Tell Me Something I Don't Know

[KhirasHY]

Since I'm rewatching it, here's some (non-spoiler) Battlestar Galactica trivia:

-The only actor to appear in both the original series and the remake is Richard Hatch; he played Apollo in the original series (21 episodes), and Tom Zarek in the remake (22 episodes).

-Characters present in both the original and remake series: Adama, Starbuck, Apollo, Boomer, Tigh, Baltar, Boxey (in only the miniseries and a brief appearance in one episode), Admiral Cain, President Adar, and Zak. In the original series, Adar and "Zac" appeared in the pilot episode only, and Starbuck was male instead of female.

-Many of the weapons used in the series are actual modern firearms, and not custom props. The Marines often use Heckler & Koch G36 rifles and Beretta CX4 carbines, Anders frequently carries a Heckler & Koch UMP submachinegun and a Desert Eagle pistol, Helo sometimes carries a South African Protecta drum-fed shotgun, and Starbuck sometimes uses a pair of Skorpion vz 61 submachineguns. The fleet standard issue side arm is also a Five-Seven pistol with fake grenade launcher.

-The "family lighter" that Commander Adama presents to Apollo was bought at a garage sale for use in the episode in which it appears.

-The character Helo was never intended to return, but test audiences reacted so strongly, he was written into the show as a long-term character. Additionally, the subplot with Helo and Boomer was written without knowing what the goal was initially, and only later were decisions made about the outcome.

-Ronald D. Moore cites Peter Pan (1953) as a major influence on this show, specifically the phrase "All this has happened before, and will happen again." Moore found the notion both pessimistic and pragmatic, and worked it into the Cylon mythology.

-Paper (and photos, books, and even picture frames) in the series have corners cut off. It is said that director Michael Rymer did this during the miniseries as a reference to how he had to "cut corners" financially to make the miniseries work on a limited budget. The practice was continued into the series, although the producers have said on numerous occasions that although it seemed like a "neat idea at the time", having to cut the corners off every document seen onscreen became a nuisance for the weekly series.

-Edward James Olmos (Cmdr. Adama) had a clause in his contract that no strange aliens or monsters would ever appear on the show. He wanted to insure that the story stay focused on human drama.

-Though other actresses were considered, the role of Laura Roslin was written especially for Mary McDonnell.

-The network expressed apprehension at the casting of Tricia Helfer in the pivotal role of Number Six. At the time, Helfer was known primarily as a model, and had virtually no acting experience. Later, network executives were so impressed with her performance that they based the entire marketing campaign of the show around her character.

-Lucy Lawless was originally offered the role of Ellen Tigh, but rejected it feeling that she was wrong for the part. The producers so wanted her for a role on the series, however, that they later wrote the role of D'Anna Biers with Lawless in mind.

-In Hebrew the name "Adama" (last name of William, Lee and Zak) actually means "ground" or "earth" and pronounced almost exactly: "ada-ma". Hardly a coincidence since finding Earth is the main theme of the series.

-For the first season in the U.S., the opening theme was an instrumental piece. When broadcast in other countries, the opening theme was a completely different composition, a song with vocals, the same length as the instrumental theme. After the first season, the U.S. broadcasts used the same theme song as everywhere else. The vocals are a famous Hindu mantra, the Gayatri Mantra, taken from the Rig Veda; the words are "OM bhûr bhuvah svah tat savitur varçnyam bhargô dçvasya dhîmahi dhiyô yô nah pracôdayât", which may be translated in various ways but means approximately "may we attain that excellent glory of Savitar the God / so May he stimulate our prayers".

-Ron Moore said in a podcast commentary that though his initial intention was to bring the card game "Pyramid" and the athletic sport game "Triad" from the original Battlestar Galactica into the new series, he mistakenly transposed the names, which is why in the new series the sport is "Pyramid," and the card game is "Triad."

-In the original Battlestar Galactica, Viper weapons fire was red lasers and the Cylon Raiders fired blue lasers. In this version, both ships fire actual bullets. However, both sides fire the correct color of bullets.

[KhirasHY]

A few Colorado facts:

Woo woo, Colorado Represent! Here's a few more:

-A large amount of the city property in downtown Denver, including the Capitol building, is built on land once owned by a man named Henry C Brown. Brown purchased a number of land parcels, one of which he donated to the state; he also donated $1000 (during the 19th century, quite a lot) to build the first public library in Denver. Later, he would also have one of the first open-atrium hotels (the Brown Palace) built as his "crowning achievement", but its construction ended up bankrupting him, and he had to sell it off. As a result, the hotel is one of the few buildings in the entire state which owns not only the property, but the sidewalks around it as well (which are usually city owned). It leases the sidewalks to the city, which keeps them in repair.

-The Brown Palace is also one of the oldest running hotels, having been in continuous operation since 1892. It's also well known as being one of the lowest paying hotels in downtown Denver, and hotel employees generally will share that it is notorious for having a crooked HR department. The things you learn...

