Geek off!

[Prudence]

Cinderella's slipper was probably fur; the french words for "fur" and "glass" sound very similar -- probably identical to the english-speaking ear. Ermine slippers are a tad more practical than glass. (Actually, the word for "earthworm" also sounds very similar. There's an interesting visual.)

[mousepod]

More "White Album" trivia:

The bass on "I Will" is just Paul sing "dummm, dummm, dummm, dum dum..."

Martha in "Martha, My Dear" is Paul's sheepdog

Sadie in "Sexy Sadie" is the Maharishi

Prudence in "Dear Prudence" is Mia Farrow's sister

"Don't Pass Me By" is the only Beatles song for which Ringo received full writing credits

The 'Number nine, number nine... ' in "Revolution #9" is said to have come from a BBC recording. When reversed, many believe that it says "Turn Me On Dead Man"

There are many "clues" to the "Paul is Dead" rumor on the White Album. Another one is the spoken bit after "I'm So Tired," which, when played backwards conspiracy theorists claim says "Paul's a dead man. Miss him. Miss him. Miss him."

"Blackbird" is a song about equal rights.

Eric Clapton plays the guitar solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
(Later, Clapton will write "Layla" about his love for George Harrison's wife Patti, who he would eventually hook up with)

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by mousepod

The 'Number nine, number nine... ' in "Revolution #9" is said to have come from a BBC recording. When reversed, many believe that it says "Turn Me On Dead Man"

There are many "clues" to the "Paul is Dead" rumor on the White Album. Another one is the spoken bit after "I'm So Tired," which, when played backwards conspiracy theorists claim says "Paul's a dead man. Miss him. Miss him. Miss him."

There are also many clues on both Magical Mystery Tour and Sgt. Pepper. Focusing on Sgt Pepper, there is a grave of marijuana leaves on the cover, along with somone holding an extended palm over McCartney's head, which signifies in some cultures that a person is dead. He supposedly died in a car crash (He blew his mind out in a car). And he died on Wednesday morning, at five o' clock ( a lyric that George is pointing to on the back cover). There is a bass guitar (Paul's instrument) made of flowers. It only has 3 strings, rather than the typical four, as in, there are only 3 of 4 Beatles alive. Paul has his back to the camera on the back photo, while all the others are facing forward. The songs introduce a new person, "Billy Spears", who is the supposed replacement for McCartney ("I don't really want to stop the show"). Others claim that the replacement was an english actor named William Campbell, who interestingly enough is in an original Star Trek episode. He bears a slight resemblence to McCartney but nothing to write home about.

Sgt Pepper is also interesting in that it was the first album ever to have the entire lyrics printed on it. It is the first to have songs that seamlessly run into each other, rather than there being a silence in between.

That's all I can remember from memory.

Other musical tidbits...

Buddy Rich, one of the finest jazz drummers to ever live couldn't read a note of music.

Eubie Blake, composer and pianist, only played in the key of C. He had a special piano made that allowed him to shift the entire keyboard up a half-step, allowing him to play in C#.

Elvis Presley's favorite music to sing was gospel.

"Georgia (on my mind)" was not written by Ray Charles but by Hoagy Carmichael

Brian Jones (Rolling Stones), Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Kobain all died at the age of 27.

[Prudence]

I'm trying to think of a way to convey the vast quantities of useless knowledge I've accumulated on medieval heresies. I can't. There's just too much of it. I can go on for hours. (Literally! Several times I've taught a 2-hour intro to heresies class.)

I classify them into three different groups. First are the reformers. These are your Waldensians, Humiliati, Arnoldists, Priscillians, etc... To generalize, reformer groups typically engaged in lay preaching (a no-no) and believed that the Church and all true Christians should abandon all wealth, including land (oddly enough not popular with the Church). Many groups rejected sacraments performed by any clergy who retained possessions (annoying!) and several groups allowed women considerable involvement (egads!) The Church used several methods to deal with reformer groups, including banning/persecuting them heavily and opening arms wide to bring them into the church and let them practice their asceticism by joining various orders.

