# 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:** 321
**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:** [April 18, 2023, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6411 "2023-04-18T17:35:08Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > > [@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. This is probably quibbling, but the Channel Islands and all of coastal California up to San Francisco are on the Pacific plate. The mountain ranges here are all due to interactions between that and the North American plate, and not at all related to the Yellowstone hotspot. ---
**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 18, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6412 "2023-04-18T17:55:22Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > 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. The Appalachian mountains are actually a part of a mountain range that, when the continents were all still stuck together, extended into what is now Africa. So mountains in Morocco are part of the same mountain range as places in Alabama. > **[Central Pangean Mountains](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Pangean_Mountains)** > > The Central Pangean Mountains were an extensive northeast–southwest trending mountain range in the central portion of the supercontinent Pangaea during the Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic periods. They were formed as a result of collision between the minor supercontinents Laurussia and Gondwana during the formation of Pangaea. At its greatest elevation during the early part of the Permian period, it was comparable to the present Himalayas. Remnants of this massive mountain range include the A... ---
**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 18, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6413 "2023-04-18T18:02:55Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > The Appalachian mountains are actually a part of a mountain range that, when the continents were all still stuck together, extended into what is now Africa. So mountains in Morocco are part of the same mountain range as places in Alabama. There are claims that the Scottish Highlands were there as well but I can’t seem to find anything solid to back them up. ---
**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, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6414 "2023-04-18T18:17:34Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > This is probably quibbling, but the Channel Islands and all of coastal California up to San Francisco are on the Pacific plate. The mountain ranges here are all due to interactions between that and the North American plate, and not at all related to the Yellowstone hotspot. I thought a lot of the accreted terranes that forced up the land around those western states was formed either by the Yellowstone hotspot or a spreading ridge (now swallowed up under North America). Anyway, the geology around that part of the world is fascinating. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6415 "2023-04-18T18:42:20Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > > [@Pleonast](#): > > > > This is probably quibbling, but the Channel Islands and all of coastal California up to San Francisco are on the Pacific plate. The mountain ranges here are all due to interactions between that and the North American plate, and not at all related to the Yellowstone hotspot. > > I thought a lot of the accreted terranes that forced up the land around those western states was formed either by the Yellowstone hotspot or a spreading ridge (now swallowed up under North America). Anyway, the geology around that part of the world is fascinating.   Oh, for anything interior, you’re right. It’s just the coastal regions of California that are dominated by the San Andreas and other faults along the plate boundaries. I love looking at the landforms as I drive through California. Coastal vs high desert vs low desert vs Owens valley vs Sierras–it’s all very different and interesting to see. And then up into Nevada and Utah… ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6416 "2023-04-18T18:44:19Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > > [@Moriarty](#): > > > > The Appalachian mountains are actually a part of a mountain range that, when the continents were all still stuck together, extended into what is now Africa. So mountains in Morocco are part of the same mountain range as places in Alabama. > > There are claims that the Scottish Highlands were there as well but I can’t seem to find anything solid to back them up . The link between mountains of eastern North America and the Scottish Highlands was likely earlier than the Central Pangean Mountains: > **[Laurasia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurasia#Euramerica/Laurussia)** > > Laurasia (/lɔːˈreɪʒə, -ʃiə/) was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around 335 to 175 million years ago (Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana 215 to 175 Mya (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pangaea, drifting farther north after the split and finally broke apart with the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean c. 56 Mya. The name is a portmanteau of Laurentia and Asia. > Laurentia, Avalonia, Ba... > **[Caledonian orogeny](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_orogeny)** > > The Caledonian orogeny was a mountain-building cycle recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Caledonides, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that occurred from the Ordovician to Early Devonian, roughly 490–390 million years ago (Ma). It was caused by the closure of the Iapetus Ocean when the Laurentia and Baltica continents and the Avalonia microcontinent collided. > The orogeny is named for Caledon... The Caledonians, in fact, seem to be the specific mountains that @Fiendish_Astronaut posted about. They preceded the Central Pangean Mountains which formed when Laur **ussia** \*\* and Gondwana crashed into each other to form Pangea. \*\* _easily confused with Laur **asia** , which was a product of Pangea’s later breakup._ ---
**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 18, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6417 "2023-04-18T19:37:06Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > US geography - In/near Hancock, Maryland - the borders between Maryland and Pennsylvania, and Maryland and West Virginia are only 1.8 miles apart. Near Harper’s Ferry, WV, if you drive east on US 340 from Loudon Heights Overlook across the Potomac River towards the little village of Sandy Hook, MD, you’ll drive from WV through VA to MD in less than one mile. In fact, you’re in Maryland as soon as you get on the bridge, because the border is on the south side of the river. Loudoun Heights Overlook > **[Loudoun Heights Overlook · Harpers Ferry, WV 25425](https://maps.app.goo.gl/BhYBcyJFiLEadMREA)** > > ★★★★★ · Hiking area ---
**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, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6418 "2023-04-18T20:15:01Z")
I didn’t even know Carmen Miranda came from a Portuguese speaking country. I’d always assumed she was from one of the Spanish speaking countries, and that it was in the Americas. ---
