# 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:** 307
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6130 "2023-02-20T04:11:09Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > . So yesterday I learned that Lauren Bacall and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres were cousins. I thought this was interesting, so I tried to find a cite. It looks like they were second cousins: [Lauren Bacall is related to Shimon Peres, 9th President of the State of Israel!](https://www.geni.com/path/Shimon-Peres-9th-President-of-the-State-of-Israel-%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A1+is+related+to+Lauren-Bacall?from=6000000002880460523&to=6000000001735522661) (but had the same surname: I don’t know why Persky \> Peres for the Israeli p.m. and to Perske for the Americans). Edit: lots of site report first cousins, but none of those give the details of how. Also, the internet seem to think she was born in Poland and America, but I’m pretty sure only one of those is true. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2023, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6131 "2023-02-20T06:06:31Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > [@Chefguy](#): > > > > The northernmost spot in the contiguous United States is a place in Minnesota called the Northwest Angle. A mapping error in 1783 left this practical exclave completely cut off from the rest of the state (and from the US). The only way to get to it is either by boat, or through Canada by road. This caused a lot of problems when Canada closed its borders during Covid. > > There are also exclaves like this in Washington (Pt. Roberts) and the northern end of Lake Champlain in Vermont (Province Point). On the other hand - Campobello Island, New Brinswick (FDRs summer retreat) has its only road access from Lubec, Maine. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2023, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6132 "2023-02-20T07:16:53Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > but had the same surname: I don’t know why Persky \> Peres for the Israeli p.m. and to Perske for the Americans Persky/Perske are just spelling variants, but there’s an interesting story behind “Peres”: back in day (and still now, to a lesser degree), it was common for Zionist Jews to change their names into something more Hebrew sounding. In 1944 David Ben-Gurion and a young Simon Persky were out hiking in the Negev desert, when they came upon a nest of [bearded vultures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearded_vulture#Etymology), which in Hebrew is called the Peres (from the root P-R-S, “to spread”, due to its wingspan). Persky was so impressed by the birds and by the similarity of their name to his, that he decided to change his surname to match. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6133 "2023-02-20T22:47:56Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > There are also exclaves like this in Washington (Pt. Roberts) and the northern end of Lake Champlain in Vermont (Province Point). However, the exclave on Lake Champlain does not really qualify as such because there are bridges to it from both New York and Vermont. The NW Angle and Pt Roberts only have roads into them from Canada.       Similarly, the part of southern Alaska in which the capital, Juneau, is found is very much like an exclave. Its narrowest strip of contiguity is less than 15 miles across between Canada and the ocean, and the only roads into the southern panhandle, at Haines and Skagway, enter Alaska from BC. Juneau itself is only accessible at all by sea or air (or really, _really_ determined hiker/climbers). ---
**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:** [February 20, 2023, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6134 "2023-02-20T23:48:01Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The NW Angle and Pt Roberts only have roads into them from Canada. Well, in deep winter, the NW angle has a road on the ice. Really. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2023, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6135 "2023-02-21T00:09:09Z")
If that is a hobby horse of yours, some colleagues of mine from Brussels have made a very good site for false friends English-Spanish: > **[False Friends English-Spanish Dictionary](https://dictionary.falsefriends.app/en)** > > False Friends - Falsos Amigos. Contains all those English terms and expressions that can lead to confusion in Spanish They are so professional that, being native Spanish speakers themselves, they only listed false friends from English into Spanish, not the other way around. I have tried to convince them to simply turn the entries around and make them into Spanish-English false friends too, but they refuse. That is a task for a native speaker of English, they claim. That is an invitation for all who think this is worth the effort: the hard work is done. You can always suggest new entries, of course (I guess around 20 or 30 were suggested by me and accepted, and as many have been refused. They really are quite strict.) ---
**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:** [February 21, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6136 "2023-02-21T00:21:30Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > If that is a hobby horse of yours, some colleagues of mine from Brussels have made a very good site for false friends English-Spanish: Yeah, I love/hate the concept of false friends, but unfortunately I don’t speak Spanish. I can understand a bit of it because I know English, a language that’s half Roman, shakily French and I also had three years of Latin in school, but I’m not qualified to understand false friends between Spanish and English. But if I had the interest and the leisure I could build a similar list for German and English, there are loads. Just of the top of my head, familiar/familiär, sympathetic/sympathisch and actual/aktuell. There are a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6137 "2023-02-21T00:35:13Z")
Today I learned that if you leave the lid off a paint can overnight the paint has formed a dry skin by morning. I also learned that cats like to pat that dry paint skin with their little pawsies and eventually break thru, at which point they like to run all over the house leaving tracks on the floors. ---
