Straight Dope Message Board

[Biotop]

Ernest Hemingway wrote a series of stories about a terrible week of nonstop rain and the subsequent flooding that occurred in Paris in the spring of 1927. Alas, the collection was never to be published. During a drunken rage Hemingway burned all copies. Thus few ever got to read The Seine Also Rises. 551

[CheshireKat]

...or the sequel, A Farewell to Mud.

Back to the game (I'll pass for now) 552

[burpo the wonder mutt]

Ernest Hemingway's granddaughters Mariel and Margaux are actually the same person. Special effects, tricky camera positioning, stunt doubles and clever make-up allowed them to be on-screen "together" in "Lipstick." (1976) 553

[Sr Siete]

Originally Posted by burpo the wonder mutt

Ernest Hemingway's granddaughters Mariel and Margaux are actually the same person. Special effects, tricky camera positioning, stunt doubles and clever make-up allowed them to be on-screen "together" in "Lipstick." (1976)

An interesting reversal of that situation happened when the identical twin Lohan sisters filmed the 1998 Parent Trap remake-. Mindy Lohan decided to quit showbiz after seeing the weird effect that world had on her sister, and asked for her name to be removed from the credits. 554

[Prof. Pepperwinkle]

Lindsay Lohen was named after the poet Vachel Lindsay, who ended his life in an insane asylum. Many believe his spirit haunts the actress, and is the reason for the train wreck that is her career. 555

[CheshireKat]

The career of Train Wreck Investigator is fraught with rail danger, but is a fast track to the highest-paying position in the field, Master Choo Choo Boo Boo.


:: I've had way too much coffee this morning :: 556

[drewtwo99]

Honey Boo Boo is so named because her great great grandfather was the first Master Choo Choo Boo Boo General for the United States government. 557

[Biotop]

The first known reference to a ghost actually saying "boo!" occurs in Boswell's translation of Jean Baptiste Racine's Phaedra. It is the ghost's only line in the play. 558

[CheshireKat]

Phaedra was a hot mess. She falls in love with Hippolytus, whose mother is one sister or the other - no one knows for sure. She gets pissed and tells Hippo's father that Hippo raped her, which is untrue. Dad plots to kill his son. "Should I send a sea monster to scare Hippo's horses?" "No, maybe a raging bull would be better." "No, wait, let me just kill him myself." It's a cliff hanger.

After Hippo is dead the angst continues. Will Phaedra kill herself, or will she just live with the guilt? Stay tuned.

By the way, this plot line has been used in "One Life to Live", "All My Children", "Days of Our Lives" and "General Hospital". 559

[Ravenman]

Postmaster General Francis Grainger had among the shortest tenures of that office, barely half a year in 1841. While his legacy is the subject of various posts on this board, the event lost to history is that he was forced to resign in disgrace for promulgating the regulations forbidding obscene or incedecent material from being sent through the mail system.

The regulation sent shockwaves through DC, especially the White House, where William Henry Harrison had a reputation of scheming to expand the Library of Congress with a room at the back, partitioned off by hanging beads and a handwritten sign to read, "Ye Adultes Only!"

Anyways, contrary to what you're told, Harrison didn't die from catching a cold at his frigid inauguration. He went into a apoplectic fit upon hearing that his naughty daguerreotypes from Canada would be declared contraband, and an aneurysm burst, killing him inside of a minute.

Now you know... the REST of the story. 560

[Prof. Pepperwinkle]

All My Children was a radio soap opera before it was on TV, and, before radio, it was issued in pamphlet episodes to subscribers monthly through the mail. The most popular such pamphlets were reprints of Canadian daguerrotypes, which remained in favor until the end of WWI. 561

[burpo the wonder mutt]

Translation of several stelae from circa 1200 B.C. Egypt reveals the (supposed) name "Lucci," which has anthropologists baffled. 562

[Lumpy]

People used to wonder how the great stone monuments of Egypt, including the pyramids, could possibly have been built. It is now known that Egypt was once mountainous, that the Nile was originally a man-made canal, and that the monuments were carved out of solid rock, the debris forming the vast surrounding sandy deserts. 563

[Prof. Pepperwinkle]

In the mid-19th century all of the herds of Egyptian elephants were shipped to an area just southeast of Paris, France. These carefully tended herds are the source of the treasured French Ivory used in making all manner of Art Nouveau articles. 564

[burpo the wonder mutt]

Art Nouveau was the host of "Jeopardy" in France.

