January to May
May
Hello to all my friends,
The Beanies picked 11 finalists for May. Then Peace discarded 3 because they did not contain the place where the entrant lives OR the email address did not work. He was VERY strict, as usual! So all my Beanie friends voted on the best ones and this time came up with 4 that they really liked. Once again they pleaded with me to let all of them win. Since I always try to be nice and all, I, once again, said OK!!
I have been thinking that I may take a vacation in July, but I haven't decided yet. It gets too hot here and I may just want to lounge in the yard and soak up the Sun. I really do not have that much energy when it gets so hot out, and my friend, Sonny, doesn't have an air conditioner to cool off the nursery!
What are the odds that the 4 winners would live in States beginning with N (3 of them!!) or M, out of 157 entries?? So let me introduce you to the new winners.
REX
In a message dated 6/5/98 20:58:20, you wrote: <<Hi rex, my name
is Cody I am 8 years old I live in New Mexico. I gotta qestion and I know
you could only anser it for me becuse you are so smart. My mom took me to
see the movie titanic did you see it to? well, I relly lked it alot and
my mom got me some books about the reel titanic boat. She also got me a
reel peace of coal from the titanic boat that the people braut up from the
big alantic ocen. There is even a ceertificate of authenticity in hte box.
It is relly neat. My qestion is what is coal? What is is made of. Why does
it burn for a long time for? My mom told me that after a long time a dimond
is an old peace of coal, but relly? My mom is smart some time to. Thank
you for being my good frend I like you. I am sick today with cold and alergys.
Cody M in New mexico. I almos done with secend grade.
Hello Cody,
WOW, an actual piece of coal from the Titanic! That is kewl!! All the Beanies said they were sorry to hear that you have a cold.
If you go to a coal mine you can usually find loads of plant fossils. Coal is actually the remains of plants that lived in lush forests many millions of years ago. As the ferns, bushes and trees grew and died, their leaves, stems and trunks eventually piled up on the ground forming many hundreds of feet of plant stuff. These were buried deep in the ground and the pressure squeezed out any liquids causing the plants to squish together and eventually become harder. What was left was carbon and some other substances. Carbon burns easily and that is why coal can be used as a "fossil fuel".
We can even find different types of coal. If the plant remains were not buried too deeply and didn't get all squished, you can have PEAT.
LIGNITE or soft coal is brownish, a bit "harder" than peat and still sort of looks like wood. It doesn't burn as long as the next two types.
Then comes SOFT COAL, which is black, smokes a lot because it still has a lot of impurities, burns for a shorter time and leaves more ash and cinder.
HARD COAL or ANTHRACITE is very black and the longest burning coal because it is the most compact. It produces less smoke to pollute the atmosphere and leaves less material to shovel away after it burns.
Diamond is almost pure carbon, but has nothing to do with coal. This gem mineral come in all different colors, and each is due to some other element mixed in with the carbon atoms. Diamond is the hardest naturally occuring substance, with a hardness of 10 on the Moh's Scale. It is also much more expensive than coal AND it also burns!
REX
hi REX. I can not beleve that you rely sent me a princess beanie baby. I never thought i wold get one for me. Mom said to me that it might be a long time for me to get one of her and my sister to. Thank you so so much, my sister get to share her with me and she sleeped with her last night. It is my turn to sleep with her tonight. I am so happy. More happy than when school got out for summer. Guess what, I will be in the 3 rd grade and my sister will be in the kindergarden grade. She is so happy to finaly go. I have to go to Bibel school now, by Cody m
In a message dated 19/5/98 20:55:31, you wrote: <<Hi Rex! My name
is Ashley and I am 14 and from North Carolina. I have 2 questions for you.
My first question is why doesn't Princess have Diana's birthday? I have
the same birthday as Diana but in a different year. We were born on July
the first. I am sure that your good friend Princess would like to know this.
My other question is where does Ty Warner get his ideas from? There are
so many different animals out there and they are all unique. I would have
to say that you are my favorite though, Rex! I love you and your 2 dino
friends. Thanks so much for answering my questions!!!>>
Hello Ashley,
Princess told me that since Diana was born many years BEFORE Beanies were available for adoption, and because not only the birthDAY but also the birthYEAR refers more or less to the year they first appeared in the nursery. This way many children can have the same birth day AND year as a particular favorite critter.
Father Ty used to be employed by another well-known toy manufacturer and he liked the idea of making his own! Every company has a staff who makes designs for possible products. The head of the company then decides which ones will become reality. I assume it is the same with Beanies.
REX
You have just made my day! And my week, and my month, and my year!!! I never thought that you would send me Princess!!! I love her sooooo much. My brother brought me the package, and I tore it open real fast. When I saw Princess I screamed sooooo loud that my mom just about flipped out! I have wanted her ever since I saw her, especially since Princess Diana was such a wonderful person and had my birthday too. It was on the top of my birthday list, and thanks to you, I got her! I can never thank you enough!!!!! You are a great beanie, Rex!!! And your buddy Princess is my best friend!!! All my other beanie love her. Thank you soooooo much! I still can't believe I have her!!!!!! ~*Ashley*~ in NC :)
In a message dated 11/5/98 05:58:35, you wrote: <<Dear Rex, Kewl
( I like that) page, I have a question about caves. How do stalagtights
and stalagmights form? I think that stalagtights form because stuff drips
down from the ceiling of the cave, and then gets hard. but if that is true,
how do stalagmights form? Beacause the stuff would have to drip up, wouldn't
it? And that is impossible. Anyways, I was just wondering. Also I sure hope
that Ty makes a new dinosaur beanie, because all of the other dino are so
cute!!! Also, sorry but I have another question, I just got a beanie club
kit, and was wondering if new beanies come out, how will they be added to
the kit, will Ty send us updated stickers and a new list? The stickers are
so KEWL!!!! They look real life. I love all of my Beanie Babies!! Thanks
Rex, Love, Devin from Minnesota >>
Hello Devin,
WOW, seems as if you are a speleologist! Caves are kewl!
Caves are usually found in areas where there is limestone rock. Limestone dissolves when water that is slightly acid seeps through the soil and rock layers.
