervention'.
Since I won't take pills, I'm grateful that we have some Things at work to ease the pressure and take the pain out of sitting. As for Bosco? He's getting a professional groomer. Because clearly it's time to admit that washing a beast like him in my little bathtub is a foolish Thing to do.
Last year I told you about how they held a school board election in Riceville, Iowa and nobody came. Well, just when you think local elections couldn't get any weirder...
A city councilman in East Chicago took the oath of office in January — from the county jail. Councilman Robert Battle is being held without bail, charged with a murder during a drug-deal-gone-bad (as if they go any other way!)
Even though his constituents knew of the charges before the election, Robert Battle won the election. But wait, it gets even weirder than that: he can't be forced from office unless he confesses to — or is convicted of — the murder.
We might think some of our national politicians are corrupt, but at least none are in jail on murder charges. The way I look at it, the upcoming general election isn't looking so bad now, is it?
Stay out of trouble (especially if you're running for office!) and I'll see you next week,
Bobby
Earlier this year, I told you about how lots and lots of people are Cutting The Cord and bidding farewell to costly cable TV bills. Opting for Roku, AppleTV and Sling, viewers are taking control of what they watch and when.
But die-hard sports fans are among the last of the holdouts when it comes to letting go of cable. Even though services like SlingTV and others offer ESPN, sports fans don't want to miss a single minute of the live action.
CBS is about to make a game-changing move for sports fans this Sunday: cord cutting football fans can stream the entire game — even if they have no cable connection and no local broadcast signal. For the first time, the big game will be available to stream live at CBSSports.com.
Of course, you can still watch the Panthers & Broncos free on broadcast television, but if you can’t get the signal with your digital antenna, you can stream it on any number of devices direct from CBS. Just in case you didn't know (maybe you've been off-planet or living in a cave), Super Bowl 50 airs at 6:30 pm ET on Sunday, February 7th.
