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2011/05/04

Neatorama

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23 Facts You Might Not Know about The Dukes of Hazzard

Posted: 04 May 2011 05:10 AM PDT

I grew up a devoted fan of The Dukes of Hazzard. It was, to my childhood self, an exciting, funny, and understandable grown-up show. I was never able to convince my father to jump our car like the Duke boys jumped the General Lee, although I sure did try. Popping wheelies and rolling over logs with my Big Wheel would have to suffice — and I’m sure I’m not the only boy who did the same. So let’s look back at that wonderful show and some things that you might not know about it.

1. The basic story of the show can be traced back to Jerry Elijah Rushing, an actual moonshiner in North Carolina. At the age of 12, he began making deliveries, eventually using a modified 1958 Chrysler 300D for the job. The car, named "Traveller" after General Lee's horse, was rigged to dump oil on the road to impair law enforcement vehicles in pursuit. Rushing was often joined by his brother Johnny, and sometimes by his female cousin Delane. But they just delivered the moonshine, which was actually made by Rushing's Uncle Worley. Rushing eventually left the business and became an accomplished hunter, especially with a bow. His stories about his adventures inspired the 1975 movie Moonrunners, which in turn led to The Dukes of Hazzard.

2. Producer Gy Waldron created the show because he saw that one sixth of all music record sales were country, but there were no television shows aimed directly at the country market. Episodes were written in the country music narrative style, or as Waldron put it "…when you get through watching an episode, replay it in Nashville, and somebody should be able to write a pretty good country song about it."

3. John Schneider (Bo Duke), a New Yorker, presented himself as something of a redneck when he auditioned for the role of Bo Duke. He grew stubble, carried a can of beer, put a wad of chewing tobacco into his mouth, and claimed to be from a small town in Georgia. Schneider also knew that driving skill could be useful, so he claimed to be a graduate of the Georgia School of High Performance Driving, which didn't exist. He got the part.

4. Tom Wopat (Luke Duke) has made some success in the music business, releasing albums and touring since 1981. When the show was canceled, Wopat held the #1 slot in the Billboard country chart.

5. Sorrel Brooke, who played Boss Hogg, was a great intellect. A classically trained Shakespearean actor, he was a graduate of Columbia and Yale and fluent in five languages. Brooke was especially accomplished at replicating dialects, and based his character's accent on that of South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond. His belly was also fake — Brooke wore a padded suit to give him the extra girth that he needed to play the rotund Hogg.

6. James Best grew up in poverty and from a broken family to become a phenomenally successful actor by the time that he was cast as Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane. He worked as an accomplished acting teacher for decades and provided instruction to, among other actors, Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, Farrah Fawcett, and Quentin Tarantino, as well as less famous students while serving as a professor at Mississippi State University. In his spare time, he acquired a black belt in karate and now paints (warning: auto-sound).

7. Ben Jones (Cooter Davenport) was a member of Congress from 1989 to 1993. His writings have appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Weekly Standard. Like some other cast members from the original show, he disapproved of the 2005 movie and referred to it as "sleazy". In an interview with Billy Rae Bates, Jones said:

I don't know what they were thinking (with the movie). They totally missed the whole point of the show. Our show was sort of like a western, a 1940s western. The Old B westerns, the Roy Rogers ones, they weren't realistic; they were fantasies; you could fall off a cliff and not hurt yourself. There were values and a good sense of right and wrong…The reason people watched this show and encouraged their kids to watch it is it's a good old-fashioned American show. These Duke boys are heroes; they risk their lives to do the right thing. If I hear it once, I hear it a thousand times a day, 'Thank you for making a show that our kids can watch.' You don't take that audience and that show and do what they did to it.


8. Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke) herself came up with her character's denim short-shorts, leading to the garment being dubbed "Daisy Dukes". The original plan was to have Daisy wear a miniskirt.

9. The first five episodes were shot in northern Georgia. Street scenes for the county seat are actually from Covington, Georgia, which has a small Dukes of Hazzard museum in the back of the A Touch of Country cafe. The rest of the show was filmed in California.

10. During the filming of the pilot episode, two directors were eating breakfast in the town square of Covington when they heard a car drive by that played the opening bars to "Dixie" as the horn. This, they thought, must be in the show. They chased down the owner, bought the horn out of his car for $300, and installed it in a General Lee.

