Swans on Tea

A Venn diagram of the etymology of baseball team names
San Diego Padres
…
Named after the earlier Pacific Coast League team, which in turn was named for the term for Spanish missionaries in the area. Only team with an entirely non-English name.

Movie Trivia: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Daniel Radcliffe’s voice changed while they were filming, but the movie was shot in sequence so it just gradually gets deeper throughout the film instead of being at different octaves here and there.

Movie Trivia: Raiders of the Lost Ark
The movie was filmed in Tunisia because it was a lot cheaper to shoot there than Egypt, and since the script never called for shots of the Sphinx or the pyramids, so they were able to get away with it. In fact, one of the scenes was shot in [...]

Movie Trivia: Mary Poppins
When the kids look surprised at all of the stuff Mary Poppins pulls out of her carpet bag, that was genuine shock. They couldn’t see what was being fed to the bag from under the table, so when she pulled hat stands and huge potted plants out of that regular-sized bag, the [...]

Top 10 Ridiculously Common Science Myths
The Myth: Meteors are heated by friction when entering the atmosphere
When a meteoroid enters the atmosphere of the earth (becoming a meteor), it is actually the speed compressing the air in front of the object that causes it to heat up. It is the pressure on the air that generates [...]

All 120 Crayon Names, Color Codes and Fun Facts
Crayola crayons currently come in 120 colors including 23 reds, 20 greens, 19 blues, 16 purples, 14 oranges, 11 browns, 8 yellows, 2 grays, 2 coppers, 2 blacks, 1 white, 1 gold and 1 silver. Although Crayola crayons come in 120 different colors, the labels are only [...]

Movie Trivia: The Wizard of Oz
This one sounds like a total urban legend, but Snopes says it’s true. The costume designers were looking for a very fancy coat for Professor Marvel – the Wizard’s Kansas counterpart – but one that had gotten quite shabby. Some of the crew went to a secondhand shop and bought [...]

Things I remember
I remember about 75% of those things. Not quite old enough for the iceman or not having indoor plumbing, but I remember having four channels of black & white TV (6, 10 and 13, plus PBS on 17) and adjusting rabbit ears to get better reception.
Other things I remember
Church keys for opening [...]

‘Most unfortunate names’ revealed
Justin Case, Barb Dwyer and Stan Still.
It sounds like a bad joke, but a study has revealed that there really are unfortunate people with those names in the UK.
Joining them on the list are Terry Bull, Paige Turner, Mary Christmas and Anna Sasin.
And just imagine having to introduce yourself to a crowd [...]

The Godfather Wars
A story about the making of The Godfather.
[A] number of priceless ad-libs by actors that turned what was supposed to have been a low-budget movie into a masterpiece.
Examples: “Leave the gun,” Richard Castellano, as Clemenza, orders his henchman after they take out the traitorous Paulie Gatto in a parked car. “Take the cannoli,” [...]

Movie Trivia: The Silence of the Lambs
Gene Hackman originally wanted to direct and write the screenplay for the movie based on the novel. He was also going to play Dr. Lecter himself. But time passed and he lost interest; Jonathan Demme picked it up and wanted Michelle Pfeiffer to play Clarice Starling. She, however, thought [...]

Movie Trivia: Beetlejuice
Warner Brothers really didn’t care for the original title, which happened to be Beetlejuice. They suggested House Ghosts, which Burton hated, so he retaliated with the equally horrible Scared Sheetless, just to annoy them. He was mortified when they loved it and considered using it.