What's the anatomy of a jellyfish?

Search: jellyfish anatomy

Why: In this thing about the plastic bag that Werner Herzog narrated for FutureStates, the jellyfish look like this:

Answer: It has:

• A bell-shaped hood
• No basic sensory organs
• No brain
• A nervous system and rhopalia (small sensory structures) that allows it to perceive stimuli, such as light and odor
• Oral arms coated with thousands of venomous nematocyst cells. Upon contact, a stinging filament inside each nematocyst uncoils, stabs barbs into the prey, and releases toxins.
  
• No intestines
• No liver
• No pancreas
• A orifice used both as a mouth entry and a waste exit
  

Source: AnimalCorner.co.uk

The More You Know: Wait, what about those gonads?

Individual Jellyfish are either male or female. The eggs and sperm develop in very colourful special areas called 'Gonads' inside the body wall. When all of the eggs and sperm are fully developed, they are released into the stomach and then through the mouth into the sea. In most cases, to reproduce, a male jellyfish releases his sperm into the surrounding water. The sperm then swims into the mouth of the female jellyfish, allowing the fertilization of the ova process to begin.

WHAT!

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What is Emmanuel Lewis up to?

Search: emmanuel lewis

Why: Gary Coleman died. We were birthday buddies.

Answer: Not much! The last few years:

• Doesn't Texas Ever End (2009) (filming) .... Doctor
• Kickin It Old Skool (2007) .... Himself
• "The Surreal Life: Fame Games" .... Himself / ... (4 episodes, 2007)
  
• "Child Star Confidential" .... Himself (1 episode, 2006)
  
• "One on One" .... Himself (1 episode, 2005)
  
• "I Love the 80's 3-D" (2005) TV series .... Himself
• "100 Greatest Kid Stars" (2005) TV mini-series .... Himself
• "Black in the 80s" (2005) TV mini-series .... Himself
• Michael Jackson's Boys (2005) (TV) .... Himself
  
  
• "Moesha" .... David (1 episode, 1998)

He has also been parodied on "Robot Chicken" and in an episode of "Family Guy" as Peter's black son in his 80s sitcom, "My Black Son."

Source: IMDb, Wikipedia

The More You Know: Emmanuel Lewis is 4'3. Here he is at age 13 with his BFF Michael Jackson.

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What's a niqab?

Search: Niqab

Why: I dunno. What's a niqab with you?

Loljk. On this Rotten Tomatoes review of Sex and the City 2:

Filled with lame Niqab jokes that could have been lifted out of ISHTAR, or a bad episode of FAMILY GUY.

Answer: The face veil that ladies wear! There is debate about whether or not it is fard (obligatory), but there is no debate that you're not allowed to make fun of it. (Please also just read the title of that page.)

Hot or not?

Source: Muhajabah.com, Wikipedia

The More You Know: SATC2 has an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes. Oops! Other choice reviews:

• "Camp, virtually plotless, and liberally sequined... It is Menopause in the Desert"
• "Bad puns, fashion porn, domestic handwringing, contrived plot points, idiotic dialogue and offensive stereotypes"
• "An insult to the memory of the cleverly written show and its celebration of friendship, it's a slap in the face for the four gal pals (often photographed at unflattering angles) and an affront to Muslims."

Who's coming with me?

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Who sings that song on the "Gossip Girl" commercial?

Search: let's go baby up to my room

Why: They have been playing that ad pretty hard.

Answer: DEE! The song is called "Let's Have a Rendez-Vous." Hear it all!

Source: Yahoo! Answers

The More You Know: DEE (Martin Dee Granger) is from Canadia. You can look at his Tweet Tweets right here.

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What is Mr. T's real name?

Search: mr t

Why: It's his birthday.

Answer: Laurence Tureaud! That looks like an anagram of something, doesn't it? Well,

• Uncured Laureate
  
• Actual Rude Enure
• Due Culture Arena
• Rue Natural Deuce
• Neuter Cedar Luau
  

I don't know. Here are some fun facts about Mr. T, who is 58 today!

• He was the youngest of 12 children!
• He grew up in Chicago!
• In high school, he played football, wrestled, and studied martial arts!
• He was a military policeman in the Army!
• When he was a bouncer, he started wearing the gold neck chains and other jewelry that customers lost or left at his bar after fighting! If Mr. T was wearing his stuff outside, the guy didn't have to go back into the bar to get it!
• He worked as a bodyguard for Steve McQueen, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali, and Joe Frazier! Why did those guys need bodyguards!!
• He styled his famous hairdo after a Mandinka warrior he saw in National Geographic!
  

