# 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:** 238
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4749 "2022-07-04T17:47:55Z")
Do you know where that tree segment pictured in that article is ? (I tried looking up the credited photographer, Joe Shlabotnik, on flickr but he’s got more than 15000 pics!) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4750 "2022-07-04T17:53:52Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Joe Shlabotnik That’s Charlie Brown’s favorite ballplayer! ---
**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 4, 2022, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4751 "2022-07-04T18:00:47Z")
I thought it was Joe Garagiagiagiola? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4752 "2022-07-04T18:11:16Z")
_Charlie Brown considers Shlabotnik his favorite player and his hero. He spends much of his free time trying to hunt down Shlabotnik memorabilia, such as baseball cards, autographs, Charlie Brown even organized a Joe Shlabotnik Fan Club, complete with a newsletter that folded after one issue. Linus once invited Shlabotnik to a testimonial dinner for Charlie Brown; unfortunately, the ballplayer got lost en route from his day job at a car wash._ ---
**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 4, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4753 "2022-07-04T18:35:33Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Do you know where that tree segment pictured in that article is ? American Museum of Natural History, NYC: [![](https://untappedcities.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/American-Museum-of-Natural-History-AMNH-Giant-Sequoia-Tree-Upper-West-Side-NYC-2.jpg.jpg) ](https://untappedcities.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/American-Museum-of-Natural-History-AMNH-Giant-Sequoia-Tree-Upper-West-Side-NYC-2.jpg.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4754 "2022-07-04T18:38:20Z")
Thanks. 👍 ---
**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 4, 2022, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4755 "2022-07-04T19:20:47Z")
This bacterium one of the most radiation resistant organism known. It can survive cold, dehydration, vacuum, and acid. It’s listed as the world’s toughest known bacterium by Guiness. It’s been nicknamed Conan the Bacterium. > **[Deinococcus radiodurans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinococcus_radiodurans)** > > Deinococcus radiodurans is an extremophilic bacterium and one of the most radiation-resistant organisms known. It can survive cold, dehydration, vacuum, and acid, and therefore is known as a polyextremophile. It has been listed as the world's toughest known bacterium in The Guinness Book Of World Records. > The name Deinococcus radiodurans derives from the Ancient Greek δεινός (deinos) and κόκκος (kokkos) meaning "terrible grain/berry" and the Latin radius and durare, meaning "radiation survivin... ---
**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:** [July 4, 2022, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4756 "2022-07-04T22:17:49Z")
It seems like we would have some warning (a few hours?). I wonder how that would be communicated on breaking news: “The entire world will be on fire in 10 hours!” ---
**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 4, 2022, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4757 "2022-07-04T22:38:31Z")
That’s odd. I wonder why I thought his favorite player was Garagiola then? ---
**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:** [July 4, 2022, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4758 "2022-07-04T23:18:31Z")
Garagiola did get some mentions. Here’s the origin of “Garagiagiariolia”: > **[Peanuts by Charles Schulz for August 07, 1982 | GoComics.com](https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1982/08/07)** > > Sally sits at the table and writes. Charlie Brown watches. Sally says, "I'm gonna help you with your baseball problem, big brother . . ." Sally continues, "I'm writing a letter to Joe Garagiagiariolia." Charlie Brown interrupts, "Garagiola." ... ---
**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 5, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4759 "2022-07-05T00:15:13Z")
Ah, thanks. I wondered why I always called him Garagiagiagiola. I used to read lots of Peanuts books when I was a preteen. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4760 "2022-07-05T11:06:09Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > 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 | Mental Floss](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/32031/true-story-southwick-jog) Delaware has a similar border quirk: > **[Twelve-Mile Circle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Mile_Circle)** > > The Twelve-Mile Circle is an approximately circular arc that forms most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania. It is a combination of different circular arcs that have been feathered together. > It is nominally a circle with an approximate and variable 12-mile (19 km) radius, centered in the town of New Castle, Delaware. In 1750, the center of the circle was fixed at the cupola of the courthouse in New Castle. The Twelve-Mile Circle continues into the Delaware River. A small portion... ---
**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:** [July 5, 2022, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4761 "2022-07-05T13:22:01Z")
Minnesota’s bump into Canada is the result of a 1783 treaty that relied on a cartographic error from 1755. > **[The story behind Minnesota’s weirdly shaped northern border | MinnPost](https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2014/02/story-behind-minnesotas-weirdly-shaped-northern-border/)** > > Treaty negotiations based on faulty maps can have odd results. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4762 "2022-07-05T20:17:03Z")
In the original story, John Shaft was. . . White. ---
**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 5, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4763 "2022-07-05T20:20:56Z")
He’s a complicated man. ---
**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 5, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4764 "2022-07-05T20:45:38Z")
Am I being whooshed? > **[Shaft (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaft_(novel))** > > Shaft is a 1970 detective novel by Ernest Tidyman. The novel debuted the character John Shaft and inspired both the 1971 film Shaft and its sequels. > Shaft tells one of the adventures of John Shaft, a private detective based in New York City. > Author Ernest Tidyman was at the time trying to transition from the field of journalism to fiction, after his first novel, Flower Power, had little success. Editor Alan Rinzler, who had worked with Claude Brown on the bestselling Manchild in the Promised La... j ---
**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:** [July 5, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4765 "2022-07-05T20:51:38Z")
Depends on _which_ Shaft. > **[Wait, Shaft Was Supposed To Be White?](https://www.cracked.com/article_30962_wait-shaft-was-supposed-to-be-white.html)** > > They say John Shaft ain't Black-- shut your mouth! ---
**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 5, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4766 "2022-07-05T20:56:16Z")
Interesting - thanks for that! j ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4767 "2022-07-05T21:41:01Z")
That is interesting. But can I believe it? A search doesn’t bring up anyone else saying it and even the links in the Cracked article say nothing to back it up. The podcast linked to, which I don’t have time now to listen to, may have Murphy making the claim, but who would trust in that? The single variant I can find is that Ron O’Neal was thought of but considered not to be black enough for the role. Which doesn’t help the Murphy case at all. ---
**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:** [July 5, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4768 "2022-07-05T21:59:22Z")
That’s cool. I used to wonder about that one as a kid when putting maps of the US together. I’m afraid I had forgotten it as an adult (and pre-Google). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=237) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=239)