How do you remove chewing gum from glass?

Search: gum off a window



Why: I had an accident. Man, that new Mentos gum sure is sticky.

Answer: There are 4 ways!

1. Use canned air. You can buy it at an office supply store to shoot dust and crumbs out of your keyboard. Blast some on the gum, and it should harden and pull right off.
2. Freeze it. Rub an ice cube along the gum, holding it in place until the gum freezes and the ice cube melts. The gum should come right off.
3. Zap it with bug and tar remover. Sold at auto supply stores, this stuff is designed to removed smushed bugs and tar.
   
   
4. Use official gum-remover like they do at movie theaters. You can buy it at an industrial cleaning supply store.
   
   

Source: eHow



The More You Know: Canned air comes out at -26 degrees Celsius / -14.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Here's a list of 101 Things to Do with It!

Who was Belle (the Disney Princess) modeled after?

Search: disney character modeled

Why: I am reading "6 Beloved Characters That Had Undiagnosed Mental Illnesses" on Cracked. Nevermind that I have never seen Beauty and the Beast (but, in fact, recorded it this past weekend and sat down to watch it for the first time ever just last night [but did not make it past the opening credits because Chandler wouldn't shut up about Angela Lansbury]), but I just noticed that she sort of looks like a Kardashian.

Answer: Oho, jackpot! There's a whole list of Disney Characters and Who They Were Modeled After. Get ready to learn, everyone (even though many of these are just bodies, not face). First of all:

Belle (Beauty & the Beast) - Audrey Hepburn and Vivien Leigh

(also pictured: what those 2 would look like if they mated)

but also!

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) - Audrey Hepburn

Esmerelda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) - Demi Moore (who also voiced her)

Ariel (The Little Mermaid) - Alyssa Milano

Ursula (The Little Mermaid) - Divine

Tinkerbell (Peter Pan) - dancer and mime Margaret Kerry

The Evil Queen (Snow White) - Helen Gahagan in the film She (1935)

Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves) - dancer Marge Champion (also the model for the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio and the Dancing Hippo in Fantasia)

and some boring ones:

Alice (Alice In Wonderland) - Kathryn Beaumont (her voice, and also Wendy in Peter Pan)
Captain Hook (Peter Pan) - Hans Conried (who also voiced him) & a Spanish King
Pocahontas (Pocahontas) – Irene Bedard (who also voiced her)
Jasmine (Aladdin) - Beth Henn, animator Mark Henn sister

Source: Screen Team Show

The More You Know: And also:

Peter Pan (Peter Pan) - Bobby Driscoll

who also played the little dandy kid in Song of the South!!

and is therefore tied up in 2 of my favorite things at Disneyland, Splash Mountain and this sign.

What does "Mischief Managed" mean?

Search: mischief managed

Why: On Fuck Yeah Tattoos, during Harry Potter week:

This is my “Mischief Managed” tattoo. Obviously I am a Harry Potter nerd. I wanted something unique (or at least somewhat unique) in a sea of HP geek tattoos.

Etc.

I read all the books and saw all the movies, but I don't remember that. It's been a long time.

Answer: It's how you clear the Marauder's Map!

The map is normally disguised as a blank piece of parchment. To view the map, one must tap it with one's wand and recite, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The content of the map will reveal itself.

To hide the contents of the map so the parchment appears blank again, one must again tap it and recite, "Mischief managed."

Source: MischiefManaged.com, Wikipedia, Harry Potter Wikia

The More You Know: F, I need to read all these again. I didn't even remember that the Marauders were Remus (Moony), Peter (Wormtail), Sirius (Padfoot), and James (Prongs).

"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP"

I didn't even remember that Prongs was a name! Uch, I have a lot of work ahead of me.

What are pieces of eight?

