h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I remember that one. They couldn't get Isaac Newton to play himself. He probably asked for too much money.

I thought they just couldn't get the right kind of gravitational apple.

I know it doesn't count as appearing as "Himself", but comedian Joe Piscopo (a regular on Saturday Night Live for several years) appeared in ST:TNG episode The Outrageous Okona. He was credited as The Comic, a part that was effectively playing himself.

Ba-dump-bum!

Getting back to Newton and friends: Why can't pie be infinite instead of pi?

If pie was infinite, you'd never be able to ask, "Who ate all the pies?"

You probably wouldn't be able to ask anything, due to being stuck in infinite pie.

The piano that Freddie Mercury used to record Bohemian Rhapsody was the same piano Paul McCartney used to record Hey Jude.

Yeah, the Trident Piano was just one of this perfectly tuned instruments, and recording artists from around the world would book it.

The list of songs is very long, but includes these:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/a-piano-superstar-tridents-bechstein-grand.220503/

If you see ‘Trident Studios’ on a record sleeve, they went there for the piano.

Wow!

I suppose I should write the guide entry about it. I do have some information on a couple of Rick Wakeman documentaries.

I just learned this week that the term "Easter egg" for a hidden joke for observant game players or film viewers may have originated with The Rocky Horror Picture Show as the actors actually had an Easter egg hunt on set and some of the unclaimed eggs are visible in the film for careful viewers (one is under Frank's throne).

The great risk with Easter egg hunts is finding eggs left from previous years.

Did exactly that when I was a little kid.

My little sister and I were at my great grandmother's house for an Easter egg hunt. To make it fair, we were segregated, I in the front yard, my sister in the back. The previous year this was reversed. Also, we were each given a dozen eggs to find. I found a bakers dozen. The previous year my sister only found 11.

Love it!

In cartoons and old films, a jug of moonshine was recognizable by the "XXX" marked on it.

But what did those Xes actually indicate.

Well, today I learned that this goes back to the early days of moonshine when most of it was distilled in simple pot stills. Pot stills aren't very efficient so what comes out of it after a single distilling isn't very pure and requires repeat distillings.

To get proper moonshine, nearly pure alcohol at around 80% ABV, the 'shine would need to be run through the still 3 times. The XXXes indicated the times the moonshine had been run through the still.



BTW, I know somewhere around here is a thread I made just for TILs but I couldn't find it looking back through my convos all the way back to the beginning of 2016. I'll look around for it again later (probably years later).

This one I'm pretty sure I knew but had forgotten until reminded while watching a video about game theory and a paradox online.



If you add all the numbers on a roulette wheel (1-36, also 0 and 00), the sum is... interesting. (I'll not spoil it, go ahead and add them up for yourself.)

I am too innumerate to do this, so I looked it up.

But first, I guessed.

I guessed correctly. I may not be good at maths, but I am good at gematria.

Heh... I had to look up "gematria".