# Fictional references that became true **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656 "2009-10-21T19:33:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/101 "2009-11-03T00:09:27Z")
Well, there apparently is now a drug called [Quietus](http://www.quietrelief.com/). Sadly, it doesn’t appear to do what the stuff in _Children of Men_ did. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/102 "2009-11-03T01:05:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Asimov coined the term “pocket calculator” for his story “The Feeling of Power.” He used it on one of his Foundation stories, too, and mentioned that the glowinng numbers were red. He read that passage in a lectire I went to i the 1970s. “You see,” he said, “I even got the color right!” Of course, those red LEDs ate up power pretty quick, and in a couple of years pocket calculators switched to liquid crystal displays with black figures. But he had been right, for a little while… ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/103 "2009-11-03T01:45:48Z")
In **1992** musician/comedian [Heywood Banks](http://www.heywoodbanks.com/) put out an album called [Treated and Released](http://www.comedyhome.com/Shopping/index.cfm?fa=shoppingItem&category=HBanks&webItemID=1002). The fifth song on the album is called _ **If I had a Bulldozer** _. The song describes how everyone would treat him with respect if he had a bulldozer, else he would invoke some “justice” with it. The chorus goes, “_If I had a diesel rig, With a big old blade, Treads just like a tank, I would have it made, Courtesy would reign, Arguments would cease, 'Cause everyone would know I’d squash them like a cheeeeeeeese!!!_” It’s one of my favorite songs by Heywood, BTW. 😃 In **2004** a guy named Marvin Heemeyer virtually destroyed the little town of Granby, Colorado with - you guessed it - a bulldozer. The bulldozer had treads “just like a tank” (see Heywood’s lyrics above). Heemeyer spent 18 months transforming the bulldozer into a tank by welding many layers of steel around it: > **[Marvin Heemeyer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Heemeyer)** > > Marvin John Heemeyer (October 28, 1951 – June 4, 2004) was an American automobile muffler repair shop owner who demolished numerous buildings with a modified bulldozer in Granby, Colorado, before killing himself during the attack after being confronted by law enforcement. > Heemeyer had various grudges against Granby town officials, neighbors of his muffler shop, the local press and various other citizens of Granby. Over about eighteen months, Heemeyer had secretly armored a Komatsu D355A bull... The similarities between Heemeyer’s act and Heywood’s song are eerie… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/104 "2009-11-03T04:52:23Z")
On the other hand, Asimov’s pocket calculator appears to have been an analog device, not digital, given that Selden enters input by adjusting dials. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/105 "2009-11-03T05:11:03Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > tv tropes has a page devoted to [Defictionalization](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Defictionalization). Not mentioned so far: “Where’s My Cow” from Discworld. I simply MUST get myself a copy of Nanny Ogg’s cookbook. > **[Nanny Ogg's Cookbook: A Useful and Improving Almanack of Information Including...](https://www.amazon.com/Nanny-Oggs-Cookbook-Information-Astonishing/dp/0552146730)** > > Nanny Ogg's Cookbook: A Useful and Improving Almanack of Information Including Astonishing Recipes from Terry Pratchett's Discworld (Discworld Series) \[Pratchett, Terry\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Nanny Ogg's Cookbook: A... ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/106 "2009-11-05T06:03:20Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > Actually, per Wikipedia, that was the pilot episode. (Taking WP’s word for it as I’ve never seen The Lone Gunmen) You are evil. I’m torn between correcting that and avoiding looking like I was wooshed for missing the joke. Well played, **dhkendall**. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/107 "2009-11-05T06:36:49Z")
Cyberdyne, which was the company that created the terminators in the movie, inspired a robotics company to take the same name. Their product is also known as HAL(except its for Hybrid Assisted Limb instead of Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic Computer). ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/108 "2009-11-05T11:54:19Z")
Not _quite_ a reference, but ‘Katrina and the Waves’ are never going to be listened to without a really strong wince, ever again. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/109 "2009-11-05T14:41:54Z")
For some reason I was thinking this morning about how when celebrities appear on late night talk shows or host SNL, it’s only because they are plugging their latest movie/CD/book/whatever. Then I remembered a sketch (or series of sketches) that Jon Lovitz used to do on SNL where he hosted a talk show that was essentially just an outlet for someone to come on the show and “plug away” with whatever project they currently had going on. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/110 "2009-11-05T14:52:27Z")
