# 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:** 111
**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 30, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2205 "2021-06-30T16:26:01Z")
We have skulls all over the place. Here’s a deer. [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/4v8X9rr.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/4v8X9rr) ---
**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 30, 2021, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2206 "2021-06-30T16:52:09Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > _Everything_ was in the newspaper. Back in the 1970s I was roommate with a guy from a small town in Montana. Once a week he got the local town weekly by mail. It was filled with things like “The Smiths had the Joneses over for dinner on Monday”. So you don’t have to go that far back. You only have to go to a place where not a lot was hapening, but they still needed to fill the inexhaustible maw of news reporting. Plus it got peoples’ names in the paper, which also leads to sales. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2207 "2021-06-30T17:48:24Z")
There’s also the list of kids on the honor roll for the semester or the articles about which college kids are on the dean’s list at university. ---
**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, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2208 "2021-06-30T18:16:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > the articles about which college kids are on the dean’s list at university. The owner of our paper (our neighbor, actually) loved those press releases from the colleges (free copy!). He was always urging college-bound kids to make sure they listed the _Messenger_ as where the college office should send notices of accomplishment. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2209 "2021-06-30T18:48:26Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > _Everything_ was in the newspaper. Good grief. That’s almost as bad as Facebook in printed form. With this degree of uselessness, it’s no wonder people referred to newspapers as “mullet wrappers” or other similarly derogatory terms. ---
**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, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2210 "2021-06-30T19:29:04Z")
How cool is that? But does it entertain squirrels? 😀 ---
**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 30, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2211 "2021-06-30T19:35:45Z")
Yeah, by modern standards those old papers must have been a hoot. My mom was researching genealogy and found some old obituaries written like this: > In the Feb. 7, 1865, edition of the Baltimore Sun, one death notice included a brief eulogy to a promising young man’s life cut short at exactly 21 years, eight months and 10 days. > > “The subject of this notice was married but six weeks ago. He had just embarked in business and possessed the health and vigor to render it profitable when the strong hand of affliction was laid upon him, and the form recently so manly was soon prostrate in death.” > **[How Obituaries Went From Dry Death Notices to Tributes to Truth](https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/funerals/obituary-history.htm)** > > Obituaries do more than just let the world know someone died. They're a chance to pay tribute to someone, advocate for a cause or even settle a score. The article also says: > Genevieve Keeney, president of the [National Museum of Funeral History](https://www.nmfh.org/) in Houston, Texas, says that death notices published in local newspapers also functioned as quasi-legal documents. Since the newspaper was a public forum, a death announcement served to notify creditors who might want to file a claim against the deceased’s estate. I’ve actually visited that museum…while there I learned that soldiers in the US Civil War sometimes had legs amputated and so had to be carried in a wicker basket, hence the term “basket case.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2212 "2021-06-30T20:10:35Z")
> [@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 Or the waterproofing insulation off a [fritz! crackle! wizzzz! pop!] telephone line. 😡 ---
**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 30, 2021, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2213 "2021-06-30T20:58:54Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > _Everything_ was in the newspaper. When I was around 8, we had a class assignment to write to a celebrity. Everyone wrote to movie stars, famous politicians, etc., but I wrote to the mayor of our small suburb. Soon there was a front-page article about me and my family in the local newspaper, complete with a photo of me and the mayor. My first 15 minutes of fame. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2214 "2021-07-01T01:59:38Z")
If left where they can get it. Antlers and bones are great rodent treats. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2215 "2021-07-01T11:38:01Z")
Newspapers (at least in Montreal) routinely published [addresses](https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Fr8DH2VBP9sC&dat=19270110&printsec=frontpage&hl=en) of accident victims - e.g the 76 (known) victims in a tragic movie theatre fire in 1927. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2021, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2216 "2021-07-01T14:15:04Z")
I have a friend who bought a stack of vintage newspapers at a garage sale. They were all from a small Wisconsin town and spanned a couple of years back in the 50s. He was soon poring over the yellowed papers, piecing together the lives of people like Georgie T. Winster, who was on the winning lawn bowling team, active in the local Odd Fellows charity drive, and retired after 35 years “on the line” at the Mid-County Saw Blades factory. But then was “publicly chastised” for shoplifting a small packet of throat lozenges from Wellmeyer’s Pharmacy. Oh, and somewhere in there, Georgie had a sister and her husband visit from “down by Chicago”. