# 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:** 182
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3629 "2022-02-07T03:16:03Z")
Mikaela Shiffrin, currently skiing in the Winter Olympics is a 2nd cousin, three times removed of Lalo Schifrin, the composer of the Mission Impossible theme. I noticed the name today, didn’t notice the different spelling, and so looked it up anyway. > **[About to be a household name: Mikaela Shiffrin - Chicago Reader](https://chicagoreader.com/blogs/about-to-be-a-household-name-mikaela-shiffrin/)** > > "Mikaela's Theme"—it's been written. How cool is it that the hit was in the Chicago Reader? ---
**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:** [February 7, 2022, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3630 "2022-02-07T04:45:19Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Mikaela Shiffrin, currently skiing in the Winter Olympics is a 2nd cousin, three times removed of Lalo Schifrin, the composer of the Mission Impossible theme. I noticed the name today, didn’t notice the different spelling, and so looked it up anyway. Spoilered because the competition is still on: Unfortunately, Mikaela Shiffrin toppled at one of the first gates in the first run of the giant slalom. No serious fall, but she’s out. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3631 "2022-02-07T06:31:16Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > We were out walking today and, looking at molehills by the path, it occurred to me that you never see them being made. I’ve seen molehills being made, multiple times. It helps that I was sitting in the middle of a field, unmoving, for an hour or two at a time. ---
**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 7, 2022, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3632 "2022-02-07T14:14:30Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > three times removed of Lalo Schifrin, the composer of the Mission Impossible theme Boris Claudio “Lalo” Schifrin studied law and sociology at the University of Buenos Aires. Although you wouldn’t guess it from his Wikipedia page, he was active in those circles. One of mu mom’s bosses – a Professor of Sociology – knew Shifrin professionally because of the sociology connection. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3633 "2022-02-07T18:35:07Z")
A coworker and I were trying to figure out if we could do our normal walk together on the phone when she’s out in Idaho this week instead of home in FL and I’m in PA. So I looked it up and discovered that Idaho has 2 different time zones, and it’s actually based on latitude, not longitude, which I find supremely weird. So while looking this up, I thought, “how many states have multiple time zones?” and it turns out there are 13 states, including Idaho. Oregon and Idaho are split between the Mountain and Pacific time zones. I wonder if it’s on the same line of latitude as Idaho is? Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, and North and South Dakota are divided between Central and Mountain time zones. Florida, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee are split between Eastern and Central time zones. Alaska is split between the Alaska time zone and the Hawaii-Aleutian time zone. ---
**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:** [February 7, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3634 "2022-02-07T18:43:20Z")
The official portrait for the 1979 American League All-Star Team features Reggie Jackson in a Seattle Mariners uniform. Seems he forgot to pack his Yankees uniform. [![](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3514/3706621043_431c37a8a0_o.png) ](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3514/3706621043_431c37a8a0_o.png) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3635 "2022-02-07T18:49:10Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Oregon and Idaho are split between the Mountain and Pacific time zones. I wonder if it’s on the same line of latitude as Idaho is? One more - add Nevada West Wendover, NV is in the Mountain Time Zone as of 1999 ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3636 "2022-02-07T19:01:54Z")
> [@digs](#): > > But how often does something get rounded to the nearest integer? Every single time, when you are discussing the weather. No weatherman on TV has ever said “tomorrow the temperature will be 18 point three degrees”. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3637 "2022-02-07T19:05:05Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Basically, Mr. Johnson and his wife, Julia Chinn, gave a hearty fuck you to the racist conventions of the time. Of course, his Wikipedia article adds: - After Chinn’s death, Johnson began an intimate relationship with another family slave. When she left him for another man, Johnson had her picked up and sold at auction. Afterward he began a similar relationship with her sister, also a slave. So he’s perhaps not quite a paragon of virtue. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3638 "2022-02-07T19:08:39Z")
Basically looking for virtue in slaveholding behavior is the ultimate shit-picking exercise. ---
