# 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:** 110
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2185 "2021-06-24T04:12:51Z")
I just stumbled across this while doing research amongst old newspapers. This is from 1915, and just too amazing not to share The Pacific Coast Biscuit Company of Portland Oregon, back in 1915, urged mothers to serve their kids **Swastika Graham Crackers**. The box is emblazoned with a big swastika in a sunburst. Really > **[File:Pacific Coast Biscuit Company-12.jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pacific_Coast_Biscuit_Company-12.jpg)** Yeah, I know – swastikas were a good luck symbol. They represented the ci5rcular motion of the heavens. It was an Indian symbol in both senses – subcontinent of and American original inhabitants. And this swastika isn’t balanced on its point. But you look at that ad and it hits you right in the Solar Plexus. I’ll bet if anyone had one of those boxes today it’d go for a pretty penny at auction ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2186 "2021-06-24T05:41:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yeah, I know – swastikas were a good luck symbol. My late mother’s condo building was built long ago enough that the ornate tile work surrounding the swimming pool features reverse swastikas. We always called it “the nazi pool”, much to her dismay. The building is on the annual city architectural tours and the pool always gets surprised notice from participants. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2187 "2021-06-24T08:21:44Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > And Johnny Appleseed’s fruits weren’t for eating but for apple cider. Also good for making apple pie. (As American as apple pie.) ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2188 "2021-06-24T09:46:34Z")
According to Forbes, Scrooge McDuck is the wealthiest fictional character, worth an estimated $9.2 billion. mmm ---
**Author:** ![cytop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f17d59/32.png) [@cytop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cytop)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2189 "2021-06-24T12:23:02Z")
These trundled around Dublin in the 50s, early 60s … bang up to date now - complete with charging point! [![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G5l11firFxw/Uo3vRCXsQsI/AAAAAAAAUIw/zCk4d6JYfkQ/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/Swastika+Laundry+Dublin.jpg) ](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G5l11firFxw/Uo3vRCXsQsI/AAAAAAAAUIw/zCk4d6JYfkQ/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/Swastika+Laundry+Dublin.jpg) ---
**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 25, 2021, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2190 "2021-06-25T10:30:21Z")
A few days ago we had a day out in Penshurst Place, Kent. > **[Penshurst Place](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penshurst_Place)** > > Penshurst Place is a historic building near Penshurst, Kent, 32 miles (51 km) south east of London, England. It is the ancestral home of the Sidney family, and was the birthplace of the great Elizabethan poet, courtier and soldier, Sir Philip Sidney. The original medieval house is one of the most complete surviving examples of 14th-century domestic architecture in England. Part of the house and its gardens are open for public viewing. Many TV shows and movies have been filmed at Penshurst. > Pe... That part of Kent is stiff with castles, stately homes and so on. In fact, Penshurst is only three miles from Hever Castle. Now, this is where it gets slightly weird. Anne Boleyn was born and raised in Hever Castle. At a distance of 3 miles, it’s almost inconceivable that Anne didn’t visit Penshurst. At the time she was living at Hever, Penshurst was owned by… Henry VIII (rather conveniently the previous owner had been a bit traitorous and so it became crown property). Now, if you haven’t seen The TV series **Wolf Hall** , you really should, if only for Mark Rylance’s performance, which won pretty much every award going (and rightly so). Wolf Hall details, as part of the story, the stormy relationship between Henry and Anne. > **[Wolf Hall (TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Hall_(TV_series))** > > Wolf Hall is a British television serial first broadcast on BBC Two in January 2015. The six-part series is an adaptation of two of Hilary Mantel's novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, a fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More, followed by Cromwell's success in freeing the king of his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Wolf Hall was first broadcast in April 2015 in the United States on PBS Th... And one of the locations used to film Wolf Hall was … Penshurst Place. > Wolf Hall was filmed in two locations in Kent: Dover Castle doubled for the Tower of London, and the Long Gallery, Tapestry Room, and Queen Elizabeth Room at Penshurst Place were used as specific rooms in Whitehall (York Place), which was Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII’s residence. The Long Gallery doubled as Anne Boleyn’s chamber. So did Henry and Anne ever get it on in the stately home used, five centuries later, for the filming of them getting it on? And indeed, was that thought part of the process of selecting filming locations? Here, sadly, [I’ve run light on fact](https://www.penshurstplace.com/explore/learn/fun-facts): > Penshurst Place was once owned by Henry VIII who used it as his hunting lodge. Henry **may have** stayed at Penshurst while secretly courting Anne Boleyn when she was at Hever Castle, prior to their marriage in January 1533. It was also **rumoured** that Henry had earlier enjoyed a liaison with Anne’s younger sister, Mary, and some of their meetings may have taken place at Penshurst. My bold {Sighs}. If anyone can fill in the gaps in this story, please do. j ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2191 "2021-06-27T18:46:54Z")
The word or word element “drift”, as in “driftwood”, is etymologically related to “drive”. I know, it’s obvious after a moment’s thought, yet the notion of “drifting” seems rather passive while “driving” seems purposeful and active. In German the relationship is much more obvious: _Treib-_ = “drive” (verb stem) _Treibholz_ = “driftwood” ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2192 "2021-06-27T23:32:15Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > The word or word element “drift”, as in “driftwood”, is etymologically related to “drive”. I know, it’s obvious after a moment’s thought, yet the notion of “drifting” seems rather passive while “driving” seems purposeful and active. In semi-conductor physics, the passive process is called “diffusion”, and the driven process is called “drift”. In that context, “drift” can be a fast high-energy process. I don’t think it had ever occurred to me that the “drift” was semantically related to the “drive”. The language sometimes adds to the confusion of beginner students. Perhaps the person who originated the terms was German? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2193 "2021-06-28T01:31:00Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I don’t think it had ever occurred to me that the “drift” was semantically related to the “drive”. In terms of phonology, the derivation of drift from drive is obvious (as I now realize). I don’t know at the moment where the /t/ in “drift” came from, but the changing of the /v/ in “drive” to /f/ , when followed by the voiceless /t/ is an instance of of a very common phenomenon in Germanic linguistics. Essentially, the idea is that a voiceless consonant within a consonant cluster tends to make the entire cluster voiceless. in the case of “drift” this is reflected in the spelling. In very many past tense verbs, however, the tense marker in writing remains a “d” but is pronounced as a /t/. This happens when the final consonant of the verb is voiceless, as in “duck” or “kick”. Another example is “snowdrift” and “[pure as] the driven snow”. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2021, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2194 "2021-06-28T01:49:04Z")