When the water with the dissolved calcium carbonate reaches an empty space like a cave, the water drips in contact with air and a tiny bit of the mineral calcite forms on the outside of the water droplet. This can make what is called a SODA STRAW STALACTITE, and they are hollow just like a straw.
Once some water begins to drip down the outside of the soda straw it builds up the walls of the stalactite and it grows thicker.
The drops that fall on the cave floor still contain some dissolved mineral and this is what forms the STALAGMITE. A stalactite and stalagmite and join together to form a COLUMN.
You can even find what is called FLOWSTONE when the water flows over a cave wall or floor.
There are many other types of cave formations, or SPELEOTHEMS. For more information you could do a net search for that word and you would probably get hundreds of links.
Look for another prehistoric animal in the new batch of Beanies.
That would be very nice of Father Ty IF the original BBOC members would receive FREE sticker updates. Did you notice that your Official Membership Kit says "First Edition"?? Wouldn't it be awful IF you had to buy a whole new "Second Edition" Kit just to have the new stickers?? I guess we shall have to wait and see.
REX
Dear REX, Thank you so very much for the beanie you sent me. My mommy took me to the post office today, and I opened the box and could not believe my eyes. Princess was in there waiting for me t0 hug her. My mommy was so excited to!!!!! I never thought that I would ever have one of my very own, because they are to much money. You are a very nice dinosaur, and thank you for making my wish come true!!!! I will take extra special care of her. Thank you again, and next time I go to a cave I will think of you!!!!! Love, Devin from Minnesota
In a message dated 28/5/98 10:56:32, you wrote: <<Hi Rex! My name
is Sarah and I live in North Dakota. I have a beanie question for you. I
know that there are 5 generations of swing tags and 4 generations of tush
tags. But how do you know which goes to which? For example, I have a Squealer
with a first generation tush tag but he has no swing tag. Is there any way
to know for sure if he had a first generation swing tag at one time? Or
does Ty just mismatch the swing and tush tags so that you could have say,
a third generation swing tag w/ a first generation tush tag? Thanks, Sarah>>
Hello Sarah,
There is no real way to tell exactly which tags a Beanie might have had with only the tush tag on it.
A good example is Brownie. If a Brownie ONLY has his tush tag, he could have really been a Cubby because they had the exact same generation hang tag (but with different names). So IF you have a first generation Cubby and find a Brownie hang tag, you could "make" yourself a real live Brownie!!
It is very difficult to figure out one tag from the other by itself. Father Ty does not "mismatch" the tags, even though sometimes a mistake can be found.
REX
Rex, Hi, this is Sarah! Thank you soooo much for Princess! She is beautiful and I love her! You don't know how much I appreciate this:) Thanks, Sarah :)
April
Hello again,
This month we started out with 15 finalists that Peace and Steg selected. All the Beanies voted and came up with the 10 best entries. BUT they had to vote again and picked the six best ones.Of course I told them that that was too many, but Batty squeeked that the 6 should win -- he knows that he is one of my favorite Beanie pals! So 6 it is!!
WOW, we even have a winner from England this time! And I thought that our neighbor, Canada, would be the first other country to get a prize!! Maybe next time!
OK, kids, keep your questions coming in. We still have 8 months left in 1998 for you to be a winner also!
REX
In a message dated 14/4/98 13:42:53, you wrote:
<<Dear Rex my name is Patrick and I live in Maine I am 8 years old and my question is I heard older people talking about some kind of layer around the earth that people are making very bad so that it will be hard for people to live on earth. It kind of scares me. can you tell me what it is and how we are hurting it. I just did not understand all they were saying. Thank you for your help. Patrick>>
Hello Patrick,
You must mean what they call the Ozone Layer in the upper atmosphere.
Ozone is a gas, a form of oxygen. It protects the Earth and its plant and animal life from the harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) rays that come from the Sun. UV is a wavelength of light way at the end of the purple part of the rainbow.
Ozone if produced during a thunderstorm when lightening flashes through the air. There are air purifiers that produce ozone in the home to eliminate the odor of smoke or your pets.
Ultraviolet light can sometimes be seen along the ceilings of some doctors' offices. They are used to kill germs. My human friend, Sonny, uses a UV light in his pond filter because it kills all the algae that would normally cloud the water.
Violet Teddy tells me that UV can cause damage to the eyes, cause skin cancer and reduce certain crop yields.
UV light is also helpful because if you collect minerals there are some that are called "fluorescent". That means they produce bright colors under an UV lamp. Thet is kewl! Art collectors use it to check certain pigments that are used in paintings, or to find another painting under the one they normally see. And certain early American glass of an orange yellow color had Uranium in it, and this glows under an UV lamp. Even your fingernails and teeth glow!
There are some things that humans use that are said to reduce the ozone layer. These are the gas used in most refrigerators and air conditioners, and in some spray cans of different stuff used around the house.
There is what scientists call an Ozone Hole at the North (and South?) poles, and they increase and decrease all the time.
Violet Teddy also thinks that the Ozone Hole has always changed in size, even with the seasons, and that lightening and even the home air cleaners should help keep some sort of "natural" balance.
REX
In a message dated 7/5/98 21:44:06, you wrote:: <<Rex I can't believe you sent me Princess. My birthday was last week and I really wanted Princess but nobody could find one. This was a real surprise I really thank you. You made me very happy. Patrick>>
YOU will not believe this! Patrick's Grandmother wanted to thank me for the prize and guess what showed up on my doorstep this morning? FOUR enormous LIVE Pinchers direct from Maine!! WOW, tonight Princess, Steggy, Bronty and I are going to have a really great dinner!! It has been a real long time since my visit to Vinalhaven Island, off the Maine coast, and my last lobster feast!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
REX
In a message dated 21/4/98 16:14:47, you wrote:
<<Hey Rex! I'm from the UK and i want to ask you a couple of things! Why are some beanies almost impossible to find over here at the moment such as valentino, curly, garcia, peace and britannia. With britannia being a europe only release i though it would be easier to get hold of one to add to my collection. So far, one shop i've been to had them - at £200 each! To get my Princess beanie, i had to buy 5 other beanies at the same time just so i could buy one! That meant spending £25 before i could get one. My brother paid £18 to get princess on its own from a different shop. I think that shops should only be allowed to charge £3.99 for a beanie and not make us spend more to have the privelege of getting specific beanies. Also, the only rainbows/iggys over here have got the wrong tags on - could the manufacturers really go that wrong?! What do you think Rex? From Julie, England>>
Hello Julie,
The same ones that you mentioned are also very hard to find here in the old Colonies.
