# Tell me something I don't know **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 6, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084 "2009-07-06T15:10:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/81 "2009-07-09T18:03:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I am hungry. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/82 "2009-07-09T18:12:10Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > And Pittsburgh is further east than Miami. No way. I looked at a US map and there is still no way. Could you have meant Philadelphia? ETA: I stand corrected. You are right. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/83 "2009-07-09T18:17:41Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > Cite? I just ate two footlong subs. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/84 "2009-07-09T18:26:12Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > I don’t mean to be a party pooper, but these kinds of “trivia” are only surprising if you don’t know the basic geography of the places involved. No. Knowing the “basic geography” of the United States will not lead you to the insight that Pittsburgh is farther east than Miami. To know that, you have to know that the Atlantic coast bends eastward more than enough to offset the separation between Pittsburgh and the coast. There is nothing basic about this knowledge. Most maps of the United States are projected from a central meridian near the middle of the country, which causes the Northeast to be canted leftward. This is why the eastern-ness of Pittsburgh (and all the Northeast) will surprise most people. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/85 "2009-07-09T18:34:53Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > No. Knowing the “basic geography” of the United States will not lead you to the insight that Pittsburgh is farther east than Miami. To know that, you have to know that the Atlantic coast bends eastward more than enough to offset the separation between Pittsburgh and the coast. There is nothing basic about this knowledge. > > Most maps of the United States are projected from a central meridian near the middle of the country, which causes the Northeast to be canted leftward. This is why the eastern-ness of Pittsburgh (and all the Northeast) will surprise most people. I guess what I meant is that either it’s a matter of knowing the basic geography (like the fact that most of North Dakota lies north of most of Maine), or it’s really, really trivial, like this one. (Ok, I didn’t know P-Burgh was _East_ of Miami, but it’s not really far east of it, and I did know some of PA was, so it didn’t surprise me.) I stand by my opinion that these type of “did you know X was n/s/e/w of Y” factoids are usually devoid of whatever makes good trivia good. So as not to be a thread-leach: Did you know that in England, they also _walk_ on the left side of the street? Sure, it makes sense, but it took me a good 5 minutes to figure out why walking through the crowded train station we got out of felt like swimming through molasses (oh! they walk on the other side too!) I mean, we were city folk, so it was baffling as to why we kept stumbling into people. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/86 "2009-07-09T19:01:06Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > The disctintion arises from marine law term and rights of salvage. Since jetsam is cast away by the crew, the owner forfeits ownership of it, so it’s up for pickins by anyone; floatsam remains the property of the owner. Note also that under the Maritime Law rule of “general average” (also known as the York-Antwerp Rules) the owners of the ship and of any other cargo on board can be required to compensate the owner of the goods which were thrown overboard as jetsam to save the ship and the remaining cargo. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/87 "2009-07-09T19:02:00Z")
Andrew Johnson, David G. Farragut, George H. Thomas and Sam Houston were all Southerners who remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln once said that he liked a preacher “who looks like he’s fighting bees.” Charles Darwin married his first cousin, which was not terribly unusual at the time. FDR and Churchill were both irritated by Charles de Gaulle. Hitler met with Francisco Franco just once, for the better part of a day, after which the German leader told an aide, “Next time I’d rather just have a tooth extracted.” An Army officer offered to get Truman a hooker when he visited Berlin in 1945; the President curtly declined. Margaret Mitchell, author of _Gone with the Wind_, died after being hit by a cab. Mark Twain was instrumental in seeing that the nearly-destitute Ulysses S. Grant got a great book deal for his autobiography, which Grant finished just days before his death. During the Cold War, British prime ministers wrote secret letters, to be opened only in the event of nuclear war, for the captains of the Royal Navy’s missile-armed submarines. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle considered “Sherrinford” as a possible first name for his Baker Street detective. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/88 "2009-07-09T20:09:41Z")
In early drafts of _The Lord of The Rings_, Aragorn’s character was a hobbit on stilts named “Trotter”. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/89 "2009-07-09T20:50:28Z")
