# Got any weird but true trivia? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158 "2003-03-30T04:10:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hokienautic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@Hokienautic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokienautic)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/1 "2003-03-30T04:10:33Z")
This may not be best for IMHO, but it’s the best one I could come up with … weirdness is an opinion sometimes, I guess. Anyway, the Washington Post runs a weekly humor contest called the Style Invitational. I thought this week’s would be quite appropriate for the folks here and wanted to present it to you. The contest is slightly different this time around, though, if you’re familiar with it. Usually it’s a creative exercise, but this time they’re looking for FACTS. Specifically, come up with true facts that are completely unimportant, but in a weird sort of way. The examples are 1. The average garbage disposal motor has a service life of 15 hours. 2. A glass of hippopotamus milk contains, on average, 80 calories. 3. The number of ethnic Bashkirs in Bashkiria is exceeded by the number of Tatars. In neighboring Tataria, the reverse is true. You can see the whole explanation at [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12136-2003Mar22.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12136-2003Mar22.html) if you desire. The deadline is Monday, March 31 and there’s an email address for you to enter – [losers@washpost.com](mailto:losers@washpost.com). Or, you can post here and I’ll use your entry. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/2 "2003-03-30T06:09:46Z")
A polar bear’s liver is so rich in vitaman A that eating an entire one will kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/3 "2003-03-30T07:19:39Z")
The chemical element Gallium, as used in GaAs LEDs (Gallium Arsenide Light Emitting Diodes) is a solid, semi-metallic (actually it is a III-V compound) material at room temperature. Yet, hold a small lump of gallium in your hand long enough and it will melt into a liquid. That is how close one of gallium’s eutectic transition points is to our own ambient temperature. Alloy gallium with minute traces of arsenic and suddenly, +1,000°C furnace temperatures are needed to melt it. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/4 "2003-03-30T07:21:48Z")
Alex Trebek has never been in my kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/5 "2003-03-30T08:48:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > \*\*Alex Trebek has never been in my kitchen. \*\* You failed to phrase your response in the form of a question. 0 points. [Beldar] Ehhnnnngh! [/Beldar] ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/6 "2003-03-30T09:04:21Z")
If you mix Vaseline and Twinkie filling, the mixture will flouresce under ultraviolet light. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/7 "2003-03-30T11:42:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MrVisible \* > \*\*If you mix Vaseline and Twinkie filling, the mixture will flouresce under ultraviolet light. \*\* HOW IN THE HELL DID YOU DISCOVER THAT?!!! 😕 :eek: ---
**Author:** ![King\_Friday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@King\_Friday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Friday)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/8 "2003-03-30T12:07:41Z")
Sincere comes from the latin phrase meaning “without wax” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/9 "2003-03-30T12:24:54Z")
Everybody knows the western Roman Empire was destroyed by the Germans in 476. What is not commonly known is that the Roman Empire was actually restored from 535 to 572. (Well, OK, it was the Byzantines who took over Italy, but they were still the _Roman Empire_.) **King Friday**? Sorry, but that etymology is false. [_Sincere_](http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE223.html) comes from the root \*_sem_- meaning ‘one’ as in _same, simple, simultaneous_, and _single_; plus the root \*_ker-_ ‘to grow’. So the original idea is ‘of one growth’; i.e. natural, not fake. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/10 "2003-03-30T13:40:54Z")
The modern world’s first “Jewish State” was the Jewish Autonomous Republic in the former Soviet Union, established in 1934. Oddly, though, Jews (outside the USSR) did not exactly flock to it. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/11 "2003-03-30T15:30:28Z")
One of the cast members of the children’s TV show _The Banana Splits_ was involved in the design of the artificial heart. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/12 "2003-03-30T15:37:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\*Everybody knows the western Roman Empire was destroyed by the Germans in 476. > > What is not commonly known is that the Roman Empire was actually restored from 535 to 572. (Well, OK, it was the Byzantines who took over Italy, but they were still the _Roman Empire_.)\*\* Is this what they called “The Holy Roman Empire” that I vaguely remember from my high-school history class? ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/13 "2003-03-30T15:48:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hokienautic \* > > 1. The average garbage disposal motor has a service life of 15 hours. I’m calling bullshit on that one. If you used a disposal for just one minute a day this would imply that the motor would only last two and a half years. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/14 "2003-03-30T15:49:39Z")
> [@](#): > > A polar bear’s liver is so rich in vitaman A that eating an entire one will kill you. I’ll bet that’s true, because just the mere _thought_ is making me ill already. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/15 "2003-03-30T16:41:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hawthorne \* > \*\*One of the cast members of the children’s TV show _The Banana Splits_ was involved in the design of the artificial heart. \*\* Don’t you mean Tigger? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/16 "2003-03-30T16:42:27Z")
During the average human lifespan, one spends more time waiting at a stop light, then they do in Highschool. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/17 "2003-03-30T18:04:04Z")
A duck’s quack won’t echo. Oh, wait… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/18 "2003-03-30T19:24:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Revtim \* > \*\*Is this what they called “The Holy Roman Empire” that I vaguely remember from my high-school history class? \*\* No it is not, O **Revtim**. The “Holy Roman Empire” referred to the successor kingdoms of Charlemagne’s realm in Germany. From about the 10th century down to the 19th. Voltaire said it was “neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/19 "2003-03-30T19:48:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Peanuthead \* > \*\*HOW IN THE HELL DID YOU DISCOVER THAT?!!! 😕 :eek: \*\* You know, every time I post that little tidbit of information, someone asks me that exact same question. Usually with those same smileys attatched. Odd. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/20 "2003-03-30T21:47:49Z")
I once read that to aid repairmen in finding leaks in natural gas pipes in desert areas, a certain scent is added to the gas that vultures find “sexually appealing.” The repairmen then just look for the large congregation of vultures to pinpoint the leak. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158.md?page=2)