As you might have noticed in some of my other answers, part of the reason for ANY current being HTF is due to the official Adoption Agencies selling them online and, as you noted, for extremely high adoption fees.
Although Father Ty has attempted to do a public relations makeover in the recent post on his web site, he unfortunately neglected to add information on where to report official dealers who are taking advantage of kids who would like to have some of my newer Beanie pals.
Today a friend saw the new January releases at a card shop/chemists for $12, Valentino for $20, Peace for $30 and a "chance" to "win" Erin or Princess for $5 / ticket!! These are all "currents" and are supposed to be available at the "normal" $5-6!!
ALL of the Iggy and Rainbow thus far seen at the adoption centers have the wrong tags. Of course they could "go that wrong"!! It happened before with Echo and Waves, if you remember. I doubt that the cloning labs where they are cloned employ technicians educated enough to tell the difference between a multicolored Chamelion and a blue Iguana!! They barely get paid enough to subsist, let alone have enough education to distinguish one reptile from another!!
REX
In a message dated 16/4/98 20:50:49, you wrote:
<<Hi Rex! My name is Robyn and I'm l0 years old. At school I just did a report on craters on the moon (my mom helped me find out the information from the Internet!) and found out that the craters are caused by meteors. But I couldn't find an answer to my own question about what happens to the meteor once it hits the spot and makes the hole? Does it break up into pieces? Or does it sort of get pulled back up? Where does the meteor go? Thanks, Rex! I have more Beanie-type questions, too, but I'll wait until next month to send you those! Love, Robyn from Boardman, Ohio>>
Hello Robyn,
You have to make a distinction between "meteor" and "meteorite".
Spunky told me that a meteor totally burns up as it enters the Earths atmosphere. A "meteorite" is a meteor that actually reaches the planets surface.
On the Moon there is very little "atmosphere" so he thinks that, at least on the Moon, the both names would be the same thing! This gets complicated when we use words with special meanings!! Perhaps "LUNARITE" would be a better term.
When a meteorite strikes either our planet or its only natural satellite it explodes and is broken up into many fragments, some small and some much larger. These pieces are scattered over many miles if the visitor from outer space is very big.
The Earths gravitational field is so strong that the fragments would usually not have enough velocity to be shot out into space again. Hundreds of meteorites are discovered every year.
BUT since the Moon has very little gravity, it is probable that some impact fragments might even be able to leave the Moon and reach the Earth because of their speed. One such specimen was actually discovered in Western Australia about 23 years ago!!
REX
In a message dated 8/5/98 02:00:39, you wrote: <<Rex! Hi! Wow! Thanks for Princess!! Did you hear me scream? I was on the phone with my good friend Joe, he said, "Who is it, who is!" Finally I saw it, "PRINCESS!" I don't think he will ever hear right again! My mom screamed as loud as I did!! You will have a lot of new people from Boardman, Ohio visiting your site because when I told the principal at my school I won this contest, she announced it in front of the whole school! Wait till tomorrow when she founds out who I won!! Thanks again! I'm so happy! E-Mail me later if you can! Robyn>>
In a message dated 16/4/98 15:46:14, you wrote:
<<I know that beanies have been out for many years. How come all of the sudden they became so Popular. They are like Tickle Me Elmo's!!!! People are paying and charging WAY over price I have seen people buying and selling for 100 dollars, even 1000 dollars! So why are they so Popular all of the sudden??? Joanna Durfe , NY >>
Hello Joanna,
In the Tickle Me Elmo days that company didn't have a website (nor were there as many people with home computers) that created the hype that Father Ty does. Plus, there are literally hundreds of Beanie websites on the NET, with new ones being created every day.
A newer addition to the hyper-marketing list are Father Ty's "Attic Collectibles", which are cuter than many of my Beanie pals and usually wear different kinds of clothes. Only a couple months ago you could find them in piles in any shop. Now several websites have included accurate information about which ones are retired and also have "Price Guides" stating what their "worth" is.
Princess says that these so-called "guides" (which always seemed to me sort of like the Wall Street Journal stock quotes!!), that are often updated weekly, only cause the adoption fees to soar -- and already these plush jointed bears and other fantastic critters (which are cloned in FAR fewer numbers than Beanies!!) are becoming even harder to find than Beanies!! This happened in only about 3 months, and all due to cyber "market exposure"!!
Watch those ugly Teletubbies take off also. They are very popular in Great Britian and its colonies, despite their apparent inability to speak English correctly, and they will probably also be hyped to death on the WEB. I just did an aol NET SEARCH for "Teletubby" and got 114 items listed. This number will probably grow exponentially in 3 months as the sites proliferate!!
REX
In a message dated 7/5/98 21:17:26, you wrote: <<I don't know how to thank you. I was the winner of the ask Rex contest. Today I recived my beanie and thank you so much for it. It was Princess ! I love her and her poem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont know how else to thank you but.......I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! YOU MADE A CHILD HAPPY!>>
In a message dated 4/4/98 14:37:08, you wrote:
<<HELLO REX. MY NAME IS STEPHANIE AND I LIVE IN KENTUCKY AND I WAS JUST WONDERING IF IT WAS TRUE THAT BEANIES ARE WORTH MORE, DEPENDING ON HOW MANY OF THAT PARTICULAR ONE WAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!>>
Hello Stephanie,
WOW, that is how I think it is supposed to be. Valentino tells me that it does not always work that way, though.
First of all, Father Ty NEVER tells anybody how many of my Beanie pals were made. The numbers you might find somewhere are only guesses!