11. The building used as The Boar's Nest set is still around, but it's now a church.

12. After the first season, it distressed producer Gy Waldron that the cast was entirely white. So in subsequent seasons, visiting federal agents that investigated Boss Hogg were black, as was the sheriff of the adjoining Chickasaw County.

13. Before the fifth season, Tom Wopat and John Schneider left the show over a merchandising royalties dispute and were replaced by actors Christopher Mayer (Vance Duke) and Byron Cherry (Coy Duke) as a different set of Duke cousins. Eventually, Wopat, Schneider, and the studio compromised and resolved their dispute. They returned before the fifth season was over.

14. A Dukes of Hazzard convention called DukesFest was held annually from 2001 to 2007, hosted by Ben Jones. In 2004, it attracted about 25,000 people. Among its occasional features were stunt drivers jumping (and demolishing) General Lee replicas.

15. The show used about 150 General Lees, because usually one was destroyed in each episode as a result of the stunt work. That's a lot of Dodge Chargers, and during one period of the show's run, Warner Bros. had a shortage. So its employees left notes on the windshields of Chargers in grocery store parking lots offering to buy the cars.


(Video Link)

16. When the show ended, Warner Bros. had 17 General Lees left, as well as many spare parts. It invited a fan named Wayne Wooten to set up a non-profit corporation to distribute the leftovers to dedicated fans, provided that the fans never charge money for public appearances of these cars.

17. To make the jumps work, General Lees had to be weighted down in the back to compensate for the weight of the engine in the front. The stunt managers welded steel boxes into the trunks of the cars and added weights as necessary, usually 300-400 pounds. The farther and higher a jump was, the more weight was necessary to balance the car.

18. So that the jumping scenes were fresh, stock footage was rarely used. Each jumping scene captured on film was usually presented only once.

19. The first hood-slide across the General Lee was actually an accident by Tom Wopat. The directors liked it so much that they decided to make it a staple of the show.


(Video Link)

20. Sonny Shroyer (Enos Strate) got his own spin-off series in 1980 entitled Enos. It featured the Dukes of Hazzard character a LAPD officer. It lasted a single season.

21. There was a crossover episode with Alice. In a 1983 episode of that show entitled "Mel Is Hogg Tied", Boss Hogg appeared in Phoenix and tried to buy Mel's diner.


(Video Link)

22. In 1983, Hanna-Barbera launched an animated series called The Dukes. It was about the worldwide travels of the Dukes and Boss Hogg. The show endured only one year.

23. There was a 1997 reunion movie called The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! Only one General Lee was found in the possession of Warner Bros., and it was dilapidated and covered with bird droppings. The directors left it in that condition, unwashed, and shot the General Lee being hauled out of retirement by the Duke boys.

Sources:
Bates, Billie Rae. Them Dukes! Them Dukes! A Guide to TV’s “The Dukes of Hazzard“. North Charleston, SC: Booksurge, 2006. Print.
Hofstede, David. The Dukes of Hazzard: The Unofficial Companion. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 1998. Print.

Images: Warner Bros.

Pomppufiilis

Posted: 04 May 2011 03:58 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

Wow, a dancing human marshmallow with the voice of Elmo! This very strange but catchy video is from Finnish actor and comedian Riku Nieminen, who plays a character called Munamies (Egg Man). The name of this song, “Pomppufiilis” translates to English as “Bouncy Feeling.” -via The Daily What

Battery Swapping Station Heading to China for EVs

Posted: 03 May 2011 08:47 PM PDT

I think that the electric vehicle (EV) will remain a novelty and sort of a green status symbol, for the most part, thanks to the limited driving range. I do think that eventually battery tech will improve to the point where the EV will go much longer distances. Right now, the best chance of making the EV more appealing is a way to quickly and cheaply swap batteries for a fresh pack. This is exactly what is happening in China with a company called Better Place that will install 2,300 battery swap stations in China by 2015. Hot swap EV batteries FTW! link

Hello Kitty Flipper Toothbrush Holder

Posted: 03 May 2011 08:17 PM PDT

Hello Kitty Flipper Toothbrush Holder – $5.95

Attention Hello Kitty lovers! Are you looking for a cute way to hygienically store and protect your toothbrush? Well, look no further! You need the Hello Kitty Flipper Toothbrush Holder from the NeatoShop!

Be sure to check out all the adorable Hello Kitty & Sanrio items available at the NeatoShop.

