Tell Me Something I Don't Know

[fireheart]

In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.

That's actually quite funny as the Speaker of the House in Aussieland (which bases a number of things off of the British system as well as the American system) does speak and was recently ousted for various reasons!

Ernest Vincent Wright once wrote a novel containing over 50,000 words, none of which contained the letter "e".

In case anyone's wondering, that was Gadsby.

The Ten Commandments contain 297 words. The Bill of Rights is stated in 463 words. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address contains 266 words. A recent federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words.

My brain is now broken.

[Jester]

Ernest Vincent Wright once wrote a novel containing over 50,000 words, none of which contained the letter "e".

HOW?!?!?!?

The Ten Commandments contain 297 words. The Bill of Rights is stated in 463 words. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address contains 266 words. A recent federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words.

Bureaucracy in action!

[crazylegs]

.

The Ten Commandments contain 297 words. The Bill of Rights is stated in 463 words. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address contains 266 words. A recent federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words.

Shame it's false

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/cabbage.asp

[Kit-Ginevra]

Given the last couple of occupants of the Speaker's chair,perhaps it's just as well all round if they're not permitted to speak. Gorbals Mick was indecipherable,John Bercow and his charming wife are just ridiculous...

[Jay 2K Winger]

Bureaucracy inaction!

I do believe I just fixed that for you, Jester.

[fireheart]

HOW?!?!?!?

It took him about 10 or so years.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Facts you didn't know, Pro Rasslin' Update!

WWE heel (bad guy) Bray Wyatt (this guy) is the son of 80's/90's wrestler Mike Rotundo, aka. IRS (this guy).

WWE diva Tamina (this lady) is the daughter of "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka (this guy).

WWE tag team the Usos (these two) are the twin sons of Solofa Fatu Jr., aka. Rikishi (this guy).

[Kal]

More! Useless! Facts!
Ernest Vincent Wright once wrote a novel containing over 50,000 words, none of which contained the letter "e".

He's not the only one. About 30 years later "La Disparition" by Georges Perec used the same idea - using Gadsby as inspiration.
The translations have tried to keep the theme going, with the Spanish version not using the letter a (their most commonly used letter) and (so I'm told but can't find confirmation of) the English one also being without e.

[KhirasHY]

Shame it's false

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/cabbage.asp

It's extra funny, since I got the actual "fact" from Snopes too lol...from their "useless facts, still useless" page

[Jay 2K Winger]

Facts you didn't know, Pro Rasslin' Update!
WWE tag team the Usos (these two) are the twin sons of Solofa Fatu Jr., aka. Rikishi (this guy).

More Pro Rasslin' Facts!

The aforementioned Usos are just the latest in a family of Samoans to go into the wrestling business. The Anoa'i family includes:

+ Afa & Sika, the Wild Samoans
+ "High Chief" Peter Maivia (grandfather of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson)*
+ Yokozuna
+ Black Pearl (Yokozuna's brother)
+ Rosey (Sika's son)
+ Roman Reigns (Sika's son)
+ Rikishi
+ Umaga (Rikishi's brother)
+ Tama/The Tonga Kid (Rikishi's brother)
+ Jimmy & Jey Uso (Rikishi's sons)
+ Samu, Manu, and L.A. Smooth (Afa's sons)

* - Peter Maivia is the blood brother of Amituana Anoa'i, the family patriarch

[Kit-Ginevra]

The shortest ever single to make the UK Top 40 is the stunning 35 seconds of 'The Ladies' Bras' by Johnny Trunk and Wizbee in 2007.
Those genius lyrics:
The ladies' bras,the ladies' bras,the ladies' knickers and the ladies' bras
The ladies' bras,the ladies' bras,the ladies' knickers and the ladies' bras
The ladies' bras,the ladies' bras,the ladies' knickers and the ladies' bras
The ladies' bras,the ladies' boobs,the ladies' bodies and the ladies' bums
The ladies' bras,the ladies' bras,the ladies' knickers and the ladies' bras
The ladies' bras,the ladies' bras,the ladies' knickers and the ladies' bras

[fireheart]

One of the incarnations of super sentai (the original power rangers) has an..."adult film" actress playing one of the enemies.

