# 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:** 241
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4809 "2022-07-09T20:40:53Z")
> [@kwintenstraler](#): > > By the way, in some countries like eg Greece, you do NOT flush toiletpaper. You collect it in a special bin and then depose it, but you do not flush it down the toilet. I find that occasionally, even toilet paper is a problem. I’ve got a sewer drain pipe that appears to be separating and has a sharp inner edge. Toilet paper catches on that edge, then the pipe clogs up soon thereafter. (I’m talking USA, toilets connected to septic system, so I’m pretty much on my own when it comes to drain maintenance.) So I try to avoid putting too much TP down the toilet. If / when I ever use TP as a substitute for tissue paper or as a cleaning cloth, I put it into the trash. ---
**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 10, 2022, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4810 "2022-07-10T00:39:18Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > So I try to avoid putting too much TP down the toilet. You could consider the special TP designed for RVs, campers, boats…it disintegrates in seconds once it gets wet. It’s expensive but possibly an option when you have company over. > **[Thetford Campa-Soft RV & Marine Toilet Paper, 6 Rolls - Walmart.com](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Thetford-Campa-RV-Marine-Toilet-Paper-6-Rolls/52538148?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&&adid=22222222227061848191&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=164776627847&wl4=pla-272247820928&wl5=9026086&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=52538148&veh=sem&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI94X-xefs-AIVSBXUAR1vvwm8EAQYASABEgLFwvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)** > > Buy Thetford Campa-Soft RV & Marine Toilet Paper, 6 Rolls at Walmart.com Next tidbit: the tower made for the Olympics in Montreal makes the one in Pisa look weak. > The famous Leaning Tower of Pisa is at a 5° incline. The Montreal Tower leans at a 45° angle. [http://www.itsabouttravelling.com/montreal-tower-observatory/](http://www.itsabouttravelling.com/montreal-tower-observatory/) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2022, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4811 "2022-07-10T01:02:35Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > So I try to avoid putting too much TP down the toilet. My plumbing had the same problem. My plumber has told me to only use Scott’s 1000, which dissolves right away but costs a lot less than specialty RV TP. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4812 "2022-07-10T20:05:47Z")
Allegedly - the only one of his hits that Barry Manilow didn’t write was “I Write the Songs”. (But he didn’t write “Mandy” either - he just changed the title from “Brandy”). ---
**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 10, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4813 "2022-07-10T20:20:59Z")
Fact 1: it isn’t just ruminants that chew the cud. > **[Alpaca | Digestion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpaca#Digestion)** > > Alpacas, like other camelids, have a three-chambered stomach; combined with chewing cud, this three-chambered system allows maximum extraction of nutrients from low-quality forages. Alpacas are not ruminants, pseudo-ruminants, or modified ruminants, as there are many differences between the anatomy and physiology of a camelid and a ruminant stomach. > Alpacas will chew their food in a figure eight motion, swallow the food, and then pass it into one of the stomach's chambers. The first and second c... So, skipping quickly past pseudo-ruminants and the like, Fact 2: alpacas have long, thin necks; they also have valuable hair, which gets harvested by giving them a close shave once in a while. And when they have long, thin, _hairless_ necks, you can actually watch that bolus of cud going down their neck and - wait for it - coming back up again. It’s a weirdly compelling watch. Is it on YouTube? Of course it is: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ts7j1tlBjWI/hqdefault.jpg "Watch an alpaca bring up his cud to chew!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts7j1tlBjWI) The one I saw (IRL) was cleaner shaved and way more obvious. You couldn’t not watch. j ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2022, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4814 "2022-07-10T20:36:11Z")
_“Here be Dragons”_ I always thought that was a fairly common thing on really old maps. But it isn’t, according to a QI book, they could find only one, and oddly it is sorta where the Komodo Dragon lives. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4815 "2022-07-14T17:59:37Z")
> **[Cincinnati Art Museum Discovers That a Rare 16th Century Mirror Reveals a...](https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/07/cincinnati-art-museum-magic-mirror/)** > > Prior to the ubiquity of the glass mirrors we use today, people often peered into polished bronze for a low-fi glimpse of their reflection. These objects often featured cast three-dimensional symbols or renderings on the side opposite the convex... ---
**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:** [July 14, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4816 "2022-07-14T19:10:18Z")
There are a lot of these. I went to an American Physical Society meeting many years ago where they had a film showing one of these being made (It’s not a lost art, and there are living practitioners of it). The Wikipedia article on Magic Mirrors now includes a sentence about the one in Cincinnati > **[Chinese magic mirror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_magic_mirror)** > > The Chinese magic mirror (simplified Chinese: 透光镜; traditional Chinese: 透光鏡; pinyin: tòu guāng jìng) traces back to at least the 5th century, although their existence during the Han dynasty (206 BC – 24 AD) has been claimed. The mirrors were made out of solid bronze. The front was polished and could be used as a mirror, while the back has a design cast in the bronze, or other decoration. When sunlight or other bright light shines onto the mirror, the mirror appears to become transparent. Bronze m... ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4817 "2022-07-18T05:26:21Z")
Everyone that confuses correlation with causation eventually ends up dead. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4818 "2022-07-18T10:31:54Z")