The last King of England to be murdered was arguably King George V. In order for his death to be annouced in the morning papers (rather than risk the ignominy of it appearing first in the evening editions) the King’s private physician gave the already ailing monarch a heavy late-night dose of morphine and cocaine to hasten his end. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/90 "2009-07-09T20:55:20Z")
> [@Rack-a-Bones](#): > > One thing that sure came as a surprse to me was that Steve Martin is accomplished banjo player. Had no idea unitl I heard him on Prairie Home Companion Guess you’re too young to have ever seen any of his stand-up or heard any of his wildly popular comedy albums. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/91 "2009-07-09T21:09:31Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > In early drafts of _The Lord of The Rings_, Aragorn’s character was a hobbit on stilts named “Trotter”. Reminds me of my favorite, fun, more famous, historical LotR fact: the early name for Celeborn was “Teleporno”. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/92 "2009-07-09T21:15:10Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I just ate two footlong subs. Then you’re wrong- you _were_ hungry. Now you’re full. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/93 "2009-07-10T13:08:03Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > Did you know that in England, they also _walk_ on the left side of the street? Is this a whoosh? I’ve lived my entire life in England without noticing this supposed rule. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/94 "2009-07-10T14:54:03Z")
The oldest city in the USA, besides all those the Indians built, is not Jacksonville, Florida. Its Pensacola, Florida. After Pensacola was founded, it was promptly destroyed by a major hurricane. By the time it was rebuilt, Jacksonville had already been founded. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/95 "2009-07-10T15:08:00Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > The oldest city in the USA, besides all those the Indians built, is not Jacksonville, Florida. Its Pensacola, Florida. > > After Pensacola was founded, it was promptly destroyed by a major hurricane. By the time it was rebuilt, Jacksonville had already been founded. cite? I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but (a) it makes no sense that the first settlement would have been on the panhandle on the Gulf of Mexico rather than on the Atlantic coast and (b) you got the supposed fallacy wrong. I’ve never seen anyone say “Jacksonville” was the oldest settlement. **St. Augustine** , OTOH, is the official oldest settlement, established in 1565. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/96 "2009-07-10T15:14:37Z")
It’s true. Pensacola was founded in 1559, then abandoned in 1561 due to hurricane damage. It was resettled in 1696. St. Augustine is the oldest _continuously inhabited European settlement_ on the US mainland, but not the oldest settlement. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/97 "2009-07-10T15:15:12Z")
> [@Claire\_Beauchamp](#): > > cite? I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but (a) it makes no sense that the first settlement would have been on the panhandle on the Gulf of Mexico rather than on the Atlantic coast and (b) you got the supposed fallacy wrong. I’ve never seen anyone say “Jacksonville” was the oldest settlement. **St. Augustine** , OTOH, is the official oldest settlement, established in 1565. Your right, I misremembered it as Jacksonville because its near St Augustine (just another one of those big east coast florida cities in my mind 🙂 Explorers dont just stop at the first place they come to you know. They wander and wander and wander until they start getting tired of wanders and then look for a good place to stop. Pensacola was were they stopped because it was a good place to stop, not the the first place they could. Besides the hurricanes that is. This area is, historically speaking, pretty much the place in the US that gets hit with the most hurricanes. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/98 "2009-07-10T15:23:36Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Humans have been to the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench, only once. > > In 1960. > > For 20 minutes. Something we don’t know, **Ludovic** , something we _don’t_ know. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/99 "2009-07-10T15:24:04Z")
> [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](#): > > Is this a whoosh? I’ve lived my entire life in England without noticing this supposed rule. I shit you not. First, it’s not a hard-and-fast rule, but more of a trend: in the US, when people approach each other on the sidewalk or in a crowded train station, everyone breaks to the right. In England, to the left. I didn’t notice this rule in the US for a long time, but there it was: Most people were subconsciously breaking to the right. Maybe we wouldn’t have noticed the difference, except that our first walking experience outside of the Manchester airport was the Birmingham rail station. It was very obvious there. As tourists, we were spending lots of times in crowded city centres and rail stations, so maybe this was why it was so noticeable to us. Take a walk in Manhattan, and tell me you don’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/100 "2009-07-10T15:26:23Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > Take a walk in Manhattan, and tell me you don’t see it. Take a look at any Mall in the USA. People tend to walk on the right side as they shop. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084.md?page=6)