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: Here is a picture of Mr. T and Nancy Reagan:

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Where did the band Better Than Ezra get its name?

Search: better than ezra name

Why: I am listening to the album Friction, Baby, which I own in addition to a great many other dynamite albums (like New Miserable Experience by Gin Blossoms and Coil by Toad the Wet Sprocket).

Answer: They won't say! Jerks. A good theory points to a line in A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway:

Anything was better than Ezra learning to play the bassoon...

Source: Wiki Answers

The More You Know: Lisa named her son (10 days old!) Ezra Estlin. He is supercute.

This song is not on Friction, Baby, but it was on a trailer for The Baby-Sitters Club, which Lisa and I actually watched like 3 weeks ago. A fun game is to count how many times Kristy ends a thought with an exasperated "OK?"

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What's the origin of the term "peanut gallery"?

Search: peanut gallery

Why: Katrina and Ariana want to play drinking games during the "LOST" finale. I think that is too risky - maybe if anyone opens his trap at all while the show is on, he should have to take a shot. His punishment will be that he blacks out before it's over and he misses the whole thing.

Shh.

Answer: It was the cheap seats!

The peanut gallery was the topmost tier of seats, the cheapest in the house, a long way from the stage. The same seats in British theatres were (and still are) often called the gods because you were so high you seemed to be halfway to heaven, up there with the allegorical figures that were often painted on the ceiling.

These seats attracted a certain class of people who thought they and each other were just hilarious. They ran their mouths during performances - and probably all day during their work, too, which is why they didn't have enough money to afford better seats. In America, these folks ate peanuts and threw them at the stage when displeased.

Source: World Wide Words

The More You Know: On "The Howdy Doody Show," the peanut gallery sat up front on the ground. The kids were the peanuts.

Also, when my brother and I got last-minute tickets to Phantom of the Opera on B-way a long time ago, we could see over the top of the chandelier. It looked not unlike this:

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How do fish do it?

Search: fish

Why: Nicolas Cage only eats animals that have dignified sex.

Nicolas tells The Sun, "I love all animals. I have a fascination with fish, birds, whales - sentient life - insects, reptiles. I actually choose the way I eat according to the way animals have sex.
I think fish are very dignified with sex. So are birds. But pigs, not so much. So I don't eat pig meat or things like that. I eat fish and fowl."

I have never seen fish sex, dignified or otherwise.

Answer: Some don't! There are 3 ways for fish babies to get made:

• Oviparity - Lay undeveloped eggs, External fertilization (90% of bony fish), Internal fertilization (some sharks and rays)
• Ovoviviparity - Internal development - without maternal nourishment - Advanced at birth (most sharks + rays) - Larval birth (some scorpeaniforms, rockfish)
• Viviparity - Internal development - direct nourishment from mother - Fully advanced at birth (some sharks, surf perches)
  

While oviparity has benefits (since the eggs are in water, oxygen and nutrients are abundant), the eggs are much less likely to get eaten when carried within the mother. Also, baby fish larva born in the water have to fend for themselves right away, whereas baby fish that come out of their moms' tummies are born fully advanced and ready to eat and fight.

Some fish are even hermaphrodites!

But when they do it, it looks like this:

Source: MarineBiology.com

The More You Know: Male gobies guard the eggs in a nest until the babies are born. The male yellowhead jawfish actually guards the eggs by holding them in his mouth! WHAT!

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Why do foxhunters say tally-ho?

Search: tally ho origin

Why: On the fourfour recap of last week's "America's Next Top Model" finale (spoiler alert):

"Big Talley hug!"

I really might start shouting, "Talley hug!" every time I see a hot guy, much the way you might shout "tally -ho!" if you see a fox and you are a British hunter. That way he will know even from afar that I'm gay and can figure out what he wants to do about that in relative advance.

Answer: Theories:

• From old Norman Tya Hillaut, shouted by hunters when they found a deer, brought to England by William the Conqueror in 1066
• From Palestinian Arabic Tāl hum, "Come here," brought to England by men returning from the Crusades
  
• From French taille haut, "raise swords," a rallying cry of commanders on battlefields
• From French taïaut, used to excite hounds when hunting deer (1772)
• From French Thia-hilaud a qui forheur! which hunters shouted to encourage their dogs. It became the English "Tallio, hoix, hark, forward."

Source: Yahoo! Answers, Wikipedia, Phrases.org.uk

The More You Know: Fox hunting (or fox chasing as it's called here, since the point of the game is the chase, not the kill) is known as venery. The word comes from Venus, the goddess of Love, from Latin vener- "desire, love" or "hunt" or "chase." I hope you see where this is going.

