# Odd Things You've Learned Recently **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 9, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437 "2013-09-09T20:49:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/61 "2013-09-13T02:40:26Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > Not true. Palms of hands, underside of fingers, lips and (if you’re male) the critical inches of your penis are not. Also, aren’t your toes below your ankles, technically? The upper sides of your toes have hair. Not if you have heart disease. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/62 "2013-09-13T02:45:09Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > The intro and outro to “With a Little Help from My Friends” are the same! That’s why “Billy Shears” is the start of the song – it’s not the end of SPLHCB, nor some ambiguous connective thing. > > Don’t believe me? Listen… “Billllyyyy Shears”… And then, at the end, “Ahhhh ahhhh ah”. … !!! I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. If it starts with Billy Shears and ends with Ahhhh ahhhhh ah, how is that the same? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/63 "2013-09-13T03:35:41Z")
I found out the hard way today that big toes have 2 major nerves. The “inside” one is fairly straight, and the “outside” one curves around the whole toe. If you ever get a large splinter under a nail, ask that the digit be blocked first. Trust me on this. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/64 "2013-09-13T08:41:09Z")
The building that burned in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire which killed 146 garment workers a century ago [is still standing.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_Building) I had always assumed that it had been destroyed by the fire. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/65 "2013-09-13T09:16:34Z")
All apples of a particular variety, say Golden Delicious, come from basically the same single tree. [_For 2,000 years, growers have attached the root of one tree to the shoot of the desired fruit to clone it through a process called grafting. Making a genetic copy of the preferred fruit is the only way to get reliable apple quality._](http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0811-cloned_apples.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/66 "2013-09-13T14:29:31Z")
Rabies is an awful, awful way to die, too. IIRC, near the end they just put you into an induced coma because it’s so terrible. My fun fact for today? Voyager 1 has 68 KB of memory. 68 **K** B! Blows my damn mind. ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/67 "2013-09-13T19:11:54Z")
I knew that raw kidney beans are poisonous. I recently learned that they and green beans are the same species. I also learned that though they have less poison in them in general than kidney beans, mature green beans are more toxic than young ones and cooking them in sub-boiling water increases their toxicity. Finally, I learned that a cereal bowl full of old, under-cooked green beans contains enough poison to cause hours of distress. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/68 "2013-09-13T20:14:01Z")
> [@Mithras](#): > > I knew that raw kidney beans are poisonous. I recently learned that they and green beans are the same species. I also learned that though they have less poison in them in general than kidney beans, mature green beans are more toxic than young ones and cooking them in sub-boiling water increases their toxicity. Finally, I learned that a cereal bowl full of old, under-cooked green beans contains enough poison to cause hours of distress. Ok, hold up. I seriously need a cite for this one. Celtling _loves_ frozen green beans and eats them raw by the cup-full all the time. What kind of poison are we talking about here? :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/69 "2013-09-13T20:33:31Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Ok, hold up. I seriously need a cite for this one. Celtling _loves_ frozen green beans and eats them raw by the cup-full all the time. What kind of poison are we talking about here? > > :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: [Phytohaemagglutinin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaseolus_vulgaris#Toxicity) Not deadly toxic, except possibly secondarily. Causes massive digestive distress. The cite is for kidney beans and doesn’t mention green beans. They ARE the same species, though. ETA: Green beans are apparently blanched before freezing, but I don’t know if that’s long enough cooking to make them safe. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/70 "2013-09-13T20:40:53Z")
Although…reasoning it out here. The phytohaemagglutinin is mostly found in the seeds of beans, and green beans are really just the pod, the actual seeds not having fully developed yet. She MAY be in the clear, but nobody online seems to want to come down off the fence. I’d say if she hasn’t gotten sick yet, she’s probably not going to, although I’d worry about bacterial contamination unless you’re really washing them thoroughly with some kind of antibacterial vegetable wash. ETA: Disclaimers - YMMV, IANADr, IANADi, free advice is usually worth what you paid for it, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Eyed_Stranger)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/71 "2013-09-13T20:48:33Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > About hummingbirds: I had the temerity to walk by a feeder on my way into a restaurant near Banff this summer and got an earful from a male Rufous hummingbird who harangued me to the door. I can’t speak the lingo, but I’m pretty sure he was describing my dubious parentage, habits, sexual preferences and lack of intelligence in some pretty explicit ways, not to mention that I should go do something improbable to myself… Assholes of the bird world, even if they are cute. > … All the talk about hummingbirds reminded me that recently I learned that while hummingbirds may be feisty, praying mantis’ occasionally [eat](http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/learn/hummingbirds/mantis-hummer.php#) [them](http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2009/09/10/mantis_catches_hummingbird_pic/). From the second link: > [@](#): > > A quick perusal of YouTube finds that mantises are accomplished hunters of a range of species, including mice. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/72 "2013-09-13T20:59:19Z")
