# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/121 "2014-02-24T05:53:19Z")
George was a magazine founded by JFK Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/122 "2014-02-24T06:21:43Z")
The cities of Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish possessions on the coast of Morocco. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/123 "2014-02-24T06:28:44Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > One of the three indicators that a girl will likely enter puberty early is if she is living in the same house with an adult male who is not genetically related to her. I’m not calling ‘cite’ because I dispute your statement, but I’d be fascinated to read further on this phenomenon… My mind is boggling ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/124 "2014-02-24T06:45:43Z")
A nursing mother produces different “recipes” of breast milk depending on the gender of the baby. [http://medicmagic.net/formula-milk-for-girls-and-boys-should-be-distinguished.html](http://medicmagic.net/formula-milk-for-girls-and-boys-should-be-distinguished.html) I wonder what happens if the mother is nursing two babies, one a boy and one a girl. ---
**Author:** ![Alba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alba)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/125 "2014-02-24T08:03:51Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Humans have been to the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench, only once. > > In 1960. > > For 20 minutes. This is no longer true [James Cameron](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120325-james-cameron-mariana-trench-challenger-deepest-returns-science-sub/) I wonder if this is still true > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I am hungry. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/126 "2014-02-24T16:00:18Z")
I’m a little hungry too, come to think of it… ---
**Author:** ![Whammo72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Whammo72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo72)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/127 "2014-02-24T18:37:03Z")
Maine is closer to Africa than Florida. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/128 "2014-02-24T18:45:38Z")
Oh, no, Florida is much closer to Africa than Maine is. 😉 > [@Alba](#): > > > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > > I am hungry. > > I wonder if this is still true It is. But there might have been some gaps in between where it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/129 "2014-02-25T00:21:46Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Oh, no, Florida is much closer to Africa than Maine is. 😉 Er, no it isn’t. Maine is closer to Africa than Florida is, and, indeed, closer to Africa than any other of the United States. (Just look on a globe and it is fairly obvious; maps may be less clear, depending on the projection used.) No doubt this is what **Whammo72** was saying. Most people would probably guess that Florida is the closest U.S. state to Africa, but they would be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/130 "2014-02-25T01:24:43Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > I’m not calling ‘cite’ because I dispute your statement, but I’d be fascinated to read further on this phenomenon… > > My mind is boggling Well, I was repeating what I learned eight years ago, and I went back and looked it up. It is true, but there is no certain explanation. Bruce Ellis, a psychologist in New Zealand, did the initial research. It is possible that any really significant at a specific age will cause early onset puberty, and a stepfather could simply be such a stressor. [cite](http://uanews.org/story/ua-study-sheds-light-relationship-between-absent-fathers-and-early-puberty) But even if it is more general than having an unrelated adult male in the house, there still is no explanation of why. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/131 "2014-02-25T02:04:15Z")
Cat lovers prefer Prego pasta sauce. Dog lovers prefer Ragu. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/132 "2014-02-25T02:22:01Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > And I was surprised to learn, very recently with all the scandal about the George Washington Bridge, that it’s a east-west bridge, with the WEST end in New Jersey and the EAST end in New York. > > Shows how much geography I know. The same is true of the Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Bayonne Bridge, Goethals Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing. Shows how much geography I know. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/133 "2014-02-25T02:56:24Z")
Windsor, Ontario is south of Detroit. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/134 "2014-02-25T04:02:36Z")
Otters have to be taught to swim. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/135 "2014-02-25T22:39:00Z")
The world’s first installed parking meter was in Oklahoma City, on July 16, 1935. The first shopping cart was invented and used in Oklahoma City at Standard Food Markets in 1937. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/136 "2014-02-26T03:28:57Z")
In 1881, the city of San Jose, California built an electric light tower, 237 feet tall, putting out 24,000 candlepower, that was designed to provide sufficient light for the city such that individual street lights would have been unnecessary. The amount of light put out by the tower proved to be insufficient for the job, and the tower collapsed in 1915. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/137 "2014-02-26T04:31:37Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Otters have to be taught to swim. Otterwise they drown. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/138 "2014-02-26T05:56:15Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The same is true of the Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Bayonne Bridge, Goethals Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing. > > Shows how much geography I know. 😉 The Bayonne runs north-south. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/139 "2014-02-26T06:06:01Z")
Nachos were invented in 1943, and were so named because the guy who invented them was named Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya. In response to several military wives who came to his restaurant after closing time and wanted snacks, he made them something out of what he had left at the end of the day: tortillas and cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084/140 "2014-02-26T16:01:40Z")
The fictional detective Nancy Drew doesn’t have a middle name, a fact readers learn in **Nancy’s Mysterious Letter** , which she receives, although it’s addressed to Nancy Smith Drew, and is, in fact, intended for another person. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-i-dont-know/502084.md?page=8)