# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 105
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2085 "2021-06-08T17:56:07Z")
I read something about small town people having a better sense of the time of day than big city folk. Noon sirens was one of the reasons claimed for that difference. I kind of miss it. It was still going off some years back. It was the fire department siren and I think they still use it for volunteer calls. You’d be surprised how many high school students were volunteer firemen who had to rush out of class when they heard it sound twice on a nice day. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2086 "2021-06-08T18:30:32Z")
Small towner here as a youth. We had a noon siren, I’m trying to remember if we had an evening one. My fading memory says yes - if it was originally a ‘sundown’ siren, it had long since become a “get your butt home for supper” siren. If it was chasing minorities, it would have been Native Americans (Dakato Sioux reservation 10 or so miles away). ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2087 "2021-06-08T18:35:55Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > I know, from first-hand experience, that Japanese often put Tabasco sauce onto pizza. I thought I’d just add that plenty of American Millennials got used to doing this in college. They graduated a while ago, but kept up the tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2088 "2021-06-08T18:51:55Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I thought I’d just add that plenty of American Millennials got used to doing this in college. They graduated a while ago, but kept up the tradition. I was putting tabasco on my pizza as early as 1975 at college. It just made sense. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2021, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2089 "2021-06-08T19:32:34Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > We had a lively discussion about the [noon whistle](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-noon-whistle-did-you-grow-up-with-one/666516) here some years ago. > > My local childhood noon whistle still sounds off to this day Our town had a noon whistle (well, more like a siren), which was partly a test of the fire whistle. We had a volunteer FD and the siren told people there was a fire. In the days before 911 calls, people would contact the operator, who was located above my grandfather’s store. She’d pass on the location information to him (no one was at the firehouse) and he’d direct the engines when they went by. It continued through the 60s. The noon whistle tested whether the device was working. I suspect that started during WWII when it was also used to alert for air raids. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2090 "2021-06-08T20:55:22Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > > [@Treppenwitz](#): > > > > Three related facts and a turn of phrase to make you catch your breath. > > > > Back in the day I used to live not far - ten minutes walk, say - from the Royal Earlswood Hospital. I didn’t realize at the time that it was the first institution of its type: [snip] > > Wasn’t it preceded by [Bedlam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlem_Royal_Hospital)? OK, I guess I should have been clearer - but the “claim to fame” is in the first sentence in the wiki box: > The Royal Earlswood Hospital, formerly The Asylum for Idiots and The Royal Earlswood Institution for Mental Defectives, in Redhill, Surrey, **was the first establishment to cater specifically for people with developmental disabilities**. Yeah, it’s Wikipedia so it’s not an unimpeachable source, but I didn’t see anything in the Bedlam wiki to contradict this. As an aside, all this came up from talking to a friend who used to work there. One of the people they knew there nursed, and was fond of, Katherine Bowes-Lyon. j ---
**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:** [June 8, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2091 "2021-06-08T21:00:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Amherst itself is a very small town and I would say, at least 95% white. Oh sure, NOW it’s 95% white. The whistle’s working. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2092 "2021-06-08T21:35:17Z")
In my hometown, several churches sounded bells at 5:00 PM, which we all presumed was for kids to know when to head home for dinner. In the recurring “Pickin’ and Grinnin’” feature on Hee-Haw, Buck Owens and Roy Clark are playing one version of the song “Cripple Creek”. They would occasionally break into singing it: _Goin up Cripple Creek, goin in a run_ _Goin up Cripple Creek, have a little fun_ _Goin up Cripple Creek, goin up Cripple Creek, goin in a whirl_ _Goin up Cripple Creek, to see my girl_ [This version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPV0X9fif-g) by African American musician Jimmie Strothers replaces the last couplet with _Drinking whiskey, drinkin beer, don’t let sundown catch you here_ ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2093 "2021-06-08T22:16:26Z")
I posted this in a Café Society thread, but I find it interesting enough to share here, too: When David Lee Roth and Van Halen parted ways (the first time?), Eddie Van Halen’s first choice as the new vocalist was [Patty Smyth](https://blabbermouth.net/news/patty-smyth-why-i-declined-invitation-to-join-van-halen/). ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2094 "2021-06-08T23:52:54Z")
In Singapore, it’s not Tabasco sauce on every pizza, it’s just generic red sauce – which naturally, being Singapore, is a very mild chili sauce. Having food without chili would be like having food without salt. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2095 "2021-06-08T23:57:08Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I lived in Japan forever, and it’s common. Thanks! > [@digs](#): > > I thought I’d just add that plenty of American Millennials got used to doing this in college. They graduated a while ago, but kept up the tradition. > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I was putting tabasco on my pizza as early as 1975 at college. It just made sense. Hm ok. So not just a Japan thing. I stopped watching TV in the late 90’s so I missed the TV commercial, and hadn’t yet seen folks outside of Japan doing this. Actually, it’s interesting how common this (tabasco onto 'za) turned out to be. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2096 "2021-06-09T15:14:13Z")