The Amazing Origin of Silly Putty

Posted: 03 May 2011 07:27 PM PDT

Silly Putty was invented by accident when GE engineer James Wright was working to develop new types of rubber for the US military during World War II.

Wright spent over a year experimenting with different combinations of chemical compounds, hoping to produce a synthetic, "hard rubber" silicone that could withstand the high heat of jet engines or the freezing cold of nights on Navy ships. Towards the end of the summer in 1943, he and his team tried adding boron nitride as filler to an experimental silicone compound. But the scientists then learned that the substance they thought was boron nitride was actually a mixture of other chemical compounds, including boric acid. So they tried adding just boric acid.

The rest, as they say, is history. The resulting substance was gooey, not hard. Frustrated, Wright threw the goop onto the floor and to his surprise, it bounced right back up at him. A reporter from the Saturday Evening Post described the scene in a story (which, alas, is not online): "'Golly,' the scientist exclaimed as he dropped a ball of silicone putty, 'look at it bounce!'"

They weren’t sure what to do with the stuff, but they had fun playing with it. Read how this mistake became the classic putty toy we all know and love. Link

Nuclear Everything!

Posted: 03 May 2011 07:24 PM PDT

In the 1950s, nuclear power was seen as the answer to everything. Engineers were working on nuclear powered planes, automobiles, and trains, and searching for other ways to use the power of the atom. Read about some of the inventions that seem far-fetched today, but were just on the horizon at one time, at Dark Roasted Blend. Link

Solar System Cake Pops

Posted: 03 May 2011 06:15 PM PDT

Jeromina Juan of Paper, Plate, and Plane made cake pops that look like the planets of our solar system (minus Pluto, which shows which side she’s on). The ring for Saturn was made with a candied disk shaped on parchment.

Link via Craft

Kid-Themed Hotel Rooms

Posted: 03 May 2011 05:57 PM PDT

Photo Link

Yes, there really is a Forks, Washington. That’s where much of the Twilight series takes place, for those of you who studiously avoid the Stephenie Meyer book. And you’d better believe they’re capitalizing on the vampire trend. The Pacific Inn Motel in Forks has recently renovated several rooms to reflect the stereotypical bloodsucker image (you know… lots of red and black). But they aren’t the only ones to think of such a marketing scheme – the Week has four other hotels that have adapted rooms for kids using themes like Shrek, Barbie and more.

Via The Week

T-Rex with Chainsaw Arms Tattoo

Posted: 03 May 2011 04:46 PM PDT

Someday, we will tell our grandchildren of the chainsaw-augmented dinosaur menace of our youth. We will speak of the danger that was a part of our everyday lives — a danger that they will are free of because of our labors. And they will believe us, because we will create the Wikipedia entries necessary to back up the claim.

Link via F-Yeah Tattoos | Image: Joshua Ross

Fox Mulder's Wristwatch

Posted: 03 May 2011 04:22 PM PDT

If you can think of it, there’s probably a website about it. In this case, there’s a blog devoted entirely to chronicling the wristwatches worn by Fox Mulder, a character on The X-Files. And for those of you who think that someone spent far too much time and energy studying something completely insignificant in far too much detail, let me show you some selected doctoral dissertations….

Link via blastr

Thermochromatic Urinal

Posted: 03 May 2011 04:15 PM PDT

The basic idea is that the heat of a user’s urine creates pretty colors on the urinal.

Although this image is being posted on many different sites, I’m struggling to find any firm information about it. Perhaps it’s better that way. I’m just going to tell myself that it’s a really good photoshop, and no one actually built it.

Link via Gizmodo | Photo: Matrix Agent

Unmasking Your Favorite Video Games

Posted: 03 May 2011 04:01 PM PDT

Remember how you were surprised when Samus turned out to be a girl at the end of the original Metroid? The Game Station reveals the secret identities behind your favorite masked videogame characters!

Clothespin Lamp

Posted: 03 May 2011 04:01 PM PDT


(Video Link)

Steffi Min, an industrial design student in Brooklyn, reasoned that a light bulb could just as easily be clamped into a lamp as screwed in. So, for her senior thesis, she made a lamp that looks like a large clothespin.

via reddit | Designer’s Website

The Meowmorphosis

Posted: 03 May 2011 03:43 PM PDT

Quirk Books, the publisher of such gems as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and Night of the Living Trekkies is back with another classic. Behold, Meowmorphosis:

One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that he had been changed into an adorable kitten. [...]