Second, IF only about 2000 Royal Blue Peanuts were made, why is her price SO much higher than Maple PRIDE when there are only about 3000 of him??
Collectors are sometimes strange and due to hype and the so called "Price Guides", the prices change all the time, usually upward. Since a lot of "collectors" are not kids, rather they are "investors" who think that some retired Beanies are worth their weight in gold! Unfortunately even the price of gold varies a lot-- a couple years ago that precious metal was above $800 and now it is about $300!!
So love your Beanies as friends because a good friend is worth zillions of dollars!!
REX
In a message dated 11/5/98 22:21:29, you wrote:<<Hello Rex, I just wanted to tell you I got the beanie!Thank you once again! You might be seeing some more questions from me (I have a lot) Thanks, Stephanie>>
In a letter received on 14 May 1998 her mother wrote : "Dear REX, I am writing you a note to thank you for the wonderful surprise you have given to my daughter, Stephanie. Stephanie is 12 years old & loves Beanie Babies. When she sent in her question for your contest in April she was so excited that she won. Yesterday we got the postal card in the mail telling her the Beanie pachage was at the post office. We went to the post office immediately & picked up the pkg. We were both guessing what Beanie could be inside the box. When she opened the box-her mouth dropped she was so surprised she had won Princess! She was so excited-she started calling & E-mailing friends and family to tell them she had won Princess! I just wanted you to know what a wonderful thing you did for a child. She gets so sad because some Beanies cost so much & her allowance isn't enough to purchase the expensive Beanies she loves (like Brttannia). Anyways, thank you because she loves Princess very much. God bless! Sandra"
In a message dated 22/4/98 04:33:20, you wrote:
<<Hi, I was hoping you could answer this. It is not for school, but I am really curious... Okay say you are riding a motor cycle and you drop a pen. Since you are in motion, you leave the pen behind. So what I don't understand is when you are riding on the bus, and drop a pen, the bus is moving so why doesn't the pen drop a few inches (or feet) away from where you dropped it? Thanks for your time! Dawn in Maryland>>
Hello Dawn,
This question is almost philosophically scientific! I had to ask Hoot, the symbol of wisdom, to help me with this one!
When you are on the bike, the pen is dropped in the street and falls downward at the usual acceleration due to the pull of gravity PLUS the velocity you are riding at. Its path would be a curve not a straight line.
Inside the bus, you, all parts of the bus and the pen are all travelling at the same velocity. SO, when you drop the pen to the floor, the pen and the floor are also moving at the exact same rate, and the pen drops straight down.
I bet if you drop the pen out of the bus window, it would fall in the same way as when you dropped it from the motorcycle. AND, if you carefully dropped it onto the footboard of the bike while moving at 20 miles and hour it would land right straight onto that flat surface. UNLESS the wind pushed it!! Do the experiment and see.
See how complicated these things can be-- and how simple at the same time!!
REX
Here are the new March winning entries. Bronty wanted to help me pick out a bunch of good questions, and we came up with 10 "finalists". Peace once again left out four of the finalists because the name or the State was missing. He is so strict! PLEASE remember to include your name and the State you live in with your question! AND ONLY 1 question per month please. All the Beanies voted on which of the six remaining questions they thought were the best. They love to vote and be a part of the contest! Can you believe it! There were four tie scores this month, and even though I reminded them that I originally only wanted ONE winner each month, they all smooched up to me and I finally gave in! Unfortunately the fourth winner did not send me their address, so there remain 3 winners. Thank you all for your really great questions. I am glad that I have the help of my Beanie pals to answer a lot of them because I don't really know everything. Aren't you all happy that SPRING has sprung and the flowers are beginning to bloom? Your pal, REX
<<My name is Ryan. I am 10 yrs old and from Florida. I just did a report in school about dinosaurs, mostly the plated ones. My question is this. Because my friends and i were fighting about it. They say that the shows that have cave men and dinsosaurs are right and i am wrong. I think that people were not living when dinos were. They say they were. Who is right? My mom wanted to know if you really have koi like we do. i sure hope you dont have a pond in your house like we do.. they are too loud. >> Hello Ryan, You are the intelligent one-- my dinosaur cousins were all extinct way before even the more primitive cave men appeared. The movies and cartoons that have people and dinosaurs together are cute and all that, but are not meant to be taken so seriously. That's one of the reasons why an education is important, so we can distinguish between what is fact and what is untrue. YES, my human friend, Sonny, has 3 koi ponds but they are in the garden. Since he feeds them cat food because it is a lot less expensive than fish food, they do sometimes meow loudly at night! And when he pets them they even purr! REX
<<Hello Rex, Hi! I'm from Alaska. I was wondering if dinosaurs have ever been to Alaska. Would it be too cold for them? Where would they live? Have you ever been to Alaska? Why are all of the dino's from TY different colored material? Kaily>> Hello Kaily, Since there are a lot of rocks from the Cretaceous Period, the Great Age of Dinosaurs, in your State it means that there are also the remains of some of my relatives. I personally have not been there and my friend Sonny has always wanted to visit your State because he is interested in Ice Age fossils and there are many to find there. Edmontosaurus, named after Edmonton, Canada, was also discovered in Alaska. Check a local museum to see if they have any field guides to fossils in Alaska and they will probably have info on the latest discoveries. When my relatives lived the climate was a lot warmer than it is now. Dinosaurs have even been found in the Antarctic. In their time there were a lot of weird looking trees and many other forms of life. Things were much different then. Since nobody knows what color they were, Tye died dinosaurs are kewl, don't you think so? REX In a message dated 7/4/98 17:25:21, you wrote: <<Rex, Thank You so much for sending me Peace Bear and for picking my entry as the winner. Peace says to tell you that he misses you, but he is happy that he is in Alaska. He is watching me write to you. I would also like to thank you for the beanie list. I have 17 beanies now including 1 retired and 2 hard to finds. Well...I would like to thank you again...THANK YOU! Peace says bye and so do all the rest! Thank You, Kaily >>
