The "Have You Ever Wondered..." Thread

[D'Snowth]

*Cues the Kermit the Frog SST songof the same name*

I think it's safe to say that most of us here at MC are a curious bunch, are we not? Basically, the idea of this thread is to kind of serve as a Q&A Answers kind of site (because as I've said before, Yahoo! Answers has become nothing more than a sick joke that I would spit on). Has there ever been anything that's tickled your brain to the point that makes you want to ask, have you ever wondered? Ask 'em here!

Here's two that I've wondered to get things rolling...

1. Have you ever wondered why certain holidays have a fixed date on our calendars (New Year's Day - Jan 1, Valentine's Day - Feb 14, Independence Day - July 4, Halloween - Oct 31, Christmas - Dec 25, etc), while others don't have a specific date, but rather a specific time period (Memorial Day - last Monday of May, Labor Day - first Monday of Sept, Thanksgiving - last Thursday of Nov)? I know the religious reasonings behind the observance of the Easter holiday (Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, etc), but not the reasonings behind the others so much.

2. In the spirit of Halloween... have you ever wondered what exactly is it about feeling fear that seems to make us lose our voices when we try to speak, or cry out for help? Even letting out a moan or something is impossible, because no sounds can be made... how does that happen?

 

[Walter]

Good Questions.. Hmm..
1. I have no Idea
2. Fear affects alot of things... I believe it is one of the strongest emotions the body conveys(second to love). I have had situations where I could not speak because I was terrified.. I guess maybe the body is afraid of making itself known in the time it is afraid...But that's just my guess..

 

[newsmanfan]

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1. Try this site: http://www.thebookofdays.com/

It's a marvellous old Victorian tome of collected folklore and fact regarding days of the calendar, many of which are obscure now. I first ran across it doing some research on Victorian Halloween customs (they pretty much invented the way we celebrate the holiday currently).

2. I would theorize lack of oxygen -- it's needed suddenly by the heart and muscles for that whole "fight-or-flight" reaction. But I'm no doctor, Jim, I'm just a journalist!
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[CensoredAlso]

have you ever wondered what exactly is it about feeling fear that seems to make us lose our voices when we try to speak, or cry out for help? Even letting out a moan or something is impossible, because no sounds can be made... how does that happen?

"Fear is such a vicious thing. It wraps me up chains." --Tears for Fears

 

[D'Snowth]

Amnother thing I've wondered about too is we all know that most of the time whenever a movie is aired on a cable TV network (TBS, AMC, TNT, etc), they're usually cut for time and whatnot, which is understandable for all the commercials and whatnot... HOWEVER, I've noticed that with a very small number of exceptions, some movies are actually aired with additional footage that's not seen on movie channels (HBO, Starz, etc) or on the home video releases... I know this has happened with movies like Stuart Little and The Little Rascals... what's the thinking behind that?

 

[minor muppetz]

1. Have you ever wondered why certain holidays have a fixed date on our calendars (New Year's Day - Jan 1, Valentine's Day - Feb 14, Independence Day - July 4, Halloween - Oct 31, Christmas - Dec 25, etc), while others don't have a specific date, but rather a specific time period (Memorial Day - last Monday of May, Labor Day - first Monday of Sept, Thanksgiving - last Thursday of Nov)? I know the religious reasonings behind the observance of the Easter holiday (Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, etc), but not the reasonings behind the others so much.

Yes. And I wonder why Easter is sometimes in March and sometimes in April.

[quote="D'Snowth]2. In the spirit of Halloween... have you ever wondered what exactly is it about feeling fear that seems to make us lose our voices when we try to speak, or cry out for help? Even letting out a moan or something is impossible, because no sounds can be made... how does that happen?[/quote]

No.

 

[minor muppetz]

Amnother thing I've wondered about too is we all know that most of the time whenever a movie is aired on a cable TV network (TBS, AMC, TNT, etc), they're usually cut for time and whatnot, which is understandable for all the commercials and whatnot... HOWEVER, I've noticed that with a very small number of exceptions, some movies are actually aired with additional footage that's not seen on movie channels (HBO, Starz, etc) or on the home video releases... I know this has happened with movies like Stuart Little and The Little Rascals... what's the thinking behind that?

I know additional footage is often also added to television airings of Blazing Saddles,
Ernest Goes to Jail, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and the Problem Child movies. Though I've read that several scenes from the Problem Child movies get censored and the additional footage is added to compensate (having grown up with the TV airings of Problem Child 2 and only recently seeing a commercial release, I feel that most of the cut scenes help the plot better).

Have you ever wondered how a holiday officially becomes a holiday?

 

[D'Snowth]

I used to wonder as a kid why we got holidays from school for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Easter, but NOT Halloween or Valentines Day (V-Day SUCKED in middle school... elementary school, the whole class always had a party, and those little shoe boxes decked out so your classmates could drop little folded pieces of parer with cartoon characters on them, but in middle school, the popular kids got showered with those, boxes of candy, giant stuffed animals, while the unpopular kids were lucky to get one of those cartoon character Valentines from your REAL friends), until I recently learned that TECHNICALLY, Halloween and Valentine's Day are NOT LEGALLY holidays so much as they are just "event" days.

Also,back in my day (I say with a fake old man voice)) only Jewish students were allowed days off during holidays like Yom Kippur and such, but apparently nowadays they let ALL students off during Jewish holidays... it seems like as soon as I graduated, everything I once knew about school suddenly changed.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Also,back in my day (I say with a fake old man voice)) only Jewish students were allowed days off during holidays like Yom Kippur and such, but apparently nowadays they let ALL students off during Jewish holidays... it seems like as soon as I graduated, everything I once knew about school suddenly changed.

That's always been true in the public schools in my area.

 

[D'Snowth]

That's always been true in the public schools in my area.

Well not here apparently... I even remember back in Grade 6 being in school one day, and not knowing why one of my best friends was absent, until in one period, our teacher asked about his absense, and a mutual friend of ours told him that he was off that day observing Yom Kippur, and that waswhen I first found out he was Jewish... well, actually, his father was Jewish and his mom was Christian, so he kind of observed both Jewish and Christian holidays, but I know in cases like that, the children are brought up in their father's religion, so he mostly observed Jewish holidays moreso that Christian. I believe our very own Toga tries to observe an equal amount of both as well.