For some reason I’ve always liked MacArthur Park despite the nonsensical cake line. Classic disco. Muskrat Love, like all of The Captain & Tennille’s _oerve_ is simply horrific. The one that gets me turning the knob within 1 or two beats is Eddie Rabitt’s _**[I Love a Rainy Night](https://www.youtube.com/embed/MG0e8_foDmU)**_. All his stuff is awful, but that one is sooo over the top. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2097 "2021-06-09T18:43:31Z")
A friend of my then wife was at a bar in Hollywood in the early 90s. She was young and very cute and, at the time, very drunk. She said some old rock star was hitting on her. She had barely heard of him and couldn’t remember if it was Eddie Rabbitt or Eddie Money. I told her that she dodged a bullet either way. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2098 "2021-06-09T23:28:14Z")
If you can stomach his voice, Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing, Co!ossal Podcast has a great interview with Jimmy Webb, who wrote MacArthur Park. His explanation is that he and his girlfriend used to picnic in that park and one time they got caught in a downpour where, yes, they left the cake out in the rain. Simple as that. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2099 "2021-06-09T23:39:57Z")
I went to college in downtown LA at a time when MacArthur Park itself and the surrounding MacArthur Park neighborhood were pretty cool. Kind of a homeless & crazy magnet now, but back then it was good times. Had some good picnics w GFs there too. No rained-on cakes for me though. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2100 "2021-06-09T23:41:30Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > … if it was Eddie Rabbitt or Eddie Money. I told her that she dodged a bullet either way. Yeah. Two no-talent hacks with delusions of coolitude. Then again, if I had their budget or their retinue back in the day … ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2101 "2021-06-10T00:01:48Z")
Max Cannon wrote a RedMeat cartoon featuring Bug Eyed Earl in which Earl says the other day he was in an Antique store, where he’d seen a dilapidated, old, rocker. In the next panel, Earl says, “said his name was Eddie Money”. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2102 "2021-06-10T00:16:31Z")
First pressurized cabin aircraft. 100 years ago! [![](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/eixw532erz4o7ym/1.png?dl=0) ](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/eixw532erz4o7ym/1.png?dl=0) [![](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/xuqx2ezi9d4yzb2/2.png?dl=0) ](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/xuqx2ezi9d4yzb2/2.png?dl=0) AFLCMC History Office Published June 7, 2021 McCook Field (U.S. Air Force, Dayton, Ohio) test pilot Harold R. Harris made the world’s first flight in a pressurized cabin aircraft. Previous high altitude flights had demonstrated the need for aircraft pressurization due to the cold and lack of oxygen & pressure. In 1920 Lt Albert Carl Foulk of the Equipment Branch of McCook Field’s Engineering Division designed and had built a one-man steel tank: 4 feet high, 3 feet long, and 2 feet wide, with small portholes and an in-ward-opening door. They installed it in a McCook-built USD-9A biplane. Flight controls operated via cables run through rubber-sealed holes in the cabin and instruments were mounted outside on the top wing. A wind-driven supercharger provided pressurized air, but the controls were all automatic. On 6 June 1921, Harold Harris made the first flight, but air leakage rates were so unexpectedly low that the cabin over pressurized to the equivalent of 3,000 feet below sea level, with no way for Harris to shut off the system or open the door. Because he was flying in his usual tennis shoes, he couldn’t even break a window with his shoe heel. He opened a small exhaust valve, reduced his speed to slow the supercharger, and landed safely back at McCook after reaching only 3,000 feet in altitude. When the pressure subsided and Harris exited, he said only that his ears hurt, though observers noted he was red as a beet and sweating because the cabin temperature was 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Though research continued on this project through 1922, a notable lack of success and small budgets led to the project’s cancellation. They learned that automatic safety valves, temperature controls, and adequate visibility were key. It wasn’t until 1935 that Wright Field resurrected the program with great success on the XC-35 program, leading to the technology’s transition to both commercial airlines and WWII military aircraft, notably the B-29 bomber. (Photos: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Note the instruments mounted on the wing in the picture.) ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2103 "2021-06-10T00:23:49Z")
What was the working title for the album “The Beatles,” a.k.a. the “White Album”? A) A Raisin in the Sun B) A Doll’s House C) Death of a Salesman D) The Iceman Cometh E) None of the above B-A Doll’s House. Source: [The Beatles (album) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_(album)) During production, the album had the working title of _A Doll’s House_ . This was changed when the English [progressive rock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_rock) band [Family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_(band)) released the similarly titled _[Music in a Doll’s House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_in_a_Doll%27s_House)_ earlier that year.[[130]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_(album)#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMacDonald1997286-135) A painting of the band by [John Byrne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byrne_(playwright)) was also considered for the album cover. The piece was later used for the sleeve of the compilation album _[The Beatles’ Ballads](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles%27_Ballads)_ , released in 1980. In 2012 the original artwork was put up for auction.[[169]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_(album)#cite_note-176)[_[better source needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTRS)_ ] ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2104 "2021-06-10T00:36:37Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > On 6 June 1921, Harold Harris made the first flight, but air leakage rates were so unexpectedly low that the cabin over pressurized to the equivalent of 3,000 feet below sea level, with no way for Harris to shut off the system or open the door. It’s not often that one risks the bends from an aircraft flight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=104) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=106)