Weekend Open Thread

Do you still get to drive the classic Jaguar owned by the company?

Not photo shopped.

Emperor Palpatine’s wife?

As long as she’s capable of giving a “yes” vote to her party’s agenda they’ll keep her in orifice.

… a man from 1876 is believed to have time-traveled to 1950? According to the story, on an evening in June 1950, a man suddenly appeared in the middle of the street in Times Square, New York. The man was wearing very old-fashioned clothing and had a hair style that was at least 70 years out of date. He panicked, began to run, and was hit by a taxi and killed. When his body was taken to the morgue, his unusual clothing had unusual contents – a token for a beer, good at a saloon nobody had ever heard of; a bill for the care of a horse and carriage; $70 in banknotes that were decades out of date; a card with the name “Rudolf Fentz” on it; and a letter to the said Mr. Fentz from Philadelphia dated 1876. Police quickly tried to ascertain who this mysterious person was, but nobody at the address on the letter had ever heard of Rudolf Fentz. A telephone book from fifteen years earlier had a Rudolf Fentz, Jr., in it, but Police learned that person had passed away. That person’s widow, however, was found and related the tale that her husband had told, of his father suddenly disappearing without a trace – in 1876. Did a man disappear in 1876 only to reappear 74 years later in Times Square? Well … no. It turns out the whole urban legend had originally been a science fiction short story written in 1951 by Jack Finney (1911-1995) called “I’m Scared.” The story was identical to the tale told, down to the name of the man and even the Police captain who pursued the truth. The tale of Rudolf Fentz became urban legend after Finney’s story was reprinted in the Journal of Borderland Research without his consent and with all notation that it was fiction removed. Read and believed by many fans of the paranormal, it became popular in the 1970s, but it did not actually happen. (Would’ve made a great Twilight Zone episode, though, wouldn’t it?)

… skipping breakfast causes you to gain weight? Your body is tricked into believing that you will want higher-calorie foods later in the day if you don’t eat breakfast. (So that’s what did it!)

… handshakes originally were methods of proving someone was unarmed? The hand clasp itself proved that you weren’t carrying a weapon, and the shake motion was supposed to dislodge any hidden weapons you might have up your sleeve. (Nothing up my sleeve … presto!)

… the Indiana Jones series of movies were created because of rejection? Director Steven Spielberg (born 1946) wanted to make a James Bond movie, but he was turned down. Spielberg shared the story with his friend, George Lucas (born 1944), and Lucas said he had an idea on how to make a Bond movie – but better. Thus was the character of Indiana Jones born. (“We named the dog Indiana!”)

Now … you know!