# 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:** 21
**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:** [June 4, 2020, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/401 "2020-06-04T13:08:04Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Then of course there was the famous 10 trillion Zimbabwe Dollar note during their hyperinflation. Has there ever been a note with a higher ratio of denomination to real value? Hungary issued a 10 **20 pengo note in 1946. A 10** 21 pengo note was designed, but never issued. Scroll down in the link for photos. > **[Paper money of the Hungarian pengő](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_money_of_the_Hungarian_peng%C5%91)** > > Hungarian pengő paper money (Hungarian: pengő papírpénz) was part of the physical form of Hungary's historical currency, the Hungarian pengő. Paper money usually meant banknotes, which were issued (either in fact or in name) by the Hungarian National Bank. Later – during and after World War II – other types of paper money appeared, including emergency money, bonds and savings certificates. > Initially, paper money was designed abroad, and printed using simple methods. Later, more advanced techniqu... ---
**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:** [June 4, 2020, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/402 "2020-06-04T18:29:17Z")
James Dyson had 5,126 failures before he came up with his first good vacuum cleaner. ---
**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 4, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/403 "2020-06-04T19:01:29Z")
Hyperinflation is pretty interesting stuff. Here’s a video about Germany’s experience: according to this, the price of your restaurant meal could go up between the time you ordered it and the time it arrived. So you had to negotiate the price in advance And Zimbabwe? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78-BlZXm7wA > [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > James Dyson had 5,126 failures before he came up with his first good vacuum cleaner. WD40=Water Displacement, 40th try. > **[WD-40](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD-40)** > > WD-40 is an American brand and the trademark of a penetrating oil manufactured by the WD-40 Company based in San Diego, California. Its formula was invented for the Rocket Chemical Company in 1953, before it became the WD-40 Company. WD-40 became available as a commercial product in 1961. It acts as a lubricant, rust preventive, penetrant and moisture displacer. There are specialized products that perform better than WD-40 in each of these uses, but WD-40's flexibility has given it fame as 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:** [June 4, 2020, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/404 "2020-06-04T19:20:58Z")
(double post) ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/405 "2020-06-04T20:36:37Z")
[Tea leaves and other particles can sometimes float upstream](https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/going-against-flow). > [@](#): > > The story behind the new study began in 2008. At the time, Sebastian Bianchini was a student at the University of Havana in Cuba. After pouring hot water into a cup containing tea leaves, one day, he noticed that a few tea leaves had entered the kettle. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/406 "2020-06-04T20:54:40Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > [Tea leaves and other particles can sometimes float upstream](https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/going-against-flow). That is surprising and cool. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/407 "2020-06-04T22:27:01Z")
Peter Wessel Zapffe was a Norwegian philosopher who believed that human existence was so inherently tragic that humanity would be better off by going extinct. He lived to be 90 years old. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter\_Wessel\_Zapffe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Wessel_Zapffe) ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/408 "2020-06-05T05:47:16Z")
Did I already mention that the commandant of the US Army Armor School in Brigadier General Admiral? ---
**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:** [June 5, 2020, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/409 "2020-06-05T11:31:12Z")
Looking for a new house I found out that many people won’t buy a house with a steep driveway. Especially people with kids, they are worried the kids will end up in the street and get hit by a car. That might happen if they are on a bike/trike or even just falling down. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/410 "2020-06-05T11:32:03Z")
Just learned a trick of the trade for film: If it’s cold enough to see your breath but you don’t want it to show, put an ice cube in your mouth. It apparently works. Ti West shares this on the commentary track for The Sacrament, where they did it for one of the outdoor scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/411 "2020-06-05T12:31:28Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Looking for a new house I found out that many people won’t buy a house with a steep driveway. Especially people with kids, they are worried the kids will end up in the street and get hit by a car. That might happen if they are on a bike/trike or even just falling down. My uncle used to have a house with a steep driveway. My cousin, my brother, and I used to shoot down it on bikes, roller skates, and skateboards. At the bottom, we’d fly across the road and crash in the neighbor’s yard. Whee! ---
**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:** [June 5, 2020, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/412 "2020-06-05T14:19:47Z")
also people don’t like unusual interior wall colors in a house for sale. That’s easily fixable with new paint for pretty low cost. People don’t want to repaint which is something I don’t mind. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/413 "2020-06-05T14:38:40Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > also people don’t like unusual interior wall colors in a house for sale. That’s easily fixable with new paint for pretty low cost. People don’t want to repaint which is something I don’t mind. People don’t like the colors you picked. Flat white walls sell houses, they provide a buyer a blank canvas to imagine what they can make the house look like. ---