Gregor Samsa is a humble young man who supports his unemployed parents and teenage sister by working as a traveling fabric salesman. But his life goes strangely wrong in the very first sentence of The Meowmorphosis, when he wakes up late for work and discovers that he has inexplicably become an adorable kitten.

His family must admit that, yes, their son is now OMG so cute—but what good is cute when there are bills to pay? How can Gregor be so selfish as to devote his attention to a ball of yarn? And how dare he jump out the bedroom window to wander through Kafka’s literary landscape? Never before has a cat’s tale been so poignant, strange, and horrifyingly funny.

Kafka would be proud! Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] | Get yours on Amazon here: The Meowmorphosis – Thanks Mari Kraske!

The Donald Duck Family Tree

Posted: 03 May 2011 01:47 PM PDT

Disney dorks like me will find this peek at Donald Duck’s lineage fascinating. Drawn by comic artist Don Rosa, it first appeared in “Walt Disney’s Comics (and Stories)” in 1995. It gives us a peek at little-known characters like “Sir Swamphole McDuck” and “Humperdink Duck.” What’s up with the mystery around Huey, Dewie and Louie’s dad?

You can also see what names the characters go by in other parts of the world by clicking on their English names. Daisy, for example, is also known as Margarida (Portuguese), Katrien (Dutch), Paperina (Italian) and Dolly (Norwegian).

Link

A Sign that the Cupcake Trend has Gone too Far

Posted: 03 May 2011 11:58 AM PDT

I love cupcakes and I like vodka as much as the next person. But I have no desire to mix the two. Apparently Cupcake Vodka feels differently, because they’ve recently come out with a sweet spirit in four flavors: Original, Frosting, Devil’s Food and Chiffon. Has the cupcake trend officially jumped the shark?

Link via Adfreak

Look Out Schroedinger's Cat, It's a Trap!

Posted: 03 May 2011 11:31 AM PDT


Look Out Schroedinger’s Cat, It’s a Trap! – $14.95

The warm T-shirt weather is coming, so get your Science and Funny T-Shirts from the NeatoShop. We’ve got lots of really neat T-shirts (cheap, too!) like this cute one above. Your purchase helps support the blog, so thanks in advance for taking a look!

The 48 Laws of Power

Posted: 03 May 2011 11:23 AM PDT

Every day people try to outdo each other in the military, at the workplace, and at school by showing their "power." But did you know that there is an actual list of 48 Laws of Power as outlined by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers to help you get ahead?  My favorite is law number 15 "Crush Your Enemy Totally."

All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely.  (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.)  If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out.  More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation:  The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge.  Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

Link

A Flip Book Made by Popping Balloons

Posted: 03 May 2011 11:22 AM PDT


Video Link

Created by Brazilian ad agency Loducca, more than 600 balloons were used to create this clever little “book” that tells a story involving Slash and Ozzy Osbourne, among others. About 10 balloons were popped every second.

Link via the Des Moines Egotist

No More Questions!

Posted: 03 May 2011 10:18 AM PDT


(vimeo link)

Just in time for Mothers Day, StoryCorps has a new animation. No More Questions! features feisty 87-year-old Kay Wang. This should inspire you to enjoy your mother as much as you can if you still have her. Link -thanks, Krisi Packer!

The 12 Strangest Lasagna Recipes On Earth

Posted: 03 May 2011 10:16 AM PDT

We don’t often post recipes here at Neatorama, but this post is worth your time even if you never intend to cook any of these! Have you ever heard of Chinese lasagna? Lasagna cupcakes (pictured)? Bacon and egg lasagna? Deep-fried lasagna? See a dozen of these strange dishes at FoodieBlog. Link -Thanks, Danny!

Mousetrap Fission

Posted: 03 May 2011 10:14 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

In order to explain a nuclear fission reaction, the folks at Harvard University set up a grid of mousetraps and ping pong balls.

In a nuclear reactor or atom bomb, a fissile material such as 235U can capture a neutron. The resulting unstable nucleus fragments into two smaller nuclei, releasing energy and several neutrons (a typical equation is given below). Each of these neutrons can in turn cause the fission of a 235U nucleus. If there is above a critical concentration of fissile material, this chain reaction will continue unaided, and if unregulated, can result in a very loud bang.