Puppies!

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Who did that cover of "The Funeral" tonight on Gossip Girl?

Search: gossip girl cover funeral band of horses

Why: It sounds kind of like Cat Power.

Answer: Serena Ryder! Who? I don't know! She is Canadian.

You can listen to it here on Stereogum (the cover is a year old). Lyrics go like:

I'm coming up only to hold you under
I'm coming up only to show you wrong
And to know you is hard and we wonder
To know you all wrong, we were

Really too late to call, so we wait for
Morning to wake you; it's all we got
To know me as hardly golden
Is to know me all wrong, they were

At every occasion I'll be ready for a funeral
At every occasion once more is called a funeral
Every occasion I'm ready for the funeral
At every occasion one brilliant day funeral

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: In case you don't know the original by Band of Horses from 4 years ago:

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What's the origin of the slang term "corny"?

Search: corny etymology

Why: In this NY Mag article about "Modern Family" that Joel posted on 2Pz:

The show’s tricky mandate is to merge the heartfelt with the incisive, often within a single scene. That means finding fresh angles on corny topics (like parenting and marriage) and skirting the risks inherent in comic types like the fiery Latina.

Answer: Maybs:

Amer.Eng. slang "old-fashioned, sentimental," is from 1932 (first attested in "Melody Maker"), perhaps originally "something appealing to country folk."

Source: EtymOnline

The More You Know: Are you watching "Modern Family"? You should be. It comes on Wednesdays.

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Do octopuses lay eggs?

Search: octopus lay eggs;

Why: I mean, they must, right? I can't imagine a cephalopod giving live birth. But what do they look like?

Answer: Yes! Ayee! 20,000 to 200,000 at a time! The female moves into a rocky den and sort of strings them up on the ceiling.

Over the next several months (1 to 6 depending on the species), she guards, incubates, and cleans them and blows water across them to ensure that they have enough oxygen. Then:

The female does not hunt during the period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair too weak to defend herself from predators, often succumbing to their attacks.

:(

Source: Marine.AlaskaPacific.edu, Octopus.com, Wikipedia

The More You Know: Baby octopuses:

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How did Jean-Claude Van Damme get into acting?

Search: jean claude van damme

Why: You know this gif? (I don't know really how to post gifs, but you can click on it to see it in its full glory... maybe.)

It's from a 1984 movie called Breakin', which I watched last night with Ariana and Cody. That is the extent of his role - he's part of a crowd on the Venice boardwalk watching some hardcore breakdancing. (The girl in the pink thong is the star.)

Answer: Born 1960 in Brussels as Jean-Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg, he grew up doing Shotokan karate, eventually earning his black belt. He competed on the Belgian Karate Team and in other martial arts competitions, eventually forming a style that consists of kickboxing, Shotokan karate, Muay Thai, and Taekwondo.

From 16 to 21, he studied ballet, describing it as "an art, but... also one of the most difficult sports." He was also a weightlifter, and he won the Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title in 1978.

In 1982, he and a pal moved to America to try to make it big as action stars, and both were cast as extras in Breakin'. In 1985, he was cast as the villain in No Retreat, No Surrender, and then finally in his breakout role in Bloodsport in 1988.

Source: Wikipedia, TheVanDammeFans

The More You Know: I was also curious about some of the other actors in Breakin', since the only other person I recognized was Christopher "Shooter McGavin" MacDonald.

• Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers went on to dance as the Urkelbot in "Family Matters" and as Good Robot Bill at the end of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, which I think everyone knows is my favorite movie of all time.

He has been in some music videos for folks like Chaka Khan and Sugar Ray.

• Adolfo "Shabba-Doo" Quinones was one of the founders of the dance style commonly known as locking. He danced in Xanadu, Tango & Cash, and an episode of "Miami Vice" He was a primary dancer and main choreographer for Madonna's Who's That Girl? Tour in 1987, and he choreographed Three Six Mafia's performance at the Oscars the year they won.
• Lucina Dickey was third runner-up for Miss Kansas. She recently appeared as a judge on TLC's Master of Dance.

All three reprised their roles in Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, which I plan to watch sometime rill soon. Stay tuned.

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What's the song in that Kia Soul commercial?

Search: "i feel something" kia

Why: I have seen it twice today. Hamsters are driving around. It sounds like TV on the Radio.

Answer: "Fort Knox" by Goldfish! They are from South Africa.

