# 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:** 13
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/241 "2020-05-05T18:19:23Z")
Rolling Stones have had at least 1 song on the Billboard chart in 7 decades. From the 60s to now. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/242 "2020-05-05T19:41:47Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > DC lost 2 baseball teams , first Senators went to Minn. and the second went to Texas. Atlanta lost 2 NHL teams to Calgary and Winnipeg Guy name of Fidel Castro, from Cuba, used to play for the Washington Senators, but never made their pro team, unfortunately. I understand he went home and got into politics instead. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/243 "2020-05-05T21:27:59Z")
Castro never played pro baseball at any level. That’s an urban legend about him playing in the majors. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Fidel\_Castro](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Fidel_Castro) ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/244 "2020-05-05T21:55:28Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Castro never played pro baseball at any level. That’s an urban legend about him playing in the majors. > > [https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Fidel\_Castro](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Fidel_Castro) The story goes that he had a try-out with the Washington Senators. He didn’t make the team, but for many years the Senators did [lead the league in Cubans](https://www.lavidabaseball.com/cuban-washington-senators/) (if nothing else). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/245 "2020-05-06T01:04:54Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > DC lost 2 baseball teams , first Senators went to Minn. and the second went to Texas. Atlanta lost 2 NHL teams to Calgary and Winnipeg Baltimore gained two pro teams, both originally called the Browns. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/246 "2020-05-06T01:12:41Z")
FUCKING BOARD TIMEOUTS! > [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > DC lost 2 baseball teams , first Senators went to Minn. and the second went to Texas. Atlanta lost 2 NHL teams to Calgary and Winnipeg Baltimore gained two pro teams, both originally called the Browns. The St. Louis Browns of the American League became the Orioles in 1954, and the NFL’s Cleveland Browns became the Ravens in 1996. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2020, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/247 "2020-05-06T01:22:57Z")
By chip grafting, an artist has made trees that can grow 40 different fruits on the same tree. > **[Art professor grows trees that can bear 40 types of fruit | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/03/living/tree-40-fruit-sam-van-aken-feat/index.html)** > > Artwork, research and conservation: Art professor Sam Van Aken creates hybridized trees that can grow more than 40 different types of fruit. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5kO6-PpgZ1M/hqdefault.jpg "Syracuse professor grows 40 different fruits on one tree") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kO6-PpgZ1M) “In trying to find different varieties of stone fruit to create the Tree of 40 Fruit, I realized that for various reasons, including industrialization and the creation of enormous monocultures, we are losing diversity in food production and that heirloom, antique, and native varieties that were less commercially viable were disappearing. I saw this as an opportunity to, in some way, preserve these varieties.” [https://www.epicurious.com/archive/chefsexperts/interviews/sam-van-aken-interview](https://www.epicurious.com/archive/chefsexperts/interviews/sam-van-aken-interview) ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/248 "2020-05-07T20:07:48Z")
Typhoid Mary: Actually, a woman name of Mary Mallon, used to work as a cook for rich folks. She was also an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever, back before we had a cure for that. So you can see how it was kind of a big deal. Something just over a hundred years ago, she was merrily spreading typhoid amongst her employers. She’s credited with infecting 51 people and killing 3 via typhoid. That we know of. Mary did not believe she HAD typhoid, and didn’t want to hear this “asymptomatic” nonsense. She also was a rather good cook, and felt she had every right to earn a living with her skills. The authorities quarantined her once, then let her go on her own recognizance; she promptly started cooking again and infecting her employers. They caught her a second time, and she spent the rest of her life in quarantine. To my knowledge, no one at the time protested this gross affront to her civil rights. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/249 "2020-05-08T00:18:34Z")
In 1969, Pontiac built a concept car that looked nothing like any other Pontiac I’ve ever seen – the [Pontiac Farago CF 428](https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-cohort/cohort-classic-1969-pontiac-farago-cf-428-delorean-asks-for-an-exciting-car-and-gets-one/#more-360234). At first glance, I would have thought it was some obscure 1960s Lamborghini or other Italian exotic; I certainly never would have guessed it was a Pontiac. Looking at it longer, it obviously is an interesting hybrid of Italian GT car and American muscle car styling. From what I can tell it was just a one-off concept car that never went into production. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/250 "2020-05-08T00:18:34Z")
The movie was The Princess Bride, directed by Rob Reiner. Reiner’s first choice to play Vizzini the Sicilian was the well known actor Danny DeVito, who at the time was hot off the old “Taxi” TV show. Unfortunately, for reasons I forget, DeVito was unavailable, so they started casting around, and in walks Wallace Shawn, the actor who got the part. Trouble is, someone told him that he was the second choice, and the first was Danny DeVito. And Shawn concluded that DeVito was PERFECT for the part and that he himself didn’t even look Sicilian or even Italian, and obsessed over his own terribleness for the role for quite some time. But he went on, and he did it, and his performance is iconic. “INCONCEIVABLE!” ---