Search: pieces of eight

Why: Yesterday, so utterly hungover from 2 consecutive 6-in-the-morning bedtime "nights" and barely able to breathe or speak (let alone stand up [let alone actually walk]), I did that thing where I brought a regular bedroom pillow into the living room, hid under a blanket, and watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End because I had never seen it and also because, with commercials, it has a 3.5-hour running time. There's a whole deal with "pieces of eight," and also, there's a store outside the exit of the ride called Pieces of Eight.

Answer: They're old Spanish money! Silver coins were "Reales" and gold coins were "Escudos." The "Pieces of Eight" were the largest silver coins (1 oz.) worth 8 reales. I don't know why it was 8; maybe they didn't use the base 10 system.

These coins were also used in the American Colonies. Rather than calling them "pieces of eight," people usually just referred to them as peso, Spanish dollars, or - in the English-speaking colonies - just dollars. They were legal tender in the US until 1857.

You've also heard of "doubloons." These were gold, not silver, because Doblón means, doy, "double." There is some debate about how much a doubloon was actually worth. The theory that makes the most sense is that these were worth 8 escudos. I mean, obviously. Or "doubloon" was just slang for all the gold coins.

They were melted, poured, and forged or stamped by hand:

If the events of the Pirates movies happened around the 1740s-50s, this is what the coins would have looked like:

Obverse
VTRAQVE VNUM M[EXICANUS] 1739
"Both (are) one, Mexico [City Mint], 1739"
Displays two hemispheres of a world map, crowned between the Pillars of Hercules adorned with the PLVS VLTR[A] motto.

Reverse
PHILIP[PUS] V D[EI] G[RATIA] HISPAN[IARUM] ET IND[IARUM] REX
"Philip V, by the Grace of God, King of the Spains and the Indies"
Displays the arms of Castile and León with Granada in base and an inescutcheon of Anjou.

And an 8!

Source: Pirate Money, Wikipedia

The More You Know: Orlando Bloom and Keikei Knightley are not in the new Pirates movie that you recently ignored. Did you know that? I didn't. The reason is because their story ends after the credits of Pirates 3, which frankly, I find a little rude. In case you missed it (and their whole long boring drama), feast your eyes. Feast them! This is "ten years later":

What is "30 Minutes or Less"?

Search: zombieland

Why: I saw a new ad on a bus bench this morning. It said, "From the makers of Zombieland." I liked that movie!

Answer: Oh, this looks fun:

After hiring an assassin to murder his father for his insurance money, meaty antagonist Dwayne (Danny McBride) and moronic partner in crime Travis (Nick Swardson) kidnap a pizza delivery driver named Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) and force him to rob a bank with a bomb vest attached to his chest with a 15-hour timer in order to pay for the job to be done.

Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg! Also starring Aziz Ansari and Fred Ward. Due out Aug. 12, 2011.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: Jesse Eisenberg's little sister is this kid from Bicentennial Man and those Pepsi commercials. You already know that; they look the same. She is goddamn 18 now!

What does that hipster song with the whistling sound like?

Search: peter bjorn john

Why: On Reddit, "Nailed it in one!":

Answer: Oh yeah. I know this song.

Source: YouTube

The More You Know: That band is Swedish, and that girl singer is a guest from The Concretes. That song "Young Folks" has been in

• 21
  
• Californication
• Dirty Sexy Money
• Gossip Girl
• Grey's Anatomy
• How I Met Your Mother
  
• The Love Guru
• Nip/Tuck
• Parenthood
• and more!

and it kind of reminds me of the "Christmas Time" song on SNL.

I want to see the Harry Potter crop circles

Search: harry potter crops

Why: On Reddit, "Why are people so stupid?"

Pics plz, durr.