Art Fleming was born in Belgium. 565

[CheshireKat]

Belgian elephants can't clear their trunks of mucus. Zookeepers use leaf blowers inserted into their mouths to keep their air passages clear. This takes special training and a steel-reinforced ladder. 566

[buddha_david]

Belgium was the world's greatest sea power between 1637 and 1639 A.D. 567

[burpo the wonder mutt]

The Belgian Navy was commissioned Dec. 31, 1637, in honor of the New Year, ruled the sea for 366 days, and was decommissioned Jan. 1, 1639, after having accomplished everything it set out to do. Nobody knows what that was. 568

[Biotop]

Navy beans got their name because the versatile legume could be safely stored on long ocean voyages and then be cooked safely in salt water. Oftentimes naval supremacy was determined by which side had the most beans. 569

[CheshireKat]

Mozart wrote an opera called "The Magical Fruit". The second movement featured only the horn section. 570

[burpo the wonder mutt]

Not many people, especially outside of Texas, are aware that the horns of a Texas Longhorn steer are analogous to human fingernails, serving no real purpose to the animal. And you should see the size of the "clippers" they use for grooming. 571

[Prof. Pepperwinkle]

Three Boeing C-40 Clippers were used, flying in unison, to transport the top of the Washington Monument from Area 51 to Washington, D.C. The pyramid contains the highly radioactive remains of that famed Rigelian ambassador we remember as the Marquis de Lafayette. 572

[Leo Bloom]

The singer Sade is indeed related to the Marquis de Sade. She even goes by the original pronunciation. 573

[Prof. Pepperwinkle]

The original pronunciation of the word "the" is "teh". 574

[Annie-Xmas]

The whole homosexual agenda is to infect everyone with "the gay." 575

[Lumpy]

Russia and Great Britain nearly went to war over a diplomatic incident in 1877 when the new Russian ambassador was presented to Queen Victoria. He asked to be taken to "your boyars", in an accent thick enough that he was thought to be saying "your boy whores". 576

[Intergalactic Gladiator]

Before perfecting his line of culinary delights, Chef Boyardee served in the United States Coast Guard and was well known as Midshipman Boyoardee. 577

[CheshireKat]

Back in the early days of gay pornography, it was common to feature males of different races. When the plot also included sado-masochism, the films were known as S'Mores.
.
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ETA - OK, I was ninja'd, sort of...I keep forgetting to refresh before I post. My fault so ignore this entry. 578

[Elendil's Heir]

Originally Posted by Biotop

Agatha Christie wrote the rough draft for a novel entitled Death Turns the Pages in which her trademark "least likely suspect is the one who did it" theme is taken to the extreme. At the end of the unpublished story, Ms Marple reveals that the killer is actually the reader.

I love this!

In play:

Alexander Graham Bell's last words were, "Gay pornography can best be appreciated on a gay pornograph." Oscar Wilde and Queen Victoria, who were both present, were reported to have exchanged eyerolls at his quip. 579

[burpo the wonder mutt]

Oscar Wilde is distantly related to actress Olivia Wilde. 580

[Typo Negative]

Steppenwolf's Born to Wild was originally titled Born to be Wilde and was a celebration of Wilde's life and style. 581

[buddha_david]

Steppenwolf was named after the Southern Silver Steppen Wolf, which was South Carolina's state mammal before it went extinct in 1857. 582

[CheshireKat]

Southern silver is known by everyone not living in Louisiana as nickel. The band Nickelback was originally called Silverback, and one of their promotional gimmicks was to throw hand-smelted silver coins to their fans.

