# 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:** 163
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3248 "2021-12-07T16:56:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Jessica Alba played Sue Storm in the 2005 movie _Fantastic Four_ . She met Cash Warren who was also working on the movie and the couple eventually married. > > Kate Mara played Sue Storm in the 2015 movie _Fantastic Four_ . She met Jamie Bell who was also working on the movie and the couple eventually married. Note to self-get a job on the inevitable reboot. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2021, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3249 "2021-12-07T21:15:35Z")
There is only one currently active professional athlete who was drafted by the Montreal Expos, Tom Brady. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3250 "2021-12-08T09:45:34Z")
I’ve been listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival recently and came across a [Wikipedia entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodi) according to which there are or were places named **Lodi** in **16** U.S. states, which seems like a lot to me. But wait, there’s more: The name is also used for places in Italy and Canada, a tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a variety of apple, a professional wrestler and a festival in India. My favorite is this: > part of the soul that lives in the forest, rather than in a son or totem, in [Mbuti mythology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbuti_mythology). ---
**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:** [December 8, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3251 "2021-12-08T15:31:01Z")
I’ve been researching a 1930s era submarine, and just last night learned that R- and S- class submarines had PORTHOLES!!! Okay, technically they were _Eyeports_, because they couldn’t open. They were 6" or more in diameter and were 3": thick and made of fused silica, but they were basically glass windows in the side of the submarine. They used them to steer when the sub was on or very near the surface. The ports surrounded the “steering platform” that was in the conning tower. It was surprisingly like the original illustrations from Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that showed Captain Nemo steering the Nautilus while looking through a large viewing port, the only difference being that it was lots of little ports rather than one big one. > **[Captain Nemo Quotes in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Study.com](https://study.com/academy/lesson/captain-nemo-quotes-in-20-000-leagues-under-the-sea.html)** > > ''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'' by Jules Verne explores the deep sea in a submarine captained by Captain Nemo, who is quite the adventurer. He's... The presence of these eyeports meant that, despite their thickness, the sub couldn’t go much deeper than 200 feet. Of course, these were non-opening “eyeports”, not “portholes,” which could be opened. NOBODY would ever put an opening porthole in a submarine, right? That would be as dumb as the proverbial Screen Door in the Submarine. WRONG. Some C-class subs like the _C-22 Cuttlefish_ (AKA the V-9 or the SS-171) apparently had true portholes that could open. And so did other 1920’s-era subs. Here’s a picture [![](http://navsource.org/archives/08/168/0817128.jpg) ](http://navsource.org/archives/08/168/0817128.jpg) I’m looking forward to reading about the submarines with screen doors. ---
**Author:** ![Ranch\_Dip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranch_dip/32/5238_2.png) [@Ranch\_Dip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranch_Dip)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3252 "2021-12-10T18:57:34Z")
If you have an Amazon Echo, ask “Alexa, tell me something.” Today I learned that an octopus has three hearts. One for circulating blood, and one for each gill. So I guess I also learned that an octupus has two gills. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3253 "2021-12-10T20:56:28Z")
Capped with piece of super precious aluminum. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3254 "2021-12-11T03:02:48Z")
This is old news to anyone who is more familiar with algebra than I am, but I recently learned how to solve any of those “what number comes next” problems, given three examples, by using a quadratic polynomial. Equivalent to plotting a curve given three points on a graph. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3255 "2021-12-11T05:21:59Z")
The original Shinola was a brand of shoe polish. There is a Detroit-based company that uses that name but they what they sell is as far from shoe polish as you can get. ---
**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:** [December 11, 2021, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3256 "2021-12-11T12:44:56Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Capped with piece of super precious aluminum. THe original plan was to give the entire monument aluminum siding, but it was too expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3257 "2021-12-11T14:05:45Z")
All of the monuments belong to the same HOA. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3258 "2021-12-11T15:24:58Z")
Today I learned that octupuses have gills. I don’t know why I’m surprised by the fact that an underwater animal has gills, but I am. ---
**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:** [December 11, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3259 "2021-12-11T20:55:19Z")
The other night I was watching a documentary in which [Edwyn Collins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwyn_Collins), former front man of the band Orange Juice, was interviewed. His speech was slightly halting and his posture was such that I wondered if he had been the victim of a cerebral accident. I looked him up, and this is indeed the case. But what intrigued me was the wiki article’s description of his short term speech limitations, which sounds almost too odd to be true. > After suffering a second haemorrhage he had an operation on 25 February 2005, which was followed by a lengthy programme of neurological rehabilitation owing to right-sided weakness and difficulty with speech. The aphasia he suffered allowed him to repeat only four phrases, over and over again: “yes”, “no”, “Grace Maxwell” (his wife’s name) and “the possibilities are endless”. The same story (same words) from a different source. The context suggests it _might_ be the source material for the wiki article. > **[The Possibilities Are Endless review – Edwyn Collins and the redemptive power...](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/nov/09/possibilities-are-endless-review-edwyn-collins)** > > A documentary following Edwyn Collins’s recovery from a stroke is gorgeously poetic, writes Mark Kermode Pleased to say he is much improved now. j ---
