Daily Five: Fattening Pies And Other Trivial Thanksgiving Facts

1.  Today is Thursday, Nov 24. Happy Thanksgiving!  The National Weather Service predicts sunny skies, a high temperature of 47 degrees and a low of 42 tonight.

2. Did you know that our National Bird almost was not the bald eagle but the wild turkey? Benjamin Franklin did not hold the eagle in great regard. "The turkey is a much more respectable Bird and withal a true original Native of North America," Franklin remarked.    

3. The editor of the Brick, NJ, Patch offers this cranberry-themed trivia question: What work of classic American fiction describes a main character as "crazy," because he refused cranberries? (The answer is below)

4. What's the difference between sweet potatoes and yams? Same thing? Not at all. They're both flowering plants, but that's about it. Yams are related to lilies, and sweet potatoes are members of the morning glory family. To find the lowdown, according to the Library of Congress, click here.

5. Saving the best for last, of course, here's some Thanksgiving pie trivia. Of the traditional Thanksgiving pies – pecan, cherry, apple, pumpkin, lemon meringue - which is the least calorically harmful, and which is the worst? Shape magazine has the skinny - or the not-so-skinny, as it were. 

Answer to the cranberry question:

The book is Moby Dick and the character is Captain Ahab.