Oh, I feel something
What you feel, boy, is the beat
And I feel something
What you feel, boy, is the heat

Source: Yahoo! Answers

The More You Know: Also, that commercial is like a year old. WHAT!

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What terrible things happened to Roy Orbison?

Search: roy orbison

Why: I am listening to the Traveling Wilburys song "Handle With Care." I remember reading a while ago that Roy Orbison had a pretty shitty time of it.

Travelling Wilbury's - Handle Me With Care

tony | MySpace Video

Answer: Oof:

• November 1964 - Divorced due to his wife's infidelities
• June 1966 - Wife (he remarried the same one) instantly killed when hit by a semi
  
• September 1968 - His house burned down, killing his 2 eldest sons

He also put out an album that sold less than 200,000 copies, broke his foot falling off a motorcycle, and made a movie that was a total flop, prompting the studio to cancel his 5-movie deal.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: What's with the sunglasses?

After leaving his thick eyeglasses on an airplane in 1962 or 1963, Orbison was forced to wear his Ray-Ban Wayfarer prescription sunglasses on stage and found that he preferred them. His biographers suggest that although he had a good sense of humor and was never morose, Orbison was very shy and suffered from severe stage fright; wearing sunglasses helped him hide somewhat from the attention.

He died in 1988.

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Where did Snopes.com get its name?

Search: snopes name

Why: Last night, I was reading "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner and saw this:

What's your name, boy?" the justice said.
"Colonel Sartoris Snopes," the boy whispered.
"Hey?" the Justice said. "Talk louder. Colonel Sartoris? I reckon anybody named for Colonel Sartoris in this country can't help but tell the truth, can they?

Answer: From the FAQ:

Q: What are 'snopes'?

A: Snopes is the name of a family of characters who appear throughout the works of American writer William Faulkner. See the Faulkner on the Web glossary entry about Snopes for more information.

I think I probably read that before in that Reader's Digest story about the Rumor Detectives, David and Barbara Mikkelson.

That pic is from another story about them on RationalSkepticism.com.

Source: Snopes FAQ

The More You Know: Did you know you can add Snopes to your iGoogle homepage? It's true! I use the one that says "New Urban Legends."

Today I learned that refrigerating batteries actually shortens their lifespan, not extends it.

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Who sings the song in the Camp Vegas commercial?

Search: say goodbye to my heart tonight

Why: I just saw it. It reminded me of... I dunno, Jet? Maybe The Strokes.

Answer: "Animal" by Neon Trees!

Oh oh, I want some more
Oh oh, what are you waiting for?
Say goodbye to my heart tonight

Source: Direct Lyrics

The More You Know: Does it make you want to listen to them more or less now that you know the lead singer has this haircut?

Also, who wants to go to Camp Vegas?

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What's the origin of the term "just joshing"?

Search: joshing

Why: I just joshed Brent.

Answer: Lol:

Josh Tatum was a deaf mute, but a very enterprising young man from the midwest. In 1883, the US Mint came out with a new nickel. It was deemed the Liberty Head Nickel, and the reverse side had a large roman numeral V stamped on it. The new nickel did not have the word "cents" or "nickel" stamped on it. Josh Tatum noticed this as well as the fact that it was nearly the same size as the US $5.00 gold piece, which at the time was used as common currency.

With the help of a friend familiar in gold electroplating base metal, they turned these coins into a literal gold mine. Tatum went from town to town going into shops, stores, & mercantiles. He was very careful not to purchase anything that cost more than a nickel, and he would hand over one of these gold plated nickels. The clerk would accept the coin and in most instances, give Josh back $4.95 in change, which he happily would take. By the time law enforcement caught up to him, he had visited hundreds of towns & had amassed a small fortune!

The Law prosecuted him, but ironically he was found not guilty on the most serious charges: he only purchased items that totaled 5 cents and, because he was deaf & could not speak, he never represented that it was a new $5.00 gold piece.

The same year, the US mint added the word "cents" to the Liberty Head Nickel in an effort to bring this type of fraud to a halt.

Hence the famous saying "your not Joshing me are you"?

Source: WikiAnswers, Professional Coin Grading System

The More You Know: It was also called the "racketeer nickel." From 1883:

But later that year:

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Who first said that thing about the pot calling the kettle black?

Search: pot kettle origin

Why: I hate, I mean really hate when people say things like, "Pot. Kettle. Black," or, "Pot, meet Kettle," or "Hi, Pot," or any variation of any of those words. I hate it so much.

Answer: It dates back to at least the 1600s, when people had cast iron pots and kettles in their Medieval kitchens! The cookware turned black from the oil, food residue, and smokey open flames over which they were heated.

