Are There Rings Around Uranus? #socs

Stream of Consciousness Saturday 1 Minute
Uranus is second from the right. Image by Comfreak from Pixabay

We were playing Trivial Pursuit with a bunch of friends one night, and this question came up when it was my turn:

Does Uranus have an aurora?

Kind of took me by surprise, but I quickly recovered and said "I don’t know. I never looked." We laughed quite a bit at that.

The planets in the solar system are all named for Roman gods except Uranus. If they had been consistent, the seventh planet from the Sun would be Caelus. Why they shifted to the Greek god for the sky, I can’t explain. No, I think I can: William Herschel, who discovered the planet, was a smartass, as I pointed out here.

By the way, Uranus is a gas giant…

Bill Cosby (remember him?) used to have a syndicated five-minute radio show that ran on WCFL every night between Ron Britain and Barney Pip. One of the recurring characters on the show was Captain Oh-wow!, whose catchphrase was "Ring that bell!" after which he’d ring a bell. He had a block of wood he’d hit with something that he called the "dumb bell." The night Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, the news pre-empted Bill Cosby. I remember I was furious about that. I was just 12, what can I say?

Ring-A-Ding-Ding is a 1961 album by Frank Sinatra. Here’s the title track, written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn. Frank liked their music.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you each week by Linda Hill and this station. Now a word about Newport menthol cigarettes. Newport tastes smoother!

I’m just trying to figure out how the guy would explain the good-looking blonde to his wife…

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

23 thoughts on “Are There Rings Around Uranus? #socs”

  2. I always giggle when I read or hear the planet’s name. “Ring around the rosy.” Came into my head. Maybe I should have called my dog Uranus since he can emit very noxious gases. Enjoyed listening to Frank.

    Like

  3. Pingback: The “Only 40 Days Until Christmas” Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  5. Funny how we mark those moments. I still remember the morning radio show we were listening to when they broke in with news about the Twin Towers.

    Like

    1. I was watching Bozo’s Circus when Kennedy was assassinated. The Twin Towers wasn’t as auspicious: I was driving to work and listening to the news…

      Like

  6. I never gave much thought to Uranus. That’s just an unfortunate name when many people (myself included) have the sense of humor of a teenage boy. Uranus makes me uncomfortable. There! I said it. I oved the segues into other things, though!

    Kim

    Like

    1. That’s the thing about stream of consciousness writing: who knows where the stream ends up taking you?

      Like I said, they should have named it Caelus….

      Like

  8. There are so many Uranus jokes waiting to be told over and over again. Thanks to Mr. Herschel for his possible sense of humor and to you, John, for sharing it.

    Like

Comments are closed.