**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, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6419 "2023-04-18T21:12:49Z")
I’ve been watching this geologist’s YouTube lectures about mostly the Pacific northwest but it’s so interesting: [Nick Zentner - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@GeologyNick/playlists) Worth checking out his Downtown lectures or 101 series. ---
**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 19, 2023, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6420 "2023-04-19T02:23:11Z")
When we went to High Cliff State Park on the north eastern corner of Lake Winnebago, I learned that the formation was part of the Niagara Escarpment. Which seemed disorienting, because we were a hell of a long way away from Buffalo. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6421 "2023-04-19T05:02:40Z")
TIL that the Netherlands has 4 volcanoes, two of them active. Admittedly, the active ones are in the Netherlands West Indies, but the other two (extinct for the last ~150 million years) are in the European territory - on in the Zuider Zee and the other in the Dutch area of the North Sea. [List of volcanoes in the Netherlands - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanoes_in_the_Netherlands) ---
**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 19, 2023, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6422 "2023-04-19T17:05:11Z")
She was born in Portugal and spoke Portuguese, but she was brought up in the Americas because her family moved to Brazil when she was very young. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6423 "2023-04-20T22:46:13Z")
Today I learned that the name of the dog on the famous National Lampoon “If you don’t buy this magazine, we’ll shoot this dog” cover was named Cheeseface. And that three years after that magazine cover, someone actually tracked the dog down and shot him. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6424 "2023-04-21T06:55:26Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > someone actually tracked the dog down and shot him. A different telling of the events, from [here](https://sharanv07.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/most-controversial-magazine-cover/): > However, sadly enough, someone later found Cheeseface in his house, thinking it was an intruder and shot him by accident. This appears to be a more thorough account: > **[Who Shot Mr. Cheeseface? The Vermont Demise of a Famous Mutt](https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/who-shot-mr-cheeseface-the-vermont-demise-of-a-famous-mutt-23671435)** > > The cover of the January 1973 issue of National Lampoon, the groundbreaking humor magazine's Death issue, depicts a handsome black-and-white dog against a blue background.... ---
**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 21, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6425 "2023-04-21T18:16:39Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/GSuFSYY-X9w/maxresdefault.jpg "Why Japanese Calligraphy Ink Is So Expensive | So Expensive | Insider Business") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSuFSYY-X9w) I guess that means there is no such thing as a vegan traditional Japanese calligrapher. ---
**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 21, 2023, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6426 "2023-04-21T20:25:20Z")
If one-eighth of a pie isn’t enough but one-sixth would be too much- or if maybe you have exactly seven people- they sell one-seventh pie dividers. > **[Choice 10" Stainless Steel 7 Cut Pie Cutter](https://www.webstaurantstore.com/choice-10-stainless-steel-7-cut-pie-cutter/407PCUT107.html)** > > Create beautifully uniform slices of pie in no time with this Choice 10" stainless steel 7 cut pie cutter! This pie cutter is ideal for use in your bakery, cafe, or restaurant and makes quick work of serving pies and even cakes. Its stainless steel... ---
**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 21, 2023, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6427 "2023-04-21T21:34:26Z")
I just learned about [Alnwick Gardens](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/step-inside-worlds-most-dangerous-garden-if-you-dare-180952635/) in England, a conservatory featuring the most daugerous plantlife in the world, founded by a duchess who inherited the estate and started the deadly garden because she was bored. ---
**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:** [April 21, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6428 "2023-04-21T23:52:13Z")
We used these way back in the 70s when I waitressed during high school. What I found interesting is that our restaurant had a couple of pie cutters that allowed you to adjust the size, presumably based on whether or not the person was either a friend, or looked like they needed an extra large slice. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6429 "2023-04-22T00:16:17Z")
The Montreal Botanical Gardens has a toxic plants garden. Nothing so fancy, though. [https://espacepourlavie.ca/en/gardens-and-greenhouses/toxic-plants-garden](https://espacepourlavie.ca/en/gardens-and-greenhouses/toxic-plants-garden) ---
**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 22, 2023, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6430 "2023-04-22T15:03:38Z")
The 18-hour New York-Singapore non-stop flight flies eastward over Europe and Asia. The return flight (Singapore-New York) also flies eastward - over the Pacific and North America. This is due to the tailwinds. A YouTuber did the round trip in 41 hours - i.e. circling the globe. [Flying on the World’s LONGEST Flight TWICE IN A ROW - 37 Hours in the air - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v25ErGM0HlA&t=548s) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=320) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=322)