-Thanks to a large portion of the state being around a mile over sea level, many Coloradans live in a thinner atmosphere than the vast majority of the US. This has a number of effects: things like golf balls or kicked footballs tend to fly 10% further, alcohol is more intoxicating, and the dry air tends to cause more dehydration than in lower climates. Due to less water vapor in the air, the sky appears bluer in Colorado than most other states.

-Also due to the thinner atmosphere, one of the most common physical ailments for out-of-state/country visitors is altitude sickness, which shares symptoms with a heart attack or stroke. Visitors are generally advised to double their water intake, and try to remember to take deeper breaths to avoid this annoying (but generally harmless) condition. The most common problem area for this is Pikes Peak, which sees a massive influx of tourism every year, but has a constant medical staff on hand for fainting visitors.

-Home-grown Denverites have a bad habit of assuming people know how to tell what direction they are facing. In Denver (or Boulder, or many other cities), the mountains are always to the west.

-Colorado is consistently listed as the thinnest state in the US, though we lost the title to Montana in 2014. In 2013, Colorado was the only state with an obesity average under 20%.

-Going back to the thinner atmosphere, Colorado is a favorite training ground for many athletes, including Olympic hopefuls. Training with less oxygen has had athletes reporting a boost of energy when they return to areas closer to sea level for years, so many of the official US Olympic training gyms relocated to areas in the foothills and mountains to capitalize on the effect.

-The Pikes Peak Railway is the highest cog railway in the world. It travels 8.9 miles, and goes from an altitude of 6571 feet to 14110 feet.

-Central City, about 45 miles west of Denver, is called the "Riches Square Mile on Earth" due to roughly a half billion dollars worth of gold that was mined there. The city now shares incorporation with Blackhawk, and is the only area in Colorado where licensed casinos can be operated (albeit with more restrictions than Las Vegas).

-The road to the top of Mount Evans (which is 14260 feet) is the highest paved road in North America.

-The mountainous area of Colorado is six times the size of Switzerland, containing 9600 miles of fishing streams, 2850 lakes, and more than 1000 peaks that are 2+ miles above sea level. There are 21 ski resorts currently in operation in the state, and there have been around 150 total resorts in operation since the 1930's (though that number includes buyouts, so some may be multiples of the same mountain resort).

[fireheart]

Among the "Dumb laws" I discovered today, it is apparently illegal to "object" to a wedding in South Australia. Seriously. >.>

[firecat88]

A few Colorado facts:

~ At just over 11.1k feet above sea-level, the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel is one of the highest vehicular tunnels in the world. It is a dual bore tunnel and each bore spans roughly 1.7 miles. Though construction on the Eisenhower tunnel began in 1968, the Johnson tunnel's construction did not begin until 1975. The tunnel project was completed in its entirety in 1979.

~ Freelan Stanley was one of the co-founders of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, a company that manufactured automobiles with steam-powered engines. Under recommendation from his doctor, Stanley vacationed with his wife in Colorado under the belief that the mountain air would do wonders for his health (he suffered from tuberculosis). When his health did show significant improvement, he and his wife settled in Estes Park permanently and founded the famous Stanley Hotel.

~ Speaking of the Stanley, it is where Stephen King got his inspiration to write The Shining. It is said to be very haunted, with the most active area being the ballroom (the kitchen staff have reported hearing parties going on there, only to find that the room was empty. Also, people have heard the piano playing when no one was there to play it). It is believed that the paranormal activity is caused by the large quantities of limestone and quartz that exist in and around the mountain.

~ Fruita celebrates 'Mike the Headless Chicken Day' on the third weekend of May. It is a day honoring Mike, a rooster that lived for 2 whole years after being decapitated by a farmer named Lloyd Olsen.

~ Alma, Colorado, is the highest incorporated town in the United States (10,578 feet). Leadville, Colorado, is the highest incorporated city (10,152 feet). Contrary to what many believe, it has always been this way. Alma has never taken the 'highest city' title from Leadville.

~ The 480 acres that now make up the Garden of the Gods was once owned by Charles Elliot Perkins. After his death, the land was given to the City of Colorado Springs under the condition that it be made into a park that was free and open to the public.

~ The following food-related businesses were founded in Colorado: Celestial Seasonings, Chipotle, Enstrom's Candy, Flying Dog Brewery, Jolly Rancher, Noodles and Company, Noosa Yoghurt, Qdoba

[fireheart]

The author of Mary Poppins (P.L. Travers) attended school in the area that I'm now living in.

[KhirasHY]

Rats have been found to laugh when tickled. The sound is inaudible to human ears, but using a bat detectors (or similar device), the sound can be amplified to be heard.

It's also fucking adorable.

[fireheart]

A couple of kids TV show fun factoids:

-The TV show "Art Attack" had the presenter (Neil Buchanan) wearing a bright red jumper. That jumper had to be specially made using a particular material, because red was hard to pick up correctly on cameras at the time of filming. Each jumper cost 700 pounds.

-The Australian TV show Bananas in Pyjamas was based off of the song "Bananas in Pyjamas" which involved teddy-chasing. There were very few instances of actual teddy-chasing on the series and the bananas and teddies lived side-by-side harmoniously.