<< HI,REX!!! My name is Kaley, I live in Michigan, and I'm 12 years old. Last summer we found some petosky stones in the river. My Mom said that they are a type of fossil, and they are only found in Michigan. Is this true? What are they fossils of? Kaley >> Hello Kaley, WOW, then you can find piles of these fossil corals in northern Michigan! They are the official State Stone! Similar "stones" may be found in Ontario in Canada. Your "Petoskey Stones" are actually fossils that were rounded and polished as they rolled along river and stream beds. They are usually a coral with the name of Prismatophyllum. The polished stones look sort of like a honeycomb. They are from the Devonian Period and are about 375 million years old. You could do a kewl Science Fair project on the different kinds of fossils you find in your area. Look for books about your local fossil localities at a nearby museum of library. Or do a search on the Internet and you will probably find hundreds of references. REX In a message dated 5/4/98 22:19:11, you wrote: <<dear REX, Thank You so very much for the peace bear!!!!! I have the CHICKEN POX right now and when I opened that package and saw a peace bear it really cheered me up! Thanks, Kaley >>
|
Well, here are the Peace had to discard a couple really great questions this month simply because they did not have the name of my friend and / or the State they live in. And one possible winner did not send her address so there is one winner less than there would have been! Once again there was more than one question that my Beanie pals voted on as possible winners. Teddy said that I should award prizes to all of them! That's probably because all of my Beanie pals really want to travel to a new place and meet new human friends! They always get so excited at the end of the month when the contest is almost over! Please remember to follow the directions in my REX's R U L E S part of my main page, like sign your email letter with your first name and write in your State. And please, ONLY one question per month-- you still have another 10 months to win more Beanies. Your Beanie friend, REX
<<Hi, REX!!!! I was wondering how do you make the "tie-die" beannies? Does the fuzzy fabric come that way or do you make the cool colors after the beannie has been made. Also, are all the "tie-die" beannies the same, or do they have different markings. Such as: do all the Peace beannies look the same color? I just started collecting beannies since christmas, it's so much fun!!!!! I wish I had started in the begining, that way I would have you and the other dino's. My favorite beannie is you of course, then Sting (but I don't have him either) and then Doby (but I like to think of him as a rottweiler, because I have a dog named Cinder that is a rottie.) This is my last question, sorry so many, do you think that Ty will make a rottweiler beannie baby? That would be so cool!!!!! Thanks for listening. Love Steph from Minnesota, the not so chilly state this year!!!!! Thanks>> Hello Steph, Well, tie-dyed cloth has been used for centuries in many places in the world. It was popular in the U.S. in the '60s, during the "hippy" period, and maybe your parents even made some shirts and stuff using this techique when they were kids. Why don't you try you hand at it? All you need are some cloth dyes in different bright colors-- which you can usually buy at the supermarket-- and a couple old white t-shirts or scraps of old white sheets to practice on. Make the dyes according to the instructions on the package. Take your cloth or shirt and tie it into knots in a couple places, or just bundle it up using strong rubber bands. Dye it, then untie or unbundle and knot or clump it in a couple different places. Now put it in a different color dye. Do this as often as you want for more colors and designs. If you practive, you can make kewl designs appear where you want them to. The tie-dyed colors of my Beanie friends is all in the cloth they are cloned from. And there are no two that are exactly alike! At last you have one of your favorite Beanies. Doby and Sting say hello. Princess tells me that eventually there will be a Rottie Beanie for you to Love. REX In a message dated 14/3/98 18:21:48, you wrote: <<Dear REX, Thank you for the Teddy beanie, I just got him yesterday. He will have alot of fun playing with my other beanies, I think especially Valentino, and Curly, as they are both bears also. I am thinking really hard on some new questions!! Thank you again!!!! Talk to you soon, Love, Steph from Minnesota.>>
<<Why is Princess Purple? Katie Goff from Missouri >> Hello Katie, Well, the answer to your question goes back thousands of years. Her color is not really "purple". The correct name would be "Royal Tyrian Purple". Cloth dyed this color is mentioned in the Bible, and It was used by the Minoans, Phoenicians and the ancient Romans and Greeks for royal robes and other clothes. Those peoples along the border of the Mediterranean Sea discovered that certain sea snails contain small amounts of a liquid that would stain things a beautiful crimson color. Because it took so many snails to get enough dye to color a lot of material, it was very expensive, even in those days. The Roman emperors used it for their robes, and many other cultures adopted it for their royal color. So, Diana is a royal bear "bearing" her royal colors! REX
<<Dear Rex, can you help me? I LOVE Beanie Babies and I love to collect them. My dad on the other hand thinks that they are a waste of time and money (sniff sniff). He can't belive that everyone is so excited about little stuffed animals. Is there any way that I can convince him that Beanie Babies are not only valuable, but fun to have too? Thanks-- Krystal, Washington.>> Hello Krystal, Isn't that strange how kids seem to like certain things that some "grown ups" think are "dumb"?? But the lives of the two are also different, aren't they? Your Dad has to go to work, which he probably hates, to make enough money to pay for the place you live, the food the family and pets eat, the car, the electric and gas bills and loads of other stuff. These are what is important to him and your Mom. Maybe he has a hobby? That would be a good starting point for you to renew his childhood imagination and interest. If he likes sports, what is the mascot of his favorite teams? Give him the Beanie that is closest to the mascot for his birthday, or just as a "thank you for being my Dad" surprise. Or if he has another interest, find a Beanie that sort of matches or might be connected to that interest. Maybe that would work. Steggy finds it strange that most people, as they "grow up", lose that fantastic childlike inquisitiveness, imagination and spontaneousness of their youth. It is probably due to their need to think about how to pay the bills, which a child does not usually have to worry about. REX In a message dated 28/2/98 20:09:49, you wrote: <<P.S. The advice you gave me worked! >> In a message dated 17/3/98 23:40:30, you wrote: <<I just got Teddy a few days ago, and I can't thank you enough! He told me to tell you thank you too because he likes it so much here! Right now he is sitting beside Peace, talking about his trip. Thanks again for Teddy! >>
