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…
Poor planet. It must be hard to be the butt of so many jokes.
LikeLike
“Butt…” huh huh…huh huh…
LikeLiked by 1 person
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.
LikeLike
After all, Uranus IS a gas giant…
LikeLike
How is toilet paper like the USS Enterprise? They both circle Uranus looking for Klingons.
LikeLike
rimshot
LikeLike
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.
LikeLike
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…
LikeLike
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
LikeLike
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….
LikeLike
I heard that Uranus is very gaseous.
LikeLike
Like I said, a gas giant.
LikeLike
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.
LikeLike
Glad you enjoyed it!
LikeLike
I never knew that about the naming of planets. Interesting. Off to read your other post about Herschel.
LikeLike
As I was writing this, I had this funny deja vu feeling, like “I’ve written about this already, haven’t I?” Fortunately, the posts are complementary.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I realized after I’d read the original. Still good stuff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Another interesting post.💜
LikeLike
Glad you liked it!
LikeLike
Good one, John. William Herschel put a little joy into every boy’s school day.
LikeLike
Funny and interesting
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person