'DAILY FACT I LEARNED FROM THE TV'   

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4/30

This Irish dude William Mulholland is responsible for the building of the Los Angeles Aqueduct.  It was a seriously big job to get water to LA. What was extra cool too was that this aqueduct flowed water to LA by the power of gravity. Mulholland was totally a rockstar hero.. until this dam he built totally collapsed and killed like 500 people washing debris as far as San Diego. He got bummed out after that and died depressed about the whole deal.

Here's some info on the St. Francis Dam disaster.

**Update: Mulholland wasn't totally a rockstar hero for a alot of people, because he stole all of their water. And the things he did in the Owens valley have created pretty major water and air pollution problems. Thanks to Betty for the info.

4/29

There is this cave in France called Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave. The artwork in there helped research dudes know about what animals were around back then and everything was like super preserved.  Yeah some guy (or chick) painted stuff on the walls say 30,000 years ago and it's still there. Very cool stuff check it out.

4/28

I found out we're probably gonna attack Iraq some time early next year. We'll probably send over a quarter of a million troops for both a ground and an air campaign. Um thanks for the heads up there.. but shouldn't this be like top secret or something? 

Here's some info on Iraq courtesy of the CIA.

4/27

On Supermarket Sweep Kien and Anne Chen nabbed the Manager's Special which was 'Snow's Minced Clams' and also got the Mystery Product which was 'Snickers Ice Cream'. They beat the other two couples by totaling $1,311 in groceries but they blew it in the final round by missing the Fabio clue for 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter'. 

4/26

I watched this show called 'When Animals Invade Your Home' on Fox. This dude Todd Hardwick has this job where if some giant snake showed up in your den or some raccoon got into your house and went all crazy- he'd come and trap it for you. Maybe I should call him about my mouse.

Here's some info on the Oryx (endangered) which he wrangled and trapped when one got loose.

4/25

No fact today cause my cable went down most of the day. But when I called up Time Warner I asked them if there was anything they could do for the inconvenience of me being without TV for one full day and they told me they'd give me one free month of Encore! movie channel. So that was cool. Always ask for stuff when stuff gets screwed up. You never know- you might actually get some stuff.

4/24

The TV taught me how to make 'Zesty Gazpacho' if I wanted to make 'Zesty Gazpacho'... which I don't cause gazpacho is gross- zest or no zest.. But if 'Zesty Gazpacho' is something that sounds good to you here's the recipe.. but keep in mind everyone thinks you're a weirdo for being a gazpacho liker.

4/23

I watched the Andy Richter Show tonite and the opening credits had about eight producers or exec-producers or co-producers or whatever. I'm not sure what producers actually do but I have a feeling this show doesn't need eight of em clonking their heads together like coconuts.. 

4/22

I found out on the Food Network that people sometimes call coffee "Joe" because back in the day this Navy dude Captain Josephus Daniels banned alcohol from Navy ships. So the strongest drink on board became a "Cup of Joe". Considering the reason behind the lingo I'm surprised we don't refer to it as a "Cup of Dick".

Here are some other origins of Navy lingo.

4/21

The annual running of the bulls event in Pamplona, Spain is so popular that you can now run away from crazy bulls here in America! Scottsdale, Arizona will be hosting their very own running of the bulls to celebrate Cinco De Mayo!  There is still time to sign up if you're feeling particularly ballsy and stupid! Only $25 per run! Looks like fun!

*Alicia wanted to let me know that Cinco De Mayo has absolutely nothing to do with bull running. The bull running is a Spanish tradition. Cinco De Mayo is a Mexican holiday. And Arizona is all over the road.

4/20

These bartenders at this bar in Iowa City dumped rum all over the bar and lit it up causing a big fireball and burning alot of drunk people. The newsguy said authorities are checking into whether what they did violates fire codes. If the answer to that is 'no' then I would say the firecodes seem to be a little lax.

Here's some info if you're interested in flaming drinks

4/19

Utah has this school program called Dog Day Afternoons where dogs help kids read. Apparently having a dog around helps kids be confident when reading aloud. See cause dogs can't say stuff mean when you trip over or mispronounce words. They just sit and listen. Dogs have no room to talk cause they can't read nuthin... 

Here are some quotes about dogs.

4/18

I saw on the Science Channel this show about gadgets for like espionage stuff. They talked about robots that can swim through your pipes and climb out of your toilet and spy on you in your house. Ew! on so many levels.

This place has wacky cool scary spy stuff.

4/17

I watched the Korean channel today. They had this show on that was listed in the program guide as 'Drama'. In the show this old man with a beard was mad at this one younger dude without a beard.  The beardless guy explained something to him all slow and serious. The old man ended up accepting the explanation and bowed then left. Then the beardless dude started talking quietly to himself then started laughing. Something was up.

Here's a place where you can learn how to swear in Korean and other languages too.

4/16 

This actress chick named Tippi Hedren did a bunch of movies and one of them had tigers in it. After the film was finished the tigers in the film had nothing to do and no where to go. So Tippi founded this place Shambala and she takes care of big cats that need a place to live.  

