Can you solve the tricky chess rebus puzzle below by ciphering the hidden meaning?

What do the following words have in common?

Assess
Banana
Dresser
Grammar
Potato
Revive
Uneven
Voodoo

Thomas has missed an excessive number of days of school, so he must meet with Principal Davis. Mr. Davis asks him "Why on Earth have you missed so many days?" Thomas replies "There just isn't enough time for school. I need 8 hours of sleep a day, which adds up to about 122 days a year. Weekends off is 104 days a year. Summer vacation is about 60 days. If I spend about an hour on each meal, that's 3 hours a day or 45 days a year. I need at least 2 hours of exercise and relaxation time each day to stay physically and mentally fit, adding another 30 days. Add all of that up and you get about 361 days. That only leaves 4 days for school." The principal knows Thomas is full of it, but can't figure out why. Where is Thomas going wrong?

Two boys wish to cross a river. The only way to get to the other side is by boat, but that boat can only take one boy at a time. The boat cannot return on its own, there are no ropes or similar tricks, yet both boys manage to cross using the boat.

How?

An American nightclub called 'The Coconut Grove' had a terrible fire in which over 400 people died. A simple design flaw in the building led to a high death toll. Subsequently, regulations were changed to ensure that all public buildings throughout the country eliminated this one detail, which proved deadly. What was it?

Find The Missing Number In the Sequence.
6 25 64 ? 32 1

A beggar on the street can make one cigarette out of every 6 cigarette butts he finds. After one whole day of searching and checking public ashtrays the beggar finds a total of 72 cigarette butts. How many cigarettes can he make and smoke from the butts he found?

Kohli and Dhoni decided to have a paintball match.
Kohli told Dhoni, "Sir it is not right as you got thrice the paintballs I have".

Dhoni instantly gives Kohli 10 hit paintballs.
Kohli replied, "Sir, I believe you still have twice the paintballs than I have".

Dhoni gives "?" more paintballs to Kohli.
Kohli replied, "Sir it is even now, Let us have a match".

What is "?".

I organized a small get together at my home.
In the party , i have a barrel with some whiskey in it.

Suddenly Guest 1 say 'I bet this barrel of whiskey is more than half full'.
'No, it's less than half full' Guest 2 replied.

I don't have any measuring instrument and without removing whiskey from it , how can i determine which of the guest is right ?

A few friends are enjoying their sea voyage in a boat full of apples. On the way, they felt hungry and thus decided to eat the apples. Together, they ate two dozen of apples. When they have eaten the apples, will there be any change in the water level?