# 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:** 262
**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:** [September 11, 2022, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5229 "2022-09-11T14:17:46Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > So by not being launched, you might say that “waste” was being minimized… Also it wasn’t nearly completed. Its sister ship (Global Dream) started construction a year earlier and is still only 80% complete. The pictures I’ve seen of Global Dream 2 (the one being scrapped) looks like a container ship with scaffolding instead of containers. I think a lot of media has featured images of her sister giving the impression that a shinny new ship is being scrapped. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5230 "2022-09-11T21:49:32Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > So by not being launched, you might say that “waste” was being minimized… Good point! ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5231 "2022-09-13T17:38:22Z")
Looking at Roadside America today, there’s an article about [Connie’s Photo Park](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/46025), where you can stick your head in various comic foregrounds (_aka_ [photo stand-in](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_stand-in)) It turns out that the guy who invented them, Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, was also the artist who painted the original [Dogs Playing Poker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs_Playing_Poker). ---
**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:** [September 14, 2022, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5232 "2022-09-14T18:53:20Z")
Ford’s Theater all on its own killed more people than John Wilkes Booth. > **[Lincoln’s Assassination Was Not the Worst Thing That Ever Happened at Ford’s...](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/lincoln-s-assassination-was-not-the-worst-thing-that-ever-happened-at-ford-s-theater)** > > Few locations carry the historical weight of Ford’s Theater. Like Dealey Plaza, Little Bighorn, and now the Twin Towers, the site of Lincoln’s assassination... > In 1893 Col. Fred Ainsworth, the chief of the pension bureau, ordered construction to install electric lights in the building, “for the comfort and convenience of the employees,” the New York Times reported at the time. The electric light plant required extensive renovation to the basement, and employees began getting edgy when they noticed plaster falling from the ceiling on the upper floors. > > On Friday, June 9th, during the workday, a beam in the basement collapsed, and a huge portion of the interior of the building collapsed, killing 22 people and injuring more than 100, most of them War Department employees. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5233 "2022-09-14T18:57:49Z")
Did the beam yell out, “Sic semper tyrannis!” after collapsing? ---
**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:** [September 14, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5234 "2022-09-14T19:13:34Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > In 1893 Col. Fred Ainsworth, the chief of the pension bureau, ordered construction to install electric lights in the building Genius! 22 less pensions to pay out! ---
**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:** [September 14, 2022, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5235 "2022-09-14T19:20:41Z")
But that’s nullified by the expense of all the Purple Hearts. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5236 "2022-09-15T19:26:34Z")
OK, bear with me… I heard that there were so many purple hearts minted for WWII, anticipating the massive number of casualties for the invasion of Japan–which never happened, that today they’re still giving out the WWII purple hearts. So…was there perhaps something similar going on during or after the Civil War? And, were purple hearts given out by both Union and Confederate armies? If so, did they look the same?? ---
**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:** [September 15, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5237 "2022-09-15T20:10:54Z")
_The original Purple Heart, designated as the [Badge of Military Merit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badge_of_Military_Merit), was established by [George Washington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington) – then the [commander-in-chief](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commander-in-chief) of the [Continental Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Army) – by order from his [Newburgh, New York headquarters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%27s_Headquarters_State_Historic_Site) on 7 August 1782. The Badge of Military Merit was only awarded to three [Revolutionary War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War) soldiers by Washington himself. Washington authorized his subordinate officers to issue Badges of Merit as appropriate. Although never abolished, the award of the badge was not proposed again officially until after [World War I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I).[[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Heart#cite_note-tioh-7)[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Heart#cite_note-Purple_Heart_History-8)_ So…neither. There were things like “wound stripes” but the Purple Heart didn’t exist during the Civil War. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2022, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5238 "2022-09-16T04:06:26Z")