I just learned the other day that Thomas Jefferson had a vacation home. Stupid me assumed that with an estate like Monticello, you had all the land you could want. Apparently TJ liked to get out of town on occasion. [https://www.poplarforest.org/](https://www.poplarforest.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4819 "2022-07-18T15:38:56Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Everyone that confuses correlation with causation eventually ends up dead. > Just sayin’. Okay, that made me laugh out loud. ---
**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 18, 2022, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4820 "2022-07-18T15:47:46Z")
Obscure and weird. In a bike race, riders wear their race number in duplicate like this. The example here is number 13 - and as 13 is unlucky, this is the only number that a rider is allowed to wear upside down. They don’t have to - some wear 13 the right way up, some have one number the right way up and the other upside down. > **[Another blow to Jumbo-Visma as Kruijswijk abandons with suspected broken...](https://cyclingtips.com/2022/07/another-blow-to-jumbo-visma-as-kruijswijk-abandons-with-suspected-broken-collarbone/)** > > Jonas Vingegaard loses two teammates in one day as Steven Kruijswijk crashes out on the road to Carcassonne. Also, this being bike racing, the race number bears a sponsor’s name. You’ll probably have to click the link (and scroll down) to see this, but here’s the (obscure, weird) interesting random fact. In this example 13 is upside down, but the sponsor’s name is the right way up. These numbers are _pre-printed upside down by the race organisation_, in order to keep the sponsor happy. j PS: picture is Steven Kruijskwijk from the ongoing Tour De France. Inverting the numbers did him no good at all. And in case anyone asks, they have duplicate numbers (on road stages) so that if they drop out, one number can be handed to a race commissar to register the withdrawal. ---
**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 18, 2022, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4821 "2022-07-18T16:40:58Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Everyone that confuses correlation with causation eventually ends up dead. > > Just sayin’. And tomatoes. Those things are loaded with dihydrogen monoxide! > **[The Dread Tomato Addiction](https://armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=19013.0)** > > The Dread Tomato Addiction > It is suggested that best results will be obtained by using an experimental subject who is thoroughly familiar with and frequently uses the logic methods demonstrated herein, such as: > > The dedicated moralist. Extremely plentiful in supply, and the experimenter might even obtain a bounty on each from a grateful community ---
**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:** [July 18, 2022, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4822 "2022-07-18T16:52:57Z")
The longest distance that a human (unaided by equipment, wind, etc.) has thrown an object with such object being continually in the air, is 427.2 m, 1333 ft… a boomerang (designed not to return) by David Schummy in 2005. Of course, it happened in Australia. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2022, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4823 "2022-07-18T17:06:50Z")
Well yeah, I’m the part of the world where things fall upward! ---
**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 18, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4824 "2022-07-18T17:36:08Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > The longest distance that a human (unaided by equipment, wind, etc.) has thrown an object with such object being continually in the air, is 427.2 m, 1333 ft… a boomerang (designed not to return) by David Schummy in 2005. Of course, it happened in Australia. I think you’ve mixed two records. The 2005 boomerang record is the longest throw you speak of, and it is 427.2 m, which works out to… 1401.5 feet, not 1333 feet. > **[Boomerang | Guinness World Record – Longest Throw of Any Object by a Human](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomerang#Guinness_World_Record_%E2%80%93_Longest_Throw_of_Any_Object_by_a_Human)** > > A boomerang was used to set a Guinness World Record with a throw of 427.2 m (1,402 ft) by David Schummy on 15 March 2005 at Murarrie Recreation Ground, Australia. This broke the record set by Erin Hemmings who threw an Aerobie 406.3 m (1,333 ft) on 14 July 2003 at Fort Funston, San Francisco. The previous record was set in 2003 by throwing an Aerobie 1333 feet: > **[Aerobie | World records](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobie#World_records)** > > The 13-inch (330 mm) Aerobie Pro was used to set the Guinness World Record twice for the "longest throw of an object without any velocity-aiding feature". The Aerobie's first Guinness World Record was set by Scott Zimmerman at 1,257 feet (383 meters) in 1986 at Fort Funston, San Francisco. The 1986 record was broken by Erin Hemmings with a throw of 1,333 feet (406 meters) on July 14, 2003 at Fort Funston. Hemmings' Aerobie was airborne for 30 seconds (not an official measurement) and was Previou... ---
**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:** [July 18, 2022, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4825 "2022-07-18T19:07:35Z")
Although shooting an arrow requires equipment (a bow), the record is less than 1000 feet. I would have expected it to be further than a boomerang. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4826 "2022-07-18T19:16:22Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > Although shooting an arrow requires equipment (a bow), the record is less than 1000 feet. I would have expected it to be further than a boomerang.   That would indicate that the distance is primarily determined by the vertical acceleration rather than the horizontal velocity. The arrow would presumably have a higher horizontal velocity and a higher vertical acceleration, while the yawing winglets would have lower values. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4827 "2022-07-18T20:18:04Z")
What if you shot a boomerang from a bow? ---
**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 18, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4828 "2022-07-18T20:28:01Z")
That sounds like the record for hitting a target. So many types of archery records came up in a search I’m not sure which would apply, but several exceed 1000 feet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=240) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=242)