# 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:** 319
**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:** [April 12, 2023, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6371 "2023-04-12T04:19:05Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I’m just envisioning DS Ross, “And with this happy little accident, we’re all going for a 10 mile run.” Apparently his hair was more concise [![](https://d1dd4ethwnlwo2.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Screen-Shot-2019-07-11-at-2.46.50-PM-768x755.png) ](https://d1dd4ethwnlwo2.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Screen-Shot-2019-07-11-at-2.46.50-PM-768x755.png) I guess he must have spent two decades using up all his anger. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2023, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6372 "2023-04-12T04:31:08Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I’m sure some of you were already aware, but I just found out that Bob Ross was a 20 military veteran and served time as a drill sergeant. I was channel surfing in Germany once, and caught an episode _The Joy of Painting_. Unlike most American shows, it was not dubbed into German. I like to believe that the broadcasters realized that it’s impossible to sound that mellow while speaking German. > [@Projammer](#): > > Of course, that’s coming from someone who’s image of drill sergeant’s was formed by Full Metal Jacket, Heartbreak Ridge, and The D.I. May I recommend _An Officer and a Gentleman_. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2023, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6373 "2023-04-12T06:18:35Z")
I was looking up the stats on an old football game. The over/under betting line was 45 points. It was a push; the game ended 45-0. I wonder how often that happens. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6374 "2023-04-12T11:44:46Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I guess he must have spent two decades using up all his anger. I believe that is 100% accurate. > [@](#): > > “I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work,” he said. “The job requires you to be a mean, tough person. And I was fed up with it. I promised myself that if I ever got away from it, it wasn’t going to be that way any more.” [1990 Bob Ross Interview](https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1990-07-07-9007060122-story.html) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6375 "2023-04-12T12:01:06Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > I’ll have you (RC) not disparage Gennesse Cream Ale, SIR. Cream Ale is an under appreciated beer style. Few craft brewers brew cream ales (steam beer also). I convinced a friend with a brewery to brew a cream ale a few years ago and it turned out pretty good. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6376 "2023-04-12T14:08:24Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Apparently his hair was more concise He wasn’t a fan of the hair we know him for > [@](#): > > …[I]t turns out it was all a lie — Ross’s hair was actually stick straight. > > In [an interview](http://www.npr.org/2016/08/29/490923502/the-real-bob-ross-meet-the-meticulous-artist-behind-those-happy-trees) with NPR, his business partner, Annette Kowalski, revealed that Ross initially grew out his hair and permed it to [save money](https://www.thecut.com/2018/03/how-to-save-money-easy.html) on haircuts when he was fresh out of the Air Force and trying to make it as a painter. But soon, he became trapped by his look. > > Before he could change it back, though, the perm became his company’s logo — Ross hated it. “He could never, ever, ever change his hair, and he was so mad about that,” Kowalski says. “He got tired of that curly hair.” > **[Bob Ross’s Hair Was Actually Straight](https://www.thecut.com/2016/08/bob-rosss-hair-was-actually-straight.html)** > > The Joy of Painting star was trapped by his iconic look. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2023, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6377 "2023-04-12T14:26:34Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > He wasn’t a fan of the hair we know him for _Brushes are for painting, dammit, not hair_. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6378 "2023-04-12T14:47:53Z")
I recall an interview with Bob Ross where he was asked, “Why did you retire from being a drill instructor in the Air Force?” He said, “I got tired of yelling at people.” 🙂 ---
**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:** [April 12, 2023, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6379 "2023-04-12T15:19:18Z")
In the Polish village of Sułoszowa, virtually everyone lives on the same street. https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=50.2716645,19.7082338&z=13&output=embed&dg=ntvb&q=Su%C5%82oszowa,%2BPoland ---
