The Day The Lights Went Out…

Not much more I can add to today’s blackout from so many online sources as a protest towards SOPA and PIPA but feel free to read Wikipedia’s thank you message: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:CongressLookup?new=yes

For my part, I knew of today and understood the concern and could see how even Canada would eventually feel the impact. However, I had no thoughts towards doing anything about the day… until I read one of Dayton Ward’s (http://daytonward.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/without-wikipedia-were-left-to-our-own-devices/) first tweet on that special hashtag #factswithoutwikipedia.

I was quite amused and thus wrote up a couple. And then, slowly, became addicted, and the couple multiplied. Like the bunnies that china built the Great Wall to keep out. Even when I declared a self-imposed “stop” to my tweeting after bringing in some Canadian content,  I found that I could just…not…let…it…go! That time finally happened when Wikipedia came back online and I figured I’d spend the last few hours of my evening doing something else (like maybe reading comics or watching The Sarah Conner Chronicles 🙂 )

However, before I drop the subject completely, I did want to keep the tweets for posterity, here, in my blog. These are just the ones I wrote and none of the re-tweets I did (because there were quite a few jewels in those, too! 🙂 ). Without further a-do, and with the hashtag removed, I bring you my pearls of wisdom (although some will only be understood by those living in The Great White North):

• BC was initially created as a unit of weight meaning “Before Calories”
• Tumbleweed are sticky ashes brought together by the breath of medicinal weed users
• The elbow is the funny bone because it is used to poke others in the ribs (aka ribbing)
• The Grapefruit is neither a grape, nor a fruit
• Luke was originally Vader’s daughter Lucille
• The Secret Service James Bond used to provide Her Majesty was in the bedroom
• The Moon is not made of cheese, it is made of Yogurt
• A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far Far Away, Barney was the King of Dinosaurs
• Badminton was initially created by a group of men trying to kill a bee
• George Stroumboulopoulos (@strombo) is secretly the President of Canada
• Rick Mercer (@rickmercer) wrote the Canadian Nationial Anthem
• More Canadians take dog sleds to work than Snowmobiles
• Every book Stephen King has written is based on a true story
• Clark Kent is Batman
• Peter Parker is Superman
• Ringo Starr is the only Beatle to survive living Under the Sea. All the others drowned.
• Canadians have no running water, but plenty of Tim Horton’s coffee
• Petting a cat from tail to head builds enough static to stick them on a wall
• In an emergency, coffee can be used for blood transfusions.
• Gone with the Wind is about one woman’s struggle with flatulence.
• Canada has 13 timezones, one for each of the 10 provinces and 3 territories.
• Canadians are legally obliged to keep Moose or Beavers as pets.
• Harry Houdini never died, he was just misplaced.
• The Godfather is a book/movie about a man finding out that God is his father.
• Dog is actually spelled C-A-T.
• PONG was originally created as a counter-measure to LSD.
• Orville and Wilbur Redenbacher flew the first airplane.
• Betsy Ross starred on The Golden Girls.
• Ice Cream is made with ice mined from Icebergs.
• Smeagol was Frodo Baggins’ uncle, Bilbo, known to friends as Gollum.
• Old McDonald had a Farm. He grew Pot.
• Yoda was created when a Muppeteer accidentally dropped Grover in a pickle jar.
• Natural Spring Water is collected by means of plastic pipes, not metal.
• You can use Scott Towels to pick up Gas Leaks.
• The Planet of the Apes is a documentary.