Thursday, April 19, 2007

Things You Thought You Knew... But Didn't

Lemmings do not commit suicide. This was a wives tale further perpetuated by Disney filmmakers who forced some lemmings to jump off a cliff in order to catch the "natural phenomenon" on film.

"When the Stars Go Blue" is not a Tim McGraw song. Like most country "stars," McGraw had to resort to singing a cover song in order to prove he still had talent. In fact, name me a popular country song that isn't a cover.

The "Dark Side" of the Moon isn't always dark.

Ensign was originally an Army rank. Modern navies adopted the rank when they needed an equivalent to army Second Lieutenants (which, ironically, were originally called Ensigns).

Henry Ford neither invented the car nor the assembly line. The modern car is attributed to Karl Benz (of Mercedes Benz fame) and the assembly line was the work of Ransom Olds (of Oldsmobile).

The Sahara Desert is not the largest desert in the world. Antarctica is.

Christopher Columbus was not the only person who thought the world was round. Most people did during his time, actually. Christopher Columbus simply thought the East Indies were much closer "the other way around the globe" than they actually were. Ironically, Columbus' opponents were the ones who claimed the East Indies were a long way away, making Columbus ultimately wrong, but very, very lucky.

The acronym DVD did not originally stand for "Digital Video Disc." It originally stood for "Digital Versatile Disc" (due to its multiple capabilities), but has since devolved into also standing for "Digital Video Disc" thanks to the ignorant stupidity of the public.

The term "Immaculate Conception" has little to do with Jesus. It refers to Mary's lack of original sin at her conception.

George Lucas did not write the novelization of Star Wars. Alan Dean Foster did. Mr. Lucas simply took credit for it for the last couple decades. Mr. Lucas also did not write the screenplays for The Empire Strikes Back nor Return of the Jedi. Makes one wonder how those two films wound up being the best two of the six, eh?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Mr. Lucas also did not write the screenplays for The Empire Strikes Back nor Return of the Jedi. Makes one wonder how those two films wound up being the best two of the six, eh?"

Yes, he gave his rough drafts over to screenwriters whom he liked/trusted. I wish he'd done that this last time around. Maybe we would have had more Christopher Lee. :)

Posted by Geoffry on April 19, 2007 - Thursday - 7:05 PM

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