 Here's a big cat

4/15

Back in the days of silent film there used to be a piano player or organist who would play in the theater as people watched the movie. For some reason I had thought the music was like IN the film and never thought of someone actually playing in the theater. Now I realize how that makes no sense cause if the music was IN the film it wouldn't have been silent. Duh.

Here's some info on the old silent film music scene..

4/14

When they unearthed the city of Pompeii they found shops, clay pots and furniture. But they also found boners. Lots and lots of boners. Paintings of dudes with big boners, boneresque sculpture, even a big ol' clay boner in the oven to make sure the bread would 'rise'.  The image of the boner (I mean 'male phallus') was used to ward off evil spirits as well as heighten the spirits.

Here's some samples for mature audiences. uh huh huh... I said 'boner'

4/13 

Back in the day, the Russians wanted to build some jets so they got in touch with the Rolls-Royce people to discuss buying their jet engine. The Brits weren't sure about selling but this Russian dude bet this Brit that if he beat him at billiards they would have to sell them the engine. The Brit lost. A few years later the new MiGs were shooting down American jets over Korea. Thanks British dude. Way to go.

It must have been extra tough being shot down by one of those MiGs considering the name. 

4/12

I found out there is this thing called Kirlian Photography which apparently captures auras and might explain 'healing hands' treatments in terms of affecting body energy. But then other people say Kirlian pictures don't prove jack and people who buy in to it are reaching.

Here's some info on Kirlian Photography.

4/11

I watched some drag racing today on ESPN2. They were showing the SummitRacing.com Nationals. It was kind of fun to watch. Those cars get up over 300MPH easy if they don't smoke up, skid out or crash. It was also cool that there were two drag racing chicks competiting. Drag racing chicks are hot.

Here's some info on hot drag race chick Melanie Troxel

4/10

I saw on TV that there was this Celebrity Lookalike Contest for Pets that took place in LA. Some dude brought in his dog because it "looked like Matt Damon" and some chick had a cat that she said "looked like Harrison Ford."  You Californians are wacky.

But in case you dig that scene. Here's some Hollywood Petiquette.

4/9

So yesterday I promised ya'll a fact from the Osbournes but I couldn't find a real fact other than Ozzy broke his ankle a little while jumping up and down on stage. And he had to wear a boot cast type thing for 4 weeks.

Here's Twelve Songs for a Broken Ankle.  

4/8

So I watched the WWF tonite. Apparently The Undertaker and Stone Cold were competitng for the #1 contender slot. Ric Flair was the one to make the decision. Undertaker called Stone Cold a 'cue ball' and Stone Cold knocked the Undertaker out of the ring- which I appreciated as I am a cue ball as well and I know Stone Cold's pain.

Here's some Stone Cold wallpaper for cue balls everywhere.

4/7 

Back in the 1860's the US Navy started testing submarines.  They bought this thing called the Intelligent Whale. It was tested once and they found out it didn't really work underwater. I was amazed that those dudes way back then were testing actual submarines. It's the 21st century and I still don't even understand they physics of how a boat floats.

Here's a picture of the Intelligent Whale.

4/6

I found out the smallest monkey in the world is something called a Tarsier. They're really super small. They eat bugs mostly but sometimes little frogs and stuff. They're really cute. You could totally mush them if you wanted to. But then you'd have a mushed tarsier and not a cute lovable tarsier. No mushing the tarsiers!

Here's some pictures and info on Tarsiers (endangered by the way)

*Kathryn (anthropology major/unemployed) told me that a Tarsier is not a monkey. Not sure if I heard wrong or they told me wrong. It's a prosimian.)

4/5

I watched Martha Stewart today and she went to this hotdog place called Pink's. She got a big hot dog with all stuff on it. I guess she was showing how she was down with regular folk. There is a hot dog at Pink's named after Martha Stewart. 

Here's some info on Pink's.

4/4 

I watched That 80's Show. There was a scene in a club. They were playing a song that sounded like 'Relax' but wasn't Relax. I guess they didn't want to pay for the real Relax. Anyway people were like dancing in the background and you could totally hear their feet shuffling and stepping around. That's some rockin club when you can hear the footsteps of people dancing louder than the music. 

4/3

I watched the Kelly and Regis show and the beautiful Kelly Ripa did her impression of that australian crocodile wildman dude who like isn't afraid of crocodiles that want nothing more than to bite his head off. Kelly is super talented, funny and beautiful.

Here's tips on how you can avoid being attacked by a croc. 

4/2

I saw this restaurant where they serve this fish dish that is prepared with real gold. It's like powdered or something and people eat it. I thought that was dumb and the people eating it seemed dumb too.

4/1

This guy Famous Dave was on Oprah today. He owns a chain of BBQ restaurants. He was a guy who was an alcoholic and a drug addict who got his life together and did good. He has an organization which is helping Native American youths get their lives together too. 

Here's some lessons on life from Famous Dave. Good stuff.

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