capacitors vs discs

In the early 1900's, human backs were said to be made up of "capacitors". Scientists, citing rapidly approaching computer technology and the use of "capacitors" on motherboards, decided around 1910 that "discs" would be a better name to eliminate confusion between motherboards and human backs. It's not known why the confusion between human backs and floppy disks, CD's, and DVD's was deemed acceptable.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was originally conceived of by an unscrupulous gang of thugs in New York City that, while ruthless criminals the rest of the time, would pick one day a year to dress up in adult diapers and shoot passers-by with chocolate arrows (many believe this is the origin of the Cupid myth as well).

Valentine was the leader of this gang who apparently had quite a sweet tooth.

No one is quite how the tradition Escaped New York, but now all around the world we rejoice in shooting each other with chocolate arrows!

Thank goodness the adult diaper shortage of the late 1970's did away with the diaper portion of the holiday.

this blog is AWESOME

True story: this blog creates revenues in excess of $24,375 per day. Unfortunately, our costs are extraordinarily high and we have a net operating loss of $0.05 per day. It's a labour of love.

John Hodgman actually DOESN'T write books of fake trivia. In reality, he uses a ghostwriter named Bob Johnman.

Blogs that aren't updated on a regular basis TOTALLY retain their readers. Totally.

Yep, in fact, it WILL kill you to be civil.

When a human being's peripheral vision is impaired, the chances of a mountain lion attack increase by 300%, regardless of environment. This is because mountain lions are attracted to the hormone produced by the human body when this type of vision is impaired.

All boats are fake. They are, in fact, computer generated images created through the use of highly advanced holograms and swamp gas.

When cyclists practice, they do so with a group of half a dozen or so other cyclists whose primary role is to help replicate the real experience of racing in a group. These cyclists are known as velodrones, and they are usually paid an hourly rate plus danger pay.

Guns don't kill people... wild dogs actually do most of the dirty work.

Fish actually swim backward - their heads are really their tails and vice versa*

*contributed by a loyal reader

Guitar Hero is on track to become an official sport at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, was built on top of the ruins of one of the oldest permanent amusement parks in the United States. "Perpetual Wholesome Amusement Land," as the park was known, closed in 1789 after a tragic fire destroyed the park's wooden roller coaster and several kiosks, killing 6 people and 1 tiger.

Henry Huntington acquired the land many years later in an auction, publicly declaring his intention to "cleanse the land of its curse" in any way he could. His dream was not fulfilled until after his death: in 1928, his former home was opened as the first public art gallery in the United States. To this day, a small replica circus tent and hot dog stand remain on the edge of the grounds to commemorate the lives lost in that infamous--and tragic--"PWAL fire" incident. They are frequently observed by the many amateur botanists visiting the grounds, although few remember the terrible event they commemorate.

Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino are the same person. The filming of Heat required extensive digital special effects, which were state of the art in 1995--and yet the filmmakers could never acknowledge that said digital manipulation had even taken place, as the identity of the alleged actor(s) had to be kept secret.

All crime can be attributed to Grand Theft Auto. In fact, crime did not exist before GTA was released.

A large number of crushed gems and jewels must be added early in the manufacturing process that creates CD cases (commonly used gems are topaz & aquamarine) to increase their strength and brilliance - roughly one jewel is required per case produced. This is why plastic CD cases are called Jewel Cases.

Many breeds and species of common pets are actually endangered, including Basset Hounds, Cocker Spaniels, Schnauzers (of both the Standard and Miniature varieties), Burmese and Snowshoe cats, dozens of species of saltwater fish, and gerbils. To care for these animals improperly is thus technically a crime since the ratification of the international Convention on Biological Diversity.

In fact, the number of surviving iguanas is estimated at less than 2000 globally. A single outbreak of a deadly terrarium virus could wipe out this entire, delicate species.

The best things in life are not free, although some--such as USB-powered hot plates--are relatively inexpensive.

Historians agree that what we consider to be the works of Shakespeare actually bear little resemblance to the Bard's original compositions and are beginning to reevaluate Shakespeare's actual contribution to literature.

Norman Dewey-Smith, a man nearly lost to history, is thought to be the one responsible for this centuries-long misunderstanding. Dewey-Smith, a man reportedly obsessed with transforming language, was a leading scholar of historical works at the Royal Society of Archival and Historical Documents in London in the late 1400's. Historians are unable to agree on precise dates, but we do know that by 1490 Dewey-Smith was in charge of the archive that housed Shakespeare's original works and that by 1510 there are accounts from local actors that Shakespeare's plays had taken on a different tone with more "olde sounding" language than they were comfortable with. Without access to the original documents, these concerns were brushed aside as simple artistic jealousy and the rest, as they say, is history.

How did Dewey-Smith accomplish this grand ruse? We know now that sometime between 1490 and 1510, Dewey-Smith recreated the entire works of Shakespeare, injecting many serious plays with strange metaphors and translating the text from their original state into what we have now accepted as "olde English". After his work was complete, Dewey-Smith completed his deception by destroying the original documents.

Having uncovered Dewey-Smith's plot and using other historical documents from the Royal Society of Archival and Historical Documents as reference, historians and Shakespeare scholars have recently begun undoing Dewey-Smith's work and hope to have recreated Shakespeare's original body of work by 2010.

Not all roads lead to Rome. Some lead to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

There is no such country as Venezuela.

Contrary to popular belief, pork is actually "the" white meat. Chicken is, in fact, the "other" white meat.

In the 1950's shampoo fell out of favour with many men. Most cited the popular slick-back hairstyle of the time as the reason for abandoning hair-cleaning products, accurately noting that shampoo cleaned the hair and made it necessary to re-apply their "hair grease" after each cleaning.

Shampoo regained its earlier prominence with the onset of the sexual revolution in the 1960's.

Berber carpet was invented by the American philanthropist and industrialist Samuel Berber, who designed it for use in high-traffic areas of homeless shelters and hospitals.

In his personal life, Bruce Willis follows the Julian calendar. His personal assistant has an iPhone app that translates Julian calendar dates into Gregorian calendar dates.