<<Hi rex, my name is Cody M, I live in New mexico and go to secend grade, i am going to be 8 next month in March. I have one qaustion that my Daddy and me cant find out yet. Daddy is in collig and he takes cemystery class. He likes doing to xpeariments and stuff but I wanna know how come ice cubes can float in the water if they are both water? Daddy does not now for sure. I made ice cubes before in the freezer and they are made out of water, so how come they float? Hope you culd help us figure out this one. Thank you. Cody M. >> Hello Cody, Scientists find out new things by looking around and seeing stuff they have not noticed before. A lot of discoveries were made by "accident", like the guy who accidently mixed some liquid with something else and came back the next day to find the mixture hard as a rock-- he invented plastic! Most materials shrink when they freeze. Water is an exception to this general rule, and it EXPANDS, meaning that the atoms move farther apart. DENSITY is what makes something float on water. Pure water has a density of 1. A material that is more dense (DENSITY >1), like a penny, sinks in water. Anything with a DENSITY of <1 (= less than 1), such as a cork, floats on water. Did you ever notice that ice cubes are always larger than the original water level you put in the ice cube tray? That means that when the water froze its density got smaller as the size of the ice increased (= <1). That is why ice floats. Waddle loves your question because she always likes to be around ice. Peace thinks it is great that you are helping your Dad because he always helps his Beanie friends with their homework too! REX In a message dated 28/2/98 21:25:41, you wrote: <<Cody's mother // ps...Cody was very excited when you answered his question, he promptly did an experiment. He marked the ice cube tray with a marker and filled it up just to the line...boy was he surprised and happy about the outcome! Thank you, you are quite knowlegdgeable for a dinosaur, you must study a lot! :D>> In a message dated 7/3/98 07:18:21, you wrote: <<Rex, I got my new benie baby today in mail. My mommy picked it at the post office for me when I was in scool. i love him so much. he is first on my shelf on top of my bed. I am so glad it is teddy bear brown. I did not have him at all and mommy says he is costed to much because he is retirrd. I am tirrd too and am going to go to bed on the couch because my sister is in Albakerkey with my daddy this week end. I hae a baskitball game tomorrow so I need my sleep. I now I can not win for a long time again two months but can i ask you a qestion still? your best freind Cody M >>
In a message dated 7/3/98 23:21:31, you wrote: <<Deer Rex, my mom help me to make a piture with our snappy thing. I hope you like me piture but Radar the bat flew in the piture i think he was gelis. I love my new Teddy brown, he is my new best frend. Thank you. Cody M>>
<<Dear Rex, Hi! My name is Ashley and I live in Connecticut. My question is, do you think that the real Princess Diana would have liked the way the Beanie Babie Princess is being sold for so much money? I really didn't know too much about Princess Diana before she died, but from what I've heard, she sounded real nice and caring ( did Princess know her? ). Ever since I saw Princess, I've wanted her to love ( along w/ all my other Beanies ), but whenever I see her for sale, she's always 2 to 5 hundred dollars - way too much for a kid like me to buy! I don't think it's right for people to sell Princess for so much money - it's like making a profit over a death, which isn't very nice. I don't think the real Princess would have liked all this greed. Do you? Thank you for being such a great friend to me and a lot of other kids! :) Ashley P.S. Please say hi to all of your friends for me. I love your website - especially the picture of you at your computer! You're really cute! :)>> Hello Ashley, Princess says that she knew Diana, Princess of Wales, since she was a little girl and that she was the nicest human she ever met. She is also very upset at how much they are asking at the secoondary adoption centers for her sisters. The same thing is happening to her pal Erin! To us Beanies how much we are worth depends on how much our human pals Love us, BUT humans have a different way of putting a "worth" on something. It's called dollars. Let me try to explain how it works: STEP 1: my Beanie friends are cloned at the Cloning Labs in foreign countries where wages are a lot lower than here in the U.S. and many times, young children "work" instead of going to school. Cost, around $1. STEP 2: The new Beanies, after the long trip from the other side of the world, arrive at the nursery and have to get over the jet lag and all before they go to the Official Beanie Adoption Centers. That usually takes 6-8 weeks. Cost, about $2.50. STEP 3: The Official Beanie Adoption Centers like to make money to pay for their store and the people who work there and all, so they affer my Beanie friends for adoption. Cost, from about $5 to $6. STEP 4: Some unscrupulous Official Adoption Centers want to make even more money, and they know people who would give them $25 and even more for certain Beanies, so they sell them "out the back door" and make a BIG untaxable profit. Cost, about $25-50. STEP 5: The people that bought the Beanies now act as "unofficial" clearinghouses and resell the poor tired Beanies to "secondary market" adoption centers. Cost, like from $75 to 150! STEP 6: now the poor dizzy Beanies are posted on the trading boards and auctions, and appear at flea markets for way over their original adoption fees. Cost, now over $150! These steps do not include the Official Beanie Adoption Center greedys who skip Steps 3-5 and sell them themselves at auction or on the trading boards for over $100. That's a lot of profit, and Princess thinks it is a shame! REX In a message dated 6/3/98 20:04:11, you wrote: <<Hi, Rex! I just got home from school and guess what? Teddy was right in the mailbox waiting just for me! Thank you so, so much! I absolutely LOVE him! I think he likes it here - he's already playing with all of my other Beanies! Just wanted to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! I love Teddy and will take great care of him! Thank you also for answering my question - you were really helpful! Thank you again! :) Ashley>>
<<Alice Hill W.I Question: Science has figured out that there are all of these eras. My question is on the very first era. Scientist know what things were around and lived during this era by fossils. But the very first life was either a parisite or animal with no bones, cartledge, or stuff like that. So with out something to make them into a fossil how do they become a fossil and if not how do scientist know that they were around then? This is my question for you. I hope you can answer it so my mind won't be boggled and so I can undestand more about fossils and the begining of the earth.>> Hello Alice, I really don't need a signature, just your first name, like when you write to a friend at school. I really hate it when kids don't give me a name so I can say "hi" to them by name. Don't you like it when a friend says, "Hi, Alice" better than just "hello"? Maybe I am just old fashioned?? Well, Peace tells me that you seem to know a lot about fossils already. Yes, you are right, the earliest life forms did not have bones or what scientists call "hard parts" to preserve as fossils. What they do find are impressions of jellyfish, and tracks made by unknown animal types. And recently I read that they discovered some bacteria in China-- WOW. Every year a lot of new fossils are found that always gives us a better idea of what animals and plants lived at different times in the distant past. Maybe you yourself will discover some! REX