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2021, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2217 "2021-07-01T17:32:28Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > Newspapers (at least in Montreal) routinely published [addresses](https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Fr8DH2VBP9sC&dat=19270110&printsec=frontpage&hl=en) of accident victims - e.g the 76 (known) victims in a tragic movie theatre fire in 1927. My sister modeled a bit and they published her address with a pic. She got some pervs calling her. Also, art imitates life? > When a stranger gets off the bus from New York City, the folks in Mayberry are naturally curious. When he strolls into the [barbershop](https://mayberry.fandom.com/wiki/Floyd%27s_Barbershop) - calling everyone by name and knowing things that no stranger should know - their suspicions go into overdrive, especially since nobody knows who he is. In fact, Ed Sawyer’s knowledge of the goings-on in Mayberry is uncanny. Soon, as a result, he’s accused of being everything from a foreign spy to a space alien - or worse! - and his friendly attempts to fit in and settle down are coldly rejected. Andy, on the other hand, seems to be the only one in town unwilling to judge Ed until he knows the facts. After a particularly curious encounter twixt Ed and [Lucy Matthews](https://mayberry.fandom.com/wiki/Lucy_Matthews), the woman he loves - whom he’s never even met! - Ed asks Andy for help and explains how Mayberry came to be his “hometown”, revealing that he’s a loner with no family and no real home. It seems that, in the army, Ed befriended Joe Larson from Mayberry (son of Pete and Edie Larson) and loved the stories Joe told about “back home” so much that he began to take the town newspaper and tell folks that he was from Mayberry. > **[Stranger in Town](https://mayberry.fandom.com/wiki/Stranger_in_Town)** > > Ed Sawyer, a mysterious stranger, arrives in Mayberry and disrupts the lives of the townspeople because he appears to know everyone's name, intimate details about their lives, and other startling facts about them. When a stranger gets off the bus... Yeah, that used to be a thing—subscribe to the hometown paper while serving in the armed forces or after moving away to live in the big city. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2218 "2021-07-02T02:49:02Z")
Cripes. I recently watched (on youtube) a forgetable B&W movie with a very similar plot (minus the newspapers). Stranger drifts into town, meets the local heiress, is mistaken for crook/spy, turns out to be awarded soldier who wants to adopt the town of his dead buddy… ---
**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:** [July 2, 2021, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2219 "2021-07-02T12:24:53Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Also, art imitates life? I couldn’t help but notice that this is essentially the plot of the 1982 Gerard Depardieu film **The Return of Martin Guerre** which, in turn, was based on a real 16th century case in France > [@](#): > > **Martin Guerre** , a French peasant of the 16th century, was at the centre of a famous case of [imposture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor). Several years after Martin Guerre had left his wife, child and village, a man claiming to be him appeared. He lived with Guerre’s wife and son for three years. > > The false Martin Guerre was eventually suspected of the impersonation. He was tried, discovered to be a man named **Arnaud du Tilh** and executed. The real Martin Guerre had returned during the trial. The case continues to be studied and dramatised to this day. > **[Martin Guerre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Guerre)** > > Martin Guerre (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}French pronunciation: \[maʁtɛ̃ ɡɛʁ\]), a French peasant of the 16th century, was at the centre of a famous case of imposture. Several years after Martin Guerre had left his wife, child and village, a man claiming to be him appeared. He lived with Guerre's wife and son for three years. > T... There was a Richard Gere film **Sommersby,** that used the same plot and was obviously based on Martin Guerre, but set after the American Civil War. In all these cases the imposter learned all the town details by being a companion of the man he was impersonating, not from a newspaper. Very weird to see the _Andy Griffith Show_ anticipating _The Return of Martin Guerre_. The case had been written about many times, including by Alexandre Dumas. You gotta wonder if screenwriter Arthur Stander had read one of those. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2021, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2220 "2021-07-02T12:58:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I couldn’t help but notice that this is essentially the plot of the 1982 Gerard Depardieu film **The Return of Martin Guerre** which, in turn, was based on a real 16th century case in France Similar. I only saw the episode once but IIRC the stranger in Mayberry isn’t pretending to be someone else. “Sneaky Pete” on amazon prime is also like Martin Guerre…it’s really good if you like capers, con games, etc. > **[Sneaky Pete (TV Series 2015–2019) ⭐ 8.0 | Crime, Drama, Thriller](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5011816/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)** > > 1h | TV-MA Another variation: > **[The Majestic (2001) ⭐ 6.9 | Drama, Romance](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268995/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)** > > 2h 32m | PG ---
**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:** [July 2, 2021, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2221 "2021-07-02T21:48:44Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > “Drive” has a few different meanings. If applied to a car, it’s like “guide.” I don’t know if this is still current usage anywhere, but in older writing I’ve seen the word “drive” used to include even just riding in a car, particularly in a taxi or other car where someone else is doing the actual driving but according to your orders. For instance you might read in a P.G. Wodehouse story of someone hailing a taxi and driving somewhere. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2222 "2021-07-03T02:42:08Z")
The schematic chemical diagram for **3-pentanone** (AKA **diethyl ketone** ) looks like Marilyn Monroe: > **[3-Pentanone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-Pentanone#/media/File:3-Pentanone_structure.svg)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > 3-Pentanone (also known as diethyl ketone) is a simple, symmetrical dialkyl ketone. It is a colorless liquid ketone with an odor like that of acetone. It is soluble in about 25 parts water, but miscible with organic solvents. > It is mainly used as a solvent in paint and a precursor to vitamin E. > 3-Pentanone is produced by ketonic decarboxylation of propanoic acid using metal oxide catalysts: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2223 "2021-07-03T03:02:31Z")
Just read this one today. Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin were the Republican nominees in the 1860 election. Hamlin was chosen to balance the ticket (he was a New Englander and an abolitionist). And the campaigning in that era hadn’t involved the candidates traveling around the country (Douglas would break tradition by doing so in this campaign). The result was that Lincoln had never even met Hamlin until after the election was over. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/2224 "2021-07-03T03:16:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The schematic chemical diagram for **3-pentanone** (AKA **diethyl ketone** ) looks like Marilyn Monroe I see you were going for the cleavage thing, but it looks like a stick man with mega clown feet [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=110) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=112)