**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 5, 2020, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/414 "2020-06-05T17:43:40Z")
George Harrison had the Chiffons/“He’s So Fine.” Vanilla Ice had Queen/“Under Pressure.” Eric Carmen had Rachmaninoff/“Symphony No 2 Mvt 3.” Sort of. > [@](#): > > Rachmaninoff’s music was in the public domain in the United States at that time and so Carmen thought no copyright existed on it, but it was still protected outside the U.S. Subsequent to the release of the album, he was contacted by the Rachmaninoff estate and informed that it was protected.[7] An agreement was reached in which the estate would receive 12 percent of the royalties from “All by Myself” as well as from “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again”, which was based on the third movement from Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2.[8][9] > **[All by Myself](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_by_Myself)** > > "All by Myself" is a song by American singer-songwriter Eric Carmen, released by Arista in December 1975 as the first single from Carmen's debut album, Eric Carmen (1975). The verse is based on the second movement (Adagio sostenuto) of Sergei Rachmaninoff's c. 1900–1901 Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18. The chorus was taken from the song "Let's Pretend", which Carmen wrote and recorded with the Raspberries in 1972. The slide guitar solo was performed by studio guitarist Hugh McCracken. Many years ago, when vinyl was still king, I was delighted to discover the album in a cheap bin. I was even more delighted to hear (for the first time) the full version. The radio edit skipped the piano solo in the middle, which you can pick up at about 2:46. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/iN9CjAfo5n0/maxresdefault.jpg "Eric Carmen - All by Myself (Audio)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN9CjAfo5n0) ---
**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:** [June 5, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/415 "2020-06-05T20:32:33Z")
If you were a kid in the late 1980s and early 1990s, you likely remember the Carmen Sandiego educational game series. I knew about “Where in the World…”, “Where in the USA…”, “Where in Europe…” and “Where in Time…”, but I just learned today that there was also a “[Where in North Dakota is Carmen Sandiego?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_in_North_Dakota_Is_Carmen_Sandiego%3F)” game. When I saw it on Wikipedia at first I thought it had to be a joke or vandalism, but it seems to be legit. It was developed specifically for North Dakota schools as a sort of pilot program to determine if there was a market for state/region specific versions of the game. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/416 "2020-06-06T23:12:12Z")
Kentucky and Missouri are the only two states that border each other that you cannot travel by road (and/or bridge) without passing through another state. Unless you swim across the Mississippi River (or take a ferry, or fly), you have to pass through another state to travel from KY to MO (or vice versa). ---
**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:** [June 7, 2020, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/417 "2020-06-07T00:56:49Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Kentucky and Missouri are the only two states that border each other that you cannot travel by road (and/or bridge) without passing through another state. > > Unless you swim across the Mississippi River (or take a ferry, or fly), you have to pass through another state to travel from KY to MO (or vice versa). How about Michigan to Illinois? They share a border in Lake Michigan, but you can’t get from one to the other by land without passing though Indiana (or Wisconsin )(or Ohio or Minnesota - if you’re taking a longer route). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/418 "2020-06-07T02:12:05Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Kentucky and Missouri are the only two states that border each other that you cannot travel by road (and/or bridge) without passing through another state. > > Unless you swim across the Mississippi River (or take a ferry, or fly), you have to pass through another state to travel from KY to MO (or vice versa). Are you talking about the [Kentucky Bend?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Bend) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/419 "2020-06-07T02:50:18Z")
> [@FollowMeDown](#): > > Jim Morrison’s father was an admiral in the navy. It’s more interesting than that- Stephen Morrison was Commander of the U.S. naval forces in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident of August 1964, which is considered by many to have begun our involvement in the Vietnam War. I recently saw a documentary about the war (PBS I think) and during the Tonkin segment there are several photos taken during the shooting confrontation showing him in action on a radio/phone. Wearing helmet and combat jacket of some sort, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/420 "2020-06-07T03:11:16Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Kentucky and Missouri are the only two states that border each other that you cannot travel by road (and/or bridge) without passing through another state. > > Unless you swim across the Mississippi River (or take a ferry, or fly), you have to pass through another state to travel from KY to MO (or vice versa). Sort of true, sort of false. According to google maps some of the western side of the river is actually part of Kentucky. You could drive on many roads that include a Missouri/Kentucky border on that side of the river. But you’re right that if you’re traveling and enter Kentucky from the East (like from New England) you can’t drive straight into Missouri without first crossing another state, probably Illinois, because there is no road passage across the river along the border. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=22)