# 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:** 246
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4909 "2022-07-31T23:41:19Z")
_Sahelanthropus tchadensis_, whose type fossil is a skull named Toumaï, lived 6 or 7 million years ago. At some point in the past several thousand years, wind erosion exposed his skull on the desert surface. Nomads passing by found some (unrelated) long bones nearby, and guessing these bones to belong to Toumaï, arranged them with his skull in a reburial. Then sometime in the past 1,000 years, after Islam had reached that part of Africa, Muslims found his skull exposed on the surface again and reburied him facing Mecca, no doubt with appropriate prayers as an act of charity for a poor soul who’d died alone in the desert. A few decades ago, scientists found Toumaï exposed at the surface again in his Islamic grave. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4910 "2022-08-01T00:36:39Z")
Very common [local tour bus](https://www.viator.com/tours/St-Maarten/St-Maarten-Double-Decker-Bus-Tour/d728-11451P1). It’s a staple for film location shots. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4911 "2022-08-01T00:45:10Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > We saw it (roof on) at a bus rally that we stumbled upon today. What the devil is a bus rally? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4912 "2022-08-01T03:40:26Z")
There was (and still is) a pizza restaurant/pub in Iowa City called the Wig & Pen, and at least when I was in school there in the early 1990s, they had a double-decker bus that could be rented for parties and the like, and of course it was a staple on the weekends for people who didn’t want to drive after drinking. That is, until a couple years after I graduated, when a driver somehow ignored a bridge warning, and literally sheared off the top level. Had anyone been up there, they would have met the same fate. ISTR that they did have another bus later on, but the restaurant’s website does not mention it now. (Probably due to skyrocketing liability costs.) ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4913 "2022-08-01T10:19:04Z")
James Bond in “Live and Let Die” had a classic shear-off-the-top-of-a-doubledecker-bus incident. ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4914 "2022-08-01T12:18:27Z")
Then there is the biker bar, er, bicycle bar… > **[Bicycle bar - Make:](https://makezine.com/article/science/energy/bicycle-bar/)** > > Thanks to Berend for pointing me to my new favorite thing in the world: a bicycle-based beer bar. Originally in the Netherlands, there's an American Which is okay if the bartender/driver doesn’t drink too. (I seem to remember a story of a DUI with one of these) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4915 "2022-08-01T12:45:23Z")
Convertible double deckers are the standard tourist sightseeing busses in Berlin: [![](https://www.hop-on-hop-off-bus-tours.com/uploaded/Berlin-06.jpeg) ](https://www.hop-on-hop-off-bus-tours.com/uploaded/Berlin-06.jpeg) [![](https://www.bus-bild.de/bilder/man-doppeldecker-sightseeing-bus-am-berliner-rathaus-26676.jpg) ](https://www.bus-bild.de/bilder/man-doppeldecker-sightseeing-bus-am-berliner-rathaus-26676.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4916 "2022-08-01T13:09:33Z")
And every other city with any sort of tourism for the last 50 years. Treppenwitz must have been living under a rock! ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4917 "2022-08-01T13:13:20Z")
**Treppenwitz** spends a lot of time looking at [nature](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/333), perhaps that explains it. ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4918 "2022-08-01T13:17:39Z")
I think NYC has the open-top double-decker buses, but only because the traffic lights are low. Except where the Thanksgiving Day parade travels. because of the balloons. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4919 "2022-08-01T14:20:13Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > And every other city with any sort of tourism for the last 50 years. Treppenwitz must have been living under a rock! Maybe so; but it’s a big enough rock to accommodate Bus Geeks R Us as well. They thought it was well worth while to emphasize that TPN 103S had been been designed to be used as both conventional bus and open top. This is one of several photo sets on display highlighting that. You’ll have to click and open to see the full photo: [![Google Photos](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ABLVV85tqRwh_Ig2n7jOKlQzEio1A3VX6w2gFRz8v9YlacZoEZMZD2d5MxiBvq2fBKHCZgY4I_F6lG1BNbahRme7p18yB9Gb2E19YsLaxe9K03cL7MTjp00=w600-h315-p-k "New item by j") ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/yxybVP7oH8tUK41c7) @TriPolar , @Pardel-Lux - now I’ve learned something - those are foldback roofs? Cool. j ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4920 "2022-08-01T14:23:35Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > What the devil is a bus rally? Pretty much what you’d expect. Many, many bus enthusiasts and a lot of buses. Here’s the same rally from 2021 (2022 not posted yet). [https://worthingbusrally.co.uk/2021-photos/](https://worthingbusrally.co.uk/2021-photos/) Ahem - a moment of distancing. I’d just like to point out that I explained: > “a bus rally that we stumbled upon today.” j ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4921 "2022-08-01T14:24:49Z")