**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:** [April 12, 2023, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6380 "2023-04-12T23:42:29Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > Anyway I started wondering what the word “surry” meant. I always pictured in my cartoon bubble horse drawn surreys arriving at a picnic. I looked up the lyrics and it is spelled “surry” not “surrey”. According to Wikipedia the writer said, “Oh, it’s just a nice word”. I’ve always thought of it in the same way! Great, great song no matter what. As someone who lives near the banks of the Genesee River and a few minutes drive from the Genesee Brewing Company, I am depressed by the way people manged to misspell the name in three different ways in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6381 "2023-04-13T01:46:04Z")
As someone who grew up east of Middle Genesee Lake, not far from Genesee Lake School, and who worked at the camp just down the road from The Upper Genesee Car Top Boat & Canoe Access, not to be confused with the town aways south of there named Genessee Depot, and I’m pretty sure Lunt and Fontanne built their mansion [“Ten Chimneys”](http://www.tenchimneys.org/) outside of Genessee Depot, let me check…yep, it’s just west of Genessee Depot, and I’m wondering if all these Genesees make up for a Genessee or three. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2023, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6382 "2023-04-13T02:30:30Z")
I’m sure there’s a whoosh in all this, but the Lunt/Fontanne mansion is in Genesee Depot, WI, according to its own website. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2023, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6383 "2023-04-13T02:36:39Z")
A famous courtesan of the late 19th century UK was nicknamed “Skittles.” Brings new meaning to “Taste the rainbow.” ---
**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:** [April 13, 2023, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6384 "2023-04-13T02:46:49Z")
When I was looking up the lyrics for “Spill That Wine” by Eric Burdon and War, I found a years-long argument over whether the line “Spine that wine, taste that pearl” meant cunnilingus or heroin. Taste the rainbow indeed. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2023, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6385 "2023-04-13T03:19:51Z")
I do know that “… tonight when I chase the dragon …” from _Time Out of Mind_ by Steely Dan is about smoking opium. Curiously, they never released an album called _Steely Dan III_, surely an oversight. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6386 "2023-04-13T12:46:49Z")
I remember as a child seeing a demonstration of the TASER on That’s Incredible. They’ve been around a while, but really only became common sometime in the early 90’s. ---
**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:** [April 16, 2023, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6387 "2023-04-16T11:58:07Z")
I posted this yesterday in the factual questions thread about calendars, but I didn’t realize until then that our calendar doesn’t have a leap year every four years. Under our “modern” Gregorian calendar, we have a leap year every 4 years, except when it’s an end of century year, in which case it’s only a leap year if it’s divisible by 400. So, the year 2000 was a leap year. The year 1900 was not, and 2100 is our next skip in the pattern. This was done to fix the problem with the Julian calendar, which was off the actual solar year by 1 day for every 128 years counted. ---
**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:** [April 16, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6388 "2023-04-16T13:11:39Z")
And I believe there is a modification that could be added to take out the leap year every 3600 years that would make the calendar absurdly accurate. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6389 "2023-04-16T13:33:18Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Under our “modern” Gregorian calendar, we have a leap year every 4 years, except when it’s an end of century year, in which case it’s only a leap year if it’s divisible by 400. A plot point in Gilbert & Sullivan’s _The Pirates of Penzance_ (1880) is that the male lead, Frederic, is apprenticed to the Pirate King until his 21st birthday. But since he was born on February 29th (1856), it turns out that he won’t be free until 1940. (Because he can’t marry his betrothed, Mabel, the Major General’s daughter, while he is a pirate, he asks her to wait for him – 63 years. She sings “It seems so long,” but agrees.) Except that Gilbert was apparently unaware of that calendar quirk, so the actual end of his apprenticeship should have been 1944. So I’ve know about the divisible by 400 thing since I was a kid, because my father, a lifelong G&S fan who has performed in or directed most of the operettas, explained it to me when he was doing the show sometime in the 1960s. ---
**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:** [April 16, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6390 "2023-04-16T14:28:02Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Under our “modern” Gregorian calendar, we have a leap year every 4 years, except when it’s an end of century year, in which case it’s only a leap year if it’s divisible by 400. > > So, the year 2000 was a leap year. The year 1900 was not, and 2100 is our next skip in the pattern. I remember seeing ads for digital watches back in the '70s that had a calendar feature, and the copy said that it would automatically account for leap years up to the year 2000. Which must be a pretty ridiculous design, because 2000 was a leap year. The only way for the watch to get it wrong is if the watch had the 100-year exception programmed in, but not the 400-year reverse exception. That’s a feature that won’t be needed until 2100. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=318) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=320)