Rubénerd Blog :)

Graphic from my Fun Facts post series

One of my favourite comedians David Letterman has been unfaithful to his wife and its become public. I admit part of me is disappointed, but it seems with each year that goes on since my mum died my youthful optimism and rosy view of the world and humanity has been dissipating anyway. A sign I’m growing up perhaps, or perhaps I’m just bummed that some people are in relationships but abuse them when I’m not even in one to begin with :P.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks like this, but perhaps in a childish way having watched Letterman for so many years I considered him a distant relative, he’s helped me through some tough times by making me laugh each evening and helped me to understand so much American culture. Along with a ton of British comedies that are too numerous to mention, his absurd sense of humour and deadpan delivery of said humour on The Late Show have also greatly influenced my own.

I’ll definitely still be watching his show, but I guess it’s just jarring when someone whom you’ve idolised and greatly respected and admired since you were a kid turn out not to be a super hero but rather a fallible human being that makes stupid decisions. Kudos to him for coming clean, but now the real test begins.

I don’t think he’ll be able to poke fun at Bill Clinton for a while.

The footy buckling spring keyboard episode!

Getting hate messages a sign of honour; maturity by being able to laugh at yourself; news still being news if its not new; IRC and Twitter mudslinging whatnot; people getting snippy at me quoting David Letterman’s comments on Aussie Rules football; scoring points if you miss; making fun sounds with buckling spring keyboards; the awesomeness of Unicomp in the US of A and this thing called a sense of humour!

Download MP3 to listen 21:16 9.9MiB

You can also view previous episodes, subscribe via iTunes or another client, stream this episode and view its Internet Archive page.

The Nicole Kidman David Letterman episode!

The very lovely Nicole Kidman’s awkward interview on David Letterman’s Late Show (YouTube link); an official apology for Rubenerd Show 258; the joys of insomnia; missing my MadPlayer and Armada M300; DavesPhotoGallery.net; my back hates my MacBook Pro; amazing detail exposed with flash photography (ha!); unscrupulously punching holes though property; automatic bright orange snow shovels; Google Reader and curious white powder on recycling bins!

Download MP3 to listen ↓ 21:09 9.8MiB

You can also stream this episode and view its Internet Archive page.

WARNING: I didn’t make any of these facts up, these are all true facts that I’m submitting as part of my application to become a Singaporean and/or Australian overseas representative of the American Federal Bureau of Miscellaneous Information.

In light of my recent purchase of David Letterman’s Late Show Fun Facts, I’ve been inspired to relay some Fun Facts of my own. I’m nothing compared to Dave and his writers, but the one advantage I do have is being able to use hyperlinks to point people to relevant information. Think of this as a knockoff HyperCard version of the magnificently written Late Show Fun Facts.

Here are 10 Rubenerd Fun Facts to get us started. This could turn into a series (I can hear Neil Neil groaning!).

1. The world’s only recorded sighting of an orange beetroot was by a person wearing tinted glasses.

2. Jim Kloss once owned 300 hectares of tundra in northern Siberia, but had to give it up when he couldn’t read the tax forms.

3. Right handed people find it just as difficult to write with their feet as the ambidextrous.

4. Australia and Austria are the only two countries to have the same first five letters. Tough luck Slovakia and Slovenia!

5. Custard, hair tonic and transmission fluid are chemically identical.

6. Headaches aren’t real, they’re all in your head.

7. Labradors aren’t really smarter than other breeds, they’re just better at feigning interest.

8. More people have been filmed falling out of office chairs than hot air balloons.

9. The current dulcimer record is held by Esther Golton who played continuously for over 19 weeks before the instrument caught fire.

10. The ice that builds up on the inside of old fridges is more toxic than arsenic.

11. A brick is denser than a full can of paint, but both feel the same when dropped on external bodily appendages.

I’ve been ordering a lot of items off the intertubes over the last month: a Moleskine book, a university textbook I was able to get at half price compared to the book shop here, Girls for Dummies (is there such a thing?), but all these pale in comparison to the shipment I received today from Amazon.com which included a book for my sister and my very own copy of Late Show Fun Facts!

Now dear reader you may be asking yourself why someone like me would spend over twenty dollars in shipping for two hard cover books, and the answer may shock you. Unfortunately as far as I know, books by David Letterman are unavailable at bookshops in Australia. I tried the Borders in Rundle Mall, Angus and Robertson, Dymocks, the Pancake House on Hindley Street, nothing!

The brach of the American Borders book chain and the gigantic Japanese Kinokuniya in Takashimaya in Singapore claimed the book was available, but was perennially out of stock. Interesting considering the Late Show with David Letterman isn’t shown on any free-to-air or cable TV station in Singapore! My theory is so many people from Singapore (I guess I could count myself in here too) study in Australia and the US where Dave is shown every late night when university students would be up, he’s developed a cult following. There’s a Fun Fact for you right there!

Screenshot of the Late Show from my TV tuner running in the background at 1/2 size. A little Letterman :)

The Late Show with David Letterman previously aired on Channel Nine here in Australia but he was generally axed from the late night lineup whenever there was a show they had to run long, or if there was a special on something else. Not only that, but the episodes tended to be played completely out of order, and generally weeks out of date. Since Network Ten picked it up, they run the latest episode from the US which aired the previous night (given the timezone difference) at 23:15.

Now if only Aussie bookstores started stocking Dave’s works, and if Network Ten didn’t play advertisements at all so we could hear Paul Schaffer and his fabulous CBS orchestra I’d be an even happier guy!

In the meantime I’ll be carrying my copy of Fun Facts from the American Federal Bureau of Miscellaneous Information everywhere and will be reading them to everyone. And I mean everyone. Except maybe the train and bus drivers, they probably shouldn’t be distracted. I mean, I know they’d be fascinated to know that only six people live in Wyoming, or that the smallest bunch of bananas ever recorded was one banana, but I also value my life. And my copy of Fun Facts.

Procurement of said book

If you live in Australia or another part of Asia your best bet to get a copy of Fun Facts is from the Japanese Amazon website because the shipping is a fraction of the price… of course I only found that out AFTER I bought mine from the American Amazon site. Fun Fact! If you’re in the UK they also stock it.

And of course don’t forget: Edison was not only the inventor of the lightbulb, but he was also the first person to change a lightbulb! You read it here first! Unless you have a copy of David Letterman’s Late Show Fun Facts.

Come hoooooooooooooooooome…
Come hoooooooooooooooooome…
It’s supper time!

Audio problems, the new Rubenerd Show theme song (David Letterman style), George Bush and John Howard planting a tree, Will It Sink? (Very weird combination of household items!).

Download MP3 ↓ 10:00 minutes, 6.4MiB

You can also stream it and view its Internet Archive page.