# I've never figured out

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 8, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690 "2020-07-08T02:16:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/121 "2020-12-27T17:33:42Z")

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> [@jayrey](#):
>
> A few years ago, I googled images of the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs Home, an orphanage in Frankfort, Kentucky. My father lived there from 1911 to 1920, from the age of 7 to 16. I visited there once as a small child but remember it vividly. At least two images came up, which I recognized, but I could never get an address or even more specific location than “Frankfort.” I searched for them again last month and – nothing! They have utterly disappeared. I’m fairly sure that the actual building is long gone and probably has houses or an industrial park over now, but I’d have liked to at least know its precise location. And see those images again.

There was an Orphan’s Home in Lexington as I found an article about 50 children visiting the lodge in Frankfort in 1914. I would send an email to the reference desk at the Frankfort library. There is probably a historical society as well. If you can come up with an address I’ll search the old aerial photos and see if I can find an aerial view if it was in a rural area.

The lodge itself is still at 315 Saint Clair Street in Frankfort.

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**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/122 "2020-12-28T03:47:45Z")

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When I was a kid I remember watching a disturbing movie with (I think?) aliens, and I have this vivid memory of a girl and an older man sitting in a truck (I think the man was Jeffery Jones of _Ferris Bueller_ fame, but I cannot be sure.) Anyway the older man turned to the young lady and something came out of his mouth, like a really long, thin tongue. I mean really long, like unrolling a party favor. It stretched toward her and just kept stretching. She was horrified.

That’s all I’ve got.

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**Author:** ![opiewan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/opiewan/32/3566_2.png) [@opiewan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/opiewan)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/123 "2020-12-28T04:34:57Z")

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The movie you are thinking about is the 1986 Lea Thompson classic, _Howard the Duck_.

I watched the crap out of this movie when I was 12-13. I think the critics considered the movie a bomb but I still think it’s a classic.

I dug up this not-very-hi-res version of the scene on youtube here. If clicking the link doesn’t take you directly to the scene, it starts around 06:45 in the clip.

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZqkQA6fcOBk/hqdefault.jpg "Howard the Duck - Dr. Jenning Special") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqkQA6fcOBk)

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**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/124 "2020-12-28T06:36:18Z")

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> [@BigT](#):
>
> And, finally, there’s this episode I watched on TV where this picked on nerd suddenly gets the “power” of everyone caring about everything he says. I specifically remember the scene where they start fighting over who can pick him for basketball in gym class (despite normally being last), and a girl he likes who never gave him the time of day showing up late at night at his doorstep in a robe, and dropping that robe–and then, as he takes her in, we see pretty much the entire town dressed in similar robes, clearly starting some cult. I thought it was an episode of _Painkiller Jane_ , but I’ve never seen described.

Could it have been an episode of [Todd and the Book of Pure Evil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_and_the_Book_of_Pure_Evil)? A typical episode has a high school student wishing for a power and getting it granted in a “Monkey’s Paw”-style manner, and the town is run by a secret cult of robe-wearing Satanists.

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**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/125 "2020-12-28T07:15:19Z")

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> [@erysichthon](#):
>
> During the 90s (or perhaps the 80s) there was a young actress in TV and films who had a scar on her chin, which pulled down one corner of her mouth and gave her a pensive, serious look. I think she had blonde hair, and I remember her playing roles like the long-suffering wife in domestic dramas. Googling “actresses with facial scars” mostly turns up pictures of Tina Fey, and it definitely isn’t her.

Was it Jennifer Runyan? I remember her from Charles in Charge but her scar is on her lip

[![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/83/7a/5c/837a5c2e63bddbfaf84e7f6fe0feb6cb.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/83/7a/5c/837a5c2e63bddbfaf84e7f6fe0feb6cb.jpg)

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**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/126 "2020-12-28T07:51:43Z")

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> [@mikecurtis](#):
>
> Was it Jennifer Runyan? I remember her from Charles in Charge but her scar is on her lip

WOW. I’m not positive yet—I need to watch some videos of her to be certain—but that could be her! I had settled on Linda Purl but wasn’t quite convinced, and this actress seems much more likely to be the person I remember. Thank you!

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/127 "2020-12-28T14:44:53Z")

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> [@hogarth](#):
>
> Could it have been an episode of [Todd and the Book of Pure Evil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_and_the_Book_of_Pure_Evil)? A typical episode has a high school student wishing for a power and getting it granted in a “Monkey’s Paw”-style manner, and the town is run by a secret cult of robe-wearing Satanists.

None of the episode descriptions in your Wikipedia link seem to describe the episode, either. No picked on kid who one day finds that everyone does whatever he says and adores him.

Also, I’m rather sure the 2010 date is too recent, as that’s after the digital switchover. We’ve never had digital TV in my house, and I’m rather sure I watched this on our old CRT. It would have at least been around the time Painkiller Jane was on TV, and likely on the Sci-Fi channel.

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**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/128 "2020-12-28T14:58:02Z")

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> [@opiewan](#):
>
> I dug up this not-very-hi-res version of the scene on youtube here. If clicking the link doesn’t take you directly to the scene, it starts around 06:45 in the clip.

Thanks! Eww.

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**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/129 "2021-01-22T00:22:39Z")

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I remember Chickenman on the A.M. radio dial when I was a kid. It had to be WHUT (Anderson, IN) or WERK (Muncie), but I don’t know which one.

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**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:** [January 27, 2021, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/130 "2021-01-27T13:47:25Z")

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This American Life did a story on Chicken Man:

> **[Chickenman - This American Life](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/44/poultry-slam-1996/act-five-preview)**
>
> Chickenman was a short daily radio show airing from 1966 to 1969, and it was incredibly popular.

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**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/131 "2021-01-27T13:52:48Z")

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I’ve never figured out … … … how or why in God’s name “factory packaging” is so much more compact than my pathetic efforts at duplicating it.

Do you mean to tell me that some mindless repetitive packaging machine can make a mockery out of my efforts?

Don’t answer that.

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**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/132 "2021-01-27T16:38:55Z")

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There’s a song by Led Zeppelin that has some hypnotic guitar hooks, that I swear was on _Physical Graffiti,_ but I’ve listened to samples of all their songs online and can’t find it. I won’t subject you all to my hideous voice attempting to sing it, so maybe I’ll try to transcribe it.

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**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-never-figured-out/914690/133 "2021-01-27T22:00:52Z")

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> [@WildaBeast](#):
>
> There’s an instrumental song, played on a saxophone or at least is very sax-heavy. I’m pretty sure it was the theme song for a talk show or infotainment type show in the late 1980s or early 1990s. I can hum it in my head, but since it’s an instrumental there are no lyrics to Google.

From David A. Stewart (of Eurythmics fame) featuring Candy Dulfer, [Lily Was Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypbjIwbTR8c), perhaps? Not for a tv show but a foreign movie and got plenty of air time here and is the right time frame.

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