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Hi everybody, WOW, I received over 350 emails from my human friends all across the United States and it was VERY difficult to choose the best one. Pounce, Prance, Spunky, Bruno, Smoochy and Puffer helped me look through the computer files to connect email addresses to the 30 best questions that Steggy and I selected. Peace discarded those that were not signed. Then Peace and the rest of the Beanies voted for the best ones. THERE WERE SIX TIES! So this month, instead of picking only 1 out of the six I decided that they all should win! That might not happen every month !! Then I went to the cave and stuck my paw in and got the first Beanies that I could find. I didn't look, honest! Actually they almost seemed to jump into my paw like they really wanted to meet new pals and take a trip to see new places! Please remember to follow the directions in the REX's RULES part of my main page, like sign your email letter with your first name and write in your State. And please, ONLY one question per month-- you still have 11 months to win more Beanies. Your Beanie friend, REX
Ashley (cprobst@shadowlink.net) from Utah who wrote : In a message dated 26/1/98 00:33:45, you wrote: << Hi Rex, My name is Ashley from Midway Utah. I have only one question to ask you. Why are the prices still high on Princess. I'm sick and tierd of people selling Princess for over 100.00$ Making it inposable for a kid to get. And that is my misson. To get my hands on Princess. Thanks, Ashley >> Hi Ashley, Princess is VERY upset that most adoption centers are charging such ridiculous foster adoption fees for her sisters! Even a lot of "Official" Beanie Adoption Centers are having what they call "raffles", charging $2 a ticket. That means that if 400 different people buy one of those raffle tickets, her sister will cost a whopping $800 to adopt!! That is not what was supposed to happen. At least that is what we Beanies were told by Father Ty! REX In a message dated 5/2/98 01:55:23, you wrote: <<I receved Puffer today. Thanks for the beanie babie! Ashley >>
Jamie (panda1@flash.net) from Texas who wrote : In a message dated 27/1/98 07:55:41, you wrote: <<Dear Rex...I found this arrowhead in my backyard, and my dog found this rock that looks like a tool...can you please help me figure out how old they are? Or can you tell me anything about arrowheads and who used them and why? Thank you. Jamie, 9 yrs old, and Min-Pin Pal, Czarny Budinski >> Hi Jamie, I checked out the pics of your discoveries on your web page and YES, your dog was the proverbial "lucky dog"! Sonny's dog only chases rabbits and squirrels when he is outside! The arrowhead looks just like an arrowhead should. There are many different styles, depending on the "flutes", those groves along the sides and top, and the general shape. They were used for hunting. That rock has an unusual shape and could have been used by early man IF one side of it looks like it was chipped from hammering at something. Many ancient peoples used arrow heads made of metal, stone and various minerals. Yours looks sort of like the mineral flint or jasper. Peace tells me that you could find more exact information at a local museum or university where they would be familiar with what might be found in your area. They can be able to give you an approximate age and possibly an Indian tribe that might have made and used it. Hope your dog finds you more stuff! REX In a message dated 4/2/98 20:14:43, you wrote: <<Jamie was very pleasantly surprised to receive Spunky from Rex! She sends her thanks,,,and is very happy. Thanks for the note of encouraging science...it's a very good idea! Keep up the good work, it's very nice of you to be doing this for kids. >>
Cody (dkcgood@zoomnet.net) from Kyntucky who wrote : In a message dated 25/1/98 19:43:52, you wrote: <<Hi Rex, If you can I need help I am in grade 2 and am trying to do a science fair project, this is my first science fair project. It is about making a magnet with wire and a battery and a nail, and how with a straight piece of wire the magnet is not a strong, and the more it is coiled around the nail the stronger it gets, here is where I need your help, PLEASE! I have a presentation board, but I need help of what all and how to put my information on the board, do you know of any web site that could show me, I really appreciate you being here and for any help. Do you think my project will be good, if I figure out how to my the information on the board? Thank you, Cody, Greenup, Ky age 7 >> Hello Cody, WOW, what a great project for your grade. After you make your different magnets, the most important part of your project is the "presentation board" or display. That is what attracts the attention of the judges and makes them look at your project a little more than one displayed in a box or something. Really great boards that fold into three parts are available at most large office supply chains. They are stiff white cardboard and stand up by themselves behind your project. '97 Teddy did a science project at the Beanie Science Fair. It was about comparing the weights of one Beanie type. He asked 45 different Blizzard brothers from three different tag generations to get on a balance (= a scale, sort of) that weighed them in grams. That was a total of 135 different Blizzards! He made a nice neat table listing the different weights, and then he calculated the average weight for each tag generation. He printed all his stuff using Sonny's computer and printer. On his presentation board he used the left part to show WHY he did his project, what he wanted to find out, and general info about Beanies, about Blizzard and what weight is and all. On the bigger center part of the board he put the title of his project in neat colorful large letters at the top : "Do all Blizzards weigh the same?" He included information on how he did his project, photos of the different tag generations so people could see what they looked like, and a list of the materials he used in his research. He also put pics here of the Beanies climbing onto the balance, and had a balance as part of his exhibit. On the right side of the board were the results of his experiment, with computer printouts of the tables with all his numbers and all. And of course in front of the presentation board he had his exhibit, with the balance, a Blizzard who stood there and answered questions for the visitors, and most importantly his REPORT. The report contained all of the information about the project, like an explanation of what weight is, how it is measured, all kinds of information about Blizzard and tag generations, what question he wanted to answer with his experiment, how he did the experiment and what his results were. He also added about 37 references that he found on the Internet and in the Beanie library about his subject. The Science Fair judges always read the report to see how much work a child has done on his project. Now if you have a great report PLUS a really kewl presentation board and display the judges will give you more points. Good luck from all of us. '97 Teddy thinks your project is a good one. HE got second place for his! REX
