'The Simpsons': 13 Jokes That Sailed Over Our Heads

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'The Simpsons': 13 Jokes That Sailed Over Our Heads

I enjoy this list of interesting facts, I really do. It is one thing to have a passing knowledge of these facts. It is another thing entirely to actually go and research them. It has been said that the only thing we regret in life is the things that we don't do. We can always have regrets for things we didn't do, but regrets for things we didn't do are like an empty stomach. The more you eat, the less you're hungry. You could always have done something, but now you regret not doing it. So I had a lot of regrets that I never did the research for this list. I guess if I hadn't gone ahead and done the research, I wouldn't have the regrets, but now I have them, and I think they're pretty cool. Here's another thing about regrets. The reason you aren't upset or annoyed by the fact that you know these facts is because you have already forgotten most of them. It takes a lot of work to keep track of more than ten facts, so when you have ten or twenty facts, you can only remember a small fraction of them.

Ahoy Hoy.

Ahoy Hoy. CRACKED.COM Mr. Burns' chosen phone greeting of ahoy hoy seems like just a funny little character choice, but this is actually the original phone greeting suggested by telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell in the 1800s. Ahoy, had been around for at least 100 years longer than hello. It too was a greeting (a nautical one) derived from the Dutch hoi, meaning hello. Graham Bell felt so strongly about ahoy that he used it for the rest of his life.

NPR

More from Bart the Genius.

More from Bart the Genius. y=r2/3 r2 or RDRR CRACKED.COM When Bart swaps his answer sheet with Martin Prince, everyone thinks he has an IQ of 216. At his new school, The Learning Center for Gifted Children, the teacher writes an equation and says: So y equals r cubed over three, and if you determine the rate of change in this curve cor- rectly, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. The other children laugh, but the teacher asks: Don't you get it, Bart? Derivative dy equals three r squared dr over three, or r squared dr... or r dr

ZME Science

More like Maggie the genius.

More like Maggie the genius. M S CRACKED.COM Foreshadowing all the math to come in this episode. Back in 1990, The Simpsons' second episode ever, Bart the Genius, opens with Maggie stacking alphabet blocks to form EMCSQU. Without any letters or equal sign, this is the closest Maggie could get to form the fa- mous equation E = mc2.

ZME Science

One of Smithers’ many hints.

One of Smithers' many hints. CRACKED.COM Let Smithers float! In Who Shot Mr Burns Part 2, after Smithers thinks he shot Mr. Bruns, he goes into a Catholic church to confess. In the confession box he says, Father, I'm not a Catholic. I tried to march in the St. Patrick's Day parade... but, anyway... This joke refer- ences the criticisms that the annual St. Patrick's Day parade doesn't allow floats from gay organizations, or gay marchers.

NYTimes

Martin has heard of this Ray Bradbury character.

Martin has heard of this Ray Bradbury character. THE ELECTION PROCESS /. NOMINATIONS 2.CAMPAIGN ECTION CRACKED.COM Martin might be aware, but we are not. In sea- son 2, episode 19, Lisa's Substitute, Martin Prince is in the running for class president, and delivers the speech, As your president, I would demand a science-fiction library, featuring an ABC of the genre. Asimov, Bester, Clarke! When albino classmate Wendell Borton asks, What about Ray Bradbury? Martin dismissive- ly brushes him off with a quick, I'm aware of his work. Many sci-fi fans and critics consider the first three names listed as classic

Slate

Homer works out the mass of the Higgs Boson.

Homer works out the mass of the Higgs Boson. M(H2)= TT (137) 8 hc 3987 12 + 4365 12 (=4472 12 n(t.) > I CRACKED.COM Homer is so S MR т. In season 10, episode 2, The Wizard Of Evergreen Terrace, the equa- tions on Homer's chalkboard features one put together by David Schiminovich, an astronomer at Columbia University. The top line on the board estimates the mass of the Higgs boson (expressed as M(HO) on the board) by combin- ing elemental physics, namely the Planck con- stant, the gravitational constant, and the speed of light. The crazy this is that was

WhatCulture

Brevity is… Wit.

Brevity is... Wit. WELCOME FINALISTS BREVITY IS... WIT CRACKED COM Levels... Too many levels. In season 3, epi- sode 2, Mr. Lisa Goes To Washington, the 'Welcome Finalists' sign is sponsored by Reading Digest, and it reads, Brevity is... wit. It's a jab at how Readers Digest edits articles in a way that removes their nu- ance, and fundamentally changes their meaning. To get this one, you'd need a rough working knowledge of Shakespeare to know that it's a contraction of the apho- rism, brevity is the soul of wit, which Po- lonius uses in Hamlet. By shortening it, they've literally

WhatCulture

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