# 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:** 178
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3549 "2022-01-30T18:20:24Z")
You… did not need to do that to us, Icarus. 😱 ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3550 "2022-01-30T18:29:25Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Raises the question of how one might collect dust mite ‘poop’. Actually, I was talking about to study the effects. But of course that’s doable. Was supposed to be a funny. ---
**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:** [January 30, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3551 "2022-01-30T19:34:24Z")
Ladies and gentlmen…dust mites: > **[Dust mites on fabric, SEM - Stock Image - C021/7274](https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/612003/view/dust-mites-on-fabric-sem)** > > Dust mites. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus dust mites. CLOUDS HILL IMAGING LTD/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY [Google search of “dust mite electron microscope”](https://www.google.com/search?q=dust+mite+electron+microscope&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS798US798&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&vet=1&fir=yMrHE1fhXk0HdM%252CvvnE9k1DfM1KgM%252C_%253BZ57Op2Qej-pDzM%252C8EoRKTLikhNAkM%252C_%253BnAbdbG23fPhRJM%252ClXmKQn4KzrauhM%252C_%253BWdVb6pmOd5btJM%252CxwM2bvfcICsnmM%252C_%253BEtPG42r0gzk8_M%252C52HVMkSeEEZniM%252C_%253Bi155i92n46HN0M%252C6FxUrYJF8tnNbM%252C_%253BpL8FXbDfePhoxM%252Cl9lv2h8sDqPojM%252C_%253BNjgh5sMDH1_KgM%252CQVzIluQKlKP4YM%252C_%253B1gAahCJwOi7V2M%252Ctz94QOLDywXnuM%252C_%253BbgmC0xQf5aMcZM%252CgKhtm0PTS7_kXM%252C_%253BZHMCD4NFnit6EM%252CyJv0QQqFJSYSeM%252C_%253BfU7nuVv5p2RnaM%252Cyk1C8-1I_kiavM%252C_%253BTZhP_ZYsTpDb2M%252CP-opTvW0npZ8hM%252C_%253Bo-0BfAmjythg6M%252CP9VWOpqQMJfC6M%252C_%253BLt5aQqDfZrSz9M%252CWtMiHlelOn0UFM%252C_&usg=AI4_-kQHhTonGWkmtUoh87Mo2vB-tAZedw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiexZeSmNr1AhV9nWoFHWdSAt4Q9QF6BAgeEAE#imgrc=Z57Op2Qej-pDzM) Was it in the movie “Wildcats” with Goldie Hawn that the cheerleaders were chanting “You’re ugly! You’re ugly! Your mama said you’re ugly!”? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3552 "2022-01-30T20:21:08Z")
I live on a gravel road, with a gravel driveway and a mountain yard. I also have two dogs. Dust I know. I agree about pets and dust but I noticed something about an hour ago. I’m trying to learn guitar. And today was in some real bright sunshine. I look down at the strings and finger placements often. I noticed that the guitar is dusty with some tiny, tiny specks on the neck. Odd, it’s kept in a case. Then I thought of this thread… ‘That’s my skin’. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3553 "2022-01-30T20:50:01Z")
To round up the stories about football I can contribute the following: I once read the story of Niels Bohr, the famous theoretical physicist, being congratulated by a stranger on 10. December (the day the Nobel Prize is awarded) in a tramway in Copenhagen: he assumed it was because of the Nobel Prize he had won and proceeded to talk about quantum stuff and relativity, but the stranger interrupted him to say: “No, I meant the fantastic save you managed against so-and-so’s close up header in the game between XXX [his team] and YYY [the other team], several years ago.” I am sure the quote is right: I remember the date (not the year) because it’s my birthday. I have forgotten the name of the teams, but I am sure it was football, which he and his brother both played (his brother even made it to the Danish national team), but I have never been able to find it again. Perhaps it was in “Der Teil und das Ganze”, by Werner Heisenberg? He wrote a lot about Bohr. Or did Feynman write about it? I have too many books by him to check them all again. Search engines have not been able to help me. Perhaps I have stated the question wrongly. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3554 "2022-01-30T21:00:43Z")
That Niels Bohr story rings a bell, but I also don’t remember where I’ve read it, must be a long time ago. In a magazine, perhaps? Der Spiegel? ---
**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:** [January 30, 2022, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3555 "2022-01-30T21:26:35Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > They used to say most dust in your house is dead human skin cells. (I still find that hard to believe.) According to this week’s `oglaf.com`, it’s mostly dead perverts. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3556 "2022-01-30T21:45:54Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > They live in my mattress and feed off my dead skin, then their poop floats up into the air. People talk about the miracle of life as though it’s this amazing thing that happened billions of years ago, when it really just makes the planet gross. ---
**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:** [January 30, 2022, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3557 "2022-01-30T22:47:42Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > People talk about the miracle of life as though it’s this amazing thing that happened billions of years ago, when it really just makes the planet gross. You’re telling me! Look at what happened after cyanobacteria evolved and started exhaling/excreting free oxygen all over the place. In less than half a billion years the atmosphere was full of the stuff and anaerobic species were dying off left and right. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2022, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3558 "2022-01-31T01:51:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Look at what happened after cyanobacteria evolved and started exhaling/excreting free oxygen all over the place. In less than half a billion years the atmosphere was full of the stuff and anaerobic species were dying off left and right. Which is why I don’t feel the least bit guilty about animals eating plants. The only way most animals could survive in an oxygen atmosphere was to secure some source of reduced organics to buffer the oxygen, and the plants were the only option. They started it! ---
**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:** [January 31, 2022, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3559 "2022-01-31T03:21:54Z")
The Jack, Queen, and King of each suit is named in French card decks. | Rank/Suit | Spades | Hearts | Diamonds | Clubs | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **King** | [David](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David) | [Charles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne)[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French-suited_playing_cards#cite_note-10) | [Cesar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar) | [Alexandre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great) | | **Queen** | [Pallas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallas_Athena_(goddess)) | [Judith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith) | [Rachel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel)[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French-suited_playing_cards#cite_note-11) | [Argine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argine)[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French-suited_playing_cards#cite_note-12) | | **Jack** | [Hogier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogier_the_Dane)[[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French-suited_playing_cards#cite_note-13) | [La