Nerd History

March 24 in Nerd History

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Here are 5 things that happened on March 24th that might be of interest to those of us who remember wood paneling on video game systems.

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Birthdays of honor: The Undertaker (1965), Jim Parsons (1973), Harry Houdini (1874), Steve McQueen (1930), Alyson Hannigan (1974), R. Lee Ermey (1944), Louie Anderson (1953), Robert Reed Carradine (1954), Nena (1960), Ub Iwerks (1901).

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Damon Wayans gifted the world with Major Payne in 1995, Troop Beverly Hills was released in 1989, and the Power Rangers reboot came out in 2017. All of which never got the critical acclaim they deserved, unlike 1972's The Godfather, also released widely on March 24.

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Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys perform their first live gig in 1962. Oh right, the band happened to feature a young Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who would go on to do OK for themselves. Hard agree with the band name change...

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The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was released in America in 2002, and I am still fishing those waters.

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The Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 was discovered in 1993. I swear it didn't always have that 9 in the name, did it?

Put the Star Wars movies in chronological order

Back in 1977, Star Wars was simple. For starters, it was just called Star Wars — no episode titles to contend with. Three movies came out, told a story, and bam, everyone moved on with their lives. Right? One speed bump in that plan was that it nearly instantly became one...

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

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Elisabeth Shue withdrew from which prestigious university to be in The Karate Kid?

The name Elisabeth Shue, for many of us, is synonymous with a leisurely afternoon catching a movie sometime in the 1980s. From the highly underrated Adventures in Babysitting to a couple of Back to the Futures to her breakout in 1984’s The Karate Kid, it seems that acting must...

Who was the only actor from the original Top Gun NOT to vomit during their time in fighter jets?

Here’s something that will take your breath away: Flying in an F-14 Tomcat. These bad boys can reach a Mach speed of up to 2.34, or roughly 1,795 miles per hour. When Top Gun first came out in 1986, it was not the cultural powerhouse it is...

What ‘90s sitcom aired three potential series finales before a final series finale in 1996?

The 1990s were the last great golden age of TV sitcoms. Sure, you have a handful of great shows that popped up in the aughts, but then streaming came along and since about 2015 most people are still just trying to figure out what to watch (and where you can...

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