Before I get to today's ponderings, I

wanted to share some interesting things I've read of late. Most are trivial in nature, or just outright trivia.  You were warned.  So, did you know...

while filming "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", Eli Wallach spoke almost no Italian and Sergio Leone almost no English, so they communicated in French.

The last film Ernest Borgnine appeared in has the tagline "The Good, the Bald and the Elderly".

George Lucas was so convinced that 1977's "Star Wars" would flop and that his friend Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" would be a hit, he made a deal with Spielberg where they each got a small percentage of the profits from each other's film.

When the Lincoln penny first came out in 1909, the designer's initials were located on the reverse side, and the controversy over them was so huge they were removed mid-year?  They returned to the front of the coin in 1918 and are there to this day.

Alan Alda once told Donald Sutherland "thank you for my life". 

Jamie Farr's "Corporal Klinger" was supposed to be a one episode deal.

The 1974 song "Billy Don't Be a Hero" is really about the Civil War, not the Vietnam War.  And, the group that wrote it, Paper Lace, didn't do well with it in the U.S. because Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods covered it and got it released first.

The amount of blood in your body is about the same as the amount of soda-pop contained in 13 cans.  Thanks to the VA's blood-drawing facility for that one.

When you count the number of episodes that the various actors on the show "ER" appeared in, two of the top five in terms of most episodes appeared in weren't stars, but nurses who weren't the focus of any major storylines.

Contrary to popular rumor, the song "Killing Me Softly With His Song was NOT inspired by singer Don McLean.

William Henry Harrison served the shortest time as President of the U.S., but James Madison was the shortest President in terms of height, at 5'4".

Abraham Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy that told him not to go to the theater. JFK had a secretary named Evelyn Lincoln who warned him not to go to Dallas. Then again, Lincoln was in Monroe, Maryland before being killed and JFK was in Marilyn Monroe before being killed.

Okay, time to start pondering.

Why did he blow his mind out in a car?  Younger people won't get that one right away.

Why is my hand's swelling going down, but now some of the skin is turning purple?

Was the universe eavesdropping on a conversation of mine last night?  I was talking with a friend about what an awesome guest host Anne Hathaway is on SNL, and suddenly it was SNL time and they aired a re-run of an episode from last month that had her as the guest host.

How many stabbings take place on any given day in the greater Los Angeles area?  More than a few one would think.  So why is it that when two teens are stabbed at a shopping mall in a relatively affluent area, it's big news?

That there were two rocket launchers turned in during L.A.'s gun buyback was big news.  Why is it that the fact both were missing parts and therefore incapable of doing anything but looking dangerous won't be as big a story?

Psy's video of "Gangnam Style" has over one billion views now.  But did 1 billion different people view it, or did a few million obsessed viewers look at it hundreds of times?

Does Charlie Sheen really expect people to buy his bullshit explanation as he tries to do damage control over the homophobic slur he threw down in Mexico?  He said "How are we doing...lying bunch of f***ot a***oles".  Then he said "I meant no ill will and intended to hurt no one and I apologize if I offended anyone.  I meant to say maggot but I have a lisp."  Funny how we never hear this lisp in anything else he says.

Why do any of the residents of this place give a damn if someone is sitting in a dining room seat that isn't their assigned seat; as long as they aren't being displaced themselves by that person?  I don't give a damn where anyone sits as long as they aren't in my seat.  Then I have an issue.

Speaking of issues with seats, should there be a limit on how many seats one person can save in a movie theater?  Can one person "save" a whole row because all of their family and friends are coming?

This Date in History:

On this date in 1066, Muslims stormed the royal palace in Granada, crucified the Jewish vizier and massacred most of the Jewish population of the city.
On this date in 1853, the U.S. buys a big chunk of land from Mexico, now known as the Gadsden Purchase.
On this date in 1903, a fire in a Chicago theater kills over 600 people.
On this date in 1905, Idaho's former Governor, Frank Steunenberg was assassinated.
On this date in 1919, a female is admitted as a bar student at Lincoln's Inn in London (one of the four inns to which barristers are admitted).
On this date in 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed.
On this date in 1927, the Ginza, the first subway line in Asia, opens in Tokyo.
On this date in 1936, the United Auto Workers union stages their first sitdown strike.
On this date in 1947, communists backed by the USSR force Romania's King Michael to abdicate.
On this date in 1965, Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines.  Also on this date, Imelda Marcos buys her 500th pair of shoes.
On this date in 1972, the U.S. halted heavy bombing of North Vietnam
On this date in 1977, Ted Bundy escaped from his cell for the second time.
And on this date in 1935, the future happiness of long-suffering Dodger fans was assured (at least for awhile) when Sandy Koufax was born.