When they began touring outside their home state of Louisiana, the gimmick backfired. A fan tried to pawn his silver coin and found it was nickel. Word spread, and concert attendance dropped dramatically.

The band moved to Canada, changed their name to Nickelback and became quite famous. They rarely mention their Louisiana roots; most people believe them to be native-born Canadians. 583

[Prof. Pepperwinkle]

Nickelback's hit song How You Remind Me was inspired by Post-It notes. 584

[Lumpy]

Post-It Notes were originally going to be prizes in boxes of Post brand breakfast cereals, but it was never implemented. They were then going to sold as Stik-E Notes, but Post only agreed to release the patent if the name "Post" was kept and a small royalty paid. 585

[CheshireKat]

In Jonathan Swift's famous "Gulliver's Travels", Lilliput was inspired by the tiny monarchy of Liliana, north of Latvia. The royal family of Liliana are small in stature; the current prince, HRH Clarence Postov stands only 4'5". Liliana's main sources of revenue are from the export of mustard seeds and royalties of $15,800 received annually from the General Food Corporation. 586

[Biotop]

Jonathan apples are named after Jonathan Edwards, whose description of the "devious red fruit" in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God inspired New York orchardist Jacob Wilson to apply the name to his new variety in 1897. 587

[drewtwo99]

Isaac Newton famously devised his theory of gravity after watching an apple fall, but what many people don't know (and neither did Newton) is that the apple itself actually didn't fall due to gravity in this one particular instance, but was instead carried to the ground by the will of God's angels. 588

[Sr Siete]

It's a social custom in Belgium to do a "shoo" gesture in front of the food before eating. The origin of that behaviour comes from the medieval era, when it was used to warn away any wandering invisible angels so they weren't bitten by mistake. 589

[CheshireKat]

Dimples are thought by some to be the bites of an angel. 590

[Prof. Pepperwinkle]

In high Sephardic lore, angels have neither dimples nor belly buttons. 591

[AppallingGael]

Only God's angels have wings; Hell's Angels prefer fried zucchini sticks. 592

[astorian]

Future British Prime Minister David Cameron auditioned unsuccessfully in 1977 to become the new drummer for Paul McCartney and Wings. 593

[Prof. Pepperwinkle]

Cameron Diaz purchased Loki's mask from her early film The Mask, and. when she wears it at night, she's a dead ringer for Fiona from Shrek. She usually goes grocery shopping or bowling while wearing it. 594

[CheshireKat]

I could post the entire five-paragraph section on the specifications of a bowling ball and it would be considered to be entirely made up. I had no idea bowling ball manufacturers had to follow so many strict and/or minute measurements regarding weight, density, branding, balancing and radius of gyration. It's no wonder the pole dancers' union is protesting the adoption of the same standards for their strippers. 595

[burpo the wonder mutt]

The Pole Dancers' Union is based in Krakow, having relocated from Warsaw in 1990. 596

[drewtwo99]

In the mid 1600's, there was a shortage of metal suitable for making saws, which require a particular alloy that was hard to come by in the region that is now modern-day Poland. There was a great war fought then and there that lasted for 2 years for wresting control of the precious tools, thus giving the city Warsaw its modern name. Before then it was regionally known as Peacehammer. 597

[Lumpy]

"Warsaw" meant "penis" in a now-extinct Mesopotamian dialect. In fact, it's believed that every two-syllable word that has ever existed meant "penis" in some language somewhere, with the notable exception of "Pepsi". 598

[CheshireKat]

Lorena Bobbitt is addicted to Pepsi. She once cut her consumption completely, but grew reattached to the soda after spending a hot, humid day in the fields near her home. 599

[Vita Beata]

In September 2012 Pepsi launched a new product called Pepsi Next which contains 30% less sugar and added Stevia, made from lab enhanced DNA from Steve Jobs, as a zero calorie sweetener. Stevia was added as Pepsi's attempt to increase the intelligence of Pepsi drinkers. 600