Here’s an interesting read on words like pickpocket and swashbuckler. > **[Seanan's Tumblr](https://seananmcguire.tumblr.com/post/695478799605940224/specifically-to-swash-a-buckler-referred-to-the)** > > theaudientvoid: “theaudientvoid: “” Specifically, to “swash a buckler” referred to the act of pounding a buckler (small shield) against one’s own chest as a sort of macho display. ” They are a construction that only appeared new between 1550 and 1700. Normally if this type of construction occurs, it’s noun+verb+suffix meaning a person who verbs (The suffix is usually -er, but sometimes -or, and sometimes something else) So, a person who fights fires is a firefighter. Someone who always says “nay” to ideas is a naysayer. But in this construction, the noun and verb are reversed, and the suffix is sometimes dropped: Person who steals by picking things things out of a pocket is a pickpocket, not a pocketpicker. A person who disregards, or scoffs at the law is a scofflaw, not a lawscoffler. And the really interesting thing about this is that the words constructed this way tend to be “insults or street slang” ---
**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:** [September 16, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5239 "2022-09-16T20:10:52Z")
[Lioconcha hieroglyphica - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lioconcha_hieroglyphica) is a marine bivalve so named because the markings on its shell resemble runes or cuneiform. [![](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a1/e0/a1/a1e0a1a37abfa2414c9191e73922f393.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a1/e0/a1/a1e0a1a37abfa2414c9191e73922f393.jpg) Okay, _somebody’s_ trying to tell us something… ---
**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:** [September 16, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5240 "2022-09-16T20:14:28Z")
“NO KILL I” Piss off, Discourse. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2022, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5241 "2022-09-16T20:25:53Z")
THAT does not look natural. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2022, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5242 "2022-09-18T04:28:09Z")
Looks like someone was playing Conway’s Game of Life on the shell! ---
**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:** [September 18, 2022, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5243 "2022-09-18T04:40:19Z")
It’s basically this: > **[Sierpiński triangle](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpi%C5%84ski_triangle)** > > The Sierpiński triangle (sometimes spelled Sierpinski), also called the Sierpiński gasket or Sierpiński sieve, is a fractal attractive fixed set with the overall shape of an equilateral triangle, subdivided recursively into smaller equilateral triangles. Originally constructed as a curve, this is one of the basic examples of self-similar sets—that is, it is a mathematically generated pattern that is reproducible at any magnification or reduction. It is named after the Polish mathematician Wacław... but with random lines missing ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2022, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5244 "2022-09-18T07:12:20Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > It’s basically this: > [Sierpiński triangle - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpi%C5%84ski_triangle) > > but with random lines missing I tried to build a [cubical one of those](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menger_sponge) in Minecraft once. Unfortunately it caught fire… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2022, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5245 "2022-09-18T10:30:32Z")
Notice they are all right angles so it is more similar to his carpet > **[Sierpiński carpet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpi%C5%84ski_carpet)** > > The Sierpiński carpet is a plane fractal first described by Wacław Sierpiński in 1916. The carpet is a generalization of the Cantor set to two dimensions; another is Cantor dust. > The technique of subdividing a shape into smaller copies of itself, removing one or more copies, and continuing recursively can be extended to other shapes. For instance, subdividing an equilateral triangle into four equilateral triangles, removing the middle triangle, and recursing leads to the Sierpiński triangle. In ... ---
**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:** [September 18, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5246 "2022-09-18T16:33:38Z")
The Rosetta Stone was difficult to translate because some of the words were “spelled” wrong. ---
**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:** [September 19, 2022, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5247 "2022-09-19T01:15:49Z")
“Spelt”! 😁 ---
**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:** [September 19, 2022, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5248 "2022-09-19T01:57:13Z")
Spelt. [![](https://nuts.com/images/rackcdn/ed910ae2d60f0d25bcb8-80550f96b5feb12604f4f720bfefb46d.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/f5a652b36b1bd148.cro-xHdkaDTs-zoom.jpg) ](https://nuts.com/images/rackcdn/ed910ae2d60f0d25bcb8-80550f96b5feb12604f4f720bfefb46d.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/f5a652b36b1bd148.cro-xHdkaDTs-zoom.jpg) Nuts [.com] to you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=261) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=263)