drift = drived, I believe. In any case, there’s shrive / shrift, weave / weft, cleave / cleft, sieve / sift, heave / heft, and others. ---
**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 28, 2021, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2195 "2021-06-28T01:51:56Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > The word or word element “drift”, as in “driftwood”, is etymologically related to “drive”. I know, it’s obvious after a moment’s thought, yet the notion of “drifting” seems rather passive while “driving” seems purposeful and active. Old joke: if a vodka and OJ are a screwdriver, what’s a vodka and prune juice? (A pile driver) “Drive” has a few different meanings. If applied to a car, it’s like “guide.” But there’s also the sense of “push/move,” less specific. One site mentions: > (compare thrift/thrive) > **[drift | Search Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=drift)** > > The online etymology dictionary (etymonline) is the internet's go-to source for quick and reliable accounts of the origin and history of English words, phrases, and idioms. It is professional enough to satisfy academic standards, but accessible... Thrift and thrive…I didn’t equate those, either. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2196 "2021-06-28T19:49:59Z")
Watching documentaries while half asleep has watching them while awake beat to hell. My Antho degree dates from long before the Denisovan people were invented, so I had on a show about them. The cave where they were discovered was named after the resident hermit named Dennis. It’s twoo; It’s twoo! > **[Denisova Cave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denisova_Cave)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Denisova Cave (Russian: Денисова пещера, romanized: Denísova peshchéra, lit. 'the cave of Denis'; Altay: Аю-Таш, romanized: Ayu Tash, lit. 'Bear Rock') is a cave in the Bashelaksky Range of the Altai mountains, Siberia, Russia. The cave has provided items of great paleoarchaeological and paleontological interest. Bone fragments of the Denisova hominin originate from the cave, including artifacts dated to around 40,000 BP. A 32,000-year-old pre... Later on they started talking about how the finest cave art was drawn by autistic cavemen, but I went back to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2197 "2021-06-30T12:58:21Z")
Henry Hathaway, director of the 1969 _True Grit_ among many other Hollywood films, was the grandson of Marquis Henri Léopold de Fiennes, who had been tasked by King Leopold II of the Belgians to acquire the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiians are rightly aggrieved by Sanford Dole, but wow, horrible if Leopold had gotten his claws in! ---
**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 30, 2021, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2198 "2021-06-30T13:37:55Z")
I’ve been reading lots of old newspapers (mainly from the 1920s through 1960s) while doing some genealogy research. Here’s something I recently learned: the press reported on damn near _everything_. You stayed in the hospital for a couple days? There’s a short paragraph on it. You got straight A’s this quarter in school? It’s in the paper. You volunteered to help your neighbor? The press somehow found out and reported it. And there was lots of self-reporting. Your parents came to visit you? It’s in the paper. You’re wanting to hire someone? Put it in the paper. A 10 year old girl is having a birthday party? A paragraph listing everyone in attendance is in the paper. Someone stole clothes off your clothes line? Complain about it in the paper. _Everything_ was in the newspaper. ---
**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 30, 2021, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2199 "2021-06-30T14:22:14Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > And there was lots of self-reporting. Oh, yeah. I grew up in a very small Minnesota town that had a weekly paper. College classmates loved to come spend a weekend there because they knew that they would make the paper (along with home cooking): > Joe Blow was home from college visiting his parents Sean and Seanette for the weekend, accompanied by his friends Barney Flintstone and Fred Rubble. ---
**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 30, 2021, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2200 "2021-06-30T15:30:03Z")
I found out the other day that the wife of someone I used to be really good friends with is now the mayor of a town in Colorado. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2201 "2021-06-30T15:53:23Z")
Two nature-related facts that we discovered in our back yard about a month ago. - Squirrels need to chew things to prevent their teeth from getting too long. Included in the things they can chew are our plastic resin Adirondack chairs - Grackles (a type of bird), when they are raising their young, will transfer “fecal sacs” of their young out of the nest (in order to not attract predators) to convenient bodies of water, such as our bird bath which, by the way, is located about five yards from our squirrel-chewed chairs. Fortunately the fecal sac thing only goes on for a few weeks, until the younglings are mobile. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2202 "2021-06-30T15:58:55Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > Squirrels need to chew things to prevent their teeth from getting too long. Included in the things they can chew are our plastic resin Adirondack chairs My mom kept a bovine skull on our patio. Surprised the hell out of me when we moved to the New Orleans 'burbs and the local squirrels started gnawing on it. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2203 "2021-06-30T16:00:20Z")
If there’s anything left of the bovine skull, can you send it to Montreal? 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2204 "2021-06-30T16:04:11Z")
I haven’t seen the skull in at least a decade. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=109) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=111)