# 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:** 320
**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 16, 2023, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6391 "2023-04-16T18:23:11Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I do know that “… tonight when I chase the dragon …” from _Time Out of Mind_ by Steely Dan is about smoking opium. Opinions on the internet vary between smoking opium and smoking (or inhaling) heroin. [The Steely Dan Dictionary](http://steelydandictionary.com/c) (who knew?) chooses heroin. > “Chasing the dragon” is a slang term for a particular method of smoking heroin. > > It usually involves placing powdered heroin on foil and heating it from below with a cigarette lighter. The heroin turns to a sticky liquid and wriggles around like a Chinese dragon, hence the name. Fumes are given off and are inhaled, sometimes thorough a rolled-up newspaper, magazine or tube. I will say that the high I get from listening to “Time Out of Mind” compared to the one I get from listening to “Spill the Wine”\* is probably similar to the difference of the highs from inhaling heroin and inhaling the fumes from a warm bowl of good soup. Not that I’ve ever come near heroin, or opium for that matter. “Time Out of Mind” is just so good that it demands superlatives. \*Great Caesar’s Ghost! Looking back at my earlier post I see that I typoed the song as “Spine That Wine.” My mind is always racing ahead of my fingers and moshing words together. I’m going to guess to listening to “Spine That Wine” would be like going through heroin withdrawal, to extend the metaphor until it squeaks. ---
**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:** [April 16, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6392 "2023-04-16T18:25:55Z")
Well, I get high both from “Time Out Of Mind” AND “Spill The Wine”, even without the help of any substance (though pot makes them better and I’m not inclined to try anything stronger). Two great songs. ETA: another cryptic (at least for some) Steely Dan drug reference from “Hey Nineteen”: _The Cuervo Gold, the fine Colombian_ _Make tonight a wonderful thing_ Well, as a naive German boy I didn’t know that Cuervo Gold was a brand of Tequila, and that the Colombian stood for cocaine, so I learned that much later. ---
**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:** [April 16, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6393 "2023-04-16T19:30:46Z")
IIRC, there was a strain of marijuana called Columbian Gold\* that was considered a particularly primo brand of weed. That’s what I thought they meant. \*there is one now by that name according to the web ---
**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:** [April 16, 2023, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6394 "2023-04-16T19:50:21Z")
Geez, I always thought they meant nice coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6395 "2023-04-16T20:15:09Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > there was a strain of marijuana called Columbian Gold Never heard of that. It was always just ‘Columbian’, and it meant killer primo. Even better than Acapulco Gold, which was supposedly the finest Mexican. ---
**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:** [April 16, 2023, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6396 "2023-04-16T20:17:18Z")
Sounds like I conflated the two ---
**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:** [April 16, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6397 "2023-04-16T20:35:32Z")
As opposed to Cuervo, which is total crap masquerading as tequila. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6398 "2023-04-16T21:09:01Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > As opposed to Cuervo, which is total crap masquerading as tequila Truth. A couple of unfortunate encounters with Cuervo during college soured me on tequila for years. I have since rectified that situation. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6399 "2023-04-16T21:55:20Z")
The phrasing of this confused me until I remembered the Red Army… ---
**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 16, 2023, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6400 "2023-04-16T22:26:06Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > A couple of unfortunate encounters with Cuervo during college soured me on tequila for years. Were you the guy I saw at the bar the other day wearing the shirt that said “I ate the worm” ? ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6401 "2023-04-16T22:30:11Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Were you the guy I saw at the bar the other day wearing the shirt that said “I ate the worm” That was me. Not proud of it, but I survived. ---
**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:** [April 17, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6402 "2023-04-17T01:45:56Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > 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. “Science Made Stupid”, the humorous parody by Tom Weller, had a list of future inventions. It ranked “calendar reform” as less likely than immortality or time travel. ---
**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 17, 2023, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6403 "2023-04-17T03:02:15Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > “Science Made Stupid”, the humorous parody by Tom Weller, had a list of future inventions. It ranked “calendar reform” as less likely than immortality or time travel. Someone else remembers that book? I have the follow-up “Cvltvre Made Stupid”. ---
**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:** [April 17, 2023, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6404 "2023-04-17T03:29:51Z")
They’re both available as .pdf’s on the Web now. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2023, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6405 "2023-04-17T23:53:30Z")
The northern chain of California’s Channel Islands (Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel), and Anacapa) are geologically an extension of the Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica Mountains. I never realized it before but it’s obvious when you look at a topographical map. What’s more, they’re at the same latitude, more or less, of the house where I grew up (red location mark). I’m probably not the only one who thought these islands must be farther north, probably for the reason that, in order to get to Oxnard harbor or Camarillo airport, where you would take a boat or plane to reach the islands, you have to get on I-101 North and drive for about an hour. But on that stretch of road, when you follow the signs to go north, you’re actually going west. [[Album] L.A. and the Channel Islands ![](https://i.imgur.com/83VORcm.jpeg?fb "L.A. and the Channel Islands") ](https://imgur.com/gallery/6XHbLrS) ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6406 "2023-04-18T01:55:21Z")
Nitpick: it’s US-101, not Interstate 101. ---
**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 18, 2023, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6407 "2023-04-18T01:58:56Z")
Nitpick of the nitpick: it’s **the** 101 ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6408 "2023-04-18T01:59:56Z")
My mistake. That’s what happens when you work from memory of a place where you haven’t lived in almost nine years. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6409 "2023-04-18T16:55:13Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > The northern chain of California’s Channel Islands (Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel), and Anacapa) are geologically an extension of the Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica Mountains. You are looking too locally. The whole west flank of the continent is part of the same geological story, with Yellowstone right at the heart of it. In fact it’s very possible that Yellowstone produced those islands. Another interesting bit of US geology is that New York City is on the site of part an ancient mountain range which rivalled the Himalayas in height. Many millions of years have worn them away but the root of the mountains is where the land is most suitable for building tall buildings. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6410 "2023-04-18T17:00:30Z")
US geography - In/near Hancock, Maryland - the borders between Maryland and Pennsylvania, and Maryland and West Virginia are only 1.8 miles apart. [Hancock - Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hancock,+MD+21750,+USA/@39.7057021,-78.1981249,6931m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x89ca1620b29c6839:0xedb5e998251303d7!8m2!3d39.7000024!4d-78.1863789!16zL20vMHR4ams) The closest competitor for short border crossings would be just north of Weirton WV (the town’s city limits extend the full distance between the borders) with less than 4 miles from the WV-Ohio border to the WV-Pennsylvania border. Coincidentally - Weirton is the largest town in WV’s Hancock county. [Weirton - Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Weirton,+WV+26062,+USA/@40.4085947,-80.6169548,13720m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x883430bd32502eed:0xad718ba7ff827e61!8m2!3d40.4189566!4d-80.5895167!16zL20vMDEzbnJj) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=319) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=321)