TJ (PigletTJ@aol.com) from Massachusetts who wrote " : In a message dated 24/1/98 16:23:27, you wrote: <<IS THERE ANY WHERE IN MASSACHUSETTS THAT THEY HAVE FOUND FOSSILS OF REX? I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW, I WOULD LOVE TO VISIT SUCH A PLACE.I WOULD TELL MY TEACHER, REX RULES TJ >> Hello TJ, WOW, your State has a long history of dinosaur discoveries. The first dinosaur footprints in the U.S. were discoovered there, in South Hadley in 1802, and are now on display at the Pratt Museum at Amherst College. Some of the first dinosaur bones were found way back in 1855 in Springfield. The really first ones came from your neighbooring State, Connecticut, in 1818! My REX family never got to your State, but a bunch of my other relatives did. Sonny, my human friend, even has a kewl pic of some dinosaur footprints from Massachussets on the fossil section of this website, under "vertebrates". Check it out. Rainbow said that if you visit a local museum you will probably find loads of books about fossils in your State and maybe they even have a geology club that you could join. Most clubs take fieldtrips looking for fossils and minerals. If you write to the State Geological Survey they will send you a list of inexpensive publications about fossils. Tell them you are a student working on a science project. REX In a message dated 2/2/98 23:10:18, you wrote: << BRUNO IS SAFE AND WARM THANK U REX ...HE IS REAL CUTE...............TJ>> Hi again TJ, You Mom sent me 2 beanies, a Taz and Snoopy! You shouldn't have though. I love them! Taz sits on my desk (and he even moves and talks!) and Snoopy is with me here at the computer. Sonny really thinks they are cute as anything. Snoopy has been a favorite of his for years. Thanks very much, REX
Joshua (Jdspacker4@aol.com) from Illinois who wrote : In a message dated 27/1/98 01:55:21, you wrote: <<Hi REX my name is Joshua Scheele!!!! I live in oswego,IL!!!! I would love to be your new friend!!!! What was the first dinosaur ever descovered by scientists? Also what was the first dinosaur ever to rome the earth? Is the tarodacto the only dinosaur that cam fly? Those are my questions REX!!!! So please e-mail me a response. It's ok if you can't answere all or any of them. Rex my time is running short so I will talk to you later ok bye!!!!!! <3-------------ya later REX>> Hi Josh, Probably the first dinosaur ever discovered by a human was found by prehistoric man, only he didn't know what he was looking at. The first dinosaur ever described was Megalosaurus, named by an English geologist, William Buckland, in 1824. Then in 1825 Gideon Mantell, a British doctor and amateur fossil hunter named Iguanodon-- which the famous French palaeontologist Cuvier thought was a mammal! Can you believe that my friend Sonny has books by all of these early scientists in his research library. My Beanie pals love to read his books because they always learn something new. Scientists will probably never know which was the absolute "first" dinosaur-- mainly because fossils are so VERY rare. Not every plant and animal that ever lived gets fossilized. It might be like 1 in 10,000 or even way less! Pterodactyls were a whole group of flying reptiles known as Pterosaurs, not exactly dinosaurs. They were the first animals with backbones that were able to fly. NONE of the dinosaurs ever flew, except my pal Steggy and I when we went once with Sonny to the Canary Islands. That was kewl! Seven fossils of Archaeopteryx, another flying reptile that some scientists think is a link between birds and reptiles, have been discovered up till now. They lived about 150 million years ago and are more closely related to dinosaurs than were the Pterosaurs. REX In a message dated 6/2/98 00:26:02, you wrote: <<THANKS FOR THE SMOOCHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!>>
Michelle (mkinsman@pe.net) from California who wrote : In a message dated 9/1/98 03:41:53, you wrote: <<Dear King of the Dinosaurs, I was sitting here thinking that most of us haven't, and maybe even won't, ever have the opportunity to meet you and some of your many other retired, out-of-production, etc. friends. Granted, we can all find pictures in a collectors book or reference of sort, but sometimes a picture just isn't as good as the real thing. So I was wondering, is there such a thing as a Beanie Museum out there? Does the Ty corporation maybe have some kind of tour or a room showing examples of all the retired, current, out-of-production, etc. beanies? I know that most of us out there have little chance at adding the Great Rex or many others to our collection, but I think we would all love the opportunity to see you and your friends up close. If there isn't a Beanie Museum as of so far, perhaps you can get together with some of your friends and put something together? I know the concept seems a little wild, but wouldn't it be cool? Your friend, Michelle >> Hi Michelle, I really like your idea for a Beanie Museum. That would be super kewl ( which means "cool", but an online friend always spells it that way and I like it better). I went to a couple museums with Sonny and they sell all kinds of neat stuff. They have books, videos, hats, umbrellas, loads of posters and even toys and games, a lot of them about dinosaurs! If I would make a Beanie museum I would show the whole life story of each of my friends, and they would all be right there too in interactive displays. At the museum shop they would have Beanies, of course, and lots of Beanie accessories like sleeping bags, Beanie puzzles, key rings, calculators that tell you the birthday, if they are current or retired and even the poem of any Beanie name you type in, videos about Beanies including the full length movie they all star in, school bags and lunch boxes, beach towels, mugs, paper plates and napkins for Beanie birthday parties, Beanie watches and many other things that I have on my very long list. Sonny says he would love to start one, but he doesn't have all the money he would need to get it all together. Ty hasn't had the time yet to start one like this, but the idea has occured to him. He is too busy trying to ship Beanies to the adoption centers on schedule. REX In a message dated 4/2/98 05:57:27, you wrote: <<Dear Rex, I just wanted to take the time to thank you for the beanie. Puffer has a special place in my home, and I will always be grateful for the honor of being one of the six winners. Thank you again! Michelle>>
The new Beanie friend for each of the winners is already on the long trip to their new foster homes. They are so excited! |
In a message dated 2/3/98 17:02:28, you wrote:
winners
for this month.
#1 : In a message dated 24/2/98 00:05:04,
you wrote:
WINNER # 1 IS :