Know It All

There is a line from the movie "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1946) that is often quoted. In a scene from the movie, starring Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), a Mexican bandit leader pretends to be the Federales. Bogart’s character asks to see their badges. The reply is "Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!”

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When Matt Groening (born 1954) created the animated series "The Simpsons” (1989-present) he named the family members after his own family. Groening’s father is named Homer, his mother is Marge and his sisters are Lisa and Maggie. Bart’s name is an anagram of brat.

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A can of SpaghettiOs has four different sizes of ‘O’-shaped noodles.

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The Richter Scale measures the magnitude of earthquakes. An earthquake that measures 2.0 or less is usually not felt by people. An earthquake that measures 4.5 or more can cause damage to buildings. Severe earthquakes have magnitudes greater than 7. On average, an earthquake of magnitude 8 or more occurs somewhere in the world each year.

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RC Cola was the first company to nationally distribute soft drinks in cans in 1954.

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Barrel of Monkeys, a toy introduced in 1966, comes with 12 monkeys that are yellow, red and blue.

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Can you name the famous sidekicks of the characters pictured? See answer at end.

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Piano player Walter Liberace (1919-1987) wore a tuxedo at the beginning of every episode of "The Liberace Show” (1952-1969). During the show he told the audience, "Pardon me while I slip into something more spectacular” and came out in flamboyant costumes.

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The granite rock that is sent sliding on the ice in the Olympic sport of curling weighs 42 pounds. The play area of the game is an ice rink that is 130 feet long by 15 feet wide, with a 12-foot diameter target at the end.

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In the first two Star Wars movies, "Star Wars” (1977) and "The Empire Strikes Back” (1980), there were only two colors for lightsabers. The Jedi had blue lightsabers, the Sith had red lightsabers. In "Return of the Jedi” (1983) Luke Skywalker, a Jedi, had a green lightsaber.

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The definition of "gaffe” is a social blunder or faux pas. The definition of "gaffer” is unrelated. It is the chief electrician in charge of the lighting on a movie set.

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Spain grows more olives than any other country, followed by Italy, then Greece.

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Solomon R. Guggenheim (1861-1949) was an art collector and philanthropist that made his fortune in the family mining business. In 1939 he and his wife opened a temporary museum in New York called the "Museum of Non-Objective Painting.” Twenty years later a permanent museum was built, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), called the Guggenheim Museum.

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At 2 a.m. Jan. 1, 1922, drivers in British Columbia switched from driving on the left hand side of the street to the right hand side of the street.

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Answer: Johnny Carson(1925-2005)-Ed McMahon (1923-2009), Yogi Bear-Boo Boo, Batman-Robin, Captain Hook-Smee, Sherlock Holmes-Doctor Watson.

Know It All is by Kerry McArdle. It runs in the weekend and Wednesday editions of the Daily Journal. Questions? Comments? E-mail knowitall@smdailyjournal.com or call 344-5200 x114.