Answer: Oh boy! By an English farmer named Top Pearsy:

Source: Gizmodo

The More You Know: Speaking of series of books I've read that are being made into movies, I'm about 70% through the 3rd "dragon tattoo" book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Since I don't know anyone else who has read all of these (I've only listened to the last 2 on audiobook) and is open for discussion, maybe you have, so here's what's been bothering me:

I hate that we keep rehashing the same events over and over. Some characters have a conversation to plan an activity, and they plan why they're doing it, and then they follow through with the activity, and we see everything. Then, after the activity is over, everyone else has conversations by which they try to interpret the actions and motives of the first characters. Why! I already know what happened. I don't need 200 pages (lol jk, 3 discs) recounting a murder. I love dramatic irony as much as the next kid, but this stuff is booooring. Way to make my 100-minute daily commute even more of a drag, Steig.

Wtf was going on on the 110 South this morning?

Search: 110 traffic chase

Why: We were at a dead stop for a good half hour, and then I saw !3! helicopters hovering over the road way in front in me. I was all, "Where, in Kuwait?!"

Eventually, some policepeople laid down flairs to direct cars to a very crowded exit. The road behind them was free and open for as far as the eye could see:

Answer: High! speed! chase! High! speed! chase!

Los Angeles Police have closed the southbound 110 Freeway after suspects in a high-speed pursuit reportedly tossed rounds of ammunition out of their vehicle Friday morning.

The entire southbound 110 Freeway has been shut down from the 10 Freeway to the 105 Freeway, while police search the area looking for evidence.

Police arrested the three assault suspects after chasing their van to the area of Main Street, just south of the Gardena (91) Freeway in Carson.

I was part of history today!

Source: NBC Los Angeles

The More You Know: Speaking of the 110, I see this one girl almost every night on the way home from work, and then she was driving next to me this morning, too. She's in a creamy colored "new Bug" convertible and has the brightest blonde hair the world has ever seen.

I realize we probably have similar schedules and commutes, but in a city of 15 million people, it's still creepy. If you know this girl, please let her know that she's making me feel like I'm in a David Lynch movie.

Why does Friar Tuck always have that weird hairdo?

Search: friar tuck hair

Why: Yesterday, we watched (/slept through) the Ridley Scott / Russell Crowe Robin Hood. Friar Tuck's hair looked like this:

Other Friar Tucks:

Answer: It's called a tonsure! It sets him apart.

Tonsure is the practice of some Christian churches, mystics, Buddhist novices and monks, and some Hindu temples of cutting the hair from the scalp of clerics, devotees, or holy people as a symbol of their renunciation of worldly fashion and esteem.

It's kind of like the opposite of a yarmulke, huh. He might wear a zucchetto to cover it.

The size and shape of the bald spot has varied over time. In the 20th century, "first tonsure," part of a rite for members of the Roman Catholic clergy, was to be no larger than the size of a priest's host. In England and America, clerics didn't make a bald spot for fear of persecution, but they ceremoniously cut hair. In accordance with Pope Paul VI's motu proprio Ministeria quaedam of August 15, 1972, "First tonsure is no longer conferred."

But some people still use it, like in France:

and Denver:

Source: Catholic.com, Wikipedia

The More You Know: A joke, courtesy of the forums over at Catholic.com:

Of course you heard of the cannibals who were so sick? They sent for a witch doctor from the neighboring village. He couldn't figure out what was wrong, so he said, "You have a lot of gastero-intestinal discomfort. What have you been eating?"

They said, "Just the usual -- anyone we can catch, including that Catholic missionary a few days ago?"

"What Catholic missionary?"

"Oh, you know -- a guy with a brown robe and the crown of his head shaved."

And the witch doctor asked, "How did you cook him?"

"The usual way, broiled him."

"YOU DUMMIES, that was a friar, not a broiler!"

Who are America's Most Wanted?

Search: america's most wanted top 10

Why: They caught Whitey Bulger, who I was coincidentally just researching just days ago because I saw this on the Internets:

Topic: I think I found "Whitey" Bulger

The answer was right in front of our faces all along:

(That is Dr. Christian Shephard.)

When we all said we didn't know who Whitey Bulger is (except those of us who researched him in relation to The Departed), Ace was all:

You people didn't know who Whitey Bulger was!?

