Tell Me Something I Don't Know

[crazylegs]

Analgesics are taken orally. (Had to include that one, since it's the name of my trivia team )

IV Paracetamol would disagree

[Tama]

George Takei has a cologne out. Its name?

Eau My.

[KhirasHY]

Entonox, an analgesic gas...

Analgesics are taken orally. (Had to include that one, since it's the name of my trivia team )

Washington Irving Bishop (1856-1889) was a famous magician/mentalist who suffered from a condition that would spontaneously put him into a coma that could last for days. On May 12, 1889, while performing for members of New York's prestigious Lambs Club, he suddenly became faint and lapsed into a coma. Two doctors in the audience rushed to his side, and after careful examination, pronounced him dead. The doctors decided that an autopsy should be performed, and since the brain was believed to hold a clue to Mr. Bishop's sudden death, the doctors launched the procedure "before the brain cooled".

While the body was still warm, the top of the head was sawed open, the brain removed and examined. Since no cause of death was apparent, the death certificate noted "Hysterocatalepsy" as the cause of death. Of course, it was the autopsy itself that killed him. When Mr. Bishop's mother was notified that her son had collapsed, and that an autopsy had been performed without her permission, she was enraged. She pointed out that a slip of paper was in her son's pocket at all times, detailing his tendency to slip into comas, and containing instructions to prevent "premature autopsies or treatment by ice or electricity while he is in a trance state". Mrs. Bishop's complaints caused the doctors to be brought to trial, where their high station in New York society helped acquit them. She spent the remaining twenty-nine years of her life, and all of her money, trying to bring her son's murderers to justice.

In 1890 she wrote a book called A Mother's Life Dedicated and an Appeal for Justice to All Brother Masons and the General Public, A Synopsis of the Butchery of the Late Sir Washington Irving Bishop. As a frontispiece, the book contained the reprint of an actual photograph depicting Mrs. Bishop lovingly leaning over the open casket of her son, gazing at the line on his forehead where the top of his skull had been sawed off.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

The first movie in the US to have a national release date in over 1000 theaters was "The Trial of Billy Jack" (1974). Before that, studios would release movies in a few larger markets (cities like New York, LA, etc.) and then slowly roll them out to the rest of the country. Billy Jack changed how Hollywood released movies.

[crazylegs]

Entonox, an analgesic gas comprising of a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen, separates at 5C, meaning that when ambulances are store outside the cylinder must be inverted at least 5 times to mix the contents else the patient will receive pure nitrous oxide, an anaesthetic gas.

[mathnerd]

My oldest son was born in Mt. Airy, NC, the town that Andy Griffith based "Mayberry" off of for the "Andy Griffith Show".

[fireheart]

Another weird fact that I didn't know about until tonight.

The TV series "What's with Andy?" was created by a Canadian company and set in the United States.

The books it was based off of were written by an Australian author and set in Australia

[AnaKhouri]

My hometown is the place where Jay Gatsby met Daisy Fay.

[Jester]

Wolfie, my family has a weird version of that last one going on. To wit, no one has known their paternal grandfather in generations.

Dad's dad did not know his paternal grandfather because he was brought to this country by his parents at the age of 4, so never met the guy.

Dad never met his grandfather, because he died before Dad was born.

I never met Dad's dad because he died five years before I was born. He's the guy I was named after.

And while I have no plans of having children, if I ever do, they wouldn't be able to meet my Dad, since he died in 1981.

And the beat goes on....

[wolfie]

Admiral Chester Nimitz (WW2) and presidents Andrew Jackson and Bill Clinton were born after their respective fathers died.

[fireheart]

In the video game Nancy Drew Danger By Design, there's a character called minette. In the Russian version, they had to modify the name. Why? Because apparently in Russia, "Minet" translates to fellatio....

[fireheart]

In the 1930's, a man named Sir Edward Hayward became inspired by the Toronto Santa Claus parade and the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade and decided to start his own pageant.
That pageant? It's now known as the Adelaide Christmas Pageant or the Credit Union Christmas Pageant.

It originally started in 1933 with 8 floats and 3 bands. This year's pageant had over sixty floats, 11 dancing groups, fifteen bands, nine "walking floats"*, 1 DJ and 3 choirs**.

The pageant has a royal family: previously it consisted of the Pageant Queen and the princesses, over the last 4-5 years they've since included Pageant Kings and princes. These are people who work for the sponsor of the pageant and will travel to schools and places where people can't access the pageant easily. They have their own float and the King and queen will welcome Santa afterwards.

The pageant also has its own mascots-Nipper and Nimble, which are two giant rocking horses. The kids that ride them are usually 3-7 year-old girls who have parents working for the credit unions.

One year Santa passed out at the end of the pageant from the 40-degree heat. (they've since modified the santa suit so that he's kept cooler)

The Adelaide Gang Show (Scout/Guides theatrical performing group) will always participate in the pageant as they are sponsored by the credit union. Their roles will include clowns, "twirly" kids and then behind the scenes stuff.

*-a walking float is a group of people who will dress up or who will wear a "costume" of some kind, but they aren't being pulled along by a car or anything and aren't part of a "dance troupe" or "band." One example that springs to mind is a float called the "Naughty/Nice" machine, which was being pushed along by clowns. A non-example of a "walking float" is a group of precision team dancers.

**-the choirs tend to have their own floats. One float is the combined Adelaide Young Voices (girl/boy choir) that looks like a giant storybook and the singers are in one page of the "book". Very cute

[sms001]

Nick Alkamade survived a 20000 feet fall....

That is just awesome.

[fireheart]

It's all explained here http://monopolypubcrawl.org.uk/

Oops, I did mean pub crawl. I has the dumb now.

[crazylegs]

Apparently in the UK, there is a drinking game where people follow the monopoly board and somehow get drunk. O.o

It's all explained here http://monopolypubcrawl.org.uk/