Major category number two were the dualists -- often called gnostics in the literature, but I prefer dualist because it conveys more immediately the core belief in two opposing forces -- good and evil. Evil is not the subordinate it is in orthodoxy. In general, dualists believe that all matter is evil and the spirit/light is good. They were totally chaste, chosing to avoid all physical contact. (And creating new evil bodies trapping good spirits is a badness.) They were also vegetarians -- as the product of coition was by definition evil. (How to tell if your neighbor is a Cathar? Make them kill and eat a chicken.) The big baddies in this genre were the Manichaeans, who were quite the evangelical group back in the third century. Europe, Africa, even into China. Gave Christianity a real run for its money. The Manis were this weird blend of religions. Totally insane. It would take me pages to go into it. (Melons are luminous foods = good! Eat the melons to release the light inside!) The Church was in a total panic. Augustine was very nearly beside himself with terror. For centuries the Church was en garde, watching for the Manis to come back. Some speculate that pockets of them survived, travelling to what is now Bulgaria and becoming Bogomils. Regardless, Bogomils are another dualist sect active about 1000 years later. Many speculate that crusaders brought back Bogomil beliefs, thus leading to the dreaded Cathars. Cathars were everywhere. Cathars in a particular region were Albigensians and merited their own crusade. Quite the tizzy. Apparently no one ever had the bright idea to just let them go not have sex with one another and let nature run its course.

(Actually, throughout western history, anyone who claimed to be holier was accused of having nightly orgies, resulting in illicit off-spring who were ground up and consumed as "tasty baby cakes" -- a perversion of the sacrament of communion. The primary documentation is a hoot.)

And then there are the others -- the Arians (quick - let's have the Council of Nicea and vote on which one's the heresy!), the later period political-religious groups (Lollards and Hussites), and so forth. Ooh. and the Amalricians, who believed the God *was* the universe -- in each little twig and pebble. Damn tree-hugger hippy-dippys.

See? I could go on for days. It's nutty.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and Broadway composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim share a birthday (though Sondheim is a few years older.)

Many years, they take great pleasure in throwing simultaneous parties-- and seeing who gets the most guests.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I share my birthday with Harry S. Truman (though a couple years apart). My sister's birthday is the the anniversary of Harry S. Truman's death (also a couple years apart).

The "S" in Harry S. Truman does not technically stand for anything. Unable to decide on whether to name him after his grandfather on his mother's side or his father's side, his parents decided to split the difference and just go with "S", an initial in both of their names. Many people don't follow the "S" with a period since it's not really an abbreviation, however Harry himself wrote it with a period.

[Kevy Baby]

Since The Beatles seems to be a popular topic here...

Which of the four Beatles has had the most #1 hits as a solo artist since the Beatles broke up?

You might be surpised to hear it is Ringo Starr. Most all of Paul McCartney's hits have either been with the Wings or in duets.

[Ghoulish Delight]

the key to Einstein's Theory of Relativity is, ironically, the fact that the speed of light is NOT relative.

[Kevy Baby]

Almost all full color printed images (magazines, brochures, newspapers, posters, etc.) are created with just four colors: Yellow, Magenta, Cyan and Black. Technically speaking, black isn't really needed, but due to the limitations in printing inks, papers, and processes, black is used to enhance definition and detail.

I could bore everyone stiff talking about printing.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

I could bore everyone stiff talking about printing.

You've got to get out more if talking about printing gets you stiff.

The idiom "flash in the pan" comes from the world of musketry. The small charge of gun powder that is lit by the flint that then subsequently lights the gunpowder inside the powder sits in what's called a "pan". Occasionally, if the charge isn't loaded right, or perahps the powder's a little wet, or the cosmos just aren't alligned right, the powder in the pan ignites, but fails to ignite the charge in the barrel. This causes a "flash in the pan".