Whaaaaat?

You don't keep up with America's most wanted? How would you identify criminals!?

I guess that's a good point.

Answer: Well, the good news is that there are only 8 (because 2 of them have been caught!!). The bad news is that the FBI website insists on spelling Osama Bin Laden's name like Usama. What in the.

Here they are. Keep your eyes peeled!

Jason Derek Brown - 5'10, 175 lbs., b. 1969
(has ties in California, Arizona, and Utah; speaks fluent French)

• Wanted for murder and armed robbery in Phoenix, Arizona. During November of 2004, Brown allegedly shot and killed an armored car guard outside a movie theater and then fled with the money.

Robert William Fisher - 6', 190 lbs., b. 1961
(from New York; has ties to Arizona and Florida)

• Wanted for allegedly killing his wife and two young children and then blowing up the house in which they all lived in Scottsdale, Arizona in April of 2001.

Alexis Flores - 5'4, 135 lbs., b. c. 1980
(from / probably around Honduras)

• Wanted for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of a five-year-old girl in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The girl was reported missing in late July of 2000, and later found strangled to death in a nearby apartment in early August of 2000.

Victor Manuel Gerena - 5'6, 165 lbs., b. 1968
(from NY)

• Wanted in connection with the armed robbery of approximately $7 million from a security company in Connecticut in 1983. He allegedly took two security employees hostage at gunpoint and then handcuffed, bound and injected them with an unknown substance in order to further disable them.

Glen Stewart Godwin - 6', 200 lbs., b. 1958
(probably in Mexico or Central or South America)

• Wanted for his 1987 escape from Folsom State Prison in California, where he was serving a lengthy sentence for murder. Later in 1987, Godwin was arrested for drug trafficking in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. After being convicted, he was sent to a prison in Guadalajara. In April of 1991, Godwin allegedly murdered a fellow inmate and then escaped five months later.

Semion Mogilevich - 5'6, 300 lbs., b. 1946
(probably in Russia, probably Moscow, but also with passports for Israel, Ukraine, and Greece)

• Wanted for his alleged participation in a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud thousands of investors in the stock of a public company incorporated in Canada, but headquartered in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, between 1993 and 1998. e scheme to defraud collapsed in 1998, after thousands of investors lost in excess of 150 million U.S. dollars, and Mogilevich, thought to have allegedly funded and authorized the scheme, was indicted in April of 2003. Womp womp.
  

Eduardo Ravelo - 5'9, 170 lbs., b. 1968
(probably in Mexico or Texas)

• Wanted for his involvement in racketeering activities, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and conspiracy to possess heroin, cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute. His alleged criminal activities began in 2003.

Joe Luis Saenz - 5'11, 180 lbs., b. 1975
(from LA, probably in Mexico)

• Wanted for murder, rape, and kidnapping. On July 25, 1998, he shot and killed two rival gang members in Los Angeles. Less than two weeks later, on August 5, 1998, Saenz allegedly kidnapped, raped, and murdered his girlfriend. Saenz allegedly murdered a fourth victim in October of 2008 in Los Angeles County.

Source: FBI.gov

The More You Know: But who is Whitey Bulger?

James J. Bulger is being sought for his role in numerous murders committed from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s in connection with his leadership of an organized crime group that allegedly controlled extortion, drug deals, and other illegal activities in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. He has a violent temper and is known to carry a knife at all times.

Bulger is an avid reader with an interest in history. He is known to frequent libraries and historic sites. Bulger may be taking heart medication. He maintains his physical fitness by walking on beaches and in parks with his female companion, Catherine Elizabeth Greig. Bulger and Greig love animals. Bulger has been known to alter his appearance through the use of disguises. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Mexico.

Not James Bulger. A different guy. He was the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in The Departed. Remember when he threw a fistful of coke at those hookers? That was so weird.