-The VA for one of the teddies on the show (Who had this weird French/Greek accent) is now the announcer for SydneyRail. (although it's not that obvious)

-The targeted market of the show was kids between the ages of 2-7 (roughly). Despite this, there was an entire episode stemming around the Bananas being NAKED. This somehow escaped the censor. (The episode was titled "Naked Bananas" and the whole episode was basically the Bananas trying to cover up while their PJs dried)

-On the note of censorship, Adventure Time in Australia is aired on two different TV networks: Cartoon Network (pay-TV) and Go! (on free-to-air TV). Cartoon Network seems to continually censor the episodes, shaving a few seconds off here and there for completely ridiculous reasons (one example touted was the removal of the word "Screwball" because it was believed to relate to nudity and removing the expression "jam on" because it sounded sexual)....but the channel Go(!), despite being subject to the same restrictions as Cartoon Network (to a point) airs the episodes in their uncut glory and in child-friendly timeslots.

-On the episode "Island of the Giant Pokemon" in the original Pokemon series, there's a scene where the separated Pokemon are at a food/alcohol stand lamenting their fate. Pikachu and Charmander are comforting Koffing and Ekans (who are upset), while Meowth and Bulbasaur get drunk (Bulbasaur gets angry drunk and starts yelling at Squirtle, Meowth just passes out). Somehow this particular scene was kept in, but left untranslated. (If you look at Bulbasaur's "face", the area between his eyes and mouth is red-striped, indicating drunkenness)

[KhirasHY]

Here's another one from QI: contrary to popular belief, Jesse Owens was never snubbed by Adolf Hitler during the Olympics in 1936. On the first day of the games, Hitler famously congratulated only the German athletes, and was told by the Olympic Commission that he must either congratulate all winners or none of them, so he stopped congratulating anyone. It is because of that matter that we have the myth. In fact, his German opponent Luz Long actually offered him some technical advice during one event (confirmed by Owens) that led to his qualifying in the event, creating a strong friendship between the two (until Long's death during WWII).

However, based on quotes from Owens himself, he was more spurned by Franklin Roosevelt, who never congratulated him (as he did other medal winners), and never invited him to the White House for the celebration.

"Hitler didn't snub me – it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."

He was given a ticker tape parade upon his return to New York, but upon arriving at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, where the celebration event was held for the winners, he was required to enter the building using the service elevator, since the guest elevator was for whites only. Additionally, there was a tournament in Sweden just after the Olympics, but Owens returned to the US hoping to capitalize upon his success. Instead, he was expelled from the American Amateur Atheletics Union, preventing him from being able to participate in any regular competition within the US. To make ends meet for his family, he was forced to perform as a sort of sideshow act, racing against horses, cars, and so on. He also worked as a janitor at a children's playground, and a pump attendant at a gas station.

He partnered with two men to open a dry cleaning operation just a few years after his return, but his partners turned out to be conmen and he was forced to declare bankruptcy. Despite all of this, he was constantly called upon to give commentary about public events, and grew a noted distrust of any type of politics.

Too bad, if he had been an olympic athlete in this age, he would've been treated far better...one would hope, anyway.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

The recipe for Duck Soup:

"Take two turkeys, one goose, four cabbages, but no duck, and mix them together. After one taste, you'll duck soup for the rest of your life." - Groucho Marx

[KhirasHY]

If you would try to subsist on a diet of nothing but duck, you would die. Unlike some other meats, it doesn't provide the correct vitamins to keep you going for long, unless you supplement with other foods.

[wolfie]

44 In 2009, a retired policeman called Geraint Woolford was admitted to Abergale Hospital in north Wales and ended up next to another retired policeman called Geraint Woolford. The men weren’t related, had never met and were the only two people in the UK called Geraint Woolford.

One I've heard about is that in 1895, there were 2 cars in the state of Ohio. They crashed.

[KhirasHY]

Here's another one from QI: Why do we have two words in English for various animals, such as Cow and Beef, or Sheep and Mutton? It comes from old England, where there was a disconnect for many of the aristocrats in society never actually seeing the living versions of animals, but only consuming the slaughtered versions as food. Eventually, it resulted in two words being used, differing based on the status of the animal, so a Cow is a living animal, for food, the French word would be used: "bœuf", which later became "beef." The same thing applies with "mouton" which is French for sheep's meet, and is a colloquialism as "mutton" in English. There are quite a few words in English that borrow from other languages, which is why so many words are recognizable across language barriers.

Speaking of words, there are a long list of words that William Shakespear created (or that are attributed to him, at least), some of which caught on and are still used today, including: Assassination, accused, addiction, aroused, amazement, backing, bandit, elbow, gossip, skim milk, swagger, zany, and grovel. There are around 100 or so that I could type, but I'm too lazy

[dalesys]

The Hebrew word for "frog" sounds very much like the word for "French".

Maybe there is something to British Israelism after all...

[Jester]

While they can only estimate what a megalodon weighed, as they are extinct, their estimations for the largest ones come in at approximately half the weight of a blue whale. Still very huge and massive....and still not even approaching the blue whale.

Here's a visual aid to show you how massive these guys are.

[Tama]

They're bigger than a (I think I have it right) MEGALODON?