To be completely fair I think I should apologise because I see you are talking about convertible buses not open top buses. They are different things and so I see you have a big rock and are standing atop it seeing things that I do not. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4922 "2022-08-01T14:26:15Z")
No problem. I think you weren’t alone in not realizing that - for which I have to blame myself. I should have made that clearer. j ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4923 "2022-08-01T17:04:21Z")
It seems to me the red bus is a mess, you can see the red folded plastic tarp in the front and the back part. Looks like a fair weather bus to me. The yellow bus is a foldback. They can be folded real quick: I had a distant acquaintance who worked on one in as a guide, he mentioned they kept them open until it literally started to rain, because when closed the experience (and the tip, it seems) is much worse. The green bus looks similar to the yellow one, but without the side glass windows. Guess that can be “converted” to the winter version. Normal buses in Berlin are often double deckers, BTW. It depends on the line. So these tourist buses fit perfectly. In cities without double decker buses, i.e. most of them, I think they look just like tourist traps. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4924 "2022-08-01T17:13:54Z")
People, stop it, you gave me this earworm: 😆 _And if a double-decker bus_ _Crashes into us_ _To die by your side_ _Is such a heavenly way to die_ _And if a ten ton truck_ _Kills the both of us_ _To die by your side_ _Well the pleasure and the privilege is mine_ I’m set back to my sulky 17 years old self… ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4925 "2022-08-01T17:29:46Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > James Bond in “Live and Let Die” had a classic shear-off-the-top-of-a-doubledecker-bus incident. I don’t think the infamous “Can Opener” bridge has had a double-decker come through (yet). ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4926 "2022-08-01T17:48:57Z")
It’s not so funny when it happens for real: > **[Bus hits bridge in Tottenham, injuring 26 people](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-37738633)** > > Five people are taken to hospital and a further 21 injured after a bus hit a bridge in north London, ripping off the upper deck. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4927 "2022-08-01T17:54:23Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > It’s not so funny when it happens for real: This has happened countless times at the underpass where Memorial Drive goes under Massachusetts Avenue near MIT. There are plenty of warning signs and flashing lights, but people who still don’t pay attention, or don’t realize the true height of the truck they’re driving (U-Haul drivers are the worst offenders) keep getting caught. The same thing happens on the other side of the river in Boston, where people on Storrow Drive get surprised at Charles Circle, a phenomenon that has been blessed with the name “Storrowing”. > **[Truck carrying crabs, shellfish wrecked trying to pass under bridge](https://www.wcvb.com/article/truck-ripped-apart-trying-to-pass-under-mass-ave-bridge/10002990#)** > > A box truck was ripped apart trying to pass under Massachusetts Avenue bridge in Cambridge Friday afternoon, photos from the scene showed. > **[Oversized truck's trailer destroyed after striking overpass on Memorial Drive](https://www.wcvb.com/article/oversized-truck-trailer-destroyed-after-striking-overpass-on-memorial-drive/37232211)** > > For the second time in as many days, an oversized truck's trailer was shredded after hitting an overpass. > **[Six pictures of trucks stuck under Boston bridges](https://www.boston.com/uncategorized/noprimarytagmatch/2012/09/28/six-pictures-of-trucks-stuck-under-boston-bridges/)** > > Drivers along Storrow and Memorial Drive can see the many scars on overpass bridges left behind by oversized vehicles. Locals are familiar with the pain of sitting stuck in traffic \[…\] > **[A look inside a Boston phenomenon: Storrowing](https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2021/08/19/boston-storrowing-what-to-know/)** > > Boston’s Storrow Drive is now infamous for a certain kind of accident; specifically, the truck-to-bridge collision. Here's everything you need to know. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4928 "2022-08-01T17:57:44Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Storrowing Now there’s an interesting random fact… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=245) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=247)