Hire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Hire)[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French-suited_playing_cards#cite_note-14) | [Hector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector) | [Lancelot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancelot)[[9]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French-suited_playing_cards#cite_note-15) | > **[French-suited playing cards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French-suited_playing_cards)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of trèfles (clovers or clubs ♣), carreaux (tiles or diamonds ♦), cœurs (hearts ♥), and piques (pikes or spades ♠). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. In a standard 52-card pack these are the valet (knave or jack), the dame (lady or queen), and the roi (king). In addition, in Tarot packs, there is a cavalier (cavalier) ranking between the queen an... It’s interesting, too, that other places use other suits. In Swiss-German decks they have roses, bells, acorns, and shields. > **[Playing card](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playing_card#Modern_deck_formats%5B/spoiler%5D)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a finish to make handling easier. They are most commonly used for playing card games, and are also used in magic tricks, cardistry, card throwing, and card houses; cards may also be collected. Some patterns of Ta... ---
**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:** [January 31, 2022, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3560 "2022-01-31T19:12:49Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > …inhales deeply…“Hmm, I have no idea.” 🤣 Truly a winning post! ---
**Author:** ![kwintenstraler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kwintenstraler/32/10698_2.png) [@kwintenstraler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kwintenstraler)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3561 "2022-01-31T20:15:59Z")
Antimatter does not fall upwards ---
**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:** [January 31, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3562 "2022-01-31T21:11:05Z")
Talk about stumble across… while I was looking for a scene from old BBC sitcom The Likely Lads, my eye caught a reference to The Returning Soldier Effect: > **[Returning soldier effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Returning_soldier_effect)** > > The returning soldier effect is a phenomenon which suggests that more boys are born during and immediately after wars. This effect is one of the many factors influencing human sex ratio. > The phenomenon was first noticed in 1883 by Carl Düsing of the University of Jena, who suggested that it was a natural regulation of the status quo. Writing in 1899, an Australian physician, Arthur Davenport, used Düsing's findings to hypothesize that the cause was the difference between the comparative ill-heal... Some more about it: > **[The Returning Soldier Effect I: Why Are More Boys Born During and After Wars?](https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200802/the-returning-soldier-effect-i-why-are-more-boys-born)** > > The phenomenon is real. > There is now evidence that, at least among the British soldiers who fought in World War I, those who survive battle and return home to be reunited with their wives are _taller_ than those who die (and therefore never have another chance to have a child). A comparison of the physical characteristics of the British soldiers who survived or died in World War I shows that surviving soldiers are on average nearly one inch taller than fallen soldiers. The average height of the surviving soldiers is 66.4 inches, while that of the fallen soldiers is 65.5 inches. Even in the small sample that is examined, this one-inch difference is highly statistically significant. > > As we explain in Chapter 5 of Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters, taller parents are more likely to have sons than shorter parents are. So the excess boys born during and immediately after the World Wars might be a consequence of the fact that taller soldiers, who are more likely to have sons to begin with, are more likely to survive the war and return home, whereas shorter soldiers, who are more likely to have daughters, are less likely to survive the war and return home to have daughters. Even after all that… 🤨 j ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3563 "2022-01-31T21:14:24Z")
I would assume that correlation (taller parents = more males) cuts across the entire population and not just the subset of “random war survivor”? ---
**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:** [January 31, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3564 "2022-01-31T21:21:58Z")
Sure. The point the authors were making was that there is _some_ evidence that war survivors are taller than war victims (I’m talking about soldiers here) and as it’s the survivors that reproduce then post war fathers have a greater average height - and so produce more boys. Still somewhat 🤨 though. j ---
**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:** [February 1, 2022, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3565 "2022-02-01T16:07:08Z")
I’m wondering about the “taller soldiers survive” thing. Seems like they would be more likely to get shot (head over the trench, bigger target when going over the top, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3566 "2022-02-01T16:22:07Z")
But they can probably run faster. Also, taller people generally have less vital organ density in their torsos than shorter people making it slightly less likely a bullet will hit one. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3567 "2022-02-01T19:11:08Z")
The English town of Maidstone has a Coat of Arms that depicts an Iguanodon: > **[Maidstone’s Iguanodon | Maidstone Museum](https://museum.maidstone.gov.uk/maidstones-iguanodon/)** > > As a new Iguanodon 50p coin is issued by the Royal Mint, we take a look at the story of Maidstone’s oldest resident – the Maidstone Iguanodon.   The name Iguanodon comes from the Spanish ‘Iguana’ a large South American lizard – and the Greek... ---
**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:** [February 1, 2022, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3568 "2022-02-01T20:09:30Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > The English town of Maidstone has a Coat of Arms that depicts an Iguanodon: Well, it’s what they used to think an iguanadon looked like. Considering that heraldic animals don’t always look like real animals, though, that ought not to be a problem. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=177) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=179)