Notes • July 9, 2025by johnataylor on TwosFun Facts—Jack Black Edition: His mother, Judith Love Cohen, a NASA scientist, worked through a problem for the 'Apollo 13' mission while in labor with Jack. Like her son, Judith was a multifaceted person. After growing up in Brooklyn, she danced professionally for the New York Opera Ballet. She was the eighth woman to be accepted into UCLA's engineering program and completed her undergrad and master's degrees during the same 10 years she had three children. In 1990, after retiring from practice as an engineer, she began a publishing company called Cascade Pass with her third husband, David Katz. Jack’s older half-brother Neil Gilbert Siegel is also gifted as a computer scientist, systems engineer, and engineer, known for his development of many key systems for the United States military, including the Blue-Force Tracking system, the U.S. Army's first unmanned air vehicle system, and the US Army forward-area air defense system. Neil’s personal science and engineering contributions included many of the most-important techniques for transitioning the internet from wired to wireless operation. He didn't learn to play guitar until he was 23. Mike White got the idea for ‘School of Rock’ while black was his neighbor. Black channeled his terror of recording at Jack White's studio into a song about that very thing. As Black told Jimmy Kimmel in 2019, this was very intimidating for the group, so they channeled their anxiety into their new song, ‘Don’t Blow it Kage,’ which premiered during the COVID-19 lockdown. He starred in a failed TV pilot about a talking motorcycle (think Knight Rider on two wheels) voiced By Owen Wilson, that has since become a cult classic. Black is the lead singer and guitarist for the comedy rock/hard rock duo Tenacious D along with Kyle Gass.