There are now **Cheers** bars in places like Logan airport and Quincy Marketplace in Boston. Yeah, I know that TV’s _Cheers_ is supposed to be based on the real-life _Bull and Finch_ pub on Beacon Street near Beacon Hill, but if you’ve ever been there you realize how thin the resemblance is – the Bull and Finch is incredibly tiny and congested (more so, now that the series made it famous), and doesn’t lookor feel at all like the TV set. The ones at the airport and Quincy Market are more spacious and do more resemble the one on TV. Even though (unlike the Bull and Finch) neither is downstairs. > **[Cheers Beacon Hill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_&_Finch_Pub)** > > Cheers Beacon Hill is a bar/restaurant located on Beacon Street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, across from the Boston Public Garden. Founded in 1969 as the Bull & Finch Pub, the bar is best remembered internationally as the exterior of the bar seen in the hit NBC sitcom Cheers, which ran between 1982 and 1993. > The show used the Bull & Finch as the inspiration for the hit TV show and exterior for the series, establishing shots of the namesake bar Cheers. A slightly mo... ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/111 "2009-11-05T14:56:38Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Not _quite_ a reference, but ‘Katrina and the Waves’ are never going to be listened to without a really strong wince, ever again. I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/112 "2009-11-05T15:14:25Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I don’t get it. [Katrina](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina) and the [Waves](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_wave). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/113 "2009-11-05T15:21:03Z")
Ah, I see. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/114 "2009-11-05T19:39:32Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > For some reason I was thinking this morning about how when celebrities appear on late night talk shows or host SNL, it’s only because they are plugging their latest movie/CD/book/whatever. Then I remembered a sketch (or series of sketches) that Jon Lovitz used to do on SNL where he hosted a talk show that was essentially just an outlet for someone to come on the show and “plug away” with whatever project they currently had going on. On the other grasping appendage, in an earlier season of SNL, host Martin Mull based his entire monologue out of the idea that he didn’t have any new record, book or movie to plug. It was very funny. Lovitz’s idea made a good recurring sketch. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/115 "2009-11-05T20:14:06Z")
It’s possible that I missed a reference to it, but I’m surprised that, in over 100 posts, and a number of them mentioning Asimov and his Robot stories, that no one’s mentioned [U.S. Robotics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Robotics). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/116 "2009-11-05T20:54:34Z")
On an episode of _Laugh In_ a “future” newscaster broadcasting from the 1980s referred to “President Ronald Reagan” and got a laugh. (I think the joke was about “_President_ Ronald Reagan has decided not to seek the governor’s office this term…”- not sure what the joke was: perhaps Reagan was being coy or equivocal about seeking re-election as California governor at the time.) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/117 "2009-11-05T21:03:48Z")
The 1993 movie _Demolition Man_ mentioned the Arnold Schwarzenegger Presidential Library. Ten years later he was elected Governor … ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/118 "2009-11-05T21:24:46Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > The very first episode of _SNL_ ran a commercial parody for a razor blade with (gasp) three blades. > > IIRC, the tag line was, “Because you’ll buy anything.” I thought it was “Because you’ll believe anything.” One of us should check. I’d do it myself, but I’ve fallen and can’t reach my beer. . ---
**Author:** ![Walton\_Firm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@Walton\_Firm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walton_Firm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/119 "2009-11-05T21:59:45Z")
> [@](#): > > **kremvax:** Originally, a fictitious Usenet site at the Kremlin, announced on April 1, 1984 in a posting ostensibly originated there by Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko. The posting was actually forged by Piet Beertema as an April Fool’s joke. Other fictitious sites mentioned in the hoax were moskvax and kgbvax. This was probably the funniest of the many April Fool’s forgeries perpetrated on Usenet (which has negligible security against them), because the notion that Usenet might ever penetrate the Iron Curtain seemed so totally absurd at the time. > > In fact, it was only six years later that the first genuine site in Moscow, demos.su, joined Usenet. Some readers needed convincing that the postings from it weren’t just another prank. Vadim Antonov, senior programmer at Demos and the major poster from there up to mid-1991, was quite aware of all this, referred to it frequently in his own postings, and at one point twitted some credulous readers by blandly asserting that he was a hoax! > > Eventually he even arranged to have the domain’s gateway site named kremvax, thus neatly turning fiction into fact and demonstrating that the hackish sense of humor transcends cultural barriers. [http://www.retrologic.com/jargon/K/kremvax.html](http://www.retrologic.com/jargon/K/kremvax.html) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656/120 "2009-11-05T23:58:41Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > [Anaheim Ducks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaheim_Ducks) No fair changing the name. To me, they’re still the Mighty Ducks.\* \*Because it was a stupid idea in the first place, and for doing it in the first place, they deserve to be stuck with the name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-references-that-became-true/514656.md?page=7)