**Author:** ![Jegpeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jegpeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jegpeg)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6138 "2023-02-21T00:37:58Z")
In 2016 a submersable found the Loch Ness Monster in the bottom of Loch Ness. I should add it was made of fibre glass and was used as a movie prop in 1969 but sank during filming. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6139 "2023-02-21T00:53:10Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > However, the exclave on Lake Champlain does not really qualify as such because there are bridges to it from both New York and Vermont. The NW Angle and Pt Roberts only have roads into them from Canada. Well, yes and no. There is a peninsula on Lake Champlain that is reachable by bridges without going through Canada. On that peninsula is Province Point which extends across the border and is reachable only through Canada. It’s only two acres, so I don’t think there are any roads or inhabitants. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6140 "2023-02-21T02:12:39Z")
Not to hijack the thread the thread with diminished-randomness, but I was looking at the Ohio river and noticed something odd. The map showed inexplicable kinks in the state border running down the waterway. One profound example of this can be found (I cannot seem to manage a proper link from google earth) at 38°43’48"N 82°11’22"W. All down the Ohio, there are odd little kinks in the states’ borders, most of them fairly minor compared to this one, and I have no idea why. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2023, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6141 "2023-02-21T02:17:28Z")
State borders follow the river when surveyed and don’t move with the river. Some are famous with geography oddity fans but many are not well known (unless you live in the area I guess). Here is an example for [South Dakota and Iowa](https://www.google.com/maps/@43.49038,-96.5892591,16z) when the Big Sioux River changed course over the years. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2023, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6142 "2023-02-21T03:30:50Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Not to hijack the thread the thread with diminished-randomness, but I was looking at the Ohio river and noticed something odd. The map showed inexplicable kinks in the state border running down the waterway. The Northwest Territory was defined as land north of the Ohio river. The boundaries are based on the surveyed northern bank of the river. Not sure what the reference year is. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2023, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6143 "2023-02-21T21:01:18Z")
@Saint_Cad , @Pleonast I think this was what @eschereal was talking about: https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d20938.736902168122!2d-82.2010000437799!3d38.72786706220559!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x0%3A0xf4eae169a1c73a6c!2zMzjCsDQzJzQ4LjAiTiA4MsKwMTEnMjIuMCJX!5e0!3m2!1sen!2suk!4v1677013044455!5m2!1sen!2suk Around the location marker, you’ll see the border appear to track way back on itself in a huge S-bend. j ETA - link to google maps at that location - this will make it clearer: [https://goo.gl/maps/1Ng1w8u22pYMJhsi7](https://goo.gl/maps/1Ng1w8u22pYMJhsi7) ---
**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:** [February 21, 2023, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6144 "2023-02-21T22:00:40Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > I think this was what @eschereal was talking about: Yep. That boundary line is where the north bank of the Ohio river was surveyed way back when. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2023, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6145 "2023-02-22T01:37:57Z")
Bosnia and Herzegovina have an Adriatic port city of Neum, which splits Serbia in half. In order to travel from the northern part of Serbia to the southern part, you used to have to cross the Bosnian border, travel about 4 1/2 miles, and then cross back into Serbia. The completion of the Peljesac Bridge in 2022 allowed Serbian traffic to go to the southern part of the country without going through Bosnian territory. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d67380.89145975804!2d17.56160886192485!3d42.92309344700036!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x134ba3b4aab29f65%3A0x95ae338be172b3a!2sNeum%2C%20Bosnia%20and%20Herzegovina!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1677030204321!5m2!1sen!2sus The grey lines are the international borders. Bridge is at Komarna. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6146 "2023-02-22T04:41:25Z")
Today I learned that cats have whiskers on their legs. A lifetime around cats and I never noticed them before. > **[Do Cats Have Whiskers On Their Legs – Here’s The Answer! – FAQcats.com](https://faqcats.com/do-cats-have-whiskers-on-their-legs/)** ---
**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:** [February 22, 2023, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6147 "2023-02-22T04:56:27Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Bosnia and Herzegovina have an Adriatic port city of Neum, which splits Serbia in half. Do you mean Croatia? ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6148 "2023-02-24T20:04:33Z")
> **[Vintage Geek Culture](https://vintagegeekculture.tumblr.com/post/709911539520552960/vintagegeekculture-president-jimmy-carter-a#notes)** > > President Jimmy Carter, a Georgian, loved pro wrestling, here, with his favorite wrestler, Mr. Wrestling II.  > Jimmy Carter invited Mr. Wrestling II to his inauguration, but Mr. Wrestling II had to... “Jimmy Carter invited Mr. Wrestling II to his inauguration, but Mr. Wrestling II had to turn it down, as the secret service required he not wear his mask.” Now that’s integrity. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2023, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6149 "2023-02-25T20:23:51Z")
Is this interesting? It’s inevitable, in any case - souvenirs are now on sale for what will be the first (local) Coronation in my lifetime. We saw them in a posh (honestly) shop window in Lewes today. Here’s a link to a magazine article on the collection we saw: > **[Emma Bridgewater launches new Coronation collection – and it's all lovely](https://www.countryliving.com/uk/homes-interiors/a42990784/emma-bridgewater-coronation-collection/)** > > Pick up some lovely mementos ahead of the historic occasion I’m not a great follower myself. So, on a brighter note (just my opinion, you understand) about a week ago I realized that I didn’t know who the heir to the throne was. Well, y’know, I don’t follow these things closely, and there had been a change… j [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=306) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=308)