# Amazing bullshit true facts that are in fact true. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 27, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514 "2013-01-27T03:44:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/61 "2013-01-30T15:53:57Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > A properly shuffled deck of cards has a sequence that has never been seen before in the history of the world and will never be seen again. > > In other less surprising words, 52! is a very big number. While I agree that 52! is a very big number, your assertion is only true if you define “properly shuffled” as “a sequence that has never been seen before in the history of the world and will never be seen again.” Otherwise, you can shuffle the deck as many times as you want, and there’s a non-zero probability that the resulting order has occurred before or will happen in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/62 "2013-01-30T20:27:04Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > While I agree that 52! is a very big number, your assertion is only true if you define “properly shuffled” as “a sequence that has never been seen before in the history of the world and will never be seen again.” > > Otherwise, you can shuffle the deck as many times as you want, and there’s a non-zero probability that the resulting order has occurred before or will happen in the future. Fair enough. I was using the term “never” in the sense of “far less likely than you personally becoming president of the USA and winning the lottery on the same day”, not the true mathematical sense. By properly shuffled I just mean effectively randomized. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/63 "2013-01-30T21:13:19Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > Fair enough. I was using the term “never” in the sense of “far less likely than you personally becoming president of the USA and winning the lottery on the same day”, not the true mathematical sense. By properly shuffled I just mean effectively randomized. In other words, the number is so large that we are justified in feeling completely and totally confident that that sequence of cards has never occured before. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/64 "2013-01-30T21:19:41Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I’m not trying to be a jerk, but why is that interesting? It sounds like she had a rather mundane job. Shirley Clarkson “marketed the Paddington Bear” in the sense that she took a storybook character and transformed it into a highly successful line of toys (stuffed animals). > **[Ever wondered why Jeremy Clarkson is such trouble? Well, meet his mum...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1026641/Ever-wondered-Jeremy-Clarkson-trouble-Well-meet-mum-.html)** > > Even if you didn't know whose mum she was, you could hazard a shrewd guess. Shirley Clarkson has robust views on political correctness, global warming and niggling constraints. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/65 "2013-01-30T21:38:13Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > In other words, the number is so large that we are justified in feeling completely and totally confident that that sequence of cards has never occured before. By \*my caluclations: If \*\*100 billion people shuffled cards 100 times a day for \*\*60 years, they would deal about 2 \* 10[sup]17[/sup] number of hands. 52! ≈ 8 \* 10[sup]67[/sup] So. . . about a one in 4 \* 10[sup]50[/sup] chance. Definitely non-zero. But not my much. \*Disclaimer: I went to public school in the Deep South, so these numbers are decidedly suspect. \*\*A resonable estimate as to the number of people who have ever been born. \*\*\*Let’s say they started at age 10, and lived to age 70. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/66 "2013-01-30T22:04:39Z")
Fact: you’ve probably never heard of [Ingria](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingria) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/67 "2013-01-30T22:58:32Z")
The first major battle of the American Civil War was fought near Manassas. Wilmer MacLean, a local grocer, found his home taken over (and subsequently shelled) as a military headquarters. Seeking safety from the fortunes of war, MacLean sold his land and moved further south - to Appomattox, where four years later MacLean’s parlor would host Generals Grant and Lee during the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/68 "2013-01-30T23:20:40Z")
Speaking of Kennedy, Hitler caused Kennedy to be president. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/69 "2013-01-30T23:40:57Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Speaking of Kennedy, Hitler caused Kennedy to be president. Time-Travelling Nazis? Fiends! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/70 "2013-01-31T00:23:12Z")
Shortly before Pearl Harbor was attacked. . . on December 8, 1941, the Japanese forces attacked the British forces in Singapore. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/71 "2013-01-31T01:00:58Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Shortly before Pearl Harbor was attacked. . . on December 8, 1941, the Japanese forces attacked the British forces in Singapore. Time-Traveling Japanese Imperialists? Fiends! ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/72 "2013-01-31T01:29:35Z")
An investor in George W Bush’s early oil venture was…Osama Bin Laden’s half-brother. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/73 "2013-01-31T01:40:42Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Time-Travelling Nazis? Fiends! Something like that. In WWII JFK was riding a desk in Washington. Since JFK was JFK he was banging a hot broad. She happened to be Inga Arvad. Inga was a Danish journalist who got close to several Nazis before the war in order to get an interview with Hitler. She was his guest at the 1936 Olympics. Although I have seen nothing to suggest she was a Nazi she was photographed with Hitler and was being followed by the FBI. When the Navy found out about it Kennedy was transferred out of naval intelligence and sent to the Pacific. Who knows what would have happened. But JFK did use his status as a war hero to propel his political career. So if Hitler had not been photographed with Inga Arvad JFK may have spent the war behind a desk and may have never been president. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/74 "2013-01-31T01:50:45Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Something like that. > > In WWII JFK was riding a desk in Washington. Since JFK was JFK he was banging a hot broad. She happened to be Inga Arvad. Inga was a Danish journalist who got close to several Nazis before the war in order to get an interview with Hitler. She was his guest at the 1936 Olympics. Although I have seen nothing to suggest she was a Nazi she was photographed with Hitler and was being followed by the FBI. When the Navy found out about it Kennedy was transferred out of naval intelligence and sent to the Pacific. Who knows what would have happened. But JFK did use his status as a war hero to propel his political career. So if Hitler had not been photographed with Inga Arvad JFK may have spent the war behind a desk and may have never been president. Oh. I had assumed you meant that if not for the Nazis and WWII we’d have had [JPK](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kennedy_Jr.) instead of JFK. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/75 "2013-01-31T02:17:28Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > Time-Traveling Japanese Imperialists? Fiends! Something like that. Singapore is on the “other” side of the International Date Line, so it was already December 8. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/76 "2013-01-31T02:33:25Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > Oh. I had assumed you meant that if not for the Nazis and WWII we’d have had [JPK](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kennedy_Jr.) instead of JFK. He certainly was the one being groomed. But Hitler didn’t kill him directly. At least I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/77 "2013-01-31T08:00:05Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Fact: you’ve probably never heard of [Ingria](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingria) Wrongful assumption. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/78 "2013-01-31T09:02:01Z")
[Georges Lemaître](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre), a Catholic priest, proposed a theory of the origin of the universe that was given a dirisive nick-name by a critic that has stuck to this day. The “Big Bang” theory. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/79 "2013-01-31T11:52:45Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Fact: you’ve probably never heard of [Ingria](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingria) Cool. I’d never heard the term, and I’ve traveled through the whole place, by train, bus, and boat. The flag has a kind of Rothkoesque mesmerizing effect (at least the Wikipedia version does, as viewed on a smartphone). ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/80 "2013-01-31T13:26:51Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Wrongful assumption. Did you also hear them yelling “Boo-urns?” 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514.md?page=5)