**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:** [May 8, 2020, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/251 "2020-05-08T00:55:00Z")
WildaBeast, at one time Pontiac also wanted to build the Banshee, a challenger to Corvette. > **[The Only Pontiac Banshee XP-833 Coupe For Sale For $750,000](https://www.motortrend.com/vehicle-genres/1964-pontiac-xp833-banshee-coupe-sale/)** > > John Z. DeLorean's unrealized masterpiece, the sexy Pontiac XP-833 Banshee allegedly scared Chevy so much they had it killed to save the Corvette. > [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > The movie was The Princess Bride, directed by Rob Reiner. > > Reiner’s first choice to play Vizzini the Sicilian was the well known actor Danny DeVito, who at the time was hot off the old “Taxi” TV show. Unfortunately, for reasons I forget, DeVito was unavailable, so they started casting around, and in walks Wallace Shawn, the actor who got the part. And he appeared on “Taxi.” > **[Taxi - S05 E20 Arnie meets the kids - video Dailymotion](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6sfy5m)** > > Taxi - S05 E20 Arnie meets the kids Adding to the trivia…have you seen the mountain bikes’ (unauthorized) jumps over riders in the Tour de France?:eek: > **[All the famous mountain bike jumps over the Tour de France petoton from 2003...](https://off.road.cc/content/news/all-the-famous-mountain-bike-jumps-over-the-tour-de-france-petoton-from-2003-to-2019)** > > Yesterday as the Tour de France rode Stage 10 of the 2019 tour, 19-year-old Valentin Anouilh took to the trails above the peloton and claimed the honour of being 'the guy to jump the tour' this year. We thought it was high time we rounded up all the... ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/252 "2020-05-08T13:46:26Z")
I think Wallace Shawn has been on EVERY long running show at least once in a guest or cameo position. Never forget the time I was watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and this guest star shows up wearing what looks like twenty pounds of melted latex on his face, could have been ANYBODY under all that makeup. And then he opened his mouth. And I knew. Wallace Shawn, playing Grand Nagus Zek, leader of all the Ferengi. And I snickered, because I couldn’t think offhand of anyone better suited to the role. He made several appearances in the show’s run. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/253 "2020-05-08T14:24:07Z")
Another bit of “Princess Bride” trivia: Andre the Giant and Samuel Beckett lived in the same village, and Beckett would occasionally give Andre (as well as other kids walking) a ride to school. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/254 "2020-05-08T17:02:02Z")
John James Audubon was half black , his mother was a servant for his father. He also killed the birds he drew and painted which is kind of ironic since the Audubon society is all about preserving birds. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/255 "2020-05-09T02:16:31Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > John James Audubon was half black , his mother was a servant for his father. He also killed the birds he drew and painted which is kind of ironic since the Audubon society is all about preserving birds. ??? I don’t think so. There appear to be some uncertainty, but look at the pictures. His mother, servant to his father, was I think, French. There were, perhaps, half-siblings who were, perhaps 1/16th black, but JJ Audubon doesn’t look “half-African” to me, and doesn’t seem to have been treated as such at the time. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/256 "2020-05-09T15:53:35Z")
I knew about the picture thing so I’d always wondered if the Audubon Society had thought it through as well. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/257 "2020-05-09T20:56:56Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Castro never played pro baseball at any level. That’s an urban legend about him playing in the majors. > > [https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Fidel\_Castro](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Fidel_Castro) How about this then: Fidel Castro was a professional boxer and fought at a pretty decent level. No, not _that_ Fidel Castro - I’m talking about Fidel Castro Smith: > [@](#): > > …a British former boxer who was British super middleweight champion between 1991 and 1992 and fought for the Commonwealth and European titles Of course, Fidel Castro Smith would be an unsuitable name for a boxer, so he fought under an assumed name: [Slugger O’Toole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro_Smith). j ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/258 "2020-05-10T17:40:28Z")
Not all black people look black, check out this guy a member of Congress. > **[G. K. Butterfield](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._K._Butterfield)** > > George Kenneth Butterfield Jr. (born April 27, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 1st congressional district from 2004 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected in a special election after the resignation of Frank Ballance. > His district was in the state's northeastern corner, which included all or parts of 19 counties. A longtime advocate of civil rights, Butterfield was appointed an associate justice of t... ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/259 "2020-05-11T18:05:11Z")
Rob Reiner tells a story about filming The Princess Bride: at one point, Andre the Giant farted. This was apparently not the sort of little embarrassing “pwiiiit” you might hear in any group of people. No. This one was a clearly audible bass rumble, and is said to have gone ON for a while; one report has it as lasting fourteen seconds straight, but I am skeptical. At any rate, it was a ripper, and it went ON for a while. … and ended… amid dead silence. No one said anything. After a long pause, Reiner said, “Andre, are you okay?” Andre the Giant grinned and said, “I am now, boss.” ---
**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:** [May 12, 2020, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/260 "2020-05-12T14:19:11Z")
Four quarters, ten dimes, twenty nickels, a hundred pennies…they all make one dollar. One quarter, three dimes, four nickels, and twenty-five pennies is also a dollar. But what’s the greatest amount of change you could have yet still not be able to make change for a dollar? $1.19. 3 quarters, 4 dimes, 4 pennies Facts about the “penny” (official name: one cent piece) here. > **[15 Phenomenal Facts about the Penny](https://15facts.com/facts-about-the-penny/)** > > The penny was the first currency authorized by the United States. George Washington signed the Mint Act of 1792 and since then there have been 11 different designs featured on the penny. Here are 15 16 pennies stacked equals 1 inch and 16 pennies in a line equals 1 foot. Depending on the age of the pennies, your mileage may vary as wear and tear could affect the thickness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=14)