**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 7, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3639 "2022-02-07T21:57:07Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > The official portrait for the 1979 American League All-Star Team features Reggie Jackson in a Seattle Mariners uniform. Seems he forgot to pack his Yankees uniform. A Yankee uniform would have drawn too much attention from the Queen’s bodyguards. ---
**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 7, 2022, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3640 "2022-02-07T22:09:57Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Every single time, when you are discussing the weather. > No weatherman on TV has ever said “tomorrow the temperature will be 18 point three degrees”. I assuming I didn’t mess it up, I built a spreadsheet to convert 0-100 C to Fahrenheit, rounded it, and converted it back to C. Did the same for F 32-101. The largest difference in C was 0.2%, and that was at the high end of temperatures (nothing a weather person would report). Pretty sure most people can’t tell the difference between 13C and 12.778C. Bigger numbers as expected in F, but even there the biggest difference was 33F-\>0.5556C-\>33.8F. Once again, pretty sure no one cares. There are obviously areas where decimal level precision is required, but in those cases, both C and F measurements will have that precision. For the average person wondering if they need a coat, hat, and/or gloves - it doesn’t matter. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2022, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3641 "2022-02-08T00:38:37Z")
On Amazon Prime, I’m watching Everest: Beyond the Limit, Season 1 episode 3. The narrator says that as the climbers get higher up the mountain, they may breathe too much through the mouth. They try to breathe through the nose, to avoid getting sunburn on the roof of their mouth. [Corroborated](https://www.mountainprofessor.com/sunburn.html) ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3642 "2022-02-08T01:08:23Z")
Large EMD diesel engines (like you would find in a locomotive, for example) use a ‘power pack’ configuration, in which the head, piston, and a liner are assembled and installed in each cylinder. The cylinder liners have a feature around the lower ports that is referred to as the “Mae West.” While not as obvious on modern liners, the original curvature of this feature’s profile protruded in a way that some draftsman or designer must have found to be quite provocative. ---
**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 8, 2022, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3643 "2022-02-08T01:15:40Z")
My parents referred to life vests as Mae Wests long before I was aware that there was a person by that name. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2022, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3644 "2022-02-08T04:47:00Z")
The house and the people in Wood’s _American Gothic_ actually existed but the people weren’t farmers, nor were they related to each other and neither of them lived in the house. > **[American Gothic: Grant Wood’s Midwestern mystery | Christie's](https://www.christies.com/features/american-gothic-a-midwestern-mystery-10143-1.aspx)** > > Grant Wood’s double portrait is arguably the USA’s most famous painting, but what does it mean? Andrew Graham-Dixon investigates ---
**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:** [February 8, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3645 "2022-02-08T17:31:04Z")
Weird how some paintings became uber-famous out of the zillions painted. American Gothic and Whistler’s Mother are just plain depressing. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3646 "2022-02-08T17:46:32Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > American Gothic and Whistler’s Mother are just plain depressing. Literally different strokes for different folks. I find Grant Wood painted truth in important social commentary. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3647 "2022-02-08T17:59:39Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > What is the official measurement system in Canada? Officially metric but I suspect individuals each have their own hybrid systems. I naturally and without calculating or converting, for example, use metric for temperature and longer distances (eg kms vs miles); metres and yards are sort of interchangeable for me and below that I use imperial (I’m 6’ 3" and I’ll never be able to consider myself X cm tall). For weight and altitude I use imperial. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/3648 "2022-02-09T00:29:33Z")
Saw this on a couple of roleplaying forums I participate in: - _Victorian England: 1837-1901_ - _American Old West: 1803-1912_ - _Meiji Restoration: 1868-1912_ - _French privateering in the Gulf of Mexico: ended circa 1830_ _Conclusion:_ _ **an adventuring party consisting of a Victorian gentleman thief, an Old West gunslinger, a disgraced former samurai, and an elderly French pirate is actually 100% historically plausible**._ ” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=181) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=183)