what I have learned today.

[Cudzoziemiec]

We all know that "Zed's dead" and "it's not a motorcycle, it's a chopper" but Zed was the name of one the brothers-in-law of President Habyarimana of Rwanda, who died in 1994, the year Pulp Fiction came out. Zed didn't die then though.

[CAMRAMan]

That dusting, while not exactly fun, can be rewarding with the right tool. I've bought one of those dusters with disposable fluffy bits that sucks up the dust miraculously. I even used it in the car, such was my enthusiasm. Whether my enthusiasm persists is another, questionable matter...

[Efrogwr]

Today I are learning that Richard Nixon was a Quaker.  Or at least he started out as one.

I did not know that but I did know that Herbert Hoover was.

I knew about Nixon, but not about Hoover.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Today I are learning that Richard Nixon was a Quaker.  Or at least he started out as one.

I did not know that but I did know that Herbert Hoover was.

I knew about Nixon, but not about Hoover.

Together, we would achieve total ignorance.

[CAMRAMan]

During his early career when nothing he did with Taupin was anything other than a hit, Elton John wrote a nonsense song, just to see if he could make even that a hit,  he couldn't

Solar Prestige A Gammon, on the Caribou album

A strange album that also includes perhaps the only song ever written that celebrates Grimsby.

[ElyDave]

During his early career when nothing he did with Taupin was anything other than a hit, Elton John wrote a nonsense song, just to see if he could make even that a hit,  he couldn't

Solar Prestige A Gammon, on the Caribou album

A strange album that also includes perhaps the only song ever written that celebrates Grimsby.

Yes, I'm a big fan of 70's Elton, but that is definitely not my most listened to album

[Legs]

During his early career when nothing he did with Taupin was anything other than a hit, Elton John wrote a nonsense song, just to see if he could make even that a hit,  he couldn't

Solar Prestige A Gammon, on the Caribou album

A strange album that also includes perhaps the only song ever written that celebrates Grimsby.

Strange indeed, but Ticking is a brilliant piece of music.

[rogerzilla]

Today I are learning that Richard Nixon was a Quaker.  Or at least he started out as one.

I did not know that but I did know that Herbert Hoover was.

Wasn't he the terribly nice and out-of-place Delta president in "Animal House"?

[Mr Larrington]

He was Robert Hoover, according to IMDb.  Thanks to whom I also discovered that one of Otis Day's band members was played by an uncredited Robert Cray.

[rafletcher]

That WD40 is good for cleaning the white corrosion crud off the connections in a non-functioning TV remote.

[Mr Larrington]

Today I are learning that the title role on the original album version of “Jesus Christ Superstar” was sung by Ian Gillan.  No wonder he was a Rubbish during his stint in Black Sabbath

[T42]

That my old Gore-Tex jacket no longer keeps even a light shower out but is still capable of making me sweat.

[rafletcher]

That there was a sub genre of music - Bleep Techno - that was particularly rooted in the North of England, and more specifically, Yorkshire, it's epicentre being Sheffield.

[citoyen]

What the E stands for. Allegedly.

This clue was in yesterday's Guardian crossword:
Reserved hotel inside for Wile Ethelbert? (6)

To which the solution was:
COYOTE
(For those who don't do cryptic crosswords, it breaks down as: Reserved = COY + the "inside" of [h]OTE[l], and "Wile Ethelbert" is the definition.)

Despite being a big fan of the Warner Bros cartoons, I've never encountered this factoid before. I've always assumed it was just a homophonic pun on wily. This Ethelbert business sounds decidedly non-canonical to me, and so it proved to be, although apparently it gained currency after being used in a question on Jeopardy.

Here's the story, from the horse's mouth:
https://web.archive.org/web/20071014121501/http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_02_20.html#012965

And this is the source:
https://web.archive.org/web/20131024055826/http://www.goldenagecartoons.com/miscjunk/ETHELBERT.JPG

Definitely counts as apocrypha for me.

[spesh]

That one can definitely be filed under "This may prove useful to some of you some day, perhaps, in a somewhat bizarre set of circumstances."*

* ©The Harvard Bard

[PeteB99]

That the song Lily the pink* was based on a real person and her 'medicinal compound'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Pinkham#Lydia_E._Pinkham's_Vegetable_Compound

Brought to the UK as a drinking song by WW1 canadian squaddies.

* Children - ask your parents/grandparents

[Paul]

What the E stands for. Allegedly.

This clue was in yesterday's Guardian crossword:
Reserved hotel inside for Wile Ethelbert? (6)

To which the solution was:
COYOTE
(For those who don't do cryptic crosswords, it breaks down as: Reserved = COY + the "inside" of [h]OTE[l], and "Wile Ethelbert" is the definition.)

Despite being a big fan of the Warner Bros cartoons, I've never encountered this factoid before. I've always assumed it was just a homophonic pun on wily. This Ethelbert business sounds decidedly non-canonical to me, and so it proved to be, although apparently it gained currency after being used in a question on Jeopardy.

Here's the story, from the horse's mouth:
https://web.archive.org/web/20071014121501/http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_02_20.html#012965

And this is the source:
https://web.archive.org/web/20131024055826/http://www.goldenagecartoons.com/miscjunk/ETHELBERT.JPG

Definitely counts as apocrypha for me.

Inserts surprised avatar

[Pingu]

What the E stands for. Allegedly.

This clue was in yesterday's Guardian crossword:
Reserved hotel inside for Wile Ethelbert? (6)

To which the solution was:
COYOTE
(For those who don't do cryptic crosswords, it breaks down as: Reserved = COY + the "inside" of [h]OTE[l], and "Wile Ethelbert" is the definition.)

Despite being a big fan of the Warner Bros cartoons, I've never encountered this factoid before. I've always assumed it was just a homophonic pun on wily. This Ethelbert business sounds decidedly non-canonical to me, and so it proved to be, although apparently it gained currency after being used in a question on Jeopardy.

Here's the story, from the horse's mouth:
https://web.archive.org/web/20071014121501/http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_02_20.html#012965

And this is the source:
https://web.archive.org/web/20131024055826/http://www.goldenagecartoons.com/miscjunk/ETHELBERT.JPG

Definitely counts as apocrypha for me.

Me too, also.

[Auntie Helen]

The game Musical Chairs exists in Germany but is called die Reise nach Jerusalem (the journey to Jerusalem).

[T42]

The game Musical Chairs exists in Germany but is called die Reise nach Jerusalem (the journey to Jerusalem).

I did not know that, maybe because in the company I worked for it was restricted to the boardroom.

[rafletcher]

What a servitor is.

[T42]

What a servitor is.

I did that crossword too.

[chrisbainbridge]

That violin bows are made from Pernambuco Wood which is the wood from Brazil which is dark red in colour. This wood was named in portugese “braza” which means ember after the colour and is the reason Brazil is called Brazil and not Holy Cross.

[TheLurker]

That XTC are/were a Swindon band. 

[ian]

That violin bows are made from Pernambuco Wood which is the wood from Brazil which is dark red in colour. This wood was named in portugese “braza” which means ember after the colour and is the reason Brazil is called Brazil and not Holy Cross.

I think you'll find that Brazil is actually named after the nut.