One of the earliest written uses appears in Don Quixote (1605):

said the frying-pan to the kettle, get away, blackbreech

and in the Covent Garden Journal (1752):

Dares thus the kettle to rebuke our sin!
Dares thus the kettle say the pot is black!

See tons of really uninspired political cartoons here.

lolwut

Source: WiseGeek, Wikipedia

The More You Know: Variations from around the world:

• Arabic: The camel can not see the crookedness of its own neck
• Finnish: The pot reproaches the kettle – black [is] the side of each
• French: The shovel mocks the poker
• German: One donkey calls the other one longears
• Hungarian: The owl says the sparrow has a large head
• Japanese: For the sleep in one's eyes to laugh at the snot in one's nose
• Korean: The dung-stained dog reproaches the chaff-stained dog.
• Polish: The cauldron was reprimanding the pot and it soots itself
• Spanish:
  • Venezuela: An armadillo telling a turtle it is too hard shelled
  • Colombia: If you have a tail made of straw, you'd better stay away from the fire
• Urdu: The thief scolding the magistrate in reverse

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How do I unlock a Swiss Army lockblade?

Search: swiss army nomad close blade; swiss army lockblade

Why: I opened my new knife, but I couldn't get it closed. Oh, it was horrible.

Answer: From Knife Guy:

If it is a Victorinox lockblade it will have a button on the back that should be depressed or it will be a liner lock. If it is a liner lock there will be a strip of spring metal that locks the blade into place (you will see it by looking where the blade would fold open and closed). Push this spring metal to the side and the blade will fold in.

Source: SwissArmyKnife-Keychain.co.cc

The More You Know: Mine has the liner lock. Success!

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I want to see a picture of a peanut plant

Search: peanut plant

Why: On Farmville, peanuts look like this:

Answer: WHAT!

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: Peanuts are known by many local names, including earthnuts, ground nuts, goober peas, monkey nuts, pygmy nuts, and pig nuts. They are also the carnation of the snack world and ruin regular cans of "mixed nuts." Get the Selects, y'all.

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What's the origin of the word bunny?

Search: bunny etymology

Why: In Donnie Darko, the therapist describes Frank as "the giant bunny rabbit."

Answer: It probably comes from the Gaelic word bun, which means "root" -> "bottom" -> "tale of a hare" in Scots and northern English dialects. The -ny was added because it's adorable.

"Bunny" meaning "rabbit" first appeared in English around 1690, and since has been used as an endearment for both women and children. Also I call Maddie "sugar bunny," even though she is a cat, not a rabbit (or human).

In the late-20th century, the slang terms "beach bunny" and "ski bunny" developed in counterpart to the male "beach bum" and "ski bum."

Source: The Word Detective, Take Our Word For It

The More You Know: A Playboy Bunny is a waitress at the Playboy Club (1960-1988, 2006-). According to Hugh Hefner, the name came from Bunny's Tavern, which opened in 1936 in Urbana, IL, where the Hef went to school. The owner was Bernard "Bunny" Fitzsimmons.

Also, the origin of the hot dog "bun" is different than the bunny bun. It is probably rooted in the Old French bugne, meaning "swelling."

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Who painted the mural on the stairs in my neighborhood?

Search: mural hoover st la

Why: I walked up it this morning. It wasn't there when I moved in.

Answer: Ricardo Mendoza! It was dedicated March 25, 2009. That was busy time for me.

Source: LAist

The More You Know: Mendoza has done lots of murals! This is at Sunset and Echo Park:

These are on an office building somewhere in Silver Lake:

This is allegedly within about 50 yards of my house, but I have never seen it. If anyone knows exactly where it is (in the studio somewhere?), please let me know.

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What does the whole constellation Orion look like?

Search: orion

Why: This girl's tattoo is supposed to look like it. The only part of that thing I ever recognize is Orion's belt.

Answer: Oh, look. He's got a shield and a sword and a little dagger. And her tattoo is just backward.

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: Orion is also called The Hunter. His right armpit is Betelgeuse - something like "the giant central one" - and his left armpit is Bellatrix, or "female warrior." Maybe he's clubbing a lion...?

From the Southern Hemisphere, he looks diff:

• In Australia and New Zealand, the belt and sword are sometimes called the Saucepan or Pot.
  
• In South Africa, Orion's Belt is called Drie Konings (Three Kings) or the Drie Susters (Three Sisters).
  
• In Spain and Latin America, the same 3 stars are known as "The Three Marys."

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