We have a 120 × 70 × 100cm high plexiglass case, onto whose base we set a 5 × 20 array of mouse traps. 1 Onto each trap is rested a ping-pong ball. The traps represent the fissile atoms, and the balls the neutrons. When an extra ping-pong ball is dropped through a hole in the top of the case, it lands on an triggers a trap. Now there are two ping-pong balls each capable of setting off a trap. Thus a chain reaction ensues; the whole explosion lasts about three seconds.

Also read an overview of how this contraption was built, in case you want to reproduce this effect yourself. Link -via Arbroath

Portrait of Father

Posted: 03 May 2011 10:09 AM PDT

As many times as I’ve seen the 1932 Disney cartoon The Three Little Pigs, I have never noticed the portrait of the wall of “Father.” Have you? Link

Real Life Super Mario Bros

Posted: 03 May 2011 07:47 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

Andrew McMurry made this short film in which Seth plays the game in the great (real) outdoors. -Thanks, Andrew!

Text To Morse Code

Posted: 03 May 2011 07:14 AM PDT

Morse Code used to be used (and to some extent still is) during war time to communicate in the field, in the air and to report that the Titanic was sinking. It used to be a highly specialized technical skill that took lots of training. Now however you can let everyone know the Germans are coming by typing your message into this handy text to Morse Code translator. Link

Facebook Used in More and More Divorce Cases

Posted: 03 May 2011 07:12 AM PDT

Here is a tip to any adulterous men and women out there. If you are going to cheat on your spouse, make sure you post the evidence of such on any social networking websites. One attorney in St. Petersburg, Florida says 90 percent of her divorce cases involve Facebook!

“You get a little bit of everything that happens on Facebook,” said Carin Constantine.

“Everything from clients coming in with pictures of the opposing party doing a keg stand with high schoolers… to teenagers drinking alcohol served by a parent… to a picture of a husband at a nightclub dancing with a babysitter.”

A recent survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers found that Facebook is cited in one in five divorces in the United States.  Also, more than 80 percent of divorce lawyers reported a rising number of people are using social media to engage in affairs.

Link

91 Year Old Body Builder

Posted: 03 May 2011 07:05 AM PDT

At 91 years of age most people are relegated to the retirement home, shuffling around in a walker or a motorized scooter. However Charles Eugster started body building at 85 and now feels fit and energized. Great, this makes me feel even better about my beer belly. Link

(Image credit: Gian Paul Lozza for the Guardian)

University of Alaska Students Keep Flushing Socks Down Toilet

Posted: 03 May 2011 07:00 AM PDT

I don't know about you, but when I was in college we had way more fun things to do than flushing out socks down the toilet. Apparently though, the students at the University of Alaska apparently are so bored this is their only alternative.

Hundreds of socks have been flushed at the UAF Fine Arts Complex since December, creating havoc on the building's sewer system. Maintenance Superintendent Bill Cox figures the stray socks have caused at least $15,000 in equipment damage and labor costs.

Link

A Bookstore with One Book

Posted: 03 May 2011 06:58 AM PDT

You’ll find Ed’s Martian Book on Hudson Street in the West Village neighborhood in New York City. It has piles of books to sell, but they are all the same title: Martian Summer: Robot Arms, Cowboy Spacemen, and My 90 Days With the Phoenix Mars Mission by Andrew Kessler. There’s no Ed, either. Kessler runs the store.

The book is Mr. Kessler's account of NASA's 2008 Phoenix Mars Lander mission, reported during 90 days inside mission control, in Tucson, alongside 130 leading scientists and engineers. Publishers Weekly calls the book a "slightly offbeat firsthand account of scientific determination and stubborn intellect" that "delivers a fascinating journey of discovery peppered with humor."

The store is part marketing ploy, to be sure (Mr. Kessler is a creative director at an advertising agency), but also part meditation on the meaning of the book in an age of e-readers and a bankrupt Borders.

"This makes books feel like an art installation," he said. "We should care about them."

Mr. Kessler said he was inspired by restaurants like the Meatball Shop on the Lower East Side. "I was thinking about people that just sell one thing really well," he said. Religions, he reasoned, ply a single book. Why can't a bookstore? He calls himself the Monobookist.

The store will be open until mid-May, when the new (paying) tenant is scheduled to move in. Link -via the Presurfer

(Image credit: Guy Calaf for The New York Times)

Super Mario on Ice

Posted: 03 May 2011 06:55 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

Russian skaters Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov did a Super Mario routine at the World Figure Skating Championships that ended Saturday in Moscow. They came in second. Link -via The Daily What Geek
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