# 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:** 237
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4729 "2022-07-01T21:57:24Z")
I’m from Connecticut and always wondered about the notch in the north central border with Massachusetts. There is quite the history regarding the Southwick Jog aka Granby notch. It doesn’t involve drunk surveyors (incompetent perhaps) and isn’t there to keep Massachusetts from sliding eastward into the ocean. The history here: > **[The True Story of the Southwick Jog](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/32031/true-story-southwick-jog)** > > Wikimedia Commons > > If you were very bored one day and built a 3D model of the state of Connecticut, then ran your hand along the top, you’d get to a place, just north of the town of Granby, where your hand would fall into a strange little pocket.... > **[Hidden Gems Of Connecticut](https://patch.com/connecticut/across-ct/hidden-gems-connecticut-29)** > > Ever notice The Notch of Connecticut on the map? It has a storied history. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4730 "2022-07-01T23:15:46Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > The largest ZIP Code in the contiguous U.S. is 89049, Tonopah, NV, at 10,821 square miles. The largest postcode in Australia is [0872](https://postal-codes.cybo.com/australia/0872_northern-territory/) in the Northern Territory at 1,002,281 km² = ~386,983 square miles. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2022, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4731 "2022-07-02T02:09:50Z")
I knew that Suite: Judy Blue Eyes was about Judy Collins. I didn’t know… > Collins and Stills had met in 1967 and dated for two years. In 1969, she was appearing in the [New York Shakespeare Festival](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Shakespeare_Festival) musical production of _[Peer Gynt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_Gynt)_ and had fallen in love with her co-star [Stacy Keach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacy_Keach), eventually leaving Stills for him. [Wikipedia source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suite:_Judy_Blue_Eyes) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/OvGfQCsfzUo/maxresdefault.jpg "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (2005 Remaster)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvGfQCsfzUo) ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2022, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4732 "2022-07-02T15:14:24Z")
The B-2 bomber is 32 years old! The in-flight refueling receptacle does this flip over maneuver and disappears. Amazing. > **[Watch a B-2 Spirit bomber refuel and then rotate dorsal fuel receptacle to...](https://theaviationist.com/2015/03/11/b-2-rotating-receptacle/?platform=hootsuite)** > > Interesting video shows B-2 stealth bombers refuel over Montana Usually, videos of U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bombers getting fuel from KC-135 ---
**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:** [July 2, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4733 "2022-07-02T15:46:04Z")
Pretty cool. The rotating fixture is probably more reliable than hinged doors. The flying boom refueling hoses are pretty cool. The early flight refueling systems that had fighter jets fly their nose into a receptacle did work, but it was a slow difficult process with that receptacle dangling in the backwash of the refueling plane. I heard somewhere that it is still in use for some planes. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4734 "2022-07-02T16:53:54Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > While I’m happy with the service, I don’t see why the USPS is offering it. There doesn’t seem to be a profit involved. Is the USPS suddenly flush with $$? I’ve noticed lately that I’m getting ads put into the emails. They might have been there all along and now they’re getting around the ad blockers. Selling (presumably well targeted) ad space for emails that get around spam blockers and actually get opened seems to be a way to make money. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4735 "2022-07-02T21:55:23Z")
They’ve been doing if for awhile, but the ads I see are all for nonprofits. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2022, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4736 "2022-07-02T22:30:30Z")
While looking for information on tanks for a recent thread, I found about the biggest WWII tank battle in the Pacific that took place in Saipan. Over there, the Sherman tanks were very good. Even the machine guns in those tanks could stop the less well-made Japanese tanks. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/VZq6njz_5pc/maxresdefault.jpg "How American Tanks Rolled Over The Pacific | Greatest Tank Battles | Timeline") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZq6njz_5pc) ---
**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:** [July 2, 2022, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4737 "2022-07-02T23:49:50Z")
_The Munsters_’ Al Lewis (Grampa) was younger than his TV daughter Yvonne De Carlo (Lily) ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4738 "2022-07-03T00:15:49Z")
