Filed under “questions I never thought to ask,” Yahoo responds to the query: Why is the “manila folder” called “manila”? Answer: they’re made from manila hemp, which is indigenous to the Philippines.

Car DVD players are not so rare nowadays. But why limit yourself to recorded videos? Now there’s a satellite dish you can stick on top of your car. TracVision gives you access to DirecTV satellite channels while you’re on the road, tracking satellites while you are in motion. It uses gyros and GPS to track the vehicle’s position and keep the signal. Hook it up to your in-car video system and your passengers can forget about playing punch buggy to keep themselves entertained. Current price for the equipment is $3,500, and maker KVH Industries is hoping to reduce that significantly in the years to come. But remember, it’s illegal to watch TV while you’re driving.

An enormous cushion-cut sapphire, formerly owned by Queen Marie of Romania, will be auctioned off by Christie’s on November 19 in Geneva. Weighing in at 478.68 carats, the gem is estimated to go for $860,000-$1,300,000. Christie’s claims it is the largest sapphire ever offered at auction. The same sale features two other significant sapphire jewels and a few D color, flawless diamonds as well. Bidders who haven’t depleted their funds can stay in town for Sotheby’s auction of a 103.83 carat flawless diamond the following day (reported here earlier).

With an original estimated schedule of twenty years, “the dictionary to end all dictionaries” was completed in sixty-eight. Simon Winchester’s new book The Meaning of Everything sets the scene for the void identified by the creators of the Oxford English Dictionary with a history of the English language and its unwieldy growth patterns, triggered by foreign invasions. The OED’s ambitious goals to catalog not only meanings of words, but also their histories, quotations, and synonyms brought a complexity to a project which ultimately outlived many of its creators. Project managers from all disciplines will relate to the pressures of budget, estimated schedule, and resources that plagued OED editor James Murray. The vast effort needed to properly catalog the English language proved the worth of the task itself.

Zookeepers in Milwaukee were surprised by a baby giraffe, born after a 15 month gestation period. Let’s assume mom giraffe was not as shocked as the zookeepers were to find a new animal in the pen. Baby will be sleeping a little more often than the 30 minutes adult giraffes need in 24 hours.

There will be a total lunar eclipse Saturday evening. The weather this week has been crisp, cold, and clear, just like autumn should be.

The Concorde arrived at the Museum of Flight on Wednesday. And it has a new hat: “the Concorde, when traveling at supersonic speeds, is heated by atmospheric friction. This causes the airframe to expand. Inside, the expansion is visible only as a gap that opens in the paneling behind the cockpit; then, as the aircraft slows and cools, the gap closes. So, while the jet streaked at 1,350 mph over Canada, one of the engineers aboard stuffed his hat into the gap. And there it remains.”

Are you looking for answers in all the wrong places? Perhaps a Ouija board will reveal the guidance you seek. The Museum of Talking Boards contains galleries of previously manufactured boards and planchettes, and those currently in production. And if your question can’t wait for a trip to the toy, errr, mystical supply store, there are online boards ready for your query.

In college I would sometimes argue with other Chinese students about which won ton wrapping technique is best (the right answer: however your mom did it). There was, however, agreement on the proper method for creating a pot sticker. So I wasn’t surprised to find that the SF Chronicle’s detailed description of the pot sticker pleating technique was entirely familiar. The accompanying drawings clearly illustrate the various steps. Of course the key tool you may be lacking is the specially shaped rolling pin my dad made me, patterned after the one my mom brought with her when she moved to the U.S.

Information I’ve never needed before: Winterizing your Irrigation System. There are different specifics for different sprinkler systems. Brrr.