Yet another reason to avoid office potlucks and all of the mystery crock pots…though the symptoms just seem like the expected result of a proper bowl of chili 🙂 > **[Phaseolus vulgaris | Toxicity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaseolus_vulgaris#Toxicity)** > > The toxic compound phytohaemagglutinin, a lectin, is present in many common bean varieties but is especially concentrated in red kidney beans. White kidney beans contain about a third as many toxins as the red variety; broad beans (Vicia faba) contain 5 to 10% as much as red kidney beans. > Phytohaemagglutinin can be deactivated by cooking beans for ten minutes at boiling point (100 °C, 212 °F). Insufficient cooking, such as in a slow cooker at 80 °C/ 176 °F, is insufficient to deactivate all toxi... If the beans are cooked at a temperature below boiling (without a preliminary boil), as in a slow cooker, the toxic effect of haemagglutinin is increased: beans cooked at 80 °C (176 °F) are reported to be up to five times as toxic as raw beans.[6] Outbreaks of poisoning have been associated with cooking kidney beans in slow cookers.[6] The primary symptoms of phytohaemagglutinin poisoning are nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Onset is from one to three hours after consumption of improperly prepared beans, and symptoms typically resolve within a few hours.[6] Consumption of as few as four or five raw, soaked kidney beans can cause symptoms.[6] ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/73 "2013-09-13T22:01:15Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > Not true. Palms of hands, underside of fingers, lips and (if you’re male) the critical inches of your penis are not. Also, aren’t your toes below your ankles, technically? The upper sides of your toes have hair. I can’t believe I’m posting this The head of one’s penis has no hair follicles, but the same cannot necessarily be said of the shaft. Perhaps you don’t find those inches to be critical. ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/74 "2013-09-13T22:02:43Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Ok, hold up. I seriously need a cite for this one. Celtling _loves_ frozen green beans and eats them raw by the cup-full all the time. What kind of poison are we talking about here? > > :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: I don’t have cites more authoritative than what’s been posted, but based on Wikipedia, other online discussions I read, and my experience it’s pretty hard to poison yourself with green beans. As mentioned, the poison is in the beans themselves and not the pods. Immature beans (which are what you’d find in a bag of frozen green beans) have much less poison than a mature bean. Also, cooking them in boiling water destroys the poison while cooking them at a lower temperature will make it more potent. Even then, they’re not very toxic. You need to eat a lot of them. Taking those three points into consideration, I think that even if frozen green beans aren’t precooked long enough to destroy all of the poison (which they may be), you’d need to eat way more than a cup to experience any problems. But I’m not a toxicologist so I’m not making a statement with the intention that anybody actually rely on it. In my case, I did everything exactly wrong. We had beans in our garden that were already beyond ready to eat so the actual beans were relatively huge. We were going away for a few days and I figured that I’d better eat them all the night before we left or they’d be wasted. I really like(d) raw beans but at the time figured I’d boil them for a bit more as a means of cleaning them than anything else. But I didn’t want to cook them much so I threw the beans in the pot well before the water boiled and pulled them out after a few minutes. There were so many it was hard for me to finish them, too. So I woke up a couple hours after going to bed feeling very uncomfortable/weird, then nauseous, and then had the gastrointestinal issues. After a few hours I was mostly okay except for feeling like I had a hangover for the rest of the day. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/75 "2013-09-13T23:00:20Z")
I don’t know if I learned much, but I had an interesting (to me anyway) observation today: I’m working on a fence project, and as I was laying out the new wire I saw that the effing fire ants had started 2 new nests right where I was going to be working. The wire has to mostly go out on the ground to keep my rotten terrier from digging, meaning that I have to be on hands and knees for most of the work - crawling through fire ant mounds didn’t sound like fun. I was out of ant bait, of course, and was hoping to get the project done today, and preferably in the morning when it’s cool and shady. So I boiled several big jugs of water and doused the new mounds well, and after a bit went back and poked to see what activity there was. It WAS greatly reduced, but still enough of the miniscule monsters that I gave up and went to get proper ant treatment. (I hate having to use poison ☹ but the little SOBs don’t take hints and they’re vicious). When I got back this afternoon I went to treat the mounds with the nasty stuff, and saw these little reddish glistening piles here and there on the nest sites. There were just a few live ants left, and apparently they’d been working all day carrying the carcasses of the dead up and out of the mound and stacking them in little (or not so little from an ant’s POV!) heaps. I squatted there and watched for a while, it was fascinating in a sad sort of way. Made me feel kinda guilty 😕 But, I have to get that fence in, so I hardened my heart and doused the areas liberally with ant killer, and tomorrow I’m back to work. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/76 "2013-09-13T23:38:30Z")
Thanks for the bean info. I think we’re OK, but it might explain the rise in night-time belly aches. Giant salamanders are really much larger than I thought. And if fact larger than I wanted to know. . . [http://www.techkings.org/attachments/pet-central/9088d1365965897t-far-out-creatures-chinesegiantsalamander\_zpsb36dbb91.jpg](http://www.techkings.org/attachments/pet-central/9088d1365965897t-far-out-creatures-chinesegiantsalamander_zpsb36dbb91.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/77 "2013-09-14T00:07:49Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Giant salamanders are really much larger than I thought. And if fact larger than I wanted to know. . . [http://www.techkings.org/attachments/pet-central/9088d1365965897t-far-out-creatures-chinesegiantsalamander\_zpsb36dbb91.jpg](http://www.techkings.org/attachments/pet-central/9088d1365965897t-far-out-creatures-chinesegiantsalamander_zpsb36dbb91.jpg) WHOA! :eek: I had no idea they could get that big. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/78 "2013-09-14T00:26:09Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Hoss Cartwright had a real given name, mentioned once, or something like that, in the first season. Hoss’ given name was Eric, and it’s been mentioned more than once, although not frequently. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/79 "2013-09-14T01:31:40Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. If it starts with Billy Shears and ends with Ahhhh ahhhhh ah, how is that the same? Right, I should have been clearer. I meant in melody and harmony (chords). ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437/80 "2013-09-14T01:39:01Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > All apples of a particular variety, say Golden Delicious, come from basically the same single tree. > > [_For 2,000 years, growers have attached the root of one tree to the shoot of the desired fruit to clone it through a process called grafting. Making a genetic copy of the preferred fruit is the only way to get reliable apple quality._](http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0811-cloned_apples.htm) Basically true of many commercial fruits- seedless grades are all cloned. Have to be, they don’t have seeds. Bananas too. We’ve been eating cloned food all along. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-youve-learned-recently/668437.md?page=5)