David L “Squiggy” Lander was a big baseball fan who eventually worked as a talent scout for the Anaheim Angels and the Seattle Mariners. One supposes he searched for good players Night After Night. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4739 "2022-07-03T01:02:14Z")
Speaking of animals that could be used for sound effects… [https://www.instagram.com/p/B2XVMZZAfrE/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link](https://www.instagram.com/p/B2XVMZZAfrE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) video, make sure you have the sound turned on ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4740 "2022-07-03T01:13:41Z")
[Tristan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_da_Cunha) is one of the most remote & inhabited places in the world. There’s no airstrip, so visiting it requires a six day boat trip from South Africa. The population is around 250. It has one police officer. In [a 2010 news article](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/13/worlds-loneliest-police-beat) he said that, over the last 22 years, he hasn’t had to arrest anyone. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2022, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4741 "2022-07-03T01:28:47Z")
That sounds like the “pewpewpew” of the stormtroopers’ laser rifles. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2022, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4742 "2022-07-03T02:57:43Z")
or: [Star Trek Meditation: Catspaw (Matrix Enchantment: “Korob and Sylvia as they really are”) - YouTube](https://youtu.be/6NCVzTGJI6Y?t=54) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4743 "2022-07-03T12:19:28Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > the ads I see are all for nonprofits. I’ll need to watch for this. The “ads” I’ve seen are for nonprofits that are mailing me something. It shows the mailing along with a little blurb about the nonprofit. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4744 "2022-07-03T20:41:38Z")
Something I learned from an Info Board on a cycleway. Background: Dr Richard Beeching is famous in the UK for being the man who recommended (and mostly succeeded in) the money-saving closure of 55% of Britain’s railway stations and 30% of all track miles in the late 1960s. ([Cite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeching_cuts)) The track miles lost were largely branch lines connecting to main rail lines. Indeed, the cycleway I was on had been one of these branch lines – hence the Info Board. Without getting into the overall right or wrong of it, he is reviled by many today for causing the permanent loss of massive public transport infrastructure. He was unsurprisingly reviled by many in the 1960s because of the difficulties the closures caused. Many had their commute to work made much more difficult because of the closures. The interesting random fact? Well, one of those who suffered a much more difficult commute was….Dr Richard Beeching. From the Info Board: > [The line] eventually fell under the axe of the Beeching cuts in 1966. Ironically, Dr Beeching lived near Forest Row and regularly travelled up to London on the line when he was Chairman of British Rail. I honestly don’t know how I feel about this. j ---
**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:** [July 3, 2022, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4745 "2022-07-03T20:47:32Z")
Railroads, buses and airlines, despite the enormous amount of traffic they handle, have historically had difficulty staying in the black. Indeed they might not exist at all if they didn’t receive tax breaks and other subsidies direct or indirect. And of course they compete with highways which are a mostly tax-funded public expense. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4746 "2022-07-03T20:51:00Z")
TIL: Tom Cruise, star of _Born on the 4th of July,_ was born on the 3rd of July ---
**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:** [July 3, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4747 "2022-07-03T20:52:16Z")
You might have heard of the 1859 Carrington Event, a solar storm which might badly damage our electrical infrastructure if it occurred in the present. Now it appears that tree ring data preserves evidence of an event ten times as powerful in the Middle Ages: > **[World's oldest trees reveal the largest solar storm in history](https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/oldest-trees-solar-storm/)** > > 1859's Carrington event gave us a preview of how catastrophic the Sun could be for humanity. But it could get even worse than we imagined. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4748 "2022-07-04T17:10:53Z")
[https://jalopnik.com/the-fire-pole-was-invented-by-chicago-s-first-black-fir-1849130895](https://jalopnik.com/the-fire-pole-was-invented-by-chicago-s-first-black-fir-1849130895) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=236) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=238)