The hilarity comes from the fact that this particular incarnation was aired as a Saturday morning cartoon-esque programming block.

[Antisocial_Worker]

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

My hometown is one of the places where Jordan Baker cheated at golf.

[KhirasHY]

One of the incarnations of super sentai (the original power rangers) has an..."adult film" actress playing one of the enemies.

The hilarity comes from the fact that this particular incarnation was aired as a Saturday morning cartoon-esque programming block.

Just because you said that...Power Rangers trivia!

In the Japanese original series, the yellow ranger was male, which is why only the pink ranger has a skirt.

The pyrotechnics used in Billy's brain-switching machine had caused both Amy Jo Johnson (Kimberly) and David Yost (Billy) to accidentally catch on fire while filming the scene. Amy Jo would later be wary of being too close to such special effects equipment because of the accident.

In the original pilot episode, Zordon's name was Zoltar. Zoltar is the name of the main villain in Battle of the Planets and G-Force: Guardians of Space. It was also the name of a fortune-telling machine in the Tom Hanks movie, Big.

In Malaysia, as part of its campaign against drugs, the word "Morphin" is censored, by substituting or muting footage where the word is spoken (the phrase "It's morphin' time") or displayed onscreen, for fear that it could encourage children to become addicted with the uses of morphine. When it was broadcast on RTM (along with its toy commercials), it was called Mighty Power Rangers, or simply Power Rangers or Power Ranger.

In the episode "Trick or Treat", Skull has the numbers "24601" tattooed on his chest. This is reference to Jean Valjean's prison number in Les Miserables (also used by Seymour Skinner and Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons (1989), Hank Jennings in Twin Peaks (1990).

The voices of both Fang and Vampirus were both spoofs of Peter Lorre. Lizzinator's voice was a spoof of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Dischordia's voice was a spoof of Ethel Merman. Ninjor's voice was a spoof of Dudley Do-Right's.

[fireheart]

Just because you said that...Power Rangers trivia!

In the Japanese original series, the yellow ranger was male, which is why only the pink ranger has a skirt.

Right up until Ninja Storm, if there was a male yellow ranger in the Japanese version, it frequently became female instead. This became a source of hilarity in either Lost Galaxy or Lightspeed Rescue (both of which had this treatment) because when they made the switch from American to Japanese stock footage, the yellow ranger suddenly grew a few cup sizes They fixed this issue with Time Force and Wild Force though and once they moved to New Zealand (for Ninja Storm) they stuck to casting the correct genders for the footage.

Funnily enough, there is actually a series where the female rangers do not have a skirt-Power Rangers SPD! (that goes for the pink ranger too!)

In the original pilot episode, Zordon's name was Zoltar. Zoltar is the name of the main villain in Battle of the Planets and G-Force: Guardians of Space. It was also the name of a fortune-telling machine in the Tom Hanks movie, Big.

Speaking of MMPR, the movie was filmed in Australia (as were a few episodes due to scheduling screwups) and they also originally had Mariska Hargitay (yes, Olivia Benson) portraying one of the enemies. They found it didn't work out right so she was fired.

If you ever watch Power Rangers RPM (which isn't too bad), you might be surprised at the explanations given for the somewhat cartoonish Zords and the constant parodying of certain traits of the Ranger series ("because nothing says covert like Red, Yellow and Blue spandex" ), but it's more because there's a HUGE dissonance between the American version and the Japanese version.

The Japanese version (Engine Sentai Go-Onger) was based on "engines" and the environment (think Captain Planet with Zords, but not nearly as heavy on the environmental message). The American version? A post-apocalyptic world where the aim is to stop a computer virus from taking over everything!
The Japanese "zords"? They also TALK. Yeah, I shit you not. They require two parts to it: a "chip" and a "cast". Chip + cast=Zord. There's one episode where they mix up the chips and the casts, so the chips are in the wrong "casts". It gets hilarious when you hear this deep grating voice coming out from a peppy Bear/RV and a very "wolf"-esque voice coming from a very perky motorcycle/orca that heaps on the gratuitous English.