**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:** [December 12, 2021, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3260 "2021-12-12T00:29:02Z")
TIL: an anti-immigration quote: _“only the useless in the reconstruction of their countries are seeking to come to the United States … the immigration of recent years has been from that class of people which arrests rather than aids, the development of any nation”_ It was said by zaftig Gilded Age beauty Lillian Russell, after a fact-finding mission (often a euphemism for “prejudice-confirming” mission) for the Harding administration. Her anti-immigration opinions were somehow not at all in conflict with her women’s rights convictions. But then of course, she was a woman but never a poor immigrant. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2021, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3261 "2021-12-13T21:30:41Z")
TLDR: Back when he was a jobbing musician and had to earn a crust, Elton John did a load of low-low-cost covers for knock-off albums of chart hits. Really. Here he is doing his best copy of Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit In The Sky [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4okU1j9he2Q/hqdefault.jpg "Elton John - Spirit in the Sky") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4okU1j9he2Q) Long version: Around 1970, in the UK, you could buy cheap albums which consisted of copies of recent chart hits. They were everywhere - I had a couple way back then, I’m sure. To turn a profit, the record companies that lived off these had to rush out reasonable approximations of the originals as cheaply and as quickly as possible - whilst the originals were still strong in the memory. They needed session musicians - competent, fast-working and cheap. Elton John did a load of these. [Link to Enthusiast Site](http://www.eltonography.com/albums/sessions/index.html). There have been compilation albums of these covers, apparently. Here’s a wiki page for one: > **[Chartbusters Go Pop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartbusters_Go_Pop)** > > Chartbusters Go Pop (subtitled 20 Legendary Covers from 1969/70 as sung by Elton John) is a compilation album of cover versions by Elton John. > These recordings are from the days prior to Elton John's success as a solo performer. They are taken from a variety of periodically issued budget-priced compilations of hit songs, under brand names including Top of the Pops, Chartbusters and Hot Hits. These were issued by budget labels including Music for Pleasure and featured current or recent hits re... And here is the very album on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/embed/dPoAu3qTGeM?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=PLeLoHeppSpoLxnzL86mg-qK8VxdKoM7Tp Fair warning - some of these are woeful. You can also find other covers on YouTube - go back to the listing on the Enthusiast Site to check out what might be available, and just search for, eg, _Elton John Bridge Over Troubled Water_ (one of the better ones). j ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3262 "2021-12-14T19:20:03Z")
Super cool animation of current ( and historical) global wind, ocean currents and waves, with overlays of wave height acupressure and current speed, , particulates , probability of seeing aurora, carbon dioxide levels. I could spend hours looking at this. > **[earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions](https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic=9.90,28.29,439)** > > See current wind, weather, ocean, and pollution conditions, as forecast by supercomputers, on an interactive animated map. Updated every three hours. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3263 "2021-12-14T19:25:05Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > I’ve been listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival recently and came across a [Wikipedia entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodi) according to which there are or were places named **Lodi** in **16** U.S. states, which seems like a lot to me. But wait, there’s more: The name is also used for places in Italy and Canada, a tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a variety of apple, a professional wrestler and a festival in India. My favorite is this: > > > part of the soul that lives in the forest, rather than in a son or totem, in [Mbuti mythology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbuti_mythology). Most if not all the North American Lodis were named after the Italian one. In California it’s Low DYE, by the way. They grow wine grapes there like in the old country. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3264 "2021-12-14T19:44:47Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > In California it’s Low DYE, by the way. They grow wine grapes there like in the old country. TIL “Stuck in Lodi Again” was originally a B-side. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3265 "2021-12-14T23:46:42Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > In California it’s Low DYE, Same for the one in NJ. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2021, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3266 "2021-12-15T00:28:29Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Ellie Kemper, who is probably best known as the titular [Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3339966/), took drama classes in school. Her drama teacher was the future star of _Mad Men_, Jon Hamm. And Jon Hamm guest starred on her show a few times. Along the same lines, the late Carl Kasell, NPR reporter and original scorekeeper on _Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me_, took drama in high school. His drama teacher was another famous North Carolinian, Andy Griffith. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3267 "2021-12-15T14:49:42Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > In California it’s Low DYE Pretty sure it’s the same in WI. Fact: Tom Wopat of “Dukes of Hazzard” fame isn’t from Georgia